Vos Voisins - Vos Voisins 1971

Keyboardist J Perron and drummer P Ringuet had worked together with local celebrities and then with Les Enzymes (L Forestier and Y Deschamps) before hooking up with Guitarist Vallieres and bassist Parenteau and making Vos Voisins (your neighbours). The group made a huge scandal with the releases of their debut (and sole album) with its artwork depicting the scandal paper Allo Police (one of the trashiest ever "newspaper" to ever exist on Earth) and their album had to be taken away from the record shelves after a week or so, after lawsuits... Well the group survived it by changing their artwork and album name, as soon as they could, but failing to capitalize on their "coup", even though one track Monstre De La Main got quite a bit of radio airplay. Needless this original artwork album is worth a small fortune. Musically the standard prog quartet developed an organ-driven hard prog laced in with plenty other influences, with drummer Ringuet and keyboardist Perron writing all the music, but getting extra help for the lyrics. Historically important for Quebec's scene, their hard rock (sometimes Crimsonic). Vallières would be later in Ville Emard Blues Band.

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Samuel Prody - Samuel Prody 1971

The band from Brighton (East Sussex) was formed in 1969 by vocalist and guitarist Tony Savva. It existed for 3 years and recorded the only album of improvised rock that became a classic among fans of psychedelic rock. The group was famous for its wild, reckless performances and an extraordinary approach to creativity. Broken rhythms, carbon monoxide heavy blues, keys, hard hard rock, folk inclusions put this group on the level of original and original groups in their genre. 

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Rufus - Rufus 1973

In 1973, Rufus had yet to start going by the name Rufus & Chaka Khan. The band was still obscure, and the single that made Khan a superstar (1974's "Tell Me Something Good") was still a year away. Khan was handling most of the lead vocals, although keyboardist Ron Stockert was still doing a fair amount of lead singing. It was in 1973 that ABC released Rufus' self-titled debut album, which wasn't the big seller that 1974's Rags to Rufus, 1975's Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan, and 1977's Ask Rufus would be. From a commercial standpoint, the problem with this LP was its lack of a really strong single -- there wasn't a "Once You Get Started," a "Sweet Thing," or a "Tell Me Something Good" to drive radio programmers wild. But from a creative standpoint, this is a decent and promising, if imperfect, debut. In 1973, Rufus' original pre-Tony Maiden, pre-Bobby Watson lineup favored an earthy soul/rock blend along the lines of Ike & Tina Turner; in fact, Khan's passionate vocals on "Feel Good," Stevie Wonder's "Maybe Your Baby," and Stephen Stills' "Love the One You're With" point to the fact that Tina Turner was among her early influences. Not that Khan is actually emulating Turner, Aretha Franklin, or anyone else; in 1973, Khan was quite distinctive herself. As time passed, Rufus & Chaka Khan became sleeker and less rock-minded -- if your introduction to them was "Once You Get Started" or "Sweet Thing," you might be surprised to hear how rock-minded this LP is. Rufus falls short of essential and isn't recommended to those with only a casual interest in Khan's years with the band, but it's an enjoyable debut that certainly isn't without historic value. AMG.

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The Contours - Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance) 1962

The first LP released on Gordy Records is also the Contours' first and only regular album release on Motown; a later collection also titled Do You Love Me was a greatest-hits compilation. This is worth a few bucks if you can find a copy. Three cuts were released on the Motown label before they were switched to Gordy ("The Stretch," "Funny," and "Whole Lotta Woman"); all stiffed. On Gordy, the group enjoyed their biggest hit the first time out in "Do You Love Me." "You Better Get In Line," a slick dance number, died as the flipside of "Shake Sherrie." A lively "You Must Be Love" has Billy Gordon swapping leads with Joe Billingslea. "Shake Sherrie" has a looping beat, a wandering baritone sax, and incredulous vocals from Gordon, Billingslea, Sylvester Potts, Billy Hogg, and Hubert Johnson. The rest suffer from a lack of identity; neither the group nor Motown had defined their sound when these were cut. AMG

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The Bushes - Assorted Shrubbery 1968

This one's fairly rare (good luck finding another online review of it), but hasn't exactly set the collector world on fire. The main reason for that lack of interest probably has to do with the fact this short-lived Chicago outfit was more interested in doing white boy covers of classic soul numbers, rather than your standard deep dives into blues, psych, or rock. Moreover, by the time "Assorted Shrubbery" was released in 1968, the age of integrated musical enjoyment had already begun to exit stage left. The result was these guys were simply too pop-oriented for R&B and soul audiences, and too soul for pop and rock audiences. Those were the perfect ingredients for instant obscurity which is pretty much the fate met by the short-lived Bushes.

Bushes featured the talents of lead guitarist Al Johnson, keyboardist/bass player Ron Stockert, singer Joel Wilson, and drummer John Zefo. Their sole album was recorded at Golden Voice Recording Company and as you can tell by Johnson's liner notes, the band seemed pretty hot on themselves:

"The music in this album is a product of all environments know to mankind. The controversial sounds of today, as well as the treasures remaining from yesterday. Music for those who hope for those who dream, and music for the sad. Here is a polyphonic portrayal of the proud happiness and the stumbling failures so common, so well-known to all. Here is the music for everyone because it was born in the minds of artists representing everyone. That alone makes this important music. Important to those who created it, and important to those who interpret it correctly and understand it fully." No idea what that all meant, but it certainly sounded like Johnson could have enjoyed a career as a politician ...

So what's this puppy sound like? Well as you could tell by a quick scan of the ten songs, these guys had a deep affection for Chicago and Detroit soul. In fact, five of the tracks were popular soul covers, with one well known Chicago blues cover thrown in (T. Bone Walker's 'Stormy Monday Blues'). They exhibited good taste in their covers (George Clinton, Curtis Mayfield, Smokey Robinson), but no matter how good, their largely rote covers simply couldn't come close to the source material. At the same time the album included a couple of band originals; the best being the atypical psych-rocker 'Most Girls' and the worst being a brief Frank Zappa inspired belch of freak-out experimentation ('Polyphony'). So that encapsulates the dilemma with this one. If you enjoy blue-eyed soul this is probably an album you'd like. Wilson and Stockert were both pretty good singers and as a band these guys were quite talented with Johnson showing some fine lead guitar moves when he was given a shot at the spotlight. Stockert was similarly good, bring a deft Vanilla Fudge keyboard sound to much of the material. If you weren't a soul aficionado, then there was less to interest you here.

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Jerry Butler - The Soul Goes On 1968

Jerry Butler's recording career spanned seven decades and saw him release more than 50 albums, and his voice is one of the most distinguished in all of music. Soulful yet smooth as ice, his nickname, "The Ice Man," epitomized his demeanor -- and his sound. Butler moved from Sunflower, Mississippi, to Chicago at the age of three and grew up in the Cabrini-Green Housing Projects. He had initial music lessons as a young boy while a member of a church choir in Chicago. Curtis Mayfield, who was three years younger, was a member of the same choir. The two befriended each other and began a collaboration that would have an everlasting impact on music. The duo joined brothers Arthur and Richard Brooks and Sam Gooden to form the R&B group the Roosters. In fact, the Brooks brothers, Gooden, and a female singer they knew had migrated to Chicago from Tennessee and were called the Roosters & a Chick. But when Butler and Mayfield joined them, the group became simply the Roosters. In 1957, the quintet's name was changed to Jerry Butler & the Impressions. Butler scored his first hit with the Impressions in 1958 with the timeless ballad "For Your Precious Love." (He'd written the lyrics to the song when he was 16.)

That same year, Butler and the Impressions cordially split, and Butler began his solo career. He released his first single, "Lost," on the Abner label. It peaked at number 17 on the Billboard R&B charts. Jumping over to Vee-Jay in late 1960, where his career blossomed, Butler had his first hit as a solo artist with "He Will Break Your Heart." The single went to number one and stayed there for seven consecutive weeks. In 1961, he bounced back with two Top Ten singles: "Find Another Girl" and "I'm a Telling You." In 1967, Butler signed with Mercury and teamed up with the production duo of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. His work with these two master producers and songwriters resulted in some classic recordings, including the outstanding album The Ice Man Cometh. The record featured two number one singles ("Hey, Western Union Man" and "Only the Strong Survive") and two Top Ten singles ("Never Give You Up" and "Are You Happy"). While Butler was always known for being a crooner, "Hey, Western Union Man" revealed that he was more than capable of singing uptempo songs. In 1971, Gamble and Huff formed their own label. Subsequently, Butler formed a creative workshop to help provide material for his forthcoming albums. He marketed songs that he didn't use on his own albums to other artists. In the spring of 1971, he hit the Top Ten with the number eight single "If It's Real What I Feel," which was written by Chuck Jackson (the younger brother of Rev. Jesse Jackson). Butler continued his hitmaking tradition with "Ain't Understanding Mellow," a classic soul-ballad duet with Brenda Lee Eager that peaked at number three on the Billboard R&B charts. He scored a number six single with Eager with a remake of the Carpenters' "(They Long to Be) Close to You" and a solo hit with a remake of the O'Jays' "One Night Affair," which was also his last song to crack the Top Ten. Never one to categorize singers because he believed that a singer is a singer -- not based on genre, but merely on a person's ability to sing -- Butler himself covered several styles of music during his lengthy music career. He had many highs, ranging from sharing the spotlight with such greats as Aretha Franklin to being the chairman of the board for the nonprofit Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Butler also became a force in another field: politics. In the mid-'80s, he was a significant campaign supporter of Chicago's first Black mayor, Harold Washington. A short time later, he himself became the Cook County (Illinois) Commissioner, and by the late '90s, he was a Chicago City Alderman. In the meantime, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Impressions in 1991. When the great Jerry Butler was not lobbying for his constituents -- he held public office until 2018 -- he could be found on-stage impressing with his Ice Man-cool delivery. Butler died on February 20, 2025, at the age of 85. AMG.

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Stevie Wonder - Down To Earth 1966

Stevie Wonder's third album signaled more artistic growth, but was the first of his career that didn't make much commercial headway. It didn't contain a single big hit, something that wouldn't happen again to Wonder for many, many years. There were moments of uncertainty and awkwardness on such songs as "Angel Baby (Don't You Ever Leave Me)" and "Lonesome Road." Wonder was laying the groundwork for numerous classics that routinely came throughout the 1970s and '80s; his voice was losing its cuteness and beginning to gain the richness and edge that punctuated many of his future albums. AMG.

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Whichwhat - Whichwhat's First 1970

Formed in 1968,Whichwhat joined the vibrant 60's Nottingham music scene at a time when every pub and club had live music. They were soon established amongst the elite bands of that period : Sons and Lovers, Six Across, etc. and within 5 months achieved a recording contract on Beacon Records. Between 1968 and 1971 Whichwhat released 5 singles and one LP. (whichwhat's first). They achieved chart success in Holland, Australia   and Japan with these songs :- "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin" ,  "In the year 2525", and " Why do lovers break  each  others heart". Before their eventual demise Whichwhat went through a series of personnel changes, and turned from a great cover band into a serious progressive rock outfit.

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Barry Hay - Only Parrots, Frogs And Angels 1972

Barry Hay is the lead vocalist of Golden Earring, one of the most popular Dutch rock bands of the 20th century. In addition to his decades of output with Golden Earring, he released solo albums from time to time. Born August 16, 1948, in Faizabad, India, he moved to the Netherlands at age ten. In 1967 he joined the lineup of Golden Earring (then known as the Golden Earrings), a Dutch rock band based in the Hague that had been founded in 1961 and that had made its recording debut in 1965. The Hay-fronted lineup experienced decades of international success. The band evolved stylistically with the changing times, most notably progressing from psychedelic rock during the late '60s to hard rock in the 1970s. Best known stateside for their 1973 rock radio classic "Radar Love" and their 1982 early MTV staple "Twilight Zone," Golden Earring were one of the first European rock bands to tour the United States and did so repeatedly over the years. While only moderately popular internationally, the band scored several chart-topping hits in the Netherlands: "Dong Dong Diki Diki Dong" (1968), "Back Home" (1970), "Radar Love" (1973), "Twilight Zone" (1982), and "When the Lady Smiles" (1984). As a solo artist, Hay released full-length albums including Only Parrots, Frogs & Angels (1972), Victory of Bad Taste (1987), and The Big Band Theory (2008). Among these solo album efforts, Victory of Bad Taste spawned the minor hit single "Draggin' the Line," while The Big Band Theory, featuring the Metropole Big Band, was the most successful from a commercial standpoint, reaching number two on the Dutch albums chart. AMG.

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Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band - Hipsters, Flipsters, Finger-Poppin' Daddies 1967

Like the previous Hand Clappin' Foot Stompin' Funky-Butt...Live!, Hipsters, Flipsters, Finger-Poppin' Daddies! captures Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band in their natural environment, delivering high-energy, hip-shaking soul and pop classics in front of a wildly appreciative live audience. There's no pretense or guile to this music, just a bar band par excellence tapping into the indefinable essence of what constitutes a transcendentally good time. As always, the source material is all over the stylistic and geographic map, covering crowd-pleasers spanning from the Beatles' "Day Tripper" to the Troggs' "Wild Thing." The most pronounced influence is Memphis soul, in particular Stax classics like "I Can't Turn You Loose" and "In the Midnight Hour," and the music's gritty authenticity fits Washington's rough-but-right vocals to perfection. [BMG's 2007 reissue adds ten unreleased tracks, including "She Shot a Hole in My Soul" and "Different Strokes."] AMG.

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Patchwork - Patchwork 1972

Country rock band formed in 1970, in San Antonio, Texas with 4 members: Shane Appling, his wife Kitty Appling, lead guitarist Richard Silen and bass player Ed Shook. Kitty sings lead vocals, Shane also sings & plays various stringed instruments, 6 & 12 string guitars, bass & banjo. They released their debut album in 1972 on RCA Records. They also appear on the 1976 Kerrville Folk Festival LP recorded live at the annual spring Texas festival. 

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The Baroques - The Baroques 1967

A minor psychedelic band with a mixture of interesting and generic material, the Baroques recorded one LP for Chess in 1967, when the blues/R&B/soul-oriented label was considering breaking into the rock market. Popular only on a regional level, the Milwaukee group (originally called "The Complete Unknowns," until someone probably realized how dangerously self-fulfilling it could be) was dominated by the morose compositions and low, odd vocal range of singer-lead guitarist Jay Berkenhagen who also played keyboards; the other members were Rick Bieniewski on bass, Jacques Hutchinson on guitar and vocals, and Dean Nimmer on drums. With a slight garage feel, their unusual, occasionally oddball material was built around electric (sometimes "baroque") keyboards and fuzz guitar riffs, which occasional detours into uplifting folk-rock and freak-out jamming. They lucked out in 1966 with the Berkenhagen-authored single "Mary Jane," which engendered considerable local controversy over whether it was or wasn't a drug song: it wasn't, but the dispute over the lyrics got them labeled as a psychedelic act, and boosted their live popularity. The album never sold, however, and the group disbanded in 1968. They won't appeal to many listeners besides psychedelic specialists, but they recorded some idiosyncratically worthwhile stuff, most of which has been reissued on small collector labels. "Mary Jane" was re-released in 1997 on Gear Fab's Psychedelic Crown Jewels, Vol. 1. AMG.

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Jodo - Guts 1971

The obscure Jodo from the UK released their only full length album on Decca Records in 1970. An excellent mix of progressive hard rock and blues. AMG.

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Roy Orbison - In Dreams 1963

How does one recover enough to hear an album in its entirety when the first cut is "In Dreams"? Whoa! Roy Orbison's 1963 album of the same name, recorded for the Monument label, is devastating for a number of reasons, namely that his "Blue Bayou" and his readings of Johnny Mercer's "Dreams" and Stephen Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer" are here, as is his gorgeous reading of Cindy Walker's "Shahdaroba." Half of these cuts were recorded during the sessions for Sings Lonely and Blue, the other half in Nash Vegas in 1963 with Fred Foster producing both. The big difference on this set is the less intrusive presence of the Anita Kerr Singers. There are even more strings here, but they are relegated to a lesser place as well. Orbison's voice was never better than on this recording. The heights he reaches on the title cut, "Lonely Wine," the swaggering country and R&B of "Blue Avenue," and "My Prayer" are simply mind-blowing. The emotion and deep atmospherics of the tunes here reflect Foster's sophistication, but also Orbison's willingness to develop himself as a singer and as a persona. Orbison wrote or co-wrote four tracks this time out, but the song choices are impeccable. In addition to the original album being wonderfully remastered, the Legacy reissue contains four bonus cuts. These include a woolly read of "Mean Woman Blues," simpatico versions of Cindy Walker's "Distant Drum" and Willie Nelson's "Pretty Paper," and his own beautiful "Falling." AMG.

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Lucas Sideras - One Day 1972

Lucas Sideras, drummer and founding member of the Greek band Aphrodite's Child, began his career playing in small bands in his hometown of Athens before joining the country's biggest band—a group that remained active until 1972. Afterward, he began composing and focusing on solo work, though he did not achieve the same level of success as his former bandmates, Roussos and Vangelis. Sideras also worked as a producer and formed other groups, such as Ypsilon and Diesel. Presented here is his first solo project.

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