The Spencer Davis Group - Autumn '66 (1966)

At the peak of their popularity, the Spencer Davis Group's albums were considerably less impressive than their hits and a bit thin on imagination, although they were never less than competent. This, their third LP, relies heavily on soul covers, as well as a few oft-covered blues standards ("Midnight Special," "Mean Woman Blues," "Dust My Blues"). Highlights are their second British number one hit "Somebody Help Me," the decent group original "High Time Baby," Winwood's organ-based instrumental "On the Green Light," and "When I Get Home," which (like "Somebody Help Me") was a hit in Britain, but not the U.S. AMG.

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Paul Korda - Passing Stranger 1971

Paul Korda had worked within the orbit of Immediate Records for some years before recording his debut album for a division of Warner Bros. -- a fact that greatly complicated his situation when the album was pulled over Immediate's claim that he was still under contract to them. It's a pity that the record more or less died on the vine back when, because Korda made a powerful debut, working in the mode of a soulful singer/songwriter, well able to rock out on "To Love a Woman," amid a brace of softer ballads surrounding it. With Chris Spedding, Andy Roberts, and Ray Russell handling the electric guitar chores, while Doris Troy, Nanette Newman, and Madeline Bell sang backup, this was more a full-blown rock affair than some introspective songwriter's confessional, in any case. Between Korda's impassioned vocals and the fully realized rock production, the record should have done better than it was allowed to -- luckily, it's been reissued on CD in Japan, which at least gets the music out there to be heard by those interested enough to look for it. AMG.

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Jefferson Airplane - At The Family Dog Ballroom, San Francisco 1969

Although the European market has been flooded with unauthorized Jefferson Airplane live recordings that are bootlegs in all but name, there has also been a series of apparently legitimate releases with excellent sound and packaging issued by Charly in the U.K. and previously including At Golden Gate Park and Last Flight. This third release in the series comes chronologically in between its predecessors, having been recorded in September 1969. At that time, Jefferson Airplane was in the midst of preparations for its studio album Volunteers, which would be released in November, and five of the songs to be featured on that LP were previewed at this show ("Good Shepherd," "We Can Be Together," "The Farm," "Wooden Ships," and "Volunteers"). In addition, the band was looking forward to the more fragmented state in which it would exist in coming years, with spin-off entities working simultaneously with the main band. Toward the end of the 15-minute opening version of "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil," singer/guitarist Paul Kantner begins introducing material that would turn up later on his 1970 solo album Blows Against the Empire, and "Come Back Baby," a showcase for lead guitarist/singer Jorma Kaukonen, heralds his and bassist Jack Casady's nascent duo Hot Tuna (which recorded its debut album the same month as this show). Jefferson Airplane cannot claim as much justification as the Grateful Dead for putting out a series of live albums; the band had a more limited repertoire than the Dead and was not given to lengthy improvisations to the same extent as its San Francisco contemporary. But in addition to the foreshadowing inclusions already mentioned, this release proves an exception via the inclusion of an energetic 26-minute "Jam" that takes on Dead-like characteristics by including the Dead's lead guitarist, Jerry Garcia, as a guest. That will make this album valuable not only to Airplane fanatics, but to Dead fans as well. AMG.

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Peggy's Leg - Grinilla 1973

Peggy's Leg's only album, Grinilla, heard by hardly anyone when it was issued in 1973, is a well-played but limp crossover between folk rock, progressive rock, and late-hippie rock. Most of the six songs here are on the long side, a couple getting to the ten-minute mark, and these tend to be multisectioned works with tempo changes, kind of like a folkier Yes without a keyboard player or strong riffs. Unfortunately, the lyrics are often of the utopian, shallow sort that people who can't stand hippies love to poke fun at. It's not that the sentiments are objectionable; it's more that the way they're presented is naïve and somewhat artless. Apropos of nothing, the record closes with a faithfully unimaginative cover of Love Sculpture's arrangement of "Sabre Dance," which would have easily rated as the best (if most atypical) track of the album had it not been such an unnecessary close copy of the Love Sculpture version. The 2001 CD reissue on Kissing Spell adds an 11-minute, live hard rock instrumental bonus track that's not much of a bonus, with substandard sound and a far-too-long drum solo. AMG.

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The Small Faces - There Are But Four Small Faces 1968

This is where the already-confusing Small Faces discography gets baffling. Designed for the American market in 1968, There Are But Four Small Faces is based upon their 1967 self-titled album for Immediate Records -- the album that should not be confused with the 1966 album called Small Faces on Decca -- but shuffles the running order considerably, cutting out seven songs from the 1967 LP and then adding five songs released on singles: the hits "Itchycoo Park," "Tin Soldier," and "Here Come the Nice," plus the B-sides "I'm Only Dreaming" and "I Feel Much Better." Contrary to the pastoral setting pictured on the album art, this rejiggering preserves the edgy mods of the 1967 album Small Faces, emphasizing their pop propulsion, artful soul, and furious rock & roll. By some measures, the 1967 Immediate LP is their best -- it's adventurous, bright, colorful, and concentrated, the brevity of the songs playing like snappy pop art -- and that essence is here, enhanced by "Tin Soldier," "Here Come the Nice," and "Itchycoo Park," the three greatest singles the band ever cut. As an introduction, it's first-rate, whether it was delivered in 1968 or decades later. [Charly's 2014 reissue of There Are But Four Small Faces contains the stereo mix on the first disc, supplemented by four bonus tracks, while the second contains the "promotional DJ version" mono mix of the album and three bonus tracks, all different than the cuts on the first CD. The stereo bonus tracks have alternate takes and mixes of "Eddie's Dreaming" and "Show Me the Way," an early mix of "Get Yourself Together," and an alternate take of "(Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me." The mono bonus tracks contain a TV backing track for "Tin Soldier," the "USA Version" of "Here Come the Nice," and an alternate mix of "Green Circles." Most of this is collector ephemera but the mono mix is indeed appealingly punchy and perhaps a better way to listen to this music.] AMG.

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Space Opera - Space Opera 1972

While only the most academic of fans might remember Space Opera, the Texas-based quartet's self-titled debut certainly demands significantly more attention than it initially garnered upon its 1973 release. Because the album was both recorded and first issued in Canada, many assumed that Brett Wilson (drums, percussion), Philip White (bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals), Scott Fraser (guitar, keyboards,vocals), and David Bullock (guitar, flute, harmonica, vocals) hailed from the Great White North. However, Space Opera's synthesis of pop, rock, country, folk, jazz, and even classical builds on a uniquely American tradition. Although Space Opera was already headlining major music festivals by 1969, the combo took its time in crafting the ten selections for this long-player. Comparisons to the Byrds or the earliest sides by the Eagles are well founded. In fact, "Holy River" could easily be mistaken for a post-Notorious Byrd Brothers cut -- especially the warm and reedy timbre of Fraser's lead vocals. Conversely, they could let loose and unleash monster jams, such as the intricate and progressive "Guitar Suite" -- featuring no less than seven separate overdubs from Fraser and Bullock. Rather than coming off like an aimless Grateful Dead or Allman Brothers noodle, their interplay has the precision of Steve Howe, or Frank Zappa at times. The aggressive electric numbers are contrasted by the lilting and organic "Riddle," showcasing Fraser, Bullock, and White's expressive three-part harmonies. "Over and Over" is another standout, with a folk-infused vibe that glides beneath the flowing and rhythmic waltz. Bullock's electric 12-string guitar shimmers with exquisite yet penetrating beauty. In 2004, Collectors' Choice Music finally brought this masterpiece to CD, and hopefully also to new audiences.

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Graham Bond - Holy Magick 1970

Graham Bond was getting more into "magick" in his private life at the beginning of the 1970s, and those interests are heavily reflected in this album. That's particularly true of the side-long medley that occupies the first half of the LP, with its attempts to musically re-create rituals. The problem was a mundane one afflicting many ambitious concept albums of the era: The music wasn't as interesting as the concept. It was meandering, sometimes improvised-sounding blues-jazz-soul-rock, featuring Bond's distinctive organ, female soul backup vocals, and John Gross' tenor sax. The irony was that it actually didn't sound as sinister as Bond's more demonic recordings in the mid-'60s as leader of the Graham Bond Organisation, even though those earlier recordings had no explicit magickal references in the lyrics. Nor was it nearly as effective or memorable as the voodoo rock of early Dr. John, an unavoidable comparison as far as the mood for which Bond seemed to be aiming. For side two, Bond returned, nominally at least, to a more conventional song-oriented format, presenting four songs on as many tracks, though with a similar lyrical focus. These pieces weren't too different from the other side, however, though there was a bit more of a funky, earthy blues feel. The album was combined with the 1971 Bond LP We Put Our Magick on You on a single-disc CD reissue on BGO. AMG.

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Roxy Music - Roxy Music 1972

Falling halfway between musical primitivism and art-rock ambition, Roxy Music's eponymous debut remains a startling redefinition of rock's boundaries. Simultaneously embracing kitschy glamour and avant-pop, Roxy Music shimmers with seductive style and pulsates with disturbing synthetic textures. Although no musician demonstrates much technical skill at this point, they are driven by boundless imagination -- Brian Eno's synthesized "treatments" exploit electronic instruments as electronics, instead of trying to shoehorn them into conventional acoustic patterns. Similarly, Bryan Ferry finds that his vampiric croon is at its most effective when it twists conventional melodies, Phil Manzanera's guitar is terse and unpredictable, while Andy Mackay's saxophone subverts rock & roll clichés by alternating R&B honking with atonal flourishes. But what makes Roxy Music such a confident, astonishing debut is how these primitive avant-garde tendencies are married to full-fledged songs, whether it's the free-form, structure-bending "Re-Make/Re-Model" or the sleek glam of "Virginia Plain," the debut single added to later editions of the album. That was the trick that elevated Roxy Music from an art school project to the most adventurous rock band of the early '70s. AMG.
 

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Donovan - In Concert 1968

Finally. This 1967 concert recorded at the Anaheim Convention Center, just a few weeks after his Hollywood Bowl show, was recorded in its entirety and released as a single LP with a total of 14 tracks. This double-disc CD reissue contains 23 tracks, and is, as it survives, the entire gig. In addition, the sound has been painstakingly remastered; the result is a brilliant-sounding document. Flow in a Donovan concert is important, and here, presented as it occurred, listeners can drift right into the tidepool of magic. The band is a quintet with Harold McNair on flute and saxophones, Loren Newkirk on piano, Andy Tronosco on upright bass, Tony Carr on drums, and John Carr on bongos. Donovan plays acoustic guitar throughout. The hippy mysticism and flower power poets are everywhere here. This isn't rock star excess at all, but an organic, drenched-in-sunshine concert full of gentleness with a premium on good vibes. Tunes not on the original LP and CD issues include "Sunny Goodge Street," "Epistle to Derroll," "Sand and Foam," "Hampstead Incident," "To Try for the Sun," "Someone Singing," "The Tinker and the Crab," and a partial recording of the second half of "Catch the Wind," which was included for purposes of completion, but was marred by a malfunctioning tape recording. Donovan was already an expert at getting audiences to eat out of his hand, and here that happens in spades. In fact, the only album that comes close to having the flow of this concert was the studio recording of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks. While it's true this is only available as an import, it should be sought out by any fan, or, for that matter, any cynic who hasn't heard this particularly beautiful and airy genius of Donovan Leitch. With this presentation, Donovan In Concert becomes one of the great live albums of the '60s. AMG.

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Holger Czukay - Movies 1979

Holger Czukay's first post-Can solo album finds the bass player exploring prog rock jams with varied instrumentation, song-oriented lyrics, and media samples from film, television, and short-wave. It was the samples that put Czukay in the same category as David Byrne and Brian Eno: an art rocker exploring the early days concurrently with early hip-hop pioneers (or alternately, a white man exploiting the culture of the third world, depending on who you read). On "Persian Love," Czukay backs up clips of an Iranian singer recorded off the short-wave with lilting guitar and keyboard riffs that sparkle like light. The album is all pleasant, playful textures, with little of the darkness that Can dealt with. AMG.

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Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Déjà Vu 1970

One of the most hotly awaited second albums in history -- right up there with those by the Beatles and the Band -- Déjà Vu lived up to its expectations and rose to number one on the charts. Those achievements are all the more astonishing given the fact that the group barely held together through the estimated 800 hours it took to record Déjà Vu and scarcely functioned as a group for most of that time. Déjà Vu worked as an album, a product of four potent musical talents who were all ascending to the top of their game coupled with some very skilled production, engineering, and editing. There were also some obvious virtues in evidence -- the addition of Neil Young to the Crosby, Stills & Nash lineup added to the level of virtuosity, with Young and Stephen Stills rising to new levels of complexity and volume on their guitars. Young's presence also ratcheted up the range of available voices one notch and added a uniquely idiosyncratic songwriter to the fold, though most of Young's contributions in this area were confined to the second side of the LP. Most of the music, apart from the quartet's version of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock," was done as individual sessions by each of the members when they turned up (which was seldom together), contributing whatever was needed that could be agreed upon. "Carry On" worked as the album's opener when Stills "sacrificed" another copyright, "Questions," which comprised the second half of the track and made it more substantial. "Woodstock" and "Carry On" represented the group as a whole, while the rest of the record was a showcase for the individual members. David Crosby's "Almost Cut My Hair" was a piece of high-energy hippie-era paranoia not too far removed in subject from the Byrds' "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man," only angrier in mood and texture (especially amid the pumping organ and slashing guitars); the title track, also by Crosby, took 100 hours to work out and was a better-received successor to such experimental works as "Mind Gardens," out of his earlier career with the Byrds, showing his occasional abandonment of a rock beat, or any fixed rhythm at all, in favor of washing over the listener with tones and moods.  "Teach Your Children," the major hit off the album, was a reflection of the hippie-era idealism that still filled Graham Nash's life, while "Our House" was his stylistic paean to the late-era Beatles, and "4+20" was a gorgeous Stephen Stills blues excursion that was a precursor to the material he would explore on the solo album that followed. And then there were Neil Young's pieces, the exquisitely harmonized "Helpless" (which took many hours to get to the slow version finally used) and the roaring country-ish rockers that ended side two, which underwent a lot of tinkering by Young -- even his seeming throwaway finale, "Everybody I Love You," was a bone thrown to longtime fans as perhaps the greatest Buffalo Springfield song that they didn't record. All of this variety made Déjà Vu a rich musical banquet for the most serious and personal listeners, while mass audiences reveled in the glorious harmonies and the thundering electric guitars, which were presented in even more dramatic and expansive fashion on the tour that followed. AMG.

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Sod - Face The Music 1972

SOD was 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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Amiri Baraka & The Sun Ra Myth-Science Arkestra - A Black Mass 1968

A Black Mass is a curious piece that was extremely limited when it was first released in 1968 on Leroi Jones' (Amiri Baraka) Jihad records. Recorded at Spirit House, Jones' house/theater in Newark, this live performance of Jones' dramatic piece dedicated to Malcolm X -- and to a lesser extent, the Nation of Islam -- would have originally only been found in black nationalist bookstores in a few cities. Fans of Sun Ra & the Arkestra may be disappointed, as Ra and company never play more than a few notes here and there. Unfortunately, it's difficult to make out certain key elements of the dialogue, obviously essential to grasping the full understanding of Baraka's play. This is more a historical literary piece than a musical one, just as worthy of serious examination, albeit with strained ears. AMG.

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Narada Michael Walden - Garden Of Love Light 1976

Drummer/songwriter/producer/vocalist Narada Michael Walden's career spans over three decades and is threaded with gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards. He's produced and/or (co) written number-one hits by Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey ("Vision of Love"), Aretha Franklin ("Freeway of Love"), and Lisa Fischer ("How Can I Ease the Pain"). His proficient drumming skills have made him a first-call session musician playing on countless recording sessions. Walden has played on all kinds of sessions from rock, jazz, pop, and R&B, to fusion, sharing the recording and concert stage with the likes of John McLaughlin, the Mahavishnu Orchestra (a 21-year-old Narada replaced drumming legend Billy Cobham), and Jeff Beck (his Wired album) to name a small few. His own career as a recording artist is showcased on Rhino's Ecstasy's Dance: The Best of Narada Michael Walden. Walden's eclecticism is threaded throughout his recordings in varying degrees. In the '80s, he became a Grammy-winning mega-producer: Producer of the Year in 1987, Album of the Year for the 1993 movie soundtrack The Bodyguard (Narada Michael Walden, producer), and the Song of the Year award in 1985 for writing Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love." The song helped the Queen of Soul land her first platinum album. Walden was named one of the Top Ten Producers With the Most Number One Hits by Billboard magazine. Narada produced the Temptations' "Stay," the group's first number-one record in 25 years from their platinum-plus Grammy-nominated Phoenix Rising. He also produced tracks for their follow-up album, Ear-Resistable issued by Motown/Universal on May 16, 2000. Born April 23, 1952, in Kalamazoo, MI, Walden was given the name Narada by guru Sri Chinmoy. After college graduation, he trekked to Miami, FL, playing in various rock bands. Signing with Atlantic Records, his debut album, Garden of Love Light, included the mid-tempo "Delightful," which charted at 81 R&B in the spring of 1977. His next LP, I Cry I Smile, boasted the sweet "So Long" and the radio-aired LP tracks the languid "I Need Your Love," the delicious "I Remember," and the charming "Better Man." Even though these top-notch tracks received airplay in Chicago and other markets, other than "Better Man," none were released as singles. Instead, the label picked "Soulbird" and "Manago Bop," which worked well as album tracks, but not singles. The Awakening proved to be his breakthrough album, going to number 15 R&B in the spring of 1979 on the strength of the brassy "I Don't Want Nobody Else (To Dance With You)." Awakening radio-aired LP tracks were the airy "Listen to Me" and the jubilant album opener "Love Me Only" (also arranged by Patrick Adams). Awakening also featured top session bassist Keni Burke, formerly of the Five Stairsteps and best known for his own "Risin' to the Top." His second-highest charting single, "I Shoulda Loved Ya," hit number four in R&B in late 1979. It was on his The Dance of Life (number nine R&B, late 1979), which included the gentle ballad "Why Did You Turn Me On." "You're #1" and "Summer Lady" were both on his Confidence LP from the summer of 1982. Walden's cover of the Four Tops' "Reach Out I'll Be There," "Reach Out," a huge dance hit, was listed on Looking at You, Looking at Me, which charted in the spring of 1983. Switching to Warner Bros., his duet with Patti Austin, the Motown-ish pop confection, "Gimme Gimme Gimme," issued as Narada Michael Walden with Patti Austin, went to number 39 R&B in early 1985 and was listed on his The Nature of Things album. His single "Divine Emotions" on the Warner Bros. imprint Reprise Records appeared in the Michael J. Fox movie Bright Lights, Big City. The Divine Emotion LP included the charting mellow single "Wild Thing" and the smooth, chugging, radio-aired LP track "That's the Way That I Feel About Cha." His 1995 Toshiba/EMI album was titled Sending Love to Everyone. In late 1985, Walden opened Tarpan Studios, a state-of-the-art recording studio located near San Francisco. Walden's work appears on releases by Stacy Lattisaw ("Let Be Your Angel"), Al Green (Your Heart's in Good Hands), Shanice Wilson ("I Love Your Smile," "I Hate to Be Lonely"), Ray Charles, Diana Ross, George Michael, Wild Orchid, Tevin Campbell, Angela Bofill, Diana Ross, MyTown, Steve Winwood, Phaze II, Regina Belle-Passion ("Baby Come to Me"), Andy Vargas, Debelah Morgan, Jai, Jermaine Stewart ("We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off"), Natalie Cole ("Good to Be Back), Clarence Clemons, Puff Johnson, Eddie Murphy ("Put Your Mouth on Me"), and Carl Carlton ("The Bad CC"), among many many others. Other Narada Michael Walden-related releases are Stacy Lattisaw and Johnny Gill (Perfect Combination), Lisa Fischer (So Intense), and the movie soundtracks to Beverly Hills Cop II, Perfect, Waiting to Exhale, License to Kill, The Bodyguard, Jason's Lyric, 9 1/2 Weeks, Crooklyn, Free Willy, and The Associate. AMG.

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The Plastic People of the Universe - Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned 1974

Sounding like a meeting between Zappa, Henry Cow, and Allen Ginsberg, this is a wild, politically charged chunk of avant-garde agitprop. Egon Bondy's poetry may not be the most lyrical you've ever heard, but his imagery is striking in its desperation and anger. Lots of honking saxes courtesy of Vratislav Brabenec, who is a big-time blower in the style of German free jazz player Peter Brotzmann. For those whose love for late-'60s/early-'70s progressive rock is boundless, this is absolutely essential. But, even if you're squeamish about anything labeled art rock, don't pass this by; the raw emotions and intense idealism in the face of oppression, despite their being sung in a language you don't speak (there are English lyrics on the LP jacket), are very moving. AMG.

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