Lumbee - Overdose 1970

Their sole LP was originally accompanied by a board game that had, as its central objective, the establishment of a worldwide dealership, from which players started out selling marijuana before graduating, eventually, to acid. Unfortunately, that gimmick along with the group's atypical interracial makeup was really the most fascinating attribute of Lumbee's sole album, which was largely a collection of lumbering southern blues-based rock songs with only brief flashes of inventiveness.

Taking its name from a Native American tribe located near Lumberton, NC (their native state), Lumbee began as the wonderfully monikered Plant and See, which released a late-'60s album on the Turtles' record label, White Whale. The makeup of the band was a curious anomaly for the era: leader William French Lowery was of Native American ancestry; his wife and the group's singer Carol Fitzgerald was Scotch-Irish; drummer Forris Fulford was Black; and bassist Ronald Seiger was Hispanic. A single from the album was rising up the charts at the time White Whale folded, ending any chance of the national success it might have had and leaving the band without a record deal and, due to legal ramifications, its band name. With the loss of Seiger and the addition of rhythm guitarist Rick Vannoy and new bass player Bobby Paul, Plant and See regrouped under the name Lumbee in 1970. Soon thereafter they were in the studio cutting Overdose, so named as a tribute to three rock stars (Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison) who had recently succumbed to drugs. The album was quite controversial at the time due to its unique doper board game and its cover sleeve, which portrayed children playing said game. A single from the album, "Streets of Gold," rose to the top of various regional charts, and the band played with such well-known acts as the Allman Brothers Band. Shoddy management, however, soon led to disillusionment and eventual dissipation. Lumbee wasn't, as the opening song on Overdose suggests, tone deaf, but their music wasn't particularly tuneful either, meaning there isn't really anything on this straight CD reissue that you can live without. Even hardcore fans of '70s hard rock will find the songwriting largely undistinguished and the recording surprisingly lacking in excitement. The band seems unable to muster up a high level of energy, and as a result, the songs have a tendency to sink into plodding, Southern blues-by-the-numbers rock. Despite the dynamic multicultural makeup of the band, the music doesn't manage any sort of unique angle or edge, which is a genuine disappointment. The album does have its merits. Lumbee erupts into a sizzling but far-too-brief jazzy break toward the end of "People Get Ready," which segues directly into "You Gotta Be Stoned," a lumbering but tripped-out psychedelic jam. The single, "Streets of Gold," has an inviting, back-to-the-country gait, and Carol Fitzgerald Lowery's hard rock hollering on the strong blues "Whole World Is Down on Me" recalls Janis Joplin, although it can also descend into affectation at times. Each of the other songs has some truly nice bits of interplay and stretches where the band hits upon nice grooves that make you wonder how impressively this music might have come off in a ballroom or club setting. But at only about 33 minutes, it still manages to feel like a bit of an overdose, which certainly isn't the highest recommendation possible. AllMusic.

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Fairport Convention - Fairport Convention 1968

By far the most rock-oriented of Fairport Convention's early albums, this debut was recorded before Sandy Denny joined the band (Judy Dyble handles the female vocals). Unjustly overlooked by listeners who consider the band's pre-Denny output insignificant, this is a fine folk-rock effort that takes far more inspiration from West Coast '60s sounds than traditional British folk. Fairport's chief strengths at this early juncture were the group's interpretations, particularly in the harmony vocals, of obscure tunes by American songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Emitt Rhodes, and Jim & Jean. Their own songs weren't quite up to that high standard, but were better than many have given them credit for, with "Decameron" and "Sun Shade" in particular hitting wonderfully fetching melancholic moods. It's true that Fairport would devise a more original style after Denny joined, but the bandmembers' first-class abilities as more American pop-folk-rock-styled musicians on this album shouldn't be undersold. [The 2003 CD reissue of this record adds four bonus tracks from outtakes, TV performances, and non-LP singles of the era, as well as historical liner notes.] AllMusic.

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Jimi Hendrix - War Heroes 1971

As we all know by now, Jimi Hendrix left behind more unreleased material than just about any other rock artist. Some tracks have rated as all-time classics ("Angel," "Izabella," "Drifting," etc.), while others should have remained in the vaults (such as the full-length albums Crash Landing and Voodoo Soup, two collections that were near-criminally touched up by then-Hendrix keeper Alan Douglas). The out-of-print War Heroes (currently only available on CD as an import from Europe) is one of the few consistent compilations of unreleased Hendrix, and has since been replaced by two recently released albums, First Rays of the New Rising Sun and South Saturn Delta. Highlights include "Beginning" (which contains a riff almost identical to the Stones' "Bitch"), "Highway Chile," and "Izabella," a track premiered on a Dick Cavett TV show a year before Jimi's untimely death. However, not all of the material is up to snuff, such as the nonsensical "Three Little Bears" and "Midnight," an overtly indulgent instrumental. If you're a newcomer to Hendrix, don't start here, but if you're a serious Jimi fan searching for some interesting obscurities, War Heroes is definitely worth the price. AllMusic.

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Magna Carta - In Concert 1972

One of the six Magna Carta albums that went gold in Europe, In Concert was recorded live in Amsterdam in 1971, and remains one of the most atmospheric concert recordings of its age. A wonderful venue (the Concertgebouw), an appreciative audience, and a genuinely intimate selection of songs result in performances that cannot even be compared to their studio counterparts. They're not better, they're not worse, they're just delightfully different, spun with a spontaneity and warmth that truly place the listener stage center. "Airport Song" opens the proceedings, of course, but the band was preaching to the converted that night -- every song is received as a conquering hero, and the band responds with equal generosity. A playful "Banjo Man," a haunting "Seven O'Clock Hymn," an eerie "Ring of Stones" -- every track is a highlight, while the newly arrived Davey Johnstone, making his recorded debut with the band, shines so brightly that it's hard to believe he was still unknown at the time. AllMusic.

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Manfred Mann - Up The Junction OST 1968

One of the great soundtracks of the 1960s, Up the Junction shows Manfred Mann shedding their pop skin and evolving into a truly awesome jazz outfit, which would later be fully realized in their Chapter Three incarnation. Not that they didn't have some lovely pop gems on this record. The title song, sort of a flipped-out, very very British alternative to "Good Vibrations," is one of Manfred Mann's finest pieces ever, with an excellent vocal from Mike d'Abo, Paul Jones' (Manfred's original vocalist) replacement. But the series of brief jazz-based instrumentals such as "Sheila's Dance" and "Belgravia" are equally arresting, showing off Mike Hugg's drumming and Mann's own piano abilities as never before. Priceless. AllMusic.

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Elis Regina - Elis 1972

Temperamental and moody, capable of fits of extreme generosity that could quickly turn into moments of rage-filled paranoia, Elis Regina was one of the most ferociously talented singers to emerge from Brazil. A perfectionist who was frequently dissatisfied, Regina drove herself and members of her band relentlessly, leading to her being dubbed "Hurricane" and "Little Pepper" by musicians and music journalists. Her tempestuous nature aside, she commanded the respect of Brazil's leading songwriters, who lined up for the chance to have her record one of their songs, and for much of her short life was the country's most popular female vocalist.

Born Elis Regina Carvalho Costa in Porto Alegre in 1945 to a working-class family, Regina began singing professionally at age 12 on a children's television show called Clube de Guri. For the next two years she was a regular performer on the program and became a local celebrity. It was during this period that she signed her first recording contract at the age of 13. At 15 she relocated to Rio de Janeiro, where she recorded the first of three records, returning to Porto Alegre between each. Her initial recordings sold well and she was soon a teenage star, as well as the family's principal breadwinner. In 1963, at the age of 18, Regina and her father, in a move designed to further her career, relocated to Rio. Unfortunately, it was around this time that a military junta took over control of the country.

Not long after her move to Rio, Regina became a fixture on Brazilian variety shows. Although the cool, supple, jazzy bossa nova sound was in vogue at the time, Regina preferred more raucous rhythms and full-throated singing. Adding to this was her dynamic, unsophisticated stage presence (which belied a career-long battle against near-paralytic stage fright) that, in American terms, might be best understood if one thinks of the tornado-like force that Janis Joplin could unleash. In 1965, Regina sang the controversial (and nearly censored) song "Arrastao" at Rio's first big popular music festival. In a performance that may well have been the defining moment of her career, she posed in Christ-like crucifixion, tears streaming down her face at the song's conclusion. From that moment on, her popularity rocketed; she went from being one of many successful Brazilian singers to the most popular and highest-paid singer in the country -- at the age of 21.

Although not as overtly political as other singer/songwriters of her generation (e.g., Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil), Regina was not shy about criticizing Brazil's military rule. While touring Europe in 1969 she told a journalist that her country was "being run by guerrillas." Normally this sentiment would lead to either jail or exile (or both in the case of Gil and Veloso), but Regina's enormous popularity protected her somewhat from any public government retaliation. However, the military junta used more insidious strong-arm tactics, such as forcing her to sing the Brazilian national anthem at a ceremony to celebrate the anniversary of the country's "independence." She was roundly attacked by leftist performers for such a public display of pro-government sentiment, and it was years later that her husband revealed that she was threatened with jail if she did not comply with the government's wishes. As the mother of a young child at the time, Regina could not afford to become a martyr.

Regina's career showed no signs of slowing as the 1970s came to a close; some of her best records were recorded during this time, and one album simply called Elis & Tom (recorded in Los Angeles with Antonio Carlos Jobim) has been called by many journalists and musicians one of the greatest Brazilian pop records ever made. However, while her career was in full swing, her personal life was in disarray -- two marriages ended in divorce, and she was raising three children as well as providing for her parents. In the late '70s, after the end of her second marriage, she began using cocaine regularly, but managed to keep her increasing dependence on the drug well hidden from her friends and family. Regina began 1982 by marrying for a third time, signing a new recording contract, and in general, planning for the future. All of this came to a halt on January 19, 1982, when she was found dead of alcohol and cocaine intoxication at age 36. Initially, her death was rumored to be a suicide, but there is no evidence indicating that it was anything more than a tragic accident.

A few days after her death, a memorial concert was held in São Paulo featuring many of Brazil's most famous singers. Over 100,000 grieving Brazilians came to pay their final respects to this gifted, mercurial singer who remains as popular after death as she was in life. AllMusic.

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Ian Hunter - All-American Alien Boy 1976

After the relative success of his debut, it would have been very easy for Ian Hunter to continue in the glam-inspired vein that made that album so successful. Instead, he twisted his sound in a jazz direction for All American Alien Boy, a partially successful attempt to open up his sound from its traditional rock & roll routes. Since Hunter couldn't utilize the producing and arranging skills of longtime cohort Mick Ronson because of a dispute with Ronson's manager, Hunter took the reins himself and invited a diverse cast of session musicians that included everyone from journeyman drummer Aynsley Dunbar to jazz bass wizard Jaco Pastorius. The resulting album mixture of conventional Mott the Hoople-style rock and sonic experiments never truly gels, but does contain some fine tracks. The experiments are hit and miss: the title track is a funky, sax-flavored exploration of Hunter's adjustment to life in America that works nicely, but the interesting lyrics of "Apathy 83" get buried in an uncharacteristically bland soft rock arrangement. The songs that work best are the more traditional-sounding numbers: "Irene Wilde" is a delicately crafted autobiographical ballad about the rejection that made Hunter decide to "be somebody, someday," and "God - Take 1" is a stirring, Dylan-styled rocker featuring witty lyrics that illustrate a conversation with a weary and down-to-earth version of God. However, the true gem of the album is "You Nearly Did Me In," an elegant and emotional ballad about the emptiness that follows a romantic breakup. It also notable for the stirring backing vocals from guest stars Queen on its chorus. In the end, All-American Alien Boy lacks the consistency to fully succeed as an album but still offers enough stellar moments to make it worthwhile for Ian Hunter's fans. AllMusic.

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James Brown - Revolution Of The Mind 1971

Subtitled "Recorded Live at the Apollo, Vol. III," Revolution of the Mind presents a 1971 James Brown concert performance, which means the set list is given over largely to the singles Brown had released over the previous couple of years, including "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose," "Super Bad," and "Make It Funky," all of them groove tunes with chanted slogans for lyrics, plus a medley of slightly less recent hits and the occasional real oldie, such as "Try Me." Brown concentrates on communicating with his audience, generating female screams, for example, when he comes out against dieting "'cause the more you got, the more I want." On the one hand, this can be considered indulgent — Brown spends the nearly 13 minutes of "Make It Funky" introducing the band by asking each member where he's from — on the other hand, the aural evidence suggests it went over better in the theater than it does in your living room. That wasn't true of the first Live at the Apollo, though. [Initially released as a double LP, Revolution of the Mind was reissued on CD in 1993.] AllMusic.

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Great Jones - All bowed down 1970

Great Jones is an odd combination; a jazz-loving guitarist; a blues-freaking drummer; and an ex-folk singing bassist.' Well, the end result is a funk/blues album with at least three decent tracks. The first is opener Cripple Creek, with its bouncy bass notes and sharply accentuating drum beats. Superimposed on this are Cadieux's catchy acoustic guitar riffs. The second is the title cut, a funky piano-driven number. Also of note is I Ain't Got Long, on which Cadieux contributes some delicate blues guitar which blends well with Tolmie's gutsy vocals. An average album, overall, though.

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One In A Million - Double Sight 1967

Featuring young teenage prodigy Jimmy McCulloch (later of Thunderclap Newman, Stone the Crows, and Wings) on guitar, One in a Million's 1967 single "Double Sight"/"Fredereek Hernando" was one of the very greatest obscure British psychedelic singles. Both sides are included on this CD, along with both tracks from their previous, far less impressive single and seven previously unreleased cuts. "Double Sight" was simply one of the greatest Who circa-1966-1967 soundalike songs ever, and while "Fredereek Hernando" went in a somewhat different direction with its monkish harmonies and crunching freakbeat, it was almost as good. While it's something of a cliché for pet collector bands like these to be unable to match their one capture of lightning in a bottle in the rest of their repertoire, that is, alas, true of One in a Million. Though taken altogether this material could have comprised an actual LP back in the late '60s, it just doesn't sound like the band was ready for that honor. The remainder of the group's output was pretty average mod rock with occasional psychedelic spice, and sometimes quite derivative of the Who (though "Something on Your Mind" sounds like a Troggs outtake). The sound is disappointingly thin at times, and the previously unissued "No Smokes," apparently intended as a 1967 single, is an annoyingly tuneless, agonizingly sung ode to nicotine withdrawal. No band that came up with something as killer as "Double Sight" can be written off, but other than that song and its flipside, this is for freakbeat/U.K. psychedelic completists. AllMusic.

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P.J. Proby - Three Week Hero 1969

As a rule, P.J. Proby albums cut much later than 1966 are to be avoided like the most virulent plague imaginable. And based on the singing here, an awkward mix of vaguely bluesy and country-ish rock, interspersed with excessively dramatic pop ("Reflections of Your Face"), none of which is going to make anyone forget Chris Farlowe, never mind Steve Marriott or Terry Reid, Three Week Hero shouldn't rate much better than that. What sets it apart, and makes it worth writing about, is the fact that John Paul Jones, Jimmy Paige (sic), Robert Plant, and John Bonham are at the center of Proby's studio band, albeit augmented by Clem Cattini (drums), Alan Parker (guitars), and a slew of backup singers. There's actually not much of a Zeppelin-ish sound here, but the release date puts the making of this record within the historical framework of Led Zeppelin. For completists, that may make it an important acquisition. And if they can get past over-orchestrated dreck like "Little Friend," noisy, annoying crap like "Empty Bottles," and the awful Johnny Cash impression "Today I Killed a Man," they may enjoy the medley of "It's So Hard to Be a Nigger/Jim's Blues/George Wallace Is Rollin' In This Mornin'," on which Page, Plant, and company at last strut their stuff -- although one wishes they'd cut it with Plant singing. AllMusic.

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Paul McCartney & Wings - Venus And Mars 1975

Band on the Run was a commercial success, but even if it was billed as a Wings effort, it was primarily recorded by Paul, Linda, and Denny Laine. So, it was time to once again turn Wings into a genuine band, adding Joe English and Jimmy McCulloch to the lineup and even letting the latter contribute a song. This faux-democracy isn't what signals that this is a band effort -- it's the attitude, construction, and pacing, which McCartney acknowledges as much, opening with an acoustic title track that's a salute to arena rock, leading to a genuine arena rock anthem, "Rock Show." From that, it's pretty much rocking pop tunes, paced with a couple of ballads and a little whimsy, all graced with a little of the production flair that distinguished Band on the Run. But where that record was clearly a studio creation and consciously elaborate, this is a straightforward affair where the sonic details are simply window dressing. McCartney doesn't really try anything new, but the songs are a little more varied than the uniform, glossy production would suggest; he dips into soft-shoe music hall shuffle on "You Gave Me the Answer," gets a little psychedelic with "Spirits of Ancient Egypt," kicks out a '50s rock & roll groove with "Magento and Titanium Man," and unveils a typically sweet and lovely melody on "Listen to What the Man Said." These are a slight shifts on an album that certainly feels like the overture for the arena rock tour that it was, which makes it one of McCartney's more consistent listens, even though it's possible to scan the song listing after several listens and not recognize any song outside of "Listen to What the Man Said" and the opening medley by title. Allmusic.

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Om - Om 1971

Try this excellent psychedelic rock band with some jazz touch from Spain. Hard to find.

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The Ohio Players - Observations In Time 1967

In the '60s, you didn't have to live in the Deep South to have a Southern R&B sound. Aretha Franklin lived in Detroit, but many of her '60s recordings favored the rawness and toughness of Southern soul over the sleeker, more pop-influenced soul that was coming out of Detroit as well as Chicago and Philadelphia. And even though the Ohio Players were from Dayton, many of their early recordings sound like they could have been recorded in Memphis. Produced by Johnny Brantley in New York, Observations in Time is full of songs that would have been perfect for a Sam & Dave or Rufus Thomas session; there is no shortage of Southern-style grit on "Street Party," "The Man That I Am" or the single "Here Today and Gone Tomorrow" (which was a minor hit). However, some of these 1968 recordings hint at the type of jazz-influenced experiments that the Players would provide at Westbound in the early '70s. The jazz influence is strong on imaginative versions of the standards "Over the Rainbow" and "Summertime," and "Cold Cold World" is the sort of jazz/blues item that one would have expected from Lou Rawls, Jimmy Witherspoon, or Bobby "Blue" Bland in the '60s. So even though the Players offer a lot of Southern-minded R&B on Observations in Time (which was their only album for Capitol), they aren't afraid to branch out and try some other things. Thankfully, this album was reissued on CD in the '90s. AllMusic.

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