Here's another reissue of a '70s obscurity that we wanted to hear simply on the basis of what we'd read about it: apparently Space Opera were a band from Texas who blended Byrdsian 12-string psych pop with proggy avant-gardisms. They made just one album, released in 1973 on Epic, which has now been reissued on cd. We got it in and gave it a listen and...yes! It turns out what we'd read about Space Opera was pretty accurate. We hear some Beatles too, and Southern rock Skynrd-worthy balladry. It's probably the distorted fuzz guitar harmonies -- especially when employed in epic "minature symphonies" (like the progtastic seven-plus-minute instrumental "Guitar Suite") -- that are the highlights of this album for us, but the band's lighter moments are exquisite too. So impressive. They've got pop vocal harmonies, jazz and classical flourishes, country roots, complex arrangements, inventive effects, wow. We can understand why this band was once the biggest thing on the scene in Forth Worth... and may be again, as we hear the original members have reunited. Recommended. And, need we say again: hurrah for reissues (when they're as good as this)!
Shoulda known that Shadoks would get to this one eventually. We've had previous import reissues of this cult Latin American psych platter at other times in the past, but they never were easy to keep in stock for very long - now we can count on having it available for a while at least, we hope.
Here's what we said about this before, if you missed it maybe six or seven years ago when we reviewed one of those earlier reissues: Whoa, this is a strange disc, a reissue of some primo Colombian psych acid-rock pop weirdness circa 1968! Totally trippy and weird, starting with the wonderfully freaky cover drawing of the band, with the music being even freakier. Probably inspired by Sgt. Pepper's and buttloads of drugs. The Speakers (also known as "Kris Kringle" on a previous lp reissue of this, for some reason) play nice Spanish-language pop/beat music that's been TOTALLY messed with, coming closer to Nurse With Wound than the Mutantes (although if you can imagine all the ridiculous moments of studio-fuckery on the Mutantes cds crammed into one disc, this would be it). Completely odd and delightful! And who can forget that track sung in the bizarre squeaky baby voice...
Some additional interest might be stirred regarding this due to the fact that the band was profiled in issue 22 of Ugly Things magazine. We learned a few interesting things from that article, among them that The Speakers, at the time, were apparently quite popular in their home country. Who would have thunk? And, "En El Maravilloso Mundo De Ingeson" is explained - Ingeson was the name of the studio where they were able to record for free at night, in return for putting Ingeson's name in the album title (The Speakers In The Marvelous World Of Ingeson)!
We've had this cult Latin American psych reissue on and off (mostly off) for a few years now, and so since we just managed to get this super deluxe oversized book edition, we figured we'd relist it, for those of you who might not have gotten a chance to hear it (or hear about it) yet. It's pricey, but the packaging is pretty over the top. And of course it's an amazing album.
The cd comes housed in a 7" sized sleeve, full color and on thick card stock. Inside is affixed a 20 page full color booklet, filled with photos and drawings, and tons and tons of liner notes (all in Spanish unfortunately), and affixed to the inside front cover is a little crunched up chicklet, a replica of the supposed LSD bubble gum that was included in the original album!! Awesome.
Here's what we said about this before:
Whoa, this is a strange disc, a reissue of some primo Columbian psych acid-rock pop weirdness circa 1968. Totally trippy and weird, starting with the wonderfully freaky cover drawing of the band, with the music being even freakier. Probably inspired by Sgt. Pepper's and buttloads of drugs. The Speakers (also known as Kris Kringle on an LP reissue of this, for some reason) play nice Spanish-language pop/beat music that's been totally messed with, coming closer to Nurse With Wound than the Mutantes (although if you can imagine all the ridiculous moments of studio-fuckery on the Mutantes cds crammed into one disc, this would be it). Completely odd and delightful! And who can forget that track sung in the bizarre squeaky baby voice...
Some additional interest might be stirred regarding this due to the fact that the band was recently profiled in issue 22 of Ugly Things magazine issue! We learned a few interesting things from that article, among them that The Speakers, at the time, were apparently quite popular in their home country. Who would have thunk? And, "En El Maravilloso Mundo De Ingeson" is explained -- Ingeson was the name of the studio where they were able to record for free at night, in return for putting Ingeson's name in the album title (The Speakers In The Marvelous World Of Ingeson)!
Spectrum always makes me realize that if music stopped being made today, we would never fail to keep on finding gems and hidden treasures from the past. There's just so much gorgeous music that has already been made that you could only listen to stuff from the past and still always be listening to greatness. I mean, that's what I'm feeling -- my top ten list from last year has four records in it made in '74 or earlier, and this Spectrum record is from 1971. (This band is also not related to the Sonic Boom / Spacemen 3 project of the same name just so you know.)
Second of all I have to say that for the entirety of 2003 so far I (Windy) have listened to this record more than any other. It rewards repeated listening. Next I have to say that this Spectrum album comes the closest, yes, even among Gal Costa, Caetano Velosos, Gilbert Gil, to conjuring up the sweet 'n gutsy psychedelic pop that Os Mutantes did so well. Yes, the soundtrack to Geracao Bendita is that good. Spectrum's got melodies as bittersweet, compulsively hummable and pure 'n simple as the Beatles (whose catalog the boys in Spectrum reputedly could replicate perfectly), jangly 12-string as flowery and metallic as the Byrds, singing dressed with long drawn out vowels and harmonies worthy of the Mamas and the Papas, acid guitar riffing strongly reminiscent of their faves Steppenwolf. The stellar arrangements just take it over the top, just like with Os Mutantes, where the emphasis is less on verse chorus verse and more on sections. You never know where it's going but with the first notes of the record, which sound so good, you just sorta trust 'em. All this from a band whose average age was 21, from the city of Nova Friburgo in the state of Rio, Brazil. A band who never performed this soundtrack live even! The film, a celebration of peace & love taking place in a hippie wonderland was banned upon its release in 1970 and the soundtrack died a similar death.
MPEG Download: "Concerto do Pantano" [/audio/spectrumconcerto.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Concerto do Pantano" [/audio/spectrumconcerto.m3u]
MPEG Download: "Mother Nature" [/audio/spectrummothernature.mp3]
The re-reissue-ance of a lot of crucial '70s Japanese psych rock documents continues apace, with this seminal stoner rock release now on cd (and lp) again via the Phoenix label. Originally released in the musically bountiful year of 1971, Eve was the debut from a psychedelic power trio that made no secret of their predilection for recreational pharmaceuticals, and preferences therefor. "Glue" was bassist Masayoshi Kabe's nickname, "Speed" that of singing drummer Joey Smith. Guitarist Shinki Chen (formerly of Food Brain, as was Kabe) lacks a nickname, so we dunno his drug of choice, but it's obvious he's really into Jimi Hendrix...
Obligatory citation of Julian Cope's Japrocksampler ranking: tied (with Flower Travellin' Band's Satori) for number ONE out of fifty!!! So, yeah, this is considered by some (including us) to be an essential - though we wouldn't personally rate on par with Satori, or for that matter ahead of Speed Glue & Shinki's own self-titled sophomore album, or some others on Cope's list, but it would be up there, nonetheless. 'Specially perfect when you're in the mood for some druggily spaced out, heavy cowbell knockin' acid blooze rawk splurge, laced with loping riffs and lackadaisical vocals, with titles that (of course) couldn't be any more overtly oriented towards the subject of gettin' high, such as "Mr. Walking Drugstore Man" and "Stoned Out Of My Mind"! But you, the listener, needn't be stoned, this music is head noddingly hypnotic all by itself, just turn it up and let yourself veg out to it, all the way through to the relaxing coda of the album's final
track, "Someday We'll All Fall Down", a quietly lovely, folky acoustic number with a doubtlessly prophetic title. Along the way, enjoy garagey rave-ups like "Ode To The Bad People" and lumbering blues blasters like "Big Headed Woman".
The seven tracks here are primal "proto-metal" (VERY proto) for fans of Blue Cheer, Blues Addicts, Moses, Modulo 1000, Human Instinct, Juan De La Cruz (the Filipino band with whom SG&S's drummer Joey Smith later played), Flied Egg (also reissued and reviewed this list), and others of that wasted, rock n' roll ilk from around the world.
Nicely packaged in a mini-LP style gatefold sleeve for the compact disc. Gatefold sleeve for the vinyl version too.
Sniffin & Snortin (parts 1 and 2!), Run & Hide, Bad Woman, Don't Say No, Wanna Take You Home...sound good? Those are some of the song titles on this classic women-and-drugs obsessed dumbo-rock Japanese psych album. It stars guitar whiz and massive stoner Shinki Chen (also of Foodbrain and oodles of other obscure Japanese psych outfits), bassist Masayoshi Kabe (from Foodbrain too), and singing drummer Joey 'Pepe' Smith -- a Vietnam vet whom you might know from the Filipino band Juan De La Cruz, whose album "Shake Your Brains" is one of the few that tops this for sheer truly stoned rock retardation (a good thing). Too bad we can't get those in anymore. But you'll hear at least one of their tunes on this, the second SG&S album, originally released as a double LP in 1972, which we happen to like even better than their 1971 LP "Eve" though Mr. Julian Cope made that one a "record of the month" on his website Head Heritage. Anyway we have this one, not that one.
Speed, Glue & Shinki, as you might imagine from their name, were a goddamn weird, messed up, completely wacked heavy psych/blues/prog band. So messed up that this time out, guest musicans wrote (and performed?) most of it! But it doesn't matter. And even when Joey plugs in a Moog synth to do a whole LP side devoted to the Sun, Planets, Life, Moon, and Angels, this never ever remotely gets pretentious and proggy (not that we don't like proggy). It just can't. Speed Glue & Shinki are primal, so primal, too primal. At least one track hints at the Stooges, some others Zeppelin, while the rest approximates a brain-damaged James Gang. Record collector types might recall the fancy, expensive Shadoks LP reissue that was available a couple years ago for about two seconds. We were enthralled with the lovely tiger cover art and the ridiculous rock and have been hoping ever since to bring in a cd version, and at last we tracked down a few copies that we had to order from Sweden, so act fast for your Speed, Glue & Shinki fix if you think you want it.
MPEG Download: "Red Doll" [/audio/speedgluered.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "Red Doll" [/audio/speedgluered.m3u]
MPEG Download: "Song For An Angel" [/audio/speedgluesong.mp3]
From 1967-1970, deep in their own little world in Urbana, Ill., the Spoils of War started making peculiar pop songs, layered with exotic instruments and experimental electronics, all performed with infectious warmth and emotion. One moment, the group is creating music that sounds like a jingle that sticks in your head forever, while the next moment, they allowed a folky sense of emotion and levity to rise above all else.
You know something pretty great is going on when you hear instruments more common in Afghanistan and Russia -- such as the domra and rubab -- on a record that also encompasses lots of heavy organ, male and female vocals, and a '60s fuzzy rock guitar sound. The Spoils of War had an ability to be both smart and catchy, sultry and playful, haunting and wholesome. They were the even-more-obscure sonic cousins of the United States of America. The spike in the drink of the Free Design. The fun daydream of Van Dyke Parks hanging out with the Monkees. Acid rock with a skip to its feet -- and a whistle in its pocket. Not a new reissue but one we just had to get around to listing.
Even the few of us who don't really dig this all that much, LOVE the bonus tracks, live and blown out acid drenched droning krautrocky nirvana, spacey and murky, heavy and so weird and amazing!
Twee olde folk.
Twee olde folk.
Here's another great collection of tunes from a band that never quite got its due, Detroit's psych-soulsters SRC. Coming out of the burgeoning Ann Arbor garage scene, SRC (short for Scott Richardson Case, the name of the singer) worked their way up through the rigamarole of early band struggles and of band name and lineup changes before they got signed to Capitol in 1968. Influenced by Motown soul and British Invasion rock like the Yardbirds and the Pretty Things, SRC utilized doomy organ, angelic vocal harmonies, and searing electric guitar with cave stomp beats. Yet being in Detroit in the late sixties amongst heavyweights such as MC5, The Stooges, and the Amboy Dukes, SRC's brand of Brit-inflected soul-psych, though heralded by John Peel in Britain, made little headway in the states. SRC struggled through three albums before calling it a day in 1971. This collection features 19 tracks from their three albums, including the stellar tracks, "Black Sheep", "Daystar" and their classical rip off of the Peer Gynt Suite, "Morning Mood". Essential for fans of The Pretty Things, MC5 and hard psych soul-rock from the fringes!
So we've worked are way backwards with the recent reissues of great British folkstress Bridget St John. A couple lists ago we reviewed her most pop and upbeat release Thank You For..., then last time it was the ever so lush and orchestrated '71 release Songs For The Gentle Man and this time we focus on her debut, 1969's Ask Me No Questions. An outing that's the most stripped down of her first three albums. Produced by her biggest supporter, John Peel, this was by and large a totally solo affair. Her totally beautiful voice and sparse guitar instrumentation help create an overall somber and peaceful mood that is usually so hard to get so right, but St. John demonstrates that she knew so well how to evoke those sentiments without hitting people over the head, instead slowly wandering and tiptoeing her way through leaves and trees and finding beauty, truth and sadness along the way. The reissue of this debut also contains two bonus tracks including a stunning cover of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne." These recent reissues have proven she is worthy of that spot in your record collections next to Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan and Marianne Faithfull, voices that are timeless and always ring so true and wise.
We've been so happy that Cherry Red has made available some of the wonderful records of late '60s early '70s UK folkstress Bridget St. John. Last time we listed the wonderful Thank You For... and this time it's the lush sounds of Songs For The Gentle Man that we have been swept away by. This is for sure one of her most beautiful albums. Teamed up with producer Ron Geesin who she was introduced to by their mutual friend John Peel (his record label Dandelion originally released this in '71). Geesin's production was such a perfect match for the breezy and beautiful sound of St. John's voice. He actually co-wrote one side of Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother as well as making lots of interesting, challenging records of his own. The lush arrangements on this record will make you think of Vashti Bunyan more so then maybe any of St. John's albums. There is that same gentleness meets strength in her voice that listen after listen sinks deeper into our ears. We've got a feeling that Isobel Campbell might have been a big Bridget St. John fan as so many of these songs remind us of Campbell's contribution to early Belle & Sebastian records. Not a weak song in the whole bunch and her take on the Donovan penned "The Pebble and the Man" is pretty damn irresistible... as is this entire album. Highly recommended!
Another great British folk re-discovery! Bridget St
John was on the scene during the late 60's/early 70's and recorded just a handful of albums. A few of which were originally released on John Peel's Dandelion label. Luckily Cherry Red has gotten a hold of the original reels so those of us who missed out first time around can finally hear what we missed. And wow what a great voice and presence she had! She had this great ability to be both delicate and breezy, recalling the best of her contemporaries like Nick Drake and Vashti Bunyan while dipping her feet a bit more in carefree wind-in-her hair styling. Her voice also reminds us a lot of Marianne Faithfull and even at times Nico on a sunny day with a smile on her face. Some of the standout tracks on the record like "Fly High", "Lazarus" (which was her sort of hit), "Silver Coin", "Thank You For.." are the kinds of songs you know will be on every mix tape (ok...mix cd) that we make this year. So nice when songs recorded 34 years ago can still resonate so strongly in the present moment. Oh that's called timeless...and that's what this record is!
This is one of those releases that used to only be available online from the Rhino Handmade website...but I guess they didn't sell enough 'cause a little while ago they started selling 'em to stores. So, we had to get a few copies of this, one of Allan's favorite Rhino Handmade titles (his absolute favorite is of course the long-gone Stooges' Complete Funhouse Sessions boxset). It's the unreleased album (plus many more unreleased tracks) by the Stalk Forrest Group, a band who later changed their name to the much better known, more successful Blue Oyster Cult! If you like the early BOC records (which were reissued, and reviewed here, a few years ago) then you may well want this. All the early-daze hippie jamming psychedelic aspects of the band revealed on those albums are definitely to the fore here, from back when "heavy metal thunder" was but a line in a Steppenwolf song and big arenas weren't on these guys concert schedule -- instead they played gigs like a "swinger's nudist party at an off-season summer camp in the Catskills" according to the extensive liner notes that Rhino Handmade, in their usual deluxe fashion, have included in this cd's booklet. Guitarwise, though, they show off the skills that later made them the subversive semi-heavy metal icons they became. Even if they'd never made it as BOC, this record made by a gaggle of absurdist New York college boys into West Coast ballroom style acid rock (including hints of Byrdsian country stylings) would be a minor classic... (We've just got a few, and aren't really sure if they're really still available or not, so if we run out please don't get mad.)
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Here's a weird one. Imagine a late-sixties jazz-funk combo playing fucked up versions of children's songs written in the 40s and 50s by Hoagy Carmichael. Actually, you don't have to imagine that, if you just listen to this disc. 'Cause that's what's happening here. The first eight tracks on this cd were orginally released in 1970 as "The Stark Reality Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop" LP. Dunno what kids thought of it, but the heads must have loved it, unless it tripped 'em out too much. The idea (hatched by Hoagy's son Bix, who worked at Boston's WGBH public TV station with musican Monty Stark, the leader of The Stark Reality) was to psychedelize ol' Hoagy's music for hippie youngsters. The result were these awkwardly funky, severely distorted (in every possible way), jazzed-out cuts, featuring Stark's crazily atonal fuzz-equipped vibes and bizarrely straight singing/rhyming. The music appeared in a WGBH kid's show, then was released on LP. That LP is apparently quite an expensive rarity these days, with those that have heard it either thinking it brilliant or insane or both. The LP track "Rocket Ship" was one of Windy's favorite cuts on Peanut Butter Wolf's recent "Jukebox 45" mix cd, and he has now reissued the whole album on his Stones Throw label, so we all can judge its merits, along with several non-Hoagy bonus cuts. The thorough liner notes do their best to explain the whole deal, and indicate that more than one lucky beat-diggin' hip hop DJ has made this their secret weapon.
It's utterly ridiculous yet oddly compelling. You'll either have to turn it off after two minutes or it'll become an all-time fave, that's the sort of record this is! Easily the most warped, heaviest jams ever on subjects like basic musical notation, remembering the number of days in each month, and recipes for cooking stew. I mean, some of this makes Sun Ra's wiggiest solos sound normal.
The '60s/'70s psych reissue label Akarma comes through once again with this gem! England's Steamhammer had a heavy name and lotsa chops, but never really made the big time. Their first three albums were British blues rock incarnate, real good at that but not our cup of tea really. THEN came "Speech", their swansong. Something happened (lots of drugs, maybe?) -- it was real different. This is an unusual album for sure. Probably not what Steamhammer fans at the time were expecting: Psychedelic doomy prog-tastic epic instrumental slaying, with fuzz fx, jazzy percussion, and emotive vox. It's not metal but it's got a lot of what we like about metal that's for sure, and kicks ass on most of what came out in '72. Fans of some of the real heavy underground bands from the era like the Groundhogs, Lucifer's Friend, Socrates Drank The Conium, even Il Balleto Di Bronzo ought to check this out for sure! Unfamiliar with those obscurites? Well just imagine Led Zep gone off the rails. Creative, deftly timed/structured songs full of psychedelic atmosphere. From quasi-religious 20th century avantgarde interludes to manic guitar rippage, from gorgeous vocal lamentations to jammy improv spaciness, this is AQ-approved prog weirdness for sure. The 22 minute "Penumbra" that opens the record erupts from a spooky three minute intro into sheer pulse-pounding rock trio shred, then dives into a bass-heavy dirge from which a vocal chorus emerges...and on they go. Everytime we play this for someone who we think *might* like it, boy, they *really* like it. This gets a big thumbs up from all the heavy/psych/prog heads here at AQ!!!
Arguably the definitive recording by the man who has been called the Welsh Dylan, Meic Stevens' 1970 debut Outlander has been finally reissued in an affordable format (after getting the deluxe but super expensive Rhino Handmade treatment a couple years back). Panned upon its release as a Dylan / Syd Barrett / Donovan derivative, it has since gained an earnest following among purveyors of obscure acid folk and psych-folk releases (as well as fans of retro-Welsh grooves like Super Furry Animals) for its inventive use of sitars, tablas, and flutes. Full of idyllic and romantic allusions to fogotten lands of yore, Stevens puts a more raga spin on his arrangements than Dylan ever would have, which definitely sets this apart from mere style-copping. Another essential necessity for any psych-folk collector!! So good.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Besides having one of the best band names ever (inspired by A Confederacy Of Dunces, strangely enough), back in the '80s Sweden's Stomachmouths were their nation's undisputed masters of snotty sixties-style surf-psych garage, leading a revival that would last for most of that decade and predated the current Swedish garage mania (Hives et. al.) by almost twenty years! This compilation encompasses the Stomachmouths' short sharp burst of creative, manic rock and roll that lasted a brief three and a half years. Raw and noisy, catchy and rocking, the Stomachmouths sound like the perfect mix of twangy, reverby Dick Dale riffs, the fuzzy and crunchy garage-y buzz of the Sonics, and the cranky, spazzy brattiness of the Electric Eeels or the Styrenes. Sounds like a pretty amazing collection and it is! This has been playing in the store non-stop since we got it in last week. Awesome, super detailed liner notes too!
Nice new reissue of this underground Britfolk fave. Long ago we had a version on the Kissing Spell label, so here's our succinct but quite positively intended write-up from back then:
Dark 70's British folk with mostly female vocals and verses like, "And pale, pale grew her rosy cheek, and pale and cold was she, she seemed to be as surely dead, as any corpse could be."
Instrumentation includes dulcimer, recorder, flute, violin, and mandolin in addition to the usual three piece. For fans of Current 93.
We'd now go on to add, also for fans of the Midwinter demos disc we reviewed a few months ago, also issued by Prog Temple, since that was the band that later turned into Stone Angel. And of course, for anyone already into the likes of Shide & Acorn, Loudest Whisper, Caedemon, and other British folk-psych obscurities. A classic, no doubt about it.
Some years ago, we were all freaking out about a compilation called Chains And Black Exhaust, a killer mix consisting of obscure, '70s heavy funk music, all from ultra hard to find singles and such, none of which was even identified, though curious folks have since figured out the tracklist... One of those mystery tracks, "You Know", turns out to have been by this outfit, Ohio's Stone Coal White. It's from one of their two rare 45's, circa 1972, and a's and b's of which are compiled together on this archival release, along with "four previously unissued tracks, found in the basement of a now-condemned motorcycle gang hideout in Dayton, Ohio." Which is a good story we'll happily choose to believe! It sure SOUNDS like music from a black motorcycle gang's basement, super raw stoned blaxploitation grooves full of wah wah chicka chicka guitar, with almost dubby sounding lo-fi production, lots of distortion and psychedelic echoey effects. They do a couple badass covers, both Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" and Curtis Mayfield's "Hell Below" (with their singer doing a spot-on Curtis impersonation on that one!), and their own jams have some of the early drugged-out Funkadelic feel. Yeah, good stuff! Fans of another C&BE alumnus, Black Merda, ought to love Stone Coal White. You can thank uber-digger Josh "DJ Shadow" Davis for doing the archeology on this one, and releasing it via his Cali-Tex imprint.
Oh, and we can't resist mentioning something we noticed, if you look up Stone Coal White on YouTube, this is the top rated comment under one of the tracks that's been posted: " I 'v e j u s t m a d e l o v e t o m y w i f e w i t h t h i s p l a y i n g . W h a t a g r e a t a r t i f a c t o f b l a c k r o c k . "
Not '80s metal, not '70s metal, this is '60s metal. Or at least, heavy hippie psychedelic garage rock to be more precise. The Shadow Kingdom label, who seem to go for cult current metal bands and even more obscure reissues, reached pretty far back for this one, all the way back to the late sixties (the recordings collected here date from between '65-'70 as far as we can tell). Stone Garden were from the Pacific Northwest, predating the Seattle grunge scene by a couple decades... But if they'd been born later, we could almost imagine 'em on Sub Pop, playing shows with Mudhoney and, uh, Soundgarden, yeah.
Pounding drums and bass, wild jamming organ, and plenty of throbbing distorted guitar, that's what you get from Stone Garden. No, it's not Black Sabbath (it never is) but this ought to appeal to heavy psych, proto-metal heads into Blue Cheer, Bubble Puppy, Sir Lord Baltimore, Iron Butterfly, Fraction, Negative Space and the like. For the era, and considering their age (in the pictures here, Stone Garden are really young looking, though shaggy-haired, teenage kids still in high school), this was on the HEAVY side of the blues rock spectrum most definitely. Not all of it, but enough of it. "Assembly Line", ferinstance, is an appropriately grim lament, laced with acid guitar soloing. They were into Cream and Hendrix, you can tell.
Throughout these 15 tracks, production quality varies, some material was recorded in a real studio, others in a basement home studio, still others in a living room, or live on stage. So this collection has got a patchwork production vibe for sure, but that doesn't stop Stone Garden from rockin'. And when they did make it into a studio, they took advantage of it, you gotta love the freaky tape speed manipulation studio shenanigans that make "Grayworld Forest" an even weirder place to wander than the title suggests.
Stone Garden's music has been reissued before, originally on a limited edition (long out of print) vinyl by Rockadelic in the '90s, and also on compact disc by Gear Fab, but this Shadow Kingdom cd edition is the best, with a bunch of previously unreleased bonus tracks and a nice booklet full of liner notes, vintage photos and, on the back, what we're guessing was the b&w flower power sleeve of their sole 7" release, circa 1969, with the boys looking really REALLY young on it. Which means you can flip the booklet around and have it as a the cd cover instead of the crappier looking "Stonehenge" cover inherited from the Rockadelic lp version, if you like.
Though it may not always seem like it, these are blessed times in which to live. That is, in regard to the cd reissue of various record collector "holy grails". Sooner or later, it seems like every highly coveted, whispered-about psych/folk/prog masterpiece gets a reissue - recently, for instance, records by Joakim Skogberg, Bobb Trimble, Moolah, and Cold Sun. Of course, these reissues often as not go right back out of print all too soon, but that's the way of the world. The point is, at least we get a chance at 'em. We mention this on the occasion of this cd reissue of the privately-pressed Stone Harbour LP from 1974, not to imply that it's of uniformly mindblowing, out of this world quality, no not quite, but still it's pretty good. And when it's bad, it's maybe even better, 'cause this basement hippie multi-instrumental duo from Youngstown, Ohio had the shambolic, stoned DIY thing down, this album achieving a primitive, fucked up brilliance despite (or because of) the hissy lo-fi homebrewed production and the musicians' lack of technical chops. Imagine Bobb Trimble jamming with George Brigman, perhaps after listening to records by Syd Barrett and Uriah Heep, and getting super wasted and emotional, that's what a bunch of this sorta sounds like... well we mention Uriah Heep 'cause they do, this album's typewritten thanks list specifically highlighting Heep's keyboardist Ken Hensley, definitely an inspiration for all the ornate spacey synth sounds zapping in and out of the songs here.
We'll admit, though while the holy grail hype is mostly right, Emerges IS a bit hit or miss. Not every Stone Harbour song is a brilliant gem. But when they hit, they hit! You could happily buy this for the haunting likes of "Grains Of Sand" and "Summer Magic Is Gone", alone. But there's plenty more besides. With lots of lovely lalalas, acoustic strum, and lysergic electronic effects, this is a weird, magical mix of melancholic murk (drifting soundscapes like "Thanitos") and more grunged-out, garagey rock n' rolling (on the likes of "Rock & Roll Puzzle"). Heck, they fully boogie it up on "Still Like That Rock & Roll" (one of the aforementioned misses, but not without its charms).
As usual, Lion provides a jam-packed cd booklet, with lyrics and pics and as much background info as they could dig up (Stone Harbour's Rick Ballas blessed this reissue, but declined to be interviewed for the liner notes). This disc also includes four additional bonus tracks, recorded in 1975, that fit in quite nicely with the album tracks, the highlight among 'em being "Witch To You", a song that sounds sooo much like a lo-fi, real-deal version of the doom-prog vibe AQ faves Witchcraft are conjuring today. Most likely, it's 'cause on that track, Stone Harbour were heavily influenced by both Black Sabbath and Roky Erickson, much like Witchcraft are too, albeit from the further remove of a couple extra decades.
What more to say? Psych fans, we've done our duty, please check out the long lost Stone Harbour and be amazed.
All right, time to get yr underground proto-metal kicks! Remember the new album from San Francisco longhairs Dzjenghis Khan we highlighted last list?? Well THIS is exactly the sort of thing those retro-stoners were going for. Step up for an authentic '70s hard psych experience. Stonewall's rare, awesomely fuzz riffed record was recorded in '69, but not actually released until 1974, and even then without the band's knowledge, due to exploito-label shennanigans. Read the liner notes for more about that. (Actually, other sources claim this was recorded circa '71-'72, and then released in '76, we don't know what to believe, but either set of dates sounds plausible.)
Stonewall pump out stompin', rockin' boogie, durn heavy for '69 (or '71), fronted by an expressively raspy vocalist, gripped by the spirit of rock n' roll at its countercultural best. He also busts out the occasional harmonica wail. But it's generally guitars to the fore, and fuzzed-out. There's some Hendrix and Cream influences of course, maybe Led Zep too depending on when this really was recorded, and we're treated to some total organ jammin' blues rockin' on "Try & See It Through", while "Atlantis" hints at the slightly proggier riffage of Captain Beyond's debut....
Definitely for fans of Sir Lord Baltimore, Dust, Bang, Jerusalem, etc. Also if you remember a much more recent (but very retro) band from the '90s called The Want, who did a disc for Southern Lord, this sounds pretty much just like them. Which is cool 'cause we really digged The Want. Maybe they really digged Stonewall?
Oh, and yes, this IS the same Stonewall album that was previously reissued on cd some years back by the Italian label Akarma, with a different cover and title (Akarma called it Stoner, and the cover had a wall of Marshalls, with blood seeping from several of 'em.) Presumably this is the how the original lp really looked.
If you picked up the Spanish Trip compilation we reviewed a few months back, you might recall a song by this band from Seville, that we described as an example of "off-the-rails Deep Purplish bludgeon". And by "off-the-rails" we meant that their track, "I Don't Know", was played with a sloppy, wild abandon that made sound almost punk. Pretty cool! Well that song was from this, their only full-length album, originally released in 1974, and finally now reissued on cd in a fairly deluxe package (slipcover, bonus video clip), which features another seven tracks of hard rockin' proto-metal psych with gobs of heavy organ and acid blues guitar soloing...there's even a drum solo on here too. More aggressive than progressive, The Storm did their best to live up to their name, kicking out the jams more energetically than any other band from Spain up to that point in Spanish rock history except maybe Tapiman (whose excellent album with the pink skull on the cover was also recently reviewed by us, you may recall). Yet despite all their "storminess", though, these guys seem to have a sunny side too. Not downer rock by any means. You can kinda hear their '60s Beatles-lovin' pop roots.
Now, we've gotta say, on our last list we reviewed the comparably hard rockin', equally vintage Pax album from Peru, and it didn't get quite the response we were hoping for... we thought there were more of you proto-metal fans out there reading this stuff! Hmm. But if you're there, this is one you might dig (and that Pax too, go back and read about it).
Now we've got a nice Japanese cd reissue of this (previously, but no longer, available on the somewhat shady Radioactive label). It's more expensive but better. Our review of it before ran something like this:
Some fairly heavy (maaaan) stoner psych blues rawk action here from 1971. Yep, seventy-one. We won't try to tell you that the lone album from Japan's Strawberry Path was one of the best rock releases of '71, 'cause of course there were so many great albums out that year. But if you're a fan of heavy rock of the era, especially the weirder stuff from overseas, you should check 'em out. There's plenty of wailing guitar and jammin' organ on here, but also some mellow moves too so it's maybe more '60s than '70s sounding, and VERY Jimi Hendrix influenced. And we'd guess they were also into such Western acts as Steppenwolf, early Deep Purple, Grand Funk and possibly Black Sabbath. In the realm of early '70s Japanese hard psych they're on par with Speed, Glue & Shinki and Foodbrain, but not quite as as solid as the best Flower Travellin' Band or Blues Creation. These guys (a duo of Shigeru "Jimmy" Narumo on guitars and keys, and Hiro Tsunoda on drums and vocals, helped out by various guests) went on to form the even heavier Flied Egg, who released an LP on Vertigo, a track from which is heard on Andy Votel's Vertigo Mixed disc in fact. This is totally in that Vertigo vein, with classical flourishes of flute and strings, hard-rockin' boogie blues riffage, wild vocals, kickin' drum breaks, acoustic interludes... it's an acid-prog mix that isn't always in the proto-metal direction we might want but we'll take what we can get. Plus you've gotta love the song titles, which are either really cool and weird like "Maximum Speed Of Muji Bird (45 Seconds Of Schizophrenic Sabbath)" or totally indicative of what you'd expect like "I Gotta See My Gypsy Woman" and "Mary Jane On My Mind". Woah, yeah.
Recently we've reviewed the two excellent Flied Egg albums, reissued on cd by Universal Japan, as is this -- if you dug those, Strawberry Path is also up your alley (Path?).
Some fairly heavy (maaaan) stoner psych blues rawk action here from 1971. Yep, seventy-one. We won't try to tell you that the lone album from Japan's Strawberry Path was one of the best rock releases of '71, 'cause of course there were so many great albums out that year. But if you're a fan of heavy rock of the era, especially the weirder stuff from overseas, you should check 'em out. There's plenty of wailing guitar and jammin' organ on here, but also some mellow moves too so it's maybe more '60s than '70s sounding, and VERY Jimi Hendrix influenced. And we'd guess they were also into such Western acts as Steppenwolf, early Deep Purple, Grand Funk and possibly Black Sabbath. In the realm of early '70s Japanese hard psych they're on par with Speed, Glue & Shinki and Foodbrain, but not quite as as solid as the best Flower Travellin' Band or Blues Creation. These guys (a duo of Shigeru "Jimmy" Narumo on guitars and keys, and Hiro Tsunoda on drums and vocals, helped out by various guests) went on to form the even heavier Flied Egg, who released an LP on Vertigo, a track from which is heard on Andy Votel's Vertigo Mixed disc in fact.
This is totally in that Vertigo vein, with classical flourishes of flute and strings, hard-rockin' boogie blues riffage, wild vocals, kickin' drum breaks, acoustic interludes... it's an acid-prog mix that isn't always in the proto-metal direction we might want but we'll take what we can get. Plus you've gotta love the song titles, which are either really cool and weird like "Maximum Speed Of Muji Bird (45 Seconds Of Schizophrenic Sabbath)" or totally indicative of what you'd expect like "I Gotta See My Gypsy Woman" and "Mary Jane On My Mind". Woah, yeah.
Here's yet another one of those bands that we'd vaguely heard of (or perhaps not) but never really encountered actual records by, and now that we have we can't figure out why they weren't a bigger deal! I think I first became aware of 'em via the thanks/influences list on a Pentagram album. Kinda always assumed they were your basic British blues rock but on the evidence of this, their 1970 debut they were something a little different than the Cream/Zep sort of thing I'd imagined. They're rather more like a '60s psych-pop singles band, of the garagey/Nuggetsy variety, with the fuzz factor and sheer guitar heaviness cranked way up toward proto-metallic levels. More psych than prog, more pop than blues. Kinda punk too. Very kick ass and energetic, catchy and rockin', venturing from the paisley-painted pop melodicism of "Around The World In Eighty Days" to the slamming punkish "Only What You Make It" to a number of extended fuzz guitar workouts... but first and foremost it's good old-fashioned hard rock. Think Thin Lizzy. Or Dust, or Budgie. Or even early, early Rush (one song here always puts Byram in mind of "Working Man"). But as mentioned it's got a poppy '60s garage vibe unlike a lot of those acts... And there's enough proggier, psychier elements loaded in here to pique the interest of a wider audience than just the hard rock lovers among us. The guitar parts especially are full of odd harmonies and melodic richness that bring to mind Amon Duul II, if Amon Duul II could have managed to fit their open ended song structures into a tighter blues rock straight jacket. What makes Stray's music work so well is their attention to structure: keeping their compositions on a tight leash and avoiding the esoteric meanderings that can be a pitfall to many prog rockers. This and their sense of dynamics, knowing just how and when to throw the switch and rip the seat of your pants, is what must have made them a seriously kick ass live band (and apparently they were super popular as such in and around their London, England turf, but unfortunately never managed to cash in on the hard rock success like some of their contempories). They recorded numerous albums, of which this first one is likely their best (though their second LP Suicide is a good one too, and we're just not that familiar with the rest of their '70s output), but their biggest claim to fame might be that Iron Maiden covered one of their songs on a b-side ("All In Your Mind", the very first track on this disc). Stray's version was way better btw.
The second and final record from this legendary Finnish folk icon, who died at age 26 not soon after this record was released. Where his first album, Magneettimiehen Kuolema, was recorded with Finnish prog rockers, Tsavallan Presidentti, this psych folk gem from 1972 is much more stripped down and intimate, dark and mysterious, a combination of shuffly folk and haunting psychedelia, Streng's delicate croon, underpinned by simple percussion, acoustic guitars, pointillist piano, and fluttery flute.
Some of the numbers are fairly upbeat and jubilant, festive for sure, but the magic lies in the darkside, the hushed whispery drifts that found Streng infusing some serious jazzy cosmic drift into his more minimal folkiness. Streng was a huge influence on the modern Finnish troubadours (Es, Kemialliset, Ystavat, Kiila, etc...) and it's easy to hear why on Kesamaa...
On my visit to Finland a few years back, I (Andee) was lucky enough to have Jussi from Circle as a host and guide. Which meant our three priorities were: recording/jamming, eating Finnish pizza (the BEST pizza IN THE WORLD), and of course record shopping (when Jussi was visiting HERE recently, he insisted on record shopping every single day!!). The record shopping was a blast, as it always is in a new city, especially in a new country, but it wasn't all just browsing, there were a bunch of Finnish records I was dying to get my hands on, and would probably never be able to find outside of Finland. But there were also a bunch of bands that I had never heard, but that Jussi insisted I NEEDED to hear, bands that informed his music, and most of the underground Finnish music we were into. One was a band called Mano Mano, a killer classic Finnish rock band, another was Motelli Skronkle, a totally twisted sort-of-pop/folk band (whose records will hopefully be reissued soon on Jussi's Ektro label), and the other was Pekka Streng, in fact Jussi insisted I buy ANYTHING on Love Records, a legendary underground Finnish label, but especially Pekka Streng. We did eventually manage to track it down, and it was just as good as promised, but somehow even weirder and more idiosyncratic, especially for a record that came out in 1970.
Love Records seems to have been reactivated recently, having released those Arctic Hysteria compilations, as well as the super rad Psychedelic Phinland collection, and now, Streng's only two releases, from the early seventies, both released in the years before he died tragically at 26.
Magneettimiehen Kuolema was his debut, and finds him with famous Finnish prog rockers Tasavallan Presidenttii as his back up band. But don't be expecting full on prog, no this is way more folky, tinged with psychedelic rock, and yeah, a little prog. While the sounds on Magneettimiehen Kuolema are not that overly strange, you have to remember this was 1970, and much of the sounds here were WAY ahead of their time. At its core, this is a dreamy folk rock record, a bit of twang, fluttery flutes, acoustic guitar, some spidery psych guitar, a little whistling and of course Streng's soft dreamy vocals. Think Nick Drake or Pugh Rogefeldt or Joakim Skogsberg, but then mix in field recordings, lush piano, dramatic crooning, skittery Indian sounding percussion, buzzy sitar like guitar drones, some wild psychedelia, strange glitchy electronics and analog synths and some seriously strange arrangements, but ultimately, all wrapped around Streng's simple heartfelt folky pop. So good. And it's easy to see how influenced ALL your various Finnish faves were and are by Streng... Es, Circle, Avarus, Kemialliset Ystavat, Anaksimadros, Kiila, Islaja...
Reissued with three bonus tracks, and new liner notes, which are unfortunately (for us at least) all in Finnish.
More lost '70s psychedelic pop... from Malaysia!! 1973's "Waiting Is" album by The Strollers is a blend of uptempo R&B inflected groovers and also melancholic, mellow pop-psych. "You're Gonna Make It" sounds like Blood Sweat & Tears, with a honkin' horn section... "Bus Ride" is more of an heavy organ jam... "Children" is one of the haunted ballads... "Do What You Gotta Do" is a smoking prog-funk breakdown... yep all sorts of sounds of the era are ably essayed here, though The Strollers amble in maybe a few years behind the times as you might expect from folks so far from the Western entertainment complex, so this is more '69 than '73 sounding, whatever that means to you. It's sung in English, and more commercial sounding than freaky, really. But certainly if you liked fellow Malaysian psych-popsters Truck's recent reissue you might want to check this out too.
This rare acid folk record from 1972 is not as Ren Faire as the cover would imply. Although subtle comparisons can be made to the Incredible String Band and Trees, Subway were neither staunch traditionalists or back-to-the-woods fairie folksters. Made up of American guitarist and singer-songwriter Irv Mowrey and British violinist Malcolm Watson, the duo met up in England, decided to go to Paris to try to make it, ended up playing in subway stations (hence the name) and wound up cutting a record on the French imprint of Epic Records. Of course, the record didn't fare very well and Epic ended up destroying the surplus, assuring them cult and holy-grail collectible status ever since. Mowrey's songwriting is first rate adding a nice American touch to their urban folk sound. There is also a really nice modal instrumental piece that takes this far past your average twee acid folk. Nice!
The main problem with unearthed supposed 'proto-metal' rarities or 'holy grail' psychedelic artifacts, is that after hearing for years and years how amazing and heavy and fuzzed out they are, often when we finally get to hear them, they so often sound a lot more like ordinary bar rock, or blues rock, the hype far exceeding the sound.
No such problem with South African heavies Suck. This, their only record has been circulating for years as a bootleg, and the first time we saw it, we knew it had to be good. The cover was a cool black and white photo of a little long haired hippy kid sitting in the grass next to a kick drum, the band was called Suck (rumored to have almost been called FUCK), and the record was called Time To Suck, they covered Sabbath and King Crimson and Deep Purple, they're from South Africa and the record originally came out in 1970. It HAD to be good. But we were cautious, we had most definitely been burned before, but thankfully there was no need for caution cuz holy shit is this stuff amazing. Hard and heavy, super rocking, wildly psychedelic, the fact that if you weren't familiar with the covers here you'd be hard pressed to pick out the one original says a lot about these guys.
Apparently Suck were infamous in South Africa for raucous, sometimes violent, always chaotic live shows, they were only a band for 8 months, and in that time only ever recorded ONE original track, and released one proper album, Time To Suck.
Two Grand Funk Railroad tunes, "Aimless Lady" and "Sin's A Good Man's Brother", King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man", "Season Of The Witch" by Donovan, Free's "I'll Be Creeping", Deep Purple's "Into The Fire", "Elegy" by Colosseum and finally Black Sabbath's "War Pigs". That's a serious selection of songs. Then there's the one original, "The Whip", a killer chunk of Zeppeliny slither and Sabbathy crunch, some wildly proggy arrangements, frenzied guitar leads, incredible drumming, and lead vocalist Andrew Ionnides' Robert Plant like wail. A churning heavy metallic rock jam that sounds right at home amongst all those better known tunes.
Their version of "21st Century Schizoid Man" is fierce and super distorted and as heavy if not more so than the original. "Season Of The Witch" burns slowly, peppered with cool fluttering flutes and all sorts of subtle guitar filigree, and of course "War Pigs", that takes balls to tackle that one, especially in 1970, but these guys definitely make it their own, staying pretty true to the original, minus an even more blown out intro, and the addition of some weird percussive string plucks or maybe bongos, way up in the mix, but makes it even more dizzyingly psychedelic, and if anything, their version as a whole is just a bit more chaotic and off kilter, an definitely faster, more like the German TV version of the Sabs you can find on YouTube.
Needless to say, this is an essential proto-metal document, one that is actually pretty metal, fuzzed out, super heavy, intensely rocking, psychedelic and druggy, plenty proggy, and well, the song selection can't be beat!
It's always pretty amazing when reissue labels continue to set high standards with rediscovered music. Especially when you think the well has surely gone dry, that they must have to heap loads of praise and hyperbole on a record that no one has heard of to get folks to buy it, only to have it not be as good as one hoped. That's what we were expecting going in to this 1969 private press Jim Sullivan record, when the label was describing it as a cross between Fred Neil and David Axelrod, two of our favorite musicians. While the description is somewhat apt, we couldn't help in our excitement over what we were hearing to come up with better comparisons like the Memphis swamp-folk of Tim Rose, the string-driven downer folk-blues of Tim Hardin or the lysergic folk-pop of Hoyt Axton (especially his debut, My Griffin is Gone). Needless to say, we are loving this record!
U.F.O. is a unique hybrid of Southern-fried world-weary folk with classic top-notch LA studio production sheen. Backed by the legendary Wrecking Crew, Sullivan's earthy but wide-eyed existentialism is cradled in stunning atmospheric orchestral arrangements that give deeper scope to the song's melancholic luster. Why this wasn't a major studio release at the time is a mystery because it sure sounds like one. But mysteries seem to have dogged Jim Sullivan throughout his life, as he strangely disappeared in 1975 in the New Mexico desert. His belongings abandoned, his motel room untouched.
Light in the Attic has done an incredible job of piecing together Sullivan's backstory and disappearance, but with no definitive resolution except for the legacy of one of the best lost folk records we've heard in a long while. Highly recommended!
Wow, did you know that the debut record by purported Peruvian princess Yma Sumac (1922-2008), was the biggest selling release of 1950? This isn't that album, Voice Of The Xtabay, though, rather it's her 1971 (yes, once again, 1971 blows the mind) rock-oriented comeback attempt, Miracles, this remastered reissue being the first time officially on cd for this rare record, which didn't stay in print very long originally, due to legal differences between Sumac and her label. So not so many folks heard this one, but now they can, if they dare!
While one could perhaps imagine something even more far-out from Sumac in '71, her fabled five octave range offering tantalizing possibilities for Yoko Ono or Brainticket style freakouts, this is definitely NOT your father's lounge music, either! Before titling it Miracles, they almost called it Jungle Rock, and it was definitely an attempt to introduce Yma Sumac to a new generation of fans. In this effort to be hip and happening, the inventive orchestration and contemporary rock band backing (fuzz guitars, swirling organ) come close to being as wild as her voice.
Interestingly, this album found the "Queen Of Exotica" once again teamed up with the "King" - Les Baxter, her collaborator on Voice Of The Xtabay! He was brought in to compose and conduct, and is responsible for writing all the tracks here but one (a cover of popular Peruvian folk number "El Condor Pasa").
These songs, with titles like "Medicine Man", "Flame Tree", "Azure Sands", "Zebra", and "Magenta Mountain", certainly showcase Sumac's remarkable voice - soaring altissimo, deep growling, startling squeaking, everything in between - as accompanied by swinging, fuzzed out psych rock grooves and otherworldly arrangements. Downright "lysergic" as some would have it. Others might call the combination corny... some of this sounds like the most unhinged nightclub act ever.
Leadoff track "Remember" sets the pace, Sumac's band ready to rumble, guitars crashing in like maybe she's gonna start singing "Jumping Jack Flash" but her vocals are all wordless whoops and warble (like a human Thermin) and ludicrous, Muppet-like grumble. Crazy stuff. This even reminds us a bit of the sort of Third World garage psych now being comped on such recent collections as Thai? Dai! and The Sound Of Siam, an interesting synchronicity. Who was unintentionally inspiring who?
It's hard to know what Yma Sumac purists will think about this over the top, modish Incan instro-hipster act. (Are there Yma Sumac purists?) This album's certainly a strange one, all right, utter extreme eccentric exotica. Exotic for the "jungle" themes, and all the more exotic now for its dated psychsploitation angle.
Brought to us by one of our favorite reissue labels, Australia's Omni Recording Corporation, who make sure provide extensive, fascinating liner notes (touching on this album's kinship with other albums of "psychedelic opportunism" of the era like Muddy Waters' Electric Mud, Bo Diddley's Black Gladiator, and Chubby Checker's New Revelation) in the colorfully illustrated cd booklet. Also, three previously unreleased bonus tracks have been added to the disc!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Somewhere between The Free Design, The Incredible String Band and The Buggaloos lies Sunforest. Sunforest were a mysterious British female trio that recorded this sole 1969 gem of acid-folk prog-tinged popsike that has been a holy grail of sorts for sample-searching record heads. Even our own Antaeus (Lazer Sword) admitted to sampling the opening track "Overture To The Sun" to make a beat. That song along with another track, "Lighthouse Keeper" are also famous for their inclusion in the film "A Clockwork Orange". Medieval and baroque at times with harpsichord, piano and pump organ flourishes, lilting horns and sublime triple harmonies, Sound of Sunforest also features some of the best British session players around including Herbie Flowers (bassist on Lou Reed's "Walk on The Wild Side, Bowie's Space Oddity and Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire Du Melody Nelson), and Big Jim Sullivan (Lord Sitar) on guitar. Like most British records of the era, whimsy and zaniness can gain the upper hand at times with songs about candy shops, insect weddings, and eccentric old hippy ladies taking us back to the Sid and Marty Kroft days of our youth, but there is plenty of insanely beautiful songs of the likes we've never heard making this an odd but highly satisfying listen.
The Survival were a Mexican psychedelic rock band circa 1970, who played morbid, melancholy acid-blues and warped beat music, with an oddly apocalyptic sense of freak-humor, reflected in song titles like "The World Is A Bomb", "Electric Chair", "Nothings
The "Icelandic Invasion" continues, as Shadoks reissues some more crucial '60s/'70s psych-prog action from that island nation. Last time we highlighted the groovy "hairy funk" heaviness of Odmenn. This time, two more: the debut from Trubrot (1969), and this one, the sole album by Svanfridur (1972). Both bands demonstrate definite Beatles influence, and do so well, but also are quite eccentric in their own right, which perhaps can be ascribed to their Icelandic heritage?
This group was definitely musically talented, hot stuff on the live circuit in their native Iceland, though the sales of this self-released lp were disappointing. And thus it ended up being their only album. Too bad, it's a good 'un after all, considered a Nordic prog classic by many collectors today, and something we think that fans of the modern day Swedish group Dungen might totally dig, for that same sort of Scandinavian prog/pop/psych blend only this is the real deal, not a retro remake.
Svanfridur, like Odmenn, is also fairly heavy and fuzzed out, often enough, on acid blues rockers like "My Dummy", whilst being simultaneously super catchy on the pop side of things too, exemplified by opener "The Woman Of Our Day", which sounds like a hit to us. It's a diverse album though, Svandfridur happily mixing things up, getting moody with flute and strings on the title track "What's Hidden There?", and moodier still with the strange synth atmospheres of "Did You Find?"... Then there's the staccato folk violin into acid rock distorted guitar rippage of "Finido". Great stuff all over.
Like most Shadoks reissues, this includes extensive liner notes in the cd booklet (revealing, among other things, that members of Svanfridur, like SO many other bands of the day it seems, had been involved in a production of the musical Hair), along with tons of photos and graphics. The original sleeve bearing the lyrics (in English) and recording credits is reproduced, and if you look close you'll note the presence of the classic admonition that this record is "To Be Played Loud"! Indeed.
