Procol Harum - Broken Barricades 1971

Despite the departure of organist Matthew Fisher, Procol Harum survived, and this album is ample proof. Fisher was one of the prime architects of the Harum sound, and his work on such classics as "Shine on Brightly" and, of course, "Whiter Shade of Pale" underline that. Procol continued as a four-piece, and it was indeed a good thing that they decided not to replace Fisher. The sound of the band on this album is a bit sparser, but definitely not without dimension and dynamics. "Simple Sister," one of the finest Gary Brooker/Keith Reid compositions, is truly glorious, with Robin Trower's frightening lead guitar work juxtaposed nicely against a wonderful string arrangement. Several other tracks are first rate, including "Power Failure" and "Playmate of the Mouth." Along with Little Feat, Procol Harum was a great survivor among rock bands that lost a key member. The proof is in these grooves. AMG.

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Erma Franklin - Her Name Is Erma 1962

Erma Franklin's sole Epic LP was the only album she'd issue before 1969, although she had several non-LP singles for Epic and Shout in the interim. As with the early work of her sister Aretha Franklin, it left the impression that she and/or her label didn't quite know how to harness her vocal talents. There was some passable pop with a tinge of rock and R&B that was far more notable for the vocals than the material; sub-Shirelles style music ("What Kind of Girl (Do You Think I Am?)", and far too much in the way of orchestrated standards that took her away from the R&B sensibilities that were her greatest strengths. Only occasionally does she get the chance to really let go; "Each Night I Cry" has some thrilling, earthy, gospel-jazz inflections, and the similarly mildly bluesy "It's Over" is sung with comparable fire. Some of this is fairly good, but overall it leaves you shaking your head a bit at the waste of talent ready to burst out if given half the chance. AMG.

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Second Hand - Reality 1968

Second Hand's debut, Reality, released in 1968 before progressive music had developed, is one of those odd records that mix psychedelic and garage-style music with some progressive touches. This is most evident on "Mainliner" and the title track, which are segued together by some classical music instrumentation. "Reality" adds other symphonic elements as well, and there's even a minute where one hears just organ and cello, a relaxed, slightly haunting moment before the rest of the band kicks back in. "Mainliner" is a nightmarish track about heroin addiction with funeral-dirge organ riffing, and "The World Will End Yesterday" is another doom-laden piece. "Denis James the Clown" uses carnival music played at an amphetamine-hyperactive pace to create a strange little song. There are lots of long instrumental sections with guitar solos, which is fortunate because Ken Elliott's vocals are the weakest link, and a few of his song arrangements come off a little dated as well. Fortunately, those aspects are not enough to distract too much from this otherwise excellent record. AMG.

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The Pyramids - Lalibela 1973

The Pyramids were an early '70s Ohio band that had a novel, exciting take on the fusion concept--they combined aspects of spiritually inspired R&B/soul, free jazz, and funk with a liberal sprinkling of cosmic awareness. Their approach emphasized improvised percussion and woodwinds but with a focused, solid center. Originally released in 1973, Lalibela consists of two very long pieces that build over the course of the album. On them, the Pyramids sound as if they wanted to link the free jazz sounds of Chicago and New York with the spiritually and politically charged R&B and funk of the period (James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, etc.). Both heady and groove-oriented, the Pyramids made music that can sweep the listener into their sound-world. AMG.

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Al Stewart - Modern Times 1975

Surely the title is a bit of an allusion to the Past, Present and Future of its predecessor, but Modern Times also brought Al Stewart into the present, establishing his classic sound of folky narratives and Lennonesque melodies, all wrapped up in a lush, layered production from Alan Parsons. Hearing this production makes it clear that this is what was missing from Past, since it gives epics like the title track a real sense of grandeur that makes their sentiments resonate strongly. But it's not just the improvement in production that makes Modern Times the beginning of Stewart's classic period -- his songwriting has leapt up and met his ambitions, as it retains the historical sweep of his earlier material but melds it to a melodic sensibility that's alternately comforting and haunting. This skill is apparent throughout Modern Times, and is married to a sound that is its equivalent, making this an exquisite pop-prog gem. AMG.

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John 'Hammond' Smith - Breakout 1971

So this is what CTI was all about. Recorded in 1971, organist Johnny Hammond's debut for CTI is a blessed-out basket of blues and groove that covers some of the hot tunes of the day and some organ classics with enough soul power to melt the ice around the heart of even the staunchest jazz purist, who turned up his stuffed-up nose. First there's the lineup: Hammond with Hank Crawford and Grover Washington, Jr., Eric Gale, Airto, Billy Cobham, Danny Moore, and bassist Johnny Williams. It drips soul and popping riffs. Next there's the material: the 11-minute wade-in-the-swamp version of Carole King's "It's Too Late" with a stunning arrangement by Grover and a killer guitar break by Gale. (There is, on the reissue, a stunning live rendition of the track with George Benson subbing for Gale, Freddie Hubbard, and Stanley Turrentine in for Washington. It's longer, seemingly leaner, and quicker. It's a soul-deep river of good feel and slippery vamps.) Next is a bright, sunny, and shimmering version of Neil Sedaka's "Workin' on a Groovy Thing," with Hammond's organ doubling the interval up yet keeping the melody at an even flow. The horn section and Airto's accents literally pop in the middle of the tune, breaking the bridge down into a series of screaming grooves in counterpoint to the organ. The wildest organ workout is Leo Johnson's "Blue Selah." Rich in arpeggios and counterpoint by Gale, the legato is turned up to ten and Hammond never passes over a note -- he rings them all inside, outside, and punches them all up with frighteningly large right-handed chords. The final track on the original is Jimmy Smith's "Breakout," a driving, funky blues that feels more like Tony Joe White jamming with Jack McDuff than a Creed Taylor percussion. Cobham pushes his kit into overdrive and Hammond rises to the challenge as Gale plays one ostinato funk riff after another and the bass holds the groove static. By the time we reach the dueling saxophone solos, we've been through James Brown territory as well, on the good foot and in the deep well of greasy-assed funk and roll. This is a smoking album that runs the gamut of soul-jazz to hard funk and R&B seamlessly, but sweatily. AMG.

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Annette Peacock - I'm The One 1972

Annette Peacock's work as a vocalist, pianist, and composer is austere, cryptic, laconic, minimalistic, and relentlessly individual. Her dry delivery and penchant for stark, stripped-down musical "environments" have made her something of a cult figure and an icon of the avant-garde. An early participant (1961-1962) in Dr. Timothy Leary's psychedelic culture experiments and a longtime adherent of Zen Macrobiotics, Peacock has been releasing albums since 1968. But her career has been marked by fairly long periods of silence; this partly explains her relative obscurity.  Aside from a brief period of formal study at Juilliard during the 1970s, Peacock is entirely self-taught. Born in Brooklyn, she began composing by the time she was five. Her first professional association was with saxophonist Albert Ayler, with whom she toured Europe in the 1960s. She soon began to write in an idiom she calls the "free-form song," which emphasizes the use of space in contrast to the busy, cacophonous tendencies of free jazz. During this period she met and married her first husband, the double bass virtuoso Gary Peacock. She also began to write material specifically for the avant-garde pianist Paul Bley and his trio. For decades, Bley has remained one of her most devoted interpreters.

Among her other accomplishments, Peacock is an unsung pioneer of electronic music. Years before the commercial emergence of synthesizers, she received a prototype from inventor Robert Moog. This prompted her to synthesize her own voice, which according to most reports had never been done before. Ultimately these experiments brought about an innovative 1971 album, The Bley/Peacock Synthesizer Show. Despite her decidedly unorthodox profile, Peacock has had several interesting points of contact with mainstream culture. In 1978 she sang three songs on Feels Good to Me, a minor classic by progressive rock drummer Bill Bruford. Her song "My Mama Never Taught Me How to Cook" appears on the soundtrack of Kevin Smith's 1997 film Chasing Amy. And a sample from Peacock's song "Survival" crops up in "Tell 'Em Yu Madd" by Militant the Madd Rapper featuring Busta Rhymes. Most notably, David Bowie has shown interest in Peacock's work over the years. On his 1999 album Hours, the rock legend makes a fairly explicit reference to Peacock's song "I'm the One." Bowie subsequently invited Peacock to collaborate.

Pianist Marilyn Crispell saluted Peacock with a 1997 ECM disc titled Nothing Ever Was, Anyway: The Music of Annette Peacock. Peacock's one-track guest performance on the album ended a 12-year recording hiatus (her longest yet). But her official return to the studio came in 2000 with her own An Acrobat's Heart, also on ECM. Although many of her compositions appeared on Paul Bley's ECM titles through the years, Peacock had never herself previously recorded for the German-based label. AMG.

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Gene Parsons - Kindling 1973

A torrid love affair between popular music and its old-timey Appalachian music roots occurred in the early '70s, more than a quarter of a century before the much-publicized success of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Some of the '70s' examples of pop roots music homages were definitely worth forgetting, such as the overrated and sanctimonious Will the Circle Be Unbroken triple-album project by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. And too often, a sort of snot-nosed influence from pop music would erase out the more interesting, smudgy aspects of old-timey music. Kindling is also a project that some listeners may find too smooth around the edges, the vocal harmonies treated to a kind of dry, too-hip studio reverb and the instruments themselves occasionally sounding more like a greeting card than a reading from the good book of bluegrass. But the best parts of this Gene Parsons album have that clear taste of a mountain stream, at least one of the ones that some company hasn't dumped waste in. It involves many pickers who were crusading heroes of this period, including Clarence White, who, like Parsons, overlapped into the roster of Byrds sidemen, as well as the always-creative fiddler Vassar Clements, who was simply everywhere in the '70s. Ralph Stanley is also on hand to take part in sections of this cross-generational musical communication, just as he would be ready and willing decades later for the aforementioned soundtrack's success. Some of the most interesting aspects of a program that is packed with nice touches include Parsons' skill at overdubbing, innovative if not strictly down-home use of Bill Payne on synthesizer, and the nice use made of Red Callender's tuba on "Long Way Back"; Parsons must have decided he needed someone to play tuba, but handles all the other instruments himself, including drums, bass, and pedal steel. "Banjo Dog" is a wonderful track, while "Sonic Bummer" has to be heard to be believed, the drumming of Andy Newmark contributing to the combined weirdness of a track that has to be one of the strangest mutant offspring of psychedelic rock and country music. AMG.

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Jeremy Steig - Firefly 1977

Produced by Creed Taylor himself, Jeremy Steig's jazz-funk throwdown, Firefly, is one of the great forgotten masterpieces of the genre. Steig is a monster flutist who may lack some of Herbie Mann's subtlety, but more than makes up for it with his chops. Taylor surrounded Steig with a band that was testosterone-fueled yet knew how to get the sexy grooves. Firefly was designed for the purpose of being a hit in the dance clubs, and it should have been, because it kicks ass on that level as well as on the jazz-funk beam. Arranged and conducted by pianist Dave Matthews, the band included guitarists Eric Gale, Hiram Bullock, and John Scofield, Richard Tee on keys, drummers Steve Gadd and Allen Schwarzberg, conguera Ray Mantilla, percussionist Sue Evans, and vocalist Googie Coppola. As for the commercial edge, tracks like Dave Grusin and Earl Klugh's sublime groover "Livin Inside Your Love," features beautiful double-tracked flute solos going into the red on the funky soul edge; then there's the title track opener where Steig plays inside and out in shimmering interplay with Gary King's popping bassline. But it's on "Grasshopper," a Steig original, that this disc really soars. Overdriven chunky guitars, cutting across one another, electric Rhodes, and acoustic piano in counterpoint on two different melodies, bass bubbling like Sly Dunbar's, and orchestral horns giving Steig a punch lead line he can really mess with in his fills and solo. This is burning. AMG.

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Stephen Stills - Thoroughfare Gap 1978

Thoroughfare Gap is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Stephen Stills, released in 1978. It was a critical and commercial disappointment that only charted at number 84 in the US. This album is now available as a three-album set on two CDs with Stills & Illegal Stills, having never been released on its own on CD.

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Aretha Franklin - Soul '69 (1969)

One of her most overlooked '60s albums, on which she presented some of her jazziest material, despite the title. None of these cuts were significant hits, and none were Aretha originals; she displayed her characteristically eclectic taste in the choice of cover material, handling compositions by Percy Mayfield, Sam Cooke, Smokey Robinson, and, at the most pop-oriented end of her spectrum, John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind" and Bob Lind's "Elusive Butterfly." Her vocals are consistently passionate and first-rate, though, as is the musicianship; besides contributions from the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, session players include respected jazzmen Kenny Burrell, Ron Carter, Grady Tate, David Newman, and Joe Zawinul. AMG.

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Charles Hilton Brown - Owed To Myself 1974

Charles Hilton Brown is an American soul singer who briefly sang with the The Four Kents before issuing two singles on Durium in 1971/72. In 1974, he collaborated with the South African band Assagai for the album Owed to Myself, released on Ampex Records.

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Sérgio Godinho - À Queima Roupa 1974

Sérgio Godinho is widely reputed to be one of the most significant creative forces driving popular Portuguese music in the latter half of the 20th Century. Sometimes called ‘the man of 7 instruments' for his musical versatility, Godinho has earned the widespread respect both as a songwriter and instrumentalist. Though primarily known as a musician, Godinho enjoyed a thriving career as a well-published poet and graced stage and screen as an actor. Born in Porto, Portugal in 1945, Sérgio spent many of his early years traveling internationally before channeling his attentions towards his career as a solo artist. Having spent time in Brazil, Canada and the Netherlands, Godinho initiated his recording career on French soil in 1971. His debut disc Os Sobreviventes, followed a year later by Pre-Histórias won him "Author of the Year" and "Album of the Year" respectively. Upon word of the revolution in his homeland, Godinho returned to Portugal shortly thereafter. His third original release was recorded in Portugal and whole heartedly embraced by it's people. Á Queima-Roupa (1974) introduced Godinho to the Portuguese public, and made him a star overnight. With a record released nearly every other year, Godinho became a fixture in his nation's pop culture landscape, cementing a place in Portuguese musical history. Even as the years pressed on, his popularity did not dwindle. Godinho's records consistently enjoyed significant sales, including his 2008 release Nove e Neia no Maria Matos. Recorded better than three decades after his debut, the album debuted inside the Top 40 on Portuguese Pop charts. AMG.

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Spirit - Feedback 1972

Feedback is one of the strangest happenings in rock, more dramatic than Michael MacDonald taking over the Doobie Brothers, but more successful artistically than it was financially, and a chapter of the group that is sadly forgotten. The original band was produced by Lou Adler and built around guitar prodigy Randy California, and a bit of history is in order to understand this hybrid project. David Briggs, producer of Kathi MacDonald, Alice Cooper's Easy Action, and Neil Young, helped the band forge their classic Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus and was retained for this follow-up. William Ruhlmann's liner notes to Spirit's Time Circle Epic/Legacy release notes that Randy California resigned from the group at this point. Mark Andes and Jay Ferguson formed Jo Jo Gunne with Curly Smith, and Smith's friends, the Staehely Brothers, joined Cassidy and company. What Ed Cassidy and keyboard player John Locke created with producer David Briggs was a phenomenal reinvention of Spirit, which worked, sometimes better than the original group. Bassist/vocalist Al Staehely wrote the music, with guitar chores and backing vocals by his brother J. Christian Staehely. "Witch," the final track on the disc, is typical of this new Spirit sound, a fusion of pop/jazz/rock with a dab of country. It would have been a perfect blend for Randy California to step back into, though his ego might have been the stumbling block here. In concert, this version of Spirit was serious and precise, playing with a cool efficiency. David Briggs was the perfect guy to oversee this project, allowing the musicians their space and developing a true counterpart to The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, considered by many to be the band's highpoint. The cover is in eerie aqua blue with the faces looking like spirits peering out of a distorted television. The gatefold contains a band photo and a smart evolutionary image for this eclectic and underrated West Coast band. Here's the clincher: musically, some of the best work on Feedback are the two instrumentals by keyboard player John Locke, "Puesta Del Scam" and "Trancas Fog-Out," fragments of the original "Spirit" performed by this new quartet. The stuff is brilliant, and that it was excised from Time Circle is a pity. It was this writer who put Epic/Legacy in touch with Randy California in the development of 1991's Time Circle compilation project, and certainly the elegant "Darkness," the third John Locke title, deserved to be included on that double disc, and some representation of this remarkable work would have been appropriate rather than nine whopping cuts from The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus. Jo Jo Gunne guitarist Matthew Andes (brother of Spirit's Mark Andes) co-wrote "Mellow Morning" with Al Staehely, and it, along with "Right on Time" and "Ripe and Ready," all display the Spirit vibe, even hinting at some Jo Jo Gunne, as strange as that may seem. The Cassidy/Locke/Staehely/Staehely combo added enough jazz to Spirit to temper the all out assault that was Jo Jo Gunne, and therein lies the difference. This is not David Bowie's ex-drummer and bassist forming the Spiders From Mars; keep in mind that Ed Cassidy was not only the band's insignia with his Yul Brynner look, he was this group's spiritual leader. As Randy California's step-dad, it's a shame he didn't get more firm with the boy and demand they all be "the family that plays together." Had the Staehely brothers and John Locke stayed on board for Cassidy and Randy California's next project, the erratic Potatoland disc may have mutated into something totally brilliant. The best of Al Staehely, John Locke, and Randy California would have been truly something. Feedback is a solid performance and remarkable album which deserves its place in the Spirit catalog, and not the status of bastard son. It is a legitimate Spirit project and it is very, very good. AMG.

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Garland Jeffreys - Garland Jeffreys 1973

Garland Jeffreys first appeared to record buyers in 1970, backed by the band Grinder's Switch, on an album for Vanguard Records that strongly recalled the sound of the Band, with and without Bob Dylan. He next returned to record stores as a solo act three years later under the auspices of Atlantic Records with this singer/songwriter project. Michael Cuscuna, who co-produced the disc with Jeffreys, was more of a jazz aficionado than the artist himself, and he built arrangements around Jeffreys and his backup guitarist, Alan Freedman, using a collection of well-known jazz-leaning session musicians including Ralph MacDonald, David "Fathead" Newman, and Bernard Purdie, along with such other names as Dr. John and David Bromberg. He also agreed to a trip to Jamaica that produced the reggae-styled "Bound to Get Ahead Someday." The result was a set of eclectic backing tracks that added flavor to Jeffreys' poetic story-songs, sung in his soulful tenor. It was a far more individual effort than Garland Jeffreys and Grinder's Switch, more focused on the singer, and demonstrated his growth as a writer and performer. But it still was not as accomplished as Jeffreys' later work would be, and it was thrown into the shade by his next recording, the one-off single "Wild in the Streets," which demonstrated his ability to rock out more. [The European release of Garland Jeffreys substituted a second track from the Jamaican session, "Midnite Cane," for "Lon Chaney."] AMG.

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Tom Waits - Small Change 1976

The fourth release in Tom Waits' series of skid row travelogues, Small Change proves to be the archetypal album of his '70s work. A jazz trio comprising tenor sax player Lew Tabackin, bassist Jim Hughart, and drummer Shelly Manne, plus an occasional string section, back Waits and his piano on songs steeped in whiskey and atmosphere in which he alternately sings in his broken-beaned drunk's voice (now deeper and overtly influenced by Louis Armstrong) and recites jazzy poetry. It's as if Waits were determined to combine the Humphrey Bogart and Dooley Wilson characters from Casablanca with a dash of On the Road's Dean Moriarty to illuminate a dark world of bars and all-night diners. Of course, he'd been in that world before, but in songs like "The Piano Has Been Drinking" and "Bad Liver and a Broken Heart," Waits gives it its clearest expression. Small Change isn't his best album. Like most of the albums Waits made in the '70s, it's uneven, probably because he was putting out one a year and didn't have time to come up with enough first-rate material. But it is the most obvious and characteristic of his albums for Asylum Records. If you like it, you also will like the ones before and after; otherwise, you're not Tom Waits' kind of listener. AMG.

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Van Morrison - Tupelo Honey 1971

Tupelo Honey is typical of Van Morrison's early-'70s work in both sound and structure; after dispensing with the requisite hit -- here, the buoyant, R&B-inflected "Wild Night" -- he truly gets down to business, settling into a luminously pastoral drift typified by the nostalgic "Old Old Woodstock." At the heart of the record are a pair of stunning love songs, "You're My Woman" and the hymn-like title cut, one of Morrison's most enduring and transcendent compositions. AMG.

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Tony Joe White - Tony Joe White 1971

Tony Joe White's self-titled third album, Tony Joe White, finds the self-proclaimed swamp fox tempering his bluesy swamp rockers with a handful of introspective, soul-dripping ballads and introducing horn and string arrangements for the first time. The album -- White's 1971 debut for Warner Bros. -- was recorded over a two-week period in December 1970, in two different Memphis studios (one was Ardent Studios, where Big Star later recorded their influential power pop albums). His producer was none other than London-born Peter Asher, who had just produced James Taylor's early hits for the label (he would continue to produce hits for Taylor and Linda Ronstadt on his way to becoming one of the most successful producers of the '70s). One can surmise that Warner Bros. may have put White and Asher together as a way for the producer to work his magic with an artist who had much promise. White had already scored big with 1969's "Polk Salad Annie" for Monument, and he was having success as a songwriter too: "Rainy Night in Georgia" was a huge hit for Brook Benton in 1970. As you might expect, there aren't really too many surprises here, despite the addition of the Memphis Horns and other Muscle Shoals sessioners. The songs are fairly standard and straightforward, nothing too out of place or experimental, and White's husky southern warble remains the album's key focus. Many of the songs will remind the listener just how turbulent the cultural climate of the late '60s and early '70s was in the U.S. White's soulful southern-tinged spoken drawl introduces "The Change" (as in a "change is gonna come"), then a potent theme and oft-spoke clarion call that, indeed, the times they were a changin'. "Black Panther Swamps" and "I Just Walked Away" (the album's first single) are also successful at what they attempt. Meanwhile, over on the more sentimental side, "The Daddy" concerns itself with the generation gap between father and son, and mentions the son cutting his long hair ("a little respect will never hurt you"). The mawkish "Five Summers for Jimmy" will appeal to fans who liked Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey." On a more positive note, "A Night in the Life of a Swamp Fox" was White's somewhat-frustrating look at what was going on in his life, playing his sole hit for fans but wanting something more out of his career. Unfortunately, this album never did bring him the success he craved, although it deserves another listen. In 2002, Tony Joe White was reissued for the first time in the U.S. on CD by the Sepia Tone label. AMG.

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Ray Materick - Sidestreets 1972

Ray Materick toured and performed as a solo artist (and occasionally as a member of a duo) as early as the late '60s. He released his first album, Sidestreets, in 1972, but his label, Kanata Records, folded soon after. Materick then signed with Asylum and released a self-titled album in 1974, followed by Neon Rain and Days of the Heart in 1975, Best Friend Overnight in 1976 and Fever in Rio in 1978. AMG.

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Jimi Hendrix - The Cry Of Love 1971

This was the first of the posthumous releases in the Jimi Hendrix catalog and probably the best as it collected most of the studio tracks that were either completed or very near completion before Hendrix died. Some of these tunes, like "Angel" and "Ezy Rider," have become well-known pieces in the Hendrix canon, but they sit alongside lesser-known gems like "Night Bird Flying" and the Dylanesque "My Friend." Cry of Love as an album has been rendered as a footnote, since the Hendrix estate has recompiled, to Hendrix's specifications, First Rays of the New Rising Sun. This (originally) double-album set contains not only the entire Cry of Love LP, but the best studio tracks from Rainbow Bridge, War Heroes, and Crash Landing, presented in drastically improved sound. AMG.

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Thus - All of Thus 1968

"All of Thus" is the sole album by the American garage rock band Thus, released in 1968 on the Century label. The album features a mix of original compositions and inventive covers, showcasing the band's talent for proto-psych and garage-punk sounds before it was reissued in 1993 by Rockadelic Records. listen here

Kaleidoscope - The Incredible! (1969

Incredible! (1969) was the combo's third album and first to boast contributions from newest members Stuart Brotman (bass/vocals) and Paul Lagos (percussion), flanking David Lindley (guitar/banjo/violin/vocals), Solomon Feldthouse (guitar/oud/clarinet/saz/jumbas/vocals), and Chester Crill (harmonica/violin/organ/vocal). In the absence of Chris Darrow's commanding songwriting, each member projected himself into the material, which adopts a discernible country-rock lilt accompanying Kaleidoscope's established Eastern-informed psychedelia. Nowhere do the two seemingly disparate styles fuse as effortlessly as the upbeat opener, "Lie to Me." Similarly the rural feel of "Let the Good Love Flow" could be easily mistaken for the New Riders of the Purple Sage or Commander Cody, with Lindley pulling off a convincing faux steel guitar lead. On the other side of the spectrum is the funky workout on Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor," as it slithers and slides around Lagos' solid rhythm. The bayou-tinged "Petite Fleur" hearkens to a sound the band explored on the cover of Doug Kershaw's "Louisiana Man" from their previous long-player, A Beacon from Mars. The appropriately titled "Banjo" provides Lindley with a vehicle for his remarkable virtuosity, likewise adding stimulation from Feldthouse's strong East-meets-West vibe. The traditional "Cuckoo" is one of Kaleidoscope's heavier numbers, reinforcing Lagos' muscular interjections. The disc concludes with the lengthy and adeptly crafted "Seven-Ate Sweet," a reference to the time signature of the 11-plus-minute instrumental. It offers nothing short of a consistently inspired example of the power and prowess within this incarnation. [Collectors and enthusiasts should take note of the Pulsating Dream (2004) anthology as it features all of the tracks Kaleidoscope recorded during their years on Epic (1967-1970).] AMG.

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Jacques Dutronc - Jacques Dutronc 1969

Jacques Dutronc's second self-titled LP in two years kicks off with "Le Responsable," a swinging go-go stomp featuring Dutronc in a full-on wild-man role and his backing band doing their best Rolling Stones impression. It's one of the all-time great French pop songs, much more irresistibly campy than anything recorded by Serge Gainsbourg. It's all but impossible, however, to keep up that kind of energy level for long, and by the end of the LP ("L'Hotesse de L'Air") Dutronc is actually yodeling out many of his lyrics. Between those polar extremes lies some average material, none as catchy (or even as up-tempo) as "Le Responsable," making for a distinct sense of disappointment when listeners realize the opener is by far the best track on the album. AMG.

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The Groundhogs - Split 1971

As the Groundhogs' best example of their gritty blues-rock fire and unique form of guitar-driven music, Split reveals more about Tony McPhee's character, perseverance, and pure love for performing this style of blues than any other album. Based around the misunderstanding and mystery of schizophrenia, Split takes a raw, bottom-heavy recipe of spirited, spunky guitar riffs (some of the best that McPhee has ever played) and attaches them to some well-maintained and intelligently written songs. The first four tracks are simply titled "Part One" to "Part Four" and instantly enter Split's eccentric, almost bizarre conceptual realm, but it's with "Cherry Red" that the album's full blues flavor begins to seep through, continuing into enigmatic but equally entertaining tracks like "A Year in the Life" and the mighty finale, entitled "Groundhog." Aside from McPhee's singing, there's a noticeable amount of candor in Ken Pustelnik's baggy, unbound percussion, which comes across as aimless and beautifully messy in order to complement the blues-grunge feel of the album. Murky, fuzzy, and wisely esoteric, Split harbors quite a bit of energy across its eight tracks, taking into consideration that so much atmosphere and spaciousness is conjured up by only three main instruments. This album, along with 1972's Who Will Save the World?, are regarded as two of the strongest efforts from the Groundhogs, but Split instills a little bit more of McPhee's vocal passion and dishes out slightly stronger portions of his guitar playing to emphasize the album's theme. AMG.

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Brinsley Schwarz - Brynsley Shwarz 1970

Brinsley Schwarz's eponymous debut is the stuff of rock legend because it is the punch line to a great story. It arrived after a disastrous publicity blitz, where the band's management arranged for prominent British journalists to cross the ocean to hear the Brinsleys' showcase performance at the Fillmore East. In a series of mishaps that would shame Spinal Tap, the band arrived in New York hours before their show and the journalists, who dipped heavily into the courtesy bar when their plane nearly crashed, arrived minutes before the concert. The press was underwhelmed to say the least and savaged the band and the record. Listening to Brinsley Schwarz, it's easy to see why they weren't turned on by the Brinsleys: this is a bizarre, naïve blend of Crosby, Stills & Nash, Dylan & the Band, and Buffalo Springfield, with a heavy dose of early Yes. It's filled with awkward steps and bad judgments, fueled by the group's romanticized view of Californian hippies. Consequently, it's hard not to cringe or chuckle by their hippie affectations, whether it's the lyrics ("she was my lady/had no plans to make her my wife") or the a cappella folk-rock harmonies that come out of nowhere on "Lady Constant" (it doesn't help that they sing "colored serpent coiled around your waist") or the bongo solo that ends "Shining Brightly." But, amidst all this hippie posturing, there some weird touches, like the multi-octave chromatic guitar break on "Hymn to Me" or the heavy prog jam of "What Do You Suggest?" and "Ballad of a Has-Been Beauty Queen" that illustrate how English the Brinsleys still were at this stage. All of this adds up to a debut that's decidedly uneven and unsure, but in retrospect, it's easy for sympathetic listeners to be charmed by their eccentricities. AMG.

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