Little Beaver - Joey 1972

Willie "Little Beaver" Hale's melodic guitar ably accompanies his strident tenor on seven ho-hum songs written by Hale himself. "Joey," a slow, bluesy number, made a minor chart run and is easily the LP's most commercial offering. "I'm Losin' the Feelin'"'s crippled, shuffling beat tells of fading love, accented by Hale's tasty guitar licking away like a cat at a feeding bowl. On most tracks Hale plays lead and rhythm via overdubbing, as exemplified on "What the Blues Is," a pleasant, jaunty roller. "Katie Pearl" is a personal account about a chick "that sure knows how to love her man"; on her death bed she (Katie Pearl) confesses to her mother to tell Little Beaver to record the song he wrote especially for her. "Two Steps from the Blues," the only selection that Hale didn't write, doesn't start cooking until it's nearly over, and unnecessary strings mar both "That's How It Is" and "Give a Helping Hand." AMG.

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Fela Kuti - Afrodisiac 1973

The four (lengthy, as usual) songs occupying this album were originally recorded in Nigeria as 45 rpm releases. Afrodisiac consists of re-recordings of these, done in London in the early '70s. While it's true that Fela Kuti's albums from this period are pretty similar to each other, in their favor they're not boring. These four workouts, all sung in Nigerian, are propulsive mixtures of funk and African music, avoiding the homogeneity of a lot of funk and African records of later vintage, done with nonstop high energy. The interplay between horns, electric keyboards, drums, and Kuti's exuberant vocals gives this a jazz character without sacrificing the earthiness that makes it danceable as well. "Jeun Ko Ku (Chop'n Quench)" became Kuti's first big hit in Nigeria, selling 200,000 copies in its first six months in its initial version. AMG. listen here

Christmas - Christmas 1970

The Canadian progressive and hard rock group called Christmas formed in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, in 1969. It came together from some of the members of a disbanded group called Reign Ghost. Guitarist and singer Bob Bryden, singer Lynda Squire, and drummer Helge "Rich" Richter had all three worked together in the earlier group. The lineup wasn't a stable one though and Squire soon left to follow other career choices. With her loss, Christmas found two new members, singer and guitarist Robert Bulger and bassist Tyler Reizanne. The group finished a couple of albums in 1970, Christmas and Heritage. There were also a number of singles released, such as "Don't Give It Away," "I'm a Song," "Farewell Sweet Love," and "Point Blank." When the band still seemed to be floundering in first gear in the 1971, Bulger abandoned ship too, being replaced by another singer, Preston Wynn. The band took a year off and then came back with a lengthened name, the Spirit of Christmas. None of the efforts helped the group gain stardom and in 1975, the team called it quits. Most members went on to other bands, like Benzene, Age of Mirrors, Buzzsaw, the Forgotten Rebels, and Threshold. In the '90s, three of the albums Christmas had recorded -- Heritage, Lies to Live By, and Live at Massey Hall -- were re-released. AMG.

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The Trout - The Trout 1968

Pop psike trio consists of Tony Romeo, Frank Romeo and Cassandra Morgan. Originally released on MGM in 1968, this psych-sunshine pop classic is definitely worth listening to.  Therockasteria.

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Sharkey - Signposts 1975

"Obscure album that is led by former Syndicate Of Sound keyboardist John Sharkey. The Syndicate Of Sound were an American rock band formed in San Jose, CA that was active from 1964-1970. Through their only hit "Little Girl", the band developed a raw sound, and became forerunners in the local psych-blues-rock genre. "Signposts" delivers with a mix of bluesy white-boy soul/hippie pop/country rock vibes, with the sound having a raw "live" in the studio feel. The second side rocks a bit harder but ends oddly with a couple of pretty odd out of place covers. A couple of songs hint at some potential from this independent release, but overall nothing that attracted any big label offers." musik4mark

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Nick Gilder - City Nights 1978

City Nights, of course, includes Gilder's chart-topping raison d'etre"Hot Child in the City"; the Canadian actually strove to release the pedestrian "All Because of Love" first, but Chrysalis wisely pushed for this street-walking tale to break Gilder in America. As for the rest of the record, the cognoscenti know the surrounding disco-metal set off a global tremor still felt in the "21st Century." From the crisp robot come-on of second single "Here Comes the Night" to the trench-coated social worker flirting in "Got to Get Out," Gilder calmly claims his crown as the king of an insular world of kinky hooks and killer rhythms where any ace pop fan should strive to reside. All of this jukebox Nabokov's '70s work is facile and frequently brilliant. Rock away your frustration and fly high into the City Nights. AMG.

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Cecil McCartney - Om 1968

The album ‘Om’ by Cecil McCartney was released in 1968 and belongs to the psychedelic rock genre. The album contains elements of blues, folk, world, and country. Cecil McCartney is primarily known as a painter.

Currently, the album is considered a rare collector's item, with few people owning it and many wanting to collect it.

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Happy New Year 2026!

 

One more year is gone, and more to come yes!!! Thanks to B., Spunkie, Snakeboy, Miles, Alfred Venison, FiveGunsWest, E.W., Vincemagzic, T.G., Juan Muñoz... and so many more, and to all this blog followers,....thanks for sharing life around!!! Happy New Year 2026! ✌😉

Tim Buckley - Starsailor 1971

After his beginnings as a gentle, melodic baroque folk-rocker, Buckley gradually evolved into a downright experimental singer/songwriter who explored both jazz and avant-garde territory. Starsailor is the culmination of his experimentation and alienated far more listeners than it exhilarated upon its release in 1970. Buckley had already begun to delve into jazz fusion on late-'60s records like Happy Sad, and explored some fairly "out" acrobatic, quasi-operatic vocals on his final Elektra LP, Lorca. With former Mother of Invention Bunk Gardner augmenting Buckley's group on sax and alto flute, Buckley applies vocal gymnastics to a set of material that's as avant-garde in its songwriting as its execution. At his most anguished (which is often on this album), he sounds as if his liver is being torn out -- slowly. Almost as if to prove he can still deliver a mellow buzz, he throws in a couple of pleasant jazz-pop cuts, including the odd, jaunty French tune "Moulin Rouge." Surrealistic lyrics, heavy on landscape imagery like rivers, skies, suns, and jungle fires, top off a record that isn't for everybody, or even for every Buckley fan, but endures as one of the most uncompromising statements ever made by a singer/songwriter. AMG.

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Zylan - Rainbows, Dreams & Fantasies 1973

Canadian early 1970s rock band from Millbank, New Brunswick. The name they chose is a derivative of Doctor's Island, an island in the nearby Miramichi River.
The original 9 members were from all over New Brunswick (Réal Pelletier was from Edmundston, Hélène Bolduc from Saint-John). Their albums were recorded at Sunshine Studios in Halifax. La Différence (french version of Rainbows, Dreams and Fantasies) came as an afterthought. Both albums were launched at the Friar's Pub in Montreal in 1973 with a smaller line-up of musicians. The group was a short lived and disbanded shortly thereafter.
 

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John Morgan - Kaleidoscope 1971

Keyboard player and vocalist John Morgan was a Graham Bond afficianado who turned toward psychedelia as the 1960's wore on. Billed originally as The Spirit of John Morgan, the band was successful enough to get booked into the Marquee and other top clubs, and cut three albums. Their self-titled debut into 1969 was followed by two more LPs in 1970 and 1972 (credited simply to John Morgan) for the Carnaby label. He also cut a single for British RCA in the early 1970's. AMG.

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Swallow - Out Of The Nest 1972

Swallow was a rock band from the Boston area. Formed in 1969, they were extant for five years, touring with Traffic, the Supremes and B.B. King and headlining area venues on their own. Somewhat unusually for a rock band, Swallow included a horn section, so there were initially eleven members in the band. Band members included Vern Miller from the Remains who wrote most of the band's songs, and blind blues singer George Leh. Swallow released two albums on Warner Bros. Records. Their first album, Out of the Nest, released in 1972, included a contribution by Jeff Baxter on one song, "Come Home Woman". Another album, Swallow, with one Phil Greene produced single "Yes, I'll Say It". followed in 1973.

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The McCoys - Infinite McCoys 1968

Anyone who picked up the McCoys' third album, 1968's Infinite McCoys, expecting a set of R&B-flavored garage rock in the manner of their 1965 hit "Hang on Sloopy" was doubtless very confused once they got two or three minutes into the opening cut, a meandering psychedelic exercise called "Faces" replete with overdubbed mumbling and goofy sound effects, and the brassy sway of "Jesse Brady" and the low-key piano jazz exercise "Resurrection" which followed certainly didn't help reassure puzzled listeners. Infinite McCoys doesn't have much to do with rock & roll at all, certainly not in it's garage-centric form, but there's no arguing that the McCoys threw themselves into the task of reinventing themselves with tremendous enthusiasm. Everything on Infinite McCoys is played with passion and genuine skill; the band's chops are impressive throughout (especially Bob Peterson's keyboards and the guitar work from Rick Zehringer, later known as Rick Derringer), and the songs display a greater intelligence and eclecticism than one might expect, running the gamut from the country-influenced "Rose Rodriguez," to the delicate pop melody of "Song for Janie," the melodramatic homage to S&M of "He Likes It," and the avant-garde soundscape "Hell." But while Infinite McCoys made it clear this band was capable of far more than cranking out teen dance fodder, the album's stylistic breadth prevents it from achieving a much needed focus, and though the album's technique is remarkable, it's never as interesting as it wants to be and the whole exercise becomes a chore to listen to by the time the easy listening pastiche "Union City Waltz" comes to a close. Infinite McCoys was a brave and doubtless necessary step for the McCoys, but the whole is decidedly less than the sum of its parts. AMG.

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Coldwater Stone - Defrost Me 1973

Hiding behind the Coldwater Stone name, 1973's "Defrost Me" was actually the work of the late Freddy Briggs. Soul aficionados will recognize Briggs for his work as a songwriter and producer (plus the fact he was married to the late Kimberley Tolliver-nee-Briggs). Having attracted some attention for his early-70s efforts with Chess and Stax, in 1972 Briggs and Tolliver set up Castro Productions with the apparent goal of starting a solo career for Freddy. Over the next year Briggs recorded a host of material at sessions in Cleveland's Agency Sound Studio, Muscle Shoals, and Miami's Criteria Studios. Released on Lloyd Price's small GSF label, the resulting album was largely a one man show with Briggs credited with producing, arranging, writing nine of the ten songs (wife Tolliver wrote 'Outside Love Affair'), and handling all of the lead vocals. Musically this was prime early-'70s soul with Briggs voice reminding me a bit of a cross between Swamp Dogg, Clarence Carter, and Lloyd Price (who happened to serve as executive producer). Briggs didn't have the sweetest voice you've ever heard and his delivery was occasionally a bit rough, but to my ears, that raggedness made for some of his old-school charm. Without support from GSF the album did little commercially and has become a collectable among soul fans. Briggs continued to dabble in music, at least briefly paying his bills as a Cleveland taxi driver. Sadly, living in Los Angeles, Briggs died in November 2006. Having been in failing health for a decade, Tolliver died in 2007. "BadCatRecord"

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The Who - Quadrophenia 1973

Pete Townshend revisited the rock opera concept with another double-album opus, this time built around the story of a young mod's struggle to come of age in the mid-'60s. If anything, this was a more ambitious project than Tommy, given added weight by the fact that the Who weren't devising some fantasy but were re-examining the roots of their own birth in mod culture. In the end, there may have been too much weight, as Townshend tried to combine the story of a mixed-up mod named Jimmy with the examination of a four-way split personality (hence the title Quadrophenia), in turn meant to reflect the four conflicting personas at work within the Who itself. The concept might have ultimately been too obscure and confusing for a mass audience. But there's plenty of great music anyway, especially on "The Real Me," "The Punk Meets the Godfather," "I'm One," "Bell Boy," and "Love, Reign o'er Me." Some of Townshend's most direct, heartfelt writing is contained here, and production-wise it's a tour de force, with some of the most imaginative use of synthesizers on a rock record. Various members of the band griped endlessly about flaws in the mix, but really these will bug very few listeners, who in general will find this to be one of the Who's most powerful statements. AMG.

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