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Plain and Fancy

Music gives soul to universe, wings to mind, flight to imagination, charm to sadness, and life to everything.

Plato

Thursday, February 9, 2012

B.F.Trike - B.F.Trike (1971 us, superb heavy garage psych)



B.F. Trike formed when three members of late 60’s psyche band Hickory Wind decamped to Nashville in 1971 and started work on an album for RCA Records. Eschewing the psychedelic style of their previous band the trio turned up the fuzz guitar and produced ten tracks of great heavy rock.

The tapes were then shelved for eighteen years until Rockadelic issued them in 1989 in a limited edition of 100 vinyl copies as well as on CD. The vinyl is now long gone and fetches astronomical sums at auction, so if you want to hear the album then you will have to go for the CD. The question is, therefore, is it worth it. Well, in this case it might well be, as the songs are catchy, well played and sung, they have great fuzz guitar solos, the rhythm section is restrained where it needs to be and upfront on the heavy rockers, and the whole album hangs together extremely well.

It opens with a re-recording of one of their Hickory Wind songs ‘Time And Changes’, done in a much heavier style and with some fine guitar-work. ‘For Sale Or Lease’ is slightly slower, but still as heavy, with a crisper guitar sound and some good riffing. ‘Lovely Lady’ is a mixture of commercial hook overlaid with stunning fuzz guitar, making it catchy and accessible while at the same time raw and powerful. ‘Sunshine’ lets you catch your breath after the onslaught of ‘Lovely Lady’, being an upbeat acoustic number, while ‘Bench Of Wood’ has a distinct Hawkwind feel to the vocals and heavy riffing.

They keep the style for ‘Six O’Clock Sleeper’ and manage to pull it off by giving it more of a groove and throwing in some nifty guitar-work. ‘Magic Makin Music Man’ is another one of their catchy heavy rockers, and the album ends with ‘Be Free’, which combines the ubiquitous fuzz guitar with some inventive percussion and a staccato chorus which lifts it above the average.

Why RCA refused to issue this at the time Heaven knows, but be thankful that we can hear it now.
PeterJolly


Tracks
1. Time And Changes - 2:44
2. For Sale Or Lease - 3:03
3. Wait And See - 2:38
4. Lovely Lady - 3:08
5. Sunshine - 4:51
6. Bench Of Wood - 3:31
7. Three Piece Music - 2:39
8. 6 O'Clock Sleeper - 4:15
9. Magic Makin' Music Man - 2:13
10. Be Free - 3:42

B.F.Trike
*Bobby Strehl - Vocals, Drums
*Mike McGuyer - Vocals, Guitar
*Alan Jones - Bass

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6 comments:

  1. Also known as: Big Fuckin 'Trike
    A very first Rockadelic album, Based in Indiana, B. F. Trike recorded this album in 1971, but it was rejected and never released by RCA. Rockadelic got the rights and issued it on LP in 1988. First few tracks are exceptional, flying psych somewhere in betweeen the Texan and SF standards. Taken from the original master tapes recorded at RCA Studios in Nashville, TN. It s been compared to Cream and Steppenwolf, but the Trike churned out a midwest sound of their own. No need to hype it any further as it s a legend in its own time... reissue with nice sound quality, Top US heavy-psychedelic trio!
    Thn

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  2. Thanks Marios for this great album, been after a lossless copy for a long time.

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  3. Tremendous stuff. One of the very first garage albums I had the pleasure to listen to. Thanks very much...

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  4. Thanks for this Marios - new to me - and I'm a really old+long time listener. Appreciate your choice in ULing this one!

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  5. Χίλια ευχαριστώ Μάριε!!!!!

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  6. Hi... yesterday I post this, but I don´t know if you see/read, then:

    Please can you post: Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush - Live (1978) - remastered or shm-cd... flac/320 thank you

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