Gordion Knot was a short-lived band from southern California, by way of Mississippi. They released only one album,"Tones" a terrific soft rock/harmony pop effort produced by Clark Burroughs of the Hi-Los. The group formed at the University of Mississippi and was led by ex-Mississippi all-American quarterback/guitarist/lead vocalist Jim Weatherly, a native of Pontotoc, MI. The group caught their biggest break after they appeared at a party thrown by Nancy Sinatra, who apparently liked them so much that she asked them to accompany her on a USO trip to Vietnam. According to their liner notes, they were "one of the few groups since the Beatles to possess genuine charm...not a phony showbiz glucose charm, but the real thing." The bulk of the songs for their album were written by Weatherly, and have a edgier, husky country-rock vibe compared with those written by Leland Russell, whose beautiful tunes are comparatively similar to the Association (Burroughs, it should be pointed out, was also a vocal arranger on the Association’s "Insight Out” and "Waterbeds In Trinadad” albums). "One Way Street” is the band's lone obligatory jug band entry. The band also appeared as themselves in a 1968 MGM teensploitation flick called ”Young Runaways”, performing an original entitled "Ophelia’s Dream”. (STP) 01 - It's Gonna Take A Lot 02 - We Must Be Doing Somethin' Right 03 - Strong Wind Blowin' 04 - One Way Street 05 - Carnival Lights, Again 06 - Carraway Stream 07 - The World Keeps Spinnin' 08 - The Year Of The Sun 09 - I Can't Be Hurt Anymore 10 - If Only I Could Fly 11 - Broken Down Ole Merry-Go-Round LINK (RS) LINK (FS)
In 1972, five young men ranging in ages between 14-17 traveled to Atlanta from very rural Tennessee to record a very outstanding Psychedelic album. Only 500 copies were ever pressed, and most of them were destroyed in a fire. Lost in time garage band with a primitive sound and very basic songs; should appeal to fans of Cykle and New Dawn. Prominent use of fuzz bass gives an original edge, while the lead guitarist and drummer work frantically within their limited capabilities. Charming teen vocals and some atypical lyrics about Vietnam and dope legislation. Pretty cool, though mainly for fans of local early 70s amateur sounds. Very short playtime. According to the band, 350 copies were destroyed in a house fire in 1981. (AA) 01 - Flying 02 - Power City 03 - Look What You Done To Me 04 - Speak Freely 05 - Scenic Void 06 - Holding On 07 - Can't Leave It This Way 08 - I'm Calling Chicago LINK (RS) LINK (FS)
Very pro-sounding 1970s Christian hippie folkrock LP with a slicker sound than universally loved Jesus rock monsters like Kristyl et al. Impressive vocal harmonies manage to convey a wide range of emotions within the realm of an elaborate production. Other notable features include typical 70s keyboard wizardry, some good guitar, and intricate Third Estate-style arrangements that occasionally stray into the overambitious. Includes a cover of "One in spirit", rest is group originals. 01 - Prologue 02 - Kingdom 03 - Change 04 - One In The Spirit 05 - Share 06 - Country Tune 07 - Joy Of Salvation 08 - Truth 09 - Free 10 - Epilogue LINK (RS)
Fred Neil was an American folk singer-songwriter in the 1960s and early 1970s. He did not achieve commercial success as a performer, and is mainly known through other people's recordings of his material. Though highly regarded by contemporary folk singers, he was reluctant to tour, and mainly spent the last 30 years of his life assisting with the preservation of dolphins. Fred Neil is the 1966 2nd album from Fred Neil. The album has a more laid-back sound than his debut, and contains his legendary songs "Everybody's Talkin' " and "The Dolphins". It was re-released in 1969 under the title Everybody's Talkin' in response to the international success of the soundtrack of the movie Midnight Cowboy, which made a hit of the new title track for Harry Nilsson. Music journalist Richie Unterberger characterizes the album as Neil's "best", and it was listed in the first (2005) edition of the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, edited by Robert Dimery. 01 - The Dolphins 02 - I've Got A Secret (Didn't We Shake Sugaree) 03 - That's The Bag I'm In 04 - Badi-Da 05 - Faretheewell (Fred's Tune) 06 - Everybody's Talkin' 07 - Everything Happens 08 - Sweet Cocaine 09 - Green Rocky Road 10 - Cynicrustpetefredjohn Raga LINK (RS) LINK (FS)
The James Gang was a rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1967. Though the band was not a huge commercial success, except in the Northeast Ohio area, the fame garnered by guitarist Joe Walsh has since made the group more notable. The original band members were drummer Jim Fox, bassist Tom Kriss, guitarist Ronnie Silverman, keyboardist Phil Giallombardo, and guitarist Greg Grandillo, who was quickly replaced by Dennis Chandler. Bill Jeric replaced Silverman when he entered the service. After Chandler left, the group featured Glen Schwartz. However, none of the early line-ups released any material. In January 1968, Joe Walsh replaced Schwartz after Schwartz had left the band the previous month to move to California, where he ended up forming Pacific Gas & Electric. The band continued as a five piece for a short time until Giallombardo left to become involved in other pursuits. Jeric and Walsh worked together on guitar parts, but Jeric ended up leaving as well in the spring of 1968. He was then replaced by Ronnie Silverman, who had been discharged from the service. James Gang Live in Concert is a live album by the James Gang, released in September 1971. It contains highlights of performances at Carnegie Hall, New York City. This album is the last to feature Joe Walsh as guitarist and vocalist and Bill Szymczyk as producer and engineer. 01 - Stop 02 - You're Gonna Need Me 03 - Take A Look Around 04 - Tend My Garden 05 - Ashes, The Rain And I 06 - Walk Away 07 - Lost Woman LINK (RS) or LINK (FS)
Morning was a Rural-Rock/American Roots/Country-Rock band, formed by Barry Brown (guitar/drums/vocals), Jim Hobson (piano/organ/vocals), Jay Lewis (guitars/banjo/vocals), Jim Kehn (drums/guitar/vocals), Bruce Wallace (electric bass/string bass), and Terry Johnson (guitar). A fine Los Angeles-based group, originally known as The Morning and The Evening. The group was formed after Jay Lewis, also known as Jay Donnellan, had been fired from Love by Arthur Lee. Jim Hobson also appeared on Love's Out Here. When the band signed a recording contract with Vault they retained complete control of the writing, engineering, arranging and producing of their first album, which is an underrated folk-influenced gem. It has a crisp, yet often sleepy sound, which is at its best on And I'm Gone and Sleepy Eyes. The album closes with a ninety second country gem Dirt Roads (the only track written by Jim Kehn) which is worthy of comparison with the title track of Quicksilver's Happy Trails. 01 - Angelena 02 - Early Morning 03 - Tell Me A Story 04 - Easy Keeper 05 - Roll 'em Down 06 - Sleepy Eyes 07 - New Day 08 - As It Was 09 - Time 10 - It'll Take Time 11 - And I'm Gone 12 - Dirt Roads LINK (RS) or LINK (FS)
Gale Zoë Garnett is a New Zealand-born Canadian singer best known in the United States for her Grammy-winning folk hit "We'll Sing in the Sunshine." Garnett has since carved out a career as a writer and actress. Garnett was born in Auckland, New Zealand. When Garnett was 11, her family moved to Canada, and she made her public singing debut in 1960, while at the same time pursuing an acting career making guest appearances on television shows such as 77 Sunset Strip. She made her "New York nightclub debut" in 1963, and was signed that same year to RCA Records. In the fall of 1964, Garnett scored a number four pop hit with her original composition "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" (also #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary singles chart for seven weeks and a Top 50 country hit), and recorded her debut album, My Kind of Folk Songs, for RCA Victor. Riding the success of "We'll Sing in the Sunshine," which won a 1965 Grammy for Best Folk Recording, Garnett continued to record through the rest of the 1960s with her backing band the Gentle Reign. Garnett delivered a notable performance in the Rankin-Bass feature Mad Monster Party in the late 1960s, with the memorable tunes "Our Time to Shine" and "Never Was a Love Like Mine." At this period she had begun to be more influenced by the counter-culture and had embraced psychedelic themes to some extent. In the late 1960s she recorded several albums of psychedelic-inflected music with the Gentle Reign. An Audience With The King Of Wands from 1968 is the seventh album By Gale. 01 - Breaking Through 02 - Fall In Love Again 03 - Mini Song #1 Ophelia Song 04 - Ballad For F.Scott.Fitzgerald 05 - Big Sur 06 - Mini Song #2 Tropicana High 07 - That's Not The Way 08 - A Word Of Advice 09 - Believe Me 10 - Mini Song #3 Lament For The Self Sufficient 11 - You Could Have Been Anyone 12 - Bad News 13 - Dolphins 14 - Mini Song #4 Tropicana Low LINK (RS) or LINK (FS)
The Five Man Electrical Band was a rock group from Canada's capital city of Ottawa, best known for their 1971 hit single "Signs" written by Les Emmerson and reached #3 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in August 1971. Ted Gerow (keyboards), Brian Rading (bass), Rick 'Bell' Belanger (drums), Les Emmerson (vocals, guitar) and Mike 'Bell' Belanger (2nd drums). Although they never achieved lasting success, The Five Man Electrical Band was one of Canada's best loved and hardest working rock and roll bands of the sixties and seventies. Originally formed in Ottawa, Ontario in 1964 as the Staccatos (Rick Belanger, Les Emmerson, Brian Rading & Vern Craig), the group first gained national recognition in 1967, when they recorded an album for Quality Records called, "A Wild Pair', shared with The Guess Who. The L.P. had some success in Canada, and later that year a single was released by Capitol Records called "Half Past Midnight" which sold around 25,000 copies. Basing themselves in Los Angeles in 1968 as The Five Man Electrical Band, the band toured extensively in the late 60s early 70s, sharing the stage with some of the major acts of the era such as The Allman Brothers, Sly & The Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane, BTO and many others. The album, "Coming Of Age" was released in January 1972 and contained the band's second hit single, "Absolutely Right", which sold 750,000 copies and reached #26 on Billboard. Disbanded in 1975. 01 - Coming Of Age 02 - Find The One 03 - Absolutely Right 04 - Country Girl 05 - Julianna 06 - Friends & Family 07 - Isn't It A Long Hard Road 08 - Me & Harley Davidson 09 - Whole Lotta Heavy (Reprise) 10 - Signs (Bonus Track) LINK (RS) or LINK (FS)
Listen To The Sky is a fascinating journey through the changing musical landscape of the '60s as realised by a group of young musicians from Richmond, Surrey. Influenced by local heroes The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds, they started out as The Others in 1963. Their guitarist had been kicked out of Hampton Grammar School for wearing his hair too long and they were soon signed up by the Bryan Morrison/Jimmy Duncan agency in London, home of The Pretty Things. With their R&B credentials in place, their first single was a respectable reading of the Bo Diddley staple "Oh Yeah" in 1964. Sadly, various band members were pressured into quitting the band and continiung their studies and the band was reborn with a more pronounced Who/pop-art influence, first as The Army, then as Sands. They were managed by the Marquee Organisation and enjoyed a residency at the esteemed London venue in late 1966/early 1967 before being snapped up by Brian Epstein and Robert Stigwood at NEMS who put them on stage at his one of their infamous Saville Theatre nights as support to Cream and Edwin Starr. By the time they came to record their next single, Sands had lost band members to the Jeff Beck Group and Procol Harum (then at number one!). Stigwood insisted they record "Mrs Gillespie's Refrigerator", a tune by his new darlings The Bee Gees but the B-side, "Listen To The Sky", is all their own work... with a little help from Holst's "Mars God of War" from The Planet Suite. Following Epstein's death, interest in Sands disappeared and half the band quit, leaving just two members to forge ahead as Sundragon. Signed to MGM and assigned to producer Derek Lawrence, they were convinced to cover The Lemon Pipers' recent US smash "Green Tambourine" as their debut and Sundragon's excellent version became a minor UK hit in 1968. This compilation have the original '60s releases by The Others, Sands and Sundragon.(R-O) 01 - Oh Yeah 02 - If You Don't Come Back 03 - Smokestack Lightning 04 - I'm Taking Her Home 06 - Mrs. Gillespie's Refrigerator 07 - Listen To The Sky 11 - Seventeen 12 - Peacock Dress 13 - Five White Horses 14 - Far Away Mountain 15 - Blueberry Blue 16 - Love Minus Zero 17 - I Need All The Friends I Can Get 19 - Empty Highway 20 - Look At The Sun 21 - Drivin' Drivin' Drivin' 22 - Bring Back That Love Again 23 - Hey, Hey, What Did You See LINK (RS) or LINK (FS)
This is the 2nd and last album by the excellent but little known and short-lived British Blues-Rock band Tramline, which included the extraordinary guitarist Mick Moody, who would later become famous as member of such bands as Juicy Lucy, Snafu and Whitesnake. The other band members were vocalist John McCoy, bassist Colin Hodgkinson and drummer Terry Popple and on this album are supported by a brass section on several tracks. The band, in contrast to most other Blues-Rock outfits at the time, played mainly original material, which was quite excellent. This little gem was completely lost in the vaults for many years and this reissue gives us the opportunity to appreciate it, saving it from oblivion. A classic!(J) 01 - Pearly Queen 02 - Sweet Satisfaction 03 - You Better Run 04 - Grunt 05 - Sweet Mary 06 - I Wish You Would 07 - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl 08 - Harriet's Underground Railway LINK (RS) or LINK (FS)
It's a Beautiful Day was a band formed in San Francisco, California in 1967, the brainchild of violinist David LaFlamme. LaFlamme, a former soloist with the Utah Symphony Orchestra, had previously been in the band Orkustra, and unusually, played a five-string violin. The other members were his wife Linda (keyboards), Pattie Santos (vocals), Hal Wagenet (guitar), Mitchell Holman (bass) and Val Fuentes (drums). Although they were one of the earliest and most important San Francisco bands to emerge from the Summer of Love, It’s a Beautiful Day never quite achieved the success of their contemporaries such as The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Santana, with whom they had connections. It’s A Beautiful Day created a unique blend of rock, jazz, folk, classical and world beat styles during the seven years the band was officially together. In July 1971, It's a Beautiful Day were one of the last acts to appear at Fillmore West in San Francisco. Their performance of "White Bird" appeared as part of the 1972 film, Fillmore. The band fourth release was the live album Live At Carnegie Hall in 1972, they was on tour until 1974 when the band split up. 01 - Give Your Woman What She Wants 02 - Hot Summer Day 03 - Angela And Animals 04 - Bombay Calling 05 - Going To Another Party 06 - Good Lovin' 07 - The Grang Camel Suite 08 - White Bird LINK (RS) or LINK (FS)
Circus Maximus was a US band from New York in the late 1960s, who combined influences from folk music, rock, and jazz into a form of psychedelic rock. The band, originally called the Lost Sea Dreamers (Vanguard Records insisted on a name change, as the initials "LSD" were considered too linked to the drug culture), was formed in 1967. Jerry Jeff Walker, rhythm guitar and vocal, Bob Bruno, lead guitar, organ, piano, vocal, David Scherstrom, drums, Gary White, bass and Peter Troutner, vocal and tambourine; also some guitar work. 01 - Travelin' Around 02 - Lost Sea Shanty 03 - Oops I Can Dance 04 - You Know I've Got The Rest Of My Life To Go 05 - Bright Light Lover 06 - Chess Game 07 - People's Games 08 - Time Waits 09 - Fading Lady 10 - Short-Haired Fathers 11 - Wind LINK (RS) or LINK (FS)
Power trio from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, showed amazing songwriting talent and musical ability. Classic midwest American heavy psych with somewhat biker vibe Raging agressive Fuzz-guitar leads with great echoey-reverb effects, true sledgehammer bass ,crunching drums ,very melodic tunefull vocals. A Must for all 70 s heavy psych enthusiasts. This is a heavy rock album with lots of fine guitar work, particularly on the title track, Lost In Trance, the most psychedelic cut, and Enchanted. All the songs on the album were written by lead guitarist D. Walloch. 01 - Brotherhood 02 - Just For A Moment 03 - Lost In Trance 04 - Oriental News 05 - Enchanted 06 - Middle Ancient Lament LINK (RS) or LINK (FS)
Another UK lost band that deserves more attention as their music can be categorized under progressive rock boundary. CZAR music is a blend of Procol Harum, The Beatles and Pink Floyd (Syd Barrett era) or simply a psychedelic prog rock band. In terms of structure, their music is quite straight forward like typical rock music structure. Melody-wise there are some similarities with classic bands at their generation (late sixties and seventies). The composition comprises the use of keyboard / mellotrons / organs that represent the tradition of early prog music.(RRR) Del Gough / drums, Bob Hodges / keyboards, vocals, Paul Kendrick / bass, vocals and Mick Ware / guitar, vocals 01 - Tread Softly On My Dreams 02 - Cecilia 03 - Follow Me 04 - Dawning Of A New Day 05 - Beyond The Moon 06 - Today 07 - A Day In September 08 - Oh Lord Im Getting Heavy (Bonus) 09 - Why Dont We Be A Rockn Roll Band (Bonus) LINK (RS) or LINK (FS)
This Birmingham band started in 1967 and they released a couple of commercial singles on CBS which are now of little interest before moving to President in 1968. Their later singles, "Dont Torture Your Mind", "Woman Of The Green Lantern" and a couple of more were in a different class to anything else they made before. Their 1969 album is also quite interesting. Alan Eastwood (vocals), Roger Hill (guitar), Dave Pegg (bass). Dave Pegg was later with Ian Cambell Group & The Uglys & together with Eastwood and Hill was later in "Fairport Convention" & "Fotheringay". 01 - Jack Rabbit 02 - Hong Kong Blues 03 - Rock Bottom Cinder 04 - Woman Of The Green Lantern 05 - Don't Torture Your Mind 06 - Tailor Made Babe 07 - Pendulum 08 - Karen Train Blues 09 - Too Much In Love With A Bad Thing 10 - Mrs Cocaine 11 - Bum's Puzzle 12 - Keep The Motor Running LINK (RS) or LINK (FS)
Blonde on Blonde was a guitar-led psychedelic rock group from South Wales. The band was originally formed in Newport in 1967 by vocalist/guitarist Ralph Denyel, drummer Les Hicks, bassist/organist Richard Hopkins and guitarist/sitar player Gareth Johnson. The band was named after Bob Dylan's 1966 album of the same name. They disbanded in early 1972. Even though they enjoyed strong reviews from music critics and achieved massive exposure playing before gigantic crowds at the 1969 Isle of Wight festival (coincidently headlined by Dylan), they never managed to generate much in the way of sales. In 1968 the quartet left Wales for London. Playing clubs such as London's Middle Earth generated publicity for the band, and Pye Records eventually signed the band. Their final album Reflections On A Life was released by Ember Records in 1971. 01 - Gene Machine 02 - I Don't Care 03 - Love Song 04 - Bar Room Blues 05 - Sad Song For An Easy Lady 06 - Ain't It Sad Too 07 - The Bargain 08 - The Rut 09 - Happy Families 10 - No.2 Psychological Decontamination Unit 11 - Chorale LINK (RS) or LINK (FS)
GTR were a rock band founded in 1985 by former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and Yes and Asia guitarist Steve Howe. The band name came from an abbreviation of "guitar". Besides Hackett and Howe, GTR featured vocalist Max Bacon (ex-Moby Dick, Nightwing and Bronz); bassist Phil Spalding (ex-Bernie Torme, Toyah, Mike Oldfield and Original Mirrors); and American drummer Jonathan Mover (ex-Marillion, later of Steve Vai fame). GTR were notable for attempting to create a band with guitar and synthesizer sounds, but without the use of conventional keyboard synths, using guitar synthesizers instead. Hackett and Howe's guitars were outfitted with Roland synthesiser trigger pickups, which used the vibrations of the strings to create MIDI signals used to play the synthesizers. While this may have worked in the studio, they were forced to take a keyboardist on the road because of the poor tracking qualities of the guitar synths. GTR's only studio album, a self-titled LP produced by Geoff Downes of Asia, released by Arista Records, went gold, hit #11 and spawned a hit single, "When the Heart Rules the Mind" (#14), which stayed in the charts for 16 weeks. Another single, "The Hunter", received some video coverage and modest airplay and peaked at #85. 01 - When The Heart Rules The Mind 02 - The Hunter 03 - Here I Wait 04 - Sketches In The Sun 05 - Jekyll & Hyde 06 - You Can Still Get Through 07 - Reach Out (Never Say No) 08 - Toe The Line 09 - Hackett To Bits 10 - Imagining LINK (RS) Or LINK (FS)
Robert Gaston "Bobby" Fuller was an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitar player best known for his singles "I Fought the Law" and "Love's Made a Fool of You," recorded with his mid-1960s group, the Bobby Fuller Four. Born in Baytown, Texas, Fuller spent most of his youth in El Paso, Texas. He idolized fellow West Texan Buddy Holly, and pursued his own music career as a vocalist and guitarist. During the early 1960s, he played in clubs and bars, and recorded on independent record labels in Texas, with a constantly changing line-up. The only constant band members were Fuller and his younger brother, Randy Fuller on bass. Most of these independent releases (except two songs recorded at the studio of Norman Petty in Clovis), and an excursion to Yucca Records, also in New Mexico, were recorded in the Fullers' own home studio, with Fuller acting as the producer. He even built a primitive echo chamber in the back yard. The quality of the recordings, using a couple of microphones and a mixing board purchased from a local radio station, was so impressive that he offered the use of his 'studio' to local acts for free so he could hone his production skills. Fuller moved to Los Angeles in 1964 with his band, and was signed to Mustang Records by producer Bob Keane, who was noted for discovering Ritchie Valens and producing many surf music groups. By this time, the group consisted of Fuller and his brother Randy on vocals/guitar and bass respectively, Jim Reese on guitar and DeWayne Quirico (later replaced by Dalton Powell) on drums. KRLA King Of The Wheels from 1965 is the debut album for Mustang Records. In 1966, Fuller was found dead in an automobile parked outside his Hollywood apartment. 01 - Love's Made A Fool Of You 02 - Don't Ever Let Me Know 03 - My True Love 04 - The Magic Touch 05 - I'm A Lucky Guy 06 - She's My Girl 07 - King Of The Wheels 08 - The Lonely Dragster 09 - The Phantom Dragster 10 - Krla Top Eliminator 11 - Thunder Reef 12 - Wolfman LINK (RS) Or LINK (FS)
The Electric Flag was a blues rock soul group, led by guitarist Mike Bloomfield, keyboardist Barry Goldberg and drummer Buddy Miles, and featuring other well-known musicians such as vocalist Nick Gravenites and bassist Harvey Brooks. Bloomfield formed the Electric Flag in 1967, following his stint with the Butterfield Blues Band. The band reached its peak with the 1968 release, A Long Time Comin', a fusion of rock, jazz, and R&B styles that charted well in the Billboard Pop Albums chart. Their initial recording was a soundtrack for The Trip, a movie about an LSD experience by Peter Fonda, written by Jack Nicholson, and directed by Roger Corman. An American Music Band from 1968 was the third release of The Electric Flag and was led by Buddy Miles, after Bloomfield and Goldberg left the band. 01 - Soul Searchin' 02 - Sunny 03 - With Time There Is Change 04 - Nothing To Do 05 - See To Your Neighbor 06 - Qualified 07 - Hey Little Girl 08 - Mystery 09 - My Woman That Hangs Around The House LINK (RS)Or LINK (FS)
Psych-pop supergroup The Moon, was formed by a Beach Boy (David Marks), an Arrow (Larry Brown of Davie Allan & the Arrows) and the garage rock legend Matthew Moore. The band moved into Continental Recorders in Hollywood and recorded Moon Without Earth in 1968 and Moon in 1969 for Imperial. Marks has since admitted that they recorded both albums under the influence of LSD. Moon would disband sometime shortly after the release of these albums, neither of which had any successful singles. Although relatively unheard at the time of their release, they have since become favorites of psychedelic collectors. Matthew Moore, Larry Brown, David Marks, Drew Bennett, and Dave Jackson 01 - Mothers And Fathers 02 - Pleasure 03 - I Should Be Dreaming 04 - Brother Lou's Love Colony 05 - Got To Be On My Way 06 - Someday Girl 07 - Papers 08 - Faces 09 - Never Mind 10 - Give Me More 11 - She's On My Mind 12 - Walking Around LINK (RS) Or LINK (FS)