Jack Bruce - Harmony Row (1971 uk, fascinating classic rock melted with prog and jazz elements, bonus tracks edition)

Harmony Row is the legitimate follow-up to Jack Bruce'excellent songs for a tailor, although 1971 also saw the almost-simultaneous release of 1968 jazz tapes entitled Things We Like by this artist. An elaborate gatefold package has a shadow photo of the artist from the back, overlooking a golden sun on the waters. The self-produced disc begins with the pop excursion "Can You Follow," which blends into "Escape To The Royal Wood (On Ice)." 

Jack Bruce provides the voice, keyboards, bass, and some percussion, making this very much a solo project. "You Burned The Tables On Me" takes things into a progressive rock-meets-jazz arena. The only reference to blues here is Bruce's voice, but guitarist Chris Spedding's scratchy guitar, and the percussion -- either by Jack Bruce or drummer Jim Marshall (who plays on what is not specified) make the track sound almost like Cream without Clapton. 

There's a rare photo of Peter Brown in the second cardboard gatefold, and one of Bruce, while all of Brown's lyrics are spread out for public consumption. A nice touch, as Peter Brown is to Jack Bruce what Keith Reid is to Procul Harum, and the cleverly obscured words are sometimes the only foundation to grasp at while one of rock & roll's most innovative bassists goes from genre to genre, combining rhythms and melodies that defy commercial categorization. 

Harmony Row is the album that combines many flavors of Bruce's experimentations, making it courageous, adventurous, and hardly the product for a mass audience. "Folk Song" is barely a folk song; it is a progressive pop tune with that elegant, Procul Harum-like, sweeping, mystical statement. There's a pretty piano against church-like organ and vocals, with amazing guitar embellishments by Chris Spedding. "Folk Song" has elements Bruce would examine again, on the album Monkjack; it's a song which should have made him the darling of underground FM radio. 

It's a far cry from the all-out assault of his forthcoming power trio, West, Bruce & Laing, which emerged a year after this. The delicacy of "Smiles And Grins" suggests that hard jazz is what would have given the project with Leslie West a much needed diversion. But what happened was that Bruce embraced the trail Mountain stampeded down, while a purer blending of the two would have been re-readings of this Harmony Row material. 

"Post War" is a good example of how the underappreciated Leslie West could have expanded his influence -- Spedding's contributions are enormous, and like West, he is the only other musician save the drummer on Bruce's essential projects in 1971 and 1972, on the albums Harmony Row, and Why Dontcha. Drummer Jim Marshall appeared on the previous songs for a tailor, as did Spedding, though they didn't perform together on that disc. Here, Jack Bruce takes two players from that solo album, and moves them into another head-space. His use of the talents around him is impeccable, and yet another reason why fans should have embraced this quirky and intelligent troubadour.

"A Letter Of Thanks" is so complex it borders on The Mothers Of Invention-style of non-groove, while "Victoria Sage" is more in-line with the ideas set forth on songs for a tailor, and with exquisite vocals by this tremendous singer. The final track, the tasty, Spanish-influenced "The Consul At Sunset," utilizes multiple percussive ideas with piano and guitars overlapping Peter Brown's words; those words are as important as the contributions from Marshall, Spedding, and Bruce. It's actually quite an amazing transition when set against the other discs released in this four-year period, and a stunning output from a major artist without yielding a Top 40 hit. 

by Joe Viglione

Tracks
1. Can You Follow? – 1:32
2. Escape To The Royal Wood (On Ice) - 3:44
3. You Burned The Tables On Me - 3:49
4. There's A Forest - 1:44
5. Morning Story - 4:55
6. Folk Song - 4:20
7. Smiles And Grins - 6:05
8. Post War - 4:20
9. A Letter Of Thanks - 2:54
10.Victoria Sage - 5:02
11.The Consul At Sunset - 4:14
12.Green Hills (Instrumental Version Of Can You Follow?) - 2:16
13.Escape To The Royal Wood (On Ice) (Instrumental Demo Version) - 4:01
14.There's A Forest (First Take) - 2:11
15.You Burned The Tables On Me (Remix Including Electric Piano) - 4:10
16.Can You Follow? (First Take) - 1:32
Lyrics by Pete Brown, Music by Jack Bruce

Musicians
*Jack Bruce - Bass Guitar, Guitar, Piano, Cello, Keyboards, Vocals
*John Marshall - Drums
*Chris Spedding - Guitar

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Stone Circus - The Stone Circus (1969 us, superb blend of psych pop and experimental acid rock, Fallout edition)

Whether it was more a blessing or a curse to be signed to Bob Shad’s Chicago-based Mainstream Records in the late 1960s is a matter for debate. Though the label issued numerous underground albums that are unlikely to have seen the light of day otherwise (including minor classics by the Bohemian Vendetta, the Art Of Lovin’, the Growing Concern, Ellie Pop, the Jelly Bean Bandits, the Orient Express and others), it had little in the way of national distribution or radio support, and was at best a way-station for the more talented artists on its roster, such as Big Brother & the Holding Company and Ted Nugent’s Amboy Dukes. A classic victim of its approach was Stone Circus.

The band’s leader and chief songwriter was Jonathan Caine (real name Larry Cohen). Born in Montreal in 1948, by the age of 14 he was a guest soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and upon graduation from the Quebec Conservatory in 1968, he gravitated towards America’s East Coast. There he hooked up with fellow Montreal natives Ronnie Paige, David Keeler and Mike Burns, as well as guitarist Sonny Haines (a New Yorker who had played with Joey Dee and the Starlighters before recording a few 45s with Canadian act the Footprints). 

The band based themselves in New York, named themselves the Funky Farm and were soon offered the chance to record an album by Shad. The result was a superb blend of melodic psych-pop and experimental acid rock, spanning mellow, catchy pop (What Went Wrong? and Sara Wells), harder-edged rock (Mr. Grey and Inside-Out Man) and out-and-out weirdness (the long closing track, People I One Knew, which opens and closes with unsettling spoken word sections), and bore similarity to contemporary acts such as the Strawberry Alarm Clock and the Blues Magoos.

When the LP was released, however, the band was astonished to find their name changed to Stone Circus – and when it failed to sell, they split. Cohen went on to collaborate with Footprints singer Yank Barry on an odd, lavishly packaged double LP entitled Diary Of Mr. Gray (boasting a very close cover of Stone Circus’s Mr. Gray) in the early 70s, before embarking on a career composing music for B-movies. The other members of Stone Circus remain in obscurity, though one hopes they’re aware of the standing their music has belatedly acquired amongst connoisseurs of psychedelia.

Tracks
1. What Went Wrong (Caine) - 2:27
2. Adam’s Lament (Caine) - 2:36
3. Mr. Grey (Caine) - 3:07
4. Blue Funk (Murphy) - 2:36
5. Carnival Of Love (Caine) - 3:01
6. Sara Wells (Murphy) - 3:08
7. Inside-Out Man (Caine, Murphy) - 5:11
8. Camino Real (Caine, Murphy) - 3:33
9. People I Once Knew (Caine) - 7:00

Stone Circus
*Sonny Haines - Lead Guitar
*Ronnie Paige - Lead Vocals
*Jonathan Caine - Organ
*David Keeler - Bass
*Mike Burns - Drums

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The Trashmen - Surfin' Bird (1963-64 us, enjoyable garage, surf, roots 'n' roll, 1st extra tacks Sundazed edition)

Hailing from the wintry heartland of Minneapolis, the Trashmen achieved cult immortality with a passel of landlocked surf anthems and reckless garage-rock gems, best exemplified by their immortal anthem "Surfin' Bird," two and a half minutes of inspired, unhinged mayhem that's never been equaled. But "Surfin' Bird" is just the tip of the iceberg of the 1964 album that bears the song's name. 

The only LP that the band released during their original lifespan, Surfin' Bird demonstrates that the Trashmen were no novelty act or one-hit wonder, but a brilliant, original outfit who filtered their R’n’B and surf influences through their own cheerfully demented sensibility to make some of their era's most reckless, uninhibited rock 'n' roll. In addition to the iconic "Surfin' Bird," the album features the surf-and-drag killers "King of the Surf," "My Woodie" and "Tube City," along with the "Bird"-themed sequels "Bird Bath" and "Bird Dance Beat." Elsewhere on the album, the Trashmen's surf-rock skills animate the instrumental standards "Misirlou," "Malagueña" and "Kuk," and the band delivers storming readings of Buddy Holly's "It's So Easy" and Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)."

Anyone who's ever been severely jolted by Trashmen anthems knows the unparalleled joy of flailing about helplessly to Tony Andreason's blistering guitar and the manic, rumbling vocals of drummer Steve Wahrer. If only Trashmen records had been loaded into that outward-bound rocket ship years ago, the galaxy would be a much safer place today!

Sundazed

Tracks
1. Surfin' Bird (Frazier, White, Harris, Wilson) - 2:22
2. King Of The Surf (LaPole) - 2:28
3. Henrietta (Hitzfeld) - 2:33
4. Miserlou (Wise, Leeds, Roubanis, Russell) - 2:07
5. Malaguena (Lecuona) - 2:35
6. It's So Easy (Holly, Petty) - 2:04
7. Tube City (Wahrer) - 3:20
8. My Woodie (LaPole) - 1:54
9. Bird Bath (Darnold) - 2:36
10. Kuk (Demmon, Linsley, Gallagher, Fifield) - 2:04
11. Money (Gordie) - 3:10
12. Sleeper (LaPole) - 2:32
13. Surfin' Bird (Demo Version) (Frazier, White, Harris, Wilson) - 2:19
14. Bird Dance Beat (Demo Version) (Garrett) - 2:06
15. Walkin' My Baby (Mathis, Mathis) - 2:27
16. Dancin' With Santa (LaPole) - 2:31

The Trashmen
*Tony Andreason - Lead Guitar, Vocals,
*Dal Winslow - Guitar, Vocals,
*Steve Wahrer - Drums, Vocals,
*Bob Reed - Bass Guitar

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Q 65 - The Complete Collection (1966-69 holland, smashing garage beat blues psych, double disc set)

Based on sheer musical ability, the Q 65 deserved to be at least as well known as the Pretty Things or the Yardbirds. Indeed, the Dutch quintet could have held their own with either of those groups or the Animals without breaking a sweat, based on the recorded evidence, and they also had room for some of the more countrified blues evident in the work of the Downliners Sect. 

Yet the Q 65 have remained one of Europe's best-kept star-caliber musical secrets for more than 30 years. the Q 65 were Frank Nuyens (guitar, vocals, sax, flute, harmonica), Willem Bieler (vocals, harmonica), Peter Vink (bass), Joop Roelofs (guitar), and Jay Baar (drums), first got together in 1965, in the Hague. The city was known as "the Liverpool of the Netherlands," with a music scene that had been thriving since the end of the '50s.

Instrumental groups, patterned after the sound of the Shadows had been very big at that time. Peter Vink and Jay Baar had been playing in a blues-based band called Leadbelly's Limited before they hooked up with Wim Bieler, Frank Nuyens, and Joop Roelofs to form the Q 65 in February of 1965. The group's professed influences were American soul acts like Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, and Otis Redding, yet somehow, when they performed, what they played came out closer in form and spirit to the likes of the Pretty Things, the Downliners Sect, and the Yardbirds than it did to any of those soul acts, at least at first. They landed a recording contract with Phonogram, a unit of Philips Records, late that year, and put on the Decca label. Their first single, "You're the Victor," was released in February of 1966. 

This was a strange record for a band professing an admiration of Sam & Dave or Wilson Pickett, a frantically paced piece of punk-style blues-rock with an infectious Bo Diddley beat, screaming, raspy vocals, and a savage attack on their instruments. The single made number 11 on the charts in Holland, and rode the bestseller lists for 13 weeks. The B-side, another original called "And Your Kind," was a more low-key, relaxed piece of blues-rock with slightly more of a soulful feel, but also some crunchy punk guitar.

In May of 1966, with the group now primed for success (with a full-time manager working for them), they released their second single, "The Life I Live." This was a more soulful record that built almost bolero-like in intensity. It was a good enough record to get Phonogram's management interested in promoting the group in England, which led to a publicity stunt that was not only a waste of time, but utterly foolish, sending the group to England by boat and having them come ashore in a rubber lifeboat, as though they'd come across the ocean that way. 

They were then supposed to play a gig, but as nobody had secured work permits, the group was only able to pose for photographs and press interviews before returning to the Netherlands. the Q 65 were greeted at the shore in Schevenning when they landed (again manning the lifeboat to land) by 30,000 fans, and ended up playing a gig right there at the pier. The band may not have done much for themselves in England, but they garnered a Top Ten hit in the Netherlands.

With two successful singles under their belt, the group's debut album, Revolution, followed in 1966. Revolution was a powerful blues-rock album that included a snarling rendition of Willie Dixon's "Down in the Bottom," a rendition of Dixon's "Spoonful" that boasted gloriously crunchy acoustic guitars behind a raspy vocal worthy of Howlin' Wolf himself, and a funky version of Allen Toussaint's "Get Out of My Life, Woman," and a handful of originals that were fully competitive with the covers. The highlight, however, was a riveting 14-minute version of Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Bring It on Home." The album sold 3,5000 copies, a respectable number in the Netherlands, and established the group sufficiently to rate a spot playing with the Small Faces, the Spencer Davis Group, the Kinks, and the Pretty Things when they toured Holland.

During 1967, they didn't release any LPs, but did get a solid extended-play single out called Q Blues, which did well at home. Their music during this period reached what was arguably its peak -- "Ain't That Lovin' You Babe" is a garage punk classic worthy of the best American bands of the period, while their version of "Ramblin' on My Mind" thunders and surges with ferocious energy. They were unique in their approach, mixing the sounds of saxes and even an ocarina -- an instrument virtually unknown in rock away from the Troggs -- into country and Chicago-style blues. 

The group continued trying to make it as a blues-rock band for most of 1967. Their sound began to change late in the year, just as music was turning psychedelic, and around the time just before Wim Bieler was drafted into the army. His exit heralded the end of the Q 65's classic period. Nuyens, Baar, and Roelofs hooked up with Herman Brood (piano, vocals) and Henk Smitskamp (vocals, bass) to form a new, more psychedelic-oriented outfit, which eventually evolved into a group called Circus, which lasted, in varying lineups, for the year of 1968. 

Peter Vink, meanwhile, joined a group called Big Wheel, whose lineup included future Focus member Cyril Havermanns. In 1969, a second Q 65 album was released, entitled Revival and made up of singles and latter-day tracks. The music was still powerful and very intense -- perhaps too much so -- if not as accessible. Had the lineup stayed intact, the group might even have found an audience. They still played well, even if it was experimental in nature (and what blues they played was more psychedelic than classic style). They might've given bands like the Creation a run for their money, but the Q 65 split up at just about this point. 

This two-CD set is as good as it gets: a 35-song compilation of every single, B-side, EP track, and LP track left behind by the Q 65 during their three years with Decca/ Phonogram. There's hardly a weak track here -- at least until the group abandons blues as the basis for their sound late in 1967. Yet even those songs are well-played, with great attack on the instruments, and the set is rounded out by the presence of four bonus tracks by the Q 65 offshoot band Circus. The music is excellent and the only drawback for most of us is that the notes are printed only in Dutch, but even the booklet is worthwhile for the cool photos of the band. 

by Bruce Eder

Tracks

Disc 1

1. You're The Victor (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, W. Bieler) - 2:26

2. And Your Kind (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, W. Bieler) - 3:09

3. The Life I Live (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, J. Roelofs, P. Vink, W. Bieler) - 3:19

4. Cry In The Night (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, W. Bieler) - 2:15

5. I Got Nightmares (J.W. Baar, J. Roelofs, P. Vink, W. Bieler) - 2:27

6. Just Who's In Sight (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, W. Bieler) - 3:08

7. Mr. Pitiful (O. Redding, S. Cropper) - 2:19

8. I'm A Man (B. Diddley) - 4:36

9. Middel-Age Talk (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, W. Bieler) - 2:28

10.Summerthoughts In A Field Of Weed (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, W. Bieler) - 2:24

11.Down At The Bottom (W. Dixon) - 1:42

12.Get Out Of My Life, Woman (Allen Toussaint) - 2:24

13.Spoonful (W. Dixon) - 3:28

14.Sour Wine (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, W. Bieler) - 2:56

15.Bring It On Home (W. Dixon) - 13:44

16.I Despice You (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, W. Bieler) - 2:25

17.Ann (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, W. Bieler) - 2:49

Disc 2
1. From Above (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, W. Bieler) - 2:54
2. I Was Young (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, J. Roelofs, P. Vink, W. Bieler) - 2:35
3. World Of Birds (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, W. Bieler) - 3:25
4. It Came To Me (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, W. Bieler) - 2:33
5. Ain't That Loving You Babe (J. Reed) - 2:17
6. Ramblin' On My Mind (R. Johnson) - 4:47
7. No Place To Go (C. Burnett) - 3:08
8. 80% O (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, J. Roelofs) - 2:45
9. Where Is The Key (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, J. Roelofs, W. Bieler) - 2:19
10.So High I've Been, So Down I Must Fall (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, J. Roelofs, P. Vink, W. Bieler) - 3:08 11.Sundance (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar) - 4:34
12.Voluntary Peacemaker (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar) - 4:59
13.Ridin' On A Slow Train (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar) - 4:10
14.Fairy Tales Of Truth (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar) - 5:47
15.I Was Young (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar, J. Roelofs, P. Vink, W. Bieler) - 2:34
16.Medusa (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar) - 3:28
17.Mother Mutha's Great Sundance (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar) - 4:34
18.Mother Mutha's Great Sundance + Circles/Cymbals And Backgrounds (F. Nuyens, J.W. Baar) - 5:26
Bonus tracks 15-18
Circus 16-18

Q65 
*Jay Baar - Drums
*Willem Bieler- Harmonica, Vocals
*Frank Nuyens- Guitar
*Joop Roelofs- Guitar
*Peter Vink- Bass
*Ian Kew- Keyboards

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The Eric Burdon Band - Sun Secrets / Stop (1974-75 uk, great classic rock)

The story of these two albums is equally troubled as the story and career of Eric Burdon, maybe the most important voice of the British Invasion of the 60s. Either with the Alan Price Combo (later to be renamed to Animals) in 1962 or with the Animals until their MkIII disband in 1968 and either with WAR or the New Animals that follow him with various forms until today, Eric Burdon is probably the only musician of the 60s that lived through all the versions of success and failure, on both sides of the ocean, working together but more importantly living together with the biggest personalities of the music scene of the era.  

In any case, he differs a lot compared to the other big stars of the time, for two particular reasons. First, he was never a star. He was there prior to all of the others (except everybody’s teacher Alexis Korner) and he was there to see the Silver Beatles moving to Germany and he was there to see them return as the Beatles. He was also there to see the Rolling Stones release their first hit and project into a stardom that he would never experience. Second, because instead of just get inspired by the same idols that he shared with the others, he made that music his own, he lived with those idols and worked with them without expecting profit or glory. He served his childhood heroes and along with them he served the music that he loved so much and that he remained faithful to, against the weather, until today. 

Eric Burdon experienced the dark side of stardom as no other and sucked to it to the bone, carrying his experiences along with his music. He engrafted his art with what he managed to gain from his relationship with Jimmy Hendrix but also his death, from the blues lessons he received from an old blind, poor road bluesman in Los Angeles. He learned by heart and accumulated the most he could from working with Howling Wolf and Jimmy Witherspoon and so many blues greats. He travelled around the world and he is still the most charismatic bluesman, even if he is white, even if he can no longer stand singing in rooms full of smoke and sweat. 

After the Animals finally broke up and Burdon going bankrupt because of bad management from their agent and the dubius part that Price and Chandler had in it, Eric almost quit and he was just ready to return to Newcastle and the coalmines that his father worked, if lady luck had not brought him to a show by a band named Nightwish, early in 1969. Eric took the opportunity, he named himself singer of the band, added up the Dane youngster Oscar Lee to the lineup and changed the band’s name to WAR, just soon enough to present them to the world with the album “Eric Burdon Declares WAR” with several more highly successful works to follow. 

This project was not meant to last for long, though. Constant quarrels with Record Companies and Eric’s continuous abuse of drugs and alcohol made him break up with WAR and decide to get on with a solo career. This turn brought him in touch with guitarist Aalon Butler with whom he recorded and released “Sun Secrets” in 1974 when Burdon decided to add up guitarist John Sterling and record with him “Stop” in 1975. “Stop” finally, hit the selves just after the Eric Burdon Band was already history and as :Sun Secrets” before it, failed to make an impact. 

On the other hand, Eric, continuing his endless fight with the Record Companies, decided to block the releases and withdraw the albums since the company refused to pay him his rights. The two albums were released anew in 1993, both on one CD, again meeting the resistance of Burdon. This and the two original releases of the two albums, are, now, quite hard to find. 

As hard as it was with these two albums, so similar they looked to each other, as they were recorded and composed during one of Burdon’s most troubled periods. 

Sun Secrets relies more in the Animals and WAR era, albeit with a twist. In this album, Eric buries his blues roots as deep as he can and performs, among others, classic Animals hits like It’s my life (opening cut), Don’t let Me Be Misunderstood and When I was Young, although in a unique, angry and aggressive way, with a rock energy that startles. 

He seems to denunciate his own past, twisting it in purpose, trying, maybe, to change the way things flow, already knowing that he cannot. Johnny Cash’s hit Ring Of Fire arrangement in this album is given in such a way that it proves beyond any doubt what Eric was like at those times and the way that he looked upon himself as an artist. The Real Me and Letter from The Country Farm show the most heavy, melancholic and isolated Eric ever, while the instrumental Sun Secrets is just there to fit with the mood of the rest of the album. 

Stop, equally angry if you look at it through Burdon’s perspective, has a distinctly different compositional aspect playing games between rock, jazz and soul/funk shades, colouring Eric melancholic mood with a deliberately lighter mood, however it fails to hide his desire to cut off. It is quite characteristic that in the songs that Burdon has a part in the composition, the blues feeling is more than evident, even id none of the songs resembles his earlier style. 

Indeed, City Boy, Rainbow and All I Do really make a change amongst the album’s ambience and make a turn back to Eric’s roots, while in the rest (with the exception of the excellent Stop) Eric sounds detached and alienated while his performance and his voice sound different and estranged. In any case, the great performer is there, even if he “pretends”, successfully though, to be someone else, until the albums grand finale where he bursts out screaming Stop to the end of his voice in one of the best cuts the 70s ever produced. 

Two of the less known albums that Eric Burdon recorded, they are still classics in their own way. They are classics because they picture the life and the artistic journey of a 60s legend after the lights are gone. They are classics because they prove beyond doubt, that these great performers do not need a light beam to show, because at the end of their prime they just lend some of their light to others, only to deterministically take it back in the end. 

Eric Burdon is simply one of these great performers. He lived through the revolutions of music and youth in a way and extent that no one else did and he is still alive to remember. And while some others just live or have already passed away, he, at sixty six years old, he continues to be fully active, releasing one album after another, just doing the same thing he started in Newcastle by mistake, back in 1960. Singing the blues better than anyone. 

by Alex Politis

Tracks
1. It's My Life (Atkins, D'Errico) - 4:43
2. Ring Of Fire (Carter, Kilgore) - 6:11
3.. Medley - 8:30
..a.When I Was Young (Burdon)
..b.War Child (Burdon, Butler)
4. The Real Me (Butler) - 3:34
5.. Medley - 8:25
..a Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Benjamin, Marcus)
..b Nina's School (Burdon, Butler)
6. Letter From The County Farm (Burdon, Gordon) - 13:05
7. Sun Secrets (Butler) - 3:02
8.City Boy (Burdon, Sterling) 3:50
9. Gotta Get It On (Sterling, Hodgson) - 2:57
10.The Man (Sterling, Mitthauer, Ryan) - 2:56
11 I'm Lookin' Up (Sterling, Kesterson) - 2:15
12.Rainbow (Burdon, Morris, Kesterson) - 2:39
13.All I Do (Burdon, Kesterson, Sterling) - 2:08
14.Funky Fever (Ryan, Sterling) - 2:48
15.The Way It Should Be (Sterling) - 3:13
16.Stop (Sterling, Kesterson, Haney) - 5:45

The Eric Burdon Band
Sun Secrets
*Aalon - Guitar
*Alvin Taylor - Drums
*Randy Rice - Bass Guitar
*Eric Burdon - Vocals
Stop
*Eric Burdon - Lead Vocal
*John Sterling, Aalon - Guitars
*Alvin Taylor, George Suranovich - Drums
*Kim Kesterson, Randy Rice - Bass
*Terry Ryan - Keyboards
*Moses Wheelock, Alvin Taylor - Percussion

with The Animals
1967  Eric Is Here
1967  Winds of Change
1968  The Twain Shall Meet
1966-68  Roadrunners! Rare Live And Studio Recordings

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Van Morrison - Blowin' Your Mind! (1967 ireland, essential debut solo album, extra tracks edition)

Van Morrison...turbulent...today...inside....a mult colored window through which one views at time  himself and his counterself. Van Morrison...erratic and painful...whose music expressed the now! Unreal now!! the right now of his own road, his ancient highway. 

Born and raised in Ireland of mother and music and radios of stained wood and torn doth speakers that touched upon him with few but precious fragments of South and Soul...a different introduction for the Belfast boy of typical destiny who counted thousands of picket fences, decayed; leading him to Conservatory and the brass future of sound and distance. His books; his cathedral and one might have suspected no strange parallel within the cluttered floors and shelves of his library....Mother England and Muddy Waters...Land of Eire and Leadbelly... soldiers of bloodless legions and the endless army of notes whole and quarter skipping across the lines; the miles of his own battalions of music and music.

For Morrison no purpose of clouded lyrics promising jungles of purple birds or heavens of wish granting angels...for Morrison it was an infinite yearning, a hope to express the shape and smell of sheets embracing life and death...for Morrison it was and is the uncanny drive to hum of pain and women...to hum of small spaces between bed and floor...to sing of flesh and inflict...to toss darts at clouds of intangible super-structures and fantastic shapes and still hold tight to the real of dust of bottles and heartbreak.

"She comes to my room and sits on my bed and makes me feel so good." This from his pen, this from the group he formed "Them" and suddenly stardom, through the streets of London and recording studios all electric and surrounded by men of coin and dialect and repeating over and over "come on baby...once more, we got a hit" and Van blows and Van sings and Van screams and Van listens and Van says, "up them all" and becomes Van and what the hell that's his friend and now he can live with himself. He's on the golden heels of success and his recordings are ubiquitous "baby please don't go" from the down home weed country of the United States of Afro America.

This LP is Van Morrison. We won't explain it to you. With this one, go for yourself.

by Bert Berns, 1967, Original Album liner notes.

Tracks
1. Brown Eyed Girl - 3:06
2. He Ain't Give You None - 5:13
3. T.B. Sheets - 9:45
4. Spanish Rose - 3:06
5. Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye) (Wes Farrell, Bert Russell) - 2:58
6. Ro Ro Rosey - 3:04
7. Who Drove The Red Sports Car? - 5:35
8. Midnight Special (Traditional) - 2:52
9. Spanish Rose - 3:37
10.Ro Ro Rosey - 3:12
11.Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye) (Farrell, Russell) - 2:42
12.Who Drove The Red Sports Car? - 3:51
13.Midnight Special (Traditional) - 2:47
All songs by Van Morrison except where noted
Bonus tracks 9-13

Musicians
*Van Morrison - Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards
*Eric Gale - Guitar
*Al Gorgoni - Guitar
*Paul Griffin - Keyboards
*Arthur Kaplan - Wind
*Herb Lovell - Drums
*Hugh Mccracken - Guitar
*Russell Savkas - Bass
*Myrna Smith - Vocal
*Don Thomas - Guitar
*Jeff Barry - Percussion, Vocal
*Bert Berns - Vocal
*Bob Bushnell - Bass
*Artie Butler - Keyboards
*George Devens - Percussion
*Seldon Powell - Wind
*Brooks Arthur - Vocal
*Gary Chester - Drums
*Cissy Houston - Vocal
*Dee Dee Warwick - Vocal

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The Fox - For Fox Sake (1970 uk, beautiful colorful pyschedelia, RPM edition)

The Fox formed in Brighton in 1968 when veterans of several local bands teamed together. Hammond organist Alex Lane, drummer Tim Reeves, and percussionist-singer Nick Apostiledes had been in the mod-soul band the Alex Lane Group. Reeves had also been in the soul band Omega Plus, as had bassist-keyboardist Dave Windross. Songwriter and guitarist Steve Brayne, who had known Lane and Reeves since primary school, completed the first lineup, though Apostiledes was soon replaced by guitarist Winston Weatherill (formerly in Gary Farr & the T-Bones). The band made test recordings at a 12-hour session in Radio Luxembourg Studios, which worked out so well that most of them were issued as For Fox Sake, though a couple tracks were re-recorded. Management interest cooled off, however, and The Fox broke up soon after the album's release. 

by Richie Unterberger

The Fox's lone album is essential and worthy of any record collection. Originally released on Fontana Records in 1970, the album is an work of art with some great haunting guitar work and hammond organ. All the songs included here are expertly crafted pop with enough experimentation, psychedelia, and intelligence to make it worth your while and if the works on this album are anything to go by then, they must have been a great live act.

For many of us the Fox were first introduced to us via the fourth Rubble compilation, 'The 49 Minute Technicolour Dream', anyone remember "Butterfly"?, which despite it's majestic sound and liner notes, actually featured no sitar at all!

Top picks from the album include the single, "Secondhand Love" which has some nice guitar and organ interplay; "Glad I Could" has a nice feel to it making it a nice beaty pop number which would have made an excellent single; "Birthday Card" has some really nice harmonies and lovely organ work; "Madame Magical" is real brain stormer and the most psychedelic sounding clocking in at almost ten minutes. 

Marmalade-skies

Tracks

1. Second Hand Love (Alex Lane) - 3:10

2. Lovely Day (Steve Brayne) - 3:28

3. As She Walks Away (A. Lane) - 5:32

4. Glad I Could (Steve Brayne) - 3:04

5. Butterfly (S. Brayne, A. Lane) - 3:26

6. Look In The Sky (S. Brayne, A. Lane) - 3:46

7. Goodtime Music (Steve Brayne) - 2:50

8. Mr Blank (Steve Brayne) - 3:26

9. Man In A Fast Car (Steve Brayne) - 3:01

10.Birthday Card (A. Lane, N. Apostiledes) - 4:17

11.Madame Magical (S. Brayne, N. Apostiledes) - 9:48

12.Lovely Day (Bonus Track, Demo) (Steve Brayne) - 3:37

13.Mr Blank (Bonus Track, Demo) (Steve Brayne) - 3:23

The Fox

*Steve Brayne - Lead Guitar

*Alex Lane - Hammond Organ, Piano

*Tim Reeves - Drums

*Winston Weatherill - Lead Guitar, Sitar

*David Windcross - Bass, Piano

*Nick Apostiledes - Composer

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The Mandrake Memorial - Medium (1969 us, nice psych early prog rock)

The Mandrake Memorial began with an unknown New York City band called The Novae Police, featuring the rhythm section of Kevin Lally (drums) and Randy Monaco (bass, vocals). They played in the Village for a while, opening for bands like The Flying Machine with james Taylor. Randy was also doing a lot of demo work, singing on the first demo of "Happy Together", which The Turtles later recorded. Meanwhile, guitarist Craig Anderton was playing in a college band from the University of Pennsylvania called The Flowers of Evil, who played shows with Todd Rundgren's first band. Woody' Truck Stop. 

Keyboardist Michael Kac was in a Philadelphia band. Cat's Cradle, whose bass player, Greg Irons, later became a psychedelic artist on the West Coast. The Mandrakes came together through promoter Larry Schriver. Who was working in conjunction with club owner Manny Rubin. Manny was looking for a house band for his club. The Trauma, which was located on 22nd and Arch Streets in Philadelphia, right around the corner from The Electric Factory. 

Larry's job was to put together a band and got Craig and Michael to quit their bands and form a group with Randy and Kevin, who were recommended as a great rhythm section by Ken King from Lothar And The Hand People, who were playing at The Trauma. With the incentive of being the house band and playing every weekend, the Mandrake Memorial was born in late 1967. They started playing the Philadelphia, New York, Boston and college circuits at clubs like The Boston Tea Party. Psychedelic Supermarket. Electric Circus. Cafe A Go- Go fin NYC). Second Fret and The Main Point just outside Philadelphia, where they were most popular. 

The group opened for top acts like Big Brother, Zappa and Moby Grape. They also played on TV with Pink Floyd. Through Trauma owner Manny Rubin, they were signed to a new label. Poppy, which was a subsidiary of MGM. Their first album, called simply "Mandrake Memorial", was released in the fall of 1968 and sold over 100.000 copies, mainly in Philadelphia. New York and Boston. By the time their second LP, "Medium", was released in the spring of '69, harpsichord player Michael Kac had left the band due to musical differences. 

As a three piece, the group went to England to record an LP with Shel Talmy as producer. They had a tour set up in England, but weren't allowed to play due to some union disagreement that was going on in 1969 between England and American groups, which also prevented The Nazz (Rundgren's new group) from playing there as well. While in England, the Mandrakes recorded a very intimate acoustic guitar album that was deemed "too uncommercial" and was thus shelved. Such "unplugged" material would become very popular just a few months later with Crosby Stills and Nash. 

One acetate of this album survives today and many of these songs would later appear on their final album, "Puzzle", released in the fall of 1969. Produced by Ronald Frungipane. "Puzzle" contained grandiose classical ideas that were the result of his background in classical music. After "Puzzle", the group recorded a version of the Thunderclap Newman hit "Something In The Air", which was released as a 45 with picture sleeve in the winter of '69. After this 45. Kevin left the band and Craig formed an electronic band. Anomaly, with musicians Charles Cohen and Jeff Kane. 

They backed up singer/songwriter Linda Cohen on her first two Poppy LPs. released in 1971-72. Randy Monaco ended up playing with a later version of The 1910 Fruitum Co. before his death in the late '70s from cirrhosis.

by David L. Brown, July 1996

Tracks
1. Snake Charmer - 2:45
2. Witness The End / Celebration - 5:42
3. Other Side - 3:25
4. Last Number - 4:31
5. After Pascal - 6:51
6. Smokescreen - 5:06
7. Barnaby Plum - 6:10
8. Cassandra - 5:26

The Mandrake Memorial
*Craig Anderton - Guitars, Electronics, Sitar
*Michael Kac - Keyboards, Voices
*Randy Monaco - Bass, Voices
*John Kevin Lally - Drums

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Stone Harbour - Emerges (1974 us, rough basement acid psych)

Stone Harbour  are two multi-instrumentalists creating a melancholic dreamlike state with songs fading in and out of the speakers, cavemen drums, primitive electronics and murky fuzz lurking in the background. The best tracks go into places no other albums reach. 

Actually closer to the heart of psychedelia than most other records listed here.' Acid Archives of Underground Sounds 'What's a boy to do? It's 1974, you're young and have a head full of Hawkwind and Roky and the Elevators, and old brutalist blues in the Hound Dog Taylor/Fred McDowell backwoods whisky-fucked mode; you're stuck in Hicksville, USA; the music scene sucks: glam's dead or dying slowly; punk is a good year or so from even starting to get itself born. 

Town's too damn small to even muster up a band. It's just and your buddy and that's it, man. So you grow your hair and wear satin, wander wide-eyed and tripping across small-town railway tracks and hang loose at the weekend in your basement. You gather a bunch of cheapo instruments on the never-never and you start cutting low-fi bedroom demos. Stone Harbour were Ric Ballas and Dave McCarty, and out of nowhere and nothing, at entirely the wrong time, they cut an LP that will blow your head clean off. This is a trip into the true dark heart of psychedelia! 

The music? 'You'll Be a Star' shimmers and aches in the midnight; cymbals wash over you, Dave McCarty's vocals emerge from some subterranean cave, as the keyboards flicker, flicker, flash across the periphery of the song; 'Rock & Roll Puzzle' is dark, twisted fried garage punk blues brutality, pre-empting The Gories and Pussy Galore by a good ten years! Songs fade in and out; finger-picking blurs into screaming squelching synths; guitars melt in the mid-summer heat. 

'Grains of Sand' frazzles like The Stooges through a fucked-up amp and filtered through a transistor radio with the valves burning out, whilst 'Summer Magic is Gone' is the most haunted, haunting song in many a long strange moon. Shimmers like stars in the 2 am fog and haze, and bleeds lost and lonely and bruised into the heat-warped dawn. You're still awake, although the brain doesn't work like it used to. 

Blurred and bleary and exhilarated and stoned to the very core of your soul.' Booklet includes lyrics and notes; disc has a handful of previously unreleased tracks from 1975 sessions as bonus tracks.

Light in the Attic

Tracks
1. You'll Be A Star (Ric Ballas, Dave McCarty) - 4:34
2. Rock 'n' Roll Puzzle (Ric Ballas, Dave McCarty) - 3:16

3. Grains Of Sand (Ric Ballas, Dave McCarty) - 5:14

4. Summer Magic Is Gone - 3:15
5. Stone's Throw - 1:25
6. Thanitos - 1:48
7. Still Like That Rock 'n' Roll - 4:02
8. Ride - 3:30
9. Dying To Love You - 3:24
10.Workin' For The Queen - 3:05
11.Taurus - 4:15
12.Wonderland (Ric Ballas, Dave McCarty) - 3:58

13.Witch To You (Ric Ballas, Dave McCarty) - 4:37

14.BattleAxe - 3:17
15.(Untitled) - 1:00
All songs by Ric Ballas  except where noted

Stone Harbour
*Ric Ballas - Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Vocals
*Dave McCarty - Vocals, Drums, Percussion

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Sweetwater - Sweetwater (1968 us, attractive sunny baroque psych folk rock)

An unusual rock group in both the size of their lineup (which numbered eight), the instrumentation employed, and the eclectic scope of their material, Sweetwater didn't quite get the first-class songs or breaks necessary to make them widely known. Lead singer Nansi Nevins was backed not just by conventional guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, but also flute (Albert Moore), conga (Elpidio Cobian), and cello (August Burns). 

Their self-titled debut album was the kind of release that could have only been the product of the late '60s, with the music flying off in all directions, and a major label willing to put it out. Sweetwater blended Californian psychedelia with jazzy keyboards and a classical bent, especially in the flute and cello, but did not cohere into a readily identifiable aesthetic, or write exceptional songs, although they were okay. 

Perhaps Reprise was willing to give such a hard to market and classify band a shot, figuring that in the midst of psychedelic rock scaling the charts that would have seemed unimaginably weird just a couple of years before, who knew what would sell now? Sweetwater was formed from a group of friends that jammed at coffeehouses in Los Angeles in the mid '60s. 

Harvey Gerst, who had written a Byrds song with Roger McGuinn ("It Won't Be Wrong"), was an unofficial member of sorts, sometimes acting as road manager and playing guitar. For their debut album they were produced by Dave Hassinger, who had worked, as recording engineer and producer, with the Rolling Stones, Electric Prunes, and the Grateful Dead. In the late '60s they opened for a lot of big-time acts, and played a bunch of festivals without breaking into the headliner ranks. In fact, they were the very first band to take the stage at Woodstock.

In December 1969, twenty year old Nansi Nevins was in a serious car accident in which she suffered severe brain trauma and damaged her vocal cords, putting her in a coma for weeks and necessitating physical therapy for years. Although she had recorded a couple of tracks on their second Reprise album, she was unable to rejoin the band, which had to stop touring and lost any career momentum it had developed. Producer Richard Perry tried working with them, but that didn't pan out well, although the second album was completed with other members of the band taking lead vocals. 

They broke up in the summer of that year. The surviving trio of Nevins, keyboardist Alex Del Zoppo and bassist Fred Herrera reunited Sweetwater in 1997, and two years later -- to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Woodstock -- cable network VH1 produced and broadcast a film about the group, with Felicity co-star Amy Jo Johnson cast as Nansi Nevins; the picture sparked a considerable resurgence of interest in the group.

by Richie Unterberger

Tracks
1. Motherless Child (Fred Herrera, Nancy Nevins, Traditional) - 5:05
2. Here We Go Again (Nancy Nevins) - 2:33
3. For Pete's Sake (Alex Del Zoppo) - 2:51
4. Come Take A Walk (Nancy Nevins) - 3:46
5. What's Wrong (Alex Del Zoppo) - 4:02
6. In A Rainbow (Alex Del Zoppo) - 3:17
7. My Crystal Spider (Fred Herrera, Nancy Nevins) - 3:52
8. Rondeau (Fred Herrera) - 1:16
9. Two Worlds (Nancy Nevins) - 3:53
10.Through And Old Storybook (Alex Del Zoppo, Fred Herrera) - 2:31
11.Why Oh Why (Albert B. Moore) - 3:01

Sweetwater
*Nanci Nevins - Lead Vocals
*August Burns - Cello
*Alex Del Zoppo - Keyboards, Vocals
*R.G. Carlyle - Bongos, Guitar, Vocals
*Elpido "Pete" Cobian - Congas, Percussion
*Albert B. Moore - Flute, Vocals
*Fred Herrera - Bass, Vocals
*Alan Malarowitz - Drums

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