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Plato

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Earth Quake - 8.5 (1976 us, utter power rock, Vinyl edition)



Earth Quake started out as part of the mid-'60s band scene in San Francisco, where - originally known as Purple Earthquake -- they were more than a little bit unusual. 

Having recorded a pair of early-1970s albums for A&M, 1976's Kaufman and Glen Kolotkin produced "8.5" was the group's sophomore release for Beserkley.  The album gets off to a roaring start with the heavy metal 'Finders Keepers'. 

Powered by Doukas voice, most of the up tempo tracks are actually pretty good. "8.5" is not a bad record and the single "Hit the Floor" would have sounded good on the radio, if only it had been given a chance. Also, the Dennis Linde cover is quite nice.


Tracks
1. Finders Keepers (Johnson, Bowen) - 3:59
2. Little Cindy (Gary Phillips) - 3:15
3. And He Likes To Hurt You (D. Linde) - 3:45
4. Savin' My Love (Robbie Dunbar, John Doukas, Gary Phillips) - 7:11
5. Girl Named Jesse James (Robbie Dunbar, John Doukas) - 2:59
6. Motivate Me (Robbie Dunbar, John Doukas, Gary Phillips, Bimier) - 3:09
7. Hit the Floor (Robbie Dunbar, John Doukas, Stan Miller) - 3:47
8. Same Old Story (Robbie Dunbar, John Doukas) - 4:45
9. Don't Want To Go Back (Robbie Dunbar, John Doukas, Gary Phillips) - 3:31

Earth Quake
*John Doukas - Lead Vocals
*Robbie Dunbar - Guitar, Piano, Vocals
*Stan Miller - Bass, Vocals
*Steve Nelson - Percussion, Vocals
*Gary Phillips - Guitar, Vocals, Lead Vocals

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15 comments:

  1. Pleasant surprise,very good rock album.Many thanks...

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  2. Thanks for this, never heard of them. Great post!
    Rich
    www.aftersabbath.com

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  3. Formed in 1966 as Purple Earthquake, this San Francisco group was comprised of Gary Boykin, Ronnie Boykin, John Sargent, Mike Jones and Stan Miller (bass).

    The last-named subsequently retained the Earth Quake name for an act which, by 1971, was completed by John Doukas (vocals), Robbie Dunbar (lead guitar) and Steve Nelson (drums). They were managed by Matthew K. Kaufman, who won them a contract with A&M Records, where they released two albums, “Earth Quake ” (1971) and “Why Don’t You Try Me?” (1972) but with little commercial success.

    [The first two albums, "Earth Quake" (1971) and "Why Don't You Try Me" (1972), were remastered and rereleased December 27, 2004 on Acadia Records.]

    After experiencing frustration at what he saw as A&M’s incompetence in handling the band, Kaufman set up Beserkley Records in 1973. Earth Quake released four albums on Beserkley between 1975 and 1979, as well as working with other musicians including Jonathan Richman (who they backed on his 1974 recording of “Roadrunner”), Greg Kihn (who sang backing vocals on some of their records), and guitarist Gary Phillips (aka Gary Phillipet – previously of John Cipollina’s Copperhead),but the band was unable to attain a widespread appeal and its momentum faltered when Phillips opted to join Greg Kihn. Two Years In A Padded Cell featured the 1971 line-up, but Dunbar's subsequent defection signalled the end of this act. By 1983 Doukas had moved permanently to the UK, while Miller formed a new band.

    G. Phillipet sadly passed away in 2007.
    Lead singer John Doukas passed away in South Africa March 19, 2011,had 62 years.

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  4. I have on CD: VA - Beserkley's Best (1993) [FLAC]; Earth Quake - Purple (The A & M Recordings) (2003) [FLAC];
    Various Artists - Beserkley Chartbusters & Beserk (Alive Over Germany) (2000) [FLAC] {Castle 2 CD}
    Let ne know if there is any interest. Will purchase the other Beserkley EQ albums soon.

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  5. If you looked hard enough, fisasrl, you'd see the password is already provided on the Free Text page!

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  6. Hi, Would love to hear this, but the link is dead, any chance of a new URL? Thanks.

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  7. MrQwerty,
    everything is Ok now.
    Thank you.

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  8. Hi again Marios - many thanks for this, and responding so soon :-). Ignore my additional question in the comments for Levelled, obviously I've realised you fixed both. Much appreciated!

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  9. This is fantastic! Thanks!!!

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  10. Thank you for these albums. I was looking for their LIve album. I was first introduced to them in 1977 on a visit to my friend's house in Petaluma. I have been looking for it again ever since. But I will make due with the 2 you have here. But the LIVE album is great. Thanks again.

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  11. It seems one of you Link Accounts has been suspended and the otherone goes to a dead link...
    Any Chance in getting a Re-up of this? Thanx!!!

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  12. leesa, "Earth Quake - 8.5" repaired...

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  13. We saw them many times at the Longbranch in Berkeley from 1969-on. We partied with them as well. Among the best live concerts ever...full of high voltage energy, great musicians, great guys.

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