Stevie Wright - Hard road 1973

From 1965-1969 he was the lead singer for the Sydney-based rock and roll band The Easybeats, widely regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the Sixties.
During his time with The Easybeats he was popularly and affectionately known as "Little Stevie". Hard Road is the debut solo album from Asinger Stevie Wright. The album's first single "Evie (Part 1)" was hugely successful and the title track was later covered on Rod Stewart's 1974 album Smiler. The album itself reach #2 on the Australian albums charts in 1974 was the 16th highest selling album in Australia that year. The compact disc is currently out-of-print and has become quite rare. A digital edition was available on iTunes as of June, 2014.

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Ben Webster - Stormy Weather 1965

Recorded around a month after the veteran tenor Ben Webster moved to Europe, this high-quality set with pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Niels Pederson, and drummer Alex Riel features Webster stretching out on the traditional "Londonderry Air," two originals, and seven familiar but fresh standards. Webster, although neglected in the U.S., was still in peak form in the mid-'60s, as this and his other Black Lion sets covering the period show. AMG.

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American Dream - American Dream 1970

Todd Rundgren produced this lost Philadelphia band’s only album back in 1970 off the Ampex record label. The American Dream’s album blends power pop, lite psychedelia, blazing hard rockers, folk-rock and roots music effectively throughout its 12 songs (almost 50 minutes of good music!).
Key influences are not a surprise, as listeners may hear strands of Crosby Stills Nash and Young, the Nazz, and the Beatles. The playing is full of youthful energy and the band manages to balance out hard rockers with attractive folk-rock power ballads. Raspberries has a slight psychedelic hangover, as it begins with a phased drum intro and showcases some wigged out guitar playing. Other quality songs like the Other Side, Storm (full of great Beatles-like melodies), I Ain’t Searchin’ and I Am You are predominately acoustic, tastefully arranged and have some great hook laden CSNY harmonies. Good News, a song that begins with a telephone conversation, eventually segues into some pretty country-rock harmonies. It’s a typical relationship hard rocker in which the band humorously shouts out “don’t be a jerkoff” at the end of the chorus. The third track of the original lp is the real highlight of this very solid collection. Big Brother has classic late 60’s psych lyrics (“listen to the words he is saying, conjuring the games he is playing”) and intense early Who power chords (it really sounds like an excellent Nazz outtake) that make it a real killer and a treat for fans of British rock.
The American Dream stood out from the local crowd with their strong, exciting songwriting and 3 guitar lineup.

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Count Ossie & Mystic Revelation of Rastafari - Tales Of Mozambique 1976

The triple LP Grounation is generally considered the essential Count Ossie set, but that shouldn't sway the listener from checking out Tales of Mozambique. They are, after all, very similar recordings. Grounation, as it turns out, was the first session -- save for some sporadic field recordings -- to really give nyahbinghi drumming a quality recording date. It was the first LP of its kind produced for public consumption aside from, again, releases on labels like Folkways or UNESCO, which do not generally find their way to the Jamaican or U.K. public. As a result, it holds a sacred place in Jamaican music history that later recordings, regardless of their comparable quality, simply cannot live up to (rather, it seems, like any fusion recording Miles Davis made after Bitches Brew; many of them are of equal or better quality, but the first one is the one that sticks in the minds of the people). That said, Tales of Mozambique, like its predecessor, combined traditional Rastafarian drumming with chanting vocals and, on occasion, horns. The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari was essentially Ossie's crew of drummers and Cedric Brooks' Mystics band. The result is a traditional nyahbinghi group augmented by bass and horns. On some numbers, like "Selamnnwawadada (Peace and Love)," the addition of the Mysticsis hardly noticeable, but on others, such as "No Night in Zion" or "I Am a Warrior," an almost free funk tendency emerges. Fans of Sun Ra's early Saturn work (e.g., Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy/Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow) or certain Art Ensemble of Chicago records (e.g., Certain Blacks) will find a great deal to enjoy here. These are very loose, loping arrangements that should, with any luck, find a new home with modern beat-conscious fans. AMG.

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The American Revolution - The American Revolution 1968

Signed by the MGM-affiliated Flick Disc label, the quartet's 1968 debut "The American Revolution" found the quartet working with four separate producers (Harley Hatcher, the team of Mike Lloyd and Mike Curb, and Larry Brown). Musically the collection was all over the spectrum, including haphazard stabs at Rascals-styled blue-eyed soul ("Come On and Get It"), Beatles-styled psychedelia (the hysterically inept "In the Late Afternoon" and "Opus #1") and Buckinghams-styled horns ("Love Has Got Me Down). Unfortunately, while all four principles sang, none could really hold a tune (be sure to check-out their attempt at close-knit harmonies on "Crying Eyes and an Empty Heart"). Combined with the fact they couldn't write worth a damn and their choices of outside material sucked, and you were left with an album that was largely unlistenable. Give them an extra star for the hopelessly dated album cover. Of course today the project's earnestness is hysterical. Richard Barcelona turned up in one of the later (post GNP Crescendo) line-ups of the Seeds.

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Barbara Acklin - Love Makes A Woman 1968

Always classy and elegant, Barbara Acklin's debut album, Love Makes a Woman could survive on the reputation of the title track alone. One of the premier recordings of writer/producer Carl Davis, "Love Makes a Woman" features the bright horns and relaxed rhythms that are hallmarks of his productions for the Brunswick label. Coupled with Acklin's tense, confident delivery, the results are one of pop-soul's true shining moments. Well-written originals here, like "Be By My Side" and "Come and See Me Baby," more than stand up to covers from the Bacharach/David canon, making this one of the most solid soul debuts ever released. AMG.

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Art Bears - Winter Songs 1979

Finding distribution on the Residents' Ralph Records label, the Art Bears' second album consists of 12 songs of various tensions: rest vs. speed, improv vs. pulse, space vs. density, Dagmar Kraus's vocals vs. everyone else. As usual, Chris Cutler's lyrics tell political allegories through medieval-tinged stories: slaves, castles, and wheels of fortune (and industry) dominate. Fred Frith explores discordance through his guitar, and European folk figures through his always enjoyable violin. Though not as confrontational as their other work, the centerpiece has to be the frantic "Rats and Monkeys" with three minutes of teeth-gritting, out-of-control insanity as all three players are plugged into a wall outlet and let rip. A guaranteed lease breaker if played often enough. [Winter Songs was included in the Art Box box set along with Hopes & Fears and The World as It Is Today -- with all three in remastered form -- released by ReR in 2004.] AMG.

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Danny Cox - Feel So Good 1974

Unlike some of the other releases by Danny Cox, this one mostly features his original songs. There is one Bob Dylan song, though, continuing his interest in that repertoire. When it comes to his cover versions of Dylan and other artists, Cox is frequently knocked for simply being nothing special, despite possessing an attractive voice. As a songwriter, it can also be said that all he brings to the table are riffs, ideas, and melodies that have already gone through more than a full day's run on the buffet, so to speak.

The production team of Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise give Cox a full-scale, elaborate production typical of the Casablanca label. Tunes such as "Hot Down in Chile" indicate at least a willingness to experiment, although not in any kind of memorable way. Cox aims for a kind of command over everything, like an Otis Redding track, but the results are usually just perfunctory. The material fails to stimulate any interest in the singer as a human being or personality, while over-use of female background singers in the arrangements squeeze him out of any emotive headroom. AMG.

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Anglo Saxon Brown - Songs For Evolution 1976

Philly soul combo Anglo-Saxon Brown began their career in Richmond, Virginia under the nameUjima, formed in 1972 by bassist and frontman Carlton Robinson, guitarists Clemente Burneette andAnthony Ingram, keyboardist Dwight Smith, saxophonist Charles Manns, trumpeter Alvin Brown, and drummer Clemente Burneette. Ujima itself evolved from the late-'60s Richmond soul outfit Stacy Henry and the Majestics, who cut a series of singles for the Flippin' label; following the 1973 addition of vocalist Debra Henry, Ujima signed to Epic and issued a number of little-heard singles including "Hip to Your Ways," "I'm Not Ready," "A Shoulder to Lean On" and "Somebody Tell That Girl That I'm Gone." Inspired in part by the success of fellow Richmond native Major Harris, who, upon relocating to Philadelphia, soared to chart success as a member of the Delfonics, and as a solo act. Ujima likewise packed their bags for the City of Brotherly Love, and in 1976 rechristened themselves Anglo-Saxon Brown, with a lineup that featured Henry, Robinson, Smith, Manns, Clemente Burneette, Alvin Brown, and new drummer Tyrone Durham. Working with the writing and producing team of Joe Jefferson and Charles Simmons, Anglo-Saxon Brown recorded their lone Atlantic LP, Songs for Evolution, in 1976 -- a now highly-collectible document of mid-1970s Philly soul. The record made little impact on its original release, and the group mutated yet again, this time swapping Robinson for new bassist Melvin Watson, and adopting the name Silk. This iteration's sole LP Midnight Dancer appeared on Philadelphia International in 1979 and yielded the minor hit "I Can't Stop Turning You On." AMG.

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Ache - Green Man 1971

The seeds for Ache were sown in the early 60's via the Danish beat group The Harlows. When Harlows Torsten Olafsson (bass), Peter Mellin (organ) and Glenn Fischer (drums) were joined by former Mckenzie Set guitarist Finn Olafsson in 1968, Ache was born.

They spent the next two years working on an extended piece called "De Homine Urbano", which was released as programme music to an experimental "rock ballet" in 1970. Released on the Philips label the same year with an accompanying single of non-album tracks, it netted positive reviews in the Danish press. Ache's "rock theater" created something of a sensation in the rock underground, and "Green Man" followed in 1971. The next major Ache project, by a revised six-piece version of the band, was a conceptual work called "Pictures From Cyclus 7", written in collaboration with lyricist Bo Lillesöe in 1975 and released one year later.

Ache have remained active on and off, albeit sporadically, ever since. Their only other major work (i.e.: not counting singles and compilations) has been "Blå som altid", a folk-oriented album released in 1978.

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Brainticket - Cottonwoodhill 1971

Cottonwoodhill is one of the trippiest records ever made, capturing the intensity of the peak LSD experience far more successfully than any Timothy Leary recording, and even today, when many such documents from that era can sound silly and dated, Brainticket's fascinating debut still holds hallucinogenic potency. The record has only two proper songs, "Black Sand" and "Places of Light," with a side and a half of the album taken up by the three-part "Brainticket." "Black Sand" opens the disc with a driving funk beat and powerful organ and guitar interplay, adding in vocals distorted beyond coherency. "Places of Light" begins in a slightly lighter vein as a flute leads the proceedings, a looser jazzier piece that throws in some of Dawn Muir's odd spoken word vocals. Before one realizes what has happened, the piece has faded out and there is suddenly a crashing sound, car horns, and engines starting up. "Brainticket" is a bizarre roller coaster ride through weird sound effects and electronics, an endless organ riff, and Muir's acid-rush ramblings from hushed whisper to urgent screams, as any coherency she had earlier becomes lost to mind-expanding visions. Rather than the laid-back mellow groove of some psychedelic music from this era, Cottonwoodhill has a hyper energy in the frenetic organ riff and Muir's voice, like an acid trip out of control, while at times the various sound effects take over completely. AMG.

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Alex Harvey - Hair Rave-Up 1969

Alex Harvey was a British journeyman rocker who enjoyed a brief period of widespread popularity in the mid-'70s after decades of struggle. Growing up in Scotland, he turned to music in his late teens and was in a skiffle band by 1955. By 1959, it had evolved into the Alex Harvey Big Soul Band. Harvey took the group to Hamburg, West Germany in the early '60s, there recording his first LP, Alex Harvey and His Soul Band, in the fall of 1963, which did not feature the band. He and his group made their London debut in February 1964, and the same year he recorded The Blues, which essentially was a solo record. In 1965, Harvey dissolved the Big Soul Band and later returned to Glasgow. But he was back in London in 1967, assembling Giant Moth, a psychedelic group that existed only for a short time. He then accepted a job working in the pit band of the musical Hair and while doing so recorded Having a Hair Rave up Live from the Shaftsbury Theatre. In 1969, he released Roman Wall Blues, his first solo effort in five years. Up to this point, none of his musical efforts had attracted much attention. But in the early '70s, he recruited the Scottish band Tear Gas -- consisting of Zal Cleminson, Chris Glen, Hugh McKenna, and Ted McKenna -- christening the resulting quintet the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

In 1977, Harvey and the band recorded separately, SAHB without Alex (as it was billed) issuing Fourplay, while the leader made Alex Harvey Presents the Loch Ness Monster. A final album together, Rock Drill, was followed by the group's breakup. Harvey was back with his New Band in 1979 and an album called The Mafia Stole My Guitar, but his moment, so long in coming, had passed. Nevertheless, he kept on rocking and was on tour in Belgium when he succumbed to a heart attack in 1982 just before his 47th birthdayTheir first two albums, Framed (1972) and Next (1973), didn't sell, but in the fall of 1974 The Impossible Dream becameHarvey's first chart record in the U.K. (It briefly made the American charts in March 1975.) Tomorrow Belongs to Mefollowed in the spring of 1975, hitting the Top Ten along with the Top Ten singles placing of Harvey's flamboyant cover of the Tom Jones hit "Delilah." With that, Next belatedly made the charts, and in September Sensational Alex Harvey Band Live came out and reached the Top 20 (also making the Top 100 in the U.S), as "Gamblin' Bar Room Blues" became a Top 40 single. This commercial success continued into 1976, withPenthouse Tapes entering the LP charts in April and becoming a Top 20 hit, "Boston Tea Party" making the singles charts in June and making a Top 20 showing, and SAHB Stories following in July and just missing the Top Ten.

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American Spring - Spring 1972

Spring (known outside of the United States and in subsequent reissues as American Spring) is the first and only album by American pop duo American Spring (then known as "Spring") released in July 1972. Largely ignored at the time of its release, it has now come to be seen as a valuable collector's item due to Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys' participation.

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Carolyn Hester - This Life I'm Living 1963

Hester's second Columbia album was similar to her first, but has gotten far less attention by historians, probably for the unfair but simple reason that Bob Dylan played on a few tracks on the first Columbia LP, but is not on the second. Again she played an assortment of traditional folk numbers, her vocals and guitar backed by light accompaniment from bass, another guitarist (Bruce Langhorne, famous for his work on early Dylan electric folk-rock sessions), and even an itsy bitsy bit of percussion. Actually, it has an edge on the first Columbia album because Hester favors moodier material that's usually heavy on the minor melodies. "East Virginia" (which she would re-record in the late 1960s in a folk-rock-psychedelic arrangement with the Carolyn Hester Coalition) and "Coo-Coo" are the only instantly familiar standards here; she also gets into something of a Latin/world music vein with "Pera Stous" and "Tumbando Cana." The entire album, along with unreleased outtakes of two songs left off the LP ("Summertime" and Buddy Holly's "Lonesome Tears"), is available as part of Bear Family's two-CDDear Companion anthology. AMG.

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Cold Sun - Dark Shadows 1970

An obscure but legendary psychedelic progressive outfit Cold Sun, based on Austin, Texas, had been active for only a few years around 1970. Bill Miller(autoharps, voices), who was a freak of 13th Floor Elevators and later known as one of backing members of Roky Erickson, formed a psychedelic rock band Couldron with his mate Tom McGarrigle (guitar) in 1968. Soon they changed the name into Amethyst and appeared on stage of LL Club, a psychedelic club in Austin, as a follower of Elevators. Since then Bill had gotten to play autoharps, one of key instruments for psychedelic rock, with some eccentric chords amplified.

In 1969, Amethyst recruited Mike Waugh (bass), who could take John Ike Walton (drums, percussion), one of the members of early Elevators. They signed with an independent record label Sonobeat, that were familiar with John, with their band name changed into Cold Sun. Their one and only album 'Dark Shadows' was recorded during 1970, with a new drummer Hugh Patton instead of John, but what a pity Cold Sun could not release this album then for the sake of Sonobeat's bankruptcy, and they broke up in 1973 like the sunset.

'Dark Shadows', psychedelic legendary material, at last could see the light in 2008 published by German label World In Sound.

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