Gonzalez - Our Only Weapon Is Our Music 1974

Gonzalez was a loosely knit, British-based aggregate with a revolving-door membership of anywhere from 10 to 30 players. Their specialty was a mostly instrumental mélange of funk, jazz, soul, and (later) disco, though they did employ vocalists for selected tracks on most of their albums. Their core early membership consisted of saxophonists Mick Eve, Chris Mercer, and Geoffrey "Bud" Beadle, keyboardist Roy Davies, and guitarist Gordon Hunte; collectively, their previous credits included Georgie Fame's Blue Flames, Juicy Lucy, John Mayall, Keef Hartley, and the Night-Timers, among others. First convening in 1970, Gonzalez grew to include bassist DeLisle Harper, trumpeter Ron Carthy, saxophonist Steve Gregory, drummers Richard Bailey and Glen LeFleur, and vocalist George Chandler (among others) by the time they released their self-titled debut album on EMI-Capitol in 1974. Cuts like "Funky Frith Street" and the Latin-tinged "Saoco" later became popular among connoisseurs of obscure funk. The follow-up, Our Only Weapon Is Our Music, appeared in 1975 and featured new members in guitarist/vocalist Lenny Zakatek, trombonist Colin Jacas, guitarist Robert Ahwai, bassist Larry Steele, percussionist Bobby Stignac, and singer Viola Wills. Material from Gonzalez' first two albums was later reissued on CD, both by See for Miles and Soul Brother. The band's third album, Shipwrecked, appeared in 1977, and was produced by soul singer Gloria Jones. Two years after the fact, the band's version of Jones' "Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet" became a hit in the U.K., leading to the album's reissue under the title Haven't Stopped Dancin'. Jones also produced their follow-up, 1979's Move It to the Music, by which time Eve and Hunte were gone; the single "Ain't No Way to Treat a Lady" was an unsuccessful attempt to duplicate the wide appeal of "Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet." After one more album, 1980's Watch Your Step, Gonzalez found themselves without a major-label deal; during the '80s, they recorded singles for PRT and Tooti Fruiti, with many more shifts in personnel. They finally disbanded for good in 1986 following the death of Davies. AMG.

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Nick Garrie - The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas 1969

Nick Garrie's rare pop-psychedelic album is reminiscent of the sunniest and frothiest such British music of the late '60s. In its match of pretty melodies and overtly romantic lyrics with Baroque pop production, it calls to mind the U.K. '60s band Nirvana in some respects, and perhaps fellow youthful singer/songwriter Billy Nicholls. In gutsier moments, you might also think of the very early Badfinger (or the Iveys, the band that evolved into Badfinger) or Thunderclap Newman. Though his tunes are pretty, they can also veer toward blandness, and his vocals are callow and uncertain enough to make one wonder whether his compositions might have been better served by other singers. Some ill-advised forays into country-influenced material are the album's low points, but those are uncharacteristic. Most of the record is lite pop-psych with a definite Continental flavor, tinged with the bittersweetness but never melancholic, evoking pictures of a sensitive late-19th century heir riding in a carriage over cobblestoned streets with a top hat and the petticoated girl beside him. AMG.

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Fanny - Charity Ball 1971

Fanny were still finding their feet when they recorded their first album in 1970 -- it was a fine set of songs but occasionally betrayed the fact that the bandmembers were just getting accustomed to one another when they started recording. Fanny's second effort, 1971's Charity Ball, was in comparison a stronger, more confident, and more enjoyable disc; the push and pull between June Millington's tough guitar figures and Nickey Barclay's rollicking keyboards yield more exciting results here, while Alice de Buhr's sharp, inventive drumming and Jean Millington's subtle, melodic basslines keep the bottom end lively and supportive at all times. The band also delivered a better set of songs this time out; the rowdy good-time boogie of the title cut was a deserved hit single (though it sadly peaked just as it first nicked the Top 40), "Soul Child" delivers some cool but sassy funk, "What Kind of Love" and "A Person Like You" find them throwing some serious and quite funny shade on folks who've done them dirt, "A Little While Later" confirmed they could still sound forceful in ballad mode, and "Place in the Country" is a powerful rant against the madness of war and inner-city strife with some of June's most fiery soloing. Richard Perry's production is a sometimes a bit more polished than this music needed, and it's a shame he didn't give this band a punchier guitar sound, but he makes the most of the melodies here (and Fanny most certainly had 'em) as well as the group's solid harmonies. As the first all-female rock band to cut an album for a major label, Fanny had the unenviable task of being trailblazers who were expected to "prove" they were capable of playing rock & roll (something women had been doing for years at this point). With Charity Ball, Fanny reminded anyone with ears that they were a strong, talented, and exciting rock & roll band as purely enjoyable as any group on the scene in the early '70s, regardless of gender. Fun trivia fact: the portrait of the band on the front cover was photographed by none other than Candice Bergen. AMG.

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Family - A Song For Me 1970

Twenty seven years after the fact, this might well be the best of the early Family recordings. A combination of hard rock (bordering on metal) and wistful folk-rock (it sounds as if Chapman and Whitney were listening to a lot of Incredible String Band), A Song for Me veers toward early progressive rock, but isn't as nakedly indulgent as some early prog-rock recordings (e.g., they didn't try to sound like a jazz band, they wanted to sound like a rock band screwing around with jazz). Perhaps their most experimental record, it seems as though the credo in making this disc was that anything went. And on tracks like "Drowned in Wine," it works quite well. Again, Chapman offers more proof of his vocal greatness, and again the record sells large quantities in England and nearly nothing in America. AMG.

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Syd Barrett - Barrett 1970

On his second solo album, Barrett was joined by Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley and Pink Floyd members Rick Wright (organ) and Dave Gilmour (guitar). Gilmour and Wright acted as producers as well. Instrumentally, the result is a bit fuller and smoother than the first album, although it's since been revealed that Gilmour and Wright embellished these songs as best they could without much involvement from Barrett, who was often unable or unwilling to perfect his performance. The songs, however, are just as fractured as on his debut, if not more so. "Baby Lemonade," "Gigolo Aunt," and the nursery rhyming "Effervescing Elephant" rank among his peppiest and best-loved tunes. Elsewhere, the tone is darker and more meandering. It was regarded as something of a charming but unfocused throwaway at the time of its release, but Barrett's singularly whimsical and unsettling vision holds up well. AMG.
 

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The Savage Resurrection - The Savage Resurrection 1968

On their only album, the Savage Resurrection mined a psychedelic sound that was not as heavy and metallic as Blue Cheer (also produced by Abe "Voco" Kesh), but at the same time more garagey in feel than that of the average Bay Area psychedelic band. Sometimes it's pedestrian blues-rock with overlong riffing, as on the accurately titled "Jammin.'" At its best, it has the spacier, folkier, and more melodic feel that was characteristic of much '60s Californian psychedelic music, as on "Someone's Changing." More dissonant and Middle Eastern influences make themselves known on "Every Little Song" and "Tahitian Melody," and the backup vocals on "Remlap's Cave, Pt. 2" indicate that they did their share of listening to the Who's "A Quick One, While He's Away." Randy Hammon and John Palmer create an intense and thick dual-guitar sound throughout (separated so that Hammon's playing is on the left channel, and Palmer's on the right). The CD reissue on Mod Lang adds informative historical liner notes and three previously unissued rehearsal recordings as bonus cuts, including different versions of "Thing in 'E'" and "Tahitian Melody," and a cover of "River Deep Mountain High." AMG.

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New Riders of the Purple Sage - New Riders of the Purple Sage 1971

Anyone who enjoyed the Grateful Dead's Workingman's Dead or American Beauty and wanted more, then or now, should get the New Riders of the Purple Sage's eponymous release and follow it with the Riders' next two albums. With Jerry Garcia and Mickey Hart in tow, and Jefferson Airplane's Spencer Dryden playing what drums Hart didn't, plus Commander Cody at the piano, New Riders of the Purple Sage is some of the most spaced-out country-rock of the period. Even ignoring the big names working with John Dawson, David Nelson, and Dave Torbert, however, this is a good record, crossing swords with the Byrds, the Burrito Brothers, and even Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and holding its own. Maybe a few of the cuts (especially "Henry") are predictable at times, but mostly, New Riders of the Purple Sage was full of surprises then (the amazingly sweet, brittle guitars, in particular) and has tunes that have held up well: "Portland Woman," "Whatcha Gonna Do," "I Don't Know You," and "Louisiana Lady," not to mention the eight leisurely paced minutes of acid-country found in "Dirty Business." There are no added notes, but they'd hardly be vital -- the album is an open book. AMG.

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Calliope - Steamed 1968

Short-lived 1960s psychedelic rock band from Seattle, Washington, USA. Released by Buddah Records. Worth the listen, give it a try.

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Alphonse Mouzon - Mind Transplant 1975

Drummers Alphonse Mouzon and Billy Cobham led almost parallel careers during the 1970s and helped to raise the bar by which all subsequent drummers were to be judged. They were both in legendary fusion bands (Mouzon in Weather Report and Larry Coryell's Eleventh House and Cobham in Dreams and the Mahavishnu Orchestra), both led their own successful bands, both reinvented jazz-rock drumming, and both released one classic, genre-defining recording. Cobham's classic was Spectrum, a recording that is regularly considered one of the genre's best. This, Mind Transplant, is Mouzon's classic recording that is often hailed as "Spectrum II." The common thread, besides the aggressive drumming, is guitarist Tommy Bolin. Where Cobham used Bolin's aggressive playing as a counterpoint to Jan Hammer, Mouzon features the guitarist as the primary attraction. The tunes themselves may not be as memorable as, say, "Red Baron" or "Stratus," but the playing is no less inspired. Mouzon and Bolin are a natural fit and push themselves to levels of creativity and skill that few can attain. Raw and powerful, the music herein is what made fusion such a viable musical style. This recording has never been as popular as Spectrum, but was finally released on CD in 1993 with the addition of the 15-minute jam session "The Real Thing." Easily one of the best fusion recordings of all time. AMG.

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Jan Dukes de Grey - Mice And Rats In The Loft 1971

Jan Dukes de Grey was a strange progressive folk-rock outfit who were one of the last acts of their kind signed to England's Decca Records -- not to the Deram imprint, which had started out as a progressive label before getting sidetracked and muddled, but on the Decca Nova line, a short-lived, true progressive rock label. The group started out as a duo of Michael Bairstow and Derek Noy, multi-instrumentalists who stood midway between Tyrannosaurus Rex (the pre-T.Rex Marc Bolan acoustic outfit) and Jethro Tull, doing all original material by Noy, very short all-acoustic songs, some with strange lyrics and highlighted by odd, dissonant flute passages. Their debut album, Sorcerers, was filled with interesting and sometimes memorable melodies, but its sound was so spare, almost minimalist, that there was no hope of getting serious airplay or sales.

For their second album, Mice and Rats in the Loft recorded for Transatlantic in 1971, Jan Dukes de Grey became a trio with the addition of drummer Dennis Conlan and also assumed a more progressive approach to their work. The album had three extended tracks, all highlighted by flashier playing, but their continued low-wattage approach to progressive music made Jan Dukes de Grey less than competitive against the likes of the Strawbs and other ex-folk outfits. Mice and Rats in the Loft wasn't much more successful than Sorcerers, and Jan Dukes de Grey disappeared during the early '70s. AMG.

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Thorinshield - Thorinshield 1968

In any given era, there are numerous albums by rock musicians who've obviously assimilated styles and ideas from many leading figures of the period but don't synthesize them in a particularly interesting way. Such was the case with Thorinshield's only album, where elements of the psychedelic Beatles, the Byrds, California harmony pop groups, and singer/songwriters jostle side by side, but the songs themselves aren't too notable. It's pop-folk-rock sung, played, harmonized, and produced with late-'60s Los Angeles craftsmanship, and if you're looking for stuff that's well-executed with those traits, it has its pleasing qualities. You'd be hard-pressed to say much about what makes this stick out from the crowd, however, and at times the inspirations become kind of obvious. "Brave New World" sounds like a mating of the Byrds, Donovan, and the Mamas & the Papas, for instance; "The Best of It" shades those colors with something of a more mainstream pop slant to the songwriting; "Prelude to a Postlude" nods to earnest singer/songwriters of the time by Bob Lind, Tim Hardin, and the like, though again with a more mainstream approach; and "One Girl" is a pretty blatant, if decent, cop of 1966-1967 Donovan. [The 2006 CD reissue on Fallout adds brief historical liner notes and both sides of the 1968 non-LP single "Family of Man" b/w "Lonely Mountain Again."] AMG.

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Steamhammer - Speech 1972

Musically, Steamhammer was the cream of the crop of all rock bands from their thriving primordial era. In the realm of power rock trios, they were comparable to Cream. Yet this band is far superior in every way, but they failed to get the rave reviews and critical attention that the flashier Cream garnered. Diverging from the typical power rock style on Speech, their fourth and final album, the band found themselves in a dilemma without their vocalist, who had left after the previous release, Mountains. This led to a radical development for the band. Instead of hiring a new singer, the rest of the group picked up the slack, and reduced the role of the vocals significantly, opting for a progressive jam style that was hugely innovative for its time. Guitarist Martin Pugh offers a crashing, furious style that mixes Jimmy Page with early Robert Fripp. When Pugh seeks passages of beauty and tranquility, he finds them with ease, but when he aims for intensity, watch out! He literally attacks the listener, pounding them with his mammoth, perfectly executed riffs. Meanwhile, bassist Louis Cennamo is so talented and innovative that he single-handedly brought the bow into rock music with his bowed bass intro to the album. Several years before Page would pick up the bow for "Kashmir," Cennamo uses the bowed bass as means to an end, not for simple effect. Just as a normal bassist alone, masters within the genre owe their lifeblood to him. For he is able to play along with just about the toughest, most technical drumming around, that of drummer Mick Bradley, who is easily the most accomplished musician of the trio. To state that he is rock's greatest drummer is simply not enough. His energetic approach to the drum kit helped him become one of the first and only drummers in rock history, along with King Crimson's Michael Giles, to use polyrhythmic drumming, a style commonly used by jazz drummers. His dynamic performance on the primarily instrumental "For Against," blows away John Bonham's "Moby Dick" and Ginger Baker's "Toad" in a heartbeat. On this album, there was a rumor that the band received some secret vocal and lyrical help from Yardbirds vocalist Keith Relf. Whether or not this is true remains a mystery, but what is a fact, sadly, is that not long after this album Mick Bradley succumbed to Leukemia and passed away. This marked the end of Steamhammer, but the other two members forged on, forming a band called Armageddon. Speech is one of rock's finest and most creative hours, and one tends to wonder where Steamhammer could have gone from this point on had it not been for obscurity and sudden tragedy. AMG.

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John Martyn - London Conversation 1967

In 1967, John Martyn became the first white solo act to sign with Island Records. While this is notable in the history of the label, his initial release, London Conversation, on the other hand, stands as a mere footnote. The record, though incorporating touches of blues and his characteristic guitar and vocal, doesn't really prepare you for what's to come from Martyn. The album is a basic, no-frills, guitar and voice effort, although one track, the droning dulcimer and flute-driven "Rolling Home," shows Martyn's urge to stretch, which would become much more evident in the coming years. His vocal delivery is traditionally British, while his playing is steeped in the eclectic folk of British artists such as Davey Graham and Bert Jansch, as well as American blues and folk. London Conversation, whose material (written primarily by Martyn) reflects the era and his age (18 years old), comes across as a young, although soon be an important artist looking for a voice. AMG

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B.T. Express - Non Stop 1975

When one thinks of the cultural contributions that Brooklyn's African-American neighborhoods made in the 1980s and 1990s, the people who immediately come to mind range from director Spike Lee to major rappers (the Fat Boys, Big Daddy Kane, MC Lyte, Biz Markie, among many others) to soul/urban contemporary singer James "D-Train" Williams. But back in the 1970s, Brooklyn was known for its disco-minded brand of funk. Brooklyn funk wasn't the kind of hardcore funk that you expected from James Brown, George Clinton's P-funk empire (Parliament/Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, the Brides of Funkenstein, etc.), the Gap Band, Rick James, or the Ohio Players -- it was funk-disco, and Brooklyn outfits like B.T. Express, the Crown Heights Affair, and Skyy were huge in the clubs (especially black clubs). When B.T. Express' second album, Non-Stop, came out in 1975, Scepter assumed that it would fare well in dance clubs -- and sure enough, club DJs went wild over this record. However, Non-Stop contained some major radio hits as well, including "Peace Pipe" and "Give It What You Got" (both of which reached number five on Billboard's R&B singles chart). Meanwhile, "Still Good, Still Like It" and "Discotizer" are among the tracks that weren't big radio hits but grabbed the attention of club jocks. The LP's only ballad is a cover of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David favorite "Close to You"; although B.T. Express' version is pleasant enough, the fact remains that romantic ballads were never its strong point. Up-tempo material is what defines Non-Stop and makes it one of the band's finest, most essential albums. AMG.

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Christopher - Christopher 1970

From the psychedelic tribal blues opener "Dark Road" through to the end of the album, Christopher shows just how strong the second-level psychedelia of the late '60s could be. There was no shortage of great musicians hailing from Texas during the era, and the ones who remained in the state were forming some of the most idiosyncratic bands of the swirling, inventive times: top-flight bands such as Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Lost & Found, the Golden Dawn, and Christopher. Christopher, though, cannot exactly be lumped together with those peers. They had to leave Texas for California to make their mark, and indeed, Christopher owes a good deal to the music of that state -- songs such as "Magic Cycles" and "In Your Time" are informed by the dreamier qualities of the San Francisco sound, especially the extended atmospherics of Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. There are also hints of fellow Los Angeles bands the Doors and Spirit throughout the album, and like the best music coming out of California, the songs on Christopher sound somehow revolutionary and foreboding, as if there is something dark lurking just beneath the surface of the music. Occasionally, Christopher occupied similar musical territory as Cream. They were not unfamiliar with the blues, and, like the British supergroup, they were an absurdly powerful three-piece with an abundance of ability in both instrumental and songwriting proficiency. In addition, Doug Walden's vocals are a dead ringer for Jack Bruce. With that said, the album actually sounds quite different from Cream. Christopher are somehow both more mystical and earthy. "Dark Road" starts out with a loping, jazzy blues groove before being propelled forward by a tempo change and some brilliant, musical drumming. "Wilbur Lite" seems grounded by some slashing chording by Richard Avitts, but then an open-ended melody and upward bass progression raise the song up off its legs. "Queen Mary" rolls along on top of a choppy drum beat and bass groove until Walden's phenomenal spine-tingling vocals soar above the music, uncontainable. The music itself, however, never spins out of restraint. The songs are all relatively succinct, never growing excessive or dull, and Avitts' guitar playing is economical. The lyrics can get a bit pretentious here and there, but that doesn't even really qualify as a minor flaw since it is a product of ambitiousness and the era. Christopher is one of the finer albums to have fallen completely through the cracks of the '60s, and Christopher is one of the era's best-forgotten bands. One wishes that they had stuck around long enough to create more music. AMG.

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