Graham Central Station - Ain't No 'Bout-A-Doubt It 1975

On their third album, Graham Central Station created an album full of trademark infectious pop-soul grooves, but one that lacked the consistently strong work that defines a true classic. However, that doesn't mean that Ain't No 'Bout-A-Doubt It is less than listenable: in fact, it contains some of the group's finest songs. The album's all-time funk classic is the opening track "The Jam," a "Dance to the Music"-style funk workout that intersperses a dazzling group groove with individual solos for each player. "Water" is another strong funk tune, an insistently rhythmic song that blends thump-popping basslines with backward tape loops to create an intriguing blend of funk and psychedelia. Ain't No 'Bout-A-Doubt It also produced a number one R&B smash in "Your Love," which marries the group's talent for funky grooves to an old-fashioned love song with a melody that harkens back to doo-wop. However, not everything on Ain't No 'Bout-A-Doubt It is as strong as these highlights: "It Ain't Nothing but a Warner Bros. Party" is a lightweight jam with throwaway lyrics, and the group's rote version of the Ann Peebles classic "I Can't Stand the Rain" fails to add anything memorable to the song. All in all, Ain't No 'Bout-A-Doubt It lacks the strong material to make it memorable, but its high points make it a worthwhile listen for funk enthusiasts. AMG.

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Road - Road 1972

Road was sort of a B-list supergroup, pairing Noel Redding (Jimi Hendrix Experience) with guitarist Rod Richards (formerly of Rare Earth) and drummer Leslie Sampson. The group's self-titled album ends up being little more than warmed-up post-Hendrix hard rock, heavy on the wah pedal. Richards actually turns in some fine, if not particularly original, performances on guitar, and Redding proves he couldn't write good songs if his career depended on it (clearly "She's So Fine" and "Little Miss Strange" were his high points). In true '70s hard rock form, the album drags a bit on side two during the obligatory drum solo on "Friends" and especially during Redding's ham-fisted bass "solo" on the unnecessarily epic "Road." Almost redeemed by Richards' guitar work, check this out only if you have a serious jones for '70s hard rock and/or wah-wah excess. AMG.

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Junior's Eyes - Battersea Power Station 1969

Junior's Eyes are one of the more well-known unknowns -- if such an oxymoron can be applied -- of the late-'60s British psychedelic scene. Most people who have seen any reference to them at all are apt to know them only as an act that served as David Bowie's backup group briefly in the late '60s. Mick Wayne, Junior's Eyes' lead guitarist and songwriter, played guitar on Bowie's "Space Oddity" and some of Bowie's other recordings. Prior to forming Junior's Eyes, he had briefly been in the Hullaballoos, a lightweight British Invasion band that had a bit of success in the States. He had also been in the Bunch of Fives with ex-Pretty Things drummer Viv Prince. As part of the Tickle, he wrote their sole 1967 single, "Subway (Smokey Pokey World)," one of the greatest obscure psychedelic 45s. He also played acoustic guitar on James Taylor's Apple album. All of these interesting peripheral contributions might lead one to suspect that Junior's Eyes' 1969 album, Battersea Power Station, could be a hidden nugget of psychedelia. But although it is well-respected by some cultists, it's actually a letdown, with a very ordinary if somewhat eclectic assortment of tunes (all penned by Wayne) which reflect the British scene's juncture between psychedelia and hard rock/progressive rock. The melodies aren't memorable, the intricate song structures tend to make one's mind ramble rather than intrigue, and there's an overall sense of pedestrian ploddiness, in spite of the ambition of much of Wayne's songwriting.

Other than Wayne, Junior's Eyes' personnel was variable during its brief existence. Members of some note who played in the lineup at some point included drummer John Cambridge, who went on to another David Bowie backup band, the Hype; guitarist Tim Renwick, who much later would play with Pink Floyd; and Steve Chapman, who later played drums with Poco. After Junior's Eyes broke up in early 1970, Wayne went on to session work and a stint with the Pink Fairies. Battersea Power Station was reissued on CD by Castle in 2000, with the addition of three non-LP singles, four demos, and both sides of the Tickle's 1967 single. AMG.

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Blackwood Apology - House of Leather 1969

Combining soft sunshine-pop harmonies with complex, acid-tinged arrangements, this ‘69 concept album features the work of ex-Gestures member Dale Menten! The-album-turned-rock-opera became a huge hit, full of ethereal ballads, mind-bending solos, and enough Hammond organ that’ll leave your head spinning! “One day, the Castaways approached me and asked if I’d like to do an album with them.” Both Minnesota natives, Dale knew of the Castaways from his days with the Gestures and remained friends even after the Gestures disbanded. “They asked to see the songs I had been working on, so I showed them ‘House Of Leather.’ Among the other songs they chose, they wanted to do that one as well. House Of Leather just seemed to flow out of me, I wrote it for me; I had no interest in recording it.”

After assembling the band, Menten turned the concept album into a stage show! “It sold out every night,” Menten recalls, “It was truly an incredible experience.”

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The Boston Tea Party - The Boston Tea Party 1968

Psychedelic band, formed in 1963, based in Burbank, California, USA. The sole release (in 1968) of The Boston Tea Party, we get 60s psychedelic rock at its peak. Maybe not deserving of obscurity, but this is a fun album to listen to. With such gems as 'Straighten Up and Fly Right', they tell you to "Keep your feet on the ground" and "don't expound on everything". Well, wiser words were never said to anyone under the influence. The lyrics often seem to be chosen for their sound rather than message, or chemistry was involved in the composition. For example, we get "Perhaps you can see the meaning, your windows don't need cleaning" in 'I Found a Way'. In a typical anti-establishment 'Fantasy', they sing "You want me to slave all day on something that was not meant for me". Boston Tea Party conjures up a lost era with their driving guitars, upbeat sound, and keyboards. Not an album that you would listen to regularly, but more like an old friend to go back to when you are in that 60s mood. "A. Silverstone".

 

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Little Feat - Waiting For Columbus 1978

Little Feat was one of the legendary live bands of the '70s, showered with praise by not only their small, fiercely dedicated cult of fans, but such fellow musicians as Bonnie Raitt, Robert Palmer, and Jimmy Page. Given all that acclaim, it only made sense for the group to cut a live album. Unfortunately, they waited until 1977, when the group had entered its decline, but as the double-album Waiting for Columbus proves, Little Feat in its decline was still pretty great. Certainly, the group is far more inspired on stage than they were in the studio after 1975 - just compare "All That You Dream," "Oh Atlanta," "Old Folks' Boogie," "Time Loves a Hero," and "Mercenary Territory" here to the cuts on The Last Record Album and Time Loves a Hero. The versions on Waiting are full-bodied and fully-realized, putting the studio cuts to shame. Early classics like "Fat Man in the Bathtub" and "Tripe Face Boogie" aren't as revelatory, but it's still a pleasure to hear a great band run through their best songs, stretching them out and finding new quirks within them. If there are any flaws with Waiting for Columbus, it's that the Feat do a little bit too much stretching, veering toward excessive jamming on occasion - and that mildly fuzzy focus is really the only way you'd be able to tell that this is a great live band recorded slightly after their prime. Even so, there's much to savor on Waiting for Columbus, one of the great live albums of its era, thanks to rich performances that prove Little Feat were one of the great live bands of their time. AMG.

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John Simon - John Simon's Album 1971

Producer John Simon did a pair of albums of his own during the 1970s, starting with John Simon's Album (1970), which was two years in the making and featured many of the musicians with whom he'd been working over that period, including Cyrus Faryar, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Delaney Bramlett, Leon Russell, Jim Gordon, Carl Radle, Jim Price, and Rita Coolidge, Bobby Whitlock, and Jean Millington. Perhaps not surprisingly, John Simon's Album mostly resembles the first two Band albums, with a clear, sharp, brittle sound rooted in a multitude of popular music strains. The strangest song here is the first, "Song of the Elves," a surreal, psychedelic song derived from an R&B source and beat (with a strong '50s New Orleans feel) that calls to mind both Randy Newman and Brian Wilson -- the strange chorus with its deliberate distortion evokes the late '60s and the peculiar brand of psychedelia generated by the Beach Boys. And speaking of the latter, the bluesy "Did You See" sounds like some magnificent lost piece of the Wild Honey sessions, Wilson suddenly trying his hand at piano-and-guitar blues.The album also encompasses stripped-down gospel in "Nobody Knows," but the real jumping off point comes early, in the horn-driven "Tannenbaum," which sounds for a moment like the original Blood, Sweat & Tears jamming with the Band, and "Davey's on the Road Again" (co-authored with Robbie Robertson) could be a lost Band track in its playing and texture, though Merry Clayton's soaring backing vocal adds a special wrinkle (and recalls Simon's arrangements on Leonard Cohen's first album). Much of the rest, regardless of who's playing, moves between intimate Newman-like (or even Wilson-like) quirkiness and the lean, rocking sound of the Band -- though the piano tends to be the lead instrument, somewhere in there (most notably on "Don't Forget What I Told You") the guitar (mostly played by John Hall) comes in along with the bass and drums, all sounding like part of the Music From Big Pink of The Band sessions. Anyone seeking a kind of stylistic/textural extension of either of those first two albums need look no further, and Simon's music holds up as well -- it's difficult to see what would have been the single off of this album (maybe "Railroad Train Runnin' up My Back"?), though "Annie Looks Down" or "Did You See" could and should have gotten FM play. Out-of-print for decades in the United States, John Simon's Album was re-released on CD in Japan in the early twenty-first century, and reappeared in America in 2006 on the Water label. AMG.

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Prairie Madness - Prairie Madness 1972

Prairie Madness is a guitar/piano duo that existed in the 1960s and 70s in Los Angeles and Marin County, California. It was composed of Chris Ducey and Ed Millis.[1] Their self-titled album and its single, 'Shame The Children' were co-produced by Matthew Fisher, Procol Harum organist, and Joel Sill.

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Ruby Starr - Scene Stealer 1976

The late Ruby Starr, born Constance Mierzwiak, was a "de facto" member of Black Oak Arkansas and sang on their Top 25 hit "Jim Dandy" in 1974. This is an excellent collection of songs, many written by keyboard player Marius Penczner, displaying Starr's vocal range and dominating personality. Far more commercial than Black Oak Arkansas, that band and their lead singer, Jim "Dandy" Mangrum, appear on "Fistful of Love" -- a fun and disciplined performance. You can't really call her version of "Be My Baby" reggae, but you can say it is one of the more interesting takes on the song, with Andrew Love of the Memphis Horns slipping in a wonderful sax at the end of it. "Drift Away," a Penczner original, has the band emulating early Deep Purple, especially the songwriter's keyboard riffs. "Mass Transit" is an interesting instrumental, but what is it doing on an all-too-short album by a vocalist? There are six words in the song, which Starr cameos several times; it's funky stuff that adds to the intrigue, but more activity from the star of the show would have been preferred. "Mass Transit" is one of the best-sounding tracks on the record, the band no doubt showing off, but this lady can sing and should've been given an equal chance to vamp. "Maybe I'm Amazed" is a wonderful opening for this album, with Starr -- Ruby, not Ringo -- possessing that Kim Carnes/Bonnie Tyler rasp, giving the woman's point of view. She gives the McCartney classic a gospel feel without the help of a choir or additional vocalists. Impressive. Penczner proves to be a formidable writer; "Morning Glory" is a solid pop tune, and a nice break before the heavy "That's It," the only tune on the disc co-written by Starr. She works well with Penczner, and her overpowering voice makes it feel like she's co-written the rest of his originals. "I'll Meet You Halfway" changes moods again, giving the band a chance to be dramatic, and letting Starr soar. "Love On Ice" brings the album back to heavy pop with more of that Deep Purple keyboard sound, only a little more up-tempo. Scene Stealer is a complete and varied recording by an artist who should have made a bigger impact on rock & roll. AMG.

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Jellybread - 65 Parkway 1970

Formed at England’s Sussex University by pianist Pete Wingfield, Jellybread was originally completed by Paul Butler (guitar/vocals), John Best (bass), and Chris Waters (drums). In 1969 the quartet secured a recording contract with the exemplary Blue Horizon Records label and although largely unadventurous, their albums offered a highly competent grasp of black music, including both blues and soul. They provided stellar accompaniment on Lightnin’ Slim's London Gumbo and B.B. King in London, but the unit dissolved in 1971 with the departure of Wingfield and Waters. Newcomers Rick Birkett (guitar, ex-Accent) and Kenny Lamb (drums) joined for Back to Begin Again, but Jellybread broke up when the set failed to make commercial headway. However, Wingfield enjoyed success as a solo artist, session pianist, and member of Olympic Runners. AMG.

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Kris Kristofferson - The Silver Tongued Devil And I 1971

By the time Monument came to release Kristofferson's second album, The Silver Tongued Devil and I, in July 1971, he was the author of four songs that had topped the country or pop charts for others. Kristofferson himself had not yet reached the charts with a recording of his own, but his spectacular success as a songwriter made The Silver Tongued Devil and I a much-anticipated record. One consequence of this was that Monument was willing to spend more money; three of the album's songs boasted strings and another a horn section. But the key, of course, was still the songwriting, and though there were several excellent songs, the album could not live up to its predecessor, which was the culmination of years of writing. Typically for a second album, Kristofferson reached back into his catalog, presenting his own treatments of "Jody and the Kid" and "The Taker," which had been hits for Roy Drusky and Waylon Jennings, respectively. In his newly written material, Kristofferson continued to examine the lives of society's outcasts, but the antiestablishment tone of some of Kristofferson was gone along with much of the wry humor, and in their place were touches of morbidity and sentimentality. Kristofferson retained his gift for intimate love songs, and the album's most memorable selections turned out to be "Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)" (which became a semi-standard) and "When I Loved Her." And even if his observations seemed less acute, his talent for wordplay often rescued the songs from banality. On its way to becoming a gold record, The Silver Tongued Devil and I reached the pop Top 20, Kristofferson's career high on that chart, and the country Top Five; thus, Kristofferson made the transition from being a successful songwriter to a successful recording artist. AMG.

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Stoneground - Stoneground 1971

The self-titled debut from the East Bay groovers Stoneground is a solid effort blending accomplished straight-ahead rock & roll with a distinct bluesy vibe similar to many of the group's San Fran contemporaries. The band's revolving-door personnel centered on a Concord, CA, trio featuring Luther Bildt (guitar), Tim Barnes (guitar), and Mike Mau (drums). Through Bay Area music mogul Tom Donohue, the trio hooked up with former Beau Brummels leader Sal Valentino (vocals). In turn, John Blakely (guitar/bass) arrived via Donohue, and by the time both Valentino and Blakely had settled in, Stoneground was also sporting a quartet of female vocalists. While Annie Sampson, Lydia Phillips, and Deirdre LaPorte were virtually unknown, Lynne Hughes had been in a seminal version of Dan Hicks' Hot Licks as well as in the short-lived Tongue and Groove. The band continued to expand when it toured England in the Medicine Ball Caravan (1970) tour, picking up future Jefferson Starship and Hot Tuna member Pete Sears (keyboards) in the process. With occasional help from former Mystery Trend member Ron Nagle (keyboards/percussion/inspiration), the sprawling combo that would contribute to Stoneground (1971) was intact. Part of the band's quaintly indefinable sound can be attributed to the inclusion of more than half a dozen different lead vocalists on the album's ten tracks. While Valentino supplied a majority of the originals, the disc is highlighted by some truly exemplary cover tunes as well. These include a gospel-rock reading of Rev. Gary Davis' "Great Change Since I Have Been Born" and the refined East Bay funk rendition of the Kinks' "Rainy Day in June," as well as the slide guitar blues of John D. Loudermilk's "Bad News." Arguably, best of all is the rousing "Don't Waste My Time," which shows off the full force of Stoneground's cohesiveness. The power ballad "Brand New Start" is masterfully driven by Sampson's gospel inflections. The Valentino compositions -- "Looking for You," the quirky "Added Attraction (Come and See Me)," and "Stroke Stand" (which is notable for an ensemble vocal) -- bear repeated listens and hint at this group's truly great potential. AMG.

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Bert Sommer - The Road To Travel 1968

Major labels were taking all kinds of chances on untested talent in the late '60s, but although his name may have been unfamiliar to most in the industry, Bert Sommer was hardly untested. By the release of The Road to Travel, his 1968 debut, he had already written five songs for the Vagrants (founded by a pre-Mountain Leslie West, Sommer's schoolmate) and sung lead vocals on the Left Banke's single "Ivy, Ivy" through a friendship with that band's Michael Brown. The Road to Travel shows that his well of inspiration had not yet run dry. With help from a conglomeration of friends and studio professionals, Sommer proved he was facile in a variety of styles -- orchestral pop, acoustic folk, and some of the most sensitive singer/songwriter material heard before the style had fully flowered (with apologies to Tim Buckley). All of this was delivered in Sommer's plaintive voice, although he was more convincing when he really let go than when he tried to rein it in. Anachronistically, he began the LP with the words "And when it's over" (the title of the opener), moving quickly on the song from eerie Baroque pop to bombastic, brass-led art rock. That was a mere taste of what was to come, encompassing the hippie-dippie end of folk on "Jennifer" (the song Sommer gained raves for at Woodstock), straightforward sunshine pop for "Things Are Goin' My Way," and a curiously aggressive falsetto take on art rock for "Tonight Together." Sommer's power as a songwriter and performer was clear, but he was incredibly difficult to pin down. That may be what doomed The Road to Travel, but it has an undeniable flair. AMG.

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Street - Street 1968

Street was a psychedelic rock group from New York, NY, USA, late 1960s to the early 1970s. They were fronted by female singer Anya Cohen and were managed by record producer Rick Shorter. They released a self-titled album and a couple of singles. Their first single went by the name of Anya's Street. Its titles reappeared on their lone LP as Street. 

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Pepeu Gomes - Na Terra A Mais De Mil 1979

Pepeu Gomes is a virtuoso guitarist/mandolinist who had noted participation in the '70s revival of choro in the band Os Novos Baianos. His solo career has been troubled by the hardships that prevent instrumental musicians in Brazil from developing their discoveries, but his recorded material is enough to make clear his uncanny, creative talent.

Coming from a family of musicians, Pepeu Gomes had nine brothers, including the drummer/cavaquinista/guitarist/composer Jorginho Gomes and Carlinhos Gomes. Among his earliest influences figures the pau elétrico -- the seminal Brazilian electric guitar invented by Dodô in 1941, in Salvador, BA. Gomes formed his first group at 11, the Cats, together with a variable number of brothers. Under the name Os Minos, sponsored by a clothing factory, they recorded a single for Copacabana and played in São Paulo, on the TV shows of Eduardo Araújo and Ed Carlos. In 1968, he became strongly influenced by Jimi Hendrix and formed the professional group Os Leifs with brothers Jorginho and Carlinhos and his friend, Lico. In early 1969, Gilberto Gil, just freed from imprisonment, was preparing a farewell show with Caetano Veloso, as they were sentenced to exile, when Gil saw Pepeu Gomes on TV. Immediately taken by Gomes' virtuosic interpretation, Gil invited him, with Os Leifs, to accompany him and Caetano Veloso on their Barra 69 show. Os Novos Baianos, who was until then an unknown group formed by Moraes Moreira, Galvão, Paulinho Boca de Cantor, and Baby Consuelo (today Baby do Brasil), saw Os Leifs at Barra 69 and proposed that they play together due to their strong instrumental background. So, Os Leifs joined Os Novos Baianos in their opening in the Southeast with the show Desembarque Dos Bichos Depois do Dilúvio in 1969, after the presentation of the same show in Salvador, BA, the previous year. This was followed by the first Os Novos Baianos LP, Ferro Na Boneca. Gomes then departed from Os Leifs and joined the Enigmas, accompanying them to Rio for a long underground season with Os Novos Baianos at the Cimento Armado, soon to be the Teatro Tereza Raquel. In 1972, after a stint with João Gilberto the previous year, Os Novos Baianos and Gomes discovered the importance of researching their Brazilian roots, resulting in the recording of the anthological album Acabou Chorare (Som Livre). The solo in "Tinindo Trincando" is a result of that search for a genuine Brazilian guitar solo and the beginning of the elaboration of Gomes' own personal style. The album, mixing the group's heavily countercultural looks and philosophy with a modern synthesis between rock and the traditional choro, contributed to the revival of the Brazilian genre in the '70s, bringing many youngsters into its ranks. Continuing to work with Os Novos Baianos, Gomes led the trio A Cor do Som, formed initially by his brother, Jorginho, on guitar and friend, Dadi Carvalho, on bass. In 1978, Gomes recorded his first solo album, Geração do Som, with a peculiar blend of choro, samba, frevo, and rock. The cover of the album presents his invention, the guibando, a two-fretboard instrument that combined an electric guitar and a mandolin. The instrument amazed John McLaughlin when Gomes accompanied Gilberto Gil at the Montreux Festival (Switzerland). AMG.

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