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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Armageddon - Armageddon 1969

"The band was likely based in New Jersey, though their only album came out on the Los Angeles label Amos Records in 1969.  Not to be confused with the later UK group of the same name, this Armageddon leaned into fuzzed-out acid rock, garage psych, and strange late-’60s vibes. The record opens with the moody “Armageddon Theme” and closes with a wild, fuzz-heavy take on “The Magic Song (Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo).” In between, they deliver a gritty version of Cream’s “Tales of Brave Ulysses,” a Tolkien-inspired trip called “Bilbo Baggins,” and standout deep cuts like “Cave of the Winds.” A rare and obscure LP that stayed off the radar but has gained attention with collectors of heavy psych, oddball covers, and underground rock." VinylPiper
 

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The Peddlers - Three In A Cell 1968

The Peddlers were one of the most improbable success stories in British popular music of the 1960s and '70s. Sporting a spare, minimalist image (right down to their dark clothes and short hair), they played a brand of pop-jazz that was far removed from the rock & roll they had played or the rock music that was sprouting around them, but they scored enough successes to keep going for a decade and record for two different major labels. AMG.

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The Chris Hinze Combination - Stoned Flute 1970

Chris Hinze Combination was presented internationally 1971 in the Casino at Lake Geneva during the Montreux Jazz Festival. From then on Chris Hinze went on the road all over Europe. Mainly American musicians joined the Combination, like John Lee, Gary Brown, Charlie Mariano, James Batton, Kevin Eubanks and many others. As the setting changed through the years, 'Combination' turned out to be an extremely apropriate name, since Hinze is always searching for new influences, interacting with musicians from other cultures, changing members of the Chris Hinze Combination for new tours and albums.

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Vos Voisins - Vos Voisins 1971

Great early 70's progressive hard rock. One of lesser known Canadian bands/LP's of this era. The album is very well recorded/mixed, the musicianship and songwriting is super tight, with loads of guitar/keyboard interplay throughout. A touch of Quebecois lyrical humour thrown into the mix, and we have what we can consider to be a near perfect album. Guitarist Serge Vallieres would later join the Ville Emard Blues Band. 

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Grace Jones - Portfolio 1977

Disco mix king Tom Moulton produced these tracks at Sigma Sound in Philadelphia using the same musicians Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff held hostage for their sessions. The results are quite different: though polished, these tracks don't jump out at you. It's really a producer's album. Moulton probably had these tracks completed long before he knew who was going to sing them. Give Grace Jones credit though, she gives credence to old fuddies like "Send in the Clowns," "La Vie en Rose" is lilting, and "I Need a Man," displays a vulnerable Jones. AMG.

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Wilkinson Tri-Cycle - Wilkinson Tri-Cycle 1969

Wilkinson Tri-Cycle's only album is similar to post-psychedelic heavy rock recordings by East Coast groups like Sir Lord Baltimore and Yesterday's Children in that they combine bluesy heavy rock with psychedelic flourishes, but the effect is largely unremarkable. The album is nonetheless treasured by European collectors, who reportedly command a high price for the LP. Highlights include their cover of Sleepy John Estes' "Leaving Trunk," popularized at the time by Taj Mahal, and the Beatlesque ballads "Poursha Poe" and the elegant "Yellow Wall." It was actually released on a little-known R&B subsidiary of CBS, Date Records. None of the band went on to any major success after the demise of the group. Perhaps the most interesting item of note is that this was one of many albums produced by writers/producers Warren Schatz and Stephen Schlaks at Associated Recording Studios in New York City. The Brooklyn-born Schatz had originally recorded hits of his own as Ritchie Dean for the Tower label, then went on to form several short-lived groups before focusing on producing. Together, he and Schlaks (who co-wrote the Turtles' "Your Maw Said You Cried") partnered up to produce numerous post-psychedelic/heavy rock acts like Yesterday's Children and Banchee. Schatz continued to work as a producer and had his biggest success in the mid-'70s disco era as a staff producer at RCA, where he produced hits for Evelyn "Champagne" King and Vicki Sue Robinson ("Turn the Beat Around" went to number ten on Billboard's pop charts in the summer 1976). He also worked with the studio cast on the 1979 production of Hair -- A Disco Spectacular, and since then has worked with artists in various other genres, including jazz and country. AMG.

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Orleans - Orleans 1973

Orleans were never a favorite of rock critics, who disliked the soft rock/pop/rock outfit for the same reason they disliked Chicago, America, Player, Pablo Cruise, and Firefall: They saw Orleans as unchallenging. That much is true; Orleans were never the most challenging band in the world. But then, they weren't trying to be. Orleans are what they are -- laid-back, congenial soft rock with occasional R&B influences -- and complaining about the lack of danger in their music is sort of like faulting a romantic comedy for not being as edgy as one of Martin Scorsese's film noir masterpieces. If you're going to honestly evaluate an Orleans album, you have to apply soft rock standards -- not hard rock standards, not punk and new wave standards, not P-Funk standards. And when soft rock standards are applied, one finds that Orleans' self-titled debut album of 1973 is a fairly promising, if imperfect and inconsistent, effort. The LP isn't without pedestrian filler, but its best tracks -- which range from the mildly funky "Tongue-Tied" to the anthemic, gospel-tinged "Half Moon" -- are quite memorable. Although Orleans are a soft rock/pop/rock band first and foremost, they aren't oblivious to soul and funk -- the cynical "Two-Faced World," in fact, combines pop/rock sensibilities with an awareness of Sly & the Family Stone. Orleans were never as funky as Stone or Tower of Power; for that matter, they weren't as gritty or soulful as Janis Joplin, who John & Joanna Hall wrote "Half Moon" for in 1970. But it is safe to say that an appreciation of soul and funk were among the weapons in the band's soft rock/pop/rock arsenal. This 1973 debut wasn't a blockbuster -- Orleans' big commercial breakthrough didn't come until 1975 -- but the soft rock fans who acquired the LP could hear Orleans' potential. AMG.

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Sam Taylor, Jr. - The Tunnels Of My Mind 1969

Soul/blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and band leader. Taylor written hundreds of songs, many of them hits and some even gold records like "Do It 'Til You're Satisfied", performed by the B.T. Express. Taylor worked with Freddie King, Son Seals, Jimmy Witherspoon, Jay & The Americans, Joey Dee, Maxine Brown and Joe Tex. He also was bandleader/guitarist for the likes of Big Joe Turner, Isley Brothers, Tracy Nelson, Otis Redding and Sam & Dave as well as being an esteemed vocalist with Joey Dee & The Starliters, Drifters and The Rascals.

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