The Choir - Artifact The Unreleased Album (1969 us, brilliant beat psych, 2018 remaster)

During the British Invasion years, a Cleveland, Ohio band called The Choir ploughed a Brit-focussed furrow from late 1964. Initially and tellingly, they were named The Mods. Their prime mover, Dann Klawon, was a subscriber the switched-on UK monthly Rave, had missed a Mods show to hitch-hike to a Rolling Stones concert and was the first Clevelander to own a copy of “Purple Haze”. His band became The Choir in 1966, played on Who and Yardbirds’ bills, and went through continuous line-up changes. Even so, they issued three singles over 1966 to 1968 beginning with the classic “It’s Cold Outside”. Their music had a moody, minor-key, Zombies-leaning slant.

In February 1969, with founder Dann Klawon gone but his brother Randy on board and with the ethos of the band intact, The Choir recorded an album’s worth of material in the hope of securing a contract with Mercury Records. The new CD Artifact: The Unreleased Album is the first-ever release of this album. Some of its tracks – “Anyway I Can”, “Boris Lament”, a cover of The Kinks’ “David Watts” and “If These Are Men” – have come out before in varying grades of fidelity but Artifact is sourced from recently unearthed masters found in the archive of the late Ken Hamman () - best known for his work with Pere Ubu, the owner of the Ohio studio Suma.

Artifact is a major release and helps fill out the narrative in a figurative chapter of the story of America’s popular music: one dedicated to late-Sixties bands drawing from the hard-edged side of British pop rather than a Band-inspired rootsiness, blues-influenced heaviness or other au courant templates. Similarly minded fellow travellers included Todd Rundgren’s The Nazz and California’s Powder. Artifact places The Choir as central to this narrative.

At this point, The Choir were on the their fifth. The presence of two keyboards acknowledges a Procol Harum influence but the recordings reveal the band as having, to varying degrees, ears open to The Bee Gees, The Kinks, Small Faces and The Who. They did not score a deal with Mercury and, after another couple of line-up changes and a further single, packed it in during June 1970. Bonfanti soon went on to The Raspberries, whose leader Eric Carmen was also from Cleveland and had been in other local bands while The Choir were active.

The Choir were important not just because they were a great band in their own right but also as they impacted on The Raspberries, one of America’s greatest Seventies bands. Eric Carmen has long acknowledged his enthusiasm for The Choir. Some of Artifact could pass for early Raspberries recordings.

Track one is “Anyway I Can”, which first surfaced in murky quality on a 1976 EP issued by the Bomp label and reappeared in slightly better fidelity on CD in 1994 . Though it is the same recording, the new version is a revelation. It is pin-sharp, sports edgy dynamics and is thrillingly immediate. Practically, whether intentionally or not, “Anyway I Can” is the core essence of The Left Banke’s “Walk Away Renee” made over by enthusiasts for the 1968 Small Faces. While possible to detect the ingredients, the track sounds like nothing else. In part, this is due a sturdiness and drumming so powerful it’s as if Bonfanti is trying to hammer his kit through the studio floor.

If that were not enough to make the case for the 1969 Choir as one of America’s great bands, the excitement continues with the driving mod-rocker “If These Are Men” () - more amazing drumming and the fantastic “Ladybug”, a rolling ballad suggesting Procol Harum’s “She Wandered Through the Garden Fence” but infused with power chords and even more of that assertive drumming. On the relatively subdued yet intense ballad “Have I no Love to Offer”, the band get close the emotive force of Robin Gibb in full flow. The powerful “It’s All Over” also brings The Bee Gees to mind.

This configuration of The Choir, though, was more than the sum of it what it drew from. The unique identity shining through seamlessly melds high-pitched, yearning vocals, minor-key melodies and a lacerating power-pop attack. Exactly what The Raspberries took into the American charts in 1972.

Unfortunately, although the booklet with Artifact includes a couple of short reminiscences and a note on the source tape it lacks a contextualising essay. Thankfully, the extraordinary music says it all. This is one of the Sixties’ great lost albums and its appearance is to be greeted with, as The Raspberries sang in 1973, ecstasy.

by Kieron Tyler, Sunday, 18 February 2018

Tracks
1. Anyway I Can (Phil Giallombardo) - 3:30
2. If These Are Men (Denny Carleton) - 2:58
3. Ladybug (Phil Giallombardo) - 3:21
4. I Can't Stay In Your Life (Kenny Margolis) - 3:44
5. David Watts (Ray Davies) - 2:42
6. Have I No Love To Offer (Phil Giallombardo) - 5:42
7. For Eric (Kenny Margolis) - 6:39
8. It's All Over (Kenny Margolis) - 4:30
9. Boris' Lament (Phil Giallombardo) - 2:50
10.Mummer Band (Denny Carleton) - 2:38

The Choir
*Denny Carleton - Bass, Vocals
*Jim Bonfanti - Drums, Vocals
*Randy Klawon - Guitar, Vocals
*Phil Giallombardo - Organ, Vocals
*Kenny Margolis - Piano, Vocals

1966-68  The Choir - Choir Practice 

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Crosby Stills Nash And Young - 4 Way Street (1971 canada / us / uk, superb folk psych classic rock, 2016 japan double disc remaster)

Seldom in rock history have four guys who seemingly couldn’t stand each other sounded so good together as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young did on their 1971 double live album 4 Way Street. There have been plenty of great bands that thrived on creative and personal conflict, from the Kinks to the Ramones and beyond, but in most cases the battles were mainly between two of the members, usually the ones occupying the front line. But with CSNY there were four frontmen, and at various points during their time together, they apparently longed to defenestrate each other.

For a band of SoCal hippies, they sure were a fractious bunch; there were feuds between just about every member at one point or another. All these years later, Graham Nash dropped the F-bomb in reference to David Crosby during an interview, declaring the walrus-mustached balladeer persona non grata. So it’s amazing the extra-fragile four-man version of the lineup stayed together long enough to play the concerts captured on 4 Way Street, let alone the fact that they contain some of the strongest music any of them ever made, alone or together.

Against the odds, CSN had managed to improve upon the wheel by adding Y for the follow-up to their debut album. Déjà Vu managed to up the ante considerably thanks to Neil Young’s contributions. Three months after that record’s release, the quartet was out on tour playing the dates documented on 4 Way Street. Songs from shows at New York’s Fillmore East and Los Angeles' Forum in June 1970 and one at the Chicago Auditorium in July ended up on the album, capturing the band in all its fringe-jacketed glory as they opened up the throttle on album cuts and trotted out some still-unrecorded material.

With Young on board, everything got ratcheted up a notch or two. The vocal harmonies went from glistening and pristine to a more ragged-but-right feel, and songs that felt like friendly folk-rockers gained some serious edge and electric bite.

Stephen Stills and Young had been rivals ever since their time together in Buffalo Springfield, but they had always spurred each other on to greater creative heights. That’s the way it worked out here too. The epic six-string firefights they get into on tunes like “Southern Man” (which wouldn’t be heard on a studio record until Young’s After the Gold Rush was released in September) and “Carry On” were unlike anything on either of the band’s first two albums.

It’s the Bay Area bands of the era -- like the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Moby Grape -- who are always credited with the mightiest guitar firepower, but when Stills and Young started swinging their axes around onstage, they gave their friends to the north a run for their money.

Half the material on this record would never see the inside of a CSN(Y) studio album at all, such was the roll the members were on at that time; and a number of those cuts were among the strongest in the repertoire, not to mention on the record. Young’s heart-stopping ballad “On the Way Home,” Crosby’s lecherous but hypnotic tale of instigating a ménage a trois, “Triad,” and Nash’s indignant broadside “Chicago” all fall under that category.

The band was at its most politically charged at that point too, which was only natural considering the turmoil the country was in at the time. It was late 1969 when Bobby Seale was bound and gagged in a courtroom during his trial for inciting a riot at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, an event that inspired the aforementioned Nash song. And the horrific Kent State University killings of four students by National Guardsmen had just occurred in May 1970, moving young to pen the raging “Ohio.”

Stills gets his political licks in too, if a little less specifically, with the crowd-pleasing, piano-pumping clap-along medley “49 Bye-Byes/For What It’s Worth/America’s Children,” name-checking Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew and Chicago mayor Richard Daley and shifting the Springfield-era “For What It’s Worth”’s focus from the Sunset Strip to something more all-encompassing.

4 Way Street was a huge hit, topping the album charts and earning an even bigger audience for the band. But it was also the beginning of the end, at least for a while. By the time the tour was over, the foursome had had enough of each other, splitting to pursue various solo and duo projects. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young didn’t perform together again until 1974, and it wasn’t until 1977 that another studio album (minus Young) was released.

But for all the acrimony fouling the band’s artistic ecosystem, there’s no denying the fact that they followed one of the finest studio albums of the era with a live album that was arguably even better, setting a high bar for the many double-length concert albums to come over the course of the decade.

by Jim Allen, April 5, 2016

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (Stephen Stills) - 0:34

2. On The Way Home (Neil Young) - 3:48

3. Teach Your Children (Graham Nash) - 3:02

4. Triad (David Crosby) - 6:55

5. The Lee Shore (David Crosby) - 4:29

6. Chicago (Graham Nash) - 3:11

7. Right Between The Eyes (Graham Nash) - 3:37

8. Cowgirl In The Sand (Neil Young) - 3:59

9. Don't Let Bring You Down (Neil Young) - 3:30

10.49 Bye-Byes-America's Children (Stephen Stills) - 6:35

11.Love The One You're With (Stephen Stills) - 3:25

12.King Midas In Reverse (Graham Nash, Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks) - 3:43

13.Laughing (David Crosby) - 3:36

14.Black Queen (Stephen Stills) - 6:45

15.Medley: The Loner-Cinnamon Girl-Down By The River (Neil Young) - 9:42

Disc 2
1. Pre-Road Downs (Graham Nash) - 3:05
2. Long Time Gone (David Crosby) - 5:59
3. Southern Man (Neil Young) - 13:45
4. Ohio (Neil Young) - 3:34
5. Carry On (Stephen Stills) - 14:19
6. Find The Cost Of Freedom (Stephen Stills) - 2:22)

Personnel
*David Crosby - Vocals, Guitar
*Stephen Stills - Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Organ
*Graham Nash - Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Organ
*Neil Young - Vocals, Guitar
*Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels - Bass
*Johnny Barbata - Drums

1974  Crosby Stills Nash And Young - Live (2013 four discs box set)
1972  Graham Nash David Crosby - Graham Nash David Crosby (2008 remaster)
1964  The Byrds - Preflyte (2012 double disc edition)
1973  Byrds (Reunion Album, 2004 issue) 
1971  Graham Nash - Songs For Beginners (2008 digipak remaster)
1973  Graham Nash - Wild Tales
1968  Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, Steve Stills - The Super Sessions (2014 Hybrid Multichannel SACD 24/88)
1970  Stephen Stills - Stephen Stills (debut album, 2008 japan SHM remaster)
1972  Stephen Stills - Manassas (2006 HDCD)
1971-73  Manassas - Pieces (2009 release)
1973  Stephen Stills And Manassas - Down The Road (Japan issue)
1975-76/78  Stephen Stills - Stills / Illegal Stills / Thoroughfare Gap
1976  The Stills Young Band - Long May You Run

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Ron Davies - UFO (1973 us, fantastic soulful jazzy folk rock, 2013 japan Mini LP remaster)

This is an outstanding collection of contemporary folk-style art-songs by the late great arpeggio-style finger picking guitarist and songwriter Ron Davies...Those who appreciate classics from artists like Donovan, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Bert Jansch, and Don McLean, will find in UFO a rare glimpse of a unique American artist-the Louisiana born Ron Davies.

by Charles Anderson

Tracks
1. I Wonder - 3:42
2. Long Hard Climb - 3:12
3. Flapjack - 3:22
4. Misty Roses - 2:54
5. It's A Lie - 3:53
6. Can I Count On You - 3:24
7. It Ain't Easy - 4:17
8. Lay Down Your Burden - 3:03
9. Shadows - 5:37
All compositions by Ron Davies except Track #4 by Tim Hardin

Musicians
*Ron Davies - Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
*Jules Chaiken - Horn
*Carolyne Cook - Vocals
*Harry "Sweets" Edison - Horn
*Wilton Felder - Bass
*Milt Holland - Percussion
*Claudia Lennear - Vocals
*Maxayn Lewis - Vocals
*Clarence McDonald - Clavinet, Piano
*Don Menza - Horn
*Andy Newmark - Drums
*Jack Nimitz - Horn
*Billy Preston - Organ
*Jerome Richardson - Horn
*D.J. Rogers - Vocals
*David Spinozza - Electric Guitar

1970  Ron Davies - Silent Song Through The Land (2013 japan mini LP remaster)
1978  Ron Davies ‎– I Don't Believe It (2010 korean remaster) 

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Big Brother And The Holding Company - Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills (1968 us, fantastic blues psych rock, alternate takes and rehearsals, 2018 double disc remaster)

Janis Joplin’s time in the San Francisco blues crew Big Brother and the Holding Co. was relatively short, only a couple of years — just long enough to record two albums and become an era-defining flashpoint at the Monterey Pop Festival. Their second album, 1968’s Cheap Thrills, became an acid-rock landmark thanks to the barnburner “Piece of My Heart,” a sultry cover of “Summertime” and the crushing, epic cover of Big Mama Thornton’s “Ball and Chain.” It went to Number One and was certified gold and within a few months of its release, Joplin quit to become a solo star.

The new compilation, Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills, takes its title from the band’s original pitch for the name of the LP (the squares at the record label weren’t having it) and contains nearly two-and-a-half hours of alternate takes and live recordings from the Cheap Thrills era. Most of them are previously unreleased. The live recording of “Ball and Chain” sports a heavier beat and Joplin’s double-fried vocals — a stunning performance — followed by unreasonably polite applause. The three alternate takes of “Piece of My Heart” have a similar energy to the more familiar version, but show just how vibrant Joplin was at the sessions. And the second disc’s first take of “Summertime” captures a brilliant performance that would have been a thing of legend if the band hadn’t fallen apart at the end.

Other standouts include the foot-stomping “How Many Times Blues Jam,” an extended, wailing take on “I Need a Man to Love” and a charging, soulful take of “Combination of the Two.” There’s also studio banter, like Joplin cackling gloriously and saying, “I knew it was gonna take us all night,” before the ninth take of the oddball “Harry” and three takes of “Turtle Blues” on which Joplin talks out the feel of the song.

Also notable are the liner notes. The Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick remembers Joplin as a vivacious, joyful force and the Big Brother band as having a “down home” vibe. Meanwhile, drummer Dave Getz offers lively accounts of making the album and working with illustrator Robert Crumb on its problematic, iconic cover – and how the latter was stolen only to be sold at auction for a quarter of a million dollars. It’s the Janis Joplin bonus content you never knew you wanted.

by Kory Grow

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Combination Of The Two (Take 3) (Sam Andrew) - 5:33

2. I Need A Man To Love (Take 4) (Janis Joplin, Sam Andrew) - 8:06

3. Summertime (Take 2) (Dorothy Heyward, George Gershwin) - 4:11

4. Piece Of My Heart (Take 6) (Bert Berns, Jerry Ragovoy) - 4:56

5. Harry (Take 10) (Dave Getz, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Peter Albin, Sam Andrew) - 1:12

6. Turtle Blues (Take 4) (Janis Joplin) - 4:47

7. Oh, Sweet Mary (Janis Joplin) - 4:24

8. Ball And Chain (Live) (Big Mama Thornton) -  (7:29

9. Roadblock (Peter Albin, Janis Joplin) - 5:43

10.Catch Me Daddy (Take 1) (Dave Getz, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Peter Albin, Sam Andrew) - 5:34

11.It's A Deal (Take 1) (Dave Getz, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Peter Albin, Sam Andrew) - 2:42

12.Easy Once You Know How (Take 1) (Dave Getz, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Peter Albin, Sam Andrew) - 4:35

13.How Many Times Blues Jam (Dave Getz, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Peter Albin, Sam Andrew) - 5:27

14.Farewell Song (Take 7) (Sam Andrew) - 5:03

Disc 2
1. Flower In The Sun (Take 3) (Sam Andrew) - 3:14
2. Oh Sweet Mary (Janis Joplin) - 6:55
3. Summertime (Take 1) (Dorothy Heyward, George Gershwin) - 3:14
4. Piece Of My Heart (Take 4) (Bert Berns, Jerry Ragovoy) - 4:07
5. Catch Me Daddy (Take 9) (Dave Getz, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Peter Albin, Sam Andrew) - 3:16
6. Catch Me Daddy (Take 10) (Dave Getz, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Peter Albin, Sam Andrew) - 4:22
7. I Need A Man To Love (Take 3) (Janis Joplin, Sam Andrew) - 7:09
8. Harry (Take 9) (Dave Getz, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Peter Albin, Sam Andrew) - 1:11
9. Farewell Song (Take 4) (Sam Andrew) - 4:28
10.Misery'n (Takes 2, 3) (Dave Getz, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Peter Albin, Sam Andrew) - 3:58
11.Misery'n (Take 4) (Dave Getz, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Peter Albin, Sam Andrew) - 4:58
12.Magic Of Love (Take 1) (Mark Spoelstra) - 3:19
13.Turtle Blues (Take 9) (Janis Joplin) - 4:00
14.Turtle Blues (Last Verse Takes 1, 3) (Janis Joplin) - 4:35
15.Piece Of My Heart (Take 3) (Bert Berns, Jerry Ragovoy) - 4:32
16.Farewell Song (Take 5) (Sam Andrew) - 5:13

Big Brother And Holding Company 
*Peter Albin- Bass, Vocals
*Sam Andrew - Guitar, Vocals
*David Getz - Drums
*James Gurley - Guitar, Vocals
*Janis Joplin - Vocals

1968/70  Janis Joplin - Joplin In Concert (2007 japan blu spec hard paper sleeve two discs set remaster)
1970-71  Big Brother And The Holding Company - Be A Brother / How Hard It Is (2008 acadia reissue) 

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Sandra Rhodes - Where's Your Love Been (1973 us, miraculous soulful country rock, 2014 extra tracks remaster)

Sandra Rhodes was a country girl who landed in Memphis rather than Nashville, which means she ended up singing a lot more than just country music. Rhodes, along with her sister Donna Rhodes and husband Charlie Chalmers, did session work with some of the biggest names in both soul and country music, from Conway Twitty to Al Green, and as a singer and songwriter she walked a tightrope between the two sides of Southern music through the '60s and '70s (which were never as different as people liked to believe). Rhodes' love of both country and soul is evident on her first and only solo album to date, 1973's Where's Your Love Been, which was cut at the Sam Phillips Recording Studio in Memphis; while this music is clearly informed by country music, with pedal steel guitar, lonesome harmonicas, and massed vocal choruses playing into the arrangements, there's a deeply soulful note in Rhodes' vocals and melodies that suggests the average C&W radio station wasn't going to play this stuff, no matter how much "No Such Thing as Love" and "No One Else Could Love You More" sound like great country singles.

When Rhodes felt like showing off her soulful side, she did it right; "The Best Thing You Ever Had" and the title track cut a top-notch groove, suggesting classic Hi Records sides, and the gospel feel that permeates "Never Grow Old" is clearly not of the bluegrass variety. If Rhodes didn't easily fall into a generic category, this record sounds like Memphis through and through, with its easy fusion of styles and potent yet comfortable grooves delivered by a crack session band. Where's Your Love Been isn't quite a lost classic, but it shows Sandra Rhodes was a gifted vocalist who could have had a great solo career with better breaks and a more supportive label, and it's a pure product of a city where soul comes as easily as breathing. [In 2014, Omnivore Records gave Where's Your Love Been an expanded and remastered reissue, with seven excellent outtakes from the original sessions included as bonus tracks, and fine liner notes from Bill Dahl. Fans of country-soul will clearly enjoy this set, and it's a splendid tribute to an overlooked talent.

by Mark Deming

While Sandra Rhodes made a name for herself singing behind Al Green on his classic Hi Records sides and writing songs including Conway Twitty’s #1 single, “The Clown,” her best work missed the public eye. And ear.

Where’s Your Love Been was Sandra’s 1972 album, recorded at Sam Phillips Recording Studio in Memphis and originally released on Fantasy Records. Just as her backing vocals (usually performed with sister Donna and then husband Charlie Chalmers) appeared on recordings of every genre, Where’s Your Love Been moved from Country to sweet Memphis Soul. The same reason her songs have been recorded by artists as diverse as Skeeter Davis to Isaac Hayes.

Co-Produced by Sandra and Chalmers, the ten tracks on Where’s Your Love Been include originals like the title cut to a cover of The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” To make this album’s CD debut even more special, seven bonus tracks from the sessions have been unearthed—all previously unissued!

With liner notes from Bill Dahl in a full color booklet, Where’s Your Love Been is ready for the audience that missed out on it over four decades ago. Like many other great “unheard” albums, Omnivore Recordings is proud to tell everyone that the question of Where’s Your Love Been has finally been answered.

Omni

Tracks
1. No One Else Could Love You More (Sandra Rhodes, Charles Chalmers) - 4:01
2. I Think I Love You Again (Irwin Levine, Toni Wine) - 2:41
3. No Such Thing As Love (Sandra Rhodes, Charles Chalmers) - 3:08
4. Sho' Is Rainin' (Sandra Rhodes, Charles Chalmers) - 4:12
5. It's Up To You (Sandra Rhodes) - 2:45
6. Where's Your Love Been (Sandra Rhodes, Donna Rhodes) - 4:28
7. You Can't Always Get What You Want (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 4:17
8. Never Grow Old (Sandra Rhodes, Donna Rhodes) - 3:11
9. The Best Thing You Ever Had (George Jackson) - 3:13
10.Sowed Love And Reaped The Heartache (Dickey Lee, Allen Reynolds) - 3:10
11.Double Dealing Woman (Sandra Rhodes, Charles Chalmers, Morris Tarrant) - 2:20
12.Someday Sweet Baby (Donna Rhodes) - 3:23
13.Baby Don't Go (Sonny Bono) - 3:50
14.I'd Rather Hurt You Now (Sandra Rhodes, Charles Chalmers) - 3:03
15.Linda Was A Lady (Sandra Rhodes, Charles Chalmers) - 3:37
16.Jingo (Sandra Rhodes, Donna Rhodes, James Brown) - 4:04
17.I Don't Play The Game (Sandra Rhodes) - 3:09

Musicians
*Sandra Rhodes - Vocals, Acoustic, Electric Guitar
*Donna Rhodes -  - Congas, Maracas, Tambourine
*James Brown - Organ, Piano
*Butch Johnson - Guitar
*Ben Cauley - Trumpet
*Charles Chalmers - Tenor Sax
*Steve Holt - Drums
*The Joint Ventures - Choir
*Leo La Blanc - Steel Guitar
*James Mitchell - Baritone Sax
*Roland Robinson - Bass
*Sylvester Sample - Bass

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Glass Harp - Synergy (1971 us, amazing guitar bluesy psych rock, 2015 remaster)

Synergy opens with two of Keaggy’s heaviest guitar statements on record: ‘One Day At A Time’ (which begins as a baroque acoustic melody before transitioning into hard rock), followed by the blistering Pecchio track ‘Never Is A Long Time’. ‘Special Friends’ and ‘Dawn Of A New Day’ also have convincing rock-and-roll energy. Some of Keaggy’s best songwriting is featured here, including the moody textured classic rocker ‘Song Of Hope’ (strongly propelled by Pecchio’s bass), the bright acoustic ‘The Answer’ (again revealing classical influences) and the lighthearted ‘Mountains’. The latter is one of the few Keaggy compositions that didn’t make it onto the later Song In The Air compilation.

Keaggy’s guitar drifts into dreamy spaced soft-psych realms on the beautiful mesmerizing Sferra ballad ‘Just Always’. Also on the quieter side is Pecchio’s ‘Child Of The Universe’. Very little outside help listed in the credits for this effort – and as the title suggests the album truly does capture the “synergy” of three members at their best. Comes in a very attractive gate-fold cover with lyrics and photo of the band in concert on the inside. 

by Ken Scott

Tracks
1. One Day At A Time (Phil Keaggy) - 3:39
2. Never Is A Long Time (Daniel Pecchio) - 3:26
3. Just Always (John Sferra) - 5:02
4. Special Friends (Daniel Pecchio, John Sferra, Phil Keaggy) - 2:43
5. Coming Home (Daniel Pecchio, John Sferra) - 3:32
6. Song Of Hope (Phil Keaggy) - 4:23
7. Child Of The Universe (Daniel Pecchio) - 3:01
8. Mountains (Phil Keaggy) - 4:01
9. The Answer (Phil Keaggy) - 2:40
10.Dawn Of A New Day (Daniel Pecchio, Phil Keaggy) - 2:58
11.Look In The Sky (Dan Pecchio, John Sferra, Phil Keaggy) - 10:34
12.Never Is A Long Time (Daniel Pecchio) - 3:39
13.Do Lord (Phil Keaggy, Daniel Pecchio, John Sferra) - 4:19
14.Changes (John Sferra) - 6:23
15.Let The Bells Ring (John Sferra) - 6:47
Bonus Tracks 11-14 Live 1971
Bonus Track 15 Demo recording

The Glass Harp
*Phil Keaggy - Guitars, Vocals
*John Sferra - Drums, Vocals, Guitars, Tambourine
*Daniel Pecchio - Bass, Vocals, Flute
With
*Ralph MacDonald - Percussion,  Congas, Bells, Triangle
*Mary Smith - Vocals

1970  Glass Harp - Glass Harp (2014 remaster) 
1971  Glass Harp - Live! At Carnegie Hall
1972  Glass Harp - It Makes Me Glad (2005 remaster)

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Salloom Sinclair - Salloom Sinclair (1969 us, magnificent folkish bluesy psych rock, 2013 korean remaster)

The second great album from the duo of Roger Salloom and Robin Sinclair – issued by Chess Records like the first one, but much more of the kind of album you'd expect to hear coming from the south – on labels like Capricorn, Ardent, or Enterprise! Like some of the best on those, the approach here is a mixture of rock and roots, served up with plenty of soul – recorded down in Tennessee with some great help from Charlie McCoy – whose harmonic and strong basslines really help shape the sound of the record, and who also produced the whole thing too. 

There's a few currents of psych around the edges, and the mixture of the two singers is great – on titles that include "Violence Blam Blam I'm Sorry", "Lesson At The Delicatessen", "Motorcycle", "One More Try", "I'm Comin Home Again", "Sleep", "Faith Has Been Given", and "Animal".

Tracks
1. Lesson At The Delicatessen - 2:39
2. Motorcycle - 3:47
3. One More Try - 3:42
4. I`m Comin Home Again - 3:02
5. Violence, Blam Blam, I`m Sorry - 4:03
6. Animal - 5:22
7. Faith Has Been Given - 3:24
8. Let`s Be Right - 4:06
9. Exhaustion - 2:06
10.Sleep - 2:21
All songs by Roger Salloom except track #9 by Robin Sinclair

Personnel
*Robin Sinclair - Guitar, Vocals
*Roger Sinclair - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
*David Briggs - Piano
*Kenny Buttrey - Drums
*Mac Gayden - Electric Guitar
*Jim Isbell - Percussion
*Charlie McCoy - Bass, Guitar, Harp, Mellophonium, Percussion, Producer
*Wayne Moss - Engineer
*Iodine Muscatel - Tambourine
*Weldon Myrick - Steel  Guitar
*Norbert Putnam - Bass
*David Satterfield - Vocals
*Buddy Spicher - Cello, Viola
*Bob Wilson - Organ

1968  Salloom Sinclair And The Mother Bear - Salloom Sinclair And The Mother Bear (2014 korean remaster) 

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Merkin Manor - Music From Merkin Manor (1973 us, fabulous west coast psych rock, with fuzzed out jangly guitars and melodic, floating harmony vocals)

Provo, Utah in March 1967 was not like the many other American towns during this period. While the air was a buzz elsewhere with new sounds of garage, psychedelic, and hard rock music and long hair was becoming the norm amongst rebellious youth, the small town of Orem remained staunchly Mormon and Conservative. Rocky Baum and Ralph Hemingway were buddies in High School and from time to time, Ralph would vocalize tunes to Rocky's accompaniment. But there was something missing; They sorely needed a beat and other instruments to complete their sound. By the summer of 1969, they enlisted the services of Alan Newell on drums, Kent Balog on bass, and Doug Hinkins on lead guitar. And they needed a name: Rocky tells me this came from flipping through countless pages of an unabridged dictionary until the name “Merkin” jumped out at the band; Rod conveys quite a different story; the name was derived from an obscure offbeat movie,"Can Huronyomous Merkin Succeed with Mercy Hump?".

As in the case in any developing band, someone's parents house became the rehearsal hall for the band; in this instance it was Doug's living room. Despite all the antics that teenagers would go through (like a friend sticking his head in the bass drum to hear better), it wasn't long before they realized playing original music was much more exciting than copying the popular songs of the day. It was soon after this that their high school friend Rod Olsen assumed the part of manager, getting them jobs at the local schools, colleges, bowling alleys, etc. He also got the band more structured by providing them business cards, posters, flyers, promo tapes, and all the other things to promote a band.

It was obvious as things progressed that Ralph was the consummate entertainer. As lead vocalist, he became the conduit between the band and the audience. His rapport with the audience was outstanding and engaging. He had an uncanny ability to entertain(and shocking with the ad lib song about Mary Ellen walking under a bridge at a Halloween dance). Ralph would swing the mic over his head wildly never losing control.One time he had himself auctioned off as a door prize and dressed up inside a wrapped box wearing leotards and big lips!!

In 1970, Al was replaced by Kent's twin brother Gary to continue on as their drummer and Doug was replaced by Robert Barney as their lead guitarist. They then added a sixth member, Richard Leavitt, on keyboards through a want ad. Merkin was now emerging with a new and fuller sound, and the close bond between the Balog twins gave them a stronger foundation. It was becoming evident that Robert, though youngest & smallest, was the best musician and Richard had been trained as a classical pianist. It was at this time the bonus and previously unreleased tracks "Maybe Someday" and "Cry On My Shoulder" were recorded at Brigham Young University Recording Operations Department on a 4 Track system.

By 1971,Rod felt it was time to get them more exposure, and soon after embarked on a project to record them live, and send out tapes to potential producers and record companies. In late January that year, they were contacted by gay Young of Kommittee Productions and were on their way to Los Angeles for a recording session at Walden Sound Recorders in Redondo Beach. It was an exciting experience tor them; all the instruments, recording gear, and talented engineers, etc. Rocky recalls an engineer by the name of Rolf who did an outstanding job on special effects. The sessions were completed in just 4 days and the band did their best to minimize the drug intake. The first documented airing of the LP came soon after in San Francisco. Sundaze Music arranged a tour of Colorado which included stops in Vail,and Leadville.

New Year's Eve 1972 was the crowning moment of their trip;20 below outside, bikers, local, tourists, and even a few friends from Utah showed up-the place was packed! Rocky thinks someone may have slipped something into the kegs of beer, as everyone was dancing wildly and the girls were climbing onstage to dance with the band. The band returned to Utah and began playing the ski areas (Snowbird), local colleges and clubs. In February 1973 the Merkin Manor album was finally released. When the band reviewed the song writing credits, it became apparent that the other members were upset that Rocky was solely given this credit. 

To this day, Rocky believes he did nothing wrong; he had written the lyrics and melodies but never intended the other members to be left out. However the band's feelings were could not be changed, and Rocky was asked to leave the band. Rocky's pending prediction of this sentiment can be heard on Track 9 "We're all here together., through all this bad weather". The band played on for a few years under the name Merkin but broke up in 1974. Ralph, Kent and Gary started a new band, Robert started his own group. Rocky went back to school, Robert returned to the church, and Rod became a ski bum at a local ski resort. The final track on this record, "A Father's Song" was written by Rocky during the recording sessions but not included on the LP. Rocky recorded this in 1983 with "The Rocky Baum Project". It is a stunning recollection of his relationship with his father. Rocky put it very eloquently "A Father's Song" exemplifies some of the emotions that arose between fathers and their hippie sons during that very difficult time of social realignment.(i.e., long hair, loud music, differing political views, and recreational drugs).

by Roger Maglio, December 1997

Tracks
1. Ruby - 3:39
2. Take Some Time - 3:52
3. Todaze - 3:48
4. Sweet Country - 3:54
5. Goodbye - 4:59
6. Watching You - 4:00
7. Kind Of Down - 4:00
8. The Right One - 3:22
9. Here Together - 3:37
10.Walkin' - 3:45
11.Maybe Somebody (Kent Balog, Gary Balog, Richard Leavitt, Robert Barney, Ralph Hemingway, Rocky Baum) - 6:43
12.Cry On My Shoulder (Kent Balog, Gary Balog, Richard Leavitt, Robert Barney, Ralph Hemingway, Rocky Baum) - 5:10
13.A Father's Song - 2:48
All compositions by Rocky Baum except where indicated

The Merkin Manor
*Kent Balog - Bass
*Gary Balog - Drums, Percussion
*Richard Leavitt - Keyboards
*Robert Barney – Lead Guitar
*Ralph Hemingway – Lead Vocals
*Rocky Baum – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals

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Accolade - Accolade (1970 uk, splendid folk jazzy psych with prog shades, 2016 korean remaster)

Accolade were one of those short-lived late-'60s / early-'70s English bands that attempted to expand musical boundaries, completely eschewing electric instruments to mix traditional English folk with rock influences. They recorded two albums and one single before going their separate ways, but Gordon Giltrap remained for only this one album.

In one respect the band (bassist Eden Abba, woodwind player Brian Cresswell, singer / guitarist Gordon Giltrap, drummer Ian Hoyle and guitarist Don Partridge) was quite different from many of their contemporaries - namely they were brimming with talent.

Prior to their collaboration in Accolade, both Giltrap and Partridge had enjoyed some solo recognition. Giltrap had released a pair of critically praised solo albums, while Partridge (who was actually working as a busker ) enjoyed a fluke UK hit with the song "Rosie".

Unfortunately, Accolade's pastoral stylings guaranteed instant obscurity in the States. In fact, it's somewhat of a mystery how they even got their 1968 debut released by Capitol (a label hardly renown for its willingness to take a chance on cutting edge sounds). Produced by Don Paul, 1969's cleverly-titled "Accolade" is hard to accurately describe. Recorded with former Artwoods bassist Malcolm Pool replacing Eden Abba, the collection exhibits a smooth and calming sound throughout. Largely acoustic (though you don't really realize it), material such as "Maiden Flight Eliza" (featuring some weird Mamas and Papas-styled harmonies ), "Prelude To a Dawn", the bluesy "Nature Boy", the surprisingly hard rocking "Gospel Song" and "Never Ending Solitude" wasn't exactly mainstream rock, nor did it fall under the banner of Fairport Convention-styled English folk.

Imagine well crafted cocktail jazz with the addition of a touch of English folk and you'll get a feel for the LP. While that doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement, the result is actually a fascinating album. 

Gordon Giltrap

Tracks
1. Maiden Flight Eliza - 2:44
2. Starting All Over (Gordon Giltrap) - 4:48
3. Prelude To A Dawn (Instrumental) (Brian Cresswell) - 3:14
4. Never Ending Solitude (Gordon Giltrap) - 2:37
5. Nature Boy (Eden Abba) - 9:40
6. Gospel Song (Gordon Giltrap) - 3:35
7. Calico - 3:08
8. Ulysses - 12:38
9. Go On Home - 2:41
All songs by Don Partridge except where indicated

Accolade
*Eden Abba - Double-Bass
*Brian Cresswell - Saxophone, Flute
*Gordon Giltrap - Guitar, Vocals
*Ian Hoyle - Drums
*Don Partridge - Guitar, Vocals, Vibraphone

1971  Accolade - Accolade 2

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Salloom Sinclair And The Mother Bear - Salloom Sinclair And The Mother Bear (1968 us, awesome groovy bluesy folkish psych rock, 2014 korean remaster)

Salloom-Sinclair were the male-female duo of singer-songwriter Roger Salloom and vocalist Robin Sinclair. In 1968, they fronted Salloom, Sinclair & the Mother Bear, who had a Marshall Chess-produced late-'60s psychedelic album on Cadet Concept. Salloom-Sinclair's sole LP (also on Cadet Concept), 1969's Salloom-Sinclair, was recorded in Nashville and produced by esteemed session man Charlie McCoy. Unsurprisingly, the album was country-rock in flavor, unremarkably average save for Sinclair's Janis Joplin-like vocals on the more gospelish and bluesy numbers, and the devious blues-rock-psychedelia of the record's strongest cut, "Animal." 

Salloom-Sinclair and the Mother Bear is very much a 1968 period piece, a mix of blues-rock, psychedelia, and self-consciously hip literary wordplay. The band's most striking feature is the piercing, wavering voice of Robin Sinclair, who at her highest goes into Minnie Riperton-like stratospheres. Her singing is both impressive and, at times, irritating, often bearing a strong resemblance in approach to Janis Joplin's. At its most strident, sometimes, to pull in a more distant and obscure comparison.

The material (largely written, and sometimes sung, by Roger Salloom) is too often stuck in pedestrian aggressive bluesy and Dylan-ish poses, tinged with a little San Francisco psychedelic-styled freakiness. Salloom can really grate, too, when he gets in a Dylan-ish talking-blues state of mind. 

by Richie Unterberger

Tracks
1. Be Born Again - 4:11
2. Conversations With Gentility - 3:16
3. Steals - 4:13
4. Griffin (Robin Sinclair) - 3:41
5. She Kicked Me Out Of The House Last Night - 4:17
6. Florida Blues - 6:43
7. Sitting On A Finger - 3:43
8. Marie La Peau - 8:29
All compositions by Roger Sinclair except track #4

Musicians
*John Bolling - Bass
*Tommy Davis - Guitar
*Phil Montgomery - Drums
*Dick Orvis - Organ, Piano
*Roger Sinclair - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
*Robin Sinclair - Vocals

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Alexander Lee Spence - AndOarAgain (1968 us, a warped blend of acid folk and far out psych rock, 2018 three disc hard sleeve set remaster)

Like a rough, more obscure counterpart to Syd Barrett, Skip Spence was one of the late '60s' most colorful acid casualties. The original Jefferson Airplane drummer (although he was a guitarist who had never played drums before joining the group), Spence left after their first album to join Moby Grape. Like every member of that legendary band, he was a strong presence on their first album, playing guitar, singing, and writing "Omaha." The group ran into rough times in 1968, and Spence had the roughest, flipping out and (according to varying accounts) running amok in a record studio with a fire axe; he ended up being committed to New York's Bellevue Hospital. Upon his release, 

Spence cut an acid-charred classic, Oar, in 1969. Though released on a major label (Columbia), this was reportedly one of the lowest-selling items in its catalog and is hence one of the most valued psychedelic collector items. Much rawer and more homespun than the early Grape records, it features Spence on all (mostly acoustic) guitars, percussion, and vocals. With an overriding blues influence and doses of country, gospel, and acid freakout thrown in, this sounds something like Mississippi Fred McDowell imbued with the spirit of Haight-Ashbury 1967. It also featured cryptic, punning lyrics and wraithlike vocals that range from a low Fred Neil with gravel hoarseness to a barely there high wisp. Sadly, it was his only solo recording; more sadly, mental illness prevented Spence from reaching a fully functional state throughout the remainder of his lifetime. He died April 16, 1999, just two days short of his 53rd birthday; the tribute album, More Oar: A Tribute to Alexander "Skip" Spence, featuring performances by Robert Plant, Beck, and Tom Waits, appeared just a few weeks later. 

by Richie Unterberger

AndOarAgain provides unparalleled access to what David Fricke calls “the most harrowing and compelling artifacts of rock & roll’s most euphoric era” across three dozen unheard tracks! In addition to the quintessential original album, AndOarAgain features nearly two hours of unheard music on the way to Oar–along with roads not taken–that both clarifies and muddies the enigma of how psychedelic legend Alexander “Skip” Spence determined the final state of his iconic masterpiece. The time: December, 1968. The setting: the Columbia Recording Studios at 504 16th Avenue South in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Alexander Spence – a singer, songwriter, and guitarist commonly known as Skip, recently relieved of his duties in the San Francisco rock band Moby Grape after a descent into excessive hallucinatory-drug use and a psychotic episode with a fire axe – is recording Oar, his first album as a Columbia solo artist. It will also be his last. Made in six days spread over two weeks, then released six months later on May 19th, 1969, Oar will be Spence’s only complete expression of his experimental verve and musical facility, under his real name and creative control, before he recedes into rapidly deepening, ultimately conquering darkness. A half-century after its brisk, strange birth, Oar remains an apparent chaos of eccentric composition and overwhelming melancholy, wreathed in country-blues shadows and the smokey blur of Spence’s wounded-baritone singing. 

AndOarAgain, a 3-CD set including the seminal original album, the 1999 bonus cuts, and nearly two hours of unheard Oar; all packaged in a hardbound book-style jacket with rare photos and extensive notes from David Fricke! 

Sundazed

Tracks

Disc 1 Oar

1. Little Hands - 3:43

2. Cripple Creek - 2:15

3. Diana - 3:31

4. Margaret-Tiger Rug - 2:16

5. Weighted Down (The Prison Song) - 6:25

6. War In Peace - 4:04

7. Broken Heart - 3:28

8. All Come To Meet Her - 2:03

9. Books Of Moses - 2:42

10.Dixie Peach Promenade - 2:52

11.Lawrence Of Euphoria - 1:29

12.Grey/Afro - 9:38

13.This Time He Has Come - 4:42

14.It's The Best Thing For You - 2:49

15.Keep Everything Under Your Hat - 3:06

16.Furry Heroine - 3:35

17.Givin' Up Things - 0:59

18.If I'm Good - 0:48

19.You Know - 1:47

20.Doodle - 1:03

21.Fountain - 0:34

22.To Think You And I - 1:14

All compositions by Alexander Lee Spence

Disc 2 Or

1. Little Hands (Take 2) - 3:43

2. Cripple Creek (Basic) - 2:08

3. Diana (Take 3) - 4:39

4. Furry Heroine (Halo Of Gold) (Alternate) - 3:29

5. My Friend - 2:52

6. War In Peace (Alternate) - 3:49

7. Broken Heart (Vocal And Acoustic) - 4:47

8. All Come To Meet Her (Alternate 1) - 2:17

9. I Want A Rock 'n' Roll Band - 3:13

10.Dixie Peach Promenade (Yin For Yang)  (Alternate) - 2:09

11.Lawrence Of Euphoria (Alternate) - 2:03

12.Mary Jane / Steamboat - 5:01

13.I Got A Lot To Say (Version 1) - 1:53

14.Diana (Alternate 1) - 2:41

15.War In Peace (Instrumental) - 3:29

16.Diana (Alternate 2) - 5:57

All Music and Lyrics by Alexander Lee Spence

Disc 3 More
1. Little Hands (Vocal Overdub) - 3:48
2. Diana (Version 2) - 1:13
3. Weighted Down (The Prison Song) (Rehearsal) - 1:13
4. The Shape You're In - 0:57
5. I Want A Rock 'n' Roll Band (Instrumental) - 1:50
6. It's A Hard Life (Version 1) - 0:36
7. I Got Something For You - 2:03
8. Diana (12 String Version) - 4:00
9. I Got A Lot To Say (Version 2) - 0:52
10.It Ain't Nice (Version 1) - 1:19
11.She Don't Care - 0:58
12.All Come To Meet Her (Alternate 2) - 2:16
13.It Aint't Nice (Version 2) - 1:07
14.It's A Hard Life (Version 2) - 0:38
15.All Come To Meet Her (Rehearsal) - 3:03
16.Diana (Overdub) - 4:04
17.War In Peace (Take 2) - 4:18
18.Broken Heart (Extended Master) - 4:38
19.War In Peace (Guitar Overdub) - 4:48
20.Diana (Basics) - 3:44
All songs by Alexander Lee Spence

*Alexander Lee "Skip" Spence - Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Drums, Production

Related Act
1967  Moby Grape - Moby Grape (2007 remaster)
1967-68  The Place And The Time (2009 Sundazed release)
1969  Wow (Sundazed Issue)
1969  Moby Grape - Moby Grape 69' (2007 remaster and expanded)

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Marc Ellington - Restoration (1972 uk, exceptional folk country rock, 2011 remasters)

This is Marc Ellington's 4th album, recorded late 1972 and released early 1973, musically he moves around at the same levels as his previous releases, folk, country with straight Rock doses, cover versions of traditional folky numbers as well as modern numbers and smartly mixed them up with his own compositions,framed by excellent musicians (as always), and a great clear production.

Tracks
1. A Good Love Is Like A Good Song (Casey Kelly) - 2:43
2. It's Love That You Need (Marc Ellington, Sandy Roberton) - 3:13
3. Coal Tatoo (Billy Edd Wheeler) - 2:57
4. Try (Marc Ellington, Sandy Roberton) - 2:25
5. You Ain't Going Nowhere (Bob Dylan) - 4:00
6. Let The Music Bring You Back (Marc Ellington, Sandy Roberton) - 2:29
7. Break A Window (Break A Heart) (Ian Matthews) - 4:26
8. Along Comes Mary (Tandyn Almer) - 2:51
9. Younger Girl (John Sebastian) - 2:44
10.Wild Mountain Thyme (Traditional) - 3:01

Musicians
*Marc Ellington - Vocals, Guitar
*Jerry Donahue - Electric, Acoustic Guitars
*Pat Donaldson - Bass
*Dave Richards - Bass
*Dave Peacock - Bass
*Dave Hepburn - Bass
*Dave Mattacks - Drums
*Timmy Donald - Drums
*Phil Chesterton - Drums
*Barry De Souza - Drums
*Zoot Money - Piano
*Dolly Collins - Piano
*Tony Cox - Piano
*Tom Parker - Piano
*Simon Nicol - Acoustic Guitars
*Phil Pickett - Acoustic Guitars
*Andy Roberts - Electric, Acoustic Guitars
*Ian Whiteman - Organ, Piano
*James Ogilvy Forbes - Bagpipes
*Sue Draheim - Fiddle
*Phil Pickett - Mandolin
*Mike Deighan -  Acoustic Guitar, Banjo
*Ray Warleigh - Saxophone
*Ian Matthews - Vocals
*Longdancer - Vocals
*Mac Kissoon - Vocals
*Kathy Kissoon - Vocals

1969  Marc Ellington - Marc Ellington (2009 korean remaster)
1971  Marc Ellington ‎- Rains-Reins Of Changes (2004 remaster)
1972  Marc Ellington - A Question Of Roads (2010 korean remaster)

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Vanilla Fudge - Rock 'n' Roll (1969 us, jamming psych ballads with heavenly hash, 2013 remaster with extra tracks)

Vanilla Fudge started focusing more on their European exposure in 1969. Unfortunately, I don't have the many European itineraries from that year yet. Certainly the band was more popular in Europe and Australia than they ever were on the West Coast. In Italy the Fudge became the first Rock & Roll band to ever win the coveted Golden Gondola Award for their vocals at the Venice festival.

On February 2, 1969, the Fudge performed Shotgun live on the Ed Sullivan show. The band would also appear on other TV shows like the Beat Club and Dick Cavett throughout '69. The day following the Ed Sullivan appearance (Feb. 3), ATCO released Shotgun as a single with the original hard rockin' Good Good Lovin' on the B-Side.

On February 5th, ATCO released the classic 60's LP: Near the Beginning. It was the only Fudge LP produced by the band alone and the first LP without Shadow Morton. It boasted some of the most lovely symphonic and vocal arrangements the Fudge would ever record and the entire second side was the bone crunching Break Song, recorded live at the Shriner's Auditorium in Los Angeles. In just those four songs from that album, Vanilla Fudge successfully distilled all that was good, inspired and noble about the 60's era.

A helpful thought or Tangential Segue: "What is in opposition is in concert, and from what differs comes the most beautiful harmony." Heraclitus of Ephesus, circa 500 BC.

Near the Beginning was devoid of the black cynicism found on the Who's Tommy or the pessimism of Creedance Clearwater Revival's 1969 efforts. Nor did it pander to the political posturing of Jefferson Airplane's Volunteers or Cream's Farewell self indulgences. Where Led Zeppelin only had raw steel, Near the Beginning also had the astonishingly arranged Some Velvet Morning - a combination that would not be lost on Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. The musical symmetry of the Fudge album was almost schizophrenic, and hence captured the fullest essence of those times. Psychedelia had given way to madness and overindulgence by 1969. Vanilla Fudge were one of the few bands who were still able to focus on the aesthetic and artistic mysteries which could combine both velvet and steel in an opus of obscure contrasts and uncanny harmonies.

Another US concert tour followed including: Feb 7th and 8th, Vanilla Fudge headlined on a bill that included Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago.

Another ATCO single: Some Velvet Morning was remixed as a single from the LP and released on the 29th of April. More European dates followed (I think. More to be added as I get them.).

On June 6th and 7th the Vanilla Fudge headlined another show at Chicago's Kinetic Playground. On June 20th, the Fudge appeared at the Newport '69 Festival in San Bernadino, Ca. The bill included Joe Cocker and Buddy Miles.

The Fudge performed at the Denver Pops Festival in Mile High Stadium which was held on the 27-29th of June.

Another ATCO single, Need Love was released on the 22nd of July. It was an original song off their forthcoming fifth LP that the band was still recording with producer Adrian Barber.

Three days later Vanilla Fudge were checked into the Edgewater Inn in Seattle with Led Zeppelin. Both bands had come to play at the Seattle Pops Festival scheduled for July 25-27th, at Woodenville, Washington.

Richard Cole, the Zeppelin Road Manager, identified a young woman named Jackie from Oregon in his book. He described her as tall, red headed, and sexually adventurous. Carmine Appice admitted in a radio interview that he was the one who brought Jackie up to the room which Richard Cole identified in his book as #242 at the Edgewater Inn. Notwithstanding Frank Zappa's song about the Mud Shark, Cole insisted that the whole affair involved a Red Snapper fish wielded by him and John Bonham, some rope from the Hotels front desk, and Mark Stein's 8mm camera. The rest is pure speculation.

Asked about the event in 1997, Vince Martell said: "Yeah, that was after one of the gigs we did up in that area... uh... Chicago, right? Oh this was Seattle, yeah, well, there were a couple of things going on in a few places. {laughs} It just basically came down to one of these crazy parties that Rock bands like to get into... indulging... and with female companions, and you end up with, you know, how crazy can everybody go?' And that went pretty crazy."

The summer was the beginning of the end for the Fudge. Sometime during it they recorded two versions of a Coca-Cola radio commercial with Jeff Beck, while Martell was sick in bed. Tim & Carmine wanted to form a "Cream" type band with Jeff Beck. During the fall's European tours, Vanilla Fudge decided to end the "magic".

Mark Stein, looking at why the Vanilla Fudge eventually broke up, told Keyboard Magazine in 1983: "... bands that featured soloists, That was the coming thing. We toured with Cream, and Carmine decided he wanted to be Ginger Baker, with a lot of drum solo's. Tim Bogert wanted to be Jack Bruce. We were being influenced in that direction, so we lost the team effort. That really started in late '68 and '69."

In 1997, with far more hindsight, Martell gave his own views on the band's breakup. In the Web Site interview conducted by Mr. Aaron Butler, Vince said: "We broke up because we had been together so much in the years of "67 to '70, that we had only two 2-week periods off. The rest of the time we were always going, we'd only have a couple of days here and there. After a couple of days off we would get back together on the way to the airport and everybody had things to say, but by the time we hit the airport nobody was talking. We had talked the old stuff out so much, and now we just finished talking the new stuff,,, that's kind of what did it... We were in Italy when we decided that when we came back to the States, we'd call it quits. And I was looking for the time off, so it was fine with me."

On the 3rd night of the Palm Beach Festival in Florida (Thanksgiving Weekend), Vanilla Fudge performed with Johnny Winter's Band and Janis Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band. After the Joplin set, Janis called for a jam between the bands which went on for some time as the musicians traded palaces. That night Mark Stein and Carmine Appice backed Janis Joplin and Edgar Winter on sax. Vince Martell and Tim Bogert traded riffs with Johnny Winter... magical stuff to the very end...

Another remote tangent: The Fudge's music sought out the obscure through the 'harmonious wholes' of alternative & unfamiliar musical arrangements and 'patterns'. Previously 'unknown' forms of musical sounds, scales and arrangements applied to familiar themes thus revealed the 'unkown forms' lurking at the edge of all obscure & popular musical works. These 'unknown forms' proved immense, encompassing the 'greater mysteries', because what is 'unkown' is that which is 'unformed' and therein the 'unknown musical forms' create their own reality calling out to those who in turn performed or listened to it. Thus the unknown knew the 'known' and both gave life to one another at that ancient primal well William Blake called 'divine creativity'.(pax).

On September 25th 1969, Vanilla Fudge released their final LP, "Rock & Roll" which was produced by Adrian Barber. The final single by the Fudge wasn't released until 3 February 1970, and it was a remix of their Gospel rocker, Lord in the Country, from the Rock & Roll LP. On March 14, 1970, Vanilla Fudge played their final & farewell concert at Phil Basille's Action House. The Fudge disbanded and did not reunite until 1982, when ATCO released the Best of Vanilla Fudge LP in that year. In 1984, the Vanilla Fudge released a reunion LP called Mystery. In 1987 & 1988, the band did two reunion tours. Rhino records released their Fudge compilation, Psychedelic Sundae in 1993. On January 1997, Casey Butler founded the Vanilla Fudge Web page.

Vanilla Fudge

Tracks
1. Need Love (Carmine Appice, Tim Bogert, Vince Martellt, Mark Stein) - 4:58
2. Lord In The Country (Mark Stein) - 4:33
3. I Can't Make It Alone (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) - 4:46
4. Street Walking Woman (Carmine Appice, Tim Bogert, Vince Martellt, Mark Stein) - 6:01
5. Church Bells Of St. Martins (Mark Stein) - 4:39
6. The Windmills Of Your Mind (Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand) - 8:53
7. If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody (Rudy Clark) - 6:23
8. All In Your Mindneed Love (Single Version) (Carmine Appice, Tim Bogert, Vince Martellt, Mark Stein) - 3:04
9. Need Love (Mono Single Version) (Carmine Appice, Tim Bogert, Vince Martellt, Mark Stein) - 2:39
10.I Can't Make It Alone (Single Version) (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) - 3:37
11.Lord In The Country (Single Version) (Mark Stein) - 3:02

Vanilla Fudge
*Carmine Appice - Drums, Vocals
*Tim Bogert - Bass, Vocals
*Vince Martell - Guitar, Vocals
*Mark Stein - Lead Vocals, Keyboards

Related Acts

1970  Cactus (Japan SHM remaster)
1971  One Way...Or Another (Japan SHM remaster)
1971  Ultra Sonic Boogie (2010 issue)
1970-72  Fully Unleashed / The Live Gigs, Vol. 1
1971  Cactus - Fully Unleashed / The Live Gigs, Vol.2 (2007 limited two disc edition)
1976  KGB - KGB (2005 remaster)

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