Tar Babies - No Contest (1988) Tar Babies - Honey Bubble (1989) Tar Babies - Death Trip (1992)
One of the lesser-known bands on the legendary SST roster, the Tar Babies emerged from Madison, WI, with a distinctive brand of punk-funk that often drew comparisons to their labelmates the Minutemen, as well as the Texas-based Big Boys. Colored with bits of psychedelia, jazz, and avant-noise skronk, their music quickly progressed beyond their roots in hardcore and evolved into a scratchy but danceable, groove-centered hybrid complete with horns and George Clinton-style jamming. The Tar Babies were formed out of the ashes of Madison hardcore punkers Mecht Mensch, who disbanded in 1982. Guitarist/vocalist Bucky Pope, bassist Robin Davies, and drummer Dan Bitney debuted with the 1982 EP Face the Music, issued on local indie Bone Air. By the time of their second release, 1985's Respect Your Nightmares, their funk influenc
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Tracks : 1 Ohio/Machine Gun 2 Fire and Rain 3 Lay Lady Lay 4 Spill the Wine 5 Nothing to Do but Today 6 Cold Bologna 7 Love the One You're With
Givin' It Back is as much a time capsule as an album. Not that it
can't be enjoyed on its own absolute musical terms by someone just off
a boat who wasn't even around in 1971, but to really appreciate how
daring it was and how delightful it is, that side of its history should
be known. Those who are old enough should recall the time whence it
came, an era in which hatred and disunity over the Vietnam War, civil
rights, school desegregation, the environment, and a multitude of other
issues were threatening what seemed, potentially, like the beginning of
a new civil war, this one not between states but between factions and
ethnic and racial groups in 1,000 individual neighborhoods. The opening
cut of Givin' It Back, "Ohio/Machine Gun," is a slap-in-your-face
reminder of just how angry the times and the people were. The track
evokes instant memori
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Here's a happy summer cross-post courtesy of the kind and all-seeing -Valis from Trip Inside This House. -Valis asked for and did verily receive from nearly a score of bands a brand new song each celebrating summer, the solstice and his own great blog! Yes - 18 brand new psych psongs for psummer!
For full track info and artwork, go here. (Scroll to the bottom of the post for the artwork links).
Here's what -Valis says about the comp and how it came together:
Happy Solstice!!!
It's Summer! (Here, in the Northern Hemisphere. To all of our beloved Southern Hemisphere readers, well.., you'll have to bide your time.)
Gale Garnett and the Gentle Reign - 1968 - Sausalito Heliport
Gale Garnett Guitar, Kazoo, Producer Rob Fisher Synthesizer, Keyboards The Gentle Reign Synthesizer, Vocals Tony Hill Guitar, Percussion, Noise Bruce Horiuchi Organ, Piano Paul Robinson Percussion, Producer Dick Rosmini Guitar
On her pair of obscure late-'60s Columbia LPs, Gale Garnett had changed from the fairly middle-of-the-road pop-folk singer of the mid-'60s to one far more aligned with the pop/rock and psychedelia of the times. On the second of these, Sausalito Heliport, she was backed (as she had been on the first) by the Gentle Reign. Unfortunately, the general facelessness and purposeless eclecticism of the material and arrangements remained, leaving one to wonder just what Garnett might have accomplished had she been in a band with truly good songwriters. For the songs here aren't much to rave about, sometimes seeming like awkward attempts to get in on the California psychedelic rock action, with occasional downright embarrassing improvised-sounding lyrics on some of the more ambitiou
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Bonemen of Barumba were a unique punk/gothic punk band from the early 80s. They released three records during their lifetime and played at the 2005 O'Banions reunion, though Mark Panick was the only original member. They also made a video (very rare for the bands of that era) and even made a float and participated in a parade in Villa Park. Though not as popular as many of their early 80s contemporaries, Bonemen of Barumba were well-respected for their unique sound and artistic/visual approach to their music. Bonemen got their start with Mark and Tom, two fans of Super-8 artfilm, decided to form a band after a field trip to New Orleans. Shortly after, they built a Bonemen-themed float out of a 1964 Mercury station-wagon for the Villa Park 4th of July parade. Shortly after the release of the debut LP for Fever, internal tensions within the band forced the breakup. (from punkdatabase.com)
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Via a medium, stoner college jam band We’re Late For Class performed a 14 minute improvisational space jam along with the disembodied voice of Jim Morrison, the late singer of The Doors.
“Why not!?,” said a We’re Late For Class spokesman. “It's cheaper than a living singer, what with classified ads, lodging and alcohol... and besides, you know how lead singers are to deal with.”
“So you don't think this is just something we slapped together with old recordings and ProTools... (you can hear) the engineer ask Jim for the ‘post-death stuff... the stuff without copyrights,’” the spokesman persisted. “In the end,” he said, ”it went smoother than our Screamin' Jay Hawkins seance.”
The free download also includes a 14 minute instrumental version for those that don’t
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With the first notes you're in Height-Asbury in a hot noon of the summer of 1968, listening to an acid jam. Then, your curiosity makes you look at the back cover for info and you realize that the jam is not from '68, but from '98 and the band is not from San Francisco, but from Germany! This Essen trio released and EP in 1987 and 3 albums from 1993 to 1998, all in very limited quantities (Improvise released in 300 vinyl copies) and gained the title of "West Coasters of Ruhr". Most of you may recall the name from the Delerium label compilations from the 90s (CK were in two of them).
Cosmic Kangaroos were Mechy, Kermit and Groucho Kangaroo, and in their first release, a 4-track EP from 1987, they started their trip in West Coast acid/psych, although there were still traces of garage sounds. 10 years later we find them in this LP, with two side-long tracks, to fly in acid heaven, trying to reach Jerry Garcia and John Cippolina. Their music in Improvise is, as the t
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A raw punk outfit from Fort Worth who were a popular local attraction in their day. Sometimes known as The Jades Of Fort Worth, their second 45 and later pressings of the third one were released under that name, Their third 45 was originally credited to Jades Of Stone. They specialised in cover versions, which they delivered in their own fiery style. On I'm Alright Gary Carpenter set a Rolling Stones song to new lyrics and the formula worked - they enjoyed a local hit. Next up was a Small Faces song and for their third and final effort they choose a Van Morrison composition. They finally called it a day in 1969 by which time only Carpenter and McCool remained from their original line-up. For the first half of the seventies Carpenter played for a showband called Colossus and later he recorded an album which he decided not to release. After a spell as a DJ in Fort Worth he was last heard of managing the Sound Idea stereo store on Camp Bowie. The
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Ju Ju Hand (Domingo Samudio) (2:05) Magic Touch (Evans-Livingston) (2:53) 'Cause I Love You (Samudio-Chalmers) (1:57) Medicine Man (Reynolds-Addington) (2:15) That Old Black Magic (Arlen-Mercer) (1:44) I've Got A Voodoo Doll (Gibson) (2:32) I've Got My Mojo Working (M. Morganfield) (3:05) The Gypsy (R.W. Reid) (2:06) Witchcraft (Leight-Cy Coleman) (2:27) Love Potion #9 (Leiber-Stoller) (2:09) Magic Man (Davidson) (2:00) I'm Your Hoochie Cooche Man (Dixon) (2:40)
Liner Notes;
This is the second album Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs have made for MGM Records. The set includes their hit Ju Ju Hand-and the whole idea behind the LP is one of mystery and magic with a beat.
In this LP, Sam and the group make the rhythm pot boil with a wild assortment of tunes that carry the Pharaohs trade mark-that great Memphis beat. This album is a powerful follow-u
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Live Skull created abrasive no wave music not unlike their 1980s contemporaries Sonic Youth, Swans, Rat At Rat R, The Chameleons, Mars, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and Band Of Susans. Their music featured angular guitar parts interspersed with bleak, quieter passages, for a haunting overall effect. The lyrical subject matter was usually as pessimistic and harsh as the music itself. Live Skull never achieved mainstream recognition, but retain underground notoriety and share a family tree with other relatively noteworthy groups.
Live Skull formed in New York City in 1983 by the guitar/bandleader tandem of Mark C. and Tom Paine. They were soon joined by drummer James Lo and Marnie Greenholz (Paine's then-girlfriend), on bass guitar. In 1984, a self-titled debut 12" EP saw release on the tiny Massive label. They soon signed with indie label Homestead Records, which released their 1985 debut full-length Bringing Home The Bait. On this LP, vocal dutie
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Salem 66 - Natural Disasters, National Treasures (1988) Salem 66 - Down the Primrose Path (1990)
Led by two Massachusetts singer/songwriters, Salem 66 played generally delicate electric guitar music that embraced folk more than rock traditions. The trio's six-song debut EP — produced by Neighborhoods guitarist David Minehan — has plenty of poetic ambience and some surprisingly complex arrangements, but consistent jangly-trebly sound makes it hard to stay engrossed, and occasional bum notes also interrupt the mood. Guitarist Judy Grunwald and bassist Beth Kaplan both sing, but their voices don't harmonize all that well.
With the arrival of a new guitarist, the Salems became a quartet for A Ripping Spin, a full-length LP also produced by Minehan. The songs and playing are better, but the vocals are still hit-and-miss. Kaplan takes an indecisive approach to the issue; Grunwald's gurgly warble can also be a trial. The brief "Fragile" shows their potential, but other tunes are less mellifluous.
A guitarist switch brought Stephen Smith into the lineup for Frequency and Urgency, which resulted in noticeably improved music on the Ethan James-produced album. With stronger, more assured p
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Throwing Muses are an alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects. The group was originally fronted by two lead singers, Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly, who both wrote the group's songs. Throwing Muses are known for performing music with shifting tempos, creative chord progressions, unorthodox song structures, and surreal lyrics. The group was set apart from other contemporary acts by Hersh's stark, candid writing style; Donelly's pop stylings and vocal harmonies; and David Narcizo's unusual drumming techniques eschewing use of cymbals. Hersh's hallucinatory, febrile songs occasionally touched on the subject of mental illness, more often drawing portraits of characters from daily life or addressing relationships. - from Wikipedia (read ... Read more »
Irresistably charming album from this NY folkie, who apparently had listened to a lot of Donovan's and Byrds songs (and some Dylan). The album starts with two great folk-psych tunes, the sad waltz of "Organ Grinder's Dream" and the more known "Rising of Scorpio" that's been on many compilations. Note the excellent guitar work of Artie Traum and Dave Bromberg, faintly reminding Lee Underwood's guitar for Tim Buckley's early albums. I would say that Santo's voice is somewhere between a (very) quiet Buckley and Donovan (not witty thought). In other songs (Jingle Down A Hill) the echo of Donovan is more clear. Silver Currents' songs are mainly folk - imagine an acoustic Byrds record (without the 12-string of McGuinn), occasionaly coloured with the sounds of organ, piano and jews harp and some nice ballads with Santo's voice accompanied with his guitar.
The following two reviews are from Lysergia.com: Santo’s best known for "Rising Of Scorpio,” a cool tune that appeared on many psychedelic compilations, despite m
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V.A. - New Mexico Punk From the Sixties (1985 - Eva 12047) Side 1 1 The Kreeg - How Can I 2 The Kreeg - Impressin' 3 Era Of Sound - Girl In The Mini Skirt 4 The Burgundy Runn - Stop! 5 The Plague - Go Away 6 The Movin' Morfomen - Run Girl Run 7 Lincoln St. Exit - Sunny Sunday Dream 8 Lincoln St. Exit - The Bummer
Side 2 1 The Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2 - I Wanna Come Back (From The World Of LSD) 2 The Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2 - Double Crossin' Girl 3 The Grass - I'm Getting Tired 4 The Outer Limits - Don't Need You No More 5 Nobody's Children - St. James Infirmary 6 Axis Brotherhood - Signed D.C.... Read more »
The Romulans, one of several bands going by the same name, was a psychedelic rock band based in Madison, Wisconsin and Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band members all used the surname, Romulan, on their first two releases. Guitarist and vocalist Kevin Hagen founded the band in 1989 with bassist Michelle Waterman. The Romulans drew their influences from 1960's US garage and psychedelia, and from 1960's UK mod and psychedelic bands as well as Milwaukee's Plasticland. Kevin Hagen and guitarist Dave Junker penned most of the songs. Drummer Tom Hamer was with the band for 2 years and played on the band's early recorded work. He was replaced by Steve Laux, who stayed with the band until its demise in 1994.
The Romulans released three 7" singles and one full length CD. They performed live in Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Iowa
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Note : We are slowly rebuilding our posts. We decided to use the original dates for the entries initially posted on the old Lost-In-Tyme, so, if you have our RSS enabled, you will not see everything appearing in the blog's main page. In this case you can search for it (at the right column) or you can visit our archives pages (the reposted entries have active links)
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