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.

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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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Micah - I'm Only One Man 1971

"One of the truest examples of an early US prog obscurity, Micah was a progressive rock band that formed in Terre Haute, Indiana and existed for three years before becoming a mere footnote in history. This band featured Gary Taylor Ohlson (keyboards, Hammond organ, synthesizer), George Robert Wolff (drums, percussion), Martin "Marty" Horne (lead guitar), Gus Hernandez (bass) and Robert "Bob" Rowe (lead vocals).
The band only left behind this sole trace of its existence. I'm Only One Man appeared in 1971 with only a few private pressings. The original vinyl has become one of those highly desired collectibles however it has been re-released both on vinyl and CD on the Shadoks label in recent years. An interesting little musical specimen, there are really only two title tracks respectively with the added titling "Part I" and "Part II" however on the album itself it lists seven tracks with different titles. The entire album was only 30 minutes long but what an outstanding job these guys did!

This music is an excellent mix off 60s psychedelic rock with the classic Hammond organ sounds of Quatermass, Beggar's Opera, Cressida and even Deep Purple however the vocals are more in the soul category reminding of Steve Windwood and other bluesy singers from the late 60s. The energetic drive however is much more in the realms of the contemporary early 70s in the vein of Uriah Heep, Deep Purple and other heavier rock bands. Add the fuzz guitars, extraordinarily competent drumming wizardry and some bantering bass grooves and you got yourself an interesting specimen of underground prog here.
In many ways Micah sounded like a garage band at least in tone and timbre. There is an amateurish DIY vibe to the whole thing but brought to the next level with more than competent songwriting and exquisite instrumental interplay. While the two tracks are composed of myriad motifs, the entire album sort of connects in a continuous stream of consciousness. The segments are melodic and there is sort of a chorus / verse / bridge thing going on but the entire run features interesting connective instrumentals which lead back to a reprise of the vocal parts. It's all quite intelligently designed and while the main focus is on the melodic developments, the extended time allows some excellent soloing most pronounced on the organ but also from the guitar and drums.

This wasn't love at first listen. I'm not really fond of this vocal style and the organ sounds dated for 1971. This really evokes the 1968 timeline however some of the slower transitions remind me of The Move especially on "Shazam." More than anyone else though, Micah sounds like the American version of the UK's Cressida. The vocal range is similarly limited in range. The organs are the dominant instrumentation and the music exhibits a straightforward songwriting approach that has merely been augmented into crafting a longer stream of flow by adding jamming sections and off the wall twists and turns. It took a few listens but it finally sunk in how excellent this album really is. This is quite the undiscovered gem from the early US prog underground." Silly Puppy/ ProgArchives.

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Paul Butterfield's Better Days - Paul Butterfield's Better Days 1973

"We're the only band around that's playing rooted American music," Better Days vocalist and former folkie Geoff Muldaur told an interviewer when this album was first released in 1973, and with perhaps just a handful of exceptions he was right. The band's mix of various styles of blues, from rural (Robert Johnson), to cosmopolitan (Percy Mayfield), along with hints of New Orleans R&B, boogie woogie, and early rock and country, was tremendously out of step with the pop trends of its time.

These days, of course, there are many bands doing more or less the same thing (although rarely as well), but the fact that these guys couldn't have cared less about appearing trendy is one of the reasons why BETTER DAYS sounds timeless. Another reason, of course, is world class musicianship; Muldaur, Paul Butterfield, and stupendously stylish guitarist Amos Garrett in particular come across as both relaxed and passionate. Despite their essentially formalistic approach to music making, they never sound academic or sterile. BETTER DAYS is one of the great lost albums of the '70s. AMG.

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Alan Lorber Orchestra - The Lotus Palace 1967

A versatile and commercially successful composer, arranger, and producer, Alan Lorber has had a hand in thousands of recordings, ranging from pop (Neil Sedaka's "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," Mike Clifford's "Close to Cathy") to R&B (Chuck Jackson's "I Wake Up Crying," Jackie Wilson's "Baby Workout") to psychedelic rock (Ultimate Spinach, Orpheus). He was busiest throughout the 1960s and wasn't merely a hired hand. In 1964, for instance, he put together the Mugwumps, a group notable for having featured future members of the Mamas & the Papas and the Lovin' Spoonful. (Lorber produced the latter's first Top Ten single, "Do You Believe in Magic.") During the late '60s, he established and developed the Boston (or Bosstown) Sound, a marketing concept that morphed into a full-blown rock scene. He has also released many of his own recordings, beginning with 1967's The Lotus Palace -- an orchestral pyschedelic album, consisting mostly of pop covers, that incorporated Indian music -- and continuing through the early 2000s, with a prolific run of releases credited to Alan Lorber 21st Century Orchestra. In his breathtakingly overblown liner notes, Alan Lorber describes this album as "one of the earliest examples of classical Indian music/jazz fusion." He also mentions that the concept grew out of a 30-second commercial he created for Chemical Bank, which tells you all you need to know about the authenticity of the end result. It's a cheesy relic of the psychedelic age, a few originals sitting side by side with faux Indian restaurant versions of contemporary rock songs by the Beatles, Tim Hardin, and the Blues Project, as well as covers of "Up, Up and Away" and "The Look of Love." With the recent explosion of interest in sordid vintage easy listening experiments, this may finally find its audience, but it would be erroneous to pretend that it was the product of any great artistic inspiration. The Lotus Palace was reissued on CD -- with bonus cuts, of course -- in 1997. AMG.

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Tako - Tako 1978

Tako's history begins when the first lineup of the band Opus had broken up. Bassist Dusan Cucuz wanted to form a new band, so he gathered musicians who where fond of a more complex rock sound. After he met Djordje Llijin in the spring of 1975, they showed each other their compositions and concluded that the material would work well. They invited Sava Bojic and Milan Lolic and this become the first lineup of Tako (which literally means "this way"). After months of rehearsals and gigs, the band made their first recordings that were offered to several record companies with no success. In November 1975, they had the opportunity to share the stage with a lot of famous bands of Belgrade. This gave the band new opportunity to make new recordings. During 1976, Tako worked on new compositions and accumulated experience by playing live. Then the guitar player had to join the army and the drummer started to drink too much. So, a new guitarist (Miroslav Dukic) and a new drummer (Slobodan Felekatovic) joined the band. This lineup first appeared at a concert at Pinki hall in Zemun with some other pop/rock bands. Tako was completely different from the other bands and made a good impression on public and critics.
After a very good performance at the Belgrade Summer Festival at Dom Omladine (Youth Center), Tako played in front of an audience of 100,000 people at an open-air concert in Kosutnjak with other local bands. This appearance at the Youth Festival and in others, mainly in Subotica, brought the band their first LP contract with RTV Ljubljana and their material was recorded and mixed in 36 hours. In 1979, things were not good for the band. In the middle of preparing for the second LP, Llijin developed arthritis. After some discrepancies between Dukic and the rest of the band, he quit and formed his own group while the band tried to find a replacement. But it didn't last long and Dukic came back. The band was together again and new ideas and everyday rehearsals marked the next period. Disappointed with the approach and manners in the other studio, Tako decided to record a second LP in a private studio. In September 1980, the band signed with RTB and played gigs in Belgrade.
In the beginning of 1980, the band had a chance to take part in a big show as bands from Belgrade gave concerts in Zagreb and vice versa. Although they gave a memorable performance and got a good reaction from the public, Tako was almost ignored by the critics, who at the time turned their ideas to punk and new wave. This change, coupled with bandmembers' lifestyle changes, led to their last concert at the Philosophy College in Belgrade. Felekatovic went to the army; Dukic went to work as a producer and recording engineer; Llijin became a teacher, ethnologist in a museum, and a record engineer; and Cucuz supplied sound equipment for gigs in Belgrade.
After a proposal of reissue of both two albums from Thomas Werner, a collector and amateur of the '70s Yugoslavia rock scene, the band got the first master tapes (they already had the second). In 1997, Rock Symphony, a record label of prog rock in Brazil, reissued both albums. AMG.

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The Remains - The Remains 1966

Most 1960s garage rock obsessives collect singles rather than albums for a good reason: While plenty of snarling teenagers could come up with two decent songs at a stretch, a precious few seemed able to brainstorm a dozen tunes without reaching to the bottom of the barrel or resorting to covers of other people's hits. But there were exceptions to this rule, among them the Sonics, the Litter, and, especially, the Remains, who never enjoyed much success on the national charts but were fabled heroes in their home town of Boston. The Remains' 1966 album for Epic is a classic, packed with great songs from singer/guitarist Barry Tashian, bassist Vern Miller, and pianist Bill Briggs, and boasting exciting, fiery performances, and if the full firepower of their legendary live shows didn't always come through on tape, even the album's weakest moments made clear the Remains were tougher, smarter, and tighter than the vast majority of their competition. The Remains is mid-'60s American rock & roll at it's best, and you don't have to own any paisley clothing to enjoy it. [When Epic/Legacy reissued the album in 1991 (with the band's name augmented to Barry and the Remains), they added a handful of non-LP singles and unreleased tracks and gave the album a crisp digital remix, and against all odds, Epic actually improved a masterpiece. If the old analog version sounds harder and dirtier (a good thing for garage rock), the CD allows you to hear more of the details, and nearly every one of the 21 cuts on board is killer stuff (their cover of Don Covay's "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" shows them beating the Rolling Stones at their own game, and after you've heard "Don't Look Back," you'll always wonder why it wasn't a Top Ten hit).] AMG.

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