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Main » Psyche/Garage/Folk
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Monday, 23 June 2008
 Another lost record, first time in blogland.
The Fanatics is a happening all its own. It all started when Neal - alias "Daddy Frog" - left a group he had been playing with in favor of starting his own. W.T. "Dub" Johnson was drafted into the movement when he went guitar-shopping at a Houston department store where Neal was working. "Big Jon" Pereles came abroad in much the same manner a few days later.
Drawing in a couple of old friends, "Baby John" Cravey and Johnny "String" Stringfellow, the boys were off and rolling in February 1965. Lanier "Idiot" Greig, organ impresario extraordinarius and clown prince to end all princes, joined the group later. After endless name calling sessions, "Big Jon" is more or less credited with pinning the Fanatics name on the group. The name stuck - and so Houston and the nation are swinging with a way out group that's really "IN". (from the Fanatics Fan Club booklet)
With the above promo text, I thing we get an idea of the years (and language) when the Fana... |
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Saturday, 21 June 2008
This LP from 1971, escaped until today any reissue, and remains in many collectors wishlists. No info is available for this except from from a couple of words in rateyourmusic. The first reviewer (which provided the cover, an image we used in this post) praises it and gives the Holy Modal Rounders as the closest reference while the second almost dismiss it as very much influenced from Dylan.
I would say that the more I'm listening to it, the more I tend to agree with the first reviewer: although we're not talking about a masterpiece, it's true that there are not many records you can bring in your mind while listening Vigril Caine.
Surely there's Dylan here (like in the opening track or in "Buiscuit High") but after that we have "There's an X in Nixon" a true masterpiece, which I think will be played a lot by our visitors who will decide to listen to this album.
Virgil Cane was the fictional character of Robbie Robertson's "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down" from the Band's se... |
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Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Recorded in 1969 (when they were called Foehammer), two years before their sole LP “Under the Tree” (which can be found at Time Has Told Me),
"Legend of the Dreamstones", shows the band in a more prog/psych
direction. Electric guitar riffs and more rock instrumentation are the
main differences - vocals are kind of "shy" and there are still
trolls, rivermen and ladies as in "Under the Tree". Although
"Legend..." saw the light of day in 2004-5, is now out-of-print and
seems there are no plans of a reissue. I think that the main reason may
be the low quality of the recordings (which could be called lousy - but
this shouldn't stop the lovers of british hippy-folk of the 60s to
listen to it).
Perhaps no way-obscure early-'70s British folk-rock band is as over-represented on CD as Shide & Acorn, who released just one album in the early '70s, which itself was a privately pressed LP given away to friends. Not only did that album get re... |
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Sunday, 08 June 2008
"... an experimental psychedelic folk album with songs that release themselves of any constraints and explore differing sonic boundaries (odd instruments, studio effects, imaginative rock inspired by indian music and B-movies)..."
"Lord Space Devil" starts quietly, evolves into something like slowed-down-Meat-Puppets (Up-On-The-Sun era) and ends in an orgy of lysergic guitar, backwards tapes and percussion.
In these 18 songs we find that Syd Barrett lives through "Go Down Streets" and West Coast shines through "Mantra #27", sitar-driven heavy psyhe instrumentals, light pop psychedelia "In the Haze of Drugs", electric folk ("So Sad"), 1965's garage tunes with rich instrumentation ("Another Venus"), British psychedelic blues ("Plastic Hippie"), short experiments/scetches for future songs, Donovan, Tom Rapp, and a million wonderful details.
Putting aside the deliberately obvious 60s references, I find strong resemblance with another duo - the |
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Saturday, 07 June 2008
Chapin Sisters & Winter Flowers - 2007 - Split EP
(Manimal vinyl MANI 01)
Eight brand new songs from LA's most respected folk bands together on
this very limited edition split picture disc with stunning artwork by
Astrid Quay (Winter Flowers) and Abigail Chapin (The Chapin Sisters).
Contains the Chapin Sisters KCRW hit "Let Me Go" and the extraordinary
Winter Flowers on four mellotron and flute soaked classics that bring
to mind bands like Fairport Convention, Incredible String Band and
Devendra Banhart. The Chapin Sisters are the Abigail and Lily Chapin,
nieces of legendary folk singer Harry Chapin ("Cats In the Cradle")
with half-sister Jessica Craven (daughter of director Wes Craven).
Winter Flowers are five young mystics who live in a communal
environment in Echo Park, California. A soft musical oasis of guitars,
flutes, mandolins, glockenspiels, harpsichords & soaring 3 part
vocal harmonies. WF offer a space of fragile delights for the seeker of
higher musical realms.
A beautiful picture disc LP split between Los Angeles' most inspiring
folk band... |
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Thursday, 05 June 2008
V.A. - The Miskatonic Acid Test [OST]
Disc One
1. Come to Arkham (Wear the Wind in Your Hair) - Byron Fenris
2. Electric Rejuvenation - The Red-Eyed Dogs
3. Erich Zann - The Howl
4. Twitch of the Death Nerve - The Gyre Falcons
5. Flowers and Lies - The Barrow Wights
6. Where the Sun Touches the Sky - The Conqueror Wyrms
7. The Cold Fathom - The Plasma Miasma
8.... |
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Tuesday, 03 June 2008
 ("a major band" - Pulsebeat; "classic psychedelia by any standards" - Freakbeat; "One of the strongest bands in the genre" - Knights of Fuzz)
Q: If you had the chance to play a gig at any place or time, where and when would you choose?
A: The Fillmore West, with Jefferson Airplane opening for us.
(from interview in Freakbeat #7, 1990)
The Not Quite were a critically acclaimed 60's revival band that flourished in Ct. for over a decade. The group was formed by Dark Lord Rob and featured 60's style pop/rock, with the Kinks and Who as the guiding influence. The addition of Tom Donnelly (drums) and Morrie McCarthy (guitar) gave the group a new power, and a more psychedelic sound emerged ( though psych material had been part of the group from the get-go). Soon an album was released on the Dutch Resonance label, garnering some small measure of critical acclaim ("A major band" -- Art Black). This album... |
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Monday, 02 June 2008
The Birdmen of Alkatraz (Italy) - 1987 - Gliddin' Off [EP]
Tracks :
A1 Young Maiden Ghost 5:21
B1 Dreamin Demon 3:40
B2 The Best Way To Say Goodbye 3:45
Maurizio Curadi : guitars,
Gianfranco Migliaccio: bass
Daniele Caputo: drums
This is certainly the best of the current crop of Italian bands that I've
heard thus far; there's twelve minutes of exciting psycho-drama spread
thickly over three tracks. For a three piece band they create a very full
sound with Curadi's vibrant guitar buzzing, stinging and generally pervading
every inch of precious vinyl. Whilst this record could easily be mistaken
for the out-pourings of some time-shrouded acid crazed combo of the late
60's there is a bizarre Mediterranean tinge to, particularly, "Dreamin'
Demon" which brings some sense of originality yet the track itself sounds
like a heady mixyture of a Sergio Leone western film score and the
Yardbirds' "Hear... |
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Friday, 30 May 2008
Rio Grande - 1971 - Rio Grande
(rca victor sf8208)
Side 1
1 Idle Idabelle
2 Me And My Wife
3 End Of The Battle
4 Sue Ann
5 So Good To Be Free
Side 2
1 Wish I Could See You Again
2 What Do You Do When Love Flies Out Your Window
3 Before My Time
4 Nice And Easy
5 Dog Song
Personnel:
Ronny Weiss (vocal, guitar, lyrics)
David Stanley (bass, guitar, vocals)
Tom Russell (guitar, bass)
Bobby Tuttle (pedal steel)
Ken Murray (percussion)
Related acts :
- Mouse and the Traps (Ronnie Weiss)
- The Uniques (Ronnie Weiss) |
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Wednesday, 28 May 2008
If ever there was an example of a rock band that was in the wrong place at the right time, it's Absolute Grey. In the mid-'80s, Absolute Grey was playing intelligent, tuneful folk-rock with intriguing melodies, subtle but effective hooks, and a psychedelic undertow that would have allowed them to fit right in with the paisley underground bands blossoming on the West Coast or the jangle pop armies gathering in Athens, GA.
But some trick of geography placed Absolute Grey in Rochester, NY, where they were pretty much on their own and, while they managed to attract a devoted hometown following, significant nationwide recognition escaped them. Then again, it's hard to say if Absolute Grey would have been an ideal fit anywhere else, either; their approach was a bit less trippy and significantly less retro than such paisley underground stalwarts as the Rain Parade or The Long Ryders, while the band's tone was notably cooler and more hard-edged than what R.e.m. or Pylon brought to the table.
A Journey T... |
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Monday, 26 May 2008
Mike Gunn, Dunlavy, Linus Pauling Quartet,
Grimm Experience - the Houston heavy psych scene of the 90s.
You can call Linus Pauling Quartet's music endless acid
jamming, spaced-out improvisation, stoner rock, heavy psyche or
whatever you like. But every time you listen to it, you can feel the
heavy, buzzing guitar riffs, the trippy electric sound of the American
heavy/psychedelic/we're-drinkin'-and-jammin' tradition.
Here is their 2nd LP - released in 550 copies
In
band's own words:
Ramon Medina: I think we
write what we do
because we grew up near NASA, playing D&D, reading Tolkein, and
smoking a lot of fucking dope! (from Nicholas L. Hall’s interview with
the Linus Pauling Quartet at Houstoned
Rocks)
When Michael Demmler and
Eva Koehler of September Gurls listened to the live tracks that were
intended as a demo, they suggest to th... |
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Monday, 26 May 2008
Saturnia - 1999 - Saturnia
(Self-released)
Tracks :
1 Club Aquarium
2 Gemini
3 The Twilight Bong
4 Irsi
5 Interstellar Rainbow Lung
6 Scultress Sublime
Review From Aural Innovations #16 (June 2001)
Founded in Portugal late 1996 by multi-instrumentalist Luis Simoes,
Saturnia are a fresh and inspiring duo who offer spacey organic
drenched atmospherics, mixed with sitar induced ambience and ethnic
drum and bass rhythms. They edge slightly towards the strange
dancetrance than they do towards spacerock, but don't let that put you
off because they offer their own brand of space on here that is
reminiscent of early Pompeii Pink Floyd meets Portishead meets Anubian
Lights meets Ravi Shanker. Certainly a new one on me.
On this, their first release, we have an interesting combination of
Luis Simoes: Guitar- Sitar-Lapsteel Guitar-Vocals-Theremin-Gong and
Loopings, and old time friend Eduardo Vasconcelos aka M.Strange:
Organ-Synthesizer-Theremin-Gong and Loopings. The first offe...
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Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Saddhu Brand - 1970 - Whole Earth Rhythm
(Anna Chakraborty's Musical Sewing Machine Records MSM101)
Four hippies go to India in the 1960's, stay for two years & then
return to the San Francisco Bay area & this would be the outcome.
Tracks:
A1 Whole Earth Rhythm 3:25
A2 Dhun 4:23
A3 Babu Shoda 8:30
A4 Ha Ha Modi 6:08
B1 People Brittle 4:38
B2 I Give You Johnee The Truth 5:53
B3 Dabi Das' Song 12:39
Personnel :
Michael Bell : Sador, Acoustic Guitar
Josh Collins : Tabla, Percussion
Peter Van Gendler : Sitar, Guruji
Kenny Wilson : Esraj, Bamboo Flute
With Peter Van Gelder (ex-Great Society) after the long trip to India.
Cosmic sitar folk and psych, trippy female & male vocals, chanting in English and Hindu, lots of ethnic instruments.
An early example of a genre that would become common during the 1970's.
 ... |
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Sunday, 18 May 2008
Organ Grinders (US) - 1968 - Out Of The Egg
Tracks :
1 Hall Of Hours
2 New Day Holyday
3 Freedom Song
4 Pleasont Song
5 Reach For The Sky
6 New Beginning
7 8th Day In Heaven
8 Smile For The Sun
9 And I Know What Love Is
10 Shady Tree
11 Honey Bee
12 William
13 Kama Kazie Woman
The Organgrinders
Personnel:
Frank Eventoff woodwind, flute, sax, ld vcls A
Nisan Eventoff piano, organ, accordion, synth, keyb'd-bs, ld vcls A
Paul Eventoff drms, vcls A
Henry Melcher gtr, bs, vcls A
James Rock bs, vcls A
ALBUM:
1(A) Out Of The Egg... |
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Friday, 16 May 2008
As I promised in the recently re-upped post of Lord John's "Six Days of Sound", I posted the songs that the Narc Twins had on mp3.com about 8 years ago. As it was proved by the stuff that Opa-Loka discovered and immediately shared with us, these tracks were a selection from their tapes, released from Acid Tapes, under the titles Life with the Lemons (1990) LMNOE (1991). After this I updated the post including these two tapes. Anyone enjoyed the tracks of the initial post, definitely need these.
Narc Twins were Tom Gibson and Ray (Normandy) Fracalossy, singer and guitar player respectively of Lord John. They have a myspace page where I took the following (which, as you can understand, describes their story and music way better than I could ever do)
Ra... |
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