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

Plato

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Bliss – Return To Bliss (1969 us, sharp psych blues rock, 2nd unreleased album, 2008 Hallucinations edition)



Mesa, Arizona, hardly a psychedelic mecca but the roots of Bliss and their first incarnation “The Sect” began there. While students at Mesa High 1966, Brad Reed, Rusty Martin and Corky Aldred got together and formed The Sect, eventually adding Tom Smith on bass and J.R. Lara on tambourine and vocals. Influenced by the British Invasion (who wasn’t?) the band landed a gig at a local nightspot called the Dungeon and changed it’s name to the Henchmen to fit the ambiance. But this was short lived and soon the band changed back to The Sect and began playing around Maricopa County. Keep in mind Reed was just 15 at the time!. Interesting this were to come for the boys.

Later in the summer the band caught at the attention of legendary producer Hadley “Madley” Murrell who had an ear for local talent and did some of the biggest records to come out of the area. He immediately booked them time in the famous Audio Recorders to record the two bonus singles included here. By the end of 1968 all 5 members had graduated from Mesa High School and broke up for a while.

The band decided to reform as a trio with Martin, Reed and Aldred, now a little older and more accomplished on their instruments, the name was BLISS. They teamed up with Murrell again to record a full album which was released on Canyon Records later that year. Sadly though the Lp is a great one, it had little fanfare until years later when collectors began to re-discover it. 

Now it is considered a classic and worth a hefty buck. Well the story would seem to end there but…there was another album recorded a bit later which is the one you have here. Murrel again wrote a couple brilliant songs, as did Reed and Aldred. Some of the details of this epic unreleased music are the sketchy but the lp is not. From start to finish it is a killer, vocally, musically and intellectually…wow!. At least 4 classic psychedelic rock tracks appears here, notably “Music train” and “Hippies, Cops and a Bunch of Rocks”. I have added the Sect 45 as bonus tracks here… Catch the Music Train and Return to Bliss
by Brian Hulitt, Hallucinations records.


Tracks
1. Hotche Blues - 4:18
2. Music Train - 3:22
3. Nothing In My Life - 1:53
4. Fear Of Fears - 4:04
5. Reach Out And Touch You - 5:01
6. City Woman - 3:19
7. Hippies, Cops And A Bunch Of Rocks (Hadley Murrell, Eddie Campbell) - 3:54
8. Sandbox Symphony (Forest Webb) - 2:25
9. Simply Sunday (By The Sect) (Brad Reed) - 1:40
10. Just Can’t Win (By The Sect) (Rusty Martin) - 2:10
All songs by Corky Aldred except where indicated

Bliss
*Rusty Martin - Bass
*Brad Reed - Guitar, Vocals
*Corky Aldred - Drums, Vocals

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12 comments:

  1. Return To Bliss, which in fact is Bliss the second’ unreleased album. Trust me, it is as fantastic as the first one and recorded during the same time period! The trio of Brad Reed, Rusty Martin and Corky Aldred are powerful indeed. Long time producer Hadley Murrell produced these songs as well. ‘Hippies and Cops’ & ‘Music Train’ are destined to become classics of the psychedelic genre. Speaking of classics, the first Bliss album is also one of favorites… So Get ready, here comes the ‘Music Train’ taking us to our Return to Bliss.
    Thx Marios & Laurent.

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  2. Very good. Thank you very much!!!

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  3. Well, I knew it.
    This one is WOW. Have the one named Bliss but not this one.
    THX again,

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  4. Wow, what for a good Psychedelic music. And at this time unreleased. Unbelieveable! Thanks a lot, Marios!

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  6. Return To Bliss is a compilation of songs that were excluded from the original Canyons Records album "Bliss" released in 1969.
    My dad, Brad Reed, was approached in the early 2000's for permission to release the songs that were excluded from the album "Bliss" to be released as "Return to Bliss" in 2004.
    A second release of "Return to Bliss" was released in 2007 by a 3rd and a 4th label still entitled "Return to Bliss". These 2 releases included 2 tracks that were recorded in 1966, three years previous to the release of "Bliss" in 1969. The band was called The Sect at the time of the recording of those 2 tracks, entitled "Simply Sunday" and "Just Can't Win".
    We, his kids, didn't even know those tracks existed, so we are pleased, to say the least!
    He says he wrote "Simply Sunday" as an angry youth. He was 16-17 when they recorded it.
    He's always mortified when one of us puts on his old vinyl and cranks "Gangster of Love" from the '69 record. (He swears Hadley made him do it!)
    Nice song for the grandkids! Haha!

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  7. This is very cool - had their other album for years on re-issue, but this is a gem unknown
    many thanks for the info and listen
    cheers Pierre.

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  8. Bliss – Return To Bliss 1969 ...Updated.....

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  9. very nice psycho-hard rock..memorable voice and guitar soloing(some of them sound like those from ''Animals''by Pink Floyd)..everything produced and recorded in a clear but yet powerful manner..as if you're listening to some old-school live show recording..greetings from Lithuania!
    cordially, Evaldas

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