V.A. - Bumpers (Island Sampler) 1970

A bountiful double album package rounding up the cream of the UK Island label's 1970 output, highlighting recent releases and anticipating forthcoming ones and following, of course, a tradition launched by the earlier You Can All Join In and Nice Enough To Eat.
Of all the labels operating in the UK as the decade turned, Island was unquestionably the most adventurous, at the same time as maintaining a stable whose internal logic now seems impeccable. Leaning towards the folkier side of hard rock, and the bluesier edge of prog - an adventure that allowed King Crimson and Mott The Hoople to rub shoulders with Cat Stevens and Traffic - Island rounded up the cream of the British underground, an these periodic compilations showcased it at its best. Indeed, they frequently maintained ad cohesion and sense of musical purpose that the artists themselves often struggled to match. They were more than simple advertisements, however. Bumpers includes two genuine rarities, as both Mott The Hoople and Fairport Convention are represented by otherwise unavailable versions of their contributions ("Thunderbuck Ram" and "Walk Awhile" respectively), while efforts from the Keith Relf/Jim McCarty-era Renaissance, Clouds and Quintessence remind us of a day when even the greatest modern collectibles were regular new releases. Island ranks among the most collectible British labels of the entire rock'n'roll era. Every track on Bumpers offers another reason why. AMG.

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The D.R. Hooker Band - Armageddon 1979

Far lesser-known to collectors than 'The Truth,' D.R. Hooker's second outing is seemingly just as rare and just as good as (if not better than) its predecessor. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that side 1 of this LP is perhaps the best thing Mr. Hooker ever did musically. There's no real "psych" moves here, so let's get that out of the way first - though, one could of course argue how much "psych" is really on the over-hyped first album... Anyways, this record pushes more into the realms of prog and hard rock. At its peak it sounds like The Doors doing a new '70s album with some rando filling in for Jim Morrison. Hooker's voice does kinda grow on ya, but it's buried in the mix here, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

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Miles Davis - Miles Smiles 1967

With their second album, Miles Smiles, the second Miles Davis Quintet really began to hit their stride, delving deeper into the more adventurous, exploratory side of their signature sound. This is clear as soon as "Orbits" comes crashing out the gate, but it's not just the fast, manic material that has an edge -- slower, quieter numbers are mercurial, not just in how they shift melodies and chords, but how the voicing and phrasing never settles into a comfortable groove. This is music that demands attention, never taking predictable paths or easy choices. Its greatest triumph is that it masks this adventurousness within music that is warm and accessible -- it just never acts that way. No matter how accessible this is, what's so utterly brilliant about it is that the group never brings it forth to the audience. They're playing for each other, pushing and prodding each other in an effort to discover new territory. As such, this crackles with vitality, sounding fresh decades after its release. And, like its predecessor, ESP, this freshness informs the writing as well, as the originals are memorable, yet open-ended and nervy, setting (and creating) standards for modern bop that were emulated well into the new century. Arguably, this quintet was never better than they are here, when all their strengths are in full bloom. AMG.
 

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Karma - Karma 1972

Karma was a "rural rock" power trio from Rio de Janeiro, formed by Jorge Amiden (triple-neck guitar), Luiz Mendes Junior (acoustic guitar and vocals), and Alen Cazinho Terra (bass and vocals). In 1972, they released their only album, Karma, on RCA Victor; it is currently a highly acclaimed record that is fiercely sought after by collectors.

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Cal Tjader - The Prophet 1969

From the 1950s until his death, Cal Tjader was practically the point man between the worlds of Latin jazz and mainstream bop; his light, rhythmic, joyous vibraphone manner could comfortably embrace both styles. His numerous recordings for Fantasy and Verve and long-standing presence in the San Francisco Bay Area eventually had a profound influence upon Carlos Santana, and thus Latin rock. He also played drums and bongos, the latter most notably on the George Shearing Quintet's "Rap Your Troubles in Drums," and would occasionally sit in on piano as well. 
Tjader studied music and education at San Francisco State College before hooking up with fellow Bay Area resident Dave Brubeck as the drummer in the Brubeck Trio from 1949 to 1951. He then worked with Alvino Rey, led his own group, and in 1953, joined George Shearing's then hugely popular quintet as a vibraphonist and percussionist. It was in Shearing's band that Tjader's love affair with Latin music began, ignited by Shearing bassist Al McKibbon, nurtured by contact with Willie Bobo, Mongo Santamaria, and Armando Peraza, and galvanized by the '50s mambo craze. When he left Shearing the following year, Tjader promptly formed his own band that emphasized the Latin element yet also played mainstream jazz. Bobo and Santamaria eventually joined Tjader's band as sidemen, and Vince Guaraldi served for a while as pianist and contributor to the band's songbook ("Ginza," "Thinking of You, MJQ").

Tjader recorded a long series of mostly Latin jazz albums for Fantasy from the mid-'50s through the early '60s, switching in 1961 to Verve, where under Creed Taylor's aegis he expanded his stylistic palette and was teamed with artists like Lalo Schifrin, Anita O'Day, Kenny Burrell, and Donald Byrd. Along the way, Tjader managed to score a minor hit in 1965 with "Soul Sauce," a reworking of Dizzy Gillespie/Chano Pozo's "Guacha Guaro," which Tjader had previously cut for Fantasy. Tjader returned to Fantasy in the 1970s, then in 1979 moved over to the new Concord Picante label, where he remained until his death in 1982. AMG.

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Ashkan - In from the Cold 1969

Ashkan are most known for having been led by guitarist Bob Weston, who was in Fleetwood Mac for a while in the early '70s; he'd also replaced Paul Kossoff in Black Cat Bones when Kossoff left to form Free. Unsurprisingly, given those connections, Ashkan's sole album is in the British blues-rock vein, with most of the songs written or co-written by Weston. The songwriting, however, is some distance behind the competent playing. Too, gravelly lead singer Steve Bailey, while bearing trace similarities to Joe Cocker, Robert Plant, and Spooky Tooth's Mike Harrison, isn't nearly as distinctive as any of those vocalists. The songs putter along in an unremarkable heavy blues-rock style, and though there are shades of folk in "Stop (Wait and Listen)" and (appropriately enough) country in "Slightly Country," the compositions are pretty sketchy. That's also true of the 12-minute closer, "Darkness," which has the feel of striving for an ominous epic without justifying its length. The 2010 reissue on Grapefruit adds historical liner notes. AMG.

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Barry Melton - Level with Me 1979

Guitarist Barry Melton entered music in his teens, in San Francisco, as a member of the Instant Action Jug Band, which was where he met Country Joe McDonald, a singer and guitar player who was also putting out an underground newspaper called Rag Baby. The two worked together on some of McDonald's recordings in support of his political journal, and out of that linkup they decided to form a band -- the resulting group was christened Country Joe & the Fish. Melton's lead guitar -- a searing psychedelic assault on the strings -- was as essential a part of the group's three classic albums as McDonald's voice. Amid numerous personnel changes, especially after the third album, Together, Melton and McDonald formed the stable core of the band, which lasted into the late '60s. Melton held the group together after McDonald withdrew from full-time work with the group to get married, and he brought ex-Big Brother & the Holding Company members Peter Albin and David Getz aboard when they were left high and dry after Janis Joplin's split with the band. Working as Barry "The Fish" Melton, he continued as a solo act through the 1970s and into the 1980s, also fronting the Barry "The Fish" Melton Band. Melton has also been a practicing attorney since the early '80s; in more recent years, that career has apparently prevented Melton from participating in music as often as his former bandmates. AMG.

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Pulsar - Pollen 1976

French progressive rock band from Lyon whose influences include Pink Floyd, King Crimson and classical composers such as Gustav Mahler. Pulsar is the first French band to have signed with an English label Kingdom Records. The band recorded and published their first album Pollen in 1974. In 1975, Philippe Roman left the band. The following year, the group released their next albums The Strands Of The Future and Halloween, with new bassist Michel Masson. In the early 1980s, together with director Bruno Carlucci, Pulsar adapted a short story by Austrian novelist Peter Handke in musical theatre: Bienvenue Au Conseil D'Administration (1981). The band reconvened in 1989, releasing Görlitz. Pulsar reformed one last time in 2006, issueing Memory Ashes, produced by Cypress Music. Since then they continued with the new band project Siiilk.

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Baby Bertha - Just The Beginning 1972

Baby Bertha was a short-lived but ferocious British heavy blues/metal band, formed in late 1971 from the remnants of Relative. Anchored by Dave Ellis’s searing guitar and vocals, alongside Ian McLaughlin, Roger “Proff” Perry, and Desmond Law, the band tore through the south coast of England with high-energy live shows. In January 1972, they recorded a demo LP at SRT Studios in Luton, pressing only 50 copies, making it a rare collector’s item. The record showcases original compositions blending heavy blues, rock, and proto-metal, with Hendrix-inspired guitar work crashing into John Mayall-style grooves. These tracks capture a raw, explosive sound that would lay the groundwork for Ellis and McLaughlin’s next project, Charge. Sleeve notes by Dave Ellis offer insight into this hidden gem of early ’70s British rock.

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US 69 - Yesterdays Folks 1969

US American psychedelic rock band, late 1960s, based in Connecticut. Originally they went under the name The Mustard Family for one single. Then they changed for US 69 for their sole effort, US 69 - Yesterdays Folks released in March 1969, which contains the two songs from the single. 

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Euphoria - Euphoria 1969

By 1965, the musical duo known collectively as Euphoria -- bassist William D. "Bill" Lincoln and Hamilton Wesley Watt -- had already been in several bands in the L.A. area, including the War Babies (their song "Jeanie's Pub" appears on numerous compilations, including Teenage Shutdown: You Better Get a Move On!), and a band called the Word (reputedly a Christian garage folk group whose lone single had a juvenile delinquent theme). By 1967, the duo had relocated to the Houston area, where they often played with the 13th Floor Elevators. Lincoln and Watt were soon back in Hollywood, where they joined a folk-rock band called Euphoria. The other members of the band included Detroit-born guitarist Doug Delain and drummer Dave Potter, a veteran of the Texas band Endle St. Cloud and the L.A.-based East Side Kids. Delain later left the group to form the short-lived Motorcycle Abilene with then-unknown Warren Zevon (he also recorded songs with Ken Forssi and Alban Pfisterer of the Elektra band Love), while Potter formed Potter-St. Cloud with some of his former bandmates. Lincoln and Watt, meanwhile, continued to use the name Euphoria for the release of their only single -- "Hungry Woman" b/w "No Me Tomorrow" -- released on Chicago's Mainstream label. Both sides also appeared the following year on A Pot of Flowers, a Mainstream various-artists compilation. By 1968, the duo had written songs for Potter's East Side Kids (led by Jimmy Greenspoon, later founder of Three Dog Night), which appeared on their Tiger and the Lamb album for UNI. Watt also played guitar and contributed two songs to Lee Michaels' Carnival of Life. In 1969, Lincoln and Watt recorded an ambitious album of their own, A Gift from Euphoria, for Capitol Records, which is today highly collectible among psych rock collectors. Around this same time, the duo produced a few songs on The Wheel, a fantastic solo album by Bernie Schwartz (aka Don Atello and Adrian Pride). Lincoln and Watt continued to work behind the scenes in the L.A. music biz, mostly as session players; Lincoln plays bass on Mel Taylor & the Dynamics' live album from 1973, while Watt, often associated on projects with producer Buzz Clifford, appears on former East Side Kids/Three Dog Night songwriter Daniel Moore's own self-titled 1971 album for Dunhill (Moore and Clifford were also in a short-lived band, Carp, that featured actor Gary Busey). Incidentally, former Euphoria guitarist Delain has led quite an interesting life. A self-proclaimed "secret transvestite since childhood," Delain had the first of many sex change operations in 1969, and in 1978, officially changed his name to Angela Lynn Douglas (type either name into a search engine and enjoy the wild ride). Drummer Dave Potter, along with Tommy Thompson (owner of Bido Lito's, a Hollywood club during the '60s), perished in the 1980 MGM Hotel fire in Las Vegas. In 1996, A Gift from Euphoria was reissued on CD by See for Miles. AMG. 
"The Euphoria referenced in the review (Bill Lincoln & Wesley Watt) has nothing to do with the Euphoria who released the LP pictured (and available for download). That Euphoria was a short-lived US sunshine pop band active from 1968 to 1969. At the core were Roger & Wendy Penney, an acoustic duo performing in New York's Greenwich Village scene of folk clubs. They also acted in a theatre company, using the names Roger Becket and Wendy Becket. Tom Pacheco and Sharon Alexander joined them in 1968 to form the quartet Euphoria. Their lone album was released on the Heritage label in 1969, its songs mostly written by Tom Pacheco and sung by Roger and Wendy. By the time the album came out, their sound was falling out of fashion and live performances with at that time top selling artists were not enough to reach decent sales figures. As a result Euphoria disbanded shortly after, its members moving on to Pacheco & Alexander and The Bermuda Triangle." Pablo. 

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SRC - Milestones 1969

SRC's second album isn't radically different from their debut, but it certainly captures the group in more comfortable and energized form. Rather than go back into the studio, the members of SRC used their recording advance to build a recording setup in their rehearsal space, and on Milestones, the group seems more willing to push the songs in a harder and faster direction without losing touch with their psychedelic and progressive influences. Gary Quackenbush steps farther into the forefront with his lead guitar on Milestones, demonstrating why he was one of the most acclaimed soloists on the Detroit scene in the 1960s, and he bounces his lines off keyboard man Glenn Quackenbush and rhythm guitarist Steve Lyman with skill and fire. Scott Richardson's vocals are also in excellent form on this album, and he performs with greater passion and increased imagination on SRC's second effort, though he can't quite overcome some of the lesser material. And SRC were writing songs with a harder and more physical edge for Milestones, most notably "Checkmate" and "No Secret Destination," though if the album has a flaw, it's the presence of not one but two adaptations of the works of Edvard Grieg -- "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and "The Angel Song," Some might argue that SRC was best off leaving this sort of thing to Emerson, Lake & Palmer, but while the band can't quite rise above the material, they do sound far better and more comfortable performing Grieg than anyone would have a right to expect. If in many respects, Milestones was an experiment, it was a successful one, though it unfortunately didn't sell as well as the first album, leading to the first steps toward SRC's eventual breakup. AMG.

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Ache - De Homine Urbano 1971

Ache are a Danish progressive rock band that played a widely spaced and rather heavy, psychedelic variation of this style. Their last efforts tend to intricate pop rock with progressive elements. All members of Ache joined forces again as the session band Finn Olafsson Band on the 1983 album Vælg Selv. In 2019, they announced another comeback and a tour in 2020, which was postponed to 2022 due to the pandemic. Discogs.

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Soft Machine with Heavy Friends - BBC In Concert 1971

Recorded live at London's Paris Theatre on March 11, 1971, BBC in Concert 1971 captures Canterbury scene avant-garde jazz-rock icons Soft Machine augmented by prominent UK jazz guests, featuring a massive 30-minute improvisational medley and an introductory billing hosted by John Peel.

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Maggie & Terre Roche - Seductive Reasoning 1975

Seductive Reasoning is the debut album by the sibling folk duo Maggie and Terre Roche, released in 1975 on Columbia Records. It precedes their 1979 debut album as a trio, The Roches.

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