Elis Regina - Como & Porque 1969

Elis Regina was one of the most ferociously talented singers to emerge from Brazil. A perfectionist who was frequently dissatisfied, Regina drove herself and the members of her band relentlessly, leading to her being dubbed "Hurricane" and "Little Pepper" by musicians and journalists. Her tempestuous nature aside, she commanded the respect of Brazil's leading songwriters, who lined up for the chance to have her record one of their songs, and for much of her short life was the country's most popular female vocalist.

Born Elis Regina Carvalho Costa in Porto Alegre in 1945 to a working-class family, Regina began singing professionally at age 12 on a children's television show called Clube de Guri. For the next two years, she was a regular performer on the program and became a local celebrity. It was during this period that she signed her first recording contract at the age of 13. At 15 she relocated to Rio de Janeiro, where she recorded the first of three records, returning to Porto Alegre between each. Her initial recordings sold well and she was soon a teenage star, as well as the family's principal breadwinner. In 1963, at the age of 18, Regina and her father, in a move designed to further her career, relocated to Rio. Unfortunately, it was around this time that a military junta took over control of the country. Not long after her move to Rio, Regina became a fixture on Brazilian variety shows. Although the cool, supple, jazzy bossa nova sound was in vogue at the time, Regina preferred more raucous rhythms and full-throated singing. Adding to this was her dynamic, unsophisticated stage presence (which belied a career-long battle against near-paralytic stage fright) that, in American terms, might be best understood if one thinks of the tornado-like force that Janis Joplin could unleash. In 1965, Regina sang the controversial (and nearly censored) song "Arrastao" at Rio's first big popular music festival. In a performance that may well have been the defining moment of her career, she posed in Christ-like crucifixion, tears streaming down her face at the song's conclusion. From that moment on, her popularity rocketed; she went from being one of many successful Brazilian singers to the most popular and highest-paid singer in the country -- at the age of 21.

Although not as overtly political as other singer/songwriters of her generation (e.g., Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil), Regina was not shy about criticizing Brazil's military rule. While touring Europe in 1969 she told a journalist that her country was "being run by guerrillas." Normally this sentiment would lead to either jail or exile (or both in the case of Gil and Veloso), but Regina's enormous popularity protected her somewhat from any public government retaliation. However, the military junta used more insidious strong-arm tactics, such as forcing her to sing the Brazilian national anthem at a ceremony to celebrate the anniversary of the country's "independence." She was roundly attacked by leftist performers for such a public display of pro-government sentiment, and it was years later that her husband revealed that she was threatened with jail if she did not comply with the government's wishes. As the mother of a young child at the time, Regina could not afford to become a martyr. Regina's career showed no signs of slowing as the 1970s came to a close; some of her best records were recorded during this time, and one album simply called Elis & Tom (recorded in Los Angeles with Antonio Carlos Jobim) has been called by many journalists and musicians one of the greatest Brazilian pop records ever made. However, while her career was in full swing, her personal life was in disarray -- two marriages ended in divorce, and she was raising three children as well as providing for her parents. In the late '70s, after the end of her second marriage, she began using cocaine regularly but managed to keep her increasing dependence on the drug well hidden from her friends and family. Regina began 1982 by marrying for a third time, signing a new recording contract, and in general, planning for the future. All of this came to a halt on January 19, 1982, when she was found dead of alcohol and cocaine intoxication at age 36. Initially, her death was rumored to be a suicide, but there is no evidence indicating that it was anything more than a tragic accident.

A few days after her death, a memorial concert was held in São Paulo featuring many of Brazil's most famous singers. Over 100,000 grieving Brazilians came to pay their final respects to this gifted, mercurial singer who remains as popular after death as she was in life. AMG.

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Afton - First Day of Summer 1977

From Danville, VA, Afton was Dane Williams - elec. gtr, vocals / Jim Dooley - keyboards, sax, acoust. gtr. / Donnie Hughs - bass, vocals / Robert Campbell - drums, vocals / Skipper - percussion, vocals / Jeff Baldwin - keyboards, arrangements, vocals / Mike Ketchum - acoust. gtr, vocals / Boo - banjo. Their sole album was released in 1977 and is very rare nowadays. It is fairly polished, country-flavored southern rock, with a slick vocalist and great guitar on most cuts. Their sound is often reminiscent of The Charlie Daniels Band, and contains elements of Lynard Skynard and Molly Hatchet as well. This record is good, and consistently so.

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Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - If Music Be The Food Of Love 1966

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich followed up their self-titled debut LP with the tongue-in-cheek If Music Be the Food of Love...Then Prepare for Indigestion (1968). The quintet of Dave "Dee" Harman (guitar/vocals), Trevor "Dozy" Davies (bass), John "Beaky" Diamond (rhythm guitar), Michael "Mick" Wilson (drums), and Ian "Tich" Amey (lead guitar) return with another batch of strong Brit-pop compositions, including a pair of their most prolific sides, "Bend It" and "Hideaway." While all but unknown stateside, the combo became hugely popular throughout Europe -- which may well account for the distinctly conspicuous Mediterranean flavor on the former. Their left-of-center sense of humor surfaces on the Noel Coward-esque potty platter "Loos of England." Matching their obvious wit was an equally sharp musicality, effortlessly transcending concurrent pop music styles. Their range at once incorporated the full-throttled backbeat of "Bang" and the decidedly hip "Hideaway" and "Hands Off!" "Shame" is an edgier tune, with a mod progressive slant that would not be out of place from the likes of the Yardbirds. This is contrasted by the emotive "All I Want" or the cover of Robert "Bumps" Blackwell's "Hair on My Chinny-Chin-Chin," which is perhaps best known via the Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs version. While the prospect might sound odd, it seems no more out of place than the Who's reading of "Heat Wave," for instance. Interested parties should note that the 2003 reissue of If Music Be the Food of Love... contains 14 supplementary mono and stereo bonus track mixes, including "Touch Me, Touch Me," "Zabadak," the proto-punk "He's a Raver," and others. AMG.

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Eddie Harris - Smokin' 1970

Long underrated in the pantheon of jazz greats, Eddie Harris was an eclectic and imaginative saxophonist whose career was marked by a hearty appetite for experimentation. For quite some time, he was far more popular with audiences than with critics, many of whom denigrated him for his more commercially successful ventures. Harris' tastes ranged across the spectrum of black music, not all of which was deemed acceptable by jazz purists. He had the chops to handle technically demanding bop, and the restraint to play in the cool-toned West Coast style, but he also delved into crossover-friendly jazz-pop, rock- and funk-influenced fusion, outside improvisations, bizarre electronic effects, new crossbreeding of traditional instruments, blues crooning, and even comedy. Much of this fell outside the bounds of what critics considered legitimate, serious jazz, and so they dismissed him out of hand as too mainstream or too gimmicky. To be fair, Harris' large catalog is certainly uneven; not everything he tried worked. Yet with the passage of time, the excellence of his best work has become abundantly clear. Harris' accomplishments are many: he was the first jazz artist to release a gold-selling record, thanks to 1961's hit adaptation of the "Exodus" movie theme; he was universally acknowledged as the best player of the electric Varitone sax, as heard on his hit 1967 album The Electrifying Eddie Harris; he was an underrated composer whose "Freedom Jazz Dance" was turned into a standard by Miles Davis; he even invented his own instruments by switching brass and reed mouthpieces. Plus, his 1969 set with Les McCann at the Montreux Jazz Festival was released as Swiss Movement and became one of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time.

Harris was born in Chicago on October 20, 1934. His first musical experiences were as a singer in church, starting at age five, and he soon began playing hymns by ear on the piano. He spent part of his high school years at Du Sable, where he studied the vibraphone under the legendary band director Walter Dyett, a disciplinarian who trained some of the South Side's greatest jazzmen: Nat King Cole, Johnny Griffin, Gene Ammons, Julian Priester, and many others (even rocker Bo Diddley). He later returned to the piano and took up the tenor sax as well, and went on to study music at Roosevelt College. He landed his first professional job as a pianist, backing saxman Gene Ammons, and got the chance to sit in with greats like Charlie Parker and Lester Young. After college, he was drafted into the military; while serving in Europe, he successfully auditioned for the 7th Army band, which also included the likes of Don Ellis, Leo Wright, and Cedar Walton, among others. Following his discharge, he lived in New York and played in whatever groups and venues he could, still chiefly as a pianist. Harris returned to Chicago in 1960 and soon signed with the successful, locally based Vee-Jay, which was better known for its R&B and blues acts. Although the label signed Harris as a pianist, he played only tenor sax on his first album. That album, 1961's Exodus to Jazz, would become one of jazz's most surprising success stories. The key track was "Exodus," Harris' easygoing rearrangement of Ernest Gold's theme from the epic Biblical film of the same name. It was an unlikely source for a jazz tune, and an even unlikelier hit, but it managed to catch on with mainstream radio; released as a single in a shortened version, it even climbed into the lower reaches of the pop Top 40. Its success pushed the LP all the way to number two on the pop album charts, and Exodus to Jazz became the first jazz album ever certified gold. AMG.

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Françoise Hardy - Comment Te Dire Adieu 1968

This may not rate as highly as her best mid-'60s recordings, which are less MOR-oriented. That stated, it's about as good as late-'60s MOR Continental pop gets, with tastefully imaginative orchestration, strong melodies, and sexy vocals. It's perhaps even sadder and more sentimental than was the norm for Francoise--she perpetually seems to be singing as though she's gazing out of a deserted chateau on a rainy afternoon. She largely forsakes original material here (although a couple cuts bear her writing credit), and offers fine, haunting French interpretations of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne," and Phil Ochs' "There But for Fortune," and Ricky Nelson's "Lonesome Town." AMG.

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Mass - Back To The Music 1977

Mass from Germany was founded in 1973 using the name Black Mass. During the 70s they played a progressive style of blues-rock first, changed to more hard rock, as known from the three albums, released in the 70s.

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Fela Kuti - Shakara 1972

Fela Kuti was often described as "the James Brown of Africa," but one could also argue that he was Africa's equivalent of Miles Davis or John Coltrane. Truth be told, either description is valid. Kuti was highly eclectic, and his innovative, visionary music contained elements of funk/soul, jazz, and blues, as well as African music. That eclectic spirit proves to be a major asset on Shakara, which consists of two 13-minute performances by Kuti's Africa 70 band: "Lady" and "Shakara (Oloie)." Performed in English, "Lady" finds Kuti criticizing modern African women in a humorous way for becoming what he sees as overly westernized and embracing a western view of feminism. You might agree or disagree with the song's viewpoint, but the groove and the beat are irresistible. Equally addictive -- and equally sarcastic -- is "Shakara (Oloje)," which is sung in both Yoruba and English and makes fun of the type of pompous, loud-mouthed braggarts who can never make good on their empty boasts. AMG.

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John Uzonyi's Peacepipe - Peacepipe 1970

Peacepipe were the brainchild of guitarist John Uzonyi. They were a power trio that played Southern California and Arizona in the late '60s. They released a single during their existence, and also cut this album, which remained unreleased until the mid-'90s. Originally released on Rockadelic on vinyl only, Shadoks has now reissued it on compact disc, remastered from the original tapes. If you're into heavy psych guitar, you really need to hear this album. Uzonyi has a monstrous tone on guitar, similar at times to Jimi Hendrix's feedback dive-bombing, but the two have very different playing styles. Uzonyi is aided by drummer Gary Tsuruda and keyboard player Rick Abts, but the show belongs to Uzonyi. There are at least two guitars present most of the time, Uzonyi is the singer, and he most likely plays the bass tracks as well. The material ranges from superheavy guitar insanity to more poppy material. To be honest, Uzonyi's lyrics and vocals are nothing to write home about (especially the awful lyrics to "Angel of Love"), but his guitar playing saves the day. There's no studio trickery to speak of (except for the weird tremolo vocals on the last track), although engineer Eirik Wangberg did a masterful job of capturing what Uzonyi was trying to do, and came up with a great, dynamic mix and fun stereo panning effects. The album sounds of its day, but some of the guitar playing still sounds inventive. Shadoks specializes in releasing unknown, obscure material, and they've dug up a great one here. AMG.

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Krokodil - Krokodil 1969

Debut album for Psychedelic Rock/ Blues Rock/ Hard Rock/ Prog Rock Swiss group. Give it a listen.

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Max Roach, Archie Shepp - Force; Sweet Mao - Suid Afrika '76 1976

Max Roach with Archie Shepp (sax) duets. Extended pieces from two virtuosos. Quintessential. AMG.

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Faust - Faust IV 1973

Coming on the heels of the cut-and-paste sound-collage schizophrenia of The Faust Tapes, Faust IV seems relatively subdued and conventional, though it's still a far cry from what anyone outside the German avant-garde rock scene was doing. The album's disparate threads don't quite jell into something larger (as in the past), but there's still much to recommend it. The nearly 12-minute electro-acoustic opener "Krautrock" is sometimes viewed as a comment on Faust's droning, long-winded contemporaries, albeit one that would lose its point by following the same conventions. There are a couple of oddball pop numbers that capture the group's surreal sense of whimsy: one, "The Sad Skinhead," through its reggae-ish beat, and another, "It's a Bit of a Pain," by interrupting a pastoral acoustic guitar number with the most obnoxious synth noises the band can conjure. Aside from "Krautrock," there is a trend toward shorter track lengths and more vocals, but there are still some unpredictably sudden shifts in the instrumental pieces, even though it only occasionally feels like an idea is being interrupted at random (quite unlike The Faust Tapes). There are several beat-less, mostly electronic soundscapes full of fluttering, blooping synth effects, as well as plenty of the group's trademark Velvet Underground-inspired guitar primitivism, and even a Frank Zappa-esque jazz-rock passage. Overall, Faust IV comes off as more a series of not-always-related experiments, but there are more than enough intriguing moments to make it worthwhile. Unfortunately, it would be the last album the group recorded (at least in its first go-round). AMG.

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Mother Earth - Satisfied 1970

By the time of Satisfied, Mother Earth had become pretty much a vehicle for Tracy Nelson plus backing band. There's just one original on this set, Nelson's "Andy Song," and the album sticks to a loose but R&B-focused groove, sometimes stretching the songs out in a fashion that probably would have been more tightly edited had such an approach not been in vogue in 1970. Nelson's vocals are consistently strong and stirring, and the material is commendably diverse, though overall it's just an okay album that could use a little more oomph. The white R&B vibe is tempered by strong streaks of gospel, New Orleans music, and even a bit of jazz, particularly on the smoother parts of "Groovy Way." AMG.

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Oscar - Oscar 1974

Formed in 1973, Manchester, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom. Disbanded, 1978
In addition to albums, they released a number of singles, made several pub tours in the UK (as The Variety Show), were the "opening act" with Leo Sayer and the group Caravan, they toured Turkey and Iran, which gave them certain importance in the eyes of the cynical show business, but they did not have the strength, ability, and talent to climb from the foot of the British musical Olympus to its top, and soon they were lost somewhere along the way during this difficult and thorny climbing. While their albums are rarely mentioned in the music press these days, they certainly cause considerable interest among the restless and inquisitive sound archaeologists as a very curious artifact of vinyl British "rock scene" of the seventies of the twentieth century.

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Derroll Adams - Feelin' Fine 1972

Banjo player was born on the 27th of November 1925 in Portland (OR, USA). He was traveling around the American West Coast and recording with Ramblin' Jack Elliott in the 1950s. He moved to England and later to Antwerpen (Belgium) where he died on the 6th of February 2000.
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Formula 3 - Dies Irae 1970

One of the most important Italian rock bands of the 1970s, one of the bands that lead beat music to psychedelia and forwards to prog rock. Before beginning their own career they usually were Lucio Battisti's backing band.

The debut album "Dies Irae" is a mixture of beat-psych-prog rock with dark guitar sound interplayed with heavy pumping keyboards and good drumming, pop-oriented songs, Latin spoken words (Dies Irae) some fine psychedelic moods, typical Mediterranean melodies, and classical 1969 sounds.

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Häxmjolk - Eskimo Heat 1976

Häxmjölk was a Swedish jazz-funk band, founded by ex-EGBA and Resa members Jan Tolf (guitar) and Harald Svensson (keyboard), as well as Lennart Åberg (saxophone), Guy Roellinger (bass), and Malando Gassama (drums, percussion). They released one album, Eskimo Heat, in 1976, for which Jan Tolf wrote all the music.

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The Mysterious Flying Orchestra - The Mysterious Flying Orchestra 1977

Bob Thiele (1922-96) is best remembered as a producer who oversaw a great many historic jazz sessions from the 1940s through the 1990s, most notably supervising Impulse recordings during its golden period (1960-69). The producer is most appreciated by jazz listeners for giving John Coltrane carte blanche to record exactly how he pleased and as much as he pleased while at Impulse. What's not so well known is that Thiele recorded a number of albums under his own name, including Thoroughly Modern (1967), Do The Love (1967), Light My Fire (1967, with Gabor Szabo), Head Start (1970, with Tom Scott), Those Were The Days (1971), The 20s Score Again (1974), I Saw Pinetop Spit Blood (1975, with Oliver Nelson), Sunrise Sunset (1991, with David Murray), Louis Satchmo (1992) and Lion Hearted (1993). It's an odd lot, to be sure, and there's not a classic in the bunch. Thiele, whose participation on these records was limited to "musical director" and occasional percussion, gathered some of the high-caliber talent he'd nurtured elsewhere to play some music that was probably a little outside their usual scope of interest. No doubt, they were glad to get a paycheck. But, even as strange as some of it is, there are buried little treasures to be found here and there that will have appeal to fans of each record's almost legendary musical participants. One of the more notable treasures in this lot is a Bob Thiele album that doesn't even bear his name - or anyone else's! - called, enigmatically enough, The Mysterious Flying Orchestra (TMFO - one wonders if the letters were meant to convey something else). Issued in early 1977 on RCA, where Thiele's Flying Dutchman had recently been folded into extinction, this LP - which is unlikely to ever see the light of day on CD - comes across almost as a joke…until you listen to it.

The LP's cover is enough to put off even the most ardent crate digger. It bears the strikingly strange airbrushed image of the middle-aged Thiele, thumbs up Fonzie style, in a vintage 20s-era pilot's get up. Wasn't Snoopy doing this sort of thing in The Peanuts too? This goofy pose inspired the equally silly icon for Thiele's Doctor Jazz logo and again (!) for his later Red Baron imprint. The back cover lists no song titles and criminally neglects musician credits (mysterious, indeed!) and sillies up the proceedings by picturing a number of musicians as bats - yes, bats - flying around a hilltop castle.

TMFO, though, is a star-studded fusion bacchanalia that, unlike so many other projects under Bob Thiele's name, gets much more right than wrong. An impressive array of jazz soloists are present here, including Larry Coryell, Steve Marcus, Eddie Daniels, Bob Mintzer, Lonnie Liston Smith and Charlie Mariano and the cream of New York's session players: Jon Faddis, Lew Soloff, Don Grolnick, Gene Bertoncini, Jerry Friedman, Wilbur Bascomb (a key point of the album's success), Andy Newmark and Guilhermo Franco. This mysterious orchestra really gets down to it and flies particularly well on the record's first side, or "side one" for those of you that remember LP-speak. Horace Ott's "Improvisational Rondo For Saxophone And Guitar" starts things off in a roaring way, fading in from the ether to reveal a rambunctious, startling piece of jazz funk. The groove may call up disco to many, but what's going on is clearly freeform jazz engaging with orchestral flourishes in a soulful, get-down setting. Ott lays down a thumping funky rhythm that seems to pick up a pace firmly in line with the players' adrenaline. Driven by Wilbur Bascomb's energetic bass patterns, Ott embellishes with some striking and playful string work that evolves and grows more interesting as the groove deepens. On top of all that, Larry Coryell's guitar matches wits with Steve Marcus's soprano sax and both play freely in and around all the fascinating lines Ott spins. Coryell featured on Marcus's earliest recordings, which explains the ideal synergy the two share here on this first-rate funk jam.

Lonnie Liston Smith contributes two pieces to the album, including the wonderfully moody "Shadows," up next. Smith, whose earliest records were supervised by Thiele, had already recorded "Shadows" and "Summer Days" for his 1975 album Expansions (Flying Dutchman). Smith's melody is rather slight, which requires TMFO, in Ott's arrangement, to create the right atmosphere, perfectly voiced by the horn section. Smith is heard beautifully dancing throughout the piece on electric piano, offering a voice that was already one of the instrument's most distinctive at this point. Marcus solos on tenor sax.

Next up is "A Dream Deferred," Bob Thiele and Glenn Osser's tribute to Oliver Nelson, a frequent Thiele associate, who had died shortly before this recording was made. It's vexingly appealing. It's like a waltz that never gets going but manages to sustain interest through some well-considered playing. Horace Ott's gorgeous strings carry the melody and the solos are by Don Grolnick on electric piano and Eddie Daniels on flute. Thiele would later resurrect this theme, to decidedly lesser and lazier effect, on David Murray's MX (1992), but here the title - which comes from Langston Hughes - gets a cheesy dedication to "JFK, Malcolm, John Coltrane, etc." with no mention of Nelson whatsoever.

Side two of TMFO is substantially less interesting, but not altogether awful, with Smith's "Summer Days," a MOR fusion number showcasing worthy solos from brother Donald on flute and Charlie Mariano on soprano sax (Lonnie does not play), and Horace Ott's mildly funky "Nice 'N Spicy" (in a David Matthews bag), featuring Daniels on flute and Marcus and Bob Mintzer on dueling tenor saxes. The less said about Theresa Brewer's vocal feature on the sappy "There Was A Man Named John" (for John Coltrane), the better. Mariano solos here too.

TMFO is a strange, not altogether perfect album. But if funky fusion made by some of jazz's best improvisers appeals to you, this record's first side is absolutely essential. Considering side two as the album's "bonus tracks" makes the meaty content seem pretty brief. But it's 19 minutes of exciting music that's worth hearing over and over again.  

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Cuero - Tiempo Despues 1973

The Debut album by Cuero an Argentinian band was released in 1973 and is a great heavy psych–rock & blues-rock album, very rare and hard to find as an original. Stunning guitar work and Spanish languaged vocals, seven long tracks, all original compositions.
 

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Fela Kuti - Gentleman 1973

Gentleman is both an Africa 70 and Afro-beat masterpiece. High marks go to the scathing commentary that Fela Anikulapo Kuti lets loose but also to the instrumentation and the overall arrangements, as they prove to be some of the most interesting and innovative of Fela's '70s material. When the great tenor saxophone player Igo Chico left the Africa 70 organization in 1973, Fela Kuti declared he would be the replacement. So in addition to bandleader, soothsayer, and organ player, Fela picked up the horn and learned to play it quite quickly -- even developing a certain personal voice with it. To show off that fact, "Gentleman" gets rolling with a loose improvisatory solo saxophone performance that Tony Allen eventually pats along with before the entire band drops in with classic Afro-beat magnificence. "Gentleman" is also a great example of Fela's directed wit at the post-colonial West African sociopolitical state of affairs. His focus is on the Africans that still had a colonial mentality after the Brits were gone and then parallels that life with his own. He wonders why his fellow Africans would wear so much clothing in the African heat: "I know what to wear but my friend don't know" and also points out that "I am not a gentleman like that!/I be Africa man original." To support "Gentleman," the B-side features equally hot jazzy numbers, "Fefe Naa Efe" and "Igbe," making this an absolute must-have release. [In 2000, MCA released Confusion and Gentleman as a two-fer.] AMG.

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Collusion - Collusion 1971

Genuine UK prog-rock obscurity from 1971, originally released in a tiny run on the custom SRT label. Collusion was a Dagenham-based six-piece with twin guitars and interwoven male/female vocals as the main ingredients. Expect hard-edged prog-rock with tasty folk and jazz elements. 

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Procol Harum - Home 1970

The group's hardest-rocking classic album is, beyond some superb vocalizing by Gary Brooker, principally a showcase for Robin Trower's high-powered guitar and a rock-hard rhythm section, with B.J. Wilson only a little less animated than Ginger Baker on some of the music. Procol Harum had a split personality by this time, the band juxtaposing straight-ahead rock & roll numbers like "Still There'll Be More" and the Elvis Presley-influenced "Whisky Train" with darker, more dramatic pieces like "Nothing That I Didn't Know" and "Barnyard Story." Chris Copping doubles on organ, replacing Matthew Fisher, but the overall sound is that of a leaner Procol Harum, all except for the ambitious "Whaling Stories" -- even it was a compromise that nearly worked, showcasing Trower's larger-than-life guitar sound (coming off here like King Crimson's Robert Fripp in one of his heavier moments) within a somewhat pretentious art rock concept. It shows the strains within their lineup that the producers chose the lighter, more obviously accessible "Your Own Choice" -- on which Gary Brooker's piano is the lead instrument -- to end the album after "Whaling Stories"' pyrotechnic finish. [Home has appeared several times on CD, in a poor-sounding edition from A&M ages ago, on a rather better-sounding Mobile Fidelity edition in the late '80s, and at the opening of the new century in a Remastered Edition from Europe's Westside label that not only features significantly increased clarity on all of the instruments, but also detailed annotation and the presence of nine bonus tracks from the same sessions, mostly rock & roll warm-ups and early takes of the finished material. And in 2015, Esoteric Recordings reissued Home in a Remastered and Expanded Edition featuring the U.S. single edit of "Whisky Train" as a bonus track. Esoteric also released a two-CD Deluxe Remastered & Expanded Edition of the album that year, featuring 11 bonus tracks including remixes, alternate takes, a previously unreleased BBC session track from 1970, and more; fully restored artwork; and new liner notes by Henry Scott-Irvine.] AMG.

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Daniel Moore - Daniel Moore 1971

Even if you don't know Daniel Moore the singer, most likely you're familiar with his songwriting talent. The songs he wrote that went gold include Three Dog Night's recording of "Shambala" during the early '70s, and "My Maria," which was originally recorded by B.W. Stevenson, Moore's co-writer on the song. Country duo Brooks & Dunn later included "My Maria" on their album Borderline and scored a hit when they released it as a single. Sweet Forgiveness, a Warner Bros. album from Bonnie Raitt in 1976 that earned gold status, took its title from a track penned by Moore. Among the other artists who have recorded his songs are Kenny Rogers, the Everly Brothers, Joe Cocker, Waylon Jennings, Bobby Blue Bland, Dizzy Gillespie, David Clayton Thomas, Canned Heat, Thelma Houston, the Dillards, Jerry Jeff Walker, Jennifer Warnes, the Band, Kim Carnes, Maria Muldaur, and Danny Flowers. In addition, Moore's "Fire in the Hole" appeared in Fire Down Below, a film featuring Steven Seagal released in 1997. He launched his own label, DJM Records, that same year.

Moore was born in Washington state in 1941 and raised in Athena, OR. He was one of seven sons born into a family headed by a father who was a preacher. After high school, he set off for the city of Eugene, where he spent three years attending college. In 1962, he relocated to Los Angeles. Before two weeks had passed, he landed a contract to record for Everest. The following year, he performed with Jimmy Rogers, contributing backing vocals and acoustic bass. With the Fairmount Singers, Moore also held down a gig as Rogers' opening act. His "Deliver Me" was put out by the Everly Brothers in 1967. The dawn of a new decade found Moore working with Cocker, touring as part of his Mad Dogs and Englishmen. He kept writing, started producing, and also put out an album of his own through ABC Records. In 1973, Moore and Three Dog Night struck gold with "Shambala," followed by Stevenson's release of "My Maria." By the early '80s, Moore was part of outfits called the Moore Brothers Band and the Renegade Band. During this time he also traveled, contributing background vocals on a Carnes' tour. Two years before, Moore also produced one of her albums. AMG.

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Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee 1968

Lee's first duet album with Nancy Sinatra is a classic of '60s pop. He plays the leering, deep-throated, trail-worn cowboy to her bright-eyed girl-child, and the match on songs like "Summer Wine," "Sand," "Jackson," and "Some Velvet Morning" is a smart, sexy, lip-smacking bowl of mind candy. AMG.

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Ron Cornelius - Tin Luck 1971

Though Ron may not be a household name to many listeners, he has played on more major league recordings than most: backing Dylan in the late 60s and leading Leonard Cohen’s band throughout the 70s, amongst many other musical distinctions which include his debut on the scene with the band West in San Francisco at the height of all things happening there. 

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The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers 1968

The recording sessions for the Byrds' fifth album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, were conducted in the midst of internal turmoil that found them reduced to a duo by the time the record was completed. That wasn't evident from listening to the results, which showed the group continuing to expand the parameters of their eclecticism while retaining their hallmark guitar jangle and harmonies. With assistance from producer Gary Usher, they took more chances in the studio, enhancing the spacy quality of tracks like "Natural Harmony" and Goffin & King's "Wasn't Born to Follow" with electronic phasing. Washes of Moog synthesizer formed the eerie backdrop for "Space Odyssey," and the songs were craftily and unobtrusively linked with segues and fade. But the Byrds did not bury the essential strengths of their tunes in effects: "Goin' Back" (also written by Goffin & King) was a magnificent and melodic cover with the expected tasteful 12-string guitar runs that should have been a big hit. "Tribal Gathering" has some of the band's most effervescent harmonies; "Draft Morning" is a subtle and effective reflection of the horrors of the Vietnam War, and "Old John Robertson" looks forward to the country-rock that would soon dominate their repertoire. AMG.

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Pink Floyd - Relics 1971

Since Relics is a compilation and not a regular studio album, it tends to be overlooked when thought of as one of Pink Floyd's better releases. It might not be regarded as a classic psychedelic masterpiece in the manner of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and it certainly won't ever achieve the multiple platinum status of Dark Side of the Moon, but it's a pretty good place to start with the band's early catalog. Originally issued in 1971, Relics culls from the band's first five singles (two A-sides and three B-sides, including the non-album pop classics "See Emily Play" and "Arnold Layne") and picks album material that capitalizes on the band's versatility while making it a thoroughly palatable listen. From Piper, you get the goofy childishness of "Bike" and the mesmerizing "Interstellar Overdrive," one of the band's trademark instrumental freak-outs; "The Nile Song," taken from the More soundtrack, is one of the heaviest songs the band recorded. A little bit of everything that made early Pink Floyd can be found here. Without a doubt, the disc is an essential part of the band's discography, not to be disregarded due to its overlap with studio album material. AMG.

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Bonnie Bramlett - Sweet Bonnie Bramlett 1973

Bonnie Bramlett is an R&B/rock singer. She moved to Memphis in the early '60s and became a session and backup singer for R&B and blues performers such as Fontella Bass and Albert King. She then became a member of the Ikettes, the backup singers for Ike & Tina Turner. That brought her to Los Angeles in 1967, where she met Delaney Bramlett, who had been a member of the Shindogs, the resident group on the TV show Shindig; they married within five days and formed a musical act, Delaney and Bonnie. Delaney and Bonnie cut an album for Stax Records in Memphis, backed by Booker T. and the MG's, but it was not released at first. They then formed a group called Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, who featured Leon Russell among others, and cut Accept No Substitute (1969). After Delaney and Bonnie and Friends toured opening for Blind Faith, Eric Clapton left that group and joined them along with such notables as George Harrison and Dave Mason. This resulted in the On Tour album, after which members of the Friends band worked with Clapton and Harrison, and on Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen. Delaney and Bonnie made several more albums before divorcing. Bramlett then formed the Bonnie Bramlett Band and released her debut solo album, Sweet Bonnie Bramlett, backed by the Average White Band, in 1973. She then signed to Capricorn Records and made It's Time (1975), Lady's Choice (1976), and Memories (1978). She later became a born-again Christian and began singing gospel music. She turned to acting in 1987, under the name Bonnie Sheridan, and has since appeared in the film The Doors and the TV series Rosanne. In 2002 Bramlett returned to the music world with the release of her first album in over twenty years, I'm Still the Same on Audium. The record features Bramlett singing a variety of styles like jazz, blues, and adult contemporary in a voice that has lost little of its power. AMG.

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