Humble Pie - Town and Country 1969

Anyone who thinks of Humble Pie solely in terms of their latter-day boogie rock will be greatly surprised by this, the band's second release, for it is almost entirely acoustic. There is a gently rocking cover of Buddy Holly's "Heartbeat," and a couple of electrified Steve Marriott numbers, but the overall feel is definitely more of the country than the town or city. "The Sad Bag of Shaky Jake" is a typical Marriott country ditty, similar to those he would include almost as a token on each of the subsequent studio albums, and "Every Mother's Son" is structured as a folk tale. On "The Light of Love," Marriott even plays sitar. Peter Frampton's contributions here foreshadow the acoustic-based music he would make as a solo artist a few years later. As a whole, this is a crisp, cleanly recorded, attractive-sounding album, totally atypical of the Humble Pie catalog, but well worth a listen. AMG.

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The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis - Bold As Love 1967

Jimi Hendrix's second album followed up his groundbreaking debut effort with a solid collection of great tunes and great interactive playing between himself, Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell, and the recording studio itself. Wisely retaining manager Chas Chandler to produce the album and Eddie Kramer as an engineer, Hendrix stretched further musically than the first album, but even more so as a songwriter. He was still quite capable of coming up with spacy rockers like "You Got Me Floating," "Up from the Skies," and "Little Miss Lover," radio-ready to follow on the commercial heels of "Foxey Lady" and "Purple Haze." But the beautiful, wistful ballads "Little Wing," "Castles Made of Sand," "One Rainy Wish," and the title track set closer show remarkable growth and depth as a tunesmith, harnessing Curtis Mayfield soul guitar to Dylanesque lyrical imagery and Fuzz Face hyperactivity to produce yet another side to his grand psychedelic musical vision. These are tempered with Jimi's most avant-garde tracks yet, "EXP" and the proto-fusion jazz blowout of "If 6 Was 9." AMG.

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Samla Mammas Manna - Klossa Knapitatet 1974

Samla Mammas Manna's third LP is where things really start getting interesting. On Klossa Knapitatet, the meatier tracks have more meat and the crazier ones are better controlled. The group has not lost the wacky experimental side that had become particularly obvious on Maltid, it has simply harnessed it in a different, more efficient way. On the progressive rock level, "Liten Dialektik" ("Small Dialectics") and "Musmjölkningsmaskinen" ("The Mousemilkingmachine") are the two main opuses on the album. Both are strong, complex numbers, with the first one sharing similarities with Supersister's longer pieces, while the second one comes closer to a Scandinavian take on Zappa's fast-paced art-rock. Incidentally, that track segues into "Influenser" ("Influences"), which starts off like one of the Mothers of Invention's conducted improvisations, then evolves into a darker jam. Classical music is also a source of inspiration (or derision): the opening track "Ingenting" ("Nothing") has a mock-opera feel, while "Lang Ner i Ett Kaninhal" ("Way Down a Rabbit Hole") starts in Baroque mode before taking an unexpected (but oh so Samla-esque) turn into the yodeling territory. That last track epitomizes Lars Hollmer's subversive sense of fun. The diversity that could become annoying on Maltid here provides the album's backbone. Samla Mammas Manna is growing as musicians and composers, and growing more able to organize their various ideas and influences into a coherent group identity. Klossa Knapitatet is thus an excellent place to take a first dip into the group's discography, as it is the first of several very good albums. [In January of 2008 the Japanese Arcangelo label reissued Klossa Knapitatet, remastered and packaged in a mini-LP sleeve. This reissue was also included in Arcangelo's eight-disc Samla/Zamla Box, featuring all the albums (also remastered and with some bonus tracks, and packaged in mini-LP sleeves) released by Samla Mammas Manna and Zamla Mammaz Manna between 1971 and 1980, along with the Gregory Fitzpatrick album Bildcirkus.] AMG.

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Joni Mitchell - Miles Of Aisles 1974

A 1974 live effort recorded with backing band the L.A. Express, Miles of Aisles consists of fairly straightforward versions of songs from Canadian songstress Joni Mitchell's first five (pre-Court and Spark) albums. Although the record includes some soulful, Santana-esque lead guitar work from Robben Ford, and an extremely tight rhythm section, the best tracks are the ones where Mitchell is accompanied only by her own acoustic guitar or piano. In this setting, Mitchell is better able, both vocally and emotionally, to navigate the subtle peaks and valleys of her early material.

Standout tracks include a surprisingly (considering how many times she must have had to sing it, even in 1974) heartfelt and sensitive version of "Both Sides Now" and a very sweetly sung "Blue." Although by no means essential compared to her other work, the performances on Miles of Aisles do have a certain offhandedness that may be of interest to those who think Mitchell often takes herself too seriously. AMG,

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S To S - S To S 1978

S TO S was a band that was operating from a town in the southwest of Belgium named Seraing. Both brothers Fluvio and Marco Cannella played the guitar and wanted to make songs that were completely ruled by their guitar playing. Together with Picci on bass and George Abry on drums & vocals they recorded eight of their songs and managed to press a private record of it. The album itself got an initial pressing of 100 copies, as at that time they couldn’t afford more, but it never got a re-press. It was probably recorded in Michel Dickenscheid’s home studio in Ougrée, as it was he who also helped out playing saxophone. All songs got really fast and furious guitar extravaganza. One guitar was playing the riffs while the other played along or played solo’s all over it. There was also one song named “I’m Fool” that sounds completely different than the rest. It was much slower and had a real mystic atmosphere around it, thanks to synths and a psychedelic sax blowing around, just like British rockers Hawkwind. What happened after the release of this remarkable record nobody seems to know. Only George Abry was seen playing the drums around the Liege-area, with local blues bands.

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The Electronic Hole - The Electronic Hole 1970

Raw, noisy, droning and completely mesmerizing album recorded by Phil Pearlman between the first Beat of the Earth album and Relatively Clean Rivers. Pearlman assembled The Electronic Hole in 1969 strictly for personal use – to audition musicians for his new band. To do this, and to add to his own collection of demos, he used local studios in off-hours thanks to his friendship with album engineer Joe Sidore. The result is entirely different from Beat of the Earth, as it abandons a freeform improvisational approach in favor of 'compositions', including a wild cover of Frank Zappa's 'Trouble Every Day'. Pearlman plays sitar to great effect on the album, and another track has the thickest wall of fuzz guitars imaginable – an effect he achieved by running his Fender amplifier out of a child's chord organ ('sounded great for about two weeks, then it blew up!'). Few albums have such an eclectic yet appealing sound. 

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The Youngbloods - The Youngbloods 1967

The New York quartet comes off as a mini-Lovin' Spoonful on their engaging debut, with a deeper touch of melancholy and more prominent electric keyboards. As with the Spoonful, they would have been better off leaving the blues alone, but the rest of the material is good, highlighted by "Get Together" and the achingly tuneful "All Over the World (La-La)." AMG.

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The Fugs - It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest 1968

Having attained a professional rock-band sound on Tenderness Junction, the Fugs seemed determined to further expand their arrangements (aided, perhaps, by a major-label budget) on It Crawled into My Hand, Honest. Indeed, the album is ridiculously eclectic. There are stoned psychedelic folk-rock ("Crystal Liaison"); cry-in-your-beer country music with vehemently satirical or surrealistic lyrics ("Ramses II Is Dead My Love," "Johnny Pissoff Meets the Red Angel"); grand, sweeping classical orchestration ("Burial Waltz"); a Gregorian chant about "Marijuana"; down-home gospel with lyrics that no preacher would dare enunciate ("Wide Wide River," with the line: "I've been swimming in this river of sh*t/More than 20 years and I'm getting tired of it"); and, almost buried along the way, the kind of tuneful, countercultural folk-rock Tuli Kupferberg contributed to earlier albums ("Life Is Strange"). Choral backup vocals abound, and the mere presence of a half-dozen outside arrangers testifies to how much the group's attitude toward exploiting the studio had developed since the bare-bones ESP albums. Generally, the songs (most written by the core trio of Sanders, Kupferberg, and Weaver) are more concerned with deft poetry and humor than political statements, although the customary social satire and calls for sexual freedom and drug use are present in diminishing degrees. Although side one is five discrete tracks, side two is a side-long cut-and-paste of tracks varying in length from three seconds to four minutes, the stylistic jump-cuts similar to those employed by the Mothers of Invention in the same era. It's an impressive and, usually, fun record, but it's also less lyrically cogent and powerful than their early albums. One sense that the Fugs' personality and individuality were ultimately somewhat muted by the more ambitious production values and frequent use of external musicians and arrangers. AMG.

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Nicky Thomas - Images Of You 1973

Nicky Thomas was born Cecil Nicholas Thomas in Portland, Jamaica, in 1949. His first hit in the islands was "Run Nigel Run," produced by Derrick Harriot in 1969, but Thomas' most successful songs were recorded with producer Joe Gibbs, including the wonderful "Love of the Common People," which rode its reggae-pop sound into the U.K. Top Ten in 1970. Following a tour of Britain in support of the single that same year, Thomas decided to stay, and he continued to release his brand of pop-infused reggae from the U.K. until his death in 1990. Sort of a poor man's Jimmy Cliff, Thomas produced a small but infectious body of work, and he deserves to be remembered on the strength of "Love of the Common People" alone, as well as for songs like "BBC," a harsh criticism of Radio 1's treatment of Jamaican reggae artists. AMG.

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Ablution - Ablution 1974

Swedish instrumental jazz rock/fusion/prog band of the 1970s that included former Baltik members Schaffer, Lindh, Brunkert, Gassama as well as English musicians John Gustafson and Peter Robinson.

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Erasmo Carlos - Carlos, Erasmo 1971

After saying a formal goodbye to the teenage glory of the Javem Guarda with the bracing 1970 album Erasmo Carlos & Os Tremendoes, the artist strove to break more new ground the following year with Carlos, Erasmo.... In 1971, the tropicalia movement had undergone massive changes. Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil remained in exile. Gal Costa had evolved from the breathtaking psychedelic tropicalia of her 1969 self-titled album and embraced Yankee-style rock, blues, jazz, and pop with 1970's Legal. Os Mutantes had suffered the loss of Rita Lee. Carlos enlisted their guitarist Sergio Dias, drummer Dinho Lemme, and bassist Liminha (Arnolpho Lima Filho); psych session guitarist Lanny (Alexander Gordin); pianist Regis Moreira; and percussion, horn, and string sections. He brought back arranger Chiquinho de Moraes and hired Arthur Verocai and Brazilian legend Rogério Duprat as well. The entire set was produced by Manoel Barenbein, rightly considered the tropicalia producer. 
This program is easily his most provocative recording to date. Half of it comprises original material co-written with Roberto Carlos; the rest is by the hottest writers on the scene, including Vitor Martins, Taiguara, Marcos and Paulo Sérgio Valle, and Jorge Ben. Veloso, too, sent Carlos a new tune entitled "De Noite Na Cama," which wed fuzzy electric guitars, berimbau, and squawking cuíca in a rock-cum-samba beat. Liminha's sweet waltz "Masculino, Feminino" is delivered as a duet with O Bando's Marisa Fossa, its melody deeply influenced by Neil Young. The first original, "É Preciso Dar um Jeito, Meu Amigo," is a swampy 4/4 rocker with swirling strings, a gritty tenor saxophone break, popping snares, and biting distorted electric guitars. "Dois Animais Na Selva Suja da Rua" contains punchy piano chords, a rumbling bassline, trilling strings, snare breaks, and stinging lead guitars. As wildly different as all these tracks are from one another, they create a foundation for the rest of the album. It never loses focus despite the wide variety of sounds and styles on offer. 
Check the shimmering Rascals-inspired balladic soul in "Gente Aberta," the squalling psych in Ben's "Agora Ninguém Chora Mais," and the greasy funk in "Mundo Deserto." There's 12-string-driven freak folk in "Sodoma e Gomorroa"; hyperactive, angular soul in "Ciça, Cecília" appended by layer upon layer of backing vocals and horns; and fuzzy, jazzy, wah-wah-driven groove in the Valles' "26 Anos De Vida Norma," a true set highlight. "Não Te Quero Santa" is almost a tender look back at the Javem Guarda, but its baroque horns, cinematic strings, and swaying balance of electric and acoustic guitars reflect the influence of post-Sgt. Pepper's Beatles. Carlos, Erasmo... is crazy but kaleidoscopic and complex, the fully mature work of a pop visionary who was not only influenced by tropicalia, but, even late, added significantly to its creative reach. Like its predecessor, the album confounded listeners and was a commercial flop. In the 21st century, it's regarded as a Brazilian rock classic. Even more, it may be Carlos' masterpiece. AMG.

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Cruciferius - A Nice Way of Life 1970

Cruciferius was a French jazz-rock/psych band. Founded in Paris in 1967 by Bernard Paganotti (bass, vocals) and Christian Vander (drums) with the name Cruciférius Lobonz De Prazdek. In the beginning, they played psychedelic soul. A few months later, however, Vander left to form Magma and Patrick Jean took his place. In 1968 the name was shortened to Cruciférius. After an intense live activity (among which three months in Japan) the band in May 1969 recorded at the Studios Barclay & Studio Davout, both in Paris, their only album "A Nice Way Of Life" (1970). Disbanded in the early months of 1970.

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Denny Laine - Ahh... Laine 1973

Denny Laine did not know this album was released on Warner Bros until 1989. He surmised that the late Tony Secunda, manager for the Moody Blues when Laine was in the band, sold the U.S. rights to Warner Bros. (The original pressing was released in 1973 on Wizard Records in Europe.) Laine is wearing a Wings T-shirt on the front cover and it is amazing that he didn't perform some of these songs with Paul & Linda McCartney when they were all together. "Find a Way Somehow" has that "Let Me Roll It to You" sound from Wings' Red Rose Speedway. But the best track here is "Baby Caroline," which rivals a song called "Blue Nights," not on this collection, and one of Laine's most perfect moments. His voice is in great shape -- bluesy, defined, and in sync with the tunes. "Havin' Heaven" bops and is a good departure from the mellow leanings Laine's music gravitates toward. As a founder of the Moody Blues and singer of their first hit, "Go Now," Laine, like Chad Allen of the Guess Who, found himself shifting gears after finding success. Allen's music is also substantial, and although Laine penned "Say You Don't Mind," a hit for Colin Blunstone, this album is very much like Allen's work on Brave Belt: underrated and underappreciated. "On That Early Morn" has a tasty guitar and a '50s feel. It really is astounding that while his band was hitting number one with Band on the Run, Laine had no idea he had an album out in America (which was one of Warner Bros' biggest failures of that year). Laine performing "The Blues" and "Sons of Elton Haven Brown" on stage, maybe as the opening act for Wings that year, could have changed rock history. This is music straight from the heart. AMG

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Sea Dog - Sea Dog 1972

In the early to mid-1960s, many kids in this boring little industry town were obsessed with the "British Invasion" musical movement; then taking over the world. So blown away by groups like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and The Dave Clark Five, these kids were, that many would go on to pick up instruments and form bands of their own. Inferno 5+1, East African Fair, Taxi/Tote Family, Marketville Riot, Aaron Space, and Nickel; just to name a few! Sea Dog was among the groups to rise from the ashes of these initial groups.

Sea Dog was formed in 1971; consisting of ex-members of the Tote Family group. Founding member Jim Norris formed "Taxi." By 1968, the group had become staples on the local scene in Sudbury. Constant sold-out shows, exposure, and good reviews from local publications convinced them to move to Toronto briefly to try their luck. Upon the album's release, it failed to perform as well as many had hoped. It didn't chart in many markets, and the ones it did chart in were high at best. Undeterred, the band got back out to perform. Soon they'd receive offers to open for the likes of April Wine, Crowbar, Lighthouse, A Foot In Coldwater, and Fludd; eventually opening for Brutus and Rush. They were also a hot commodity when American groups came to Canada; opening for Bob Seger, Ike and Tina Turner, Sly and the Family Stone, and Danny & The Juniors. An interesting album.

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Good Dog Banned - Good Dog Banned 1973

Although it ran parallel with the back-to-basics feeling that permeated the early '70s, Good Dog Banned arrived at a distinctive strain of organic rock that was much more joyous and good-timey than many of their musicians-in-arms. Their one stab at rock & roll immortality, Good Dog Banned seems oblivious to any sense of anger at the "failure" of the '60s dream to take complete effect as of 1971. Whereas some '60s expatriates were decrying the cultural revolution, Good Dog Banned was singing "Things Ain't so Bad," heading down to the river and drinking wine. There is no nostalgia, no cynicism present. The band was untethered, ingenuous. Perhaps it could be viewed as rose-colored hippie denial, but in retrospect, the pure, unselfconscious charisma and the lack of piety that Good Dog Banned inject into their only effort make it seem less of its time than other bands of this ilk. Still, a lot of love and togetherness are espoused in Good Dog Banned's lyrics (cynics beware), and the members do seem to have a tightness that only comes from "Livin' in Harmony," as they sing on the final song on the album. Each of the members takes a stab at the singing lead, and each is a solid vocalist, but it is Lee Marks' wonderful, soul-drenched voice (like Bob Mosley in his softer moments) that is the clear standout. The music has the same funky, loose ensemble playing -- from the sprinkling guitar chords on long groover "Smokestacks" to the steel pedal-led country-rock groove of "Rust & Decay" -- and the same old-time country-boy sunniness of the Band and same-period Grateful Dead, only with more prevalent saxophone that keeps the music from seeming overtly wistful or nostalgic, not throwback as much as laid-back. The album is not wholly consistent -- "Don't Burn Baby Grow" seems more silly than anything else, and a couple of the cuts inch somewhat too close to the inane boogie of Grand Funk Railroad -- but, on the whole, Good Dog Banned is draped in the moonlit country soul. AMG.

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Banana and the Bunch - Mid-Mountain Ranch (1972)

Formed in the USA in 1973, Banana And The Bunch comprised Lowell ‘Banana’ Levinger (b. 1946, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; keyboards), Michael Kane (bass), and Joe Bauer (b. 26 September 1941, Memphis, Tennessee, USA; drums), each of whom was concurrently members of the Youngbloods. Recorded as the parent band was about to expire, Mid-Mountain Ranch was a refreshing collection, blending bluegrass and folk with considerable joie de vivre. The trio also accompanied Bauer on his solo album, Moonset, and later recorded an avant-garde set, Crab Tunes, under the name Noggins. They each then retired from active music; Levinger operated a hang-gliding business, Kane became a green-keeper, and Bauer constructed houses. AMG.

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Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash 1969

The Crosby, Stills & Nash triumvirate shot to immediate superstardom with the release of its self-titled debut LP, a sparkling set immortalizing the group's amazingly close, high harmonies. While elements of the record haven't dated well -- Nash's Eastern-influenced musings on the hit "Marrakesh Express" now seem more than a little silly, while the antiwar sentiments of "Wooden Ships," though well-intentioned, are rather hokey -- the harmonies are absolutely timeless, and the best material remains rock-solid. Stills' gorgeous opener, "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," in particular, is an epic love song remarkable in its musical and emotional intricacy, Nash's "Pre-Road Downs" is buoyant folk-pop underpinned by light psychedelic textures, and Crosby's "Long Time Gone" remains a potent indictment of the assassination of Robert Kennedy. A definitive document of its era. AMG.

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Steppenwolf - 7 (1970)

Steppenwolf only recorded seven discs for Dunhill Records in the short span between 1968 and 1971, six of them studio albums, and one allegedly "live" -- though there was early Sparrow material recorded in May of 1967 not released by the label until 1972. Throw in a greatest-hits package along with Columbia's reissue of yet more Sparrow recordings, and how they came up with Steppenwolf 7 for the title of this, their fifth studio recording for Dunhill, is a question for hardcore fans of the band to debate (don't even bring the movie soundtracks into this equation). Richard Podolor has taken the production reins from Gabriel Mekler, as he did with Three Dog Night, but where the producer was able to take Hoyt Axton's "Joy to the World" to number one in a notable six weeks in 1971 with the vocal trio and labelmates of this group, the author of "The Pusher," Axton, is represented here by his "Snowblind Friend," a topic not likely to get Steppenwolf chart action. And that's the dilemma with Steppenwolf 7. This is a very worthwhile Steppenwolf recording, chock-full of their trademark sound, but nothing that was going to penetrate the Top 40. John Kay and guitarist Larry Byron (listed on the song credits as Larry Byrom and on the live album as Byron -- take your pick, he's a notable session player) co-write five of these nine tunes, "Ball Crusher" being what you expect, as is "Fat Jack," Byrom's only co-write here with new bassist George Biondo (and perhaps one of them on the vocals, as it certainly isn't John Kay.) A nice, thick Goldy McJohn keyboard and solid beat still don't give this tune enough of an identity to be considered hit material. Kay and Byrom do a better job of heading in that direction with their "Foggy Mental Breakdown" and "Hippo Stomp," while Byrom's instrumental, "Earschplittenloudenboomer," had the attitude to be the next "Born to Be Wild," just not enough of the magic -- not explosive enough and no sneering Kay vocal to bring it home. What is happening here is that John Kay is heading in the direction of his 1972 solo disc, Forgotten Songs & Unsung Heroes, especially on the cover of Roth's "Forty Days and Forty Nights" and the country-ish "Snowblind Friend," which is the other side of Hoyt Axton's "The Pusher," the effect of cocaine on the victim/user. Kay and Byrom come back with more driving rock in "Who Needs Ya?," played well and listenable, but just missing the edge that gave "Rock Me" and "Magic Carpet Ride" their specialness. The blueish images of the bandmembers in a desolate area with two skulls above them on the album cover make an interesting statement. Steppenwolf 7 is an intriguing collection of album tracks showing the two sides of John Kay -- the hard rock singer and the artist setting his sights on interpreting other musical styles. It came at a moment when the band needed to redefine itself on the AM band, but opted instead to just put out a decent product and take few risks.

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Trees - On The Shore 1970

Although success eluded them during their early-'70s run, the brief catalog of British folk-rock band Trees managed to age gracefully into cult status over the ensuing years. Like their contemporaries Fairport Convention, the London quintet combined traditional folk music with guitar-driven rock, adding their own progressive and psychedelic flair into the mix. After a pair of albums for CBS, they disbanded in 1973. While Trees never re-formed, they enjoyed a resurgence in the late 2000s after American soul duo Gnarls Barkley sampled one of their songs on their hit 2007 album St. Elsewhere. In 2020, Trees celebrated their legacy with a 50th-anniversary box set containing both of their albums and an array of rare and unreleased material. 
Formed in London in early 1969 just as the folk-rock boom was ramping up, Trees' initial lineup comprised singer Celia Humphris, guitarists Barry Clarke and David Costa, bassist Bias Boshell, and drummer Unwin Brown. Playing a mix of British traditional music and psych-folk originals usually penned by Boshell, they quickly became a staple of the university touring circuit and were signed to CBS in August of that year. Their debut album, The Garden of Jane Delawney, appeared in April 1970 and was produced by Tony Cox, a key player in the folk-rock scene and emerging prog-rock movement. With their female-fronted electric folk sound, they drew obvious comparisons to the then-influential Fairport Convention, but there was also a progressive edge to Trees' music which often veered off into jammy psychedelic and what would in later years be referred to as acid-folk. As a live unit, they spent much of 1970 and 1971 supporting bigger acts on bills around the country including Pink Floyd, Genesis, Fotheringay, Fleetwood Mac, and Procol Harum. Their follow-up, 1971's On the Shore, was also produced by Cox and, like their debut, failed to find a larger audience leading Trees to disband later that year. Humphris and Clarke went on to lead a second iteration of Trees in 1972, though aside from some live bootlegs and contributions to Phil Trainer's solo album, they never released any material and broke up in 1973. Over the years, the group's legacy took on a cult band luster as younger generations discovered their albums. A few of its members enjoyed sustained careers in music with Boshell joining Kiki Dee's band and writing her hit "I've Got the Music in Me" and later joining both Barclay James Harvest and the Moody Blues. Clarke and Costa played together for a time and Costa remained in the music industry as a popular art director. Trees enjoyed a sudden boost in 2007 when Gnarls Barkley sampled their track "Geordie" on their breakout St. Elsewhere album. In 2020, a half-century after their debut, Earth Recordings put together an eponymous four-disc box set that included both studio albums, various live and demo recordings, and other Trees rarities. AMG. 

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