Iron Butterfly - Heavy 1968

Iron Butterfly's 1968 debut album, Heavy, established the band's trademark sound, relying on plodding, heavy guitar riffs and thundering drums. Most of the album was not particularly well written -- the riffs were the songs, not their foundation -- but the band's overwhelmingly loud sonic attack occasionally made up for the weakness in the material. AMG.

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Hardin & York - Tomorrow Today 1969

Hardin & York's debut album was quite competent yet derivative early progressive rock, and derivative of Traffic in particular. At least, however, it came by its influences quite honestly, Pete York having drummed behind Steve Winwood in the Spencer Davis Group, and Eddie Hardin having joined the Spencer Davis Group after Winwood left. And the duo does get quite a lot of sound out of their keyboards and drums, although they had plenty of backup from some session musicians. Hardinsings and writes uncannily like Winwood circa Traffic's "Forty Thousand Headmen" period, but while that's a good standard to shoot for, therein also lies the problem: it's not quite as good as theWinwood-paced Traffic, and certainly not as original. All that noted, if you're looking for something in the mold of Traffic-lite and keeping your expectations realistically modest, this is pretty decent stuff. It might be a tad more rooted in soul-pop than Traffic, but it doesn't suffer for that. Hardin's vocals are impressively rich and gritty, and his piano and organ quite skillful. AMG.

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The Sons Of Champlin - Loosen Up Naturally 1969

Although the Sons of Champlin made their recording debut with the single "Sing Me a Rainbow" on Verve Records in 1967, it has taken them another two years to release this, their first album, which means they are late out of the starting blocks as far as psychedelic San Francisco rock bands are concerned. They try to make up for that with a major statement, a double-LP running over an hour. They also distinguish themselves immediately in terms of their instrumentation and arranging style. If the San Francisco sound is defined by simple folk-style song structures extended by long guitar solos, this is something entirely different. The Sons take their inspiration from R&B and jazz, to which they then apply the psychedelic treatment. There is a talented lead guitarist in Terry Haggerty, but he has to fight for space in the songs with Bill Champlin, who plays organ and saxophone, as well as multi-instrumentalist Geoff Palmer, whose arsenal also includes saxophone, though he may also break out a mean vibraphone, as he does in "Get High." The horns are unusual in a San Francisco band and incline toward the coming sound of Blood, Sweat & Tears, although that outfit is far more pop-oriented. The Sons are perhaps better understood as fundamentally a jazz band, with their multiple soloists and complicated arrangements. Over all the furious playing, Champlin displays a gritty R&B vocal style, but the melodies are less important than the arrangements and the soloing. Champlin's lyrics tend toward the philosophical with many references to being "free," and when he uses that word, he clearly is not just referring to personal liberty, but also to "free" playing, which is what the band does, particularly on the sidelong closing track, appropriately called "Freedom." Loosen Up Naturally, like many other double albums, probably could have been boiled down to a strong single LP, but the very concept of the band on this recording, as embodied in the title, is to spread out and blow, and that takes some space. the Sons of Champlin give the listener a lot to take in on their full-length debut, and they give themselves several interesting directions to pursue in the future. AMG.

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The Famous Jug Band - Sunshine Possibilities 1969

A highly original recording by a very short-lived esoteric folk outfit from the turn of the 1970's. While it should be noted that the ever-enigmatic Clive Palmer, founder member of the Incredible Sring Band, is featured here, complete with two original out-there, but wonderfully crafted tunes, it's the vocals Jill Johnson that stand out the most. Although only 18 at the time of this recording, her voice conveys a passion and wisdom of someone who has lived and died and come back as a spirit, boundless in energy and enthusiasm. The lush acoustic arrangements defy classification, an eclectic blend of so-called early music, ragtime, folk, bluegrass, folk-rock, blues and, yes, jug music. The songs, as a whole, are obscure, moody, somewhat chaotic at times, oddly serene at others, which is great if you're into the mystic, neo-acid folk in the String Band tradition, but off-putting, perhaps, to those seeking a more traditional sound. This is an experimental record in the truest sense. 

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Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Like Someone In Love 1960

Taken from the same sessions that resulted in A Night in Tunisia, this fine CD features the 1960 version of The Jazz Messengers starring trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorterand pianist Bobby Timmons. The title cut is the most impressive performance, but this excellent program of high-quality hard bop also allows listeners to hear three obscure Wayne Shortercompositions and Lee Morgan's forgotten "Johnny's Blue." AMG.

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Gordon Haskell - Sail in my boat 1969

It's astonishing to think that as King Crimson was recording their monumental, groundbreaking debut album, Gordon Haskell -- who would join the Crimson lineup in 1970 -- was cutting this sappy, orchestrated piffle. The music on his debut album is pretty enough, but otherwise undistinguished.Haskell couldn't decide whether he was trying to be Justin Hayward or Jacques Brel, neither of whom was he suited to emulate. Haskell has a strangely breathy, un-nasal voice, oddly reminiscent of fellowKing Crimson alumnus Pete Sinfield on his solo album Still. The music ranges from the syrupy ("Oo La Di Doo Da Day" to the melodramatic "Time Only Knows," and all the while Haskell's voice struggles to stretch its range. The only interesting cut here is the calypso-flavored "Zanzibar," which is at least diverting, if not exactly a classic piece of pop-rock. Only absolute King Crimson completists and serious Haskell fans need bother with the Voiceprint CD reissue of this genuine late-'60s rarity. AMG.

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Gary Bartz Ntu Troop - Home! 1969

When it comes to saxophonist Gary Bartz, many jazz fan's are well aware of his influential contributions to the funky soul-jazz scene that was gaining steam around the mid-to-late seventies. During this time, Bartz released classic jazz-funk records like Juju Street Songs, Follow The Medicine Man, Music is My Sanctuary, Harlem Bush Music - Uhuru, The Shadow Do and others. Due to the success of these albums, many of these records over-shadowed some of Bartz more spiritual jazz recordings that he released during the late sixties like Libra, Another Earth, and today's featured record Home!. This record, which is my personal favorite of the three, was recorded live at a Left Bank Society concert in Baltimore, Maryland in 1969 by Bartz and his group NTU Troop. This date features four compositions written by Bartz including "B.A.M.", "Love", "Rise", "Amal" and a solid version of Duke Ellington's classic "It Don't Mean A Thing". The entire record has an overall post-Coltrane modal feel that features some major jazz heavyweights including Woody Shaw (trumpet), Bob Cunningham (bass), Albert Dailey (piano), and Rashied Ali (drums). Even though there is no deny that Bartz was one of the leading jazz musicians to incorporate soulful and funky elements into his music, it's important that his earlier and more spiritual jazz recordings receive the very deserving praise for the amazing brilliance that they truly are.

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Birmingham Sunday - A Message From Birmingham Sunday 1968

Birmingham Sunday was a band from Nevada that consisted of Ward Johns, Debbie Parks, John Kvam, Jean Heim, Joe LaChew and Phil Gustafson. Although not much is known about the band and its members, A Message from Birmingham Sunday was originally released as a test pressing in 1968 on the All American Record label. The band play a variety of styles but the music on this album is mainly a folk based psychedelic pop sound with strong vocal harmonies. The singers alternate between male and female vocal leads with a wall of sound background that contains guitars, wind instruments, swirling organ and synthesizer. The entire album only clocks in at just more than 27 minutes but it is an enjoyable piece of late 60's psychedelia. The CD itself is housed in an impressive digipack but the only drawback on packaging is the lack of detailed liner notes and information on the band. The overall sound quality is good but there seems to be some sound fading on a couple of songs perhaps due to the quality of the master tapes. Despite some minor drawbacks it is nice to see such a rare album finally receiving a legitimate release. AMG. 

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Keith Christmas - Stimulus 1969

Stimulus was the debut from one of the slighter British folk-rock songwriters of the late '60s and early '70s. Keith Christmas absorbed some good traits -- you can hear bits of Bob Dylan, Bert Jansch, Roy Harper, and (in the vocal rather than the songwriting) Ray Davies, whether by intention or accident. Still, it's kind of a meager effort, imbued with some of the haunting melody and lyrical melancholy that were hallmarks of British folk-rock (and a few more country-ish licks than was typical for the style), but not invested with nearly as much personality as the best exponents of the genre. He did seem a little more comfortable with full if mild rock arrangements than some other similar singer/songwriters, but his writing was a little unfocused, and his vocals on the thin side of both timbre and expressiveness. Like too many folk-rock and folk albums of the era, there was a regrettable venture into forced jolly vaudeville ("Bedsit Two-Step"), though very impressive folk guitar picking was heard on "Roundabout." AMG.

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The John Dummer Blues Band - Cabal 1969

This UK band came into being in 1965, evolving from the Muskrats and the Grebbells, and lasted until the early 70s, surviving numerous personnel changes. The line-up included prominent British blues artists such as pianist Bob Hall, guitarist Dave Kelly and his sister Jo Ann Kelly, Mike Cooper, and Tony McPhee. The band backed touring American artists John Lee Hooker and Howlin’ Wolf, and recorded albums for Mercury and Vertigo between 1969 and 1973. Drummer John Dummer went on to work with English pop vocal group Darts in the mid-70s. In recent years all Dummer’s albums have become much sought after items in the collectors’ market and currently carry very high prices. AMG.

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The Mandrake Memorial - Puzzle 1969

While Mandrake Memorial's second LP (Medium) had moved them in a more self-consciously progressive hard rock direction, their third and final album went somewhat off the deep end in that regard. There was little left of the song-driven psychedelia of their first and best album, and what had replaced it came close to drowning in an inchoate blend of late psychedelia and early progressive rock. There's much apparent ambition on this record but little coherence, alternating semi-improvised-sounding noodly instrumental passages with not-so-great songs and positively weird swells of operatic doomsday voices and cinematic electronic rock. It sounds like a concept album without a concept, complete with brief interludes and preludes. Parts of the ten-minute "Bucket of Air" make it clear that they probably did their share of listening to Pink Floyd's A Saucerful of Secrets, but the Floyd seemed positively economic next to this squawky aimlessness. Occasional gasps of their original song-oriented brand of wistful psychedelia can be heard, but it's overwhelmed by the messy crossfire of half-formed fusions of hard rock, classical, and other miscellany. The 1996 reissue on Collectables adds both sides of the non-LP single "Something in the Air"/"Musical Man," the A-side of which was a cover of the Thunderclap Newman hit. AMG.

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RE-POST: The Flock - The Flock 1969

Forming in late-'60s Chicago, the Flock forever languished in the shadow of the Chicago Transit Authority (later famous as just plain Chicago), whose peculiar approach to art rock -- incorporating horns and other unorthodox instrumentation into rock and jazz forms -- they also pursued. But though they clearly lacked Chicago's smash-hit-penning abilities, the Flock possessed a secret weapon in masterful violinist Jerry Goodman, and their genre-smashing compositions were often even more extreme, if not exactly Top 40 material.

Rick Canoff (vocals, saxophone) and Fred Glickstein (vocals, guitar, organ) were already performing in a garage band called the Exclusives in 1965 when they decided to rename themselves the Flock. The duo recorded a number of independent singles with various backing musicians over the next few years, but it wasn't until they discovered that their guitar tech, one Jerry Goodman, also happened to be a virtuoso violinist and invited him into the fold that the Flock's sound truly began to take shape. By 1969, the septet was completed by Jerry Smith (bass), Ron Karpman (drums), John Gerber (sax, flute, banjo), and Tom Webb (sax, flute), and had scored a deal with Columbia Records, for whom they recorded their groundbreaking eponymous debut that same year. But, not even enthusiastic endorsements from some of the era's most respected musicians (including English blues legendJohn Mayall, who famously dubbed them the "best American band" he'd heard and wrote the album's liner notes) could help sell the Flock's complicated music, which simply proved too unusual and inaccessible for most consumers. The band continued to plug along on the live circuit, including a stint at the prestigious 1970 Bath Festival (where they performed before a then-skyrocketing Led Zeppelin), but their label, Columbia, was already beginning to lose faith. Complicating matters further, 1971'sDinosaur Swamps proved a disappointing second effort, falling well short of its predecessor's inspirational flights; it is perhaps best-remembered for its beautiful cover artwork, rather than the songs contained within. A third LP, reportedly to be called "Flock Rock," was summarily shelved uncompleted, and the Flock had fallen apart by 1972. Violinist Goodman later worked with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Dixie Dregs, among others, but except for a brief, disastrous reunion which yielded 1975's ill-received Inside Out album, the remaining members of the Flock soon faded into rock & roll obscurity. AMG.

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Shades of Joy - Shades of Joy 1969

The mysterious Shades of Joy recorded the wholly instrumental album The Music of El Topo in San Francisco, the LP finding release on the Douglas label in 1970. Co-produced by Alan Douglas (famous for his controversial posthumous work on some Jimi Hendrix material), it's an odd but listenable mix of early jazz-rock fusion, psychedelia, funk, and the kind of meditatively somber and pretty music you might expect to hear on the soundtrack to a period drama. And in fact most of the compositions are credited to film director Alejandro Jodorowsky, who was responsible for the early-'70s cult film El Topo. Fifteen musicians are credited with playing on the album, the most noted of them being occasional Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia sideman Howard Wales (on electric keyboards), though there are also numerous percussionists, brassmen, and flutists; in fact, there are three combination flutist/tenor saxophonists alone. (Jodorowsky himself does not play any of the music, however.) Martin Fierro (who played flute, tenor sax, alto sax, and cowbells, as well as being credited as a "scratcher") seems to have been the musician most involved with the project, also doing the orchestration and horn arrangements. The Music of El Topo, incidentally, is an entirely different album than the Apple-issued El Topo soundtrack, for which Jodorowsky got composing credit for all of the music. AMG.

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