[ aquarius records — Rock Pop 60s Psych Garage ]

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Showing results 901 through 950 of 1515.

Primitive proto-metal reissue alert here, folks! Reaction were a heavy, hairy power trio bashing out boogie-blooze-based hard rock. Technically, Reaction could be considered a krautrock group, we suppose, since they did hail from Germany and this rare record originally came out back in 1972. But it's nothing cosmic nor proggy that's for sure. No flutes, no synths, no motorik beats. Instead it's just loud and lumbering and riffy and mean (well with a bit of poppiness at times, those lumbering riffs being fairly catchy after all). Yer basic, raw, fuzz filled rockin' good times, the nine tracks here taking the likes of Cream and Cactus to the next (lower) level, more wasted, more fuzz, more cowbell! (There's plenty of the latter on the awesomely titled "The Funeral March Of A Marionette".) Some of the obscure and not-so-sophisticated heavy psych acts of era we'd compare 'em to include Moses, Blues Addicts, Road, Toad, and Speed Glue & Shinki, plus fellow "krautrockers" like Tiger B. Smith, Blackwater Park, and Hairy Chapter (their first album Eyes anyway). Like we said, in the vein of Cream and Cactus, moreso than Can or Kraftwerk! Nothin' wrong with that though, when you wanna rock.

MPEG stream: My Father's Son
MPEG stream: What's Going On Around
MPEG stream: Time

NOW ALSO HERE ON CD, with bonus trax! Awesome obscure late sixties/early seventies British blues rock outfit's only album, originally released in 1970, newly reissued! Some of it's melodic acoustic folk psych with mellow, rustic vocals, while other tracks are more like lumbering, proto-metal blues, with heavy guitar riffs and really raw, rough vocals, kinda like Captain Beefheart singing for early Black Sabbath. There's some harmonica blowin' too along with the grungy guitars. Other reference points: Edgar Broughton Band, High Tide, The Doors, Fraction, Josephus... This compact disc edition includes five bonus tracks, getting more Tull-soundin' but with violin instead of flute!

MPEG stream: Brain Worker
MPEG stream: Ten Seconds To Go
MPEG stream: Memories

Made infamous as the man responsible for Robert Plant's voice blasting on classic rock radio for years to never end, 'cause Reid turned down Jimmy Page's request in 1968 to be the singer for his new band The New Yardbirds which of course became Led Zeppelin (and Reid actually was the one to suggest in his place Plant and also John Bonham for Page's new outfit). A pretty good guitar player in his own right, he didn't want to be just the singer for a band so he stayed on his own. This collections compiles tracks from his first two albums (including covers of Dylan and Donovan) as well as some bonus material. The first two tracks are absolute killers, on par with his older more country tinged haunting sound (as heard also on the Devil's Rejects soundtrack!), while the rest of this collection leans more toward solid blues tinged rock, from a man who could have been...

MPEG stream: Superlungs My Supergirl
MPEG stream: Loving Time

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Finally available on cd, Emitt Rhodes' first record after disbanding his '60s baroque-pop group The Merry-Go-Round. Since The Merry-Go Round only recorded one album, Rhodes was contractually obligated to give A&M another record, marking the beginning of a promising solo career plagued by similar obligations and label pressures. While Rhodes voice sounds very much like Paul McCartney, uncanny for a Californian, American Dream's pop-perfection arrangements actually read likes a lost Beatles record on most of the songs, that is if John Lennon decided to sit that one out. His use of session musicians on this record gives this a different feel from the sound he developed later for his absolutely amazing self-titled album on Dunhill a year later, where he built his own studio and recorded all the instruments himself. So American Dream sounds closer to a second Merry-Go-Round record than a proper debut solo record (In fact, the only other available release of American Dream is on a best of The Merry-Go Round compilation). But that shouldn't take away from the fact that this is a great record from an incredible talent who never really got his due. That's a shame because his early records are soooo good!! Much better than Paul McCartney's solo records we daresay. Seek them out!

MPEG stream: Pardon Me
MPEG stream: The Man He Was

Wow, a very nice collection of the best of Minnie Riperton, who possessed one of THE most amazing voices in the history of rock and soul music -- hey, everyone from Stevie Wonder to Denzel Washington to George Benson will tell you that. (Denzel said he got thru the toughest time in his life by listening to her Perfect Angel album over and over again.) Her biggest hit "Lovin' You" amply demonstrated her astonishing (and perhaps unmatched since?) 5 1/2 octave vocal range and ability to hold notes for what seem like minutes. Minnie grew up on Chicago's Southside, cut some tracks as "Andrea Davis", then was invited to join the multiracial psychedelic / rock / soul group Rotary Connection. Most people familiar with Rotary Connection back in the day say they should've been huge, and that if they had only gotten the exposure they deserved (such as a slot at Woodstock), they would've caught on like wildfire -- that's how good they were. Three Rotary Connection tracks are included here, a totally unrecognizable version of Otis Redding's "Respect", a Cream cover, and an unreal Middle Eastern-ish epic called "I Took a Ride (Caravan)" (see soundclips below). When Minnie decided to make a series of solo albums, she left the psychedelic heaviness of Rotary Connection for a sound all her own -- part soul, part rock, always forefronting her incredible songbird-like voice. She did everything from stark Joni Mitchell covers to down home funky songs like "Reasons" (my favorite song of hers, ever, see soundclips below) to sweet bell-clear love songs penned by her and her husband by the duck pond in the idyllic little Florida backwater house they lived in for two years. Stevie Wonder was proud to produce the tracks, and she enjoyed several "hits" before her untimely death of breast cancer at the age of 31. She is sorely missed. This 2-disc collection is ultra-handy because it collects Minnie's best tracks in one place, as well as showcasing previously unreleased demos and live tracks (and admittedly just a few duds). The liner notes are quite extensive and detailed, and the photos are... well, let's just say you'll be in love after seeing the photo of her with the overalls and the ice cream cone. Recommended!

RealAudio clip: Les Fleurs
RealAudio clip: Reasons
RealAudio clip: I Took a Ride (Caravan)
RealAudio clip: You Gave Me Soul

The proto-metal lovin' legions who read the AQ list should be quite pleased with this reissue - take a trip down this particular Road and it's heavy riffing all the way, early '70s style! A power trio put together by former Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding in 1972, Road only made this one record for a rock-oriented Motown sub-label (the eco-friendly Natural Resources) before they broke up, and it quickly became lost to the mists of time, though we'd have thought Hendrix fans, if they'd heard it, would have been chuffed... anyone who likes stoned hard psych, with loads of wah wah wailing will dig this, it's total hippie heaviness (well, "I'm Going Down The Country" isn't so heavy, it's an acoustic jam, natch). There's some sixties sike-pop to it as well. But tracks like "Mushroom Man" and "Spaceship Earth" are spaced out and heavy all right, these three long hairs dishing out quite the din, with the 9+ minute album closer, title track "Road" gettin' almost DOOMY riff-wise. Certainly deserving of recognition in the proto-metal realm, Road goes with Toad, Cactus, Moses, Tiger B. Smith, etc., and is probably the best thing that Redding did post-Hendrix, though we haven't heard his whole discography, to be sure. But it beats Fat Mattress, in volume and heft for sure, despite that earlier outfit's name (the drummer here was also in Fat Mattress, by the way, while the guitarist hailed from Rare Earth). This is one of several new reissues from the new Relics label (Churchills, Aguaturbia are some other, more internationally-oriented titles that just came out, we'll be listing soon too). Nice to have, though the booklet's a bit skimpy, the cover reproduction looks kinda washed out and blurry. It does include something in the way of liner notes, though, from which we learn that Redding fell down some stairs at Frank Zappa's place prior to the formation of Road. Hmm, that almost sounds like the description of a band, but not this one! Thankfully he recovered from the accident and added Road to the list of awesome proto-metal obscurities.

MPEG stream: Road
MPEG stream: Spaceship Earth
MPEG stream: Man Dressed In Red

Wow! Yet another amazing re-issue from this exciting new reissue label Sunbeam. We haven't been this excited about a rediscovered psych-folk classic since Red Hash by Gary Higgins. Nobody knew what to expect from the cover photo of Rodier, (looking a lot like Geddy Lee) staring out at us from a hazy meadow with the strange enigmatic title: Upon Velveatur. But by the second song, we had immediately snatched up the only two copies. So we knew we had to get more and share this with the rest of you. Upon Velveatur is a dreamy French-Canadian psych-folk pop suite that varies from hushed mystical songs lushly orchestrated with strings and theremin to more rock-oriented numbers featuring stinging electric guitar. Lazy comparisons to Nick Drake are inevitable, and if we must go there, Upon Velveatur is closest to Bryter Later in terms of feel and production value. But Rodier can also sound like John Lennon with Cream as the band, Fleetwood Mac on backing vocals,and produced by Roger Nichols and his Small Circle of Friends all on one song! We get the feeling that maybe some folks like Neil Halstead were onto the sounds of Rodier as we were listening to some Mojave 3 and could totally hear Rodier's voice and stylings being transmitted by Mr. Halstead. Featuring bonus singles from an earlier psych folk project, Rodier-Gauthier, and liner notes from the man himself. Totally Recommended!

MPEG stream: My Spirit's Calling
MPEG stream: The Key
MPEG stream: While My Castle's Burning

Pop quiz! Quick: who's the "street poet" singer with no first name*, son of Mexican immigrants, born and raised in Detroit Michigan, whose debut album from 1970 sounded like a fuzz-soul-psych version of Bob Dylan and/or Donovan, and was an underground hit in South Africa of all places?? Duh, Rodriguez of course. It's about time his inexplicably obscure Cold Fact got the deluxe reissue treatment it deserves. Seriously, after listening to this for the first time, you'll feel like you just heard a bona fide '60s classic, and be amazed you had never heard these songs before. They ought to be all over "oldies" rock radio. It's ridiculous like that. Songs like "Sugar Man" and "I Wonder" seem like they should be fixtures of the baby boomer memory lane hit parade. It's so very of its era, "This Is Not A Song, It's An Outburst: Or, The Establishment Blues" is certainly a sixties song title, isn't it? Likewise "Rich Folks Hoax", "Hate Street Dialogue", and "Crucify Your Mind"... But, maybe he was just a little too freaky and right on, and (crucially) never got the right sort of record label support to become well known to the Woodstock Nation, though this album had some rather random, surprising success so far off in the Southern Hemisphere, in South Africa and Australia and New Zealand, which Rodriguez himself was unaware of for many years! If left to his own devices, perhaps Rodriguez would have come off sounding a bit too much like Dylan. But Cold Fact was a "Theo-Coff" production, from the badass Motor City team of Mike Theodore and funk guitarist Dennis Coffey, and they helped accentuate the more underground and urban aspects of Rodriguez's sound. With his hip, Dylanesque poetry set amidst lush orchestration and gritty grooves, Rodriguez's Cold Fact is a super catchy, tripped out slice of street-level, soulful psychedelia, full of drug references and radical political critique. We alluded to "fuzz" above, but on the track "Only Good For Conversation" we mean FUZZ. That track's a stone(d) cold classic when it comes to heavy duty fuzz guitar crunch. This reish comes in a nice digipack, with cover embossing and a big ol' cd booklet stuffed with text (liner notes, lyrics) and photos. One of the several cd booklet essays explains in part Rodriguez's unexpected appeal in South Africa - apparently, in that repressive society, it was due to the edgy, uncensored nature of his lyrics. "I Wonder", for instance, with its lines about "I wonder how many times you had sex / And I wonder do you know who'll be next" was considered so risque that if you were a teenager and wanted to be cool, you HAD to have this record. Apparently, many folks in South Africa thought of Rodriguez as being a star up there with the Beatles, and when they didn't hear more from him, all sorts of wild rumors spread that he'd died, been accidentally electrocuted, OD'd, or even committed suicide on stage! When, in fact, he simply had no idea how "big" he was in South Africa, and his recording career had stalled out elsewhere after his sophomore album, 1971's Coming From Reality (also soon to be reissued). Turns out he's still alive and well, today, and has actually gone to South African to pay arena (?!) shows in recent years. In fact, when we've had album in the store before, it was only available on cd as an expensive import - from South Africa! So we're, again, super stoked that Light In The Attic put the effort in to do this long overdue, definitive domestic reissue. *actually, his first name was Sixto, but he usually just went by Rodriguez.

MPEG stream: Sugar Man
MPEG stream: Only Good For Conversation
MPEG stream: Hate Street Dialogue

Here's something definitely for fans (like us) of Sweden's Dungen -- you know, the retro-pop-sike wunderkind whose Ta Det Lugnt cd has been flying out the door here of late. Well, we're pretty sure that seventies Swedish psych-folk singer/songwriter Pugh Rogefeldt was a big influence on Dungen's Gustav Ejstes. We just got in this brand new import reissue of Pugh's 1969 classic debut, and quite a bit of it sure sounds a lot like what Dungen does, although overall it's somewhat folkier and more eccentric. Like the Dungen album, this is total ear candy for anyone into somewhat rustic psychedelic sixities pop. And oh yeah, Janne Karlsson of Hansson and Karlsson fame plays drums! And we should note that along with folks who like Dungen, DJ Shadow fans will also find this of interest, 'cause you ought to recognize the very first sounds you hear on this album as the (uncredited) intro to "Mutual Slump" from SJ Shadow's Endtroducing. One of those "so that's where that comes from!" moments, and more evidence of Shadow's excellent taste...

MPEG stream: Love, Love, Love
MPEG stream: Har Kommer Natten

For everybody who freaked out about Pugh Rogefeldt's 1968 Ja, da a da! album, the cd reissue of which we recently reviewed, we've now got the reissue of the 2nd Pugh album, Pughish, originally released in 1970. Dunno if DJ Shadow has ever sampled anything from this, but it's almost as good as Pugh's first (from which Shadow lifted a neat phrase for Endtroducing). Anyway, if you liked that other Pugh and want more, this is recommended. Weird and whimsical psych/folk/rock/prog sung in Swedish, full of fun and surprises. Again, an LP we bet Dungen's Gustav Ejstes has in his collection!

MPEG stream: Stinsen I Bro
MPEG stream: Aindto

Yep, reissued on vinyl!! Makes us happy in a way.

Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, Best Coast, Girls At Dawn, and on and on. So many of our favorite lo-fi garage pop bands of the last few years share one common bond, a deep love and appreciation for Phil Spector's production and the girl groups that he helped bring to life. When it comes to his production and THAT sound he perfected, it just doesn't get more classic than with The Ronettes. The 'Wall of Sound', the drenched reverb, the hypnotic warmth, the catchy melodies, the heartache and yearning. Makes it extra heartbreaking and bittersweet to revisit these songs knowing all we do now about the troubling relationship that Phil Spector and Ronnie Spector had and of course the ongoing black cloud that haunts Spector's life. But no one can ever take away the amazing and revolutionary sounds he helped create with The Ronettes. These recordings really did help shape the landscape of so much of the best pop music that would follow over the next quarter century. From The Beach Boys to The Ramones, all of the greats have been influenced by the sounds of The Ronettes.

MPEG stream: I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine
MPEG stream: Be My Baby
MPEG stream: Walking In The Rain
MPEG stream: Here I Sit

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While some of us here really love early Biff Rose records, we realize he's a very acquired taste. His jokey piano-bar delivery, quirky early musical theater-style arrangements, and Kermit the Frog-like voice (he also kind of sounds like Wayne Coyne from Flaming Lips) usually don't warm up to most people's ears right away. He definitely comes out of the same school of pop eccentrics as Mose Allison, Loudon Wainwright III, Randy Newman, The Neon Philharmonic, and Van Dyke Parks. But the thing is, when you have him on shuffle on your iPod, he'll always be that burst of warm surprise that makes you scramble for your iPod to figure out what the heck is playing. The ever-reliable The Omni Recording Corporation label has reissued this 1970 eponymous release. Not psych-folk as the label implies (or as we tend to think of it it), but the mood is much darker and somber than on any of Rose's previous records. Full of lush Van Dyke Parks-style orchestral arrangements and songs about heartbreak (he recorded this during a messy divorce), it contains our most favorite Biff Rose song, "The Captain", a haunting ode to epic loss with swirling strings and far off sleigh bells. This could easily be a touchstone for Joanna Newsom's Ys, as the mood and arrangements are similar, evoking an antique and quaint musical soundworld to touch on larger human themes of sadness and self-renewal. If you're curious about Biff Rose, or like any of the aforementioned people above, this or Children of Light are the best ones to start with. So bittersweet!

MPEG stream: The Captain
MPEG stream: Never Mind

Woah! Francais Metal de Proto!!! Dunno if y'all remember a cd-r mix that was floating around a few years ago, featuring such obscure & amazing early '70s French proto-metal, heavy psych acts as Docdail, Les Variations, Chico Magnetic Band, Quo Vadis, Zoo, and this band, Rotomagus. It caused a bit of sensation 'round these parts. Seriously, there was some incredible, ahead-of-its-time heaviness on there. So whenever we track something down by any of those bands we get pretty dang excited. And this is the best reissue related to that to come along yet, an anthology of the complete recorded works of this group, responsible for the raucous, more proto-punk than proto-metal really track "Fighting Cock" on that comp, which also featured Rotomagus' equally radical singles tracks "Eros" and "Madame Wanda". Those are all here, of course, as well as five more tracks from 45s, and entirety of the band's even more maniacal final unreleased 1971 demo session, which includes rawer versions of "Fighting Cock" and a few of the other singles cuts too... 17 tracks in all. Quite a treasure trove! Now, as we've previously discussed, a LOT of awesome music came out in 1971. But very little if any of it was quite as freaked out and fucking punk as "Fighting Cock"! Elsewhere, among the tracks here, there ARE some poppier, melodic moments, which only make the aggro acid rock explosions of most of the rest of the disc seem even more insane. Certainly the two flowery tracks from the band's debut 1969 single, lush and la-la-la filled, don't provide any warning of how crazed Rotomagus would sound just a year or two later. Too bad the band never got to record a proper album, but presumably the record company heard the full-length demo found here and, shocked, pulled the plug on Rotomagus's career, robbing the world of an early entree into a realm of Raw Power that it would take Iggy & the Stooges another couple years to achieve... Seriously, this stuff is proof that Rotomagus belong in the annals of the "early heavy", high energy division, alongside the likes of the Stooges, MC5, Sir Lord Baltimore, Jerusalem, Night Sun, Crushed Butler, Colored Balls, Cerebrum, May Blitz, and Detroit's Death. So, if you want a disc full of distorted stomp, wailing wah-wah'd out geetar, and wild vocals, look no further! There's fuzz and FX a-plenty, plus schizoid proggery and other weirdness (like the chipmunk vocals of the single version of "Laureline"). The Hendrix-y title cut is almost tame by comparison to some of the rest of this stuff, which comes off like the Pink Fairies at their most punk... It's funny, France turned out some bands in the late '70s who sounded like the Stooges (Angel Face, Soggy) but who knew they had one this early too? As with all Lion reissues, nicely appointed, with a 32 page booklet full of liner notes, in both English and French, including the (practically frothing with amazement and disbelief) review of the "Fighting Cock" single that the Seth Man originally scribed for Julian Cope's Head Heritage website a few years ago... FYI there is also a double lp vinyl version of this planned for release sometime this fall.

MPEG stream: Fighting Cock (demo)
MPEG stream: Eros
MPEG stream: Laureline (single)
MPEG stream: Hello The Binaries

Discos Mariposa is quickly becoming one of our new favorite reissue labels alongside Japan's EM Records. Last list we told you about the Alceu Valenca & Geraldo Azevedo record we had fallen in love with and this time out there are two more that we can't seem to keep our ears off of. Paulo E Bagunca A Tropa Maldita (reviewed elsewhere on this list) and this record from Rubinho & Maura Assumpcao. Recorded in 1972 and until now a pretty impossible to find rarity, this Rio De Janeiro duo play totally seductive & dreamy bossa-samba-psychedelic pop. With a nod toward California dreamy west-coast introspection and that irresistible laid back sound that folks in Brazil always got so right. The cover picture of the two of them naked peeking out from within the branches of a tree in some enchanted forest gives you a pretty good indication of the sensual sounds contained within. You might remember their song from the Brazilian edition of the Love Peace & Poetry series, but unlike lots of rediscovered lost 'classics' with one or two good songs, this is an album that perfect from start to finish.

MPEG stream: Sozinho Nao Estou
MPEG stream: A Montanha

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Featuring songs by Creation, Unit 4+3, The Who, Cat Stevens, Yves Montand, John Lennon, The Faces, The Kinks, and Chad and Jeremy. Plus incidental soundtrack music by Mark Mothersbaugh. The whole soundtrack is so well done that you don't even have to have seen this film in order to love the music contained here. And for what it's worth, Andee and Allan loved this movie but Windy and Matt-from-CoolBeans!, who thought it was good, also felt it was fatally flawed (weak character writing) and cannot recommend it, although the music ALMOST saves it.

Out of the same politically fervent Chilean psych scene that brought us Congregacion, Los Jaivas, and Embrujo, we get another amazing spiritual-minded psych-folk artifact, this lone album from Sacros. Creating songs inspired by the great gods of South America, such as Quetzalcoatl, The Plumed Serpent, god of the ancient Mayas, and Viracocha, Lord of Tiahuanaku in the Andes Mountains, Sacros were a short-lived group supported by the Divina Providence Church, who in exchange for practice space, commissioned the band to write and perform an electric mass. Unfortunately, their debut album was released one week after Augusto Pinochet and his right wing regime took over the country and called for the destruction of the state run music label along with all released recordings, thus very few copies of the original album survived. Recently featured on the Chilean installment of the Love, Peace, and Poetry compilations, Sacros' unique sound - gentle Byrds-ish country-rock mixed with the psychedelic tinges of Popul Vuh - is quite beautiful and highly recommended.

MPEG stream: Quetzacoatl
MPEG stream: Cobre, Pobres, Viejos
MPEG stream: Su Herencia

NOW ON VINYL! Extra nice since the cd version of this great collection has been AWOL of late. We can't deny we've been quite smitten with so many bands in the last couple years who have blasted onto the scene playing inspired, raw, wild and blown out garage rock. But it may take going back to Peru to the years 1964-1966 to find the most riveting and TRUE origins of garage proto-punk, done to perfection. The first time we ever heard Los Saicos we couldn't believe our ears, this was the kind of garage sound we had always imagined in our mind. Gritty, spirited, and filled with charm and soul. And some pretty gnarly vocals for the time. It's not overstating the case to say they make other '60s dirty garage peddlers like The Sonics or The Monks seem kind of tame. This is the kind of blood, guts and charisma that helped create bands latter on like The Cramps, The Mono Men, The Coachwhips, and Davilla 666. With a primitive surf undertone, and an undeniable tough and cool sensibility they really do have a sound so many bands in the decades to follow tried (and continue to try) to emulate. Los Saicos are like the Peruvian version of a gang of bad kids from a Luis Bunuel film, forming a band and creating electric energy together amongst the harsh realities of the streets they roam. We're so so so thankful Munster has given Los Saicos the proper reissue and long overdue respect they so deserve. If you like rock n roll in any form, you NEED THIS!

MPEG stream: Demolici�n
MPEG stream: Te amo
MPEG stream: Come On (Ven aqu�)

We can't deny we've been quite smitten with so many bands in the last couple years who have blasted onto the scene playing inspired, raw, wild and blown out garage rock. But it may take going back to Peru to the years 1964-1966 to find the most riveting and TRUE origins of garage proto-punk, done to perfection. The first time we ever heard Los Saicos we couldn't believe our ears, this was the kind of garage sound we had always imagined in our mind. Gritty, spirited, and filled with charm and soul. And some pretty gnarly vocals for the time. It's not overstating the case to say they make other '60s dirty garage peddlers like The Sonics or The Monks seem kind of tame. This is the kind of blood, guts and charisma that helped create bands latter on like The Cramps, The Mono Men, The Coachwhips, and Davilla 666. With a primitive surf undertone, and an undeniable tough and cool sensibility they really do have a sound so many bands in the decades to follow tried (and continue to try) to emulate. Los Saicos are like the Peruvian version of a gang of bad kids from a Luis Bunuel film, forming a band and creating electric energy together amongst the harsh realities of the streets they roam. We're so so so thankful Munster has given Los Saicos the proper reissue and long overdue respect they so deserve. If you like rock n roll in any form, you NEED THIS!

MPEG stream: Demolici�n
MPEG stream: Te amo
MPEG stream: Come On (Ven aqu�)

Heck yeah. For all you proto-metal lovin' freaks out there, we've got another treat for you this week. Finally, a nice legit reish on both cd and vinyl of this New Jersey power trio's sole slab of raw, wailin', fuzzed-out action, originally released on their own wonderfully named Zonk label back in 1970. Of course back then they didn't know it was proto-metal. They'd have called it heavy, though! Heavy bluesy zonked out acid rock to be precise. As private press hard rock rarities go, this is a good 'un. Gotta agree with all the "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeahs" of the album's opening salvo, "Love Over You", a blistering, blown out Hendrix inspired headbanger. The rest of this eight-song album is also an LSD-fuelled rave up, with plenty more Hendrix-y guitar soloing, gravelly vox, and rhythm section shake appeal to the max. Imagine an "extreme" sixties garage rock band, that's the brand of proto-metal/acid rock on offer here, for fans of Blue Cheer, Fraction, Stonewall, Zipper, Frijid Pink, Bolder Damn, Speed Glue & Shinki - and their modern day descendants like SF's retro-proto-metallers Dzjenghis Khan ("Lone Soul Road" could easily be them). Yup, this is a savage "fuzz monster" that lives up to the hype. The cd booklet includes detailed liner notes, lyrics, vintage photos, press clippings and other ephemera - including those "wish we were there" concert posters and ticket stubs for shows where Sainte Anthony's Fyre, apparently a live band of some repute, appeared alongside the likes of Grand Funk Railroad, the MC5, and "sensational English group" Wishbone Ash! The lp version has a poster and insert, as well.

MPEG stream: Love Over You
MPEG stream: Lone Soul Road
MPEG stream: Chance Of Fate

We didn't realize this was still available until someone happened to order one the other day. And being so easy to get, we had to get more to share with everyone. Easily one of our favorite folk rock records from the day, probably our favorite Buffy Sainte-Marie album ever, Illuminations is truly strange and beautiful. A heady brew of gothic folk elements, Native American invocations and bewitching electronic effects and magical drones. Her vocals sometimes soft and saintly, othertimes heavy, rocking and intense. Originally released in 1969 on the awesome Vanguard label, no other Buffy Sainte-Marie record is quite like this one, with songs that are poetically beautiful dealing with themes of love and injustice through esoteric supernatural imagery of vampires, angels, mystical rites and creation myths, and with music that is equally beguiling. From the first spiraling electric vocal warbles that open "God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot", the Cluster like drones on "The Angel", the witchy folk-funk of "He's A Keeper of The Fire" to the final track, "Poppies" that presages Grouper by nearly forty years. Fantastic!

MPEG stream: God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot
MPEG stream: Adam
MPEG stream: He's A Keeper of The Fire
MPEG stream: Poppies

Now reissued on vinyl! Here is what we said about it when the cd version was available (which it isn't anymore, sadly): Hippy Renfaire Britfolk from 1968, featuring a 15 year old, pre-"Tubular Bells" Michael Oldfield and his older sister Sally Oldfield! This was really Sally's project -- apparently she had some sort of sudden spiritual revelation that caused her to break off her University studies in literature and philosophy, and pick up a guitar to write what became the "Children of the Sun" album! Of course, musical talent and creativity wasn't unknown to the Oldfield family, as history later showed. This brother-sister duo both sang (Sally better than Mike) and played acoustic guitar, accompanied by session musicians -- flute, and harpsichord and chamber string arrangements on two songs. While much of this album is quite twee indeed, portions are rather dark and melancholic... A song title like "The Murder of the Children of San Francisco" kinda tells you where they were at. Sadness, beauty, blue birds and evening mists...that sort of thing. Contacts with British folk-rock act Pentangle got the determined Sally the recording deal for The Sallyangie's one and only album, reissued now as a delightful artifact of a long-lost era, when lush psychedelic pagan madrigal music was at its prime! Sally sang on several of Mike's popular albums in the early/mid seventies before striking out on a successful solo vocal career of her own in the New Age field. But this album, with Sally's lovely wavering voice, Mike's adept guitar picking, and an abundance of youthful, period charm, is certainly worth checking out regardless of the Oldfield siblings' later careers.

First album from 1977 by this South Korean group of three brothers who began to play together while attending their university. Apparently the three, completely disconnected from the greater Korean rock scene, were most inspired by the likes of Australian rockers AC/DC, but lacking the right equipment or technical know-how couldn't replicate their sound. Whether this is factual or not the music of San Ul Lim, it must be said, sounds absolutely nothing like AC/DC; rather, they sound a lot more like Turkish psych faves Erkin Koray, Haramiler, Mogollar, et al. In fact, the second track on this album shared a space next to some of those very Turks on the Love, Peace & Poetry: Asia collection and despite the fact that their tune had been recorded as much as ten years later than some of the others, they sound as if they could have been cut in the late 60's. San Ul Lim, while ostensibly a trio -- with the eldest brother on guitar, the youngest on drums and the middle playing bass -- either did some over-dubbing work or had another un-named member playing keyboards. Small oversight maybe, but the keyboardist has as big a role as the eldest bro when it comes to carrying the solos for the group using a broad array of synths -- a harpsichord farfisa patch being popular -- and electric pianos. On many of the groups songs it seems like they just gave the keyboardist cart blanche to just solo through the entire tune. The bass playing of the middle brother is equally spirited. Not content to merely playing his role in the rhythm section and keeping harmony going, he has a tendency to keep busy with fast moving scale fragments and melodies. It's all almost too much for the youngest on drums to keep up with at times! Definitely something that anyone who dug the HE 6 reissue reviewed recently (or the Shin Jung Hyun disc reviewed on this list) and wants to further explore the Korean '70s psych scene ought to check out for sure. Likewise if you haven't yet delved into these sounds from SK but like the other international psych sensations we've brought you before...

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Lion Productions once again dig deep into super obscure international psychedelia of the '60s and '70s to bring us this amazing gem. Sandhy & Mandhy were an Argentinian duo who hit the scene almost as fast as they disappeared. Recording only one album in 1967, and doing it in just three hours. With no grand hopes of fame and fortune, their label pressed a mere 110 copies for the group to have at gigs they played. Years later those copies would fetch crazy amounts of money. Which is not surprising once you hear the music, cuz it's so damn good. Mixing both the dreamy and rocking elements of psychedelic pop, their sound was in a very similar vein and spirit to their contemporaries in nearby Brazil where the Tropicalia movement was just beginning. From moments of fuzz guitar to melt-worthy vocals, this is a record that covers a lot of ground, and does it so well. It really does sound like some awesome mix of Caetano Veloso and Os Mutantes. Finally we all get to hear the magic of this album made over forty years ago. There are also five bonus tracks, that for some of us are reason enough to grab this, as their awesome lo-fi covers of The Doors and Marianne Faithfull/The Rolling Stones are pretty damn irresistible. We're totally digging this!

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Early '70s acid folk, from the USA but sounding very UK.

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY.

Probably the best description of the music on this first-time-reissued Brazilian '70s acoustic acid-folk rarity comes in the form of a picture, that's right there on the sleeve -- a drawing on the back cover depicting two naked hippies sitting crosslegged with guitar and sitar. And, they have wings. Winged hippies. One's set of wings is butterfly-like, while the other is sorta batwinged, demonic. And both make sense, as the music is light and pretty enough for the butterfly one but also serious and sad enough for a guy cursed with batwings to play. On this, their eponymous and only album (a private press LP originally released in 1973), the Satwa duo unfurl delicate psychedelic rainforest folk ragas, super pretty, mellow and meandering maaaaaan. These tracks are largely instrumental, but there's are occassionally some wispy vocals wandering high (indeed) over the sparkling string play. And a lil' fuzz guitar makes the mix too. Utterly beautiful stuff. It's kind of a South American, decades-past version of Jewelled Antler faves Ivytree or Skygreen Leopards... If we didn't know any better, we'd suspect Glenn Donaldson had a hand in it. But Glenn's too young, doesn't speak Portuguese, and also doesn't have wings. This cd version comes in a mini-LP style sleeve... lovingly packaged, lovely music.

MPEG stream: Can I Be Satwa
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Whoo-hoo! SDD #2!! Well, in "zine time" getting 2 issues done in as many years isn't that bad. At least, at last, it's here: the 2nd issue of Savage Damage Digest, a 'zine that with but one issue became one of our faves in the realm of enthusiastic dead-tree rock n' roll writin'. As good as the first issue was, this one's maybe even better, it's got great stuff about a wide variety of long-lost legends... '60s UK popsyke geniuses July, '60 NZ garage gods Chants R&B, '70s pub rockers Ducks Deluxe, and more... The cover story, especially interesting for those of us located in the Bay Area, is about '70s San Francisco proto-punks La Rue. No, never heard 'em, but boy do we want to now. What we love about SDD is that it's the sort of thing that really puts the FAN in fanzine. We mean, they even devote two pages to some non-musical fandom - about the special San Francisco ice cream sandwich known as an It's It! And, most amazingly, there's pages and pages about guitarist Ross The Boss and his various bands over the years: The Dictators, Shakin' Street, Manitoba's Wild Kingdom, and... Manowar!! The Manowar stuff, especially, makes this issue required reading. We just tend to think that a lot of "typical" SDD readers and AQ customers might not already be Manowar fans, but this is the sort of thing that just might covert 'em (you?). And, this issue comes with a free button, bearing the Vertigo records label swirl design! With accompanying label appreciation essay for anyone not already aware of just how cool UK '70s prog imprint Vertigo was. Hopefully it won't be another 2 years before issue 3 of Savage Damage Digest comes out, though we won't be holding our breath. But we will be looking forward to it. And, let's say, the highest form of praise we can give a 'zine like SDD is that it makes us want to get to work on our own 'zines, like some of us used to do back in the day.

No, this is not some outsider electronic record based on Arthur C. Clarke's dark tale of alien invasion (although that would be rad, wouldn't it?). No, this is actually an extremely rare psych-folk record from Down Under originally released in 1971. How rare? Well, a recent eBay seller was asking $700 dollars for this. Whoa! A bit country-tinged with some really great songwriting, this remind us of a more electric Gordon Lightfoot (whom we love!). We believe this is Phil Sawyer's only release, and even this album is not very well known outside high-caliber record collector circles, which is a shame because it's really good. Looking for some psych-dappled singer-songwriter fare in the vein of Graham Nash, Gary Higgins or the abovementioned Mr. Lightfoot? Look no further. Awesome!

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UT Publishing being the book arm of Ugly Things magazine, just the folks to publish the story of Dutch sixties beat-psych greats Q65! 205 b&w illustrated pages, full of drama, drugs, and of course the making of some amazing music. Fans know that Q65 were, like, Holland's answer to the Stones, or maybe the Pretty Things, so you can imagine that they have some stories to tell! Definitely lots of rock n' roll craziness, at least as much as the surviving members can remember...

Also available on (import only) vinyl! It's pretty obvious why the folks at B-music (like DJs Andy Votel and Dom Thomas) dig these particular collectible exploito obscurities so much, and why they're so excited to be reissuing 'em in their new "Germanic Miner" series dedicated to "krautsider music"! What could be more B-musical than these two faux soundtracks concocted in the late sixties by a couple of creative German producers, operating at the weird, wacked out intersection of kitschy library music and freaky krautrock? One's a slice of slinky, sorta-scary "horrotica", the other a spaced out sci-fi fest for the Barbarella set. Both are delirious, demented party-pleasers. The Vampires Of Dartmoore and their Dracula's Music Cabinet conjures a sexy frightmare of hip swinging, bloodsucking sounds. "Mord Im Ohio Express (Murder In The Ohio Express)" seems kinda surfy, but mostly this is about groovy porno lounge music, with smoky horns and jazzy percussion, interwoven with screams and creepy sound effects, moaning and groaning, dogs barking and something going boing boing boing... It's a very NON-academic application of musique concrete technique, noises worked into the songs, such as the rumbling explosions that punctuate "Eine Handvoll Nitro (A Handful Of Nitro)". The mix is fairly chaotic, stuff fading in and out, levels up and down. If this WAS a movie soundtrack, it would have been a pretty crazy movie. Tracks reference Hitchcock, Dr. Caligari, and Frankenstein's monster. And sex. Definitely sex. Equally bizarre, if less R-rated, is the Science Fiction Dance Party. Again, it's groovy, jazzy, sometimes fuzzy "instro-hipster" style stuff, laced with loads of goofy outer space sound effects and rocketship radio drama theatrics. It sounds like music for a cocktail party and/or acid test on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. You can imagine Robbie the Robot getting down to this. Distorted alien and/or computer voices abound, song titles include "Visitors Of A.D. 2022", "The Whistling Astronaut", and "Hit Parade In The Light Year 25" (which doesn't even make sense, don't they know that light years are a measure of distance?). As well as whistling, there's some screams here too, as spacemen are presumably being zapped with rayguns, but the music remains jaunty. Even the song "Death Rays Out Of The Universe" is inexplicably upbeat. So, it's all very silly, but a lot of fun. Both albums feature bonus tracks (2 previously unreleased "Petting Party" jams on Vampires, 4 extra tracks on Science Fiction that come back to earth to delve into disco and Eastern exotica instead). The slipcased cds of these are now domestic releases (we waited instead of getting the expensive imports) but the LP versions remain imports.

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Israeli band Churchill's, reviewed a few lists back, aren't the only vintage '60s act from the Middle East to get a reissue recently. We also just got this, from the somewhat more obscure Sea-Ders (aka The Cedars) of Beirut, Lebanon, who sound a bit like a Middle Eastern Monkees or something! There's 8 tracks here, apparently everything they ever recorded, all from singles circa 1966-'68. It's jangling and energetic, exotic East-meets-West psych pop beat action, a la lot of the Turkish stuff of the era we like so much, complete with ripping bouzouki, saz, and/or oud alongside electric guitar, and in fact a couple of their popular songs here were covered by Turkish artists, comped on that Turkish Delights collection we used to have. Any fan of Middle Eastern psych (or psych with Middle Eastern motifs) a la 3 Hur-el or The Devil's Anvil, should enjoy this. Liner notes provided by both Mike Stax, editor of Ugly Things magazine (which featured an interview with one of the former Sea-ders in issue #26), and also Lenny Helsing of Shingdig! magazine as well.

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THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. Fans of psychedelic sixties rock n' roll might be a little concerned about what they're getting when a peek at the album cover shows that two of the band members are men wearing clerical collars. Priests who rock? And these are no long-haired Jesus Freaks, either. The four men and one woman in this band look pretty straight. But, have no fear, their music is plenty far-out. This self-released 1968 album is the sole recorded legacy of The Search Party, a Christian folk-psych combo masterminded by the Reverend Nicholas Freund of Mount Saint Paul College in Waukesha, Wisconsin, but recorded at the San Francisco Theological Seminary's Montgomery Chapel (hence the title). They were definitely hip to the sixties West Coast vibe, with female vocals that remind us a bit of both Grace Slick and Linda Perhacs. Much of this is quite ethereal and haunting, full of organ drone-tones and dreamy, downer atmosphere. The album's centerpiece, the nine-minute "So Many Things Have Got Me Down" could be a lost acid-krautrock jam. The New Creation, the other lost 60s Christian rock reissue we reviewed here recently, have nothing on this! While The Search Party are at their best on the slower, moodier numbers, the more uptempo songs, though, go to some amazing extremes with over-the-top vocals and searing fuzz guitar (as in "You And I" which stands in stark contrast to the gentle, sombre sounds of much of the rest of the album). This Korean-import cd reissue comes packaged in one of those minature gatefold LP style sleeves, with lyrics and liner notes, which include the statement that "this album...is a demonstration of these five people's concern for you." Now how often do bands today say things like that? Bless' em.

Hell, whoops, ach eee double hockey sticks yeah! Or should we just say hallelujah!? This obscure Xtian '60s psych fave has just been officially reissued with loving care and TONS of extra, associated material. Here's what we said about The Search Party when we first encountered a reissue of it (a Korean import, at the time) some years ago: Fans of psychedelic sixties rock n' roll might be a little concerned about what they're getting when a peek at the album cover shows that two of the band members are men wearing clerical collars. Priests who rock? And these are no long-haired Jesus Freaks, either. The four men and one woman in this band look pretty straight. But, have no fear, their music is plenty far-out. This self-released 1968 album is the sole recorded legacy of The Search Party, a Christian folk-psych combo masterminded by the Reverend Nicholas Freund of Mount Saint Paul College in Waukesha, Wisconsin, but recorded at the San Francisco Theological Seminary's Montgomery Chapel (hence the title). They were definitely hip to the sixties West Coast vibe, with female vocals that remind us a bit of both Grace Slick and Linda Perhacs. Much of this is quite ethereal and haunting, full of organ drone-tones and dreamy, downer atmosphere. The album's centerpiece, the nine-minute "So Many Things Have Got Me Down" could be a lost acid-krautrock jam. While The Search Party are at their best on the slower, moodier numbers, the more uptempo songs, though, go to some amazing extremes with over-the-top vocals and searing fuzz guitar - as in "You And I" which stands in stark contrast to the gentle, somber sounds of much of the rest of the record, whose original liner notes include the statement that "this album...is a demonstration of these five people's concern for you." Now how often do bands today say things like that? Bless' em. The New Creation and the Concrete Rubber Band - a couple other lost '60s Christian rock reissues we reviewed here previously - have nothing on this! And not only do you get that wonderful album here, but Lion Productions have tacked on a whole extra disc. Turns out, prior to the formation of The Search Party, Nick Freund and The Search Party's guitarist/vocalist Peter Apps already had made music together in the St. Pius X Seminary Choir. As you can guess from the name, this group was rather more overtly religious, less secular sounding, 'though it was during this period that Freund attended a show at the Fillmore (featuring Cream, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Janis Joplin!) and got turned on to the hipper sounds of the SF ballroom scene. The St. Pius X Seminary Choir released three albums: Sing Out With Joy To The Lord, Sing To The Lord A New Song, and Each One Heard In His Own Language About The Marvels Of God, the third of which appears in its entirety on this set's second cd, with selections from the other two spread across the balance of both discs as bonus tracks. While the St. Pius X Seminary Choir was different in style, being mostly more 'square', churchy choral music with some rock/pop influences, and definitely not in the same league as The Search Party, it's still cool to hear music from 'em, particularly the stuff on the Each One Heard In His Own Language album, which starts off with a quite freaky, possibly Stockhausen-influenced electronic noise / sound collage composition (!) and also includes what appears to be a version of "Twist And Shout" rewritten as part of "Mass For The Secular City"... Furthermore, this is packaged with a thick cd booklet full of liner notes (including reminiscences from both Freund and Apps), press clippings, photos, lyrics, etc., etc. Let's say it again, hallelujah!

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