Spooky Tooth - Last Puff 1970

Part of the early-'70s British hard rock scene, Spooky Toothgrew out of the bluesy VIPs and prog rock group Art and consisted of vocalist Mike Harrison, keyboardist/vocalistGary Wright, guitarist Luther Grosvenor, bassist Greg Ridley, and drummer Mike Kellie. The group built a following through countless gigs and recorded its debut album, It's All About, in 1968. Spooky Two became their most successful album in the U.S.; afterwards, Ridley left to join Humble Pieand was replaced by Andy Leigh. Following 1970'sCeremony, Wright left to form Wonderwheel, whileGrosvenor took the name Ariel Bender and joined Stealers Wheel and later Mott the Hoople. The addition of three members of Joe Cocker's Grease Band --Henry McCullough, Chris Stainton, and Alan Spenner -- was not enough to keep the band afloat, andSpooky Tooth broke up after The Last Puff in 1970. A reunion in 1973 with Wright, Harrison, and future Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones produced several LPs, including the moderately successful You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw, but personnel shifts and a lack of top-notch material ended the project in 1974. Wright went on to a successful solo career, scoring pop hits like "Dream Weaver," andMike Kellie later joined the punk-pop Only Ones. AMG.

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Mother Earth - Satisfied 1970

By the time of Satisfied, Mother Earth had become pretty much a vehicle for Tracy Nelson plus backing band. There's just one original on this set, Nelson's "Andy Song," and the album sticks to a loose but R&B-focused groove, sometimes stretching the songs out in a fashion that probably would have been more tightly edited had such an approach not been in vogue in 1970. Nelson's vocals are consistently strong and stirring, and the material is commendably diverse, though overall it's just an okay album that could use a little more oomph. The white R&B vibe is tempered by strong streaks of gospel, New Orleans music, and even a bit of jazz, particularly on the smoother parts of "Groovy Way." AMG.

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Spirits & Worm - Spirits & Worm 1969

Great Jefferson Airplane style band and Very rare album originally released in 1969 on A&M...an original rock sound with powerful female vocals (Adrianne Maurici) and some fine fuzz guitar work...for fans of Jefferson Airplane.
The talents of five young people pesented here as the Spirits & Worm  have cause others to define their music as a 'fresh young sound - very colorful and full of rhythm - a happy sound.' Making that 'happy sound' are Adrianne Maurici (vocals), Tommy Parris (bass guitar, vocals), Carlos Hernandez (lead guitar), Artie Hicks Jr. (drums) and Alfred Scotti (guitar/vocals). And these young people have worked hard to achieve their own sound. We believe in the near future that the music industry and the public will take notice of this group and recognize them as one of the more exciting and talented groups yet to hit the airwaves. (liner notes by Bob Garcia).

This album is well worth searching out. Adrianne's powerful vocals are certainly an asset and although brass makes an occasional and unwelcome intrusion on the album it contains some fine guitar work, which on the title cut and Sunny Please Hold Me becomes quite psychedelic. Other highs include You And I Together and the final cut, She's So Good. Recommended. Both 45 tracks feature on the album, which was recorded at Ultra-Sonic Studios in Long Island, New York. Thanks to ChrisGoesRock.

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Roger Morris - First Album 1972

Roger Morris' obscure First Album was part of a low-key country-roots rock movement in Britain in the early '70s -- Brinsley Schwarz being its most notable exponents -- that led to (and could be considered an early part of) the pub rock genre. The Band was a big influence on roots rock and pub rock, but even if you subscribe to the theory that there's no better way to start than by paying tribute to the masters, The Band's influence on this record is so obvious and inescapable that it starts to sound like an actual tribute album. It's not as alarmingly imitative as it might have been, since Morris is a skilled if derivative songwriter, and the musicianship is accomplished. Still, the effect is something like hearing a more laid-back, countrified early Band record that happens to have a singer that wasn't in the group. Morris, too, is not as strong or identifiable a vocalist as Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, or Rick Danko, with a scrawny tone that at times bears a slight resemblance to Van Morrison. It's a genial take on The Bandsound, but not a very original effort. The highlight's the dramatic "The Trail of Tears," whose tolling bells and light orchestration not only add some tension, but (refreshingly) are touches the early Band would not have been wont to employ. The 2005 CD reissue on Hux adds historical liner notes and four previously unreleased bonus cuts, done about a year after the album, with a similar style and slightly lower (but still decent) fidelity. AMG.

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Nova Local - Nova 1 1968

Psychedelic pop band the Nova Local formed on the Chapel Hill campus of the University of North Carolina in 1965, comprising singer Randy Winburn, guitarists Joe Mendyk (formerly of the Warlocks) and Phil Lambeth, bassist Jim Opton, keyboardist Cam Schinhan, and drummer Bill Levasseur. The group honed its sound on the Chapel Hill fraternity circuit, and when Opton's Phi Mu Alpha house booked Chad & Jeremy for its annual charity concert, he suggested the Nova Local open the show. William Morris Agency representative Rob Heller accompanied Chad & Jeremy to the gig, and was so impressed by the Nova Local that he offered them a contract on the spot -- Heller soon negotiated a deal with Decca, and minus Lambeth (who resigned his duties to attend law school), the band traveled to New York City to record their lone LP, 1967's Nova I. According to an interview Opton gave to U-Spaces, the album was the first ever recorded via the Dolby NR System -- two singles were released ("Games" and "Other Girls"), and the record was also issued in the U.K., but in April 1967 the Nova Local dissolved. When Levasseur's son Jason's band covered the Nova Local track "If You Only Had the Time" with his band, Life in General, on their 2000 album The Lovely, Lovely Singing, Bill played drums on the recording. AMG.

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Red Krayola - Soldier Talk 1979

Issued in 1979 by the short-lived Radar imprint under Warner UK, Soldier Talk is among the loopiest of the Red Krayola's offerings. Featuring Mayo Thompson and Jesse Chamberlain's vocal warbling, with ear-woundingly thin Fender guitar with the treble turned all the way up, and Chamberlain's very jazz-like drumming. While these two pair up on a number of cuts as simply a duo, there are other players here as well, including all of the Chrysalis-era, New Picnic Time Pere Ubu, Lora Logic, Dick Cuthell, and Christine Thompson. Yeah. These "songs" are engaging, even compelling in places, but seldom together. Thompson is as humorous as a sarcastic academic most of the time here, as though he hasn't fully digested all the theory he was still taking in. This is more like Deluze and Guatarri doing avant rock than Thompson's later exercises which are roaring-out-loud hilarious. That said, there are great moments here and any real fan of the Krayola needs this -- for the post-punk drive, drop, and crash of "Conspirator's Oath," the drifting instrumental washes of "X" with Logic; or the angular, off-kilter, knife's-edge white-boy funk of "Uh, Knowledge Dance," which could have actually been covered by the Pop Group -- and Thomspon sounds uncannily like Mark Stewart of same here. There are stronger moments by the Red Krayola, but this one certainly has its own, and should be snagged by anyone interested in the band, Art & Language, or post-punk's more musically adventurous side. AMG.

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Speedy Keen - Previous Convictions 1973

John Keen was young Pete Townshend’s flat mate and chauffeur, but he was a musician and songwriter in his own right; in fact, Keen wrote “Armenia City in the Sky” from The Who Sell Out.  In 1969 Pete and manager Kit Lambert paired Speedy up with Andy Newman and Jimmy McCulloch in the ready-made band Thunderclap Newman, which was intended as a showcase for the three musicians.

They recorded an album at Pete’s legendary home studio, and the Keen-penned single “Something in the Air” went on to hit number one in nine different countries.  Not too shabby.

After Thunderclap Newman, Keen recorded two solo albums (this was his first) and then went to work in the studio both as a studio musician and producer.

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Walter Jackson - Feeling Good 1976

As a vocalist, Walter Jackson experienced success in the '60s with hits like 1965's "Welcome Home" and 1967's "My Ship Is Coming In." Those songs typify the powerful and dramatic Chicago sound, a perfect match for his precise diction and haunted baritone. Jackson's career was hampered due to his affliction with polio and unjustified commercial woes, and Welcome Home marked his mid-'70s return to the music scene. It certainly starts off strong enough, with a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Too Shy to Say." While Wonder's version was subdued if not somnolent, Jackson turns it into great drama.Jackson's update of his own "Welcome Home" though, finds the song not improved by an updated, hackneyed arrangement. The album's best tracks, "Love Is Even Lovelier" and "I Got It Bad Feeling Good," are customary gems from writers Pam Sawyer and Leon Ware. With flawless and nuanced arrangements, the songs are a clear indication where this effort could have gone, but didn't -- to shore up Jackson's hit potential, Welcome Home was overloaded with cover material. Of course, the worst offender is the always awful "Feelings," a song that has stopped many an album in its tracks. Jackson's take on Elton John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" fares better. Welcome Home, produced byCarl Davis and arranged by Riley Hampton, finds them way off their game and too often not providing the proper backing for Jackson's superior vocals. AMG.

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The Cryan' Shames - Sugar & Spice 1966

The Cryan' Shames' debut album was typical of the more thrown-together rock LPs of the era: both sides of their first two singles and a bunch of cover versions. The singles, actually, were pretty good, including their most well-known song, "Sugar & Spice," a cover of a Searchers hit that actually was more memorable and imaginative than the original. Its B-side, "Ben Franklin's Almanac," was a respectable original with shades of the Byrds, the Yardbirds, and California harmonies; the second single, "I Wanna Meet You," was a decent meld of Beatles-Byrds jangle with Beach Boys harmonies; and its flip, "We Could Be Happy," was an OK soft rock number. Throw in the sole original composition not from a single, "July" (one of the better 1966 Byrds sound-alikes), and you have half a decent (though not great) period pop/rock album. The problem is, though, that the cover versions that fill out the record -- including songs written and/or popularized by the Beatles, the Byrds, and the Animals, along with "Heat Wave" -- are neither too creatively done nor even imaginative selections. "Sugar and Spice" and all four of the originals appear on the Legacy compilation Sugar & Spice, which makes this album superfluous if you already have that anthology. The 2002 CD Sundazed reissue is bolstered by six bonus songs: their 1967 single "Mr. Unreliable" (different from the LP version) and its laid-back B-side "Georgia," a cover of the Beatles' "You're Gonna Lose That Girl," and three previously unreleased 1969 tracks that found them going into a mellow folk/country/soft rock direction. AMG.

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Linda Jones - Hypnotized 1967

R&B singer Linda Jones earned a cult following for her fervent, gospel-influenced style and powerful vocal acrobatics, and she's still celebrated by soul music fans despite her career being cut down prematurely at the age of 27. Linda Jones was born in Newark, New Jersey on December 14, 1944; her family was steeped in gospel music, and at the age of six she began performing with her siblings in a sacred group, the Jones Singers. As a teenager, Jones began performing rhythm & blues music, and cut her first solo record under the name Linda Lane in 1963, a cover of "Lonely Teardrops," but the record sank without a trace.

Linda's fortunes improved when she met George Kerr, a producer and songwriter who had been a member of Little Anthony & the Imperials. The first two singles Kerr produced for Linda Jones (one on Atco, the other on Blue Cat) fared no better, but in 1967 they landed a deal with Loma Records, an R&B imprint of Warner Bros., and her first 45 for the label, "Hypnotized," was a hit, rising to number 21 on the Pop Singles charts and number four on the Rhythm & Blues survey. The single prompted the release of Jones' first album, also called Hypnotized, and Jones' follow-up, "What've I Done (To Make You Mad)," was a Top Ten hit on the R&B charts, but struggled to 61 on the Pop listings, and 1968's "Give My Love a Try" was a greater disappointment, struggling to number 34 R&B and a dismal number 93 on Pop. While "Hypnotized" found Jones taking a relatively subtle approach to her music, her subsequent sides captured her forceful, melismatic style at full strength, and though soul purists (especially Northern soul collectors in the U.K.) treasured her records, she was a bit too much for Top 40 to take, and Jones would never have another major pop hit.

In 1968, Warner Bros. shut down Loma, and briefly bumpedJones up to their flagship label, but after one single, Joneswas a free agent again, and she briefly recorded for Neptune Records, an early label run by Philly soul legends Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. In 1971, Jones landed a new deal with Turbo Records, an offshoot of Sylvia Robinson's All Platinum label, and in 1972, Jones enjoyed her greatest success in four years when her forceful, gospel-leaning cover of Jerry Butler's "For Your Precious Love" made its way on the R&B charts, peaking at number 15, and even enjoying some Pop airplay, where it rose to number 72. Sadly, Jones' comeback would be short-lived. Jones, who struggled with diabetes, toured hard in support of "For Your Precious Love," and she was booked to play two shows at New York's famed Apollo Theater on March 14, 1972. After a matinee performance, Jones went to her mother's house in Newark to eat dinner and take a nap before playing her evening show, but when her mother tried to wake her, she discovered Linda had slipped into a diabetic coma; she died shortly afterwards. Turbo released a pair of posthumous albums following Jones' unexpected death, and in 2014, Real Gone Music releasedThe Complete Atco-Loma-Warner Brothers Recordings, bringing together the bulk of her recordings of the '60s. AMG.

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The Edge of Daybreak - Eyes of Love 1979

There’s a moment near the end of the Edge of Daybreak’s Eyes of Love where the LP’s structured soul gives way to a brief, fluid jam session. It happens on "Your Destiny", and it’s the freest moment of a recording made in five hours in a Virginia federal prison.

Released in 1979, Eyes of Love was recorded in one take on a $3,000 budget at the Powhatan Correctional Center in State Farm, Va. The band members were all inmates, incarcerated for armed robbery and assault, with sentences ranging from six to 60 years. The musicians, some of whom played in other bands before they were locked up, were allowed to play instruments at the prison complex. They covered songs by the Isley Brothers, Slave, and Earth, Wind & Fire. Jamal Jahal Nubi, the Edge of Daybreak’s lead singer and drummer, entered the Virginia prison in 1976 and established another group called Cosmic Conception with Edward Tucker and William Crawley. He’d later form Edge of Daybreak with fellow prisoners Harry Coleman on additional vocals, James Carrington on keys, Cornelius Cade on guitar, McEvoy Robinson on bass, and Willie Williams on percussion. The band didn't have equipment to overdub, so they brought in backup musicians to play instruments when the regulars had to sing.

A few local media outlets covered Eyes of Love upon its release. Only 1,000 copies were pressed. "PM Magazine", a now-defunct television news show, produced a segment called "Cellblock Rock" that aired footage of Edge of Daybreak’s recording. The album arrived as the outside world was moving away from brassier sounds for the likes of disco and nu-wave. Up the road in Washington, D.C., musicians like Chuck Brown and Trouble Funk were putting their own unique twist on black music. Their blend was called go-go, a percussive strain of funk designed to keep the beat going without breaks.

In a way, the Edge of Daybreak seemed influenced by the homegrown genre, and at certain points on Eyes of Love, you sense the band’s urge to break away from the literal and figurative structures that contained them. Given their circumstances, it would’ve been easy for the group to create something sullen. Yet on Eyes of Love, it’s as if the band wanted to uplift themselves through song, and to forget their living arrangements if only for a few hours. These songs are optimistic, touching on the brilliance of love and glorifying romance in all its sugary splendor. Songs like "Let Us" and "Let’s Be Friends" recall the 1960s doo-wop era, while "Edge of Daybreak" and "I Wanna Dance With You" are extensive dance grooves.

Thematically, Eyes of Love is about a group of guys making the best of a tough situation. That a collection of inmates even recorded an album is a testament, and the fact that it’s so well done is a plus. The inmates couldn’t just go to the studio. Prison personnel required Alpha Audio—in nearby Richmond—to record the band at the Powhatan complex. They had to sing and play their instruments simultaneously, and get everything right the first time. The album’s last song, "Our Love", was recorded as prison guards told the band to wrap up recording. The group members were taken back to their cells as soon as the last song finished. Despite the duress, there aren’t any noticeable hiccups on the LP, making me wonder what could’ve been if the band had more time to perfect it.

By the fall of 1980, keyboardist Carrington was transferred to another prison. Then vocalist Coleman. Then Cade, who was moved to Powhatan’s North Housing Unit, essentially breaking up the Edge of Daybreak. There were talks of a sophomore album, but with the musicians in separate prison facilities, it was impossible to rehearse. In the end, Eyes of Lovewould be the group’s swan song. Thirty-six years later, it’s still a living testament to what can be done in tumultuous conditions. It’s a push to make a way, and to persevere, even when the light is dim. Pitchfork.com/

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