Dokken is an American heavy metal and hard rock band that was formed in 1978. The group accumulated numerous charting singles and has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. The band was a nominated for a Grammy. Dokken was composed of founder Don Dokken on vocals, George Lynch on lead guitars, Juan Croucier on bass, and "Wild" Mick Brown on drums. In 1983 Croucier left Dokken in order to join Ratt and was replaced by Jeff Pilson. Currently, Dokken and Brown remain from the original line-up. After several personnel changes on guitar, Dokken's attorney Jon Levin stepped in to fill the role in 2004. In 2001, Barry Sparks replaced Jeff Pilson on the bass guitar. In 2009, Sean McNabb replaced Barry Sparks on bass guitar. Dysfunctional is the fifth studio album by heavy metal band Dokken, released in 1995. It marks the band's first release after reuniting in 1993. Although the album charted respectably at #47 at a time when 1980s hard rock and heavy metal have largely declined, sales quickly dropped off and were not enough to reach gold RIAA certification.The song "Too High to Fly" was released as a single from the album and was a minor hit. As of 2009, it is the only song from the post-1980s portion of the bands' back catalogue that is still performed live, albeit only occasionally.
01 - Inside Looking Out 02 - Hole In My Head 03 - The Maze 04 - Too High To Fly 05 - Nothing Left To Say 06 - Shadows Of Life 07 - Long Way Home 08 - Sweet Chains 09 - Lesser Of Two Evils 10 - What Price 11 - From The Beginning
Black Sabbath - 1986 - Seventh Star featuring Tony Iommi
Black Sabbath are an English rock band, formed in Birmingham in 1968 by Ozzy Osbourne (lead vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass guitar), and Bill Ward (drums). The band has since experienced multiple lineup changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of twenty-two musicians have at one time been members of Black Sabbath. Originally formed as a heavy blues-rock band named Earth, the band began incorporating occult- and horror-inspired lyrics with tuned-down guitars, changing their name to Black Sabbath and achieving multiple platinum records in the 1970s. Despite an association with occult and horror themes, Black Sabbath also composed songs dealing with social and political issues such as drugs and war. Seventh Star is the twelfth studio album by Black Sabbath, released in 1986. It was originally written, recorded, and intended to be the first solo album by guitarist Tony Iommi, but due to label pressures and the prompting of band manager Don Arden, the record was billed as Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi. Glenn Hughes, ex-Deep Purple bassist and vocalist, was lead singer but did not play bass on this release. In 1985, Tony Iommi recorded several demo versions of some of the future tracks of the album with singer Jeff Fenholt. These demos are available on some Black Sabbath bootlegs, one entitled 'Star of India'. 01 - In For The Kill 02 - No Stranger To Love 03 - Turn To Stone 04 - Sphinx (The Guardian) 05 - Seventh Star 06 - Danger Zone 07 - Heart Like A Wheel 08 - Angry Heart 09 - In Memory... LINK Black Sabbath - 1981-82 - Live At Hammersmith Odeon (2007)
Live at Hammersmith Odeon is a live Black Sabbath album recorded at three concerts between 31 December 1981 and 2 January 1982, during the Mob Rules tour. It was released on 1 May 2007 in a limited edition of 5000, which sold out immediately. The songs "Country Girl" and "Slipping Away" make their debut on official live releases. The CD was released only as a digipak, featuring a mini reproduction of a tour programme. Although there is a UK tour progamme for the Mob Rules dates, the one included with this release is actually that for the January 1981 UK dates, which were part of the Heaven and Hell tour. The cover photo is also from the Heaven and Hell tour. 01 - E5150 02 - Neon Knights 03 - N.I.B. 04 - Children Of The Sea 05 - Country Girl 06 - Black Sabbath 07 - War Pigs 08 - Slipping Away 09 - Iron Man 10 - The Mob Rules 11 - Heaven And Hell 12 - Paranoid 13 - Voodoo 14 - Children Of The Grave LINK
Bathory was a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by Quorthon in Stockholm in 1983. They are regarded as pioneers of both black metal and Viking metal. The band is named after the infamous Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory. Founder Quorthon, a seventeen-year-old guitarist, was joined by bassist Hanoi and drummer Vans. Their first recording deal came that same year, when Quorthon managed to secure the consent of Tyfon Grammofon's boss to record two tracks for the compilation Scandinavian Metal Attack. The tracks which he recorded gained unexpected attention by fans. Soon afterward, Tyfon Grammofon contacted Quorthon and asked him to record a full-length album. Hammerheart is the fifth album released by Bathory. It continued Blood Fire Death's transition away from black metal to what would become recognized as Viking metal, and is considered a cornerstone work of the genre. 01 - Shores In Flames 02 - Valhalla 03 - Baptised In Fire And Ice 04 - Father To Son 05 - Song To Hall Up High 06 - Home Of Once Brave 07 - One Rode To Asa Bay 08 - [Untitled Track] LINK Bathory - 1991 - Twilight of the Gods
Twilight of the Gods is the sixth album by Bathory. It continues the exploration of the newly created Viking metal style, and also displays a heavy classical influence; it is titled after an opera by Wagner, and the melody of "Hammerheart" (titled as such despite Bathory's previous album of the same name) is lifted from Gustav Holst's The Planets (more specifically, from the fourth movement, Jupiter). Originally this was to be the final Bathory album. 01 - Twilight Of The Gods 02 - Through Blood By Thunder 03 - Blood And Iron 04 - Under The Runes 05 - To Enter Your Mountain 06 - Song Of Blood 07 - Hammerheart LINK
Avenged Sevenfold is an American rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band consists of vocalist M. Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance and bassist Johnny Christ. Avenged Sevenfold emerged with a metalcore sound on their debut Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, which included screaming vocals and heavy guitar riffs. The band changed their style on their third release, City of Evil, which features more of a mainstream hard rock style. The band continued to explore new sounds with their self titled release and enjoyed continued mainstream success before their drummer, James Sullivan, "The Rev" died of a drug overdose in 2009. Despite this setback, the band continued on with session drummer Mike Portnoy and released their fifth album Nightmare in 2010. Bat Country was released as the second single from their third album, City of Evil. Avenged Sevenfold won 'Best New Artist' at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards for "Bat Country" and on October 1, 2009, the single was certified gold by the RIAA. 1 - Bat Country 2 - Beast And The Harlot (Live At Warped Tour 2005) Avenged Sevenfold - 2006 - Beast And The Harlot [Single]
Beast and the Harlot was released as a single taken from their third album City of Evil. The song peaked at #19 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart and #44 on the UK Singles Chart. The actual song is about the fall of Babylon from the Book of Revelation, (particularly chapter seventeen) from which many quotes are taken, such as "Seven headed beast, ten horns raise from his head", "hatred strips her and leaves her naked", and other references. 1 - Beast And The Harlot [Radio Edit] 2 - Burn It Down [Live] LINK
Apocalyptica is a Finnish cello metal band from Helsinki, Finland, formed in 1993. The band is composed of classically trained cellists and, since 2003, a drummer. Three of the cellists are graduates of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. Their music features elements from classical music and neo-classical metal, to symphonic metal and thrash metal. They have sold over three million albums to date. Recently, it reached #1 on the Billboard rock chart, making Apocalyptica the first Finnish band to top the US charts. Best Symphonic is a 2009 compilation released maybe in Europe. 01 - Path 02 - Quutamo 03 - Faraway 04 - Romance 05 - Bittersweet 06 - Misconstruction 07 - Cohkka 08 - Conclusion 09 - Farewell 10 - Hope 11 - Kaamos 12 - Coma 13 - Ruska 14 - Until It Sleeps 15 - Epilogue (Relief) LINK LINK Quutamo live video
Anthrax is an American heavy metal band from New York City, formed in 1981. The band was one of the most popular of the 1980s thrash metal scene. When thrash metal began to gain a major following in the mid-to-late 1980s, Anthrax were dubbed one of the "big four" of thrash metal alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer. Anthrax was formed in mid-1981 by guitarists Scott Ian and Danny Lilker. They got the band's name from the disease listed in a biology textbook and claimed it because it sounded "sufficiently evil" to them. John Connelly jammed with the band, but never actually joined. He was a roadie for them for many of their early shows, and eventually formed Nuclear Assault with Lilker in 1984. The initial line-up of Anthrax was rounded out by drummer Dave Weiss and bassist Kenny Kushner. Among the Living is the third studio album by Anthrax. The album was released in March 1987 by Megaforce Worldwide/Island and is certified Gold by the RIAA. BBC has described the album as "arguably their big breakthrough", and "often cited by fans as their favourite Anthrax album". 01 - Among The Living 02 - Caught In A Mosh 03 - I Am The Law 04 - Efilnikufesin (N.F.L) 05 - A Skeleton In The Closet 06 - Indians 07 - One World 08 - A.D.I.Horror Of It All 09 - Imitation Of Life LINK
Amon Amarth is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Tumba, founded in 1988, and is named after an alternative name for Mount Doom, a location in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. As of 2009, the band is signed with Metal Blade Records and has released seven studio albums, one EP, one DVD, and six music videos. Fate of Norns is the fifth full-length studio album by Amon Amarth. It was released on September 6, 2004 through Metal Blade Records. This album continued their slower, heavier sound which started on the previous album Versus the World. Before Fate of Norns was officially released by Metal Blade, promo copies were distributed with CD-ROM extras including pictures, biographies, sheets and logos. The album was released in conventional LP format as well as a limited digipak edition. The latter includes a live bonus DVD, Amon Amarth Live at Grand Rokk, which features live recordings and three-camera footage of a live performance in Reykjavík, Iceland on March 5, 2004. "The Pursuit of Vikings" was also made into a music video. 01 - An Ancient Sign Of Coming Storm 02 - Where Death Seems To Dwell 03 - The Fate Of Norns 04 - Pursuit Of Vikings 05 - The Valkyries Ride 06 - Beheading Of A King 07 - Arson 08 - Once Sealed In Blood LINK
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Although the band is commonly classified as hard rock and are considered a pioneer of heavy metal, they have always classified their music as rock and roll. To date they are one of the highest grossing bands of all time. AC/DC underwent several line-up changes before releasing their first album, High Voltage, in 1975. Membership remained stable until bassist Mark Evans was replaced by Cliff Williams in 1978 for the album Powerage. Within months of recording the album Highway to Hell, lead singer and co-songwriter Bon Scott died on 19 February 1980, after a night of heavy alcohol consumption. The group briefly considered disbanding, but soon ex-Geordie singer Brian Johnson was selected to replace Scott. Later that year, the band released their highest selling album, Back in Black. Sales of AC DC albums are more than 200 million. 110-220 is an Italian release recorded at Atlantic Studios in December 7, 1977 1 - Live Wire 2 - Problem Child 3 - High Voltage 4 - Hell Ain´t A Bad Place To Be 5 - Dog Eat Dog 6 - The Jack 7 - Whole Lotta Rosie 8 - Rocker LINK AC DC - 1977 - Live At The Old Waldorf
Live at The Old Waldorf, San Francisco, September 3, 1977. Supported by Kid Courage. This is the only known bootleg, which contains 2 new songs of the upcoming Powerage album played before release. 01 - Intro 02 - Live Wire 03 - Hell Aint A Bad Place To Be 04 - Up To My Neck In You 05 - Kicked In The Teeth 06 - The Jack 07 - Whole Lotta Rosie 08 - High Voltage LINK
Fear Factory is an American heavy metal band. Formed in 1989, they have released seven full-length albums and a number of singles and remixes. Over the course of their career they have evolved from a succession of styles, as well as steadily pioneered a combination of the styles death metal, groove metal, thrash metal and industrial metal. The resultant sound proved to be enormously influential on the metal scene from the mid-90s and onwards. Fear Factory disbanded in March 2002 following some internal disputes, but they reformed later that year minus founding member Dino Cazares, adding bassist Byron Stroud, and casting then-bassist Christian Olde Wolbers as guitarist. Fear Is the Mindkiller is a remix EP of the first album Soul of a New Machine, released on April 14, 1993 by Roadrunner Records. Remixes 1-5 were remixed by Rhys Fulber and Bill Leeb of Front Line Assembly. The title of the record is a quote from "Litany against fear", a fictional incantation from Dune, the science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert. 01 - Martyr [Suffer Bastard Mix] 02 - Self Immolation [Vein Tap Mix] 03 - Scapegoat [Pigfuck Mix] 04 - Scumgrief [Deep Dub Trauma Mix] 05 - Self Immolation [Liquid Sky Mix] LINK
Fields of the Nephilim are a semi-active English gothic rock/gothic metal band formed in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in 1984. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Carl McCoy, saxophonist Gary Whisker, Tony Pettitt on bass, guitarist Paul Wright and drummer Alexander "Nod" Wright. Following the release of the debut EP Burning the Fields, Whisker left the band to be replaced by Peter Yates as second guitarist. The band's name refers to a Biblical race of giants or angel-human hybrids, known as the Nephilim. Although they have not received substantial mainstream success, the band's seminal sound has proved highly influential, especially in the genre of gothic rock and, later on, gothic metal and rock noir. The current incarnation of the band has released one authorized recording of new material since 1990 and performs infrequently. Zoon, Nefilim's only studio album, was released in October 1996 by Beggars Banquet Records. The album saw a move away from the rich soundscapes that characterised earlier works from Fields of the Nephilim towards a darker, more industrial / death metal sound. The album is dedicated to Scarlett McCoy, Carl McCoy's daughter. The album is a concept album, and while McCoy remained largely silent about the themes, one possible explanation is that the story revolves around the Watchers and the Book of Enoch. The word "zoon" is derived from Greek, meaning "living creature" or "beast". 01 - Still Life 02 - Xodus 03 - Shine 04 - Penetration 05 - Melt (The Catching Of The Butterfly) 06 - Venus Decomposing 07 - Pazuzu (Black Rain) 08 - Zoon (Pts. 1&2) (Saturation) 09 - Zoon (Pt. 3) (Wake World) 10 - Coma LINK
Finntroll is an extreme metal and folk metal band from Helsinki, Finland. They combine elements of black metal, death metal, and folk metal with a type of Finnish folk music called humppa. Finntroll's lyrics are mostly in Swedish, the only exception being the song "Madon Laulu" on Visor Om Slutet. Finntroll's first singer Katla decided to use Swedish over Finnish since he was part of a Swedish-speaking minority in Finland and the sound of the language seemed to better suit the band's "trollish" outfit[1]. Despite several vocalist changes, this tradition has since been continued. According to bandmembers Vreth and Skrymer, they took their name from an old Finnish legend where Swedish priests coming to Finland had an encounter with a wild-looking man who killed most of their party. The survivors came back bearing the tale of the Finn-Troll. Visor om slutet (English: Songs About the End) is an all-acoustic folk metal album by the Finnish band Finntroll. It was released in 2003 by Spinefarm. It was the first album to feature Tapio Wilska on vocals. Visor om slutet was released after a number of misfortunes befell several band members, including the death of guitarist Teemu Raimoranta whom the album is dedicated to. It was recorded in a cabin off in the woods near Helsinki, coined as an "acoustic experiment," and features the use of traditionally non-metal instruments such as the kazoo. Though quite different in its sound to the viking metal-inspired Jaktens tid, the album was a relative success.
01 - Suohengen sija 02 - Asfagelns död 03 - Försvinn du som lyser 04 - Veripuu 05 - Under varje rot och sten 06 - Närr allt blir is 07 - Den sista runans dans 08 - Rov 09 - Madon laulu 10 - Svart Djup 11 - Avgrunden öppnas
Hellhammer was an influential extreme metal band from Switzerland, active during 1982–1984. They are regarded as a key influence on black metal, and one of the founders of death metal. Two former members went on to form Celtic Frost in 1984. Inspired by the music of Black Sabbath, Venom, Raven, and Motörhead, guitarist / vocalist Thomas Gabriel Fischer, bassist / vocalist Urs Sprenger and drummer Pete Stratton formed Hammerhead (later Hellhammer) in early 1982. Apocalyptic Raids was recorded and released in March 1984, and was the band's only commercial release. The record was a major influence on the then-emerging death metal and black metal genres. It has served as an inspiration to such varied and respected bands as Napalm Death and Sepultura, both which recorded cover versions of "Messiah".Hellhammer would split up only three months after recording this EP, and later regrouped as Celtic Frost. 01 - The Third of the storms 02 - Massacra 03 - Triumph of death 04 - Horus-Aggressor 05 - Revalations of Doom (Bonus) 06 - Messiah (Bonus) LINK
Kiss is an American hard rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Easily identified by its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and pyrotechnics. Kiss has been awarded 24 gold albums to date in the USA. The band has sold over 19 million albums in the United States, and their worldwide sales exceeded 100 million albums. Live in largo is a performance in 1979, Dynasty Tour at Capital Centre, Largo MD. A show that is highly regarded by KISS fans as the worst show that KISS ever put on in the bands 35 year career. Sure, it sounds pretty good, and the setlist has a lot of variety, but Peter Criss is high throughout most of the show, and, well.... The show suffers. The audio was taken from the best DVD version of this show available. Good professional recording circa 1979, yet the band isn't exactly at its peak... 01 King Of The Night Time World 02 Radioactive 03 Move On 04 Calling Dr. Love 05 Firehouse 06 New York Groove 07 I Was Made For Lovin' You 08 Love Gun 09 2.000 Man 10 Tossin' And Turnin' 11 God Of Thunder 12 Shout It Out Loud 13 Black Diamond 14 Detroit Rock City 15 Beth LINK Kiss - 1980 - Auckland
December 3th, 1980 Auckland, New Zealand. Another scary-good show from the boys, including then-new drummer Eric Carr, from the final night of the Unmasked Tour. This live monster is commonly referred to as "Ace's Last Stand," since lead guitarist Ace Frehley would soon depart for the somewhat greener pastures of slightly above-average solo success in the '80s, later followed by his triumphant (if temporary) reunion with original drummer Peter Criss and those other two machers in the mid-'90s. Disc 1 01 Detroit Rock City 02 Cold Gin 03 Strutter 04 Shandi 05 Calling Dr. Love 06 Firehouse 07 Talk To Me 08 Is That You Disc 2 01 2.00 Man 02 I was Made For Lovin You 03 New York Groove 04 God Of Thunder 05 Rock And Roll All Nite 06 Shout It Out Loud 07 King Of The Night Time World 08 Black Diamond LINK Kiss - 1996 - Destroy the U.K.- Donnington 96
Donnington 96' was a 1996 Metal Festival. Performing bands was Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne, Sepultura, Korn, Biohazard, Type O Negative, Dog Eat Dog, Paradise Lost and Fear Factory. About the Kiss performance... "Gene Simmons breathed fire, drooled blood and waggled his tongue a lot. Ace Frehley played a guitar solo so fast, his guitar spewed smoke before being hoisted aloft. The replacement guitar shot fireworks which exploded above the stage. Peter Criss's drum solo was as tuneful as you can manage with a drum kit rather than just "see how fast I can drum". It had as tribal a feel to it as anything Sepultura have done in the last four years. Paul Stanley just kept the crowd going as any frontman should. The four complement each other well. Ace hardly says a word, but plays guitar like a man possessed (he probably is). Paul isn't quite as mad as the others but knows how to talk to a crowd. Gene's just insane, and Criss is as good as a band could hope for in a percussionist and can still sing. The effects kept coming right up to the end. Paul's guitar machine-gunned the stage top at the end of Love Gun and Gene did almost an entire song after being hoisted above the stage by a crane and surrounded by pillars of flame. At the end, the three frontmen stood on cranes which lifted them up and out over the audience. And of course, Paul destroyed his guitar (eventually) at the end of the set. Cue fireworks, loads of people going "Ooh!" and "Aah!" and Kiss being welcomed back to the British shores like the kings of rock they truly are. Hell, I didn't like the music too much, but I don't think I've ever seen a more spectacular stage show." (David Lloyd) 01 DEUCE 02 KING OF THE NIGHT TIME WORLD 03 DO YOU LOVE ME 04 CALLING DR LOVE 05 COLD GIN 06 LET ME GO ROCK n ROLL 07 SHOUT IT OUT LOUD 08 WATCHIN YOU 09 FIREHOUSE 10 SHOCK ME 11 STRUTTER 12 GOD OF THUNDER 13 LOVE GUN LINK Kiss - 2001 - Sayonara Japan - Live At The Osaka Castle
Live performance in Japan during the Farewell Tour, March 9-21, 2001. The band performed in Yokohama, Tokyo, Fukoka, Nagoya and Osaka. On the eve of the Japanese and Australian leg of the Farewell Tour on January 31, 2001, Criss suddenly left the band once again, reportedly unhappy with his salary. Taking his place was previous Kiss drummer Eric Singer who, in a move that was controversial among longtime fans, assumed Criss's Cat Man persona as the Farewell Tour continued Disc 1 01 Intro 02 Detroit Rock City 03 Deuce 04 Shout It Out Loud 05 Talk To Me 06 Ueo Muite Aruko 07 I Love It Loud 08 Firehouse 09 Do You Love Me 10 Calling Dr. Love 11 Heaven's On Fire 12 Let Me Go, Rock And Roll 13 Shock Me 14 Ace Solo 15 Psycho Circus Disc 2 01 Lick It Up 02 Gene Solo 03 God Of Thunder 04 Eric Solo 05 Cold Gin 06 100.000 Years 07 Love Gun 08 Paul Solo 09 Forever 10 I Still Love You 11 Black Diamond 12 I Was Made For Lovin' You 13 Hotter Than Hell 14 She 15 Parasite 16 Jam Session 17 Rock And Roll All Nite LINK Part 1LINK Part 2
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from San Fransisco, California, formed in 1981. The band was founded when drummer Lars Ulrich posted an advertisement in a local newspaper. Metallica's line up has primarily consisted of Ulrich, rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, while going through a number of bassists. Currently, the spot is held by Robert Trujillo. Metallica's early releases included fast tempos, instrumentals, and aggressive musicianship that placed them as one of the "big four" of the thrash metal subgenre alongside Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax during the genre's development into a popular style. The band earned a growing fan base in the underground music community and critical acclaim, with the 1986 release Master of Puppets described as one of the most influential and "heavy" thrash metal albums. The band achieved substantial commercial success with their self-titled fifth album (also known as The Black Album), which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Metallica has released nine studio albums, three live albums, two EPs, 24 music videos, and 45 singles. The band has won nine Grammy Awards, and has had five consecutive albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200, making Metallica the first band to do so, this record was later matched by the Dave Matthews Band. This bootleg collection covers the Metallica-era fromtheir debut album Kill em all to the last song they ever did together " I Disappear " from the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack.
Disc 1
01 - The Ecstasy Of Gold 02 - The Four Horsemen 03 - Seek & Destroy 04 - For Whom The Bell Tolls 05 - Fight Fire With Fire 06 - Fade To Black 07 - Am I Evil-Rhr 08 - Master Of Puppets 09 - Welcome Home (Sanitarium) 10 - Damage, Inc. 11 - Battery 12 - Last Caressgreen Hell 13 - The Wait
Disc 2
01 - Harvester Of Sorrow 02 - Blackened 03 - The Shortest Straw 04 - Wherever I May Roam 05 - Nothing Else Matters 06 - The Unforgiven 07 - Enter Sandman 08 - So What 09 - Sad But True 10 - Creeping Death - Live In Moscow 1991 11 - Whiplash 12 - One (Live)
Disc 3
01 - King Nothing 02 - Ain't My Bitch 03 - Until It Sleeps 04 - Mama Said 05 - The House Jack Built 06 - Stone Dead Forever 07 - The Unforgiven Ii 08 - Devil's Dance 09 - The Memory Remains 10 - Whiskey In The Jar 11 - Die, Die My Darling 12 - Turn The Page 13 - Astronomy 14 - No Leaf Clover 15 - I Disappear
Donovan (Donovan Philips Leitch), is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music. Donovan came to fame in the United Kingdom in early 1965 with a series of live performances on the pop TV series, Ready Steady Go!, and his popularity spread to the US and other countries. After signing with the British label, Pye Records in 1965, he recorded a handful of singles and two albums in the folk music vein. After extricating himself from his original management contract, he began a long and successful collaboration with leading independent record producer Mickie Most, scoring a string of hits in the UK, the US, Australia and other countries. His successful records in the 1960s included the UK hits "Catch the Wind" and "Colours" in 1965, and "Sunshine Superman", topped the US charts the following year, and reached number two in Britain. Donovan was the first artist to be signed to CBS/Epic Records by then-new Administrative Vice President Clive Davis, who later became head of the CBS Record empire. In the early 1970s, Donovan agreed to write and record songs for the English version of Franco Zeffirelli's Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972). While the film included Donovan's recordings of the songs, the accompanying soundtrack included none of Donovan's original recordings. The absence of these recordings prompted many of Donovan's fans to request an official release of the songs. In order to satisfy demand, Donovan embarked on acquiring the rights to the original recordings. Due to the nature of the original contract and complex publishing rights issues, it became evident to Donovan that releasing the original Brother Sun Sister Moon recordings would be extremely difficult. In the absence of this release, Donovan decided to record new versions of the original songs and release it exclusively through the iTunes Music Store. For the new recordings, Donovan opted not to recreate the lush orchestration and choir vocals of the original recordings. Instead, he plays guitar and sings solo, in a style reminiscent of his Sutras album.
Audience is a cult British Progressive/Art rock band which existed between 1969 and 1972, and reformed in 2004. The original band consisted of Howard Werth on nylon-strung electric acoustic guitar and vocals, Keith Gemmell on tenor sax, flute and clarinet, bass guitarist and vocalist Trevor Williams, and drummer/vocalist Tony Connor. The House on the Hill is the third album by Audience and was released in 1971. At about the same time, a single "Indian Summer" reached number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100; this track was included on later releases of the album. 01 - Jackdaw 02 - You're Not Smiling 03 - I Had A Dream 04 - Raviole 05 - Nancy 06 - Eye To Eye 07 - I Put A Spell On You 08 - The House On The Hill 09 - Indian Summer LINK
Not every worthwhile San Francisco psychedelic group of the late '60s got to record often, or at all. Frumious Bandersnatch were one of the most prominent examples, their output limited to a meager (if good) three-song EP that barely anyone outside of the area heard. The band's stinging guitars were very reminiscent of those employed by Jefferson Airplane's Jorma Kaukonen, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and the Moby Grape; their harmonies, too, were quite close in style to the Airplane and Grape, with vibrating lead vocals in the mold of Marty Balin or the Grape's Bob Mosley. The band were actually formed across the bay from San Francisco in Contra Costa County, and changed personnel several times in their brief lifespan (1967-69). Interest from several record companies came to naught, and the band's only release was a three-song EP on their own label, pressed in a quantity of 1000 and distributed locally. The Golden Songs of Libra LP (on purple vinyl), which has just six songs, must be considered as something of a luxury item for vinyl purists and completist collectors, since only three of the tracks were previously unissued, and all of them are different versions of songs that appear on previous releases. A01 - Hearts To Cry (alternate version) A02 - Chain Reaction A03 - Pulpit Hough A04 - Cheshire (full-length version) B01 - Woodrose Syrup B02 - Can-A-Bliss (full-length version) LINK
A Pittsburgh garage band whose high point was opening for a Rolling Stones concert in 1965. They might have been total unknowns in the grand scheme of things, but they actually managed to cut a few mostly self-penned singles on local labels in 1965 and 1966 that are well respected by '60s collectors. The trio featured two guitarists and a drummer — a bass-less lineup, which is a rarity in rock music. Some of their singles were recorded at a local radio station, and indeed the crudeness of the production is fascinating, with mounds and mounds of reverb making the band sound like nothing so much as a garage punk version of Peter & Gordon. After five singles and an album, the group disbanded and evolved into the Swamp Rats, a harder-edged combo relying almost exclusively on nasty punk versions of big rock and R&B hits. Their one and only album from 1966 contains their great version of "Fight Fire", the strong self compositions "Get Away Girl" and "Love Is Tuff" as well as competent covers of "What A Shame" and "What You're Doing". "Apache" on the other hand sounds like it was taped at their first practice session. The other stuff is in the beat/garage style. The sound is pretty crude but this shouldn't scare you away.
A01 - Fight Fire A02 - Get Away Girl A03 - Shy Girl A04 - Mr. Sad A05 - Two Tymes Two A06 - Apache B01 - You're The One B02 - What A Shame B03 - What You're Doing B04 - Love Is Tuff B05 - Just A Boy B06 - The Love Of Ours
Quintessence was a rock band formed in April 1969, by Raja Ram in Notting Hill, London, England. The style was a mixture of jazz and progressive rock with an influence of music from India. Quintessence was among the first true progressive rock outfits signed by Island Records.The original line-up included the Australian born, Shiva Shankar Jones (voice, keyboards, percussion), Raja Ram (flute, percussion), Sambhu Baba (bass guitar, guitar), Maha Dev (guitar), Allan Mostert (lead guitar,bass guitar,sitar), and Jake Milton (drums, percussion). All of them, in addition to a common interest in Indian music, also shared the Hindu faith. Quintessence were tagged a 'spiritual' band, but were playing New Age rock before the term was born. In Blissful Company from 1969 is the debut album. 01 - Giants 02 - Manco Capac 03 - Body 04 - Gange Mai 05 - Chant 06 - Pearl and Bird 07 - Notting Hill Gate 08 - Midnight Mode 09 - Notting Hill Gate - Single Version 10 - Move Into The Light LINK
The Surprise Package were a Seattle, Washington group consisting of Fred Zeufeldt (drums, backing vocals), Michael Rohers (piano, organ, bass, backing vocals), Greg Beck (guitar, backing vocals), Rob Lowery (lead vocals). Pretty standard late-60s heavy psych: soulful vocals, lots of organ, loud fuzz guitars. As with most of these bands, it has its moments, and the guitar sound is very nice. Still, it doesn’t really offer much you can’t get from dozens of other albums. The long title track, which would have easily been the album’s best song, is extended beyond the bound of reason with a batch of dull solos. It has some nice feedback, though. (Acid Archives) 01 - New Way Home 02 - 100 % Vision 03 - Break Away 04 - Supporting Cast 05 - Social Disease 06 - Free Up LINK
