Pidgeon - Pidgeon 1969

Pidgeon's obscure, sole self-titled album is most notable for marking the recording debut of Jobriath(here billed as Jobriath Salisbury), who five years later became notorious as a failed glam rocker whose debut solo album didn't come close to justifying its hype and promotional budget. In Pidgeon, however, he was just an ordinary if somewhat effete pop-psychedelic singer/songwriter, also playing keyboards and guitar on the record. Falling on the somewhat heavier and more psychedelic side of sunshine pop, perhaps, it's a record of unsatisfyingly busy, restless songs, written by Jobriath with lyricist Richard T. Marshall. Many of the tracks employ tinny harpsichord and male-female harmonies (with autoharpist Cheri Gage) that are blatantly imitative of the Mamas & the Papas; occasionally, there are more distant echoes of Jefferson Airplane, with Jobriath sometimes faintly approaching the stridency of Marty Balin's vocal style. At times, it's like hearing an unholy collision of the Mamas & the Papas and the Left Banke, but without the rigorous structure and concision John Phillips and Michael Brown were able to bring to those group's compositions and arrangements. Certainly the slightly melodramatic high lead vocals are identifiably Jobriathian even at this stage, but this is really only for serious collectors of either Jobriath or late-'60s Californian psychedelic pop. AMG.

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Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs 1970

Wisely, The Madcap Laughs doesn't even try to sound like a consistent record. Half the album was recorded by Barrett's former bandmates Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour, and the other half by Harvest Records head Malcolm Jones. Surprisingly, Jones' tracks are song for song much stronger than the more-lauded Floyd entries. The opening "Terrapin" seems to go on three times as long as its five-minute length, creating a hypnotic effect through Barrett's simple, repetitive guitar figure and stream of consciousness lyrics. The much bouncier "Love You" sounds like a sunny little Carnaby Street pop song along the lines of an early Move single, complete with music hall piano, until the listener tries to parse the lyrics and realizes that they make no sense at all. The downright Kinksy"Here I Go" is in the same style, although it's both more lyrically direct and musically freaky, speeding up and slowing down seemingly at random. Like many of the "band" tracks, "Here I Go" is a Barrett solo performance with overdubs by Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, and Robert Wyatt of the Soft Machine; the combination doesn't always particularly work, as the Softs' jazzy, improvisational style is hemmed in by having to follow Barrett's predetermined lead, so on several tracks, like "No Good Trying," they content themselves with simply making weird noises in the background. The solo tracks are what made the album's reputation, though, particularly the horrifying "Dark Globe," a first-person portrait of schizophrenia that's seemingly the most self-aware song this normally whimsical songwriter ever created. Honestly, however, the other solo tracks are the album's weakest tracks, with the exception of the plain gorgeous "Golden Hair," a musical setting of a James Joyce poem that's simply spellbinding. The album falls apart with the appalling "Feel." Frankly, the inclusion of false starts and studio chatter, not to mention some simply horrible off-key singing by Barrett, makes this already marginal track feel disgustingly exploitative. But for that misstep, however, The Madcap Laughs is a surprisingly effective record that holds up better than its "ooh, lookit the scary crazy person" reputation suggests. AMG.

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Rolf Kühn Quintett - Solarius 1965

Rolf Kuhn's style has evolved through the years. The clarinetist started out playing in German dance bands in the late '40s. He worked with radio orchestras starting in 1952 and moved to the U.S. in 1956.Kuhn subbed for Benny Goodman on a few occasions during 1957-1958, played in the Tommy Dorsey ghost band (1958), and worked in a big band led by Urbie Green (1958-1960). In 1962, Kuhnreturned to Germany, where he has explored more adventurous styles of jazz (including dates with his younger brother, keyboardist Joachim Kuhn) but still occasionally shows off his ties to swing. Kuhnrecorded with an all-star group called Winner's Circle (1957), Toshiko Akiyoshi (1958), and as a leader starting in 1953, including a 1956 New York quartet date for Vanguard. AMG.

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The Falcons - Fever 1970

Largely a top twenty covers band, originally modelled on The Shadows, The Falcons were formed in the Summer of 1960 and played at The Burnside Club Rosyth in their early days (transporting their gear in a pram!). Trevor Forster (a Rosyth Dockyard electrician) originally joined on tenor saxophone in 1961 (though he was a clarinet player who didn't then play sax!) then took over vocals from Dusty Love when he left to join the merchant Navy. The (semi-professional) Falcons rode the beat-group wave to local fame at The Kinema Ballroom in Dunfermline (where they also rehearsed), playing there some 255 times. They also played at US Air-Force bases on a French tour. At one time they were able to play for four hours without repeating material.

They made their BBC radio debut on 12th March 1964 and appeared on Scottish Television a week later. Trevor left the band in 1964 for a position with The Red Hawks for a year before leading his own Edinburgh-based eight-piece band and rejoining The Falcons in 1967. The band split in 1968 sometime after their last ballroom appearance on Sunday 18th of August, re-emerging as 'The JB Memorial' until late 1971. Trevor then played as a duo with Dougie Wright which evolved into the band 'Scope' for ten years.

Following the 'Sixties Experience' gig to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the building of the ballroom extension in 1964, Trevor was inspired to reform the band. He got some friends together in late 2004 / early 2005 and were unleashed to the public after some six months of rehearsals in late July 2005, with Falcons old & new, playing local venues with a repertoire including covers from the 60s, 70s & 80s by The Move, The Small Faces (or 'Wee Coupons' as Davie likes top call them), Pink Floyd, The Eagles ('their cousins'), The Hollies and many others. Original bassist Peter 'Bud' Heaps now plays with rock n roll outfit 'Des & The Dingoes'.

They've recorded a couple of live albums which are now available. I've seen them at The Carnegie Hall Dunfermline with 'Lights Out By Nine' & 'The Stevie Agnew Band' on 29th September 2006 and at PJ Molloys in Dunfermline on Friday 29th December 2006 and they were absolutely top drawer. Do yourself a favour and see them soon.

Sadly, Pete Hunter (originally from Lumphinnans) died in the Victoria Hospice Kirkcaldy on December 18th 2007. He had moved house from Norwich to rejoin the band in 2006. Early in 2008, drumming duties were taken up by relative youngster Wayne Robertson and the story rocks & rolls on.

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SOD - Face The Music 1972

SOD were a horn-rock band originally out of the Vegas area. Their debut album, simply titled SOD, begins with a massive drum break that makes it a prized possession for those who collect such things. Interesting album.

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Peggy's Leg - Grinilla 1973

The Irish quartet Peggy's Leg issued a rare 1973 album, Grinilla, pressed in a quantity of only 500 copies, and sold primarily to fans in their region. The record's a dull fusion of progressive rock with mellower folk-rock-ish sounds, dominated by lengthy multi-sectioned tracks, and prone to some simplistic hippie-dippy lyrical philosophizing. Lead guitarist Jimi Slevin went on to join Skid Row. AMG.

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The Funkees - Now I'm A Man 1976

Has there ever been a band as aptly named as The Funkees? Formed after the Biafran War to raise spirits in the east, they quickly conquered the dance floors of Lagos and in 1973 headed to London, playing at Ronnie Scott’s and tearing up the local scene.
Now I’m A Man captures the band at the height of their London-era pomp. Africans were making soca, West Indians were playing afro-funk and discolypso blasted from boom boxes across West London. The Funkees soaked it all up and delivered back, funkier, tighter and louder.
Bookended by two Santana-esque jams, ‘I’m A Man’ and ‘303’, The Funkees second album delivers slow burning Afrobeat (‘Mimbo’), urgent jungle bongo chants (‘Salam’) and straight-ahead floor-fillers (Dance With Me.) Little wonder that legendary BBC Radio 1 DJ, John Peel, recorded not one, but two sessions with them.
A year later, The Funkees were no more. Jake Sollo joined Osibisa. Sonny Akpabio and Harry Mosco pursued successful solo careers. (A PMG reissue of Country Boy is coming soon.) But on Now I’m A Man they burned brightly as Nigeria’s most talented, inventive and funky band.

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Joshua - Opens Your Mind 1969

Heavy Psychedelic rock released by Rockadelic records . Musically in the vein of Josefus or Stone Garden. Band tapes and Live takes make up this album. These guys were friends of Blue Cheer and thats clear when you hear this album.

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Esther Phillips - Capricorn Princess 1976

Esther Phillips was perhaps too versatile for her own good, at least commercially speaking; while she was adept at singing blues, early R&B, gritty soul, jazz, straight-up pop, disco, and even country, her record companies often lacked a clear idea of how to market her, which prevented her from reaching as wide an audience as she otherwise might have. An acquired taste for some, Phillips' voice had an idiosyncratic, nasal quality that often earned comparisons to Nina Simone, although she herself counted Dinah Washington as a chief inspiration. Phillips' career began when she was very young and by some accounts, she was already battling drug addiction during her teenage years; whenever her problems took root, the lasting impact on her health claimed her life before the age of 50.

Esther Phillips was born Esther Mae Jones in Galveston, TX, on December 23, 1935, and began singing in church as a young child. When her parents divorced, she split time between her father in Houston and her mother in the Watts area of Los Angeles. It was while she was living in Los Angeles in 1949 that her sister entered her in a talent show at a nightclub belonging to bluesman Johnny Otis. So impressed was Otis with the 13-year-old that he brought her into the studio for a recording session with Modern Records and added her to his live revue. Billed as Little Esther, she scored her first success when she was teamed with the vocal quartet the Robins (who later evolved into the Coasters) on the Savoy single "Double Crossin' Blues." It was a massive hit, topping the R&B charts in early 1950 and paving the way for a series of successful singles bearing Little Esther's name: "Mistrustin' Blues," "Misery," "Cupid Boogie," and "Deceivin' Blues." In 1951, Little Esther moved from Savoy to Federal after a dispute over royalties, but despite being the brightest female star in Otis' revue, she was unable to duplicate her impressive string of hits. Furthermore, she and Otis had a falling out, reportedly over money, which led to her departure from his show; she remained with Federal for a time, then moved to Decca in 1953, again with little success. In 1954, she returned to Houston to live with her father, having already developed a fondness for the temptations of life on the road; by the late '50s, her experiments with hard drugs had developed into a definite addiction to heroin. She re-signed with Savoy in 1956, to little avail, and went on to cut sides for Federal and (in 1960) Warwick, which went largely ignored. Short on money, Little Esther worked in small nightclubs around the South, punctuated by periodic hospital stays in Lexington, KY, stemming from her addiction. In 1962, she was rediscovered while singing at a Houston club by future country star Kenny Rogers, who got her signed to his brother's Lenox label. Too old to be called Little Esther, she re-christened herself Esther Phillips, choosing her last name from a nearby Phillips gas station.Phillips recorded a country-soul reading of the soon-to-be standard "Release Me," which was released as a single late in the year. In the wake of Ray Charles' groundbreaking country-soul hit "I Can't Stop Loving You," "Release Me" was a smash, topping the R&B charts and hitting the Top Ten on both the pop and country charts. Back in the public eye, Phillips recorded a country-soul album of the same name, but Lenox went bankrupt in 1963. Thanks to her recent success, Phillips was able to catch on with R&B giant Atlantic, which initially recorded her in a variety of musical settings to see what niche she might fill best. It was eventually decided to play up her more sophisticated side and accordingly, Phillips cut a blues-tinged album of jazz and pop standards; her string-laden remake of the Beatles song "And I Love Him" (naturally, with the gender changed) nearly made the R&B Top Ten in 1965 and the Beatles flew her to the U.K. for her first overseas performances. Encouraged, Atlantic pushed her into even jazzier territory for her next album, Esther Phillips Sings; however, it didn't generate much response and was somewhat eclipsed by her soul reading of Percy Sledge's "When a Woman Loves a Man" (again, with the gender changed), which made the R&B charts. Nonplussed, Atlantic returned to their former tactic of recordingPhillips in as many different styles as possible, but none of the resulting singles really caught on and the label dropped her in late 1967. With her addiction worsening, Phillips checked into a rehab facility; while undergoing treatment, she cut some sides for Roulette in 1969 and upon her release, she moved to Los Angeles and re-signed with Atlantic. A late-1969 live gig at Freddie Jett's Pied Piper club produced the album Burnin', which was acclaimed as one of the best, most cohesive works of Phillips' career. Despite that success, Atlantic still wanted her to record pop tunes with less grit and when their next attempts failed to catch on, Phillips was let go a second time. In 1971, she signed with producer Creed Taylor's Kudu label, a subsidiary of his hugely successful jazz fusion imprint CTI. Her label debut, From a Whisper to a Scream, was released in 1972 to strong sales and highly positive reviews, particularly for her performance of Gil Scott-Heron's wrenching heroin-addiction tale "Home Is Where the Hatred Is." Phillips recorded several more albums for Kudu over the next few years and enjoyed some of the most prolonged popularity of her career, performing in high-profile venues and numerous international jazz festivals. In 1975, she scored her biggest hit single since "Release Me" with a disco-fied update of Dinah Washington's "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" (Top Ten R&B, Top 20 pop), and the accompanying album of the same name became her biggest seller yet.

In 1977, Phillips left Kudu for Mercury, landing a deal that promised her the greatest creative control of her career. She recorded four albums for the label, but none matched the commercial success of her Kudu output and after 1981's A Good Black Is Hard to Crack, she found herself without a record deal. Her last R&B chart single was 1983's "Turn Me Out," a one-off for the small Winning label; unfortunately, her health soon began to fail, the culmination of her previous years of addiction combined with a more recent flirtation with the bottle. Phillips died in Los Angeles on August 7, 1984, of liver and kidney failure. AMG.

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Fate - Sgt. Death 1968

This album certainly qualifies as a lost gem of the Sixties. It was recorded in 1968 but lay gathering dust until 1999 when the first, vinyl issue was released. The music is very, very Doors like - the same guitar sounds and tinny organ and whilst the singer doesn't sound much like Jim Morrison, he sings with similar phrasing but has a slightly higher vocal range that Morrison's baritone. I am normally the last person on the planet to shout plagiarism, always hearing something different in even the most ardent copyist but these guys occasionally lapse into paint-by-numbers Doors but even then they still offer enough of their own take on things for interest to be maintained without question. Some of the material is basic blues and offers the listener nothing particularly interesting but the rest is of a very high standard, certainly in terms of the song structure and delivery.

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Coyote - Coyote 1972

An interesting Maryland group that mixes jazz-prog with rock, country rock with a bit of psychedelia.

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Eddie & The Hot Rods - Teenage Depression 1976

History records Eddie & the Hot Rods as the missing link between pub rock and punk, and their debut album, released at the tail end of 1976, proves that every word is true. Young, loud, snotty and incredibly fast, the riffs and rhythms are fuel-injected R&B, but the lyrics are teenaged disaffection with a forest on its shoulders. Even the album's covers, the Who's "The Kids Are Alright," Joe Tex's "Show Me," and Sam Cooke's "Shake," were selected for their swagger, while the title track is a proto-punk cry of anguish that makes the later new-wavers sound like a room full of spoiled children. The six-minute finale, "On the Run," is even stronger, a dead-end kid-style anthem about the ultimate outsider -- "the boy should be pitied, but they're getting me committed." The FX that drench the song's closing minutes, meanwhile, capture all the rage and confusion of the lyric, and give a hint of the sheer brutal power that was the Hot Rods when they really let loose -- a treat normally reserved for the live show. Isolated tastes of that particular beast do surface elsewhere on the album -- both "The Kids Are Alright" and "Been So Long" were recorded live at the Marquee on a baking-hot night in July 1976; the dozen bonus tracks appended to the CD reissue include four more from that memorable night, in the form of the legendary Live at the Marquee EP. Mach 10 versions of Van Morrison's "Gloria," Bob Seger's "Get Out of Denver," ? Mark's "96 Tears," and the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" further amplify the linkage between '60s garage and '70s punk, but, far more importantly, they give at least a hint of why witnesses still describe that particular show among the greatest gigs they ever attended. Five further tracks date from a Rainbow show nine months later, previously immortalized on the aptly named Live at the Speed of Sound EP; the CD is completed by the band's first two singles, including a crunchy cover of "Wooly Bully," produced by Roxy Music's Andy Mackay. They, however, are simply the icing on the cake. In late 1976, with punk still a flood of records waiting to happen, Teenage Depression was one of the only things that made it worthwhile to get up in the morning. And the Hot Rods live was the only thing that stopped you from getting straight back into bed. AMG.

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Joe Tex - Bumps & Bruises 1977

For one shining moment, disco and funk came together to produce a last big hit for Joe Tex, who was more than worthy of it. Trivial next to his greatest material, but he loved that big fat woman at least as much as the one with the scrawny legs, and it shows through, which is all fans of the form will ask. AMG.

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Calliope - Steamed 1968

Psychedelic band from Seattle, the driving force behind this short-lived outfit was singer/songwriter Danny O’Keefe, who later had one or two Top 20 hits (including Magdalena). They made a bit of a splash locally, but like a lot of Seattle bands, they seemed much better live than on record.
It seems that bands from Seattle during that period did not get very good support from their record companies… obviously things have changed since then! Calliope’s first album is now a very minor collectable, and the second may have remained unissued. The Steamed album includes cover versions of Hello Hello (Lee Michaels), California Dreamin’ (with a very good psychedelic guitar solo), Hound Dog, Jimmy Bell (a traditional number), Like A Rolling Stone (Dylan), Nadine (Chuck Berry) and four originals - two by Goldsmith and two by O’Keefe. John Simpson, who was tragically killed in a plane crash in 1973, had previously played with Scott Strong in The Bumps and may also be the guy who played drums in Christopher. Prior to joining Calliope, Scott Strong also acted as their road manager. Paul Goldsmith had earlier been in Emergency Exit, Clyde Heaton in The Dimensions and Luther Rabb later played with Ballinjack. Thanks info to Rockasteria.

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New York Rock Ensemble - Roll Over 1971

After three daring, experimental albums, this was the band's biggest seller. Considering the original trio's lofty ambitions to meld classical and popular music, their fourth release is solid but unexceptional rock whose standout track "Fields of Joy appeared on an excellent Columbia sampler called Different Strokes that helped to expose the band to a wider audience. AMG

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