John Baldry - It Ain't Easy (1971 uk, remarkable blues classic rock, 2005 bonus tracks remaster)

Most folk who remember “Long” John Baldry at all recall only his chart-topping single of 1967, the maudlin crooner ballad “Let The Heartaches Begin”. But if the mettle of a performer is measured by the affection and respect of his fellow professionals and their willingness to participate in his art, then this album is a testament to a musician who’d been an industry favourite from his earliest days as the original vocalist and occasional guitarist with Alexis Korner’s pioneering Blues Incorporated. To proffer just two examples, the virtually unknown Baldry was an invited guest on the Fabs’ 1964 international TV spectacular “Around The Beatles” – which is where I first heard him – and is credited in Elton John’s “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” after he dissuaded John from suicide following the latter’s distraught realisation of his sexuality. Himself openly gay, dazzlingly handsome and at six foot seven a magnificent, elegant figure, Baldry’s talent deserved wider commercial success than it ever achieved.

After his misguided, though briefly successful, flirtation with middle-of-the-road music Baldry angled to get back to his folk-country-blues roots and in 1971, via former Steampacket and Bluesology colleagues Rod Stewart and Elton John, signed with Warner Brothers for whom he would cut two albums, It’s Not Easy being the first. The then nascent rock superheroes Stewart and John produced one side of the album each, and the result is a mildly schizophrenic opus with the Stewart topside comprising mostly rollicking bluesy outings and the John flipside more thoughtful, soulful fare. Baldry’s warm, abrasive tenor delivery makes the best of both. The lists of musicians also signify the esteem in which Baldry was held; among many other front-liners, the Stewart sessions feature Rod’s old muckers Ron Wood and Mickey Waller from the erstwhile Jeff Beck Group, while the flip includes Elton himself on piano plus his early sidekick guitarist and organist Caleb Quaye. The eclectic list of writers includes Baldry’s original muse Huddie “Leadbelly” Leadbetter, Tuli Kopferberg of the Fugs, Lesley Duncan, Randy Newman, the John/Taupin axis and Stewart himself.

The opening recitative “Conditional Discharge”, in which Baldry wryly relates an encounter with the Metropolitan Police during his Soho busking days over an effortless boogie-woogie piano backing, segues brilliantly into the thunderous “Don’t Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie On The King Of Rock And Roll” with everybody in the band rocking out like there’s no tomorrow. Baldry’s faithful homage to Leadbelly on “Black Girl” is a duet with chainsaw-voiced chanteuse Maggie Bell over piano, Dobro and mandolin, whilst the title track is a rolling country boogie with Bell again in tow and a great Delaney-And-Bonnie vibe. “Mr Rubin” is a beautifully understated piano-led take on Duncan’s plangent appeal to the militant Yippie founder. The final track of the original ten is a splendid extended cover of the Faces’ “Flying” with great piano from Elton and soaring, gospel-inspired ensemble backing vocals.

The album sold sparingly in the US and barely at all in the UK, and received its first CD reissue only in 2005 when Warners put it out with a clutch of bonus outtakes and a panegyric booklet note by Sid Griffin. The extras included alternative, less-produced takes on three of the originals plus four delightful classic acoustic blues covers which contrast with the densely-produced originals and showcase Baldry’s voice and guitar in a setting otherwise unadorned but for an anonymous harmonica player (Stewart?). The second and last Warner album Everything Stops For Tea in 1972 made no showing and Baldry’s career thereafter was uneven and mostly unedifying, with continuous health problems, and sporadic, patchy albums and live appearances alternating with commercially more successful placements as a bit-part actor and voiceover specialist. He relocated to Vancouver in 1978 and died there from pneumonia aged just 64, just a month after this album was reissued.

by Len Liechti

Tracks
1. Intro: Conditional Discharge (John Baldry, Ian Armitt) - 3:16
2. Dont Try To Lay No Boogie-Woogie On The King Of Rock And Roll (Jeff Thomas) - 3:25
3. Black Girl (Traditional, Huddie Leadbetter) - 2:49
4. It Ain't Easy (Ron Davies) - 4:52
5. Morning, Morning (Tuli Kupferberg) - 2:37
6. I'm Ready (Willie Dixon) - 4:13
7. Let's Burn Down The Cornfield (Randy Newman) - 4:13
8. Mr. Rubin (Lesley Duncan) - 4:03
9. Rock Me When Hes Gone (Elton John, Bernie Taupin) - 4:04
10.Flying (Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Lane) - 6:52
11.Goin Down Slow (James B. Oden) - 3:08
12.Blues (Corn Bread, Meat, And Molasses)  (Sonny Terry, Brownie McGee) - 2:59
13.Love In Vain (Robert Johnson) - 4:18
14.Midnight Hour Blues (Leroy Carr) - 4:07
15.Black Girl (Alternate Take) (Huddie Ledbetter) - 3:31
16.It Aint Easy (Alternate Take) (Ron Davies) - 5:06
17.Im Ready (Alternate Take)  (Willie Dixon) - 4:12
18.Radio Spot - 0:29

Musicians
*John Baldry – Vocals, 12-String Guitar
*Maggie Bell - Vocals
*Elton John - Organ, Piano
*Ron Wood - Guitar
*Alan Skidmore - Tenor Saxophone
*Lesley Duncan - Background Vocals
*Tony Hazzard - Background Vocals
*Sam Mitchell - Dobro, Guitar, Slide Guitar
*Doris Troy - Background Vocals
*Ian Armit - Piano
*Tony Burrows - Background Vocals
*Kay Garner - Background Vocals
*Ricky Brown - Bass
*Dave Glover - Bass
*Roger Pope - Drums
*Caleb Quaye - Organ, Guitar
*Ray Jackson - Mandolin
*Joshua M'Bopo - Guitar
*Liza Strike - Background Vocals

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Sandy Salisbury - Do Unto Others (1969 us, magnificent sunshine folkish psych, 2013 Blu Spec, seventh part of eight discs box set)

At no other time in our history could Salisbury resurrect his musical career like he has in the new millennium. First gaining notice as a member of the band the Ballroom with producer extraordinaire Curt Boettcher, when Boettcher notcied he and Salisbury’s voices blended so well together one of the best sunshine pop partnerships of all time was born. Eventually the Ballroom was shut down and the two formed The Millennium. Luckily for Boettcher, Salisbury was as good a songwriter as he was a singer and was able to contribute heavily to both The Millennium and Boettcher’s next band, Sagitarrius. 

Though Sagitarrius only released one album, the excellent Present Tense, the duo continued to work together on a myriad bunch of other sunshine-pop projects and one-off’s. Usually set in a group context, Salisbury had a rare shot at solo fame when iconic producer Gary Usher offered Salisbury a solo deal with his Tomorrow label. An album was recorded and readied for release (entitled Sandy, the album was rumored to feature most of the Millennium) when the label was inexplicably shuttered, scuttling the album and souring Salisbury on the music business.

Flash forward about thirty years. Music of the ’60’s from soul to brit-pop to freakbeat to psychedelic rock to sunshine-pop is all being searched out by any of the hungry consumers still willing to buy CDs. Seems the boomers want it because they want to re-live the sounds of their youth and the youth want it because they’ve heard time and time again how groundbreaking music from that era was and how little their music matters in today’s society. So, you’ve got everybody from age 18 to 55 looking to buy both the well-known classics from the era plus any obscurities labels are able to dig up. Though the charts don’t necessarily show these reissues tallying up any groundbreaking sales numbers (not that any new releases are tallying up any groundbreaking sales numbers) it’s no secret these comps and obscurities are doing huge business.

It’s not for nothing labels big and small pushing new music are going under by the droves while a ton of reissue labels have sprung up and are thriving. Nor that mid-level artists are losing their record label contracts while reissue labels take the less confrontational road of buying masters from some accountant who used to be in a semi-popular psyche band and hyping their re-release like some recently dug-up Holy Grail.

Sure, I’m dumbing the whole thing down. In most cases what’s happening is beautiful and well-deserved. (And believe me, there is plenty of great new music coming out, so don’t harp at me about that. Always been and always will be. You just have to dig a little deeper to find it, that’s all.Sometimes too deep, but it’s still out there.) Suddenly, a true artist who did excellent but much-overlooked work like Salisbury has a chance to re-connect to his fanbase and get some attention for his efforts both long ago and recent. This album and three others released in the past five years or so (along with a ton of Millennium tracks and outtakes) have been released by the excellent Sonic Past Records in hopes of turning on sunshine-pop fans both young and old to the glorious voice and songwriting skills of Salisbury.

Though the album is made up of all old tracks rescued from someone’s archive, they show Salisbury at the height of his vocal power, singing as sweetly and genuinely as he’s ever sung, even besting most of The Millennium’s material as far as I am concerned. Salisbury’s songwriting is also formidable and while one listens to this album the question of why he isn’t a household name becomes inevitable as these great sunshiney songs fill your head with melodies a surgeon would have a hard time removing. Just sublime bubble-gummy pop. Since recording these songs, Salisbury has been a much-published children’s book author and has recently stated he plans an album of all-new material to be released very soon. Personally, I cannot wait.

Fans of ’60’s music, especially sunshine pop, will love this album. Full of catchy melodies and spectacular vocal work, this album is sure to bring a smile to your face and leave you hummin’. Does it get any better than that?

by Scott Homewood

Tracks
1. Just Don't Know How To Say Goodbye (Sandy Salisbury, Joey Stec) - 3:01
2. Spell On Me - 2:55
3. The Hills Of Vermont (Sandy Salisbury, Lee Mallory, Michael Fennelly) - 3:33
4. The Good Ol' Good Times (Michael Fennelly) - 2:03
5. Come Softly (Barbara Ellis, Gary Troxel, Gretchen Christopher) - 3:30
6. On And On She Goes (With Me Tonight) (Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson) - 2:56
7. Cecily (Sandy Salisbury, Curt Boettcher) - 2:54
8. Do Unto Others (Sandy Salisbury, Curt Boettcher) - 2:59
9. Once I Knew A Little Dog (Sandy Salisbury, Keith Colley) - 1:50
10.Baby Listen - 2:45
11.Goody Goodbye - 2:26
12.Sweet Sweet Cinnamon - 2:25
13.Every Minute Of My Life (Sandy Salisbury, Randy McNeill) - 2:18
14.I'll Do The Cryin' (Sandy Salisbury, Jill Jones) - 2:08
15.Super Day - 2:08
All songs written by Sandy Salisbury except where stated

Personnel
*Sandy Salisbury - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
*Curt Boettcher - Guitars, Vocals
*Lee Mallory - Guitars, Vocals
*Waddy Wachtel - Guitar
*Toxie French - Percussion, Marimba, Vibes
*Ron Edgar - Drums
*Doug Rhodes - Keyboards, Bass, Piano
*Ben Benay - Electric Guitar, Harmonica
*Jerry Scheff - Bass
*Orville "Red" Rhodes - Pedal Steel Guitar
*Gary Usher - Moog

1967-69  Sandy Salisbury – Everything For You Vol.1 (2013 blu spec)

1967-68  The Millennium - Pieces (2013 Blu Spec)  
1968  The Millennium - Begin (2013 Blue Spec edition)
1969  Curt Boettcher - Another Time (2013 Blu Spec) 
1966-68  Sagittarius - Present Tense
1970-71  Curt Boettcher - Chicken Little Was Right (2013 blu spec)
1967-72  Michael Fennelly - Love Can Change Everything (2013 release)
1970  Crabby Appleton - Crabby Appleton 
1971  Crabby Appleton - Rotten To The Core
1973  Michael Fennelly - Lane Changer (2015 issue)

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Sandy Salisbury – Everything For You Vol.1 (1967-69 us, amazing beat sunny psych folk, 2013 blu spec sixth part of eight cd box set)

Though he seemed a bit neglected as an author during the Millennium days, at least when it comes to the material that got released at the time, now at the wake of the new “millennium”, after all the Boettcher-related stuff shooting up like mushrooms after the (acid?) rain, it seems as he was among (if not THE) most prolific ones.

Here’s another one of his demo collections, full of what Curt was jealously saving for possible Millennium hits, that was gathering dust until his “millennial” pal Joey Stec has made it all possible for everyone else to hear.

Even though the saying goes that Sandy was teased for being a “bubblegummy”, he’s got nothing else to do but to be proud of the fact, as proven by such instant bubblegum classics that never were as the yummy So Close To Heaven, Over And Over Again, So Much Yourself, or Here Comes That Feeling, with the latter sounding kinda like a countryfied Fortunes.

Each and every one of the above would’ve surely raid the late sixties charts, had they only been allowed to, and the same goes for I’ll Do The Crying, Love Came To Strawberry Lane and Tender Loving Care, all perfect little “pocket symphonies”, had they been given a proper Spectorized treatment.

The genuinely British sounding, Yesterday Today And Tomorrow is a Hermits-like ditty, Tomorrow is kinda like Simon & Garfunkel at their gentlest, and while we’re at it, Dealer and I’m Moving On Back To You make a perfect folky pair, and of course there’s plenty of Millennial Brian Wilson-like innocence, as in Our Love Is An Unwritten Song, Content Am I or Warm Of August, while the acoustic demo of Pretty As A Picture seems like a classic power-pop number in the making.

All of it is delivered though Sandy’s perfect pop voice, often strongly resembling that of Davy Jones, making this an essential pop item.

by Garwood Pickjon

Tracks
1. So Close To Heaven - 2:25
2. Missouri Weeps - 2:23
3. Candy Kisses - 2:18
4. Our Love Is An Unwritten Song - 2:31
5. Here Come's That Feeling - 2:22
6. Dealer - 1:50
7. Leave It To Love - 2:32
8. Content Am I - 3:17
9. A Lot Of Love In Me - 2:30
10.Bring Me Home Again - 2:12
11.My True Confession - 3:06
12.I'm Moving On Back To You - 2:58
13.I'll Do The Crying - 2:07
14.Love Came To Strawberry Lane - 1:59
15.Over And Over Again - 2:42
16.Pretty As A Picture - 2:37
17.Warm Of August (Sandy Salisbury, Randy McNeill) - 2:44
18.Tender Loving Care - 2:11
19.So Much Yourself (Sandy Salisbury, Randy McNeill) - 2:24
20.Yesterday Today And Tomorrow - 2:37
21.Together In The End (Sandy Salisbury, Jill Marie Jones) - 2:27
22.Thank You For Loving Me (Sandy Salisbury, Gary Usher) - 2:21
23.Some Other Place - 2:18
24.Tomorrow - 2:21
25.A Little Bit Of Love - 1:50
All songs by Sandy Salisbury except where stated

Musicians
*Sandy Salisbury - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
*Curt Boettcher - Guitars, Vocals
*Lee Mallory - Guitars, Vocals
*Joey Stec - Guitar
*Michael Fennelly - Guitar
*Ron Edgar - Drums
*Doug Rhodes - Keyboards, Bass, Piano
*Ben Benay - Electric Guitar, Harmonica
*Jerry Scheff - Bass

1967-68  The Millennium - Pieces (2013 Blu Spec)  

1968  The Millennium - Begin (2013 Blue Spec edition)
1969  Curt Boettcher - Another Time (2013 Blu Spec) 
1966-68  Sagittarius - Present Tense
1970-71  Curt Boettcher - Chicken Little Was Right (2013 blu spec)
1967-72  Michael Fennelly - Love Can Change Everything (2013 release)
1970  Crabby Appleton - Crabby Appleton 
1971  Crabby Appleton - Rotten To The Core
1973  Michael Fennelly - Lane Changer (2015 issue)

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Dion - Kickin' Child / The Lost Album (1965 us, psych bluesy folk rock gem, tom wilson production, 2017 release)

Throughout 1965, Dion and his band, The Wanderers, augmented by keyboardist Al Kooper went into the studio with producer Tom Wilson to cut songs that were to make up Dion’s first true album.

Columbia Records, however, wouldn’t release the record, perhaps because it was folk-rock, not the mainstream pop that the label wanted Dion to record or maybe because they decided there weren’t any hits on the disc.

Now, more than 50 years later, “Kickin’ Child” is finally getting released by rock ‘n’ roll indie label Norton Records.

And it is superb, a fresh album that simultaneously sounds of its time, easily connecting to Bob Dylan’s “Bringing It All Back Home” and Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” -- both of which Wilson produced. And Kooper’s organ licks on "Now" and "Time in My Heart for You," echoes his work with Dylan.

The opening title cut is Dylanesque, a swinging number filled with word play and Dion’s vocals heading toward Dylan as well. It’s one of 10 originals on the record that also includes three Dylan covers, including a shimmering version of “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” with Dion applying his soulful singing to the now classic number.

Dion’s first adult album, “Kickin’ Child” contains some grown-up gems, like the swaggering “jump back baby” bluesy “Two Ton Feather,” a Byrds-like jangle-and-harmony take on Tom Paxton’s beautiful “I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound” and “Baby, I’m in the Mood for Love,” a shaker that’s, shall we say, far more mature than Dion’s teenage love songs.

Listening to “Kickin’ Child,” it’s baffling why Columbia didn’t release it -- and intriguing to ponder what would have happened if Dion had caught the folk-rock wave.

In any case, “Kickin’ Child” is, as Scott Kempner points out in his liner notes, the connection between Dion’s early hits “The Wanderer” and “Ruby Baby” and “Abraham, Martin & John” from 1968. More than that it is a fabulous album that is among the best things Dion ever has done -- thankfully, no longer lost. 

by Kent Wolgamott

Tracks
1. Kickin' Child (Dion DiMucci, Buddy Lucas) - 3:01
2. Now (Dion DiMucci, Carlo Mastrangelo) - 2:42
3. My Love - 2:09
4. I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound (Tom Paxton) - 2:53
5. Wake Up Baby - 3:14
6. Time In My Heart For You - 2:45
7. Tomorrow Won't Bring The Rain (Dion DiMucci, Carlo Mastrangelo) - 2:47
8. Baby, I'm In The Mood For You (Bob Dylan) - 2:38
9. Two Ton Feather - 2:53
10.Knowing I Won't Go Back There - 2:56
11.Farewell (Bob Dylan) - 3:27
12.All I Want To Do Is Live My Life (Mort Shuman) - 3:33
13.You Move Me Babe - 2:23
14.It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bob Dylan) - 3:33
15.So Much Younger - 3:07
All songs by Dion DiMucci except ehere stated

Musicians
*Dion DiMucci - Vocals, Guitar
*Johnny Falbo - Guitar
*Pete Falsciglia - Bass
*Carlo Matstrangelo - Drums
*Al Kooper - Keyboards

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Curt Boettcher - Chicken Little Was Right (1970-71 us, wonderful psych sunny folk, 2013 blu spec fifth part of eight cd box set)

After all the Millenium-related, as well as Curt’s own sixties stuff, being full of vocal harmony-laden studio trickery, at first I was kinda afraid of what to expect of what was described as his laid back/stripped down side.

As it happens, there wasn’t one bit of a reason to be afraid for, because, as much as it does sound different, these ‘70/’71 (mostly unfinished) recordings for the supposed There’s An Innocent Face follow up, are just as great as anything else he’d done in his “sonic past”.

The one that kinda stands out (and also the first one of only three Boettcher compositions, besides another co-written effort) is the opening I Call You My Rainbow, a gentle-fingerpickin’ folk, with an occasional power-chord or two, followed by Curt at his most folky in Louise, and speaking of which, there’s also an unpretentious acoustic arrangement of the earlier full-blown psych feel of Astral Cowboy.

Out Of The Dark Of The Night is a kind of a Bee Gees/Hollies-harmonizer, Rest In Piece offers a yummy slice of countryfied bubble-gum, while Sunrise Mango and Sunset’s Fallin’, accordingly to the titles, are a pair of perfect sunshine pop pieces.

“Chicken” or not, whoever tells you that this is another Boettcher-related classic, you can bet that he’s right!

by Garwood Pickjon

Tracks:
1. I Call You My Rainbow (Curt Boettcher) - 2:48
2. Louise (Jerry Netkin) - 2:42
3. Out Of The Dark Of The Night (Don Gere) - 2:47
4. Astral Cowboy (Curt Boettcher) - 2:24
5. Rest In Peace (Constantine Gusias) - 2:25
6. Sunrise Mango (Steven Scull) - 2:32
7. Sunset's Fallin' (Web Burrell, Ric DeLong) - 2:34
8. We're Dying [Angel City] (Curt Boettcher) - 4:07
9. You Make Me Feel So High (Curt Boettcher, Jerry Netkin) - 2:22
10.I've Been Wrong (Don Gere) - 3:00
11.She's Got The Power (Sandy Salisbury, Curt Boettcher) - 2:18

Personnel
Curt Boettcher - Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Harmony Vocals
Web Burrell - Acoustic and Electric Guitar, Bass, Drums, Timbales, Percussion, Harmony Vocals

1969  Curt Boettcher - Another Time (2013 Blu Spec) 

1965-68  The Millennium - Voices Of The Millennium (2013 Blu Spec)
1967-68  The Millennium - Pieces (2013 Blu Spec)
1968  The Millennium - Begin (2013 Blue Spec edition)
1966-68  Sagittarius - Present Tense

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Curt Boettcher - Another Time (1969 us, remarkable orchestrated sunny psych, 2013 Blu Spec, fourth part of eight discs box set)

Based around the ’69 recordings for the supposed solo album on his own Together label, co-owned with soulmates and collaborators Gary Usher and Keith Olsen, Another Time is quite possibly the closest you’ll get to an actual Curt Boettcher album, even though there was an official one soon to follow.

The Spector-cular opener Baby It’s Real is a song rescued from the Millennium days, the title song is a stripped down acoustic arrangement of the Sagittarius classic followed by the “hurdy-gurdy” piece of psych called Lament Of The Astral Cowboy, given away to Curt’s Ballroom bandmate Michele O’Malley, just as was the “misty” popsike ballad Misty Mirage, considered one of his highlight performances.

That’s The Way It’s Gonna Be is, of course, his second attempt at the Phil Ochs/Bob Gibson-written shoulda-been HIT song, already recorded with Lee Mallory, which is as psychedelic and jazzy as bubblegum could ever get, while Tumbling Tumbleweeds is another sparkling cover, turned into a SMiLE-ing Americana.

Also present is Curt’s softish country sophistication Share With Me, coupled with Sometime for a Together single release, as well as a pair of songs from another aborted solo album sessions, 1973’s Chicken Little Was Right, recently also reissued by Sonic Past Music. The first of these, Louise, is probably among the closest Curt got to the traditional folky sound after his GoldeBriars days, while the other one is a perfect slice of country bubblegum called Rest In Peace.

The furthest you’ll get into the past is through a bunch of groovy high quality ’67 demos of songs, later recorded by either Millennium, Sagittarius, Sunshine Company or Eternity’s Children, of which at least one not only matches but outshines the officially released version (If You Only Knew), and as a special bonus, there’s also the ’65 demo acetate of Along Comes Mary, featuring Curt on vocals, backed by the author Tandyn Almer on piano and The Association’s own Gary Alexander on guitar, along with an unknown drummer.

Considering the amount of unreleased Boettcher-related material that has re-surfaced in the recent years, it seems as if “another time” might as well be the subtitle to each one of his recording, foreseeing the date of its release.

by Garwood Pickjon

Tracks
1. Baby It's Real (Curt Boettcher, Michael Fennelly, Sandy Salisbury) - 2:43
2. Another Time - 2:40
3. Lament Of The Astral Cowboy - 2:16
4. I Just Want To Be Your Friend - 2:21
5. Louise (Jerry Netkin) - 2:41
6. Share With Me (Lee Mallory, Joey Stec, Gary Usher) - 3:06
7. Along Comes Mary (Tandyn Almer) - 2:39
8. Sometimes (Curt Boettcher, Lee Mallory) - 2:58
9. That's The Way It's Gonna Be (Bob Gibson, Phil Ochs) - 3:30
10.The Know It All - 2:07
11.Misty Mirage - 4:15
12.If You Only Knew - 2:39
13.Rest In Peace - 2:40
14.Tumbling Tumbleweeds (Bob Nolan) - 3:50
15.You Know I've Found A Way (Curt Boettcher, Lee Mallory) - 1:52
16.Another Time (Curt Boettcher, Lee Mallory) - 2:59
17.Meanwhile Back At The World - 2:53
All songs by Curt Boettcher except where noted

Musicians
*Curt Boettcher - Guitars, Vocals, Bass, Harmony Vocals
*Lee Mallory - Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
*Doug Rhodes - Piano
*Sandy Salisbury - Vocals
*Ron Edgar - Drums
*Jerry Scheff - Bass
*Ben Benay - Guitar
*Mike Melvoin - Piano, Organ
*Toxie French - Percussion, Vibes, Marimba
*Red Rhodes - Pedal Steel
*Waddy Wachtel - Electric Guitar

1965-68  The Millennium - Voices Of The Millennium (2013 Blu Spec)  

1967-68  The Millennium - Pieces (2013 Blu Spec)
1968  The Millennium - Begin (2013 Blue Spec edition)
1966-68  Sagittarius - Present Tense
1967-72  Michael Fennelly - Love Can Change Everything (2013 release)
1970  Crabby Appleton - Crabby Appleton 
1971  Crabby Appleton - Rotten To The Core
1973  Michael Fennelly - Lane Changer (2015 issue)

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The Millennium - Voices Of The Millennium (1965-68 us, bautiful sunshine psychedelia. 2013 Blu Spec issue, third part of eight discs box set)

The Voices Of Millennium are actually telling us about how some of the band members were spending their time after The Millennium break-up (if there ever was one) towards the end of the decade. Though it might not be as adventurous as it was while they were only just “begin-ining”, these sessions show that they were still spending some quality time together.

Some of the tracks, with an almost baroque country feel, with the kind of a Wilson-ian touch too, like I Still Can See Your Face and Will You Ever See Me, as well as the chamber-psych The Blue Marble, later surfaced on Gary Usher’s sophomore Sagittarius release of the same title, while another easy country piece, Share With Me, graced the sunny side of Curt Boettcher’s Together single.

Along with the Spector-ized opener Come To Me Baby, the ones contributing to the more cheery side of the album, are mostly the songs coming from the pen of Sandy Salisbury, with or without a collaborator.

His Measure Of A Man is another piece of more innocent sounding country, as if done by Herman’s Hermits, Navajo Girl adds a bit of a bubblegummy flavour too, with an additional eastern touch through the sitar solo, while the yummy sounding Gouldman-like Together In The End and Little Lost & Found continue to blow the same bubbles, and Midnight Sun is a piece of popsike Monkee-business.

Hear the Voices Of The Millennium and let yourself be taken back to the “sonic past” … once again!

by Garwood Pickjon

Tracks
1. Come To Me Baby (Wilson) - 2:44
2. I Still Can See Your Face (Gary Usher) - 3:02
3. Measure Of A Man (Sandy Salisbury) - 2:26
4. Magic Island (Lee Mallory, Curt Boettcher) - 3:14
5. Will You Ever See Me (Gary Usher) - 2:17
6. The Blue Marble (Gary Usher) - 3:01
7. Together In The End (Curt Boettcher, Sandy Salisbury) - 2:33
8. Share With Me (Curt Boettcher, Joey Stec, Gary Usher, Lee Mallory) - 3:12
9. Midnight Sun (Gary Usher, Sandy Salisbury) - 2:09
10.Little Lost And Found (Sandy Salisbury) - 1:56
11.Navajo Girl (Sandy Salisbury, Gary Usher) - 2:33
12.Keep On Dreamin' (AKA There Is Nothing More To Say) (Curt Boettcher, Michael Fennelly, Lee Mallory, Sandy Salisbury) - 2:07

Musicians
*Curt Boettcher - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
*Lee Mallory - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
*Sandy Salisbury - Guitar, Vocals
*Ben Benay - Lead Guitar
*Chuck Girard - Vocals
*Jerry Scheff - Bass
*Gary Usher - Vocals
*Skip - Drums

1967-68  The Millennium - Pieces (2013 Blu Spec)  

1968  The Millennium - Begin (2013 Blue Spec edition)
Related Acts
1966-68  Sagittarius - Present Tense
1967-72  Michael Fennelly - Love Can Change Everything (2013 release)
1970  Crabby Appleton - Crabby Appleton 
1971  Crabby Appleton - Rotten To The Core
1973  Michael Fennelly - Lane Changer (2015 issue)

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The Millennium - Pieces (1967-68 us, brilliant baroque sunny psych, 2013 Blu Spec part of eight discs box set)

There's an old L.A. music biz tale that details a stunned Brian Wilson accidentally overhearing a recording session down the hall from his own. As the story goes, Wilson was hanging at Studio Three West with Pet Sounds collaborator Gary Usher in the spring of 1966 when he caught snippets of a recording conducted by 21-year-old wunderkind Curt Boettcher. Boettcher, fresh from producing The Association's first record, and with something of a rare talent for soaring, angelic vocal arrangements along the lines of Wilson's very own, took Wilson and Usher by complete surprise. In fact, legend has it that Boettcher's ability to produce majestically layered instrumental and vocal pieces seemingly at the drop of a hat threw Wilson for a loop, and is rumored to have started the breakdown that would ultimately destroy his Smile project, and indeed his life ever after.

Even if you don't buy the story, Boettcher's effect on L.A. pop cannot be denied. Usher would soon pull him in as a collaborator on what would later become Present Tense by Sagittarius, a psych-pop outfit whose only LP is one of the great, lost classics of "sunshine pop." Boettcher's other major projects in the 60s were work with his own band The Ballroom, and later, a curiously overlooked record by songwriter supergroup The Millennium. In addition to his love of exquisite harmony vocals, Boettcher's stereo productions were remarkably crisp for the time-- certainly more so that Wilson's concurrent adventures in mono. I'd say Boettcher's own songs (and that of most sunshine pop artists) usually weren't of the same depth as Wilson's, but that's another argument.

The Millennium was comprised of several successful songwriters and musicians living and working in Los Angeles in the mid-60s, including Lee Mallory, Sandy Salisbury and Joey Stec. All had worked with or around Boettcher and Usher, and proved themselves capable of delivering on what would become the largest recording budget in Columbia Records' history to that point. Their result was 1968's Begin, and though it's probably the single greatest 60s pop record produced in L.A. outside of The Beach Boys, it (like Wilson's music) found itself very much outside the times that year. After Begin tanked, the band was dropped from Columbia-- setting up the perfect cult record years later. Of course, the band had planned to make many more albums, and Pieces collects demos intended for their follow-up.

Anyone hip to The Millennium or other Boettcher projects might recognize many of the songs here, as they've been released before as Again, though Pieces includes many tracks that failed to make that compilation. Most importantly, almost all of these songs will be of interest to folks looking for perfect pop in the mold of The Association, Beach Boys and even into the budding country-rock of The Byrds. "I Just Don't Know How to Say Goodbye" is an almost perfect realization of the styles of each of those artists, though the tune and loose, gentle optimism of Salisbury's vocal give it a strength to stand on its own. The song, with rising, major-key guitar figures and a folkish bent (much of this music could have worked in a completely acoustic setting) did show up on Salisbury's 1968 solo LP.

"Can You See" is one of many Stec/Michael Fennelly songs (the pair was also responsible for the magnificent "To Claudia on Thursday" from Begin), and is a typically upbeat, sunny tune that might pass for The Monkees were it not for its surprisingly down-to-earth lyrics lamenting love lost over material concerns. The strength of the writing throughout the album is such that the band's failure to break through is a little shocking. "How Much I Love You" is a tender acoustic ballad also penned by Stec and Fennelly, and though it probably helped give birth to Jewel mk. I, it's nonetheless at once achingly melancholy and performed with professionalism that could have made it a hit in another universe. The same goes for the pair's "Sometime or Another", though this actually approaches indie-torch song along the lines Uncle Tupelo.

Although not every song on Pieces matches up with the band's best, none of it ever really betrays its origination as demo recordings. Boettcher obviously had some hand in this, though since all of the band were insiders to some degree, it's not surprising they had access to studios and engineers no other similarly unknown band could ever dream of. Song like "Suspended Animation" (first rate country-pop with a strange sci-fi theme) or the Beatlesque "It's You" sound better than 90% of the music to actually chart in 1968. The latter song in particular, with its pristine harmony vocals and chugging, "Baby You're a Rich Man" bass work, makes it hard to believe Clive Davis never saw anything in these guys.

If all of this is news to you, my advice is to run out in grab a copy of Begin. After that, check out Sagittarius and Boettcher's other projects. And then, when you think you've run out of sugary fun-time pop with a faint dejected edge, head here. The Millennium deserved better way back when, but anyone interested in 60s pop and folk-rock should have no problem digging them now.

by Dominique Leone

Tracks
1. Prelude (Ron Edgar, Doug Rhodes) - 1:04
2. To Claudia On Thursday (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) -  2:51
3. Baby It's Real (Curt Boettcher, Michael Fennelly, Sandy Salisbury) - 2:37
4. It's You (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 2:48
5. I Just Don't Know How To Say Goodbye (Sandy Salisbury, Joey Stec) - 2:04
6. Good People (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 3:07
7. Can You See (Michael Fennelly, Lee Mallory) - 2:24
8. How Much I Love You (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 4:06
9. The Blues Is Just A Good Woman Gone Bad (Michael Fennelly, Lee Mallory) - 2:39
10.Once Upon A Time (Curt Boettcher, Lee Mallory) - 2:27
11.Dying With You (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 2:14
12.The Word (Lee Mallory) - 3:02
13.Share With Me (Lee Mallory, Sandy Salisbury, Joey Stec, Gary Usher) - 3:06
14.Something Or Another (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 3:41
15.A Younger Me (Michael Fennelly, Lee Mallory) - 2:54
16.I Need To Be By Your Side (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 1:51
17.Sunshine Girl (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 2:41
18.Suspended Animation (Curt Boettcher, Lee Mallory, Sandy Salisbury, Joey Stec) - 3:11
19.The Ways I Love You (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 2:07
20.The Hills Of Vermont (Michael Fennelly, Lee Mallory, Sandy Salisbury) - 3:13
21.It Won't Always Be The Same (Michael Fennelly, Joey Stec) - 3:09

Personnel
*Curt Boettcher - Vocals, Guitar
*Ron Edgar - Drums, Vocals
*Michael Fennelly - Guitar, Vocals
*Lee Mallory - Vocals
*Doug Rhodes - Horn, Keyboards, Vocals
*Sandy Salisbury - Guitar, Vocals
*Joey Stec - Guitar

1968  The Millennium - Begin (2013 Blue Spec edition)
Related Acts
1966-68  Sagittarius - Present Tense
1967-72  Michael Fennelly - Love Can Change Everything (2013 release)
1970  Crabby Appleton - Crabby Appleton 
1971  Crabby Appleton - Rotten To The Core
1973  Michael Fennelly - Lane Changer (2015 issue)

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The Mystery Trend - So Glad I Found You (1966-67 us, marvelous folk psych garage rock, extra tracks edition)

If the Airplane and the Dead were the Beatles and Stones of San Francisco's mid-1960s rock heyday, then the Mystery Trend were its Zombies or Left Banke, peddling craftsmanship and high quality pop songs in an era of burgeoning indulgence. Ahead of anyone else except perhaps the Charlatans, the Trend was the first alternative rock group in the Bay Area, debuting in May 1965.

Unlike the ex-folkies and beatniks that comprised the rest of the scene, the group, led by keyboardist and songwriter Ron Nagle, were older and came from an art school background, eschewing the jams and free-form modality of other local groups for concise ensemble arrangements. "The kind of writing that was going on in San Francisco then, to me, it was dogshit" says Nagle."Everyone was into this wankingsoloingpsychedelic-droneout. It was very uncool to play three minute pop songs." Nagle and guitarist Bob Cuff were turning out gems like Carl Street and Words You Whisper by the dozen, to the general indifference of crowds at countercultural hotspots like the Matrix or Fillmore.

Consequently, the Trend was a neurotic, uptight set of individuals who lent their quirky pop a garage-band edge. Shows were few and far between for these musical outcasts who preferred cocktails to acid, and Burt Bacharach to Ravi Shankar. In late 1967, while all around were being signed up in a major label feeding frenzy, the group quietly broke up. Nagle went on to release the classic cult album "Bad Rice" before pursuing his chosen vocation as a world-renowned ceramic artist.

The combo's sole vinyl legacy was the barnstorming 1967 single Johnny Was A Good Boy, but for years rumours have persisted of an unreleased album recorded for Kingston Trio manager Frank Werber's Trident Productions. So Glad I Found You finally uncovers these legendary sessions to reveal what could have been, and it's a remarkable batch of material. The bright Spoonful-esque jangle of Ten Empty Cups and One Day For Two reflects an innate pop sensibility that is in stark contrast to fuzz-toned neuroses- laid-bare like Mercy Killing and What If I. There's eclectic covers like Smiley Lewis' Shame Shame Shame and the Who's Substitute, majestic mood music with the bossa nova Mambo For Marion, and a forgotten masterpiece in the epic So Glad I Found You.

And in addition to collecting together the Mystery Trend's entire studio recordings, all resplendent in crystal-clear stereo from the original master tapes, So Glad I Found You adds a brace of illuminating demo cuts, including the cryptic Wake Up Cryin' and erstwhile guitarist Larry West's bewitching Lose Some Dreams, to fully tell the story of this unique group. In tried-and-tested Nuggets fashion, there's the usual bevy of pictures and memorabilia, to illustrate a lengthy sleeve note that draws upon the recollections of several band members. With this long-awaited compilation, a significant chapter, not just in the San Francisco 1960s chronology but in pop music history in general, has finally been closed.

by Alec Palao

Tracks
1. Carl Street (Ron Nagle) - 2:50
2. So Glad I Found You (Bob Cuff, Ron Nagle) - 2:20
3. Words You Whisper (Bob Cuff) - 2:23
4. Johnny Was a Good Boy (Bob Cuff, Ron Nagle) - 2:44
5. One Day for Two (Bob Cuff, Larry Bennett, Ron Nagle) - 2:08
6. Carrots on a String (Bob Cuff, Ron Nagle) - 1:57
7. Ten Empty Cups (Bob Cuff, Ron Nagle) - 2:21
8. Mercy Killing (Ron Nagle) - 3:02
9. Mambo for Marion (Bob Cuff, Ron Nagle) - 2:03
10.Substitute (Pete Townshend) - 3:00
11.There It Happened Again (Bob Cuff, Ron Nagle) - 2:28
12.Shame, Shame, Shame (Miss Roxie) (Ken Hopkins, Reuben Fisher) - 2:26
13.House on the Hill (Bob Cuff, Ron Nagle) - 2:22
14.From the Collection of Dorothy Tate (Ron Nagle) - 2:14
15.Carrots on a String (audition version) (Bob Cuff, Ron Nagle) - 2:05
16.What If I (Ron Nagle) - 2:46
17.Wake Up Cryin' (Ron Nagle) - 3:00
18.Lose Some Dreams (Larry Walorny) - 3:03
19.Empty Shoes (Bob Cuff, John Luby, Ron Nagle) - 4:08
20.Let Me See with My Eyes (Bob Cuff) - 5:51
21.Carl Street (audition version) (Ron Nagle) - 2:36

The Mystery Trend
*Larry Bennett - Bass
*John Luby - Drums, Vocals
*John Gregory - Guitar
*Ron Nagle - Vocals, Clavinet, Piano, Organ
*Bob Cuff - Vocals, Guitar
*Larry West - Guitar (Tracks 17-19)

Related Act
1971  Stoneground - Stoneground

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Rock Workshop - Rock Workshop (1970 uk, exciting jazz blues prog rock, 2002 bonus tracks remaster)

Formed in 1970, this fluid but short-lived jazz rock group formed by Ray Russell (guitar) and featured several of the UK’s leading young jazz musicians, and originally included Harry Beckett (trumpet/flugelhorn), Bob Downes (saxophone), Bud Parkes (trumpet) and Tony Roberts (trumpet/woodwind), Derek Wadsworth (trombone) Alan Greed (vocals) and Brian Miller (keyboards), Daryl Runswick (bass), Alan Rushton and Robin Jones (drums).

Several were involved in other, simultaneous projects, notably solo albums by Downes and Russell and session appearances for albums at that time by Jack Bruce, Keef Hartley and Harvey. Wadsworth and Parkes appeared on the latter’s solo album, Roman Wall Blues, and Harvey who appears on just four of the eight songs on its debut album, but the presence of both a couple of subsequently familiar songs and a vocal workout to rival anything on Framed or Next establish them among his finest performances.

A savage rearrangement of the traditional "Wade in the Water" and his own (with fellow Workshop-per Ray Russell) "Hole in Her Stocking" are both bruising R&B stampers, punctured by howling horns and a guitar riff, in the first-named case, that could have escaped from "Walk Don't Run," Blood, Sweat & Tears-style. Harvey himself is in breathtaking form, utterly undistinguishable from the showman who brought listeners "Vambo," and the only regret is that he is confined to just the four songs -- the remainder of Rock Workshop, while certainly a blistering blur of hot and sweaty jazz-soul-boogie, also sinks into anonymity by comparison, just another white English fusion band honking and stomping around the room. Indeed, there are moments when the sound effects that open and link the songs are more interesting than the songs themselves.

Nevertheless, Rock Workshop remains a key passage in Alex Harvey's career, all the more so in its 2002 CD incarnation, where the original LP is appended by half a dozen bonus tracks, including alternate takes of "Hole in Her Stocking" and "Born in the City," plus a couple of songs that didn't make the album itself. (Despite the track listing's claims to the contrary, incidentally, Harvey does not sing the prettily Traffic-like "Primrose Hill.") 

by Dave Thompson

Tracks
1. Ice Cold (R. Shepherd, Ray Russel) - 2:58
2. Wade In The Water (Traditional) - 3:45
3. Hole In Her Stocking (Alex Harvey, Ray Russel) - 4:09
4. He Looks At Me / Mooncross Grove - 10:19
5. Spine Cop - 3:47
6. Born In The City - 3:01
7. Theme For Freedom - 7:34
8. You To Lose (R. Cameron, Ray Russel) - 6:41
9. Spine Cop (Alt Version) - 3:50
10.Hole In Her Stocking (Alt Version) (Alex Harvey, Ray Russel) - 5:31
11.Born In The City (Alt Version) - 2:47
12.You To Lose (Alt Version) - 5:25
13.Primrose Hill (R. Shepherd, Ray Russel) - 5:41
14.Return Of The Goddess - 5:40
All songs by Ray Russell except where noted
Bonus Tracks 9-14

Personnel
*Harry Beckett - Horn
*Bob Downes - Wind
*Alan Greed - Keyboards, Vocals
*Alex Harvey - Vocals
*Robin Jones - Drums
*Brian Miller - Keyboards
*Tony Roberts - Wind
*Daryl Runswick - Bass
*Alan Rushton - Drums
*Ray Russell - Guitar
*Derek Wadsworth - Trombone

Related Acts
1969-71  Paul Korda - Passing Stranger (2012 remaster and expanded)
1973  Mouse - Lady Killer  

1972-73  The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Framed / Next 
1974-75  The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - The Impossible Dream / Tomorrow Belongs to Me
1975-76  The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Live / The Penthouse Tapes
1976-78  The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Stories / Rock Drill
1969  Keef Hartley Band - The Battle Of North West Six (2008 remaster) 
1969  Sweet Pain - Sweet Pain

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