Family - Music In A Doll's Mouse 1968

The non-LP single "Scene Through the Eye of a Lens" b/w "Gypsy Woman" not withstanding, Music in a Doll's House (1968) is the debut full-length release from the earliest incarnation of Family, featuring Roger Chapman (harmonica/tenor sax/vocals), Rick Grech (violin/ cello/bass guitar/vocals), Rob Townsend (percussion/drums), John "Charlie" Whitney (guitar/pedal steel guitar/keyboards), and Jim King (harmonica/keyboards/soprano sax/tenor sax/vocals). Their highly original sound has often been compared to Traffic, which may be in part due to the production skills of Jimmy Miller and Dave Mason, the latter also contributing the organic and rootsy rocker "Never Like This." Additionally, neither band was overtly psychedelic or progressive, contrasting them from the other burgeoning combos such as Soft Machine, Pink Floyd, and Caravan. Family's deceptively involved arrangements are coupled with an equally unique blend of Chapman's commanding vocals driving through the jazz and folk-rooted tunes. "The Chase" is a spirited opener that immediately establishes their unmistakable vibe, which is furthered on the sides "Old Songs for New Songs" and the aggressive rocker "Peace of Mind." The antithesis can be heard on the rural-flavored "Mellowing Grey" and "Winter," or perhaps the almost blatantly trippy "See Through Windows." In 1996, See for Miles issued Music in a Doll's House along with Family Entertainment (1969) on a double-disc anthology, including the previously mentioned pre-LP 7" "Scene Through the Eye of a Lens" b/w "Gypsy Woman," both of which have been released on compact disc for the first time here. The package additionally boasts a 40-page booklet and hardback CD jacket, while the audio has been digitally remastered utilizing Super Bit Mapping. AMG.

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Five Man Electrical Band - Five Man Electrical Band 1969

This is kind of a nice surprise. Despite how dorky they look on the cover, the Five Man Electrical Band clearly had some talent, even if they were a little low on originality. Clearly influenced by the Lovin' Spoonful and the Turtles, even if they didn't quite have the sparkle of those groups, they even cover a Garry Bonner-Alan Gordon song, "Fancy Dancin' Man," which, with a more expansive arrangement, might have been a hit. The problem here is that this group just didn't quite have the vocal blend of the Turtles. The ideas are there, but the execution falls just a little flat. Les Emmerson shows himself to be a fine Beatles-inspired songwriter, and he indeed has his moments. With better singers, this could have really been something. One of the album's highlights is the Nilsson-esque "Maple Lane," which is one of the most charming tracks on the set. AMG.

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General Johnson - Generally Speaking 1972

Leader of Chairmen of the Board and a top R&B songwriter/producer as well, General Johnson enjoyed a long career stretching from his debut during the mid-'50s glory days of R&B to his status as a turn-of-the-century beach music icon. Born and raised in the seaside city of Norfolk, VA, Johnson began singing in church with his father at the age of six, and made his recording debut at 12 when his group the Humdingers recorded a few unreleased sides for Atlantic. Several years later, after a change of name to the Showmen, Johnson and the group moved to the New Orleans hit factory Minit for the 1961 rock & roll anthem "It Will Stand." The single charted both in 1961 and 1964, but the Showmen only recorded a dozen sides for Minit and Swan before breaking up in 1968.
General Johnson briefly attempted a solo career, but wound up in Detroit attached to the fledgling Invictus label helmed by Motown hitmakers Holland-Dozier-Holland. With Danny Woods (from the Showmen), Harrison Kennedy, and Eddie Custis, Johnson formed Chairmen of the Board. Their first single, "Give Me Just a Little More Time," became a big pop hit in 1970, closely followed by "(You've Got Me) Dangling on a String" and "Everything's Tuesday." Johnson wrote another of the group's moderate hits, "Pay to the Piper," and several of his songs became hits for other artists: "Patches" made the Top Ten for Clarence Carter (Jerry Reed also recorded a country hit), and fellow Invictus act Honey Cone hit the charts with his "Want Ads," "Stick Up," and "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show."
Chairmen of the Board slipped from the charts during the mid-'70s, and while General Johnson and Danny Woods stuck together for a time (as the Chairmen), Johnson finally earned his solo career in 1979. His self-titled album for Arista was a minor hit, translating soul into the contemporary sounds of disco. Johnson reunited with Woods early in the '80s, and the pair toured the Southeast beach music circuit to much success. The early '90s brought another album, What Goes Around Comes Around, also recorded with Woods. General Johnson died at his home in suburban Atlanta, GA on October 13, 2010, reportedly from lung cancer. He was 67 years old. AMG.

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Eddie Gale - Black Rhythm Happening 1969

Love it or hate it, trumpeter Eddie Gale's second Blue Note outing as a leader is one of the most adventurous recordings to come out of the 1960s. Black Rhythm Happening picks up where Ghetto Music left off, in that it takes the soul and free jazz elements of his debut and adds to them the sound of the church in all its guises -- from joyous call and response celebration on the title track (and album opener), to the mournful funeral sounds of "Song of Will," to the determined Afro-Latin-style chanting on "Mexico Thing" that brings the pre-Thomas Dorsey gospel to the revolutionary song style prevalent in Zapata's Mexico -- all thanks to the Eddie Gale Singers. Elsewhere, wild smatterings of hard and post-bop ("Ghetto Love Night") and angular modal music ("Ghetto Summertime," featuring Elvin Jones on drums and Joann Stevens-Gale on guitar), turn the jazz paradigm of the era inside out, simultaneously admitting everything in a coherent, wonderfully ambitious whole. There is no doubt that Archie Shepp listened to both Ghetto Music and Black Rhythm Happening before setting out to assemble his Attica Blues project. The album closes with "Look at Teyonda," a sprawling exercise in the deep melding of African and Latin folk musics with the folk-blues, flamenco, and jazz rhythms. Funky horns (courtesy of Gale, Russell Lyle, and Roland Alexander) moan toward Fulumi Prince's startlingly beautiful vocal. Stevens-Gale's guitar whispers the tune into the field before the saxophones and brass come to get it, and when they do, long open lines are offered slowly and deliberately, as Jones' shimmering ride cymbals triple-time the beat into something wholly Other. Black Rhythm Happening is a timeless, breathtaking recording, one that sounds as forward-thinking and militant in the 21st century as it did in 1969. AMG.

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Derek & The Dominos - Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs 1970

Wishing to escape the superstar expectations that sank Blind Faith before it was launched, Eric Clapton retreated with several sidemen from Delaney & Bonnie to record the material that would form Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. From these meager beginnings grew his greatest album. Duane Allman joined the band shortly after recording began, and his spectacular slide guitar pushed Clapton to new heights. Then again, Clapton may have gotten there without him, considering the emotional turmoil he was in during the recording. He was in hopeless, unrequited love with Pattie Boyd, the wife of his best friend, George Harrison, and that pain surges throughout Layla, especially on its epic title track. But what really makes Layla such a powerful record is that Clapton, ignoring the traditions that occasionally painted him into a corner, simply tears through these songs with burning, intense emotion. He makes standards like "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" and "Nobody Knows You (When You're Down and Out)" into his own, while his collaborations with Bobby Whitlock -- including "Any Day" and "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?" -- teem with passion. And, considering what a personal album Layla is, it's somewhat ironic that the lovely coda "Thorn Tree in the Garden" is a solo performance by Whitlock, and that the song sums up the entire album as well as "Layla" itself. AMG.

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Fela Kuti - Expensive Shit 1975

This disc is an overt response to the consistent harassment afflicting Fela Kuti's Kalakuta Republic in the early '70s under the oppressive Lagos authorities. The title track is a direct reference to an actual incident that occurred in which the cops planted a marijuana cigarette on Kuti -- who promptly swallowed it and therefore destroyed any evidence. He was then held until he could pass the drugs from his system -- which miraculously did not occur when his fecal sample was then sent for analysis, thanks to some help from his fellow inmates. Because of the costs incurred during this debacle, Kuti proclaimed his excrement as Expensive Shit. Musically, the Afro-funk and tribal rhythms that Kuti and his Africa '70 put down can rightfully be compared to that of James Brown or even a George Clinton-esque vibe. The beats are infectious with a hint of Latin influence, making the music nearly impossible to keep from moving to. Although the band is large, it is also remarkably tight and malleable enough to accompany and punctuate Kuti's vehement and indicting lyrics. The nature of what Kuti says, as well as infers, amounts to much more than simply whining or bad-rapping the law. His witty and thoughtful raps not only relate his side of the incident, but do so with tongue-in-cheek humor -- such as the statement that his oppressors must really enjoy his feces because they want to examine it so urgently. Yet, he tries to stay away from it, for somewhat obvious reasons. The album's B-side contains the metaphysical "Water No Get Enemy." This is a comparatively jazzy piece, with Africa '70 again exploring and stretching out its impulsive beats behind Kuti's singing. The track features some of his finest and most inspired keyboard work as well. He weaves hypnotic and ethereal electric piano lines over the earthy-sounding brass section. The laid-back groove works well in contrast to the manic tempo of "Expensive Shit." AMG 

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H.P. Lovecraft - H.P. Lovecraft 1967

With the exception of a couple of badly dated tracks, this is one of the best second-division psychedelic albums, with strong material that shows the immediately identifiable Edwards-Michaels vocal tandem at its best. According to the LP notes, the songs were largely inspired by novelist H.P. Lovecraft's "macabre tales and poems of Earth populated by another race." It's more haunting than gloomy, though, with deft touches of folk, jazz, and horns. AMG.

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Geraldo Azevedo - Geraldo Azevedo 1977

Romantic lyricism set to virtuosic guitar playing has made Geraldo Azevedo one of the top pop musicians in Brazil. Many of his compositions, including "Caravana," "Copacabana," "De Outra Maneira" and "Barcarola Do Sao Francisco," have become Brazilian pop classics. Born in Petrolina, a small town near the banks of the San Francisco River, Azevedo was heavily influenced by João Gilberto, who lived in Juazeiro, a city on the other side of the river. Self-taught on the guitar, he mastered the instrument by the age of twelve. Moving to the capital city of Recife in 1963, Azevedo formed Grupo Construcao with vocalist Teca Calazans and percussionist Naná Vasconcelos. 

Four years later, he accepted an invitation by vocalist Eliana Pittman to relocate to Rio de Janeiro. Azevedo soon became one of the city's leading musicians and a highly respected accompanist for many top-ranked vocalists. Together with Vasconcelos, Nelson Ângelo and singer/songwriter Geraldo Vandré, with whom he co-wrote the popular "Cancao de Despedida" ("The Farewell Song"), Azevedo formed a band, Quarteto Livre. After the military government closed the Brazilian congress and instituted censorship in December 1968, the group disbanded. Azevedo attained international acclaim in 1991 when he teamed with Alçeu Valença to compose and perform two songs -- "78 Rotaces" and "Planetario" -- at a festival sponsored by Tupi TV in Sao Paulo. Signed by Casablanca, Azevedo and Valença released a self-titled duo album. In 1972, the two joined with folk singer Jackson Do Pandeiro to perform at an International Song Festival in Rio.Azevedo began to achieve recognition on his own, as well. Several of his songs were featured on the soundtrack of the Globo TV series Gabriela and Saramandaia. Azevedo's debut solo album released in 1973 became a major hit. In 1979, Azevedo and actress/singer Elba Ramalho recorded Bicho de 7 Cabcas. Azevedo recorded a live album in the Golden Room of the Casablanca in Rio in 1985. AMG.

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Faces - Long Player 1971

On their second album Long Player, the Faces truly gel -- which isn't quite the same thing as having the band straighten up and fly right because in many ways this is album is even more ragged than their debut, with tracks that sound like they were recorded through a shoebox thrown up against a couple of haphazardly placed live cuts. But if the album seems pieced together from a few different sources, the band itself all seems to be coming from the same place, turning into a ferocious rock & roll band who, on their best day, could wrestle the title of greatest rock & roll band away from the Stones. Certainly, the sheer force of the nine-minute jam on Big Bill Broonzy's "I Feel So Good" proves that, but what's more remarkable is how the band are dovetailing as songwriters, complementing and collaborating with very different styles, to the extent that it's hard to tell who wrote what; indeed, the ragged, heartbroken "Tell Everyone" sounds like a Stewart original, but it comes from the pen of Ronnie Lane. The key is that Stewart, Lane and Ron Wood (Ian McLagan only co-write "Bad 'N' Ruin") are all coming from the same place, all celebrating a rock & roll that's ordinary in subject but not in sound. Take "Bad 'N' Ruin," the tale of a ne'er do well returning home with his tail between his legs, after the city didn't treat him well. It has its counterpart in "Had Me a Real Good Time," where a reveler insists that he has to leave, concluding that he was glad to come but also glad to get home. These are songs that celebrate home, from family to the neighborhood, and that big heart beats strong in the ballads, too, from the aching "Sweet Lady Mary" to the extraordinary reworking of Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed," which soars in ways Macca's exceptional original never did. Then, there's there humor -- the ramshackle "On the Beach," the throwaway lines from Rod on "Had Me a Real Good Time" -- which give this a warm, cheerful heart that helps make Long Player a record as big, messy, and wonderful as life itself. AMG.

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Denny Laine - Holly Days 1977

Of the myriad side projects and offshoots which occupied Paul McCartney and Wings during the early to mid-'70s, it is regrettable that this is the only one which came to full fruition -- regrettable because it's also the only one in which Fab Macca had any kind of vested financial interest, thus opening the door for decades' worth of subsequent critics to write it of as just another means of adding more cash to the coffers. Of course, there's no denying that McCartney's acquisition of the Buddy Holly songbook was a prime reason for this collection of, indeed, Buddy Holly covers. But to dwell on that is to overlook the fact that, alongside Wildlife, Red Rose Speedway, and two or three later Wings 45s, Holly Days sounds more like McCartney's original blueprint for Wings than anything else the group accomplished. Laine, Paul, and Linda alone feature on the album, recording in the same Rude studios (the appropriately named Rude Studio where McCartney banged out his demos), and not sounding much more advanced. A note on the sleeve even warns, "this album consists of monophonic recordings, electronically reprocessed to give a stereo effect," and anyone familiar with any of the Beatles' own early-'60s recordings will know exactly what that sounds like. Holly Days is crude, ramshackle, and impossibly primitive, then, but its naïveté is its strength, its amateurism is its armor. It's the sound of three musicians having fun with songs that they love, eschewing effects, ignoring mistakes, and cherishing the lo-fi brashness of it all. Laine's lead vocals are excellent, the McCartneys' harmonies are spot-on, and the musicianship -- mainly Paul -- is supremely slapdash. The result, for anybody wishing to seriously anthologize McCartney's solo output, is an album as honest as any he's been involved in, and a lot more fun than most of them. Holly Days -- happy days! AMG.

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Dr. John - In The Right Place 1973

Dr. John finally struck paydirt here and was certainly In the Right Place. With the hit single "Right Place Wrong Time" bounding up the charts, this fine collection saw many unaware listeners being initiated into New Orleans-style rock. Also including Allen Toussaint's "Life," and a funky little number entitled "Traveling Mood," which shows off the good doctor's fine piano styling, and with able help from the Meters as backup group, In the Right Place is still a fine collection to own. AMG

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The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico 1967

One would be hard-pressed to name a rock album whose influence has been as broad and pervasive as The Velvet Underground & Nico. While it reportedly took over a decade for the album's sales to crack six figures, glam, punk, new wave, goth, noise, and nearly every other left-of-center rock movement owes an audible debt to this set. While The Velvet Underground had as distinctive a sound as any band, what's most surprising about this album is its diversity. Here, the Velvets dipped their toes into dreamy pop ("Sunday Morning"), tough garage rock ("Waiting for the Man"), stripped-down R&B ("There She Goes Again"), and understated love songs ("I'll Be Your Mirror") when they weren't busy creating sounds without pop precedent. Lou Reed's lyrical exploration of drugs and kinky sex (then risky stuff in film and literature, let alone "teen music") always received the most press attention, but the music Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Maureen Tucker played was as radical as the words they accompanied. The bracing discord of "European Son," the troubling beauty of "All Tomorrow's Parties," and the expressive dynamics of "Heroin" all remain as compelling as the day they were recorded. While the significance of Nico's contributions have been debated over the years, she meshes with the band's outlook in that she hardly sounds like a typical rock vocalist, and if Andy Warhol's presence as producer was primarily a matter of signing the checks, his notoriety allowed The Velvet Underground to record their material without compromise, which would have been impossible under most other circumstances. Few rock albums are as important as The Velvet Underground & Nico, and fewer still have lost so little of their power to surprise and intrigue more 50 years after first hitting the racks. AMG.

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Renaissance - Renaissance 1969

The original group's debut album was a then-groundbreaking meld of progressive rock with classical and jazz influences. The album is a little clunky by today's standards, and far druggier than the later group in its ambience (cofounders Keith Relf and Jim McCarty were the heavily psychedelic half of the final lineup of the Yardbirds, which made them anathema to Jimmy Page), but vocalist Jane Relf had a striking individual style, and the classical influence was unique for its time. [The 2002 Collector's Choice reissue cuts "Sea" and the second version of "Island" from the track listing.] AMG.

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Vinegar Joe - Vinegar Joe 1972

Vinegar Joe might very easily have been Island Records' answer to the Allman Bros. or Wet Willie. A sextet formed out of a busted big-band rock outfit called Dada, they were brought together at the suggestion of Island founder Chris Blackwell. Elkie Brooks (vocals), Robert Palmer (vocals, guitar), Pete Gage (guitars, piano), and Steve York (bass, harmonica), were at the core of the group, with Tim Hinkley and then Mike Deacon on keyboards, and Conrad Isadore and Keef Hartley, and then John Woods and Pete Gavin on drums--the band cut three albums for between 1971 and 1973. Their live shows were well reviewed and attracted significant audiences in England, but this was never reflected in their record sales. They split up in 1973, with Robert Palmer becoming an international star as a pop-rock blue-eyed soul singer and Elkie Brooks a success as an MOR singer with Pete Gage as her arranger. AMG.

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