The Surprise Package - Free Up 1969

The Surprise Package was one of the top 60's Northwest contemporary psychedelic rock bands from the greater Seattle area. They were originally called the Viceroys, and had a Northwest instrumental hit called Granny's Pad. The band consisted of Greg Beck (guitar, vocals), Kim Eggers (lead vocals & Sax), Michael Rogers (piano, organ, bass, vocals) and Fred Zeufeldt (drums, vocals). In 1966 after doing some Dick Clark Where the Action Is tours and shows with their friends Paul Revere and the Raiders, they recorded some songs on Columbia Records, produced by Jerry Fuller. During a mixdown session, Lou Adler (the Mamas and Papas producer) suggested the name 'The Surprise Package' to replace the dated 'Viceroys' handle. They recorded four songs under Fuller's production: Eastside, Westside, Going Out of My Mind, The Merry Go Round, and The Other Me, written by Jimmy Griffin and Michael Z. Gordon in 1967. Unfortunately, Columbia apparently had too many artists to market, so The Surprise Package got very little promotion. In late 1967, Kim Eggers left the band and singer Rob Lowrey was hired to replace him. In 1968 they recorded an album called Free Up for Lee Hazlewood's LHI-label, which spun off two singles as well: the title track and their version of MacArthur Park in 1969. In 1970, Mike Rogers left the band, they then added Gene Hubbard on keys and became American Eagle.

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P.F. Sloan - Measure of Pleasure 1968

With famed Atlantic engineer Tom Dowd as producer, P.F. Sloan turned his sound in a bluesier, funkier direction on Measure of Pleasure. His songs were less lyrically direct, and less melodically pop-savvy than his earlier work on Dunhill. While it could be said that his singing was getting better than ever, especially on the upper register twists in songs like "New Design," the material simply wasn't as memorable, although it wasn't bad. On tunes like "How Can I Be Sure" (not the same as the Rascals' hit) and "And the Boundaries Inbetween" (one of the best tracks), there's a folk-rock-blues-jazz fusion reminiscent of Tim Hardin, amplified by the touches of vibrating guitar (which Hardin also used in his late-'60s arrangements). There's a much more distant similarity to the late-'60s country-folk-rock-blues mixture of Tony Joe White. It's not a bad album, and Sloan fans will find it worth picking up. It's just different than, and not on the same level as, his first two LPs. AMG.

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Images - Images 1977

The 1977 record named Images is a rare French progressive folk/rock album by the band Images, It's worth listening to.

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Flamin' Groovies - Supersnazz 1969

The Flamin' Groovies' debut album went almost directly into the cut-out bins within a year or so of its 1969 release. Fortunately, the band survived the neglect heaped on that record, and has survived in one form or another into the 21st century. And in the ensuing years, Supersnazz has achieved an exalted reputation among not just Groovies fans, but lovers of rock & roll in general, having held up extraordinarily well across the decades and still able to make its own case for greatness as an astonishing document of straight-ahead rock & roll circa 1969 -- fully contemporary to its time (and, by extension, almost timeless), with none of the artificial period nostalgia (and parodying) that was already creeping into the "oldies" scene. But it's also a lot of fun; in fact, based on the evidence, Supersnazz may well have been the most fun record of 1969. Roy Loney, Cyril Jordan, Tim Lynch, George Alexander, and Danny Mihm run through a quirky mix of Loney and Loney/Jordan originals and standards, encompassing styles from proto-'70s punk (want to bet the Ramones wore out copies of this album?) to '50s New Orleans R&B, country music, and even ragtime, and while a small bit of it is compromised by the presence of some too-prominent clarinet and saxophone, the whole record is a rollicking good time, made even better by the sequencing, which offers a full range of surprises, even on the fourth or fifth listen -- one can never settle in with this record before something weirdly wonderful comes along to draw the listener in yet another direction. From the fiery, Brian Jones-era Stones-style, fuzztone-driven opener "Love Have Mercy," the band shows what it can do in everything from straight-ahead boogie to slow ballads ("A Part from That") and '50s rockers ("The Girl Can't Help It," "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu"), country ("Brushfire"), and R&B, all done with a unique array of stylistic flourishes that made this one of the most original long-players of 1969. By the ninth track, the pounding, punk-driven "Somethin' Else/Pistol Packin' Mama," the whole album achieves a kind of otherworldly continuum, like something out of a strange and wonderful corner of the universe that -- though none knew it at the time -- pointed the way to a coming decade of achievement by the likes of the Ramones, Jonathan Richman, et al, not to mention the Groovies themselves. AMG.

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The Bob Seger System - Noah 1969

For reasons never entirely explained, Bob Seger suffered a bit of a breakdown shortly after Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, so he decided to bring Tom Neme, a guitarist/pianist, into the Bob Seger System to help lighten the load and share the burden. Thing is, Neme wound up taking over the band. It's hard to tell whether Seger endorsed his mutiny or if he was just so disinterested that he didn't put up a fight, but all the same, the second Seger album, Noah, is one strange affair. The band makes no secret of the change, stating on the back cover that "Seger will always be Bob Seger, (but) any change must come from the System and Tom Neme." So, the liner notes seem like a way to gloss over a real lack of leadership or a coup, depending on your point of view. This release holds together better than it would seem, but it's still an awkward album that's never sure where it wants to go. Ironically, Neme tries to replicate Seger's hard-driving rock songs several times throughout the album while Seger sounds more comfortable with the folky shuffle of the title track. Of course, he can still tear it up with "Innervenus Eyes," and he delves deeper into darkness than he ever has with the weirdly intense, claustrophobic closer, "Death Row." No matter how good these individual cuts may be -- and they're certainly worth the time of any devoted fan -- they still are isolated moments on the only album where he sounds tentative, confused, and disinterested. In other words, the only album where Seger doesn't seem like he'll always be Seger. AMG.

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Wilburn Burchette - Opens The Seven Gates of Transcendental Consciousness 1972

American musician (guitar, synthesizer) and "mail order mystic". Born in 1939 in California (USA). Found dead in 2023 (aged 84) in the home he shared with his brother Kenneth (also found dead, aged 76) in El Cajon near San Diego (USA). Burchette was a largely self-taught guitarist and self-taught mystic, whose fascination with the occult began around the age of 12 when he "had been transfixed by the parapsychological, spending as much time reading books on Tibetan mysticism fundamentals as he did practicing guitar, the vibrations of which he used to create tonal pictures and patterns." After time spent teaching classical guitar, he constructed an Impro guitar with 6 different woods, with mahogany for the base, soft pine, elder, and rosewood. The neck was inlaid with abalone shells. Then, in the 7 years between 1971 and 1977, he released 7 albums of guitar and synthesizer music, mostly via his Burchette Brothers label (run jointly with his brother Kenneth, a chemist). He advertised these albums via mail order ads, hidden in the back pages of Fate Magazine, Beyond Reality, and Gnostica News. On offer: Burchett’s seven-part, block-printed “Psychic Meditation Course,” designed to teach people how to listen to music. To go along with his lessons: his instrumental guitar and electronic records featuring ornate hand-drawn cover designs, complete with listening instructions from the master himself. After 1977, he abruptly burnt and discarded everything related to his musical explorations. 

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As a performer and as a producer, Oliver Sain exerted an influence on the evolution of St. Louis soul and R&B that is rivaled only by that of his close friend and infrequent collaborator Ike Turner. Born March 1, 1932, in Dundee, MS, Sain was the grandson of Dan Sane, the guitarist in Frank Stokes' legendary Memphis blues act the Beale Street Sheiks. (The spelling discrepancy was the result of a birth certificate error.) The product of a Delta sharecropping family, Sain was raised near the homes of blues icons Robert Johnson and Son House -- he first picked up the bugle and then the trumpet before settling on drums, and in 1949 he relocated to Greenville, MS, to join his stepfather, pianist Willie Love, in a combo fronted by Sonny Boy Williamson. Soon after, Sain signed on with Howlin' Wolf, drumming behind the blues great off and on throughout the decade to follow; in 1950, he relocated to Greenwood to join the Claude Jones Band, and a year later was backing Clarence Hines. In late 1951 Sain was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving his boot camp stint at Oklahoma's Fort Sill before he was sent to Korea. He returned to Greenville in 1952 to rejoin Love, now backing singer Little Milton Campbell -- at this point, influenced by his great admiration for Charlie Parker, Sain adopted the saxophone, which would remain his instrument of choice for the rest of his career. In 1955 Sain moved to Chicago, reuniting with Howlin' Wolf, befriending Chess Records owners Phil and Leonard Chess, and later playing with the legendary Elmore James as well as an obscure Windy City musician known only as "Cool Breeze." He remained in Chicago until 1959, when Little Milton asked him to sit in at a gig at the East St. Louis nightspot Club Manhattan -- he never left, becoming Campbell's musical director and occasionally sitting in with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm. Sain soon exhibited an uncommon knack for discovering new talent, hiring Fontella Bass as the band's pianist -- only later did he find out she could sing, installing her in the lead vocalist slot on a night when Campbell failed to show up on time. When Sain and Campbell parted ways, the former took Bass with him, naming her lead vocalist in his newly formed Oliver Sain Soul Revue alongside another discovery, singer Bobby McClure. The group made its recorded debut in 1964 with the Bobbin label release "Heavy Sugar"; a year later, Sain wrote and produced Bass and McClure's Top Ten R&B duet "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing," recorded in Chicago at Chess Studios and issued on the Chess subsidiary Checker. Although Bass left the Soul Revue later in 1965, Sain wrote a handful of the songs recorded for her debut solo effort, including "Soul of a Man," the B-side to her blockbuster "Rescue Me"; her replacement in the group was Barbara Carr, who soon after also signed a solo deal with Chess despite remaining with Sain until 1972. With revenue earned thanks to the success of "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing," Sain founded his own recording studio, Archway, in 1965 -- there he would produce an innumerable number of acts in the years to follow, ranging from soul harmony group the Montclairs to avant-garde saxophonist Julius Hemphill to aspiring gospel singers who lived in the neighborhood. Over time he developed a distinctively full, dynamic sound that would come to help define the St. Louis soul aesthetic, earning the nickname "The Man With the Golden Horn" from his peers. Sain continued honing his approach over the span of singles like "Tanya" and "On the Hill" (sampled decades later on Puff Daddy's "Young G's"), issued via his own Vanessa label -- during the late '60s, he also began licensing material to the Abet label, resulting in singles like "St. Louis Breakdown" and "Scratch My Back." In 1972, Abet released his first ever full-length effort, Main Man; Bus Stop followed two years later, and when the title cut became a U.K. chart smash, Sain mounted his first British tour. With 1975's Blue Max, Sain finally cracked the American charts via the disco-flavored "Booty Bumpin'," which reached number 78 on Billboard's R&B charts; the follow-up, "Party Hearty," was an even bigger hit, rising to the number 16 spot. In the spring of 1977 Sain returned to the R&B charts one last time when "Feel Like Dancin'" squeaked in at number 100. His next album, So Good (In the Morning), did not appear until 1981, and two years later he released his final studio LP, Fused Jazz. He remained an in-demand producer, and in 1982 helmed Larry Davis' Funny Stuff, which won the W.C. Handy Album of the Year award; Sain also toured regularly, even officially representing the city of St. Louis during one of his European junkets. Around 1994 he was diagnosed with cancer of the bladder, but the illness did little to slow him down and he remained an institution of the St. Louis live music circuit, playing each Thursday evening at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups until his death on October 28, 2003. In the months prior to his death Sain was reportedly working on a new LP -- as of this writing, the sessions remain unreleased. AMG.
 

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Michael Stanley Band - Cabin Fever 1978

1978's Cabin Fever is one of the most interesting albums in the Michael Stanley Band catalog due to the circumstances of its recording and the music contained within. It was MSB's first release on Arista Records and it was produced by up-and-comer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who would helm AC/DC's Highway to Hell the next year and quickly become one of the most important and successful producers of the 1980s and beyond. Originally, Bob Ezrin was supposed to produce the album, but Stanley isn't sure why that plan fell apart. Cabin Fever was recorded in Wales and England and Stanley remembers plastering the control room with photos of Blondie's Debbie Harry and sharing Trident Studios with Genesis in London. Gary Markasky replaced Jonah Koslen as lead guitarist, and it was the first studio album for keyboardist Bob Pelander, but the last album for bassist Daniel Pecchio. "Baby if You Wanna Dance" is the appropriately boisterous opening track. "Long Time (Looking for a Dream)" is a gentle pop ballad and the string section was directed by Electric Light Orchestra arranger Lou Clark. "Misery Loves Company" rocks along with an upbeat sound despite depressing lyrics. The piano-based ballad "Why Should Love Be This Way" is pleasant, but its creation was a bit convoluted as Stanley explains in the Razor & Tie CD reissue liner notes. Arista boss Clive Davis didn't like the original version, so MSB re-recorded the lead vocals and piano and remixed it; Lange, Davis, and Rick Chertoff are credited as co-producers. The original version is included as a bonus track on the Razor & Tie CD. "Slip Away" includes bright rhythm guitar and strong all-around vocals. The off-kilter beat of "Only a Dreamer" features a complex arrangement and nice organ and guitar work. AMG.

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Exuma - Do Wah Nanny 1971

Exuma's debut album was a real odd piece of work, even by the standards of the late '60s and early '70s, when major labels went further out on a limb to throw weird stuff at the public to see what would stick than they ever had before or have since. Roughly speaking, it's kind of like a combination of the Bahamian folk of Joseph Spence with early Dr. John at his most voodooed-out, though even that nutshell doesn't really do justice to how unusual this record is. Often it seems more like eavesdropping on a tribal ritual than listening to songs. Some of the tracks, indeed, have little or less to do with conventional "songs" than with tunes and lyrics; they're more akin to Mardi Gras street percussion jams airlifted to the Caribbean islands. Exuma and his accompanists make quite a spooky clamor with their various bells, foot drums, chanting, gasps, sighs, shouts, and other percussive instruments, creating a mood both celebratory and scary. He's not totally averse to using more standard song forms, though, singing about "zombies walking in the broad daylight" in "Mama Loi, Papa Loi"; devising a simple, fairly singable soul melody for "You Don't Know What's Going On," his most famous song due to its inclusion in the movie Joe; and setting "The Vision" to an appealing, if again quite simple, folk melody. Exuma's rough, unschooled vocals cut off any prospect of mainstream accessibility, but they get the job done in getting both his uplifting and ominous spirituality over. It's a little surprising that this stuff hasn't undergone a sizable cult revival; many artists of lesser talent and idiosyncrasy have, and perhaps the 2003 CD reissue on Repertoire, with reasonably informed liner notes, will aid in its rediscovery. AMG.

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Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick 1972

Jethro Tull's first LP-length epic is a masterpiece in the annals of progressive rock, and one of the few works of its kind that still holds up decades later. Mixing hard rock and English folk music with classical influences, set to stream-of-consciousness lyrics so dense with imagery that one might spend weeks pondering their meaning -- assuming one feels the need to do so -- the group created a dazzling tour de force, at once playful, profound, and challenging, without overwhelming the listener. The original LP was the best-sounding, best-engineered record Tull had ever released, easily capturing the shifting dynamics between the soft all-acoustic passages and the electric rock crescendos surrounding them. AMG.
 

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Marc Jonson - Years 1972

Singer and songwriter Marc Jonson has enjoyed his greatest success writing songs for other artists, though he has won a cult following for his small but impressive body of recorded work. Jonson was born and raised on Long Island, New York, and began playing music and writing songs as a child. Not long after completing high school, Marc's music came to the attention of Vanguard Records, who signed him to a record deal. Vanguard released Jonson's debut album, Years, in 1972, a polished but idiosyncratic exercise in baroque folk-pop with psychedelic shadows. After playing a few short tours to support Years, Jonson moved to New York City; though the album proved to be a commercial disappointment, he attracted a following on the New York club scene, and developed a reputation as a gifted songwriter. Jonson's songs were recorded by Robert Gordon ("Are You Gonna Be the One"), Dave Edmunds ("King of Love"), the Roches ("Love Radiates Around"), and Paul Butterfield ("Bad Love"), among many others. By 1992, Jonson had assembled a home recording studio, and he released a second album, 12 in a Room, under the name Mark Johnson. Last Night on the Rollercoaster followed in 2000, by which time Jonson had settled in Austin, Texas. Jonson continued to pursue his career as a songwriter, and developed a successful alliance with Disney Music, penning tunes for companion albums tied into the movies Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, and Cars. In 2017, Jonson's little-heard debut gained a new lease on life when Years was reissued on CD by Real Gone Music and on vinyl by Light in the Attic. AMG.

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Five Dollar Shoes - Five Dollar Shoes 1972

Five Dollar Shoes was a short-lived American glam rock band formed in New York City in 1971. The group is best known for including musician and future disco producer Gregg Diamond on drums, percussion, and vocals, alongside other members such as singer Mike Millius, keyboardist Tom Graves, guitarist Scott Woody, bassist Wallace (also of Street Noise), bassist Jim Gregory, and initial drummer Daniel Elfassy. They signed with Neighborhood Records, the label owned by Peter Schekeryk and his wife Melanie Safka, and released a single self-titled album in 1972, which incorporated some tracks from an earlier recording session after Diamond joined and contributed songwriting. The band also issued two singles—"Love Song" in 1972 and "Your Rock 'n Roll Band" in 1973—before disbanding shortly after, with limited surviving documentation on their contributions to the emerging New York glam rock scene despite receiving some radio airplay and touring.

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Fruupp - Future Legends 1973

A strong debut effort that, despite some searing guitar work by Vince McCusker and a well-placed howl by Peter Farelly in "Decision," remains a strangely low-key work. This may be due to the contemplative nature of Stephen Houston's keyboard and string parts. The erstwhile title tracks that bookend the album are instrumental throwaways, but several of the intervening numbers are impressive in their range and instrumental prowess. "Olde Tyme Future" is an ultimately hopeful elegy for an Irish homeland that seems unable to escape its own bitter past, alternating stark vocals and organ-driven instrumentals. "Song for Thought" uses the old progressive structure of spiraling fugues easing into slow blues on the verses, and it works wonderfully here. AMG.

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Tucky Buzzard - Tucky Buzzard 1971

British hard rockers Tucky Buzzard formed in 1969, and during their five-year career together as a band, featured members David Brown (bass), Paul Francis (drums), Nick Graham (keyboards), Jimmy Henderson (vocals), Chris Johnson (drums), Terry Taylor (guitar), and Paul Kendrick (guitar, vocals). The group is best remembered amongst hardcore Rolling Stones fans for the fact that former Stones bassist Bill Wyman served as producer (and played on) a few of their albums. AMG.

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Carol Grimes - Warm Blood 1974

b. England. Vocalist Grimes came to prominence in 1969 after joining Delivery. The band began life as a blues group, but gradually adopted a more experimental path. They completed one album before disbanding, following which Grimes embarked on a solo career. She formed Uncle Dog in 1972, but this promising act failed to match early expectations and the singer then resumed her independent path. Grimes’ powerful intonation was shown to great effect on the 1974 solo recording Warm Blood, but despite stellar support from members of Area Code 615 and the Average White Band, the set failed to highlight her talent. A more cohesive follow-up recording was completed in Memphis, with the Brecker Brothers, the Memphis Horns, Duck Dunn and Willie Hall all lending their support.

In the late 70s and early 80s Grimes worked with the short-lived Sweet F.A. and Carol And The Crocodiles, in addition to maintaining a busy schedule as a session vocalist. In 1984 she formed the more stable Eyes Wide Open, recording a number of well-received sets for the Line label. She also branched out into music theatre and teaching, organising private vocal workshops and completing a MA in Voice Movement Therapy. During the late 90s she began working with the remarkable vocal choir the Shout, primarily a vehicle for songwriters Orlando Gough and Richard Chew. An underrated artist, Grimes continues to perform and record and enjoys considerable popularity on the continent. AMG.

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