Miles Davis - Water Babies 1968

This studio LP was first released almost a decade after it was recorded. The first half features the 1967 Quintet (with Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams) performing three otherwise unknown Shorter compositions. The flip side findsDavis in 1968 leading the same group (with possibly Chick Corea and Dave Holland replacing Hancockand Carter) on two early fusion jams that look a bit toward Bitches Brew. Although not an essential set, this album fills in some gaps during Davis's transitional period from adventurous acoustic playing to early electric performances. AMG.listen here

Procol Harum - Shine On Brightly 1968

After the multi-million selling "A Whiter Shade Of Pale," Procol Harum coalesced around a new line-up and cut a debut album in two days, the sales of which (because the hit song wasn't on it originally) were only fair, and a couple of new singles also failed to sell. Then they did Shine On Brightly, which initially drew on recordings going back to late 1967 -- in the course of preparing their first proper LP, the band junked an entire side of blues-based numbers in favor of the 18-minute suite "In Held 'Twas I," which rivaled anything yet heard from such established progressive rock outfits as the Nice or the Moody Blues in length and surpassed them in audacity, with an extensive spoken part surrounded by virtuoso classical and psychedelic passages (and even a featured spot for Dave Knights' bass). It all proved that they were more than a one-hit wonder and, released in late 1968, the album extended the definition of progressive rock, even as it kept much of the music rooted in established rock genres. "Skip Softly," for all of its grand piano pyrotechnics, was also a showcase for Robin Trower's bluesy, high-energy guitar attack, and "Wish Me Well" was an even better vehicle for his instrument, while "Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)" was an interesting exercise in nostalgia highlighted by Matthew Fisher's organ. AMG. listen here

Exuma - Life 1973

One of the most unique and hard to classify artists of the 1970s, Exuma was a singular talent. Mixing the infectious rhythms and folkloric qualities of Bahamian music with rock, country, and other U.S. influences and adding a sharply satiric element of social commentary, Exuma's music aimed for the heart and the feet at the same time.
Exuma was born McFarlane Anthony McKay on Cat Island in the Bahamas sometime in the early '40s (no one seems to know exactly when). Raised on traditional Bahamian folk songs and the popular music known as junkanoo, a West African-based Bahamian version of calypso or samba named after a Boxing Day festival that's the local equivalent of Mardi Gras or Carnival, McKay nevertheless planned a career as an architect and fell into life as a performer almost by accident. Moving to New York in the early '60s to attend architecture school, McKay soon found himself living in the state of near-penury that's the urban college student's life. Noting the popularity of Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence's records in the Greenwich Village folk scene, McKay began playing venues like the Bitter End and Cafe Wha?, bringing traditional Bahamian folk music to the city, first as a solo artist but quickly forming a group called Tony McKay and the Islanders. Tony McKay and the Islanders were a popular club band, opening for artists like Richie Havens or Peter, Paul and Mary through the mid-'60s. McKay began undergoing a personal transformation by the end of the decade, absorbing political influences from the black power movement and musical influences from acts like the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Sly and the Family Stone. McKay translated this political and artistic excitement through the traditions of his homeland and re-emerged by decade's end as Exuma, the Obeah Man. (Exuma, besides being the name of one of the Bahamas' largest islands, was a spirit balanced between the worlds of the living and the dead; Obeah is an Afro-Caribbean tradition of sorcery, like Santeria in Cuba or Vodun in Haiti.) Signed to Mercury Records in 1969, Exuma quickly released two albums, Exuma the Obeah Man and Exuma II (both 1970). Mixing powerful Afro-Caribbean rhythms with Exuma's shamanistic exhortations and vividly Obeah-inspired lyrics, these albums were conceptually similar to what Nigeria's Fela Kuti was beginning to do around the same time. Like Fela, however, Exuma was largely ignored by American press, radio, and consumers, and Mercury quickly dropped him. Exuma quickly bounced back and signed to, of all labels, the bubblegum imprint Kama Sutra. The subsidiary of Buddah Records was in the process of transforming itself into a home for soul and early disco artists, but Exuma was an odd choice, and it's possible that they might have seen him primarily as a novelty act along the lines of the Jimmy Castor Bunch, who covered Exuma's "Bam Bam." Certainly his first Kama Sutra album, 1971's Do Wah Nanny, steps back slightly from the Obeah imagery and adding a well-placed horn section to Exuma's primal acoustic guitar playing, resulting in hypnotic, funky grooves like the title track. 1972's Snake is equally musically compelling, with Exuma's social commentary becoming even sharper. Together, they're probably Exuma's two finest albums, and certainly the best starting point for the Exuma novice. Unfortunately, Kama Sutra seemed to be frustrated by Exuma's sales figures, and his next album, Reincarnation (also 1972), has the unfortunate feel of front office "suggestions." The Bahamian feel of the arrangements and production is significantly reduced, and while Exuma had always shown an affinity for pop music, the cover of Paul McCartney's "Monkberry Moon Delight" does neither the singer nor the song any favors. Exuma moved to Kama Sutra's parent label, Buddah, for 1973's Life, but a continued commercialization effort, this time trying to move his ratchety Afro-Caribbean rhythms into the smoother and glossier world of American R&B, saps the improved set of songs of their energy. Exuma did not record for the rest of the '70s, and indeed, music remained a sideline for the rest of his life. Exuma had long been a painter--most of his album covers feature his paintings--and an increased interest in "primitive" artists by the art establishment allowed him to devote more time to his artwork. However, he never stopped performing music, especially in his native Bahamas, where he was a major star. Exuma self-released a trio of albums, Penny Sausage, Going to Cat Island and Street Life (later reissued by ROIR as Rude Boy), in the 1980s. These albums do a much better job of adapting rock and country songs into Exuma's idiosyncratic style, though they largely lack the crazed grandeur of his first six albums, all of which were reissued on CD in the early '90s. Exuma died in Nassau, Bahamas, on January 25, 1997. [Special thanks to Brian Phillips, whose article -- available at http://www.furious.com/perfect/exuma.html -- provided valuable source material for this piece.] AMG. listen here

Minette - Come to Me at Tea-Time 1968

Jacques Minette was born in Manhattan to visiting French parents, and raised in Boston. A child performer, her career as a female impersonator dates from the 1940s. As Minette she played all the big drag clubs of the period.

She, and most drag performers, were driven out of Boston in 1948 when Archbishop Cushing banned them. In New York she was a regular at 82 Club. She put out an LP, Come to Me at Tea-Time, 1968, and was a guest singer in the seminal film, The Queen, 1968, hosted by Jack Doroshow (Sabrina). She was a regular in Avery Willard’s Ava-Graph films, and also a member of the Ridiculous Theatre Company. She also worked with the underground film director, Andy Milligan, even to the point of sewing dresses when he opened a dress shop.


She is a connecting link from the drag shows in the days of vaudeville and burlesque, through the avant-garde of the 1960s to the end of the 20th century. However she says that she made more money as a sex worker than as a singer.

She was an activist in the early Gay Liberation movement in New York. Although she was non-op, she normally wore female clothing off-stage as well as on, and preferred female pronouns for herself. She was also a musicologist and gay historian.  She died at age 73. listen here

Percy Sledge - Take Time To Know Her 1968

After "When a Man Loves a Woman," "Take Time to Know Her" was Percy Sledge's biggest hit, and it leads off this 1968 album from the great Southern soul singer. Like "When a Man Loves a Woman," "Take Time to Know Her" was a mid-tempo soul ballad in which Sledge tells a tale of love that hasn't gone quite the way one might wish, and this musical template dominates much of the album, though to his credit Sledge had a gift for bending songs to his style with such skill that he finds new paths even when he seems to be going in the same direction. Sledge does offer a few interesting change-ups on this album -- there's an insouciant edge to his cover of "Spooky," he edges into his falsetto register on "Come Softly to Me," sounds downright jaunty on "I Love Everything About You," and revels in a rare opportunity to rock the house on "Baby Help Me." But most of Take Time to Know Her is classic Percy Sledge, with the singer pouring out loss, hurt and pleas for mercy while a crack organ-led and horn-enhanced studio band stirs the soup behind him, and the results are a blessing to anyone who loves classic soul of the '60s. Sledge didn't have the broadest range, but it's hard to imagine anyone not being affected by the skill and emotional potency of his work, and this album captures him in excellent form. AMG. listen here

RE-POST: Ten Years After - Undead 1968

Recorded live in a small London club, Undead contains the original "I'm Going Home," the song that brought Ten Years After its first blush of popularity following the Woodstock festival and film in which it was featured. However, the real strength of this album is side one, which contains two extended jazz jams, "I May Be Wrong, But I Won't Be Wrong Always" and Woody Herman's "Woodchopper's Ball," both of which spotlight guitarist Alvin Lee's amazing speed and technique. Side two is less interesting, with an extended slow blues typical of the time, a drum solo feature, and the rock & roll rave-up of "I'm Going Home." AMG. listen here

Barclay James Harvest - Baby James Harvest 1972

Barclay James Harvest was, for many years, one of the most hard luck outfits in progressive rock. A quartet of solid rock musicians -- John Lees, guitar, vocals; Les Holroyd, bass, vocals; Stuart "Wooly" Wolstenholme, keyboards, vocals; and Mel Pritchard, drums -- with a knack for writing hook-laden songs built on pretty melodies, they harmonized like the Beatles and wrote extended songs with more of a beat than the Moody Blues. They were signed to EMI at the same time as Pink Floyd, and both bands moved over to the company's progressive rock-oriented Harvest imprint at the same time, yet somehow, they never managed to connect with the public for a major hit in England, much less America.
The group was formed in September of 1966 in Oldham, Lancashire. Lees and Wolstenholme were classmates who played together in a band called the Blues Keepers; that group soon merged with a band called the Wickeds, which included Holroyd and Pritchard. They became Barclay James Harvest in June of 1967 and began rehearsing at an 18th century farmhouse in Lancashire. The psychedelic era was in full swing, and the era of progressive rock about to begin -- the Moody Blues, in particular, were beginning to cut an international swathe across the music world. BJH cut a series of demos late in the year, and by the spring of 1968 they were signed to EMI's Parlophone label; in April they issued their first single, a folky, faux-classical song called "Early Morning." The group got caught up a year later in a corporate change at EMI, and it was decided to move the more progressive-sounding groups on the label onto a new label, coincidentally named Harvest. Their first release on the new label was the single "Brother Thrush."

In 1970, they released their first album, Barclay James Harvest, which included several of the early songs and displayed the group's strengths: filled with strong harmony singing, aggressive electric guitar, and swelling Mellotron parts, it set the pattern for their subsequent releases, with Lees and Holroyd handling most of the songwriting. The album failed to chart, and a subsequent tour was a financial disaster. Their second album, Once Again (1971), was an artistic letdown, made up of rather lethargic songs, although it did contain the superb, "Mockingbird." The band recorded two more albums for Harvest, Short Stories (1971) and Baby James Harvest (1972), and spent much of 1972 on the road, including an unsuccessful tour of the U.S. They also released a pair of singles, "When the City Sleeps" and "Breathless," under the pseudonym "Bombadil" (a name taken from a J.R.R. Tolkien short story), all to no avail. 1973 saw them part company with EMI after one last single, "Rock and Roll Woman."

Later in 1973, the band signed with Polydor, and their fortunes began turning around, though only very gradually. Their first album for the new label, Everyone Is Everybody Else, seemed promising: it was a more powerful and coherent work than the group had ever released for EMI, with Lees' guitar dominating on songs like "Paper Wings" and "For No One." The album also presented the first example of the group consciously paying tribute to (and satirizing) another group's hit song -- "Great 1974 Mining Disaster" was a very heavy sounding tribute/satire of the Bee Gees' "New York Mining Disaster 1941." (They would later do work in this vein involving the Moody Blues.) The album failed to chart, however, as did the single "Poor Boy Blues," with its gorgeous harmonies.

It seemed at first as though BJH was locked once again into a cycle of failure. Finally, in late 1974, their double-album Barclay James Harvest Live broke through to the public -- the group was rewarded with a Top 40 placement in England and more sales activity on the European continent than they'd previously seen. Their next album, Time Honoured Ghosts, recorded in San Francisco, continued this gradual breakthrough when it was released in 1975, reaching number 32 in England. A year later, Octoberon reached the Top 20. An EP containing live versions of "Rock 'N Roll Star" and "Medicine Man" became another chart entry in the spring of 1977. By this time, EMI had begun to take advantage of the success of the group's Polydor work, and released A Major Fancy, a John Lees' solo album that had sat on the shelf for five years.

In 1977, they released Gone to Earth, their most accomplished album to date, and by the end of the year the group found themselves playing to arena-sized audiences. The release of XII in 1978 -- which managed to just miss the British Top 30 -- was followed by the group's first (and only) personnel shake-up. In June of 1979, Wolstenholme announced his exit from the band in favor of a solo career; the group's final tour with Wolstenholme was recorded and later released by Polydor under the title The Live Tapes. He was replaced by two new members, singer-keyboardman-saxophonist Kevin McAlea and singer-guitarist-keyboardman Colin Browne; Wolstenholme released one solo album, 1979's Maestro, to little success and then retired from the music business for a time.

Their 1979 album Eyes of the Universe was a modest hit in England, but its release marked a flashpoint in Barclay James Harvest's career in continental Europe, especially Germany; on August 30, 1980, the band performed a free concert in front of nearly 200,000 people at the Reichstag in Berlin, which was filmed and recorded. A subsequent live album, Concert for the People, became the group's biggest-selling album in England, rising to number 15 in 1982. Turn of the Tide (1981) and Ring of Changes (1983) were less successful, although the latter did spawn their last charting single, "Just a Day Away." Their subsequent Polydor albums, Victims of Circumstance, Face to Face, and Welcome to the Show, charted ever lower in England, even as the group's popularity grew in Europe. In 1988, they released a new live album, Glasnost, cut at a concert in East Berlin.The group marked the 25th anniversary with a concert in Liverpool, and toured to support a British Polydor compilation, The Best of Barclay James Harvest. AMG.
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Oscar Peterson - Reunion Blues 1971

Pianist Oscar Peterson joins up with his old friends, vibraphonist Milt Jackson and bassist Ray Brown, in addition to his drummer of the period, Louis Hayes, for a particularly enjoyable outing. After a throwaway version of the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," the all-star quartet performsJackson's title cut, Benny Carter's ballad "Dream of You," and four standards. Although not up to the excitement of Peterson's best Pablo recordings of the 1970s, this is an enjoyable album. AMG.listen here

Ornette Coleman - Tomorrow Is The Question! (1959)

On his second outing for the Contemporary label, Ornette dusted the piano from the bandstand and focused instead on a quartet. For some unexplained reason, Billy Higgins was replaced by Shelly Manne; the only constants remain Coleman and Don Cherry. The focus, then, is on the interplay between the altoist and trumpeter in executing Ornette's tunes, which were, more than on the preceding album (Something Else!, recorded a year earlier), knottier and tighter in their arrangement style. The odd-syncopation style of the front line on numbers such as "Tears Inside," which comes out of the box wailing and then simmers down into a moody, swinging blues, was a rough transition for the rhythm section. And the more Ornette and Cherry try to open it up into something more free and less attached to the tune's form, the more Manne and especially bassist Percy Heath hang on. Still, there are great moments here: for example, the celebratory freedom of "Giggin'," with its wonderful trumpet solo, and "Rejoicing," which has become one of Coleman's classics for its elongated melody line and simple obbligato phrasing, which become part of a wonderfully complex solo that keeps the blues firmly intact. The final track, "Endless," is pure magic. After Manne carries it in 6/8, Coleman uses a nursery rhyme to move to the solo terrain and, when he does, the solo itself becomes a part of that rhyme as even Don Cherry feels his way through it in his break. And, if anything, this is one of the things that came to defineOrnette -- his willingness to let simplicity and its bright colors and textures confound not only other players and listeners, but also him too. In those days, Coleman's musical system -- although worked out in detail -- always left room for the unexpected and, in fact, was played as if his life depended on it. As a result, Tomorrow Is the Question! was a very literal title; who could have guessed the expansive, world-widening direction that Coleman's system would head into next? AMG.listen here

Pink Floyd - A saucerful of secrets 1968

A transitional album on which the band moved from Syd Barrett's relatively concise and vivid songs to spacy, ethereal material with lengthy instrumental passages. Barrett's influence is still felt (he actually did manage to contribute one track, the jovial "Jugband Blues"), and much of the material retains a gentle, fairy-tale ambience. "Remember a Day" and "See Saw" are highlights; on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun," "Let There Be More Light," and the lengthy instrumental title track, the band begin to map out the dark and repetitive pulses that would characterize their next few records. AMG. listen here

New Riders Of The Purple Sage - Powerglide 19722

The group's second album is pretty much definitive, especially in its remastered version from Columbia's Legacy division (issued in 1996), which has really crisp, loud sound. Joe Maphis' "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music)" is a great opener, a honky tonk-style number featuring David Nelson's lead vocals and Nicky Hopkins' piano sharing the spotlight with Nelson's and John Dawson's axes. The guitars on Dawson's "Rainbow" are nearly pretty enough to be a Flying Burrito Brothers or Poco number. Most of what follows is as good or better, especially Dave Torbert's "California Day" and "Contract," and Dawson's "Sweet Lovin' One." The one letdown is their cover of "Hello Mary Lou," a flat, dullish rendition that could be any bad country-rock bar band, and which isn't going to make anyone forget the numerous versions before and since -- they do somewhat better with Johnny Otis' "Willie and the Hand Jive." Powerglide is a fun record and offers one virtue that the Dead, in particular, sometimes forgot -- they know how to end a song. Jerry Garcia is present on banjo ("Sweet Lovin' One," "Duncan and Brady") and piano ("Lochinvar") -- Bill Kreutzmann and Nicky Hopkins also turn up -- but the best lead guitar work here comes courtesy of David Nelson and Buddy Cage, who plays the pedal steel. AMG. listen here

Maajun - Vivre La Mort Du Vieux Monde 1971

Excellent french prog blues from the early seventies, give it a listen. listen here

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Apocalypse 1974

The first recording of the second Mahavishnu Orchestra was a real stretch for John McLaughlin, an encounter with Michael Tilson Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra. The union wasn't taken seriously at the time, and it ended up harming the reputation of Thomas -- a remarkably adventurous young conductor who defied the stuffy classical powers-that-be and thus probably delayed his eventual rise to the top -- more than McLaughlin. But those with ears, then and now, beheld a remarkable series of pieces that neatly juxtapose and occasionally combine the combustion of McLaughlin's group with rich, tasteful symphonic statements orchestrated for McLaughlin by Michael Gibbs. The new Mahavishnu-ites, electric violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and keyboardist/vocalist Gayle Moran, have their moments, but the real focus of this disc is the quality of the symphonic conceptions and how well McLaughlin blends his lyrical and fiery guitar into the mixture. The best stretch is the breathtakingly ethereal opening of "Hymn to Him"; the promise of fusing rock, jazz, and classical elements had never been executed so alluringly before -- and wouldn't you know, an old experienced hand at introducing classical textures into rock, the Beatles' George Martin, is the producer. Don't let old, outworn preconceptions on either side of the fence prevent you from checking out this beautiful record. AMG. listen here

Lucinda Williams - Ramblin' 1979

A collection of blues and country standards by Robert Johnson, Memphis Minnie, Hank Williams, and others. Williams is accompanied only by guitarist John Grimaudo. Re-released by Smithsonian/Folkways in 1991 as Ramblin'. AMG. listen here

Re-Post: Chil - Rhubarby Feeling 1970

Rhubarby Feeling was a movie by Regisseur Felix Strassler that was released in 1970. His search for a composer to create a score for the film ended when he finally opted for Walter Keller, organist in the Swiss band Omelette Surprise, which had released a sole single in 1969, to work on the project. Keller recorded the music in a church in 1970, and what resulted was the bit of weirdness that is generally considered the oldest private "psychedelic" release in Switzerland, though it's not exactly psychedelic, but rather pop skewed to about the furthest extremes possible. The Beatles figure into all of this, more as individuals than as a band: "Some Rhubarby Feeling" fades in with Keller singing like Ringo Starr in a campy, upbeat pub singalong with rather cryptic lyrics; "Out Blues" is a contrary, muted blues, like restrained Canned Heat boogie crossed with the dolor of George Harrison; the title song is a bit of McCartney light, and "Evening Song" anticipates Wings. Overall, there's a sort of fairy-tale atmosphere to Rhubarby Feeling ("My Illusions" is a child-like lullaby as organ-and-bell dirge barely held together by Keller's uncertain warble, while "Living It Unlimited" is a disturbing, carnivalesque organ grinder epic), which betrays the influence of psychedelia more in the partly nonsensical lyrics than in the music (though "Too Many Faces" is a Middle Eastern jam/drone of its time). The album comes on as stylistically spotty, which a soundtrack invariably does without its corresponding movie. Some of the material is well-developed -- legitimate songs, in fact -- while the rest ranges from extended mood music to downright strange chunks of experimentation (the repetitiously odd "You Gave Me Bread" and its coda, "You Gave Me Water Too"). More than anything, there is goosebump-inducing creepiness that you cannot help but be drawn to. Walter Keller remains in the music business as a singer/songwriter and routinely releases new material. This movie, on the other hand, disappeared without a trace, but with a soundtrack like this, it certainly couldn't have been too accessible. AMG. listen here