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Plato

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Houston Fearless - Houston Fearless (1969 us, hard fuzzy psych rock, 2006 edition)



Not much known about this quartet (Harley Baker, Bill Combest, Joe Krasomil and Bob Wall). Signed by Imperial, their self-titled 1969 debut teamed them with producers Charles Greene and Brian Stone (whom we're more familiar with producing soul and R&B acts). 

Including a set of late-'60s hard rock, material such as "Not Foolin' Me", "Race with the Devil" and an extended cover of The Buffalo Springfield's "Mr. Soul" had a Steppenwolf-styled feel to them (aka manic vocals, walls of keyboards and an occasional screaming guitar). 

With Wall and Baker responsible for most of the material, among the more interesting tracks were the acoustic "Only For You" which offered up their prettiest melody, the country-rocker "What Are Those Things", and "Blue Bones and Ashes" which benefited from a mild psychedelic feel.


Tracks
1. Not Foolin' Me (Bob Wall) - 3:58
2. His Eye Is On the Sparrow (arranged and adapted by Houston Fearless) - 3:10
3. Only For You (Bob Wall) - 3:40
4. Blue Bones and Ashes (Harley Baker) - 2:43
5. Race with the Devil (Adrian Gurvitz) - 2:26
6. Mr. Soul (Neil Young) - 4:58
7. What Are Those Things (Dallas Frazier, A.L. Owens) - 2:11
8. Knock Knock (Bob Wall, Joe Krasomil, Bill Combest, Harley Baker) - 3:12
9. Joshua (arranged and adapted by Houston Fearless) - 2:10
10.Love Has A Habit (Bob Wall) - 3:16
11.Hold Me (Bob Wall) - 2:53

Houston Fearless
*Harley Baker - Keyboards
*Bill Combest - Drums
*Joe Krasomil - Bass
*Bob Wall - Guitar, Vocals

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15 comments:

  1. One of the very first vinyls I ever bought! Thanks very much...

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  2. The only one, but for that's very good album,recorded by the American band (in the style of Vanilla Fudge / Steppenwolf) is responsible, among others for a great version of 'Mr. Soul' - Buffalo Springfield repertoire. Some excellent hard rocking stuff here with some beautiful psychedelic touches. Originally released on Imperial Records (LP-12421) in 1969 somewhat hit or miss album, but a few great heavy tracks with lots of hot fuzz soloing and big Hammond organ and beautiful psychedelic touches.

    Little is known about this Texas garage band. It is only known that they are from Houston (Texas), and have a single album released in 1969. The line is mostly hard rock and heavy psych with excellent work of fuzzy guitar and organ. Highlights of weight for "Not Foolin 'Me" which opens the album excellent work Hammond organ in aggressive duel with the constant fuzzy guitar, "Blue Bones and Ashes" dominated the energy of fuzzy guitar, the cover "Race With The Devil" which years later was also rewritten by the heavy rock band Judas Priest and incredible cover of Buffalo Springfield "Mr.Soul", in an atmosphere of jam session. There are also bands with diverse styles such as "Knock Knock" which mixes the southern rock and country, "Joshua" and the style of latin rock band Santana, "Love Has a Habit" which has bases that resemble somewhat the "Beatles" and "Hold Me", with wind instruments and sound psych-pop-sunshine.

    Thx Marios.

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  3. Σε ευχαριστώ για ένα ακόμη "upgrade".

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  4. Sample clip sounds quite good! I'm going to investigate further...

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  5. No adamus67. Houston Fearless were from LA in California because I knew Joel Krasomil, the bass player and Bob Wall the lead guitarist. They were the poster band for Sunn Amps.

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  6. I can't download!. The linksafe link doesn't work. Could you re-up!

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  7. ....Houston...Problem..Solved...

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  8. Thanks Marios! I really appreciate it!

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  9. Played L.A.'s Cheetah in April 1968, along with Tommy James and the Shondells, plus the Eastside Kids.

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  10. One of my favorite bands from the late sixties / early seventies - I bought the album on vinyl in Cut Bank, Montana at the Buttery's store and played it for years at high volume in my shop at the ranch and int he house on the stereo. I often wondered why they didn't take off because they had a great sound.

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