Monday 21 April 2008

February 2007 pt.4

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

John Kay And The Sparrow


John Kay And The Sparrow - Collector's Item (1966-1967)

1.
Twisted
2. Goin' To California
3. Baby Please Don't Go
4. Down Goes Your Love Life
5. Bright Lights Big City
6. Can't Make Love By Yourself
7. Good Morning Little School Girl
8. King Pin
9. Square Headed People
10. Chasin' Shadows
11. Green Bottle Lover
12. Isn't It Strange
13. Tomorrow's Ship (bonus track)
14. Twisted (bonus track)
15. Goin' To California (bonus track)
16. Hoochie Coochie Man (bonus track)
17. Pusher (bonus track)
18. Goin' Upstairs (bonus track)
19. Tighten Up Your Wig (bonus track)
20. Too Late (bonus track)

Biography by Greg Prato:
Steppenwolf leader/founder John Kay is perhaps the most overlooked early contributor to the musical style that would become heavy metal and hard rock. Kay was the first rocker to use the phrase heavy metal in a song, in one of metal's first great anthems: Steppenwolf's 1968 classic "Born to Be Wild." Born Joachim Fritz Krauledat on April 12, 1944, in the section of Germany that was once known as East Prussia, it was the American rock & roll that he heard on U.S. Armed Forces radio after his family moved to East Germany that fueled his interest in music. After relocating to Toronto, Canada, in 1958, Kay became even more transfixed by rock & roll — leading to Kay picking up the guitar, writing songs, and playing in local bands.

In the '60s, Kay founded the Sparrow, a rock outfit who played both Canada and the U.S., but received little attention. The group had fallen apart by 1967, but with a new, harder-edged style of rock beginning to conquer the charts and airwaves (Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and the Yardbirds), Kay decided to pursue this direction with his next band, Steppenwolf (titled after Hermann Hesse's novel of the same name). After moving to Los Angeles, the fledgling band was signed to Dunhill and recorded their self-titled debut, issued in 1968. The album became a sizeable hit, as "Born to Be Wild" was unleashed on an unsuspecting record-buying public, becoming one of rock's most instantly identifiable and enduring hits of all time. After the track was used in the 1969 cult classic movie Easy Rider, it subsequently appeared in countless other movies and TV commercials over the years and was covered by numerous other bands (Blue Oyster Cult, Slade, Crowded House, and the Cult).

Steppenwolf continued to crank out hit albums (1968's The Second, 1969's At Your Birthday Party, and 1969's Monster), singles ("Magic Carpet Ride," "Rock Me"), and tours on a regular basis, with Kay being the only constant member among a revolving door of other musicians. By 1972, Kay decided to end the group, issuing his first solo albums around the same time: Forgotten Songs & Unsung Heroes and My Sportin' Life. Steppenwolf's retirement didn't last for long, however, as Kay alternated between the band and his solo career throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s. He even took a few former members of the band to court when they, too, began touring behind the name Steppenwolf. In 1994, Kay penned an autobiography, Magic Carpet Ride, and four years later, Steppenwolf and Kay were the subject of an interesting Behind the Music episode for VH1.

Get It Here !!! (@256)
John_Kay_Sparrow.part1.rar
John_Kay_Sparrow.part2.rar

Second Layer - Complete Discography

Their first full length, two singles and self titled EP (the EP is by all means impeccable) here for download. This is a somewhat electronic post-punk version of The Sound. Great use of drum machine. Highly recommended!

Second Layer was an electronic-based outlet for the Sound's Adrian Borland and Graham Bailey. Borland supplied guitars and vocals while Bailey provided keyboards, bass, and drum programming. The full length World of Rubber was issued in 1981, followed by two singles and an EP released the same year: "State of Emergency," "Flesh as Property," and Second Layer. Since the duo was central to the Sound's sound, their side project retained some of that feel, albeit in a slightly detached fashion that's to be expected when synths and drum machines replace more human elements. Borland's songwriting wasn't much less personal here than his writing for the Sound. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide

Second Layer - State of Emergency (7'')


1. State Of Emergency
2. I Need Noise
3. The Cutting Motion


Second Layer - Flesh As Property (7'')


1. Courts Or Wars
2. Metal Sheet
3. Germany


Second Layer - Second Layer EP


1. State Of Emergency
2. I Need Noise
3. The Cutting Motion

4. Courts Or Wars

5. Metal Sheet

6. Germany

Second_Layer_ep_singles.rar

~~~~~~~~~~~

Second Layer - World Of Rubber


1. Definition Of Honor
2. In Bits
3. Fixation
4. Save Our Souls
5. Distortion
6. Underneath The Gloss
7. Zero
8. Japanese Headset
9. Black Flowers

Second_Layer_World_of_Rubber.rar

V.A. - Beat Us If You Can! vols 1 & 2 (Liverpoodle, 2001-2002)


"18 Sixties Mod-R&B-Beat Winners From the UK!"

Side 1
1 Wishful Thinking - V.I.P.
(U.K.)
2 Lyons & Malone - She's Alright
(U.K.)
3 The Groove - Play The Song
(Adelaide, Australia)
4 Don Charles - She's Mine
(U.K.) *
5 The New Breed - Friends And Lovers Forever
(U.K.) *
6 The Monotones - Something's Hurtin' Me
(Southend, U.K.)
7 Liverpool Five - Piccadilly Line
(London, U.K.)
8 John Bryant - Tell Me What You See
(Australia) *
9 The Force Five - Gee Too Tiger
(London, U.K.) *

Side 2

1 Tony Ritchie - Anyone At The Party Seen Jenny
(U.K.) *
2 The Executives - Sensations
(London, U.K.) *
3 Patterson's People - Deadly Nightshade
(Aylesbury, U.K.)
4 The Cherokees - Everybody Needs
(Leeds, U.K.) *
5 The One Hit Wonders - Hey Hey Jump Now
(U.K.) *
6 The Beatstalkers - You Better Get A Better Hold On
(Glasgow, U.K.)
7 Force West - Talkin' About Our Love
(Bristol, U.K.) *
8 The Kingpins - That's The Way It Should Be
(U.K.) *
9 Heinz & The Wild Boys - Movin' In
(London, U.K.)

* indicates that the track only appears on this compilation

http://rapidshare.com/files/18833821/va_-_beat_us_if_you_can_vol.1.rar


"18 More Sixties Mod-R&B-Beat Winners From the UK!"


Side 1
1 Lyons & Malone - Dr. Gentle (U.K.)

2 The Cresters - I Just Don't Understand (Bramley, U.K.)

3 The League - Nothing On (U.K.)

4 The Downliners Sect - Lonely And Blue (London, U.K.)

5 The Peenuts - Trouble (Holland)

6 The Dick Watson Five - I'll Make It Up Some Other Way (NJ, U.S.A.) *

7 The Gates Of Eden - Hey Now (U.K.)

8 The Force Five - I Want You Babe (London, U.K.)

9 The Peeps - The Loser Wins (Coventry, U.K.)


Side 2
1 The Exceptions - The Eagle Flies On Friday (Birmingham, U.K.)

2 The Beatstalkers - Everybody's Talking 'Bout My Baby (Glasgow, U.K.) *

3 The Zephyrs - There's Something About You (Finchley, U.K.) *

4 The Nothings - At Times Like This (Folkestone, U.K.)

5 The Interns - Just Like Me (Cardiff, U.K.) *

6 The New Breed - Unto Us (U.K.)

7 The Pentad - Don't Throw It All Away (Surrey, U.K.)

8 The Nerve - Satisfying Kind (U.K.)

9 The Dave Avani Four - Top Of The Pops (U.K.) *


* indicates that the track only appears on this compilation

V.A. - Lost Generation #2 (Dig-Up!, 1999)


"With 20! Cool Unknown and Rare 60's Garagepunkers from the USA!!!"

Side 1
1 Mike Alexander & The Visions - Your Day Has Come
2 The Mersey Lads - What'cha Gonna Do Baby
3 Sounds Unlimited - Why Doesn't She Believe Me
4 Billy Swan - Out Of Her System
5 The Tropics - This Must Be The Place
6 The Hard Times - They Said No
7 The Rejects - Down This Street Before
8 The Superfine Dandelion - The Other Sidewalk
9 The Dinks - Ugly Girl
10 Roman Knights - The World Is Bigger Than You And Me

Side 2
1 Just Two Guys - Eyes
2 The Fugitives - I'll Hang Around
3 The Moon-Dawgs - You're No Good
4 The Unbelievable Uglies - Spider Man
5 Ritchie Dean - Time (Can't Heal This Pain Of Mine)
6 Agents 00 - Little Miss A Go Go
7 Rick & Ronnie - Don't Do Me This Way
8 The Lost Souls - Simple to Say
9 Jody Dalton - Doing Things The Hard Way
10 The Sounds Of Randall - Wasting My Time

V.A. - Prisoners Of The Beat (Chain Gang, 1999)


"Sounds of anger and mood '64-'68"

Side 1
1 The Humane Society - Eternal Prison (U.S.A.)
2 Jim Messina & The Jesters - Strange Man (U.S.A.)
3 The Percussions - Your Love (U.S.A.)
4 The Road Runners - I'll Make It Up To You (U.S.A.)
5 The Excentrics - What Can I Do What Can I Say (U.S.A.)
6 T.R. & The Yardsmen - I Tried (U.S.A.)
7 The Gisha Brothers - Prisoner Of The Beat (Germany)
8 The Steadtfasts - Stranger (Germany)
9 The Ghools - It Will Be Fine (Switzerland)

Side 2
1 Gerald Wells & The Torkays - Come On (U.S.A.)
2 The Emeralds - King Lonely The Blue (U.K.)
3 The Astronauts - Can't You See I Do (U.S.A.)
4 Les Sunlights - I'm Lonely (Belgium)
5 The Black Batmen - Sittin' All Alone (Denmark)
6 The Abstract Sound - I'm Trying (U.S.A.)
7 The Astronauts - My Sin Is My Pride (U.S.A.)
8 Yemm & The Yemen - Black Is The Night (U.K.)
9 The Churchmice - Babe We're Not Part Of Society (U.S.A.)

V.A. - Don't Turn Me Off (Out Of Limits, 2001)


"16 Trans-world 60's Beat-Punkers gems"

Side 1
1 G 69 - Growing Up (Belgium) *
2 Les Bonds - Like A Baby (France) *
3 The Un'Beat'Able - Changing Times (Leeuwarden, Holland) *
4 Los Arlequines - No Hay Amor Para Mi (Spain) *
5 Les Falcons - Two Hearts Have Took The Lead (Sarreguemines, France) *
6 Francois Nicot - Mad Jane (Brussels, Belgium) *
7 Hitch Hikers - Buggy's (Lebanon) *
8 Les Moby Dicks - Pony (Switzerland) *

Side 2
1 The Olympians - Go Man Go (Thessaloniki, Greece)
2 The Beatmen - Break It (Czechoslovakia) *
3 Le Ombre D'Oro - Buio In Sospensione (Italy)
4 Les Etoiles Filantes - Something (Switzerland) *
5 The Green Leaves - Magic Soul (Belgium) *
6 Les Senders - Good Stark (Vernon, France) *
7 The Cheese Town Jewels - No One Else (Gouda, Holland) *
8 Kenny Shane - Don't Turn Me Off *

* indicates that the track only appears on this compilation

V.A. - Mindexpanding #1 (Destination X, 1994)


"1° anthem of italian 90
's garage punkers!!"

Side 1
1 The 99th Floor - Don't Let Your Baby Go
2 The 99th Floor - Tomorrow Is The Day
3 The 99th Floor - When The Morning Comes Around
4 The 99th Floor - Longhaired Blues
5 Gips - Shapes Of Things
6 Head & The Hares - Now That You Know
7 The Kartoons - Primitive

Side 2
1 Sciacalli - Don't Need Your Lovin'
2 The Hairy Fairies - Tu Vuoi
3 La Macchina Del Tempo - Niente potra' cambiare le cose
4 I Pirati - Tu sei nelle mie scarpe
5 The Hermits - Nonymous
6 The Hermits - What's The Word
7 Vandali - Sogno No 3

http://rapidshare.com/files/18686733/va_-_mindexpanding_vol.1__1994_.rar

LUST AT LAST

Hello diggers.

This is about an exclusive blend-event, brought you by the LUST retro-futurist splinter group. All time soul, funk, r'n'r, garage and libraries will be served at

Praxis bar,

Skoufon 4, Chania,

Crete.


Don't miss this incredible action-hi, or live in the mainstream.

Peter Hammill - 1974 - In Camera

A very good example of early Hammill solo work.
Τhis album was originally released in 1974 and contains all the Hammill trademarks, the ability to shift from heart wrenching balladry to scathing, almost demonic bellows, not to mention some of the finest compositions and lyrics he's ever created.

The songs are really melodic with dark sound and very good lyrics .

One of my favorite is "Again" .....so play it loud....


Link :
http://rapidshare.com/Peter_Hammill_-_1974_-_In_Camera.rar


For this album worked :
- Peter Hammill / guitar, keyboards, vocals
- Guy Evans / drums - david hentschel / synthesizer
- Chris Judge Smith / percussion, vocals - paul whithead / drums
- David Jackson / saxophone

Norrbottens Järn (Sweden) - 1975 - Drömmarnas Värld


Norrbottens Järn (Sweden) - 1975 - Drömmarnas Värld
[MANIFEST]

1.Drommarnas Varld
2.Fank
3.Konserverad Grot
4.Sune Violent And Glassbreakers
5.Den Okande Soldaten
6.Puttes Barn
7.Jag Och Du
8.Samma Vindar, Samma Dofter
9.Flugornas Hage
10.Balladen Om Nagra Av Vara Vanligaste Myter
11.Discoplast Och Hippievadd
12.Prinsen Och Prinsessan

I'm sure that someone request this album...
but i don't remember where...


I can't find some info for that...
but it's a nice album...
and s/t track reminds me a lot "Monterey" (Eric Burdon & The Animals)

@256

Enjoy !!!

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Buffalo Springfield - Again (1967)


Buffalo Springfield
was a short-lived but influential, folk rock group that served as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina and is most famous for the song "For What It's Worth." After its formation in April 1966, a series of disruptions, including internal bickering, as well as the pressure of working in the music industry, resulted in constant changes in the group's lineup — and ultimately culminated in the group disbanding after roughly 25 months. Buffalo Springfield released a total of only three albums but also left a legacy that includes numerous demo recordings, studio outtakes, and live recordings.

Modryn - Dark Matters


Tracks
1 The Dole Of The King's Daughter
2 Season Song
3 The False Knight
4 The Black Dog
5 The Garden of Jane Delawney
6 She Moved Through The Fair
7 Yarrow
8 The Cutty Wren
9 Castlebury Fair
10 Elizabeth Love
11 The Unquiet Grave

Great dark folk, Peter Scion related

Info

I like it a lot, so recommended for folkies!!!!!

@192
http://rapidshare.com/files/18378232/modryn_-__dark_matters.rar

ENJOY

Il Balletto Di Bronzo - Ys (1972)



Band Members
Vito Manzari - Bass
Gianchi Stringa - Drums
Lino Aiello - Guitar
Gianni Leone - Vocals, Organ, Piano, Mellotron, Moog, Spinetta, Celesta

Track List
01 Introduzione
02 Primo incontro
03 Secondo incontro
04 Terzo incontro
05 La tua casa comoda
06 Epilogo

Formed in Naples in late 60's, with the initial name of Battitori Selvaggi. They changed name to Il Balletto di Bronzo with the first line-up, with two good singles in 1969 and 1970. Their first album, Sirio 2222 is now considered as one of the rarest of the italian prog era, and is halfway influenced, between late 60's psych and prog. Some collectors consider it as one of the best in the italian prog field, others think it's still not a mature group's work. Without doubt a very important one. (not as good as YS, but the 10min self-tittled track is AmaZiNg song !!! but we don't judge an album from one track, or we do ? ?)

(NOW to our point) In 1971 Gianni Leone enters the group along with bassist Manzari and a new Balletto is born, much more in a symphonic vein and dominated by his keyboards. Second album YS released in 1972 (from the name of a legendary town in Brittany), is a MASTERPEICE, giving the group the success they deserved.
YS kicks into overdrive almost straight away, then stays there pretty much for the course of the album. Il Balletto di Bronzo don't muck about, just roll their collective sleeves up and get stuck in. This is a decidedly complex and intense record.
A hidden jem, from the always suprising Italian psych/prog scene in early 70's,
... Deadly recommended ...

Tomorrow - 1968 - Tomorrow


http://www.littlestevensundergroundgarage.com/psychedelic/tomorrow.html

It's been noted that this sole 1968 record by the short-lived UK psych band was one of the best lp's of that era as well as it's always been highly under-rated.I would tend to agree with that opinion.This reissue of the Tomorrow record is really quite nice,with the lp's eleven tracks along with twelve bonus tunes tagged on for good measure.A total of 23 songs.Wow!A truly great psychedelic release to own.The disc's gems are easy to spot,like "My White Bicycle"(the same tune Nazareth opens some of their gigs with),the timeless "Revolution","Three Jolly Little Dwarfs" and "Hallucinations".

Most of you probably,of course know about Tomorrow's line-up.That it included guitarist Steve Howe(before he joined Yes),heart-throb Keith West on vocals and drummer Twink before he joined up with the Pink Fairies.Sort of a historic record,one COULD say.The extra tunes are about as good as the actual lp.Sort of dug "Why" and the mono version of the previously mentioned "Revolution" as well as the three cuts by The Aquarian Age,a side project by Twink and the band's bassist,Junior.Thought the spoken word track,skit,whatever... "Good Wizard Meets Naughty Wizard" was a gas.

Mike Reed

01 My White Bicycle (3:18)
02 Colonel Brown (2:53)
03 Real Life Permanent Dream (3:17)
04 Shy Boy (2:27)
05 Revolution (3:50)
06 The Incredible Journey of Timothy Chase (3:18)
07 Auntie Mary's Dress Shop (2:46)
08 Strawberry Fields Forever (3:59)
09 Three Jolly Little Dwarfs (2:28)
10 Now Your Time Has Come (4:53)
11 Hallucinations (2:43)
12 Claramount Lake [*] (3:02)
13 Real Life Permanent Dream [Alternative Early Mono Version][*] (2:24)
14 Why [*] (3:59)
15 Revolution [Phased Mono Version][*] (3:50)
16 Now Your Time Has Come [*] (3:05)
17 10,000 Words in a Cardboard Box [*] (3:27)
18 Good Wizzard Meets Naughty Wizzard [*] (4:42)
19 Me [#][*] (3:12)
20 On a Saturday [*] (3:13)
21 The Kid Was a Killer [*] (2:31)
22 She [*] (2:30)
23 The Visit [*]

Download Links :
@320
Tomorrow.part1.rar
Tomorrow.part2.rar

Ira Cohen - The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda


22 minute video of the most psychedelic film of all time.

Combines kabuki and Dr. Strange in the mystical realm an alchemical journey by an arcane master.." Julian Beck

This right up there with Begotten and Eraser Head for the surrealism. This was and is, the first and only psychedelic movie. With rich visual delight and bizarre mylar chamber and costumes, the alchemy is accomplished in jewels and gold, ah yes, it is, it works, it has been accomplished. I find it best played on at least three digital projectors with heavy sub woofer and smoke machines. A most delightful package of experimental cinematography. "The abolution of visual clarity and essential form", William Burroughs would have loved this film. A must have.
from amazon

This is a 22. minute part of the film. It is the part with motion. The other parts are just paintings and poetry.... great also but don't have it yet

No words to decribe this film...
It is even more crazy when you think that he could do that with the technics existing in late 60's

Download links in comments

Enjoy

Haystacks Balboa - 1970 - Haystacks Balboa



Hey everyone, couldn't find much info about these guys at all...though some of you may have heard of Leslie West who I believe played on this album. Decent stuff though, a good mix of soft flowing passages and full-out psych rockers.


The Gibson Bros. - 1993 - Memphis Sol Today!



1 Memphis Chicken
2 Barbara
3 Lil' Hand, Big Gun
4 Cat Drug In
5 I Feel Good, Little Girl
6 I Had a Dream
7 Coming Up
8 You Walked in the Room
9 Let's Work Together
10 Down in the Alley
11 I'll Follow Her Blues
12 My Huckleberry Friend
13 Naked Party

A crazed psychobilly quartet which later fragmented into the Workdogs and '68 Comeback, the Gibson Bros. formed in Ohio during the mid-'80s, playing barely competent yet totally energetic bluesy roots-rock which later became a staple of indie-rock through groups like the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Mule and the Delta 72. Vocalist/guitarists Don Howland (formerly with Great Plains) and Jeff Evans were the most stable members of the group, though third guitarist Dan Dow and drummer Ellen Hoover also appeared on the Gibson Bros.' first three albums, the obscure 1986 cassette-only Build a Raft plus the Homestead releases Big Pine Boogie and Dedicated Fool.
For 1990's Punk Rock Drivin' Song of a Gun, Howland and Evans were billed with Workdogs, a rhythm-section-for-hire including bassist Rob Kennedy and drummer Scott Jarvis. The fifth Gibson Bros. LP, 1991's The Man Who Loved Couch Dancing, alternated home recordings and live shots, the latter with indie heavyweights Jon Spencer and Cristina Martinez in tow. Spencer also appeared on the last record with both Howland and Evans, 1993's Memphis Sol Today!, recorded at Sun Studios. While Evans formed the similarly inspired — and possibly even more raucous — '68 Comeback, Howland worked with the Bassholes on albums released in 1992 and 1994.

Recorded at the legendary Sun studios in Memphis, the Gibson Bros.' Memphis Sol Today! is packed with more of a firm grasp of, and raw take on, rock & roll history (too eagerly defiled to be considered sappy nostalgia) that has come to be the band, or more aptly the band's mastermind, Jeff Evans' trademark. This incarnation of the Gibson Bros. counts among its ranks a feisty young guitar-basher by the name of Jon Spencer (Cristina Martinez was present on the B-side of The Man Who Loved Couch Dancing). However, the fact that Spencer and the Gibson Bros./Jeff Evans are rarely mentioned in the same breath leaves plenty of room to speculate that the breakup wasn't pretty. Tipping their six-strings to their rock & roll forefathers, the Gibson Bros. mix in loose, amped-up takes on tracks by the likes of Junior Kimbrough. A romp through Kimbrough's "I Feel Good, Little Girl" finds Spencer stepping up to the mic and turning in a performance that, while indicative of things to come, lacks the hip-shakin' Elvis bravado of his work in the eponymous Blues Explosion. In general, the mic gets passed around so often that it's almost a chore to keep track of who is singing, though, frankly, it doesn't matter, as the boys all have talky vocal styles that convey the same cool, tough, "Robert Mitchum, whiskey, and rock & roll" attitude. The triple-guitar assault conveys a similar loose, twangy feel, creating a record that could have just as easily served as the soundtrack to a barroom brawl 40 years ago. Liner notes courtesy of Evans are entertaining as always, as his never-stop-to-take-a-breath, stream-of-consciousness writing style reads like the literary equivalent of his band's raucous sound. Along the way, Evans manages to touch on topics like classic recording artists (including Charlie Feathers and Rev. Robert Wilkins) and racism and Martin Luther King, Jr.. To quote the liner notes, "When you pray tonight, pray a little harder for the Gibson Bros.." Amen.
[info: allmusic.com]

Monday, February 26, 2007

Quicksilver Messenger Service - 1969 - Happy Trails


A psychedelic band from San Francisco. They formed in 1968 and they released 5 extrodinary albums.One of them is "Happy Trails" recorded in 1969. Ten tracks with psychedelic and folk notes.

The band:
John Cipollina (guitar, vocals)
Gary Duncan (guitar, vocals)
David Freiberg (bass, vocals)
Greg Elmore (drums).

Nicky Hopkins added on keyboards, 1970.
Dino Valenti (vocals, guitar, flute) added, late 1970.

Cipollina, Freiberg, and Hopkins all quit, 1971, replaced by Mark Ryan (bass), Mark Naftalin (keyboards), Chuck Steaks (keyboards). Naftalin quit, 1972, band collapsed soon afterwards.


tracks:
1. Who Do You Love - Part 1
2. When You Love
3. Where You Love
4. How You Love
5. Which Do You Love
6. Who Do You Love - Part 2
7. Mona
8. Maiden Of The Cancer Moon
9. Calvary
10. Happy Trails

Enjoy it.....

rapidshare.com/files/Quicksilver_-_1969_-_Happy_Trails_-_320.rar


posted by karmaxarma

Earth Opera - 1969 - The Great American Eagle Tragedy


This second album from the Boston band was released in 1969. With guest appearances from John Cale amongst others, this was a fine example of psychedelic country rock, both Peter Rowan and David Grisman later appearing with the Grateful Dead during their own country rock period.

Musicians
Peter Rowan
- acoustic guitar, electric guitar, tenor saxophone, vocals
David Grisman - mandolin, mandocello, piano, alto saxophone, vocals
Paul Dillon - drums, acoustic guitar, percussion, vocals
John Nagy - electric bass, cello, mandocello

Tracks
A1 Home to You 4:27
A2
Mad Lydia's Waltz 3:47
A3
Alfie Finney 2:34
A4
Sanctuary From the Law 2:54
A5
All Winter Long; 5:57
B1 American Eagle Tragedy 10:41
B2
Roast Beef Love 3:16
B3
It's Love 4:09


If
Earth Opera's self-titled debut album (that you can find here) reflected the eclectic, ambitious pop styles of the Flower Power, Sgt. Pepper era of 1967, the group's follow-up, The Great American Eagle Tragedy, took into consideration the changed musical climate of 1968, when arrangements became more stripped down and hard rocking, with country-rock beginning to make inroads. The departure of bandmember Bill Stevenson, along with his harpsichord and vibraphone, may have hastened the group's transition to a simpler sound, too. But from the first note, the second album was very different from the first. Earth Opera sounded like it had been made by a studio band that had never played out, but the country-rock opener of The Great American Eagle Tragedy, "Home to You," paced by the pedal steel guitar of guest Bill Keith, was a road song in subject matter and feel, played by a band that sounded like it had spent some time before paying customers. "Mad Lydia's Waltz," the second track, sounded more like the group that had made Earth Opera, but the sound was still more rooted in stringed instruments and steady beats than it had been before, and following the throwaway written by the drummer came a real rocker, "Sanctuary From the Law." But the album's big number, the ten-and-a-half-minute title song, brought the earlier and later parts of Earth Opera together, combining a driving rock chorus, complete with screaming electric guitar solo, with slow, contemplative verse sections in which singer/songwriter Peter Rowan wove a transparent allegory about a royal court in crisis that was really about the state of the U.S. in the late '60s, particularly the quagmire of the Vietnam War. The track attracted the attention of free-form FM radio, and the album made the charts for several weeks. But Earth Opera folded soon after.

Download Link

Earth_Opera___69_The_Great_American_Eagle_Tragedy.rar

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Subject Esq - 1972 - Subject Esq


This is a German progressive jazz rock album with excellent sax and Hammond play. The music is rather typical early 70s proto-prog with elements of JETHRO TULL (for the flute-guitar interplay), early YES, and the occasional saxophone riffs remind of early VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR

Tracks
1. Alone (5:22)
2. Giantania (6:42)
3. What Is Love (5:39)
4. 5:13 (4:31)
5. Mammon (12:40)
6. Durance Is Waiting (8:25)


The Reviews

1
A very good but overlooked German group. They played a style of progressive rock that wasn't symphonic at all, but took influences from...well, almost everything. On their debut-album (and the only one under the name Subject Esq.) you'll hear elements of folk, jazz, and blues and not at least rock, and everything is played in an inspired, powerful and energetic way. The songwriting is good, and the highlight of the album is with no doubt the 12-minute "Mammon". A complex track stuffed with great themes and melodies with energetic instrumental parts. The arrangements on the whole album are loaded with saxophone, flute and organ. Other memorable tracks include "Alone", "Giantania" and the instrumental "5:13". This is a strong album that will appeal to most lovers of early 70's progressive rock. The band would later change name and become Sahara.

2
The album starts off very lively with “Alone” in a progressive jazz rock vein with excellent sax and Hammond play and continues in a quite up-beat pace with catchy vocal lines in the psychedelic sounding “Giantania“ having a nice section with soaring flute in between. “What is Love“ then is initially a more pop-ish sounding song in late sixties’ style but has great sax and later on a nice percussive section. The all-instrumental “5:13” presents brilliantly played jazz rock on Hammond, guitar, bass, drums and sax alternating with flute. The long-track “Mammon“ is certainly the highlight of this disk and offers a very versatile mix of jazz rock and psychedelic with vocal lines reminiscent of US west-coast bands and brass rock bring Blood, Sweat & Tears into one’s mind. Sections with mouth organ are alternating with others dominated by sax or flute here, this track was especially on stage a big fun to listen to. Last song “Durance Is Waiting“ starts quite different in a Byrds-like manner but soon shifts more into Prog territory with excellent organ/guitar interplay.
As a summary I can say that this one had been a quite solid and remarkable debut of this band that would present even things on the two following albums released in a slightly changed line-up and under the name Sahara.

Download Link :

Thanasis Papakonstantinou - 2000 - Vrachnos Profitis (Hoarse Prophet)


Thanasis Papakonstantinou - 2000 - Vrachnos Profitis
(Hoarse Prophet)

01 Imeros Ipnos
02 Otan Harazei (Giannis Aggelakas)
03 Palia Pligi
04 A. Manthos
05 Pexlivanhs
06 Oi Treis Anthoi (Lizeta Kalimeri)
07 Oi Gries (Intro)

08 Oi Gries
09 Atman (Giannis Aggelakas)
10 Oute Trigmos, Oute Ligmos
11 Sampax (Giannis Aggelakas)
12 M 81 (orxhstriko)


Here is the most important songwriter of the last 10 years in Greece.
His music is a mix of traditional, folk, rock & rebetiko(blues, for non greeks).
At this album "Trypes" (the most important band of the last 20 years) backing Thanasis in some tracks and Giannis Aggelakas of Trypes sang in 3 songs.


Review from RootsWorld


Saturday, February 24, 2007

Red Temple Spirits - 1989 - If Tomorrow I Were Leaving for Lhasa, I Wouldn't stay a Minute More


1. City of Millions
2. Soft Machine
3. Dive In Deep
4. Alice
5. Wild Hills
6. A Black Rain
7. Meltdown
8. Confusion
9. Rasinbowsend
10. Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun

Los Angeles quartet Red Temple Spirits skillfully mix post-punk influences - mid-period Cure, Savage Republic, early (Death) Cult - with a loving dose of lysergic psychedelia (Syd Barrett and Roky Erickson are particular touchstones). Bassist Dino Paredes and guitarist Dallas Taylor coax entrancing drones and pulses from thier instruments with judicious uses of echoe and other effects, while shamanistic frontman William Faircloth (a colorful immigrant from Britain's original '60s psychedelic movement) delves into mysticism (Native American on the first album, Tibetan on the second) with a grace and passion rarely seen before.

Dancing to Restore an Eclipsed Moon is an astonishing debut. The luxurios packaging (doubleLP/single CD) mirrors the care put into the music, which tastefully incorporates flutes, bells, natural sounds (water, birds) to create a heady atmosphere of ritualistic ecstasy. Short catchy compositions like 'Dark Spirits' and 'Dreamings Ending' alternate with several long and complex pieces.

The follow-up album is far more direct, both in the melodic music and the lyrics, which turn towards external/environmental stimuli. As crystallized by the gorgeous 'Dive In Deep' and an incandescent cover of Pink Floyd's 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun,' the theme of hope for the magic and beauty of life in the face of despair remains. Prior to the Spirits, Faircloth lent his vocal ululations to the similarly psychedelic Ministry of Love, a trio that included guitar wiz Mark Nine. Although lacking the Red Temple Spirits' brilliant chemistry, there are some great moments on the five-track EP, including 'Living in the Moment' (a showcase for Nine's e-bow mastery) and Faircloth's touching ballad, 'You're Not On Your Own'

*(The Above Text is taken from the Trouser Press guide to records, written by Greg Fasolino)

Download Link :

http://rapidshare.com/files/18121878/RTS.rar

Waterfall - 1977 - The Flight of the Day


Amazing melodic folk rock item. UK 1977

1 To A Blindman
2 Anniversary Song
3 For You
4 Sylvia
5 And For You
6 Rainbow Lady
7 Lonely
8 Little Man
9 Medley
10 Princess Star

more info and second album by the great Lizardson
@Time Has Told Me


I LOVE THIS ALBUM SO WHITOUT ANY COMMENTS ENJOY

Womb (US) - 1969 - Overdub


Womb (US) - 1969 - Overdub
@320

1 Taking A Long Walk
2 Flash
3 Two Levels
4 Love
5 Flying High
6 Evil People

Personnel:
KARYL BODDY piano, gtr, vcls A
RON BRUNECKER drms A
RORY BUTCHER vcls, perc A
CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON bs A
ROLUF STUART sax, flute A
GREG YOUNG ld gtr A
BOOTS HUGHSTON sax, flute

ALBUMS:
1(A) WOMB (Dot DLP 25433) 1969
2(A) OVERDUB (Dot DLP 25959) 1969

45:
1 Hang On/My Baby Thinks About The Good Things (Dot 17250) 1969


This San Francisco-based band were sometimes prone to over-indulgent improvisation but they had their moments. Their albums were essentially crossovers between the 'psychedelic' and 'progressive' eras with the second one by far the better of the two. On the first Conceptions Of Reality is notable for Karyl Boddy's soothing vocals but the stand-out track is Happy Egotist, a fine imaginative slice of psychedelia. Forget the rest of the album which is full of messy arrangements and lots of brass. The second album has three decent tracks:- Flash, a somewhat mystical, trippy piece of psychedelia; Love, experimental soft psychedelia with liberal lashings of woodwind and the ten and a half minute finale, Evil People, an amalgam of psychedelia and progressivism with some nice interweaving guitar work. The remainder of the album is messy and too brassy. Neither album has yet acquired collectors status but they may in time. If you're interested start with the second.

(from FUzz AcId & FLoweRS)

Thnx J for the Info...

Friday, February 23, 2007

Bobby Womack - 1972 - Understanding


One of the finest singers - songwriters in soul music.

Amazing album with 3 songs in R&B top10. Bobby Womack is a soul music allrounder: he can scream (like James), talk deeply to the ladies (like Issac and Barry), he has the Al or Marvin touch when it comes to love songs, the honesty of Sam and Curtis, and the occasional Sly-like urge to wig out

Tracks

1 I Can Understand It (6:35)
2 Woman's Gotta Have It (3:33)
3 And I Love Her (2:44)
4 Got to Get You Back (2:53)
5 Simple Man (5:58)
6 Ruby Dean (3:26)
7 Thing Called Love (3:57)
8 Sweet Caroline (3:13)
9 Harry Hippie (3:51)


The Reviews

1
Recorded in Memphis in the blackest of soul styles, Bobby "The Preacher" Womack's Understanding overflows with raw energy and emotion. Blurring the lines between Southern soul, funk, and gospel, the album's rough edges reflected something fundamental about life in Black America and the need to reach for something higher. Womack had learned well from his idol Sam Cooke that the people wanted to hear about something besides love. In the gritty "Simple Man," Womack preaches to his brothers and sisters:"Hang on in there...we don't live on a hill, but we stand just as tall." At the time he wrote the songs for Understanding, Womack was a man of considerable talents who had too little to show for it in the way of successful solo records. An always in demand studio musician, Womack's influential guitar playing helped define such eternal classics as Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home," Wilson Pickett's "Funky Broadway," Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools," and Sly Stone's "Family Affair." By 1972, his singing and songwriting had matured to such an extent that only an act of God could have kept him from storming the charts. "Woman's Gotta Have It," one of the album's three Womack originals, shot up to the very top of the R&B charts in that golden funk summer of '72. This mid-tempo soul-funk ballad starts off with a sensuous bass line straight out of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On? With its simple message about how to keep a woman happy--"You gotta giver her what she wants when she wants it / Where she wants it / And how she wants it"--the song touched a chord with audiences like few other Womack songs ever have. A bubble gum-soul cover of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" was released as the follow up single to "Woman's Gotta Have It." While it managed to impressively crack the white-dominated Pop Charts, its mellow B-side "Harry Hippie" was embraced as the "black side" by black radio, driving it into the R&B Top Ten (and, surprisingly, into the Top 40 on the Pop Charts). "I Can Understand It" is the album's funkiest and most complex track, made with timeless production values: a driving and loudly mixed bass/drum groove, a tight gospel chorus of soul sisters, lush touches of strings, and Womack's belting vocals and fuzz guitar. While this compelling Womack original never charted, New Birth turned it into a No. 4 R&B hit when the band covered it in 1973. His most consistently satisfying album, Understanding captures Womack at the peak of his powers. This is the one to get.

2
As compelling as Bobby Womack's lacerating baritone may be, it still has that uncanny ability to be an engaging voice. This album has that timeliness appeal. It features the chart-buster in the mid-tempo number "Woman's Gotta Have It." It was a number one single on the Billboard R&B charts. In addition to the aforementioned song, Womack also features a host of other granite numbers like "Ruby Dean" and "I Can Understand It." The latter, penned by Womack , was also covered by New Birth. Both versions are excellent. However, Womack's version has a soothing effect as it employs a sensuous string arrangement while New Birth's rendition is rather funky, retaining a spirited horn arrangement. Womack's version was never a release. "Harry Hippie" is a narrative about his brother and former bandmate Harris Womack. It checked in at number eight. The Ohio native's unique trait to calm a song with his blistering baritone re-surfaces on "Sweet Caroline," the album's third and final release. For a song to be so sweet and gentle, Womack enhances the flavor of this sentimental number with a heartfelt, soulful approach. It slipped into the Top 20 at 16. By all standards, this album is stirring.

Download Link:

David Crosby - If I Could Only Remember The Outtakes


David Crosby
If I Could Only Remember The Outtakes

Wally Heider Studios A & C, San Francisco,
Nov 1970 thru Spring 1971

Featuring
Jerry Garcia
Graham Nash
Joni Mitchell
Neil Young

If I Could Remember My Name outtakes were usually mixed up with so-called PERRO tapes, The Dorks rehearsals or Mickey's Barn, although basically totally different material were involved. It was usually traded as a single disc, bur here are all IICORMN outtakes that ever circulated in probably the best quality around.
Pink Robert

Disc 1
01. Song With No Words
02. Tamalpais High
03. What Are Their Names
04. Song With No Words
05. Orleans
06. I`d Swear There Was Somebody Here
07. Music Is Love
08. Laughing
09. Laughing
10. Traction In The Rain
11. Traction In The Rain
12. Traction In The Rain
13. I`d Swear There Was Somebody Here
14. I`d Swear There Was Somebody Here
15. Music Is Love

Disc 2
01. Music Is Love
02. Laughing
03. Laughing
04. Song With No Words
05. Song With No Words
06. Tamalpais High
07. Tamalpais High
08. Tamalpais High
09. Orleans
10. Orleans
11. Cowboy Movie
12. Cowboy Movie
13. Cowboy Movie
14. Slide Jam

Enjoy

david_crosby_-_1970-11_if_i_could_only_remember_the_outtakes.part1.rar
david_crosby_-_1970-11_if_i_could_only_remember_the_outtakes.part2.rar

XIT- First 3 Albums

American Indian psych rock history.... essential and very recommended
'XIT,' which means the 'Crossing' of 'Indian Tribes.'

Personnel:
TOM BEE drms A B C
R.C. GARIS Jr. ld gtr, vcls, keyb'ds A B
LEE HERRERA drms, vcls, perc A B C
A. MICHAEL MARTIN vcls A
MAC SUAZO bs A B C
TYRONE KING B
JOMAC SUAZO C
OBIE SULLIVAN C
CHILI YAZZIE

This New Mexico band's original line-up were Sioux Indians and had evolved out of Lincoln St. Exit. Indeed the original line-up was the same as Lincoln St. Exit. The early albums expounded the cause of the American Indian, and promo copies of the band's first 45 explained the bands name as meaning the "Crossing of Indian Tribes". Of most interest to readers will be Entrance which compiles material from the band's early days. This includes Sunday Dream, a superb slice of psychedelia, which they had originally recorded as Lincoln St. Exit; Forever Or Not At All, some haunting psychedelia;

Orange Benevolence, a haunting acid ballad and several examples of L.A.-style sunshine pop a la Orange Colored Sky (Half A Man, Open Doorway, and She's Upon Her Way). This album certainly is recommended. Their 1974 45, I Need Your Love (Give It To Me), was arranged written and produced by Tom Bee. Far from typical Motown fare, this is pop rock with piano and slide guitar. Tom Bee had also played in Fe Fi Four Plus Two, and may also be the same guy who produced The Hooterville Trolley / Magic Sand, and Trademarks.


XIT - Entrance
Canyon Records No7114 ('74 US)

Side 1
1. Half a man
2. Open doorway
3. Yellow man of Paris
4. She's upon her way
5. Orange benevolence
6. St, Louis mama
Side 2
7. Sunday dream
8. Soulful drifter
9. Mississippi riverboat
10. Gamblin' man
11. Forever or hot at all
12. She's my everything

The Birth of XIT. Captured early in their musical career which later developed into the sound of American Indian Rock. If you like late 60's rock, this is the record for you.
This one is unfurtunately in 2 mp3 tracks for each side This one is more psychedelic than indian rock but the ohters stand by their own genre.

the link:



Xit - Silent Warrior
1973 (Rare Earth R 545 L)

Tracks:
1: We Live
2: Awakening
3: Birth
4: Reservation Of Education
5: Color Nature Gone
6: Cement Prairie
7: Young Warrior
8: Anthem Of The American Indian

All of xits songs are important and intelligent. They tell the truth of native culture, then and now. To explore contempary native music, you owe it to yourself to listen to them. Even children can listen because there is no foul words and no demands for violence. There is anger and and a honest voice seaching for action.They are simply asking each person to look at the plight of their respected nations and take a stand on prtecting the past, present and future generations. Simply, one of the best rock bands ever. They should be in the rock n roll hall of fame. They changed native music for the better, and forever. Thankfully!

The use of traditional lyrics, melodical lines, drums fused with a solid rock style is geniusly blended! Tommy Bee and all the Xit gang have perfectly composed and performed this music that now speaks to a whole new generation in a whole new way. from amazon

@160
the link:

Xit - Plight of the Redman
1972 (Rare Earth R 536 L)

Track listing
1. Beginning
2. At Peace
3. I Was Raised
4. Nihaa Shil Hozho :: I Am Happy About You
5. Coming Of The Whiteman,
6. War Cry
7. Someday
8. End?

XIT are a popular Native American rock group from Albuquerque, NM. They have recorded a two-part concept album, The Plight of the Redman, chronicling the changes in Native American life since the arrival of Columbus. ~ Leon Jackson, All Music Guide

@128
The link:
http://rapidshare.com/files/17760626/xit-plight_of_the_redman_1972_128_33.rar

Freaky Lady thank you for the info.

ENJOY !!!

Sedmina - II Dejanje (1982-Acid Folk)


The second album of SEDMINA was released in 1982. The band featured the same line-up like on the debut. However, the arrangements are somewhat different, offering longer tracks and more psychedelic, acid-folk sound. Unlike the debut, this one does not attract a listener on the first attempt, but several listens are needed to grasp the feeling. The performance is done with mastery and confidence. The leading instruments are clarinet, violin (and viola, probably because I cannot quite tell the difference) and saxophone, with backing acoustic guitars. Melody lines invoke the medieval or baroque ballads of typical European and Mediterranean musical legacy, but occasional hints of even American folk tunes are also present. "Ciganka" ("Gypsy Woman") is very dylanesque lively folky tune with violin. The epic "Circus" brings an extended violin solo with some eerie, melancholic passages turning more optimistic at the end of the song, with Veno's vocals and saxophone. "Pav" shows the incredible abilities of Lado Jaksa playing outstanding clarinet solo party. Closing "Kolo" brings a drunken, quite morbid and strange tonality, sounding like they had been tuning their instruments along the way - very trippy and mind-bending. The second half of the song is more optimistic because the rhythm is stronger and violin is accompanied very nice solo on acoustic guitar. "II dejanje" is a very dark album. It is also not very accessible and requires attention and patience. At times, it contains rather noisy and cacophonic moments which may force you to stop playing. It is demanding. But we are talking here about "progressive" and "experimental" music, aren't we? This album deserves a lot of guts from listeners. And from reviewers it also deserves something - a recommendation. It is simply not an average folksy troubadour "cry baby", from progarchives.com.

Get It Here :
RapidShare or SendSpace

Ugly Ducklings - 1966 - Somewhere Outside



http://rapidshare.com/files/17784536/Ugly_Ducklings-_Somewhere_Outside.rar

The Ugly Ducklings were probably the best known Canadian garage rock group of the mid-'60s. Formed in famed Toronto's Yorkville area in 1965, the band flourished in the many coffeehouses around the Yorkville district as a Rolling Stones cover band before becoming the Ugly Ducklings and attracting the attention of the local Yorkville Records label. The band recorded a single, Nothin', that became a Canadian hit and opened for the olling Stones in 1966 when the band played Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens. The band members were quickly becoming local heroes and in 1967 the album Somewhere Outside was released on the small independent Yorkville label. The album contained nine original compositions as well as two cover songs. The band drew heavily from the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, and the Pretty Things style with a raunchy R&B/rock sound. The album sold well in the Toronto area but due to lack of national distribution the band failed to break out across the rest of the country. It wasn't until many years later, after the band broke up, that the album became a collectors item and now original pressings of the Somewhere Outside on the Yorkville label fetch hundreds of dollars between collectors. The popularity of the album has lead to it being bootlegged in many European countries over the years but most versions suffer from poor sound. This legitimate reissue by Unidisc has been digitally mastered for superb sound quality and is available at a budget price complete with the original album graphics.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Accolade - Accolade (1970)


Notable, more than anything, for the inclusion of busker Don Partridge (a successful solo artist with several hit singles) and singer Gordon Giltrap (who remained for only one album), Accolade were a light acoustic band who completely eschewed electric instruments, even as they developed a kind of folk/jazz fusion. They recorded two albums and one single before going their separate ways, by allmusicguide.

Accolade.rar

Thomas Leer - Contradictions (1979-1982)


Amazing early synthpop/industrial/lo-fi DIY home recordings from a master and pioneer of the genre. Put this on and listen to the grim arrival of the Reagan-Thatcher era. This 16-track OOP collection includes his first single, the awesome "Private Plane," along with the entire "Contradictions" album, and more. Great melodies, ominous bleeps and bloops, tape hiss and distortion, primitive rhythm-box beats... it's all there! The fun trivia fact for "Private Plane" is that his sinister whispered vocals were done not to be frightening but so that he wouldn't wake his girlfriend while he was recording the track.
(In order for Cherry Red to fit the 16 tracks on 1 cd, they shamelessly trimmed the song "Contradictions" down from over 14 minutes to just under 5. So for this download I have attached as a "bonus" track the full 14-minute version of "Contradictions.")
Enjoy! (and thanks to bfstroganoff)

James Blackshaw - O True Believers


"O True Believers"

CD Album

Recorded: September 2005 by John Hannon, NRS

Release Date: CD February 2006 / Vinyl August 2006

Label: Important Records

I really love this kid. I think his way of playing 12 string guitar comes straight from the sixties.
He is unique.

"London based 12-string guitarist James Blackshaw playing style can be firmly linked to the Takoma school of John Fahey and Robbie Basho, as well as to more contemporary players such as Jack Rose and Steffan Basho-Junghans. But, like them, Blackshaw has successfully found his own voice, as becomes instantly obvious when listening to the four tracks that make up "O True Believers". Titles such as "The Elk With Jade Eyes" and "Spiralling Skeleton Memorial" cause images of a spiritual naturalism to fuse in the brain, while Blackshaw's guitar weaves patterns that are sometimes overlaid with luscious layers of tambura drone, cymbala, harmonium and percussion. This often dreamlike combination ensures the music gathered here deftly avoids pale imitation and leaden devotion."
"In recent months, 23-year-old UK guitarist James Blackshaw has burst fully-formed onto the folk underground, his remarkable talents already seeming at peak maturity. Over the course of a handful of limited-edition LP's and CD-R's, Blackshaw has established himself as an instrumentalist of astonishing grace and delicacy, seeming as though he's gobbled and digested whole the primitive folk canons of Takoma and Vanguard. Relying primarily on 12-string guitar, Blackshaw's intricate creations web together Robbie Basho's wayfaring mysticism, Ben Chasny's soft-focused acid tongues, and the rustic fantasias of Sandy Bull. Blackshaw's latest release O True Believers is his best-sounding and most complete work yet; its every dazzling figure cast in amber sunbeams as his playing moves in a decidedly baroque direction, his compositional engines laboring to outpace his nimble fingers. The slight imbalance between Blackshaw's skills as a composer and those as a guitarist are most noticeable on the album's opening convocation "Transient Life in Twilight". Utilizing a thick, John Fahey-like open tuning, this lengthy piece has a circular, repetitive construction that fixes attention on Blackshaw's nearly inhuman dexterity. As the track gathers momentum, his immaculate playing achieves a cascading, harp-like complexity, sounding almost as if Blackshaw has the ability to lift and strum a small harpsichord. Impressive though his playing his, however, the 11-minute track feels a fraction overlong as it reiterates its simple melody with a single-minded concentration that suggests Blackshaw might be perfectly content to continue on indefinitely. Even longer is the album's 18-minute centerpiece "The Elk With Jade Eyes", but here Blackshaw has wisely chosen to branch out instrumentally, adding elements of sitar, harmonium, and hand percussion to the track's crystalline wells. This rapturous epic unfurls with a patient, snake-charming grandeur. Blackshaw hammers his guitar like an Appalachian dulcimer one minute, and tenderly plucks it like a Renaissance lute the next to craft his utterly singular cross-traditional tapestry. The track's evocative, otherworldly spirit lingers on the following "Spiraling Skeleton Memorial", which has the intoxicating languor of a late evening gondola serenade. On the set-closing title track, a lilting chorus is carried by what is credited as harmonium but sounds as much like a wistful melodica. Rippling with chimes and percussion, this irresistible song is as close as Blackshaw gets to conforming to a standard pop structure, and by this evidence he shows an effortless knack for more straightforward melodic forms. Right now the field for folk-based guitarists is becoming crowded with unique and exceptional talents-- Chasny, Jack Rose, Matt Valentine, Richard Bishop-- so Blackshaw's greatest obstacle at this point might simply be listener fatigue. Yet as the radiant O True Believers illustrates, Blackshaw is able to differentiate himself through his exotic lyricism, stray pan-ethnic flourishes and pure unmasked virtuosity, while his youth suggests he's only just begun to tap his true capabilities."
- Matthew Murphy, Pitchfork [on "O True Believers]

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

V.A. - Harvest Festival Box Set



Harvest Festival focuses on the label's two more successful styles.

First there's the folkier side, comprising ardent traditionalists like Shirley and Dolly Collins, Martin Carthy, and The Albion Band; folk-influenced individualists like Michael Chapman and the great Roy Harper; and exceedingly twee folk-poppers like Panama Limited Jug Band, Third Ear Band and Gryphon. Between them, this lot contribute many of Harvest Festival's most appealing moments, especially if you have a taste for finger-picked acoustic guitars and hand percussion.

But the majority of Harvest Festival is devoted to post-psychedelic artists who were able to skew pop-song conventions just enough to turn them into something totally unique. Syd Barrett, Kevin Ayers, Be-Bop Deluxe, and the grand Roy Wood dynasty -- The Move (was a better single than "Do Ya" released in the '70s?), the Electric Light Orchestra, Wizzard and his solo records -- are the true stars of Harvest Festival. It's their songs, not those of their better-selling brethren like Deep Purple and the Barrett-less Pink Floyd, that make it sound like simply the next step, not a revolution, when the buzzsaw pop-punk of the Saints and the thorny experimentalism of Wire appear late in the set with classics like "(I'm) Stranded" and the seven-minute beautiful-noise soundscape "A Touching Display."

V.A. - Harvest Festival Box Set_disc 01

1. Edgar Broughton Band - Evil
2. Michael Chapman - It Didn't Work Out
3. Deep Purple - Wring That Neck
4. Roy Harper - Tom Tiddler's Ground
5. Pete Brown And His Battered Ornaments - Morning Call
6. Third Ear Band - Stone Circle
7. Greatest Show On Earth - Real Cool World
8. Syd Barrett - Octopus
9. Panama Limited Jug Band - Round And Round
10. Barclay James Harvest - Mother Dear
11. Tea & Symphony - Maybe My Mind (With Egg)
12. Michael Chapman - Postcards Of Scarborough
13. Forest - A Glade Somewhere
14. Edgar Broughton Band - Out Demon's Out
15. Pete Brown & Piblokto - Living Life Backwards
16. Quatermass - Black Sheep Of The Family
17. Bakerloo - Big Bear Ffolly
18. The Pretty Things - The Good Mr Square
19. Kevin Ayers - The Lady Rachel
20. Shirley & Dolly Collins - A Foresaking - Our Captain Cried

V.A. - Harvest Festival Box Set_disc 02

1. Deep Purple - Speed King
2. Pete Brown and Piblokto - Things May Come And Things May Go But The Art School Dance Goes On Forever
3. Edgar Broughton Band - Apache Drop Out
4. Climax Chicago Blues Band - Everyday
5. Kevin Ayers - Butterfly Dance
6. Barclay James Harvest - Mocking Bird
7. Michael Chapman - Kodak Ghosts
8. The Move - The Words Of Aaron
9. Deep Purple - Fireball
10. Electric Light Orchestra - 10538 Overture
11. Ron Geesin & Roger Waters - Breathe
12. Barclay James Harvest - Medicine Man
13. Kevin Ayers And The Whole World - Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes
14. Michael Chapman - Fennario
15. Roy Harper - The Same Old Rock
16. Edgar Broughton Band - Hotel Room
17. Syd Barrett - Effervescing Elephant
18. Kevin Ayers - Song From The Bottom Of A Wall

V.A. - Harvest Festival Box Set_disc 03

1. Pink Floyd - Money
2. Roy Harper - South Africa
3. Kevin Ayers - Interview
4. Babe Ruth - The Mexican
5. The Move - Do Ya
6. Southern Comfort - Something Said
7. Be-Bop Deluxe - Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape
8. Roy Wood - Dear Elaine
9. Kevin Ayers - Take Me To Tahiti
10. Edgar Broughton Band - Things On My Mind
11. Babe Ruth - Hombre De La Guitarre (from Amar Caballero)
12. Roy Harper - Another Day (live)
13. Electric Light Orchestra - Roll Over Beethoven
14. Be-Bop Deluxe - Maid In Heaven
15. Climax Chicago - You Make Me Sick
16. Electric Light Orchestra - Showdown
17. Wizzard - Ball Park Incident
18. Roy Harper - I'll See You Again

V.A. - Harvest Festival Box Set_disc 04

1. The Albion Band - Poor Old Horse
2. Martin Carthy - Old Hog Or None
3. The Albion Dance Band - Hopping Down In Kent
4. Ashley Hutchings - Postmans Knock
5. Gryphon - Spring Song
6. Unicorn - Have You Ever Seen The Rain
7. Be-Bop Deluxe - Fair Exchange
8. Kevin Ayers - Ballad Of A Salesman Who Sold Himself
9. Be-Bop Deluxe - Electric Language
10. David Gilmour - Short And Sweet
11. Roy Harper - When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease
12. The Saints - Erotic Neurotic
13. Wire - Reuters
14. The Saints - (This) Perfect Day
15. The Shirts - Lonely Android
16. The Banned - Little Girl
17. Wire - I Should Have Known Better
18. The Saints - Swing For The Crime
19. Bill Nelson's Red Noise - Revolt Into Style
20. Wire - A Touching Display

V.A. - Harvest Festival Box Set_disc 05

1. Deep Purple - Black Night
2. Pete Brown & Piblokto - Flying Hero Sandwich
3. The Move - California Man
4. Greatest Show On Earth - Magic Woman Touch
5. Kevin Ayers - Caribbean Moon
6. Trinidad Oil Company - The Calendar Song
7. Matumbi - Rock
8. Wire - I Am The Fly
9. Ivor Cutler - Life In A Scotch Sitting Room Vol 2 (excerpt)
10. Vivian Stanshall And Kilgarron - The Young Ones
11. Spontaneous Combustion - Sabre Dance
12. Be-Bop Deluxe - Ships In The Night
13. Bombadil - Breathless
14. Marshall Hain - Dancing In The City
15. Bill Nelson's Red Noise - Radar In My Heart
16. Strapps - Child Of The City
17. Deep Purple - Hallelujah
18. Babe Ruth - Wells Fargo
19. Professor Longhair - Mess Around
20. Syd Barrett - Golden Hair
21. Edgar Broughton Band - Up Yours

Get it Here !!!
1 ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 ~ 5 ~ 6 ~ 7

Enjoy !!!

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