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)
