Roy grew up in Southbridge, MA, the oldest of four; one brother and two sisters. His mother was a 'truly good' pianist and his father was a gifted auotobody mechanic, but unfortunately a desperate alcoholic. In Roy's own words: "I had kind of a bad childhood in many ways, but normal in others". He and a friend started playing guitar as teenagers. They became a trio and played in different cities around the area. All that was to end when he was drafted in 1966 by the US army, at which time he was working in a service station.

After a stint in Germany he was sent to Vietnam. Asked for his recollections of the war, he told me "I was in rocket attacks but didn't see much more action. I saw a lot of drug use and very little support from locals. I'll bet that the people there are living the same way today as they did back in the '60s".

During his time in Vietnam, he chose to use two R&R periods to visit Australia. He liked it there so much that he decided to fly straight back on discharge from the army. His early recollections of Australia were of having good times making many good friends: "I smoked a lot of pot and indulged in other highs. I lived right on Manly Beach in Sydney and went to sleep at night with the sound of surf coming in through the open balcony doors".

Dee Why beach

Roy started putting his name about in the scene and playing his own songs at some local venues: "I began playing at a theater called P.A.C.T. and played at other places as well". The PACT (Producers, Authors, Composers and Talent) arts company still stands to this day (link). Roy befriended Michael 'Mick' Norris, who played in accoustic band 'Marastique' and a bluesrock band called Amageddon. Then Roy moved into a flat with friends in Pittwater Road, Dee Why, a suburb of northern Sydney which also has a beach. In Mick's word's: "We used to meet at this flat, have a jam and smoke pot, supplied mostly by a local bloke who lived only about two hundred metres away in Harbord Road".

Mick would take along his band-mates Ray McKeown, Ian Robins and Graham Hilzinger. Ray played drums, Ian played electric guitar and Graham played flute and sax. Mick himself was playing bass at the time.

Mick recalls that at those sessions, they would set-up and Roy would play through all his songs, almost non-stop, as if doing a mini concert. Then they would all fall into it with him, making-up their own parts as Roy continued playing without stopping to correct anyone. "Occasionally we would all stop for a puff of pot, then get back to it". The guys got together a couple of nights a week, playing for few hours at a time. Roy adds: "They were all great guys and we worked well together. It was a wonderful experience".

Roy at a wedding

I asked Ian Robins to describe his memories of Roy: "Roy was a real pistol!  Very loud and ebullient. He had a great sense of humour and I remember he loved junk food. We all got a little substance crazy in those days. Roy had a favourite expression - 'Has anyone seen my mind - don't step on it!'. He was a very good acoustic picker and song writer, fun to work with too, very focused".

Eventually they all got to know Roy’s songs by ear, Ian remembers that Roy was vey open to the ideas of the other guys and they all developed their own individual parts.

The flat on Pittwater Road - at mid-level

When they weren't playing, the Dee Why flat was a place for fun and hi-jinks. Mick recalls one party in particular: "There was one occasion at the flat when some friends of Roy’s had arrived from overseas, after back-packing I think. They brought some 8mm film they had shot of their adventures, and they also had some LSD micro-dots which they had gotten from the USA (very clean, pure and precise in dose level). We all had a trip together, as the LSD took effect, the film was played and projected onto a wall of the flat and it was also played back-wards to the great amusement of us all.

As the party progressed, most of us set-out in groups in different cars to go driving around the northern beaches, all in different directions. We had an amazing time laughing and hoo-harring all over the place. At one particular time, a few of the cars arrived at the same intersection all at the same time, all coming from different directions. Not having been in contact since the magical mystery tour had started, that was an amazing coincidence. We all just sat there at the intersection looking at each other, cracking up with laughter".

Before Roy's get-togethers with the nucleus of what was to become his recording band, he had been very enterprising. While recording a demo on his own, a local studio put him in touch with Jack Argent, MD of Leeds Music publishers. Jack liked what he heard and organised a deal for an album with MCA.



The album was recorded at United Sounds studio in Sydney (link). Roy played classical acoustic guitar. From the Dee Why jams was Mick Norris on bass, Ian Robins on electric guitar, Graham Hilzinger on flute and Ray McKeown on drums. Some more players were added; John Hayles played second classical guitar, and on tracks "Plastic World", "The Old Man" and "Hitchin" steel guitar player Kenny Kitching can be heard. Kenny has since become one of he most renowned steel and Hawian guitar players in Australia. On this subject Roy said: "Kenny was brought in, I'd never met him before. I didn't know he'd done so well, since. He was very interested in the track(s) he played on and I appreciated his interest!"

Ian Robins had this to say about the recording: "I played all the electric guitar. I had a Gibson ES335 back then, a guitar I always regret parting with. It must be worth a fortune now. One song I recall, 'Plastic Jesus', was about the commercialization of religion".

At the time Roy told Mick that MCA were winding-down their activity in Australia, and so a meagre budget had been allocated for the sound recording and production. MCA was pushing to get it's contracts fulfilled quickly. As most of the players were by now well-practiced and knew their parts well, the album sessions went smoothly. Roy points out that most of the tracks were put down together as a band instead of over dubbing. A few things, like the flute, had to be put down later.

Label, Side 1

The record was released in the latter half of 1971, catalogue number MCA MAP/S 5100. The full track listing is:

A1 Searchin'
A2 Plastic World
A3 The Trip Song
A4 Anti-stink Song
A5 The Old Man
B1 The Country Song
B2 Hitchin'
B3 Sinful Man
B4 The Last Song

Things had moved on by this time, Roy had moved again and was working in a record shop on Pittwater Rd. He had also met his wife-to-be, Margaret Gray, from Narrabeen, NSW. The album cover shows Roy sitting under a tree strumming his guitar, with an attentive blonde-haired girl in audience. The picture was taken by Chris Hobrough, a photographer friend of Roy's. Chris had this to say: "The pictures were taken in the garden of his place at Newport, Sydney. I remember positioning myself right on top of an ant nest to take some of those shots - they didn't appreciate it. 40 years and I still remember that".

The credited engineer is Spenser Lee, who quite amazingly was engineer on the first three Buffalo albums slightly later. The album was produced by Alan A. Freeman, ex-head of A&R at Pye records in England and CEO of MCA Australasia. Older readers may be interested to know Alan was a regular panelist on ATV's Saturday night talent programme, New Faces.

MCA did put out a single from the album, choosing 'Plastic World' with a flip-side of 'The Old Man'. I have just discovered another single that MCA released, but as yet I have not established if they were earlier recordings or album session left-overs. That single was "Your Day Is Comin" (youtube) with flip-side "Hey You" (youtube). Thanks to Bill Stevens for uploading those two. Bill also got some info out of Roy: "The single 'Your Day Is Comin' was written on Manly Beach in Sydney and reflects my disillusion with the Vietnam War and war in general. 'Hey You' is another single but more of a love song".



Tragically, it would seem that the public had very little chance to even hear the finished album. Chris Hobrough offers his opinion: "The album wasn't a commercial success, mainly because the record company put zero effort into promoting it. It was basically all left up to Roy. That was quite a tall order, back then, for a young musician just starting out. Perhaps it would have been easier now with the Internet. Anyway, it wasn't enough support for Roy to develop his art, and I think that was a big disappointment for him".

Mick Norris has similarly negative things to say about the album's promotion: "As was a usual practice, MCA, or one of their agents, managed to have a review of the album published in the appropriate 'what’s going on' music page of one of Sydney’s main newspapers, giving the album 'record of the week', but it was not as if MCA showed any high hopes for Roy’s success. It seemed that they just wanted to get their contract obligations met at the cheapest possible cost, and I don’t recall how many copies of the album were pressed".

Ian Robins in recent times

Ian Robins has equally melon collie memories of the time: "It would have been nice if the album had gone somewhere. Who knows how it may have changed one's life, eh? I feel bad for Roy though. He put a lot of energy and effort into the album."


Just after the release of the album, Mick Norris went on with Ray, Ian and Graham to form a new incarnation of the band, while Roy was drifting away from the original gang: "The rest of us carried on as a band in the Narrabeen/Mona Vale area, and we recorded a soundtrack for an Australian surfing film producer Bob Evans, the name of his film was 'Family Free'" (link).

Around the same time the band was approached to hurriedly come-up with a soundtrack for another locally-proposed surf film; of which Bruce Usher and Russell Shepherd, from Mona vale Beach, were the producers. Due to the urgency of needing original music finished within this film's strict time frame, Mick made contact with Roy with the hope that he might have some material, or be able to come-up with some fresh material. Roy did come to meet the producers at Mona Vale, and things started to move, with Roy showing keen and coming up with ideas. "Some how the wheels fell off the whole thing, and I don’t recall seeing Roy again, I think that was about the time that he and Margaret got married. It's hard to recall now, but I think that delays with the film’s production didn't help".



So that was the end of Roy's personal and musical life in Australia: "In total, I lived in Aussie for just over two years. After I got married and had a daughter, I wanted my family in the US to meet them, so we left for Massachusetts in the early '70s. All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and in retrospect, I never should have left".

Back in the US, music just wasn't cutting it any more. With a daughter and wife to support, he decided to go back to school in Boston to study broadcasting. He worked for a while in radio and TV advertising, then: "From Connecticut, where I was living at the time, I got a job in Hyde Park, New York, at a small AM station working for a fat guy who was a little unstable. From there I became a program director for an FM station that was country when I got the job. With me it became a rock station, and a big hit in the Poughkeepsie, NY area".

Roy in 2010

Roy moved to Texas where he got into TV news: "My time in San Antonio working for KENS-TV was a highlight of my career.  From there it was back to radio in San Diego, California before returning to New England. I won several awards along the way and got to see a lot of the country. I went back to Australia in the mid 80's while working as a TV journalist and revisited Sydney - I'd like to go back there again some day. Back in New England I did something I'd always wanted to do and that was driving big rig trucks. I did that for three years and enjoyed seeing the country, but the business was tough. Now I'm retired".

After the impossibility of the public getting the chance to hear Roy and the gang's great album when it should have done, we can thank the power of the internet for allowing many to hear it easily now. Thanks to Roy and his efforts over 40 years ago for bringing us this great music!

© Richard Sheppard / www.aftersabbath.com

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This is a late addition to the Swiss Volume 83, an extra band kindly suggested by TDATS fb group admin Martin Smith. You can download the fully-revised comp, and read mine and Martin's new notes by the usual links from here. If you don't want to download the whole thing again you can get just the additional mp3 here and drop it in. Here's what's new:

McChurch Soundroom was an eclectic psych free blues rock ensemble that has close relationships with krautrock, in particular with the heavy, stoned jazzy sound of Nosferatu (see Vol116), but also with folkish bands from England (Jethro Tull first era). Their original LP "Delusion" was released in 1971 on the legendary Pilz label (Popol Vuh, Wallenstein, Witthuser & Westrupp etc). This psych folk underground act is now cult. It was engineered by the famous Conny Plank (see Vol116 Conny Special) at Star Studio Hamburg.

McChurch Soundroom promo shot

The name of the band seems to have been taken partly from the nickname of singer/flute player Sandy McChurch (real name Sandro Chiesa). Also on board was saxophonist/guitarist Heiner Althaus (link), who has since played in many big-band ensembles, and drummer Norbert “Nobbi” Jud , later of Monroe. The opening track of the album, 'Delusion', has lyrics credited to Marcel Schaar. He was a German singer/songwriter and it's not clear how much other involvement he had in the album. In the same year as Delusion he recorded a good solo album as 'Marcel', called 'Dreams Consumed' (link).

I asked Martin to write a piece about it, and here it is: "About twenty years ago a hippy friend of mine summoned me to his bus he was living on, raving on about some lost heavy nugget he had come across while living in Holland . As I entered his rather musty hippy home he thrust a copy of McChurch's Delusion LP into my hand saying, "Man you got to listen to this man, its going make me a fortune!". You see, my friend had the quite bonkers idea of sampling the drum solo from 'Dream of a Drummer' and turning it into a Fat Boy Slim type big beat rave tune. Nonsense of course, but I instantly fell for the mighty hammond grooves, overblown flute and heavy blues that dwelled within its grooves. Also the cover of a human skull covered in wax was the cherry on the cake. It was the first real obscure heavy nugget I came across and set me up for a life time of crate-digging. In a way, Google and the internet has taken away some of the mystery of record collecting and these once mythical LPs are now just a mouse-click away. Hopefully this little story might give you an insight into what makes all of us record collectors tick, and the reason we all keep on digging. As for my mate, he never made his fortune with his big beat Swiss prog dance tune ...he now works in a high street bakery called Greggs."

Download from [mf] or [mg]
unzip password:  tdats


TDATS 118 is a collection of tracks from bands who made albums in the US, all including members who had relocated from Latin America. The biggest influence on this Latin rock trend was undoubtedly Carlos Santana! Indeed, Malo included the guitar talents of Carlos's brother, Jorge Santana.

The better-known artists here are Chango, Malo, Tierra and El Chicano, all referred to at times as "Chicano Rock". Other bands here don't fall under that convenient label, because the term Chicano specifically means Mexican-American. Chango offer some of the best cuts here, with 'Woman in Black' standing out as the closest to heavy metal. What makes all the tracks here a refreshing alternative to the usual heavy psych and rock of the times is the Latin influence, the lead guitar styles and the percussion, often with a horn section which complements the sound rather than softening it. The track from Amazonas is from the school of infamous budget / exploitation producer Leo Muller (real name David Leonard Miller) who's labels would employ studio musicians to sell popular sounds of the time to lesser-discerning music buyers. In the case of the Amazonas LP some great original music resulted.

While remaining true to the aftersabbath ethos of heavy groove and rocking-ness, this comp brings together a great collection of salsa-flavoured, funky, jazzy, brassy rock. A light-hearted and enjoyable mix just in time for the summer! If you like this one, you may want to check out my other Latin-flavoured comps; 104 (Peru), 84 (Brazil), 89 (Mexico) and 43 (general South America).  I love the good vibes of the rock from these places so there will be more....Argentina, Chile, Uraguay and others to come...

TRACKS
01. Strange Brew - Intro (1969)
       from album 'A Very Strange Brew'
       A California-based band, some members of which were in Yaqui (see later)
02. Malo - Peace [single version] (1972)
       from album 'Malo'
       Including Carlos Santana's brother Jorge, this album reached no. 12 in the US charts.
03. Sincerely Antique - Chaucha (1973)
       from album 'Sincerely Antique'
       Based in Miami.
04. Broth - I'm a King (1970)
       from album 'Broth'
       A band of Cubans and Puerto Ricans who made an album in New York.
05. Amazonas - Amazona (1973)
       from album 'Play Santana'
       Exploitation studio band, recorded some Santana covers, but this one is an original.
06. Abel - Searchin' For The Light (1971)
       from album 'Please World'
       Based in San Francisco. Lead by Abel Sanchez (guitar, bass, vocals). The sound quality of
       this is lacking, if you have a better rip let me know!
07. Toro - Small Folk Reservation (1975)
       from album 'Toro'
       A New York-based band, guitarist Steve Napoleoni Monge previously worked with Harvey        Averne.
08. El Chicano - Chicano Chant (1971)
       from album 'Revolución'
       One of the more prolific Chicano rock bands, based in L.A.
09. Chango - Caminando (1975)
       from album 'Chango'
       One of the more appreciated Santana-esque bands. Liner notes explain the god
       'Chango' is "the representative of unbridled sexuality".
10. Tierra - Tierra (1973)
       from album 'Tierra'
       L.A.'s Tierra supported Santana in the late '70s.
11. Macondo - Battery (1972)
       from album 'Macondo'
       From East L.A. and discovered by Sergio Mendes. Again sound quality could be better, if
       you have a better rip drop me a line.
12. Banda de Jesus - Livin' Is Funky (1972)
       from album 'Naked Lunch'
       This band came out of 'Naked Lunch', who also contributed members to Malo. This is              available as a bonus track on the 'Naked Lunch' CD from World In Sound records.
13. Yaqui - I Need A Woman (1973)
       from album 'Yaqui'
       East L.A. band on Hugh Hefner's Playboy label.
14. The Harvey Averne Barrio Band - Cucaraca Macara (1971)
       from album 'The Harvey Averne Barrio Band'
       Jewish-American New Yorker who was a name in the Latin scene. (link) Notice similarity
       to Toro's Small Folk Reservation...
15. Chango - Woman In Black (1976)
        from album 'Honey Is Sweeter Than Blood'
        For their second and final album, Chango used less Salsa, and more ROCK!!



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"Stonehouse Creek" is one of the best albums I have come across while looking out for bands in all things TDATS. Recently tracking down an original copy has encouraged me in my attempts at finding out more about this excellent obscure band. To my huge delight I was able to contact Plymouth-born Stonehouse singer James (Jim) Smith, and conduct a telephone interview. This alo enabled me to get some great info on later bands of Jim's like Asgaerd (see Vol99).

A 1971 UK blues rock LP  triumvirate of Jodo, Universe & Stonehouse

Eerily reminiscent of Jodo, of whom I interviewed Rod Alexander almost exactly one year ago (link), Stonehouse also made a single, woefully under-publicised, album of brilliant British heavy blues and hard rock, in 1971. They both have ambiguous, monochrome cover art, they even share some lyrical themes. On top of these coincidences, they both have a track called "Nightmare". Fans of Leaf Hound will no doubt find some similarities in Stonehouse's earthy, honest sound, as well as those who know Universe's album, all of these LPs being from 1971, a great year indeed.

The album begins with a plaintive ode to the mysterious "Stonehouse Creek", lamenting the loss of a well-loved local beauty spot, and then kicks off proper with the good-time bluesrock vibes of "Hobo". This fully establishes the band's tight skills; Ian Snow's funky drumming, Peter Spearings's nimble blues licks, Terry Parker's adventurous bass lines and Jim Smith's versatile wide-range vocal abilities. The second track is a real highlight of the album, "Cheater", with Jim's impassioned and brooding performance matching Pete's doom-laden blues riff.

"Nightmare" opens with Terry's quirky, slightly proggy bassline, and this is the first track to include some light piano embellishment, the inclusion of which Jim will voice his minor grievances on later in the interview. Personally speaking, although piano can generally take the edge off hard rock, I like it on this album. It's well played, not over-powering, and it suits an LP which has a good-natured, fun vibe over-all.

Toward the end, "Don't Push Me" introduces some great Sabbathian, progressive riffing. "Topaz" is a compact, groovy instrumental, perfect for those that like Led Zep's "Moby Dick" but tend to reach for fast-forward at a certain point; this one is drum-solo free haha. Along with the earlier track "Ain't No Game", "Four Letter Word" delves into deeper lyrical subject matters, supporting tolerance and anti-war sentiments. The album reprises nicely with Stonehouse Creek pt2, coming back full circle to the homely pleasures of hanging about fishing on a lazy summer afternoon.

Parade at British Seaman's Boys Home, Brixham Acquired from bsbhbrixham.org

Me: Hi Jim! Please tell us about your childhood and how you got into music.
Jim: I was brought up in quite a large family, one of ten brothers and sisters. We lived in a very poor part of town. When I was seven, me and three brothers were out playing in the street and this car turned up. We were given all these really lovely clothes to put on, nicer than we'd seen before. We were whipped of to Brixham, in Paignton, Devon.

To my surprise we were taken to an orphanage and just left there. I found out six months or so later that my mum was really ill, dying of cancer. My father was in the Navy at the time, on HMS Ark Royal, so he wasn’t in a position to look after us all. The rest of my siblings were staying with grandparents and other family. It was a naval orphanage and they had bands, so at the age of twelve I joined a naval band, as a side drummer, also playing the bugle. [The British Seaman's Boys Home (link) was open for 125 years between 1863 and 1988]

Me: Drumming was your first love?
Jim: Yes, I seemed to have a natural aptitude and picked things up and played them quite easily in the boy’s marching band.

Jim Smith, 1971

Me: How did that develop into playing in rock bands?
Jim: At around fifteen I had the chance to leave the orphanage, and go and live with my sister in Plymouth. I joined a little youth club come boxing club, which used to put on dances. A couple of guys there asked me if I’d like to join in getting a band together. I managed to get a cheap drum-setup, first time having been on a full size drum kit. I started picking things up from there, playing along to things like The Shadows, and it developed from there.

Me: Was one of those people Pete Spearing?
Jim: No, I met him when I was seventeen or eighteen. I played in loads of different little bands, not yet being really good at my trade. I could play a basic 4/4 but that was about it. I was never trained in music, I didn’t learn to read music. My skills developed just by studying other musicians, I used to go home and work it out bit by bit in my own time. When I was about sixteen I was playing in a band at a show, in a cinema in Devonport, Plymouth. We were supporting The Who. When you see old pictures of The Who, Roger Daltrey’s wearing like a double-breasted jacket with stripes on it. That’s what he was wearing that night.

Pete Spearing, 1971

Me: Oh great, what was the name of that band you were in then?
Jim: I forget now, it might have been “The Crusaders”, something like that. By this time I was quite good on the drums, having been playing regularly in little social clubs and youth clubs. When I was about seventeen Pete Spearing [Stonehouse guitar/song-writer] approached me. By this time I had started to do some singing as well as the drums. He asked If i’d be interested in singing for a good three-piece band (drums, bass, guitar). Terry Parker [Stonehouse bass] was living in a place called Southway at the time. As you can hear on the album, he was a very accomplished bass player for a guy his age.

Me: So Stonehouse was initially Pete Spearing’s idea? Did you know Terry or Ian Snow [Stonehouse drums] before this point?
Jim: Stonehouse was Pete’s vision, it was all his material, he was such a prolific song-writer. I didn’t know Ian or Terry beforehand, no.

Van Dike club poster, 1970

Me: What were Stonehouse’s influences? Did you model yourselves on any bands?
Jim: We didn’t want to sound like anyone else and I think we managed to achieve that, with my vocal range and how I sounded, and the way we played, I think we were really original. Personally speaking, I idolised Free. I saw them half a dozen times when they came down to Plymouth, at a club called the Van Dike. They were going on stage with 200 watt Marshal PA systems, that’s how new they were to the game as well!

Me: Paul Rogers has one of the best voices of all time. On that record he did with Queen in recent times, his voice was as good as ever.
Jim: Yeah, that was incredible. That’s the good thing about carrying on doing what you do, you should never lose it. He still has such a good vocal range.

Me: Why did you choose the name Stonehouse? Having looked it up, I see there is a place with that name in Plymouth.
Jim: Pete Spearing was born around that area. There’s a place called Stonehouse Creek, they keep boats down there. There’s a ha'penny bridge, where in the old days, seventeenth and eighteenth century, people used to pay a ha'penny to get across. It’s quite a biggish bridge, it takes two lanes of traffic now. So Pete themed one of the songs on Stonehouse bridge, and creek.

Me:  Sure, the intro and outro on the album, containing the lyric, “They’re filling in Stonehouse Creek”.
Jim: And they did fill it in! One side of it is now a car park for a university college.

Me: I guess that was quite an upsetting thing at the time, which is why Pete wrote about it?
Jim: Yes! It was well-loved, lots of people used to go fishing around there and just laze around the edges of the water, having picnics and things like that.

Me:  When Stonehouse started playing live, do you remember playing with, or meeting, any other bands that we may have heard of?
Jim: Not really no, we did a lot of one-off club nights by ourselves. Speaking of Paul Rogers again, I did measure myself on him, not the way he sang, but the way he stood on stage, the way he used the mic stand, he used it like a crutch. I used to do that and throw it about, it was like a baton to me.

Me: Were you just playing near Plymouth? Did you travel further, to London for instance?
Jim: Yeah we went to London; I forget the names of places we played now, one may have been the The Speakeasy (link). We went down an absolute storm, did really well and got more gigs. Don’t ask me what managers approached us, as Pete dealt with all that. We had a small spot at Glastonbury one time, set up in a tent, and that went down really well too. At one time we were voted one of the top ten bands in England, alas I can’t remember where or what that was in.

Command Studio, London

Me: Do you remember much about how you got signed and how the album recording came about?
Jim: Pete arranged that after talking to a guy who worked for Decca at a show, who thought we had a really good sound and liked what we did. An album recording session was arranged, but they only gave us one day in the studio.

Me: The album cover says it was recorded at Command studios in London (link) [which hosted the likes of King Crimson, Slade, Deep Purple, Atomic Rooster, PFM and Roxy Music]. In a small piece I found on-line (link), that was apparently written by Pete Spearing in recent times, he said that it was recorded at Advision studios. What is correct here?
Jim: It was recorded at Command studios, in 1970. Not Advision.

Me: The engineer, Barry Ainsworth, worked with some excellent bands; ├┤awkVVind , Deep Purple - "Hush", The Strawbs, May Blitz and Sam Gopal to name a few. [There is a 1980s video interview with Barry, here] Producer Mickey Clarke worked on Raw Material's second LP, and showing the bizarrely incongruous nature of the industry at the time, Rolf Harris's "Two Little Boys". He also produced a band called Room, from Dorset, not too far from Plymouth (See Vol60). Their album, “Pre-Flight”, is another of my absolute favourites from the time, they did one album for Vertigo and broke up pretty much straight after as well. Do you know of them?
Jim: Oh really? I can’t say I know of Room, but yes it’s sad. We could have done more, If we’d had more time we could have laid more tracks down. The bass, drums and guitar tracks were laid down first, during which time I sang along in a booth, so I knew when the breaks were coming in, recording what would normally be a first-take of the vocal track. After doing that, Barry Ainsworth decided that all these first takes were good enough and we did not redo any of them.

Me: Do you think this was an attempt to save money on studio time?
Jim: Oh absolutely, we were only in the studio for one day. But a day is 24hrs, we were in there for just twelve hours. That was all the time they gave us, so we had to get it done. Even Pete’s guitar work, his lead work, he only did that once. Never went over it again like you’d normally do, you might want put harmony solos on it etc. We were really racing against the clock, what with the time it took to set everything up as well, there was no time at all for the band to have any extra input or say in the recording, no time to develop anything further in the studio.

Me: Who played the piano on tracks like "Hobo", "Nightmare", "Down Down" and "Stonehouse Creek"?
Jim: The piano was put in at a later date, without asking us, so I don’t even know who did it or who’s idea it was. It softened the band a little bit. I would have preferred it if they’d asked Pete to come back in to lay down some more rhythm tracks, and maybe some more harmony tracks.....but nothing.

Plymouth Amateur Rowing Club

Me: Given all these restrictions, it’s testament to all of your talents that the album sounds as good as it does. You must have been very well-practiced before going in.
Jim: Oh absolutely, we had a place on the embankment in Plymouth, it was in a boat club. They had the rowing boats downstairs in one big room and we had quite a large upstairs room. We rehearsed there four or five times a week, all our gear was left there. The band was really tight, what you hear on the album is what you would have heard if you’d seen us live, although live it would have all been a lot louder and a lot fuller. There were no mistakes at all, we just played straight through the songs.

We’d go to rehearsal and bang out all the songs you know, plus other material as well. We did a thing called the “War Suite”, written by Pete, something along the lines of “War Of The Worlds”, but this was about WWII. That was just a beautiful piece of music. If we’d got anywhere, he’d have become a really good song writer, an arranger of songs, it’s such a shame. Not that he isn’t a good song writer now, but if we’d got somewhere when we had the break back then, you know.

Me: The War Suite sounds like it must have been some kind of prog rock epic. If it was never recorded, that was a tragic loss. I imagine you would not have been able to fit it on the album.
Jim: Yeah absolutely, it was like something Meatloaf would do. We never recorded it, we used to play the whole thing through on stage, it was in seven or eight parts. There were so many ups and downs, peaks and troughs, loud and quiet bits, it was just absolutely lovely to play. Actually, a song that was on the album, “Ain’t No Game” [themed on the anti-war sentiment common at the time] could have been taken from the War Suite. I seem to remember that, but of course some things are hazy after all these years.

Pete Spearing in more recent times

Me: Pete was the main ideas-guy in the band, but did Stonehouse have any kind of collaborative writing process?
Jim: Pete was the main guy, absolutely. We’d sit around discussing things and he’d accept and listen to any of our input, and we’d maybe add a bit here and a bit there, but basically, he was so good, it was like “if it’s not broken, why try and fix it?”, you know.

Me: How did he get that good, do you know? What was there in his past that might account for it?
Jim: I think intelligence. He’s a very intelligent man, he’s very knowledgeable. He’s read a lot, he’s word-perfect in everything he does and says and plays. He’s just good at it. Some people are good at writing, putting lyrics together, arranging songs, he has it all. He wrote all the lyrics as well.

Me: Do you have any favourite songs on the album?
Jim: I particularly like "Crazy White Folk" [Jim sings the chorus in perfect tune here] and "Ain’t No Game". I loved singing all of them, because my voice was so strong and I could reach all the notes. I still can actually, you wouldn’t believe it but my voice is still as high and as powerful as it ever was. Not bad for 68 is it, haha?

Ian Snow, 1971

Me: Could you give us a brief run-down of the gear you were using when you recorded the album?
Jim: Pete had his beloved Gibson, semi-acoustic it was. A couple of years ago he had it stolen, bless him. Terry Parker always used a Fender bass, and Snowy (Ian Snow) was on a Ludwig drum kit. The PA would have been whatever was hired in at the time.

Me: Did you contribute any drums on the album? I presume not, especially with the time constraints.
Jim: No I didn’t. At the time, I was the same type of drummer as Snowy, we were on a par for drums anyway. Though there was always a bit of camaraderie between us, Snowy was very good with a single bass drum and double bass, he could do the lot really.

Me: Do you remember anything about the album being released? Reading about it or hearing it?
Jim: Nothing, no. They didn’t even let us know when it was being released, to be honest. I think there was something in the Melody Maker at the time.

Terry Parker, 1971

Me: Do you know if any singles were released from it? Was anything played on the radio?
Jim: No, not from the Stonehouse album. At that time I don’t think radio played that sort of stuff, as far as I know, it’s not like now when you can hear everything you could want to hear, from any time.

Me: Is it the case, as for some other bands I have spoken to, that by the time the album was actually released, the band was already on the rocks?
Jim: Yes, that’s right. I’d like to say, we didn’t split with any bad feelings. After all these years, I can’t honestly remember why we split, we never had a huge falling out, nobody hated anyone, we all got along really well, which for a rock band is really unusual. I can speculate that the pressures for Pete were strongest, he was recently married, with a little girl, he would have had to spend a lot of time away from home, going to London etc. We did play a few gigs up north to promote the record, to audiences of about 200-300 people, which were well-received, as were all the shows we ever played.

Me: Was it 1971 when the band split?
Jim: I don’t remember exactly when, but it was 1971. As far as I know, we never got any money at all from our deal with Decca. They didn’t promote us at all either, we had to go out and find our own promoters, which didn’t happen, for reasons that I don’t quite remember.

Me: Do you have any amusing or shocking Stonehouse stories to share?
Jim: Not really, it was so long ago now. What I mainly remember is spending all our time rehearsing. We looked the part, we all had long hair, we had the right stuff on stage.....we did get chased off out of a farmhouse once, by a guy with a shotgun! We pulled up there late one night, we wanted some water for the big van we had, and he thought we was trying to rob the place, we banged on the door and the next minute this shotgun came peering through the window at us, we thought “shit!” and just ran for it, loudly expressing our apologies as we high-tailed it out of there.

We were a well behaved band, we weren’t smashing things up, we didn’t get into trouble with anybody. We just played our music. Being good musicians was all we ever wanted.


And I think anyone who hears the album will be in no doubt that they certainly achieved that! Soon after Stonehouse, Jim and Ian joined a new band based in London, called Asgaerd (see Vol99), with whom Pete was also briefly involved at one point. More on this, and another band further down in Stonehouse history called Canyon, in part 2 of the interview later. There is one issue to attempt to clear up, which is that although Jim referred to Decca, the pressing I am aware of was released on RCA. I hope to follow up on this soon, so this article may be updated if an explanation is possible. Thanks to Jim for making this interview possible, and thanks for reading! Follow Stonehouse at the official Facebook page.

© Richard Sheppard / www.aftersabbath.com / Stonehouse

Jim Smith drumming in Canyon, 2012.



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Panda was yet another great short-lived Dutch band that made some singles but no album. Even though they existed for a very short time, some notable names passed through the ranks. These included Emile den Tex (Tortilla, Turquoise, Electric Tear, solo), now a famous producer, Herman van Boeyen (Livin' Blues, Supersister, Vitesse), Rob Kruisman (Island v1, Modesty Blaise, Bintangs, Brainbox, Ekseption), Ben de Bruin (Cobra, Bintangs, Turquoise, Rob Hoeke) and Rob ten Bokum (Bintangs, Vitesse). Another was bassist Jaap van Eik, who has kindly agreed to take part in an interview about himself and Panda.

Before going further, two invaluable sources that I must thank for making searches in all things nederbeat easier are Alex Gitlin's Nederpop Enyclopedia and Erik Hessel's nederbeat.info.


Jaap was born in The Hague, in the western part of The Netherlands. At around the age of three his family moved to Venezuela, so along he went. When he was eleven he suffered appendicitis, for his own sake his parents decided to send him back to the old country to recover, and to get a better educational grounding. He started playing the guitar at fourteen, but switched to bass three years later; "because in those days there were always too many guitarists!". He would however return to the guitar in some bands later on, such as Trace. When asked about early inspirations, he had this to say; "As everybody in the sixties I was hugely influenced by The Ventures and The Shadows. Later it was The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, Little Feat and Allman Brothers, to name a few. My personal favourite was Jack Bruce, would you believe it. Also guitar players like Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton."

While studying graphic design in Arnhem, Japp met pianist and fellow student, Herman Brood. Herman is a famous character in Dutch rock, who became an artist later on (wiki). Sadly he committed suicide in 2001, after years of health problems resulting from life-long heavy drug use.  At this point Jaap had already played in a Shadows covers band, with Herman and some other local guys he formed a band and started hanging out in small clubs. They were The Moans, later just "Moan". Soon they were playing further afield; "We played in Amsterdam. Also we played in Germany quite often, where we met loads of English bands and musicians. They were like gods to us!".

From the late ‘60s into the ‘70s, Jaap became an in-demand bass player. In his own words, he had a "tendency to use the bass as a solo instrument", which goes some way in describing his personal style. He and spent time in many bands, including Cuby + Blizzards, Blues Dimension, The Motions and Solution. He also played on the Jan Akkerman‎solo LP, “Profile”. He regards the most defining moment in his career as his time with blues rockers Cuby + Blizzards. Herman Brood joined also, and this is where he and Herman first made names for themselves. Jaap remembers: “This was a whole new step up. They were quite famous then and played many gigs, made a few albums and toured a lot in Germany and other European countries. As a matter of fact we even went to England, where we met people like John Mayall (we did a tour with him and his band) and Alexis Korner.” Jaap left Cuby in 1969 and switched around various bands and styles in the ’70s. "Blues Dimension was brief, Solution was great, we toured the UK extensively in the seventies, and I was foolish enough to turn down an offer from Jan Akkerman to join Focus! Trace was the last band I played in. That was a nice period although things became rather complicated then.”

Me: Hi Jaap! How and where did the members of Panda meet, was it in Alkmaar? Why was the name ‘Panda' chosen?

Jaap: No, it wasn’t in Alkmaar. I once saw a young drummer who impressed me. His name was Herman van Boeyen. So when we needed someone for Blues Dimension, I suggested him. We kept in touch after that and at one point we decided to start a new band together. I lived in a place called Zwolle, he was located in Amsterdam. The name Panda was chosen because Panda was a popular figure in a comic strip, about a small panda bear.



Me: Is this the correct line-up for all three singles?
 Ben de Bruin (guitar)
 Emile den Tex (vocals)
 Herman van Boeyen (drums)
 Jaap van Eik (bass)
 Rob Kruisman (wind)

Jaap: No, Here's how it was. The original band was started by myself and drummer Herman van Boeyen. Only the first line-up was with Emile den Tex (vocals) and Ben de Bruin (guitar). Emile didn’t stay very long and was replaced by Rob Kruisman (Ekseption, Brainbox and Modesty Blaise etc.) for vocals, saxophone and flute. When Ben de Bruin left, we added Rob ten Bokum (Modesty Blaise) who played guitar and also flute.

So the final stable lineup was myself (bass), Herman van Boeyen (drums), Rob ten Bokum (guitar, flute) and Rob Kruisman on vocals, saxophone and flute.

(l-r) Rob Kruisman,         Jaap van Eik,    Rob ten Bokum,    Herman van Boeijen

Me: Can you describe when and where you recorded the three 45s that Panda released? Do you have any favourite Panda songs? Can you remember anything about recording them?

For those that remember the Heat Exchange volume of tdats with a few singles from a great Canadian band that somewhat unfairly never got to see their album released (if you don't, read it here: http://www.aftersabbath.com/2013/12/tdats-96-heat-exchange.html) there is now a fund raiser project to get the album remastered and issued in a high quality package. Band leader Craig Carmody has asked me to publicise it here and I'm very happy to do that. There are at least four further unheard tracks that will be revealed with the album, and according to Craig they are the longest, heaviest, least commercial ones. You can view the fund raiser project here:

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Many thanks to Lucille DJ (fb) at www.controradio.it (web) for getting in touch again and asking to conduct a second interview, which was broadcast on the 7th of June 2015, on her weekly radio show 'Lucyfer', based in Florence Italy. We discuss volumes 117& 118, and the interview with Jim Smith of Stonehouse, while Lucille plays many tracks from artists such as Malo, Yaqui, Ultimate Spinach, Beacon Street Union, Quill and Stonehouse.

Lucille DJ aka Lucille Mancini
You can hear 'Lucyfer' by Lucille DJ every Sunday from 9pm to 10.30pm C.E.T. streaming at www.controradio.it, where it is also available as a podcast download.

Times

The story of how this transient Welsh band came to release their only album in Norway is an interesting one, about which I was unable uncover anything other than hearsay and scant online comments, until I recently got a copy of the 1991 Colours vinyl. I was extremely happy to see it includes a great little booklet with photos and an interview with Universe guitarist / singer / harmonica player Steve Finn. The original lineup of the band was Steve, Mike Lloyd Jones (lead guitar), John Healan (bass), Mike Blanche (organ) and Rob Reynolds (drums). Steve Keeley replaced Rob Reynolds in 1970. Steve Finn was later in Sassafras, and Steve Keeley had been in Kimla Taz, which ties in nicely with TDATS volume 54 (Wales) as both those bands appear on there.

What I have done here is transcribed the full Colours booklet, and scanned the photos. I think it's important that this information is up on the net for all to see. I have also recently contacted Steve Finn, and he has agreed to answer some new questions about Universe and his own career, bearing in mind that the following interview is now almost 25 years old. In part 2 I will show the results of that, along with some info on the second Universe release from Colours just before it dissolved in 1993, The Wheel. If anyone has specific questions they'd like me to ask Steve, send me an email.


Colours was a record label based in Skien, Norway, which existed between 1989 and 1994 .The first release was the local band Utopian Fields with Bård Tufte Johansen on vocals. The releases were primarily prog rock, but the company also released records from folk rock band Shine Dion and the Deep Purple-inspired Disciples of Love, both being local bands.

Besides releasing new music from both Norway and Sweden, the label archived long-dead and forgotten bands like Universe. In these instances they went to special efforts to include posters, booklets and other historical tidbits. They were in very limited editions and today are coveted as collectibles.

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Since volumes 41 (general) and 101 (Poland) it's high time TDATS returned to eastern europe, so here we concentrate on heavy stuff that originated in the Serbian part of the former Yougoslavia. Unlike some might suspect, the Tito dictatorship did not interfere with the influence of incoming western pop music, or people's general enjoyment of popular music. Rock music flourished in Yugoslavia from the '50s onward and as you will hear in this comp, a lot of great talent emerged. The first Serbian '60s bands during the age of beat and rhythm & blues included Siluete, Elipse and Džentlmeni, all mentioned here as certain members were in some of the heavier bands coming up.

I must thank tdats fan Adam Burke, front man of Pushy and Fellwoods, and brilliant artist, for drawing a cover especially for this volume. It is inspired by the Psoglav, a werewolf-like demonic creature in Serbian mythology which bares iron teeth. Another thanks goes to the blog Jugo Rock Forever, one of the best sources of Yugoslavian rock.

TRACKS
01. S Vremena Na Vreme - Tema Za Šargiju [edit] (1975)
       from album 'S Vremena Na Vreme'
02. YU Grupa - Drveni Most (1974)
       single
03. Grupa CD - Vjeruj U Ljubav (1973)
       single
04. Džentlmeni - Veseli Svet (1968)
       from compilation 'Retrologija'
05. Zlatko Manojlović - Ko Te Sada Ljubi (1975)
       single
06. Smak - Živim... Biska 13 (1974)
       single
07. Tako - Druga Strana Mene [edit] (1978)
       from album 'Tako'
08. Grupa SOS - Tražim (1974)
       single
09. Korni Grupa - Neko Spava Pored Mene (1970)
       single
10. Miodrag Bata Kostić - Tvoj Put (1975)
       from album 'Kongres Rock Majstora'
11. Pop Show Grupa - Okrutna Žena (1974)
       single
12. Pop Mašina - Vreme Za Nas (1975)
       from album 'Na Izvoru Svetlosti'
13. Igra Staklenih Perli - Majestetski Kraj (1979)
       from album 'Igra Staklenih Perli'
14. Riblja Čorba - Hej, Ćale (1979)
       from album 'Kost U Grlu'
15. Dah - Majka Jugovića (1974)
       from album 'Veliki Cirkus'
16. Opus - Sam (1974)
       single
17. S Vremena Na Vreme - Tema Za Šargiju [reprise] (1975)
       from album 'S Vremena Na Vreme'

Up until the early '70s, Serbia's only rock releases were on 7 inch singles and EPs. The first full-length rock album was Korni Grupa's debut LP in the comparatively late year of 1972, they were also the first Serbian band to play hard, progressive rock, which is shown in this comp with one of the oldest tracks here, a 1970 single of theirs.

The three other bands that heralded the beginning of Serbian hard rock were Yu Grupa, Pop Mašina (Pop Machine) and Smak (Endtime). From 1973 onward they started releasing excellent albums, displaying impressive technical skill, but also plenty of soul and passion. Smak stood slightly apart in their inclusion of jazz-influenced prog sounds, but they were also satisfyingly heavy. All three took clear influence from the pioneers like Cream, Led Zep and Black Sabbath, but also had their own Balkan flavour, giving them a refreshing slant that holds them up on their own merits. Indeed, of all the smaller regions I have studied so far for TDATS, with a consequently small number of bands, I can safely say that Serbia is right up there at the top regarding the consistent quality of what music there was. Discovering these bands has been an especially enjoyable experience which, by all accounts, will be repeated when I turn to neighbouring countries like Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia for later episodes. I can't wait!

Boom festival 1972

The main music festival of Yugoslavia in the '70s was Boom Pop, which ran from 1972 to 1978. It was initially held in Tivoli Hall, Ljubljana, Slovenia. During it's seven years it moved to Croatia and ended at Novi Sad in Serbia. Of the bands included in this volume, those that appeared at Boom were; Pop Mašina (in 1973), Dah (1973), YU Grupa (1973,74 & 76), S Vremena Na Vreme (1974), Smak (1975 & 77), Tako (1977 & 78) and Riblja Čorba (1978). For almost every year, a live double-LP was released featuring performances from the fest. The 1974 edition included three songs by "Pop Selekcija Boom '74", a super group that got on stage just for that year's fest. This group included Dado Topić on vocals/bass, of Korni Grupa. The final year of Boom festival was just when punk was breaking, and so had a decidedly different flavour to those before. As you can see in this magazine article (link) the long hair and bell bottoms was giving way to the safety pins and short hair of young bands like Prljavo kazalište and Paraf.

RTB logo

There were only four record labels responsible for putting out the sixteen records appearing in this comp. The winner, with seven of them, is "Produkcija Gramofonskih Ploča Radio Televizije Beograd", or RTB for short. RTB's beginnings occurred when the state-owned Radio Belgrade bought two record presses in 1951, with the original intention of archiving pre-existing recordings. In 1952 it pressed fifteen 78rpm singles of new music under the label "Jugodisk". It became Radio-Television Belgrade in 1959 with the advent of television, and went on to become the second-largest record label in Yugoslavia. After the Yugoslavian breakup in 1993 it became Radio Television of Serbia (RTS). RTB was responsible for the first hard progressive rock records from Serbia, with Korni Grupa's early singles and debut album.

Jogoton logo c.1974

The Croatian Jugoton label is the runner up here with five of our records. This was Yugoslavia's largest label. It came into existence when the Ljubljana-based Elektroton label moved to Zagreb and became "Jugoton" in 1947, after nationalisation. By the mid-'60s it was producing 30.000 records a day. Bosnia's Indexi were one of Yugoslavia's first bands to start getting fuzzy on their Jugoton singles like Šabn-Dabn-Šabn-Du-Bajo in 1969 (youtube). The first Yugoslavian heavy progressive LP on Jugtron was the debut of the Croatian band Time in 1972 (youtube). The other two labels were RTV Slovenija, the national label of Slovenia, and Diskos, an independent Serbian label started in 1962, on Which Croatia's Had was one of the earliest progressive bands (youtube).

With the exception of Smak, every one of the bands in this volume originated in the capital of Serbia, Belgrade (natively called Beograd), although many individual members were from other countries situated in the former Yugoslavia.



S Vremena Na Vreme opens this set with an instrumental blending folk and fuzz. I took it from their 1975 debut LP and you'll notice I also reprised it for the outro track. They were one of the pioneers of the Serbian acoustic rock scene, and one of the pioneers in incorporating folk music elements into rock music of Yugoslavia, along with Suncokret, also from Serbia. They were good friends of another band appearing here, Pop Mašina, and they would organise free shows together and play on each other's albums. S Vremena Na Vreme had two albums and many singles in the '70s.


The fuzz gives way to YU Grupa's solid riffing, and this band had a lot of great riffs over five '70s LPs and many singles, being one of the most important, long-lasting and rewarding Serb bands to dig into. They were formed in 1970 by brothers Dragi (vocals, guitar) and Žika Jelić (bass guitar), both former members of beat band Džentlmeni. They have continued to make albums and play live into the 2010s, the last live show having been in 2012 which was unfortunately cut short when Žika Jelić had an electric shock, but he's fine and the band have announced a new album this year.


Coming up next is a very obscure act called Grupa CD, so far I have only been able to listen to a couple of sides from the eight or so singles they made between 72 and 74, one of which is a light pop affair. But all is not lost, the other one is a hammond organ-powered monster as you can hear. They appear to have had an experienced lineup, with Aleksandar Cvetković and Jovan Miščević of '60s beat band Siluete, and Slobodan Todorović of Siluete and Džentlmeni. I'd love to hear some more of the singles if anyone out there can point me in the right direction!



Džentlmeni (The Gentleman) is a name that crops up in relation to members of no less than eight of the acts on this comp so I figured they deserve a spot too, even though they are from a different age in musical terms. They were a Belgrade beat band that started in 1966. I am using the first song of theirs that was ever released, "Veseli Svet", recorded at Subotica Youth Festival in 1968 and released on a 7" together with other bands from that festival. To give you some idea how important they were, there were at least nine players that passed through Džentlmeni that played in other bands mentioned in this volume, and other great bands that I plan to use later! They include Slobodan Todorović (Grupa CD), Velibor Bogdanović (Dah, Land, YU Grupa), Zlatko Manojlović (Dah, Fleš, Gordi, Land, Zlatko & His Band), Zoran Božinović (Pop Mašina, Rok Mašina), Žika Jelić (YU Grupa), Dragan Jelić (YU Grupa), Dušan Petrović (Pop Mašina), Robert Nemeček (Pop Mašina, Rok Mašina) and Branko Marušić (Dah). Phew! And there's probably some that I missed...

For the fifth track we have another alumni of Džentlmeni, guitarist Zlatko Manojlović. He was involved in other bands including VIS Fles, and Dah, which appears on here later. The track I have used is from the first of his two '70s solo singles, and in the '80s he started making solo albums. In 1975 he guested on Opus's album, who also appear here, and in 1977 he started a prog band called Gordi. I have checked them out and found the two LPs they made in the '70s to be not so great, but by all accounts Gordi is better remembered for being one of the first Serbian heavy metal bands, which they stylistically morphed into for their final albums in 81 and 82.

Smak in front of the Ružica Church in Belgrade.  l-r Laza Ristovski, Slobodan Stojanović "Kepa", Radomir Mihajlović, Zoran Milanović, and Boris Aranđelović.

A third of the way through now and we come to another of the most renowned Serbian bands, Smak. They originated in the fourth largest city of Serbia, Kragujevac, so are the only band on this comp not from Belgrade. What immediately hit me about their first single, 1974's "Živim ... Biska 13", is the heaviness and progressive metal-like technicality, which is largely a product of their fantastic guitarist Radomir Mihajlović Točak. He is one of the former Yugoslavia's most celebrated rock musicians and his varied skills have lead to Smak being described as everything from blues to jazz rock to hard rock and symphonic rock.

We move on to a purely symphonic prog band called Tako, a rarity for the Serbian region at the time. Again they were very accomplished technically, and turned up the riffs a few times, like in the first part of the epic 16 minute "Druga Strana Men" on their self-titled first album. They appeared once before in TDATS on the flute volume 78. Founding member Sava Bojić (guitar, vocals) had been in an early lineup of Pop Mašina. Bassist Dušan Ćućuz was a member of the omni-present Džentlmeni, and he was part of the original Opus.




When I first encountered Grupa SOS I was knocked out by the riffs and tone that are very reminiscent of Black Sabbath. Unfortunately they only made a few singles in their six year life-span, and acted as Srđan Marjanović's backing band. Their legacy continued when in 1978 they evolved into one of Serbia's best-loved hard rock bands, Riblja Čorba, coming up soon. They were founded in '72 by Miroslav Aleksić (bass, vocals), Dragan Štulović (guitar - later in Tunel) and Stevan Stevanović (drums). By '78 only Miroslav remained, with newer members Rajko Kojić (guitar) and drummer Vicko Milatović, all of whom then became Riblja Čorba with the inclusion of former Suncokret & Rani Mraz member Bora Đorđević (vocals, acoustic guitar and songwriter).

Korni Grupa 1972 LP, Kornelije Kovač standing furthest-back

At the half way mark now and an important band called Korni Grupa. I have taken a track from a 1970 single, which surely must be one of the heaviest things from Serbia at that early stage. As said before, Korni Groupa very obviously progressed from their original sound and made Serbia's first ever full length progressive rock album in 1972, mixing too many styles to conveniently categorise the band. There are elements of jazz, traditional folk, psych, blues, funk, hard rock and symphonic rock on there, with top notch performances all-round. The band is named after it's founder, Serbian-born Kornelije Kovač, who got his first rock exposure in Bosnia's biggest pop group, Indexi.

Korni Groupa at Eurovision

Before that point, he had already become an accomplished composer, pianist, keyboard player, producer and arranger at a startlingly young age. In 1974 Korni Grupa entered the Eurovision Song Contest which was held in Brighton, UK. They came seventh, and I think I can safely assume I won't be saying anything like that about any other bands on TDATS for a while... Kornelije moved to England in 1979 and continued with varied work in music. Whitesnake's Bernie Marsden played on his K2 LP project called "Why?" in 1980 (link).

Kongres Rock Majstora concert poster

Next up is a track from a one-off collaborative album called Kongres Rock Majstora (Congress of Rock Masters). The idea of this seems to have been to take four well-known Yugoslavian guitarists and give them one side each of a double LP. Supporting them was a host of players from their bands and many others. The four main guys were: Miodrag Bata Kostić - Serbian guitarist of Yu Grupa and Opus, Josip Boček - Croatian guitarist of Korni Grupa, Vedran Božić - Croatian guitarist of Time, and Goran Bregović. Goran was the Bosnian guitarist of Bijelo Dugme, he is now internationally famous as a composer / score writer. He entered the world of film music in 1989, and became known for his scores for Emir Kusturica's films; Time of the Gypsies, Arizona Dream and Underground. Yu Grupa's drummer Ratislav-Raša Đelmaš, and bassist Živorad-Žika Jelić (also of Džentlmeni) were in the the support bands. Also bassist Bojan Hreljac and drummer Vladimir Furduj of Korni Grupa. I have used a track from Miodrag Bata Kostić's set, his four songs on side D were all top quality rockers as you can hear!

Goran Bregović - Josip Boček

With the kind help of TDATS fb group member Чика Киде, who has made some translations for us, I have found out some more facts about the record. This is what he was able to translate from some press regarding the 2009 Croatia Records reissue of Kongres Rock Majstora: "Kongres Rock Majstora” had the goal to promote the guitar masters of the era. The promotion itself included concerts and media coverage, in which the music magazine “JukeBox” was the main outlet. The reason for the appearance of those particular four players, and not other guitar masters like Radomir Mihailović-Točak from Smak, is probably because they played in bands connected to the Jugoton label. Jugoton was the largest Yugoslavian record label and owner of a widespread network of record shops, succeeded by Croatia Records in 1990.

Vedran Božić - Miodrag Bata Kostić

Goran Bregović, as the leader of Bijelo Dugme, let Željko Bebek to do the vocals, and for the song “Ima neka tajna veza” he had the support of Zagreb’s String Quartet. The album featured the instrumental song “Minijatura za moju majku”, as well as two older Bijelo Dugme songs - “I kad prodje sve pjevat ću i tad”, and “Znam za jedno tiho mjesto”. When the double LP was released, critics were not very complementary. There wasn't any significant commercial success or media coverage of the release, and shortly after the entire venture was side-lined. Vinyl collectors across the world have shown a strong interest for this album which commands 100-200 Euros today."


On to track eleven and a band that didn't record much but seem to have been around for about five years, Pop Show Grupa. The track here is a heavy, punky fuzz monster! They made two singles like this, plus the mystery single "Malaika / Sisi Tunakupenda" which appeared five years later in 1979, and seems to have a collaboration with a Belgrade-based Kenyan musician called Steven Hannington. I have not heard this third one so can only guess what it sounds like, though Discogs categorises it under "Folk, World, & Country, Funk / Soul, Pop".

The band was Miodrag Dobrić (bass), Dragan Milić (guitar) and Vladan Dokić (drums). Vladan was in Opus and later-on Rok Mašina, which was an '80s development of Pop Mašina. Both bands coming up here soon...


I consider there to be a 'big three' of heavy Serbain bands from the former half of the '70s, YU Grupa and Smak have already appeared so now it's time for the last of that trio, Pop Mašina (Pop Machine). They were formed in Belgrade in 1972 by Robert Nemeček (bass, vocals - formerly of Dogovor Iz 1804 and Džentlmeni. The other formative members on their two studio albums were Mihajlo Popović (drums) and Zoran Božinović (guitar - formerly in Džentlmeni).

Na Izvoru Svetlosti LP 1975

Their 1973 debut LP "Kiselina" (Acid), had contributions from members of S Vremena Na Vreme, Grupa SOS and acoustic band Dag. Although excelling in their heavy rock tracks like "Svemirska Prièa," the band played an equal amount of acoustic pop and folk-infused songs in a similar approach to Led Zep's album 'III'. The second and final studio album "Na Izvoru Svetlosti" (At the Spring of Light) followed suit, having a little more emphasis on the hard rock, with a great opener which is the track I have used in this comp, "Vreme za Nas". Track 2 gives you a good idea of their stage show with a live-recorded blues workout. Over-all this album is more consistent and you can hear the improved arrangements and more confident playing.

Rok Mašina, 1981

In 1976 Robert Nemeček left the band due to army obligations; up until 2011 Serbia demanded mandatory military service of 6 months for men. Other personnel changes happened and the last recording from the band was a great single in 1977. By this time they had expanded to a four-piece with two guitarists and it's a shame they did not go through with a proposed third album as the progression is evident in "Moja Pesma" (youtube). New additions were Dušan Petrović (bass - Džentlmeni), Dušan Đukić (drums - also in Dah) and Vidoje Božinović (guitar - Dah, Opus, Riblja Čorba), with Zoran Božinović remaining from before on guitar & vocals. In 1981 Robert Nemeček returned on bass and the band was reborn with a harder sound as Rok Mašina. Vladan Dokić of Pop Show Grupa entered on drums. Zoran Božinović and Vidoja Božinović remained on guitars from the previous Pop Mašina lineup.

Igra Staklenih Perli

Coming up now is a bit of a diversion, with one of the latest-recorded tracks in the comp we encounter some space rock. In searches through the Serbian '70s this is the only example of such I have come across, but as I am coming to expect from this country it is brilliant. Igra Staklenih Perli ("The Glass Bead Game" - a futuristic existential book by Herman Hesse) made a debut album in 1979 and a second, final one in 1980. This track is taken from the first, and it's an ethereal, immersive experience you can get lost in, brilliantly layering electronics and repetitive riffs in the best traditions of Hawkwind and the krautrock masters. Over that is some beautiful guitar work with a hint of Balkan folk. Bassist Draško Nikodijević and guitarist Vojkan Rakić later formed the post-punk/neo-psych White Rabbit Band and in the late 1980s moved to the USA where they continued under the name White Rabbit Cult.

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Herzlich willkommen auf TDATS #107, a collection of music from Austria. I was surprised at how little typical TDATS-ready music was recorded in this country. I was expecting that it's connection with Germany would lead to lots of similar styles and artists to that country's amazing rock history. Surprisingly, although Austria does have a rich tradition of it's own music, the psych, prog and heavy rock that Germany excelled in did not seem take hold there. Going back a lot further, it has of course had an astounding influence in classical music with the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss and Haydn. Maybe Austria's pride in these legends has encouraged a tendency for listeners and artists to stay within the realm of traditional music?

Another factor is of course that small countries near very prolific larger countries will tend to lose their upcoming talent across the border. Having been reading about many bands that did make it on to record, it seems that back then the national pop radio station Hitradio Ö3 had a disproportionately strong control over what bands were publicised and thus in demand, and in turn what bands received recording contracts....maybe the station had an agenda?  Maybe there were many more great bands that we can't possibly remember now, that never even got a chance to be recorded or documented.

TRACKS
01. Novak's Kapelle - Doing That Rhythm Thing (1968)
       single
02. No Bros - Backstage Queen (1982)
       from album 'Ready For The Action'
03. Drahdiwaberl - Kaiserhymne Pink Punk Shirt (1979)
       from album 'Wiener Blutrausch'
04. Lazarus - Awaking of Lazarus Part 2 (1973)
       from album 'Lazarus'
05. Harri Stojka Express - The Jungle (1978)
       from album 'Sweet Vienna'
06. Glashaus - The Waiting Game (1977)
       from album 'Drinking Man'
07. Blowin Free - Song Of Tears (1981)
       from single [1981] and album 'Enemy' [1983]
08. Hide & Seek - Crying Child (1970)
       single
09. Acid - Moonshine Girl (1975)
       from album 'More Acid'
10. Minisex - Valium (1979)
       from albums 'Wiener Blutrausch' [1979] and 'Minisex' [1980]
11. Christian Kolonovits - Wake Up!!! (1976)
       from album 'Life Is Just a Carnival'
12. Gipsy Love - Job In The Docks (1972)
       from album 'Here We Come'
13. U8 - Sherpin' Man (1982)
       from album 'Pegasus 1001'
14. Art Boys Collection - I'm Riding On An Arrow (1972)
       from album 'Stoned Wall'
15. Wolfgang Ambros - UFO (1976)
       from album '19 Class A Numbers'

If my memory serves me correctly, the only Austrian band that has appeared here before is Paternoster, back on volume13. What Austria did have was 'Liedermacher', and 'Deutschrock', and lots of Schlager pop music. Some of the early beat and psych bands that don't appear on here but deserve mention are The Charles Ryders Corporation, and the Albatross single "I Am Dead". One compilation I would recommend to those who want to hear some more is "Beat & Psych in Austria (1966-1972)".

'Wiener Blutrausch' punk sampler LP 1979

Due to these difficulties, I have widened the net and reached up to the early '80s. A happy by-product of this is that I discovered Vienna had a very healthy punk/post-punk/new wave scene starting in the late '70s, and this comp has benefited from some welcome added variety in those styles. Two great comps exist to find out more about that: "Wiener Blutrausch sampler LP 1979" and "Es Chaos is die Botschaft! Es wurschtln es! Austrian Punkscene 78-84". If you are partial to a bit of obscure early '80s metal then you'll also be happy, the widened net has caught three metal bands; No Bros, Blowin Free and U8. There were at least two Austrian heavy metal singles made in 1979, from Angelina (now known as Gallows Pole) and Blind Petition. Alas I have been unable to find them anywhere.

An honourable mention goes to a few more progressive rock bands that didn't make it on here. Eela Craig are one of the best-known. They were undoubtedly a very talented band but their brand of fusion/symphonic prog isn't really TDATS material. Some other lesser-known, shorter-lived bands in a similar vein were Orange Power, Kyrie Eleison, Klockwerk Orange and Isaiah. While they all had some promise, what I could find from them didn't quite make the grade.

Novak's Kapelle Hypodermic Needle / Doing That Rhythm Thing 45 (1968)

We open with a super heavy injection of lysergic psych from Novak's Kapelle. They hailed from Vienna, where most of our acts originated. "Doing That Rhythm Thing" is the b-side to the 1968 "Hypodermic Needle" single, which has appeared previously on TDATS vol33. While making this I found this excellent TV appearance on the Austrian show 'Countdown' in 1969. One astute observer commented that 'Hypodermic Needle' is very similar to The Animals' 1966 single "Inside Looking Out" and they are certainly correct. Strangely, Novaks seem to have taken a long break from recording in the '70s, but successfully (in the artistic sense) reinvented themselves as a hard rock band around 1977, releasing live EPs and a first full album called "Naked". These contain some quirky and amusing rockers with a definite punk edge and some rural US sounds, very different to the '60s singles, although still showing the same level of talent. At some point late in their life they were joined by guitarist Harri (Harry) Stojka, who features two more times in this volume, including his first band "Gipsy Love".  There is tantalisingly little info to be found about Novak's Kapelle, there's a bit more info here and I will carry on looking...

No Bros in the '80s

Innsbruck's No Bros were one of the first Austrian heavy metal bands to make a full length album. Klaus Schubert and Michael Ausserhofer started the band 'Target' in 1974. Nik P. Opperer, Freddy Gigele and Franz Heumader joined up and they became "No Bros". Ö3 Radio presenter Gotthard Rieger was a fan, then became their manager. This was quite bizarre as Ö3 was not known for playing metal, apart from maybe the softest of metal ballads. The success of a live album “Heavy Metal Party” (1982) and it's single "Good Morning, Sir" galvanised them to make the studio LP “Ready for the action” at Dieter Dirks' Colonge studio in the same year. From this, the closing ballad "Be My Friend" was a big hit single that earned them the money and following to tour Europe, playing with bands like Motörhead, Saxon, Girlschool, Uriah Heep and Krokus. Unfortunately internal disagreements and lineup changes caused the band to lose this momentum and they split in 1986, after two more LPs. They have however played various re-unions since, and released some more live material from those events. Thanks to spirit-of-metal.com , austrorock.at and the No Bros fan site for this info.

Stefan Weber in 1993

Stefan Weber started Vienna's underground band Drahdiwaberl in 1969. I found the track "Kaiserhymne Pink Punk Shirt" on a great compilation released in 1979 called "Wiener Blutrausch" [Vienna Bloodlust] which includes a few emerging post-punk/new wave bands, on which Drahdiwaberl were no doubt an influence. Stefan Weber himself made this sampler and he adorns the cover with a typically insane image of him licking a knife. Stefan is a supporter of the "Wiener Aktionismus" leftist student movements, and derisive political satire was a major part of Drahdiwaberl's stage show. Stefan has also stated that "It has always been my goal to make Drahdiwaberl the most extreme and obscene band, and I think we did that" (wikipedia).

This would seem justified as his stage shows have allegedly included live sex, even a staged 'gangbang' whilst masked as various politicians, pissing on the audience, cooking a pig on a spit while throwing various parts into the crowd. Amazingly, Falco was the bass player in Drahdiwaberl between 1978 and 1983, I remember well liking "Rock Me Amadeaus" on Top of the Pops! Being a covers band for a long time, Drahdiwaberl began writing their own songs in the late-'70s and started recording albums in the '80s, which continued with titles like "Mc Ronalds Massaker" until the final LP in 2004.

Lazarus LP (1973)

Neunkirchen's Lazarus was Peter Glatzl (guitar,vocals), Peter Fischer (bass), Alvin Waldner ( guitar), Walter Spacil (drums) and Helmut Sacher (lead vocals). The LP was lost for years, then found and released by the Shadoks label this year. "Awaking of Lazarus Part 2" is a killer slab or nihilistic heavy psych. It looks like my timing was lucky for making an Austrian comp! Here is the Shadoks press release: "Lazarus was founded by Peter Glatzl at the end of 1970 and they have played many gigs in Austria with various lineups until 1976. This amazing albums was recorded in Vienna 1973 in professional studio for Rex Records. Only 15 sample copies where pressed and only 5 copies ended up with the band members. Rex where known for releases of German folk music and Schlager. So they did know what to do with this far-out recording and did not release it. 

Lazarus

Among collectors Lazarus was a big mystery since nobody ever found a copy for the past 25 years. One day Hans Pokora located an original LP and the band as well so we where able to work out a deal. We where amazed but the great music and the professional compositions and recording. The story of Lazarus is been told as a psychedelic opera who emerges as a monster from his grave to spread terror and horror. 

All English vocals, amazing fuzz guitar all over, Zappa style arrangements, great vocals, tons of effects and tight drum sounds. Do not expect a naive Krautrock style, this is pure Underground as good as Open Mind and July with a good dose of psychedelia." There is a great interview with guitarist Peter Glatzl here at Psychedelic Baby webzine.

Harry Stojka Express Sweet Vienna LP (1978)

Harri Stojka is a Vienese guitarist who was has connection to three of the tracks in this comp. He was a late member of the afore-mentioned Novak's Kapelle, and before that was in Gipsy Love, appearing soon. He also played with Peter Wolf and Karl Ratzer. In 1978 he started making his own LPs with The Harri Stojka Express, and "The Jungle" is taken from the first  of those albums, "Sweet Vienna". At this point Harry was moving away from from his previous rock playing to jazz/fusion and world music, but The Jungle has a heavy, funky riff. He is still active and played at the Vienna Jazzfest this year.

Glashaus "Drinking Man" LP (1977)

I know very little about Glashaus. They were Lupo Greil (vocals, guitar), Wolfgang Buettner (vocals, guitar), Hans Proebster (vocals, bass), Harry Stuempfl (vocals, piano, organ, harmonica) and Dieter Stuempfl (drums, percussion). They made one LP in 1977 called "Drinking Man" on the "Music Shop" label. It's a groovy upbeat rock album, sung in English. It's not progressive, but it has some cuts verging on hard rock, and there is some good organ work. The opener "Shine On Medas" is a Status Quo-like boogie number, and there is a southern/boogie feel to most other tracks. "The Waiting Game" and "Vertigo" are my TDATS picks. This album was hard to find and I must thank Lyrkoss at RYM for sending me the LP rip!

Blowin Free - Enemy LP (1983)

Vienna's Blowin Free are another heavy metal reprieve in proceedings. As one of Austria's first metal bands, they had "Song Of Tears" out as a single in 1981, and debut album "Enemy" in 1983. Enemy was definitely one of the heavier of the early Austrometal LPs, it is fairly derivative heavy metal, with punkish simplicity. It has a certain home-made charm and sounds like an attempt at thrash from guys who were not quite fast enough, so it's all kinda chugging mid-paced almost-thrash. The exception is "Song Of Tears" used here, which has a great NWOBHM feel. Vocalist Gary Wheeler is now in another Austrian metal stalwart, Blind Petition. The rest of the band was Robert Klammer (bass), Kurt Kalaschek (drums) and Martin Gellner (guitar). By the time of their third record, "The Knife and the Floosie" (1986), they had sped things up considerably. Unfortunately they went for a cheesy speed metal sound that lacks the character of "Enemy", seemingly prioritising speed over song-writing.

Hide & Seek Crying Child / I Can Fly 45 (1970)

One of the few heavy psych tracks here is up next, thanks to Hide & Seek from Graz. They made four 45s between 1969 and 1971. It's a real fuzz feast, and although a happy upbeat ditty, packs in some serious psychedelic head-swimming. Quote: "Styria's capital Graz had a great Underground Beat scene back in the late 1960s but unfortunately most of the coolest bands never managed to produce a single - typically Austrian... However, the most influential formation of that small scene HIDE & SEEK actually released four (!!) 45-records between 1969 and 1971 of which the third's A-side, the relaxed psych-rocker 'Crying Child' even managed to hit the Ö3-pop-charts. Both tracks of that fine single are featuring nice psychedelic songwriting, fuzz guitars, haunted organs, drug-related lyrics and a healthy load of anarchy. Beware: Your kids might wanna kick some acid after listening to 'I can fly' (also compiled on 'Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium Vol 16'). Enough said: A great and really tough to find Garage-Punk-record."


Acid were a Vienna band that I must admit were not that great. They do seem to have been notable as one on the only vaguely psych/prog-ish Austrian bands that managed to get on major labels and hang around long enough to make a few albums. I scoured them all and was happy to find that I liked at least one track, "Moonshine Girl". It manages to take their commercial, fluffy sheen and make something unique by adding some decent atmospheric keyboard interludes, then welding it all to solid riffs and funky drumming. Founder Herbert Novacek went on to form the band Stress which had one album in 1981, that I have been unable to find thus-far. Original Acid guitarist Peter Koller went on to Wolfgang Ambros's band, appearing later on this comp.

Minisex

As one of the post-punk/new wave (aka the "Neue Deutsche Welle") entrants in this volume, Vienna's Minisex bring a polished but driving track, "Valium", also to be found along with Drahdiwaberl on 1979's "Wiener Blutrausch" sampler. The Neue Deutsche Welle spawned the likes of Nena (99 Red Balloons) and Falco (Rock Me Amadeus).

Christian Kolonovits Life Is Just a Carnival LP (1976)

Vienna's Christian Kolonovits is a composer and producer who has been associated with many pop and rock acts. He also made a solo record in 1976, from which I have taken "Wake Up!!!". "Life Is Just a Carnival" is a rock-opera/concept album on which all the tracks meld together, it reminds me a little of the lighter-hearted parts of The Wall (if they could possibly be described as such) as it seems to be about one mans' struggle with life and society, and one of the parts begins with some background TV show dialogue. I wonder if Roger Waters was listening before The Wall? "It's all up to you" even sounds a bit like "Nobody Home". There's some quite heavy up-front guitar in there, and according to the credits, the main guitarist was Johan Daansen, of the Krautrock-lite Epsilon (see Vol22). Christian also worked with Wolfgang Ambros, coming up at the end.

Gipsy Love George Doggette             Karl Ratzer

We move on to another act involving Harri Stojka. The "Gipsy Love" band seems to have been the starting point for many other careers, including those of Karl Ratzer, Peter Wolf, and Richard Schönherz. Karl Ratzer (guitar) and Harri Stojka (bass with Gipsy Love) are cousins, both of Roma ancestry, which may explain the bands' name. Keyboardist/pianist Peter Wolf is notable, as he went to the US after Gipsy Love, played in jazz bands, became a big band teacher, and played with Frank Zappa for years on the road and 11 albums. He became a successful producer and arranger, writing music for movies Top Gun, Pretty Woman, and arranging for acts including Jefferson Starship, The Who and Kenny Loggins. Gipsy Love made a southern US style soulful rock with piano,  brass and some orchestration. They had a big sound that was contributed to by George Doggette's charismatic vocals, sung in English. They are described in most places as hard rock but I don't agree. It's something closer a Chicago or B.S.&T. with less horns, and less glitz, and added Frank Zappa band attitude.  "Job In The Docks" is strange, gritty, grimy, and it certainly sounds like they enjoyed playing it. One can only wonder what this guy was doing in 'The Docks' and why his woman gave him a 'Chewing Gum' every morning. George Doggette's vocals make the song as much as anything else, they are so damn sleazy!

U8

For our third and final classic metal album, here's the best of the lot, from Nussdorf's U8. Allegedly, the bands' name was the idea of guitarist Manfred Seifriedsberger after he came back from a holiday in Italy, where he had found a jukebox which had his favourite song stored under U8. Their first single release was in 1981, and they made two full-lengths before splitting in 1988. Here's an interview with Günter Maier, who later went on to form Big Heat. Forgetting hard rock for the moment, in terms of metal, No Bros was almost there with their first album. It was however still rooted in '70s hard rock and the constant hammond organ and '80s synth sounds held it back too, whereas U8's debut LP 'Pegasus 1001' has more modern-sounding arrangements and production. The songs are also slightly better. "Sherpin' Man" is slow compared to the rest of the album, but I dig it's grinding doomy riff. It's not really fair to compare Pegasus 1001 to Blowin Free's debut, as I think they were aiming for different things, U8 is way more power metal than Blowin Free's attempt at evil thrash.

Art Boys Collection

On to the final stretch now, we have Art Boys Collection from Andorf. Although maybe a few years behind their US/UK peers, they are still a rare example of good, sometimes-heavy psych from Austria. Their 1972 LP "Stoned Wall" (re-issued by Garden Of Delights in 2010) was a mixed bag, but the heavy cuts like "I'm Riding On An Arrow" are very good indeed. Like a lot of albums during the psych-to-hard-rock/prog transition, there is an awkward mix of experimental heaviness and staid ideas going back to the beat days or jangly pop of the Byrds etc. There are some comments from founding member Gerhard Egger here at Austro-rock-lexikon.

Here's what RDTEN1 at RYM pieced together about the band: "Singer/guitarist Gerhard Egger and drummer Hans Joachim Holz met at a college jam session in Linz, Austria.  The two discovered a common affinity for rock and roll, deciding to form a band.  Recruiting Holtz's brother Walter on keyboards, along with bassist  Johann Aigner, and guitarist Gerhard Bauer, they started playing dances and clubs as The Boys, followed by a change in name to The Art Boys Collection. With the third single providing the band with a massive Austrian hit, Lesborne rushed the band into the recording studio to record a supporting album. In spite of flaws, 1972's "Stoned Wall" is a collection that I've long found fascinating. 

With Egger responsible for ten of the twelve songs (Hans Joachim Holz penning the other two), the album wasn't particularly original, but served as a showcase demonstrating the influence American and English rock had throughout the rest of Europe, and in particular on these guys. With all of the material performed in English (accents were seldom a problem on this set), the album found The Art Boys working their way through an extensive catalog of past and then popular rock styles.  Unfortunately they never released the material they recorded for a planned follow-up."

Wolfgang Ambros

This set ends with a curve ball from Wolfgang Ambros from Wolfsgraben. "UFO" has a punk vibe, but he was a prolific and apparently influential singer song-writer who covered many themes and styles. He has released three cover albums (including songs by Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Hans Moser) along with original pop, rock, blues and folk records. He's famously known for setting the then-new trend in the 1970s known now as Austropop. During his career he has collaborated with countless respected Austrian musicians, including some names in this comp like Christian Kolonovits. At the relatively tender age of 62, he is still actively recording and performing. According to his bio on wikipedia, "His most famous songs are "Schifoan", "Es lebe der Zentralfriedhof" and "Zwickt's mi". "Schifoan" is like an anthem for the Austrian ski tourism and industry. Many Austrian skiers—but also many others—know the lyrics of this song."


Danke für Ihre Aufmerksamkeit, und gute Nacht!

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Welcome to #108, this has been in gestation for a while so I managed a pretty quick turn around once i'd perfected it, if you haven't had a chance to get the previous Volume 107 (Austrian special) from a few days ago yet, here it is.

This is the the third bluesy volume of TDATS, which now makes for these so far; Vol54, Vol79 and Vol108. Take your pick from 15 tracks of seriously heavy, or seriously psychedelic bluesrock, all guaranteed to have you strutting and mooching all the way down to your local speakeasy. We have UK, US, German and Australian acts joining the party, ranging from 1968 to 1975, with all but two acts being new to TDATS. They include the band that evolved into Leaf Hound, a guy who would later be in proto-punks The Tubes, and a guy who was in Noel Redding's band, but quit the music industry for 14 years to become a commander in the Royal Navy.

What can I say about the importance of bluesrock to everything TDATS that hasn't already been said? Mostly associated with heavy R&B acts that emerged in the UK around the mid-'60s, The Blues Breakers, The Yardbirds and Cream sure have a lot to answer for, and Hendrix was playing his part too. This boom lead to tracks such as Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" and Hendrix's "Fire" or "Purple Haze", which have some of the most all-time influential riffs upon what became heavy metal. Around the same time there was Blue Cheer in San Francisco, cranking out super-heavy stoned interpretations of the blues. Of course even Black Sabbath themselves started out as "The Polka Tulk Blues Band".

TRACKS
01. Juicy Lucy - Willie The Pimp (1970)
        from album 'Lie Back And Enjoy It'
02. The Sacred Mushroom - You Won't Be Sorry (1969)
        from album 'The Sacred Mushroom'
03. Darius - Ancient Paths (1968)
        from album 'Darius'
04. Chicken Bones - Feeling (1975)
        from album 'Hardrock In Concert'
05. Growl - I Wonder (1974)
        from album 'Growl'
06. Tangerine - A.J.F. (1971)
        from album 'The Peeling Of Tangerine'
07. Apple Pie Motherhood Band - Born Under a Bad Sign (1968)
        from album 'The Apple Pie Motherhood Band'
08. Majic Ship - Free (1970)
        from album 'Majic Ship'
09. Chain - Black & Blue (1971)
        from album 'The History of Chain'
10. Dave Carlsen - Big Jake (1973)
        from album 'Pale Horse'
11. Freeman Sound & Friends - 16 Tons (1970)
        from album 'Heavy Trip'
12. Magic Sand - You Better Be Ready (1970)
        from album 'Magic Sand'
13. Warren S. Richardson Jr. - Stella (1969)
        from album 'Warren S. Richardson Jr.'
14. White Mule - Hundred Franc Blues (1970)
        single
15. Black Cat Bones - Save My Love (1970)
        from album 'Barbed Wire Sandwich'

Juicy Lucy - "Lie Back And Enjoy It" LP pull-out

Juicy Lucy was a short-lived commercial blues band that counted Mick Moody in its ranks, later of Whitesnake and other acts. The band was started by The Misunderstood (See Vol62) members Ray Owen, Glenn Ross Campbell (Steel guitar) and Chris Mercer (saxophone). Paul Williams puts on a great vocal performance here, he was the second singer for the band after Ray Owen left for a solo career. Their cover of 'Willie The Pimp' is fantastic, it really shows the combined talents of the band, along with the great slide guitar of Glenn Ross Campbell. In my opinion they never made a classic album, but it's clear they had the abilities. The original is a Frank Zappa song, from the 'Hot Rats' album, and Stackwaddy also did a cool version.

The Sacred Mushroom LP

Sacred Mushroom are up next with a concise little psych blues rocker, here is AllMusic.com's review: "Led by future Pure Prairie League member Larry Goshorn (guitar/vocals) and featuring brother Danny Goshorn (vocals) -- Sacred Mushroom were a short-lived rock/blues quintet based in Cincinnati, OH. Their efforts coalesce on this, the band's self-titled debut (and only) long-player. The album contains a blend of proficient originals as well as a pair of well-chosen cover tunes, such as the blues standard "Mean Old World" and the Kinks'"I'm Not Like Everybody Else." While their name conjures images of late-'60s psychedelic or acid rock, Sacred Mushroom's roots were decidedly more bluesy than trippy. Likewise, their harder-edged performance style is well served by the tight and somewhat pop-driven arrangements, resembling artists such as the Allman Joys, Kak, or the pre-Blue Öyster Cult Stalk-Forrest Group. A few of the Larry Goshorn-penned tunes are certifiably lost classics. These include the up-tempo rocker "Catatonic Lover," which features some lyrical chord changes reminiscent of "3/5's of a Mile in 10 Seconds" by Jefferson Airplane, and the Chicago blues-style waltz "All Good Things Must End." The latter is highlighted by some inspired harp playing from Rusty Work. The opening track, "I Don't Like You," is a funky rocker spotlighting the Goshorn Brothers' tight harmonies as well as Larry's distinctive lead electric guitar licks. Another standout is their reworking of "I'm Not Like Everybody Else." The track retains a timeless pop sensibility that incorporates interweaving acoustic and electric guitar lines. "Lifeline," the most extended track on the disc, recalls the electric blues of seminal Fleetwood Mac or Stan Webb's Chicken Shack. Along the same lines is the blues boogie rendering of "Mean Old World," which might easily be mistaken for an obscure version by a mid-'60s lineup of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. After decades of poorly manufactured European bootleg reproductions, Larry Goshorn has reissued Sacred Mushroom.

Darius LP (1968) front

Darius comes in on track 3 with a really nice trad blues-sounding track with plenty of grunt in the guitar dept. Thanks to RDTEN1 at RYM and badcatrecords.com for his opinions on the next act: "So what can I tell you about this guy Darius? Well his given name was Robert Joe Ott and he was apparently originally from Cleveland, Ohio, but in the mid-1960s relocated to Los Angeles where he attracted the attention of the Hollywood-based Chartmaker label.  Released in late 1968 "Darius" was co-produced by Pat Glasser and Butch Parker.  Personally I don't hear the Jim Morrison comparisons that some reviewers allude to, but Darius had a voice that was quite commercial and was well suited to material like the should've-been-hits 'Dawn' and 'I'm the Man''.  Featuring ten original efforts, songs like 'Shades of Blue', 'Ancient Paths' and 'Hear What I Say' offered up a great blend of dark pop and psych moves.

Darius LP (1968) rear

Interestingly, while there was nothing wrong with Darius 'I'm hurt' and 'love is unfair' lyrics, the key ingredient in making the album so good was the support he got from his un-credited backing band - fellow Chartmaster recording act Goldenrod (See Vol31).  Lead guitarist Ben Benay, drummer Toxey French and bassist Jerry Scheff may have been studio professionals who were best known for their work with Elvis Presley, but on this album they cut loose, decorating tracks like 'Mist-Veiled Garden' and 'Blow My Mind' with some amazing fuzz guitar, sitar, and other period accompaniment.  Killer !!!  (Always loved the egomaniacal back cover photo...  You can tell that Darius was sure he was about to become a major star!)"

Chicken Bones "Hardrock In Concert" LP (1976) front

The next belter is a mostly-instrumental, galloping jam from Germany's Chicken Bones. Taken from Silverado Rare Music: "The title of Chicken Bones' album Hardrock In Concert (1976) says it all! There are six "very hard rocking tracks" included therein, performed in the good old tradition of the early seventies heavy progressive scene. Most of the album is instrumental, and offers Rainer Geuecke plenty of opportunities to reveal his musical skills. The two longest tracks are the highlights: "Water" with the whisper of the sea and some beautiful acoustic guitar and "Factory Girl" which was in a more typical hard rock vein. This album has an excellent and well-balanced sound for a private release. The recordings were done in only one week live in the studio - or more probably a barn!

Chicken Bones "Hardrock In Concert" LP (1976) rear

These were an obscure heavy progressive act, who almost certainly had their roots in the late-1960's, and were definitely inspired by Jimi Hendrix and early British bands, like Back Sabbath, Tractor, et al., but were notably much more free and improvised. Despite the title of their album, Chicken Bones were not at all mundane hard rock, but were highly creative and often moved very close to May Blitz, early UFO or Cargo, but with lots of nice moves and flowery guitar work-outs. Basic, and gutsy admittedly, Chicken Bones were a lot better than the reputation that preceded them, and their album became quite a sought after obscurity. Chicken Bones existed in various forms for around a decade, afterwards ending up as the vastly inferior more metal oriented Revanche, then eventually disbanding in the 1980's.

Growl LP (1974) rear showing band

Growl are up next with a piece of great hard rock, full of blues attitude. They were formed in 1969, originally as 'Utopia' (not the Todd Rundgren group), under which name they made one album in that year (see Vol44). The s/t Growl LP was produced by Robert Duffey on Frank Zappa and Herb Cohen's DiscReet label in 1974, which seems to have been the year of the band's demise too. Both the Utopia and Growl albums are a mixed bag of rock 'n' roll, hard rock, and blues rock, but there are some worthy tracks. "I Wonder" is one of the best. Dennis Rodriguez (guitar, vocals), Harry Brender A. "Brandis" (guitar, backing vocals), Geno Lucero (bass) and Danny McBride (drums) were the guys previously in Utopia. Later Growl additions mentioned on RYM were Frank Krajnbrink (guitar, 1969-74), Richard Manuputi (vocals, 1974) and Mick Small (guitar, 1974). I have been unable to find much more info on the band.

Tangerine roll in with a Blue Cheerful vibe and guitar sound. From the Rockasteria page:''The Peeling of Tangerine'' is the Gear-Fab CD reissue of their ultra-rare LP from 1971, recorded at the famous WRS Recording Studios in Pittsburgh, PA.

The Peeling of Tangerine front

Led by the multi-instrumentalist Ferraro brothers Al and Crash (they mainly played guitar), Tangerine started playing together in the late '60s. In many ways, The band recalls a slightly heavier Santana; the music is full of Latin chord progressions, salsafied and tribal drumming and percussion, and Al Ferraro's rousing guitar work, as well as some of the dynamics of early '70s psychedelia and soul. The band doesn't stake out their own musical ground and the songs are not altogether distinctive enough; more often than not, they sound like unstructured (but not formless) jams passing for songs. In the other hand, those jams are often scintillating, with a slight mysterious lurch -- had they been honed in and further fleshed out, they had the makings of blazing tunes. Underused lead vocalist Al Ferraro is a blue-eyed soul shouter along the lines of Steve Winwood, and the band can really cook.

The Peeling of Tangerine rear

Side 2 of the LP is where it's at, and is made up primarily of a heavy jams in the Iron Butterfly, Blue Cheer mold. The 13-minute final cut, "My Main Woman," perhaps summarizes both Tangerine's abilities and excesses best. The song contains gorgeous passages of snaking guitar lines, hyper drumming, and rumbling bass as well as joyous percussive parts, but those parts can go on far longer than taste would merit, thus losing the momentum and drive of the song for short spells before regaining its footing which was reminiscent of Iron Butterfly. Of this final track, Record Collector magazine says: "Al Ferraro’s fine, gutsy vocals crop up too infrequently, but his low-definition, fuzzball guitar soloing is everywhere, not least on My Main Woman, 13 long minutes of aimless grunt. The conga solo is the highlight – which surely speaks volumes."

Apple Pie Motherhood Band  LP (1968)

At the mid-point is The Apple Pie Motherhood Band with the namesake of this volume, and an excellent psychedelic cover of this classic blues song it is too. Review from Allmusic.com - "The Apple Pie Motherhood Band were a Boston collective with a formative heavy blues base and equally earthy  psychedelia. With Atlantic Records staff producer Felix Pappalardi behind the console, the results were a reflection of the ever-changing pop/rock soundscape. Although the band's lineup kept changing, the ensemble credited here includes Dick Barnaby (bass), Jack Bruno (drums), Joe Castagno (guitar), Ted Demos (guitar), and Jeff Labes (organ/piano). Marilyn Lundquist (vocal) was temporarily filling the vocalist's void, her dulcet tones grace several songs. The thoroughly-explored reading of Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign" is an obvious homage to British supergroup trio Cream.

The best of the band can be heard on the seven-plus minute slice of psych medley that links the group-penned instrumental "The Ultimate" to a blue-eyed soulful interpretation of Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon's "Contact." The number was a return to the Apple Pie Motherhood Band's prototype C.C. & the Chasers -- whose single "Put the Clock Back on the Wall" b/w "Two & Twenty" were both from the Bonner/Gordon songbook. The Apple Pie Motherhood Band would continue with a revolving door personnel for another year and release their swan song Apple Pie (1970) shortly before breaking up at the dawn of that decade.

Majic Ship LP (1970)

'50s singer Johnny Mann discovered Majic Ship, and many of their earliest recordings veered toward a sort of garage-pop hybrid that was, at best, pleasant. One Tokens-produced side, "Green Plant," on the other hand, hinted that the hearts of the members of the band lay in garage-psych heavy rock. When it came time to record their self-titled debut album in 1969, the music was much more in that vein.

Gear Fab's "The Complete Recordings" CD collects all of the band's official recordings, including early singles and demos. Majic Ship prominently featured Gus Riozzi's organ and Mike Garrigan's distinctive hard rock holler. The other noted members are Tom Nikosey (guitar), Philip Polimeni (guitar), Rob Buckman (drums) and Ray Rifice (guitar). The sound was only a few steps removed from fellow New Yorkers Vanilla Fudge, and like that band, Majic Ship also made use of popular songs by other artists. Two of the most interesting songs on the collection are covers of the Bee Gees'"To Love Somebody" and a medley of Neil Young's "Down by the River" and Stephen Stills'"For What It's Worth." The real starting point on the CD is "It's Over." It is here that the band began to display the heavy, nearly over-the-top rock sound.

Majic Ship LP (1970) insert

Psychedelic Baby Review - "Majic Ship's existence came to a dreary end in 1971 when their equipment was claimed by a fire. 1999 saw the Mike Garrigan and Tommy Nikosey reunite, resulting in an album titled "Songwaves Project" that also included Cher, ex- Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, Dave Amato from REO Speedwagon, and drummer Ron Wikso, who has played with everyone from Foreigner to David Lee Roth to Cher to Randy Meisner to Denny Laine. Although the disc is poppier than "Majic Ship," it's still strongly recommended and adds a nice touch to the band's legacy."

Chain Towards The Blues LP (1971)

Classic Aussie band Chain appear in TDATS for the first time, with a slow-burning track suitable for a 'chain' gang. This is a live rendition but I'm not sure from when or where exactly, it is found on 'The History of Chain' album (1974). They formed in Melbourne as The Chain in late 1968 with a lineup including guitarist, vocalist Phil Manning; they are sometimes known as Matt Taylor's Chain after lead singer-songwriter and harmonica player, Matt Taylor. The band was named by Australian blues Singer, Wendy Saddington, after the song "Chain of Fools" by Aretha Franklin.

Their January 1971 single "Black & Blue", which became their only top twenty hit, was recorded by a Chain line-up of Manning, Taylor, drummer Barry Harvey and bass guitarist Barry Sullivan. The related album, Toward the Blues, followed in September and peaked in the top ten albums chart. They are Australia's defining bluesrock band, and you can read plenty more about them here at Milesago.

Dave Carlsen - Pale Horse LP

Dave Carlsen's real name is Dave Clarke. He made his first solo record "Pale Horse" under the Carlsen pseudonym (apparently to avoid confusion with The Dave Clark Five's leader) in 1973, with assistance from Keith Moon and Noel Redding. After this he was a formative member of The Noel Redding Band (two LPs), and also briefly the "Jimmy McCulloch & White Line" band (one LP). After various other musical collaborations, none of which yielded much, Dave Clarke joined the Royal Navy in 1979. He saw active service in the Falklands War and elsewhere and retired as a Commander in 1992. He has been lead singer and lead guitarist with The Kast Off Kinks since 1994. (wikipedia)

Freeman Sound LP

At track 11 is a really heavy cover of a bluesy country classic, Merle Travis's Sixteen Tons. It was in Motherheast, Ohio USA, in 1969, midway between the towns of Warren and Cortland, that five determined young musicians, Ray Escott - Lead Vocals, LJ Fortier - Drums, John Harrow - Lead Guitar, Vocals, "Buster" McCarthy - Bass, Vocals, and Kurt Sunderman - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, started getting together in the damp basement of LJ's parents home on Sunday mornings in an effort to try to carry on with their dreams of being in a successful Rock band. Having won the Starshine Productions'"Battle of the Bands" in 1970, the five-member Freeman Sound was established as the most popular of several bands (including Morly Grey), that had records released on the Starshine label.

Freeman Sound never made an official LP, but the World In Sound archival release "Freeman Sound And Friends - Heavy Trip" includes 12 tracks with bio and photos. You'll get stoned on some mind-bending vocals backed by instrumentation that includes some very intense, heavy fuzz and wah pedal guitar sounds, solid drums and a screaming organ, with flashes of famous British groups. Prepare to get off on cuts like the heaviest version of Merle Travis'"16 Tons" ever recorded!

Magic Sand LP (1970)

Thanks to tymeshifter for his research on The Magic Sand at RYM. "One of the enduring mysteries of psych record collecting has been the nature of the relationship between The Hooterville Trolley and this band. The Trolley's single "No Silver Bird" (See Vol50) has long been an icon of the genre, but that single represented the sum total recorded output of that band, at least under that name. When it was discovered that the exact same track turned up on this album, retitled as "Get Ready to Fly", rumors began to fly instead. The most common and widely believed was that the Trolley, or at least one member, became The Magic Sand. After recording this album, they wanted to give their earlier masterpiece another outing, so they included it here, despite its being completely out of place in this setting. But that scenario did nothing to explain why the song writing credits went to Ernie Phillips on the single, and someone named A.Klein on this album, the latter name never having been associated with The Hooterville Trolley. Well, I am proud to announce that, having just returned from an investigative sojourn, I am finally able to put the subject to rest. The bass guitarist from the Trolley, one Don Kinney, passed away several years ago. But I was able to track down his sister, who put me in contact with his first wife, who was married to him during those critical years.

The Hooterville Trolley "No Silver Bird" single

She told me this story: "No Silver Bird" was originally written by Ernie Phillips. The band was dissatisfied with his version, and sort of punched it up a little bit on their own. The song was recorded in Norman Petty's famed studios in Clovis, NM, at a time shortly after he had just acquired a new mellotron. He was eager to use this new piece of equipment and the band were happy to oblige, literally drenching their song with psychedelic keyboards. They cut two versions of the song that day. The studio time had been paid for by their so-called manager, one Tommy Benvinedez, who insisted on rights to the music they recorded that day, for which he would pay royalties should anything ever come of it. It was Tommy B. who was behind the Magic Sand project. There was no real band by this name. It was entirely a studio project put together by Benvinedez incorporating all sorts of stuff, the exact sources of which are unknown. Some may have been recorded specifically for this album. Other tracks, such as The Trolley's, he just had laying around and decided to throw on here (incidentally, the version that appears on the album was the second take recorded at Petty's studios that day, and not the one on the single). Consequently, the styles of music are all over the place, from country to rock, and everything in between, and  don't even sound to be recorded during the same time frame. Overall, this one is a bit of a disappointment, despite the inclusion of such a notable track. But don't be afraid to check it out for some hidden gems you might discover on your own."

Warren S. Richardson Jr. LP front

From the PHROCK blog (RIP): "A bunch of on-line references question whether Warren S. Richardson Jr. is in fact former Tubes guitarist Bill Spooner. Given that Spooner's website includes the album in its discography section I'd say the answer is yes. By the way, here's the link to his website: http://www.billspooner.com. As a word of warning, anyone expecting to hear something along the same lines as The Tubes patented weirdness is going to be majorly disappointed by this album. In 1967 Richardson-nee Spooner contributed lead guitar to Michael Condello's "Condello" LP. A couple of years later Condello apparently repaid the favour by producing 1969's cleverly-titled "Warren S. Richardson Jr.".

Warren S. Richardson Jr. LP rear

Richardson was credited with penning all six tracks and material like 'Reputation'' and 'Shady Lady' offered up a pretty good set of fuzz-propelled hard rock. Nothing here is particularly original and you may well feel like you've heard some of this stuff elsewhere, but Spooner had a voice that was well suited to the genre and this was one of those rare albums that actually seemed to benefit from the addition of horns (courtesy of Owen Eugene Hale, Richard Lewis and Joseph Ray Trainer). In case anyone cared, perhaps because it strayed a little bit from the predominantly hard rock formula, excluding the needless and seemingly endless drum solo, the psych-tinged 'Wind and Rain' struck me as the standout effort on the album."

White Mule

White Mule is another name for illicitly-made booze like moonshine, white lightning, mountain dew, hooch, and Tennessee white whiskey. Whether or not this was the intended meaning for the band at track 14 I don't know. Harlow, UK's White Mule were Geoff Carpenter on guitar and vocals, John "Culley" Culleton on bass, John "Gypie Mayo" Cawthra on guitar and vocals and John Glasgow on drums. Brian Wren replaced John Glasgow on drums. Bruce Trotter came on board as an extra vocalist and Yanni Flood-Page was added as a second guitar after that. They toured Europe a lot and released two singles, Looking Through Cats Eyes (credited to Flood-Page) and a Mungo Jerry cover "In The Summertime". There are three different versions of their singles listed at 45cat, all of which have 'Hundred Franc Blues' as the b-side. According to bandtoband.com, John Cawthra was later in Dr. Feelgood and a late version of Yardbirds.

Blues Before Sunrise

White Mule evolved from Blues Before Sunrise, who "formed around 1967 and were, Jeff Carpenter, guitar, John 'Culley' Culleton, bass, Bruce Trotter, vocals, and John Glasgow on drums. In 1968 Jeff and John left to be replaced by Brian Wren on drums and Gypie Mayo on guitar and vocals. They quickly changed their name to White Mule. Jeff later played with Sheena Easton on her early hits and albums."

White Mule In The Summertime / Hundred Franc Blues single

Alias were a jamming unit circa 1975-1977 consisting of White Mules' Brian Wren, drums, "Culley", bass, Bill Sharpe, keyboards and Gypie Mayo on guitar. Alias were often seen jamming in the Triad in Bishop's Stortford, or The Orange Footman. "We'd hit a groove and just go with it, usually a funky thing, and play the bollocks off it and quite often end up in a psychedelic miasma. Great fun" - Gypie Mayo. Guests often included Roger O-Dell, drums, Keith Winter on guitar. Brian Wren was later in another Harlow band, Red Express. Roger, Keith and Bill Sharpe went on to form Shakatak in the 80's and have a string of hits. Thanks to the Harlow Band Archive for most of this White Mule information, I really didn't think I was going to find anything on them.

Black Cat Bones band

Closing this set, Black Cat Bones (named after a Hoodoo charm associated with blues music) shouldn't need too much introduction here. A band that were familiar on the London pub circuit, they are well-known to have included Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke before they left for Free. After many line-up changes and the album "Barbed Wire Sandwich" the final death knell came. The last remaining members Derek and Stuart Brooks were joined by vocalist Pete French and guitarist Mike Halls from the Brunning / Hall Sunflower Blues Band. After adding drummer Keith George Young, the outfit became the hard rock band Leaf Hound in 1970 (see vol1 and vol64). Again, Leaf Hound shouldn't need to much of an introduction here, the "Growers Of Mushroom" LP is one of the best heavy underground records ever.

Black Cat Bones - "Barbed Wire Sandwich" LP

Jeff Simmons was a member in Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention for a while in the early '70s. Before this he made two albums on Frank's Straight record label, one of them was a biker movie soundtrack, the other was a solo record called "Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up". Frank Zappa wrote two songs on Lucille, and was a producer, all under the pseudonym "La Marr Bruister". The story is that Zappa discovered Jeff and his band Easy Chair when they opened a Mothers show in 1968. He was immediately taken with Jeff's equal skills in playing both jazz and rock, and by Easy Chair's lyrical sense of humour, all things which had direct parallels with The Mothers. So, Jeff appears here because of his 1969 soundtrack to the hell's angels flick, Naked Angels. This was a Roger Corman production, a guy famous for b-movie/exploitation cinema and cult movies like The Trip and Death Race 2000.  I have used the opening track from the record, called Naked Angels Theme, which is a gloriously groovy fuzz-fest. This was re-issued recently by World In Sound records.

Download from [mf] or [mg]
Unzip password:  tdats





Welcome to episode 110 of The Day After The Sabbath. This instalment has been made in collaboration with a guy who was an influence when I started this site, so it's about time he received some recognition from me! He lives in Sweden and his name is Mik Kay, he's been running a blog called Heavypsychman for over five years. 

heavypsychmanblog.blogspot.com

Many of you will have come across his blog before as he's made quite a name for himself among all the heavy-hunters out there. His mission is the same as mine, but whereas my interest developed from a pre-internet age love of '90s grunge and alternative rock, now covering a wide period of styles up to 1980, Mik comes from a early-black/death metal background and specialises mainly in the rawest, loudest and loosest heavy psych he can find, usually within the years of 1968 to 1973. The sweet spot where heavy psych was convergent with the newly emerging hard rock sound. He has kindly agreed to curate this compilation, which complements an interview I have done with him.

The resulting comp has instantly become one of the rawest, loudest and fuzziest sets you'll ever hear on TDATS, and you are gonna love it! All the tracks are new to TDATS, as are six of the artists: Bulbous Creation, Smack, Jarvis Street Revue, Negative Space, Bent Wind and Smokin' Willie. The great thing is all 12 of these are album cuts, and they are backed-up equally by the quality of their respective albums, so if you look further into any of them you will most certainly be rewarded.

TRACKS (with Mik's description)
01. Dragonfly - Blue Monday (1968)
       from album 'Dragonfly' 
       "Garage rock with wild fuzz meets H U G E amps"
02. Smack - Sunshine Of Your Love (1968)
       from album 'Smack'
       "An underground Cream plugs into Blue Cheers amps"
03. Sainte Anthony's Fyre - Lone Soul Road (1970)
       from album 'Sainte Anthony's Fyre'
       "Crushing riff of crude raw Heavy distorted Fuzz"
04. Fire - Flames (1973)
       from album 'Could You Understand Me'
       "Monster raw Heavy Fuzz-gasm"
05. Stone Garden - Assembly Line (1969)
       from album 'Stone Garden'
       "Monster HEAVY dynamic crusher"
06. The Jarvis Street Revue - Mr. Oil Man (1970)
       from album 'Mr. Oil Man'
       "Megalithic meglo heavy fuzzsound with equal vocals"
07. Negative Space - Forbidden Fruit (1970)
       from album 'Hard, Heavy, Mean & Evil' 
       "Heavy raw mean and in your face crude blast"
08. Joshua - No Country (1969)
       from album 'Opens Your Mind'
       "Lead Sled of Heavinesss in your face with crude raw edge"
09. Bent Wind - Sacred Cows (1969)
       from album 'Sussex'
       "Heavy Earthquake-evoking rhythm with wasted leads galore"
10. Bulbous Creation - Let's Go to the Sea (1970)
       from album 'You Won't Remember Dying'
       "Heavy basement trip with eerie dark undercurrent"
11. Smokin' Willie - Get Ready (1970)
       from album 'Smokin' Willie'
       "pulverized Rare Earth cover with Most extreme FUZZ leads in existence"
12. Josefus - Dead Man (1970)
       from album 'Dead Man'
       "Monster Heavy doomed Blues based audioal freight train"


Mik's Heavypsychmanblog reveals vinyl rips of lost albums, re-issues of such things from labels like Rockadrome, and his own hand-picked comps, resulting from his searches. He has a great ear for it all. He succeeds in catching the mood and atmosphere of the late '60s/early '70s heavy underground which worshiped the fuzz box, beer and weed with reckless punk attitude. His honest, no-nonsense writing style gets you amped-up just by reading about what delights are in store and you can be confident to hear only the most fuzzy, heavy and wildest cuts conceivable. He's made two series' of comps so far, Heavy Psych Explosion 1-8, Monster Garage Rock, and the most recent, Stack Attack, which is up to Vol5.

Mik Kay aka Heavypsychman

We begin with Mik's personal viewpoint on the more recent music that shaped his tastes and led to his appreciation of older sounds. Take it away Mik!

Mik: Hello Rich, first thanks for the honour of being interviewed.

Q1.You are from Stockholm and you have spent some time living in Australia. Can you tell us some of the major events and influences in your life that lead you to start HeavyPsychMan blog? Did living in Australia have any influence in what you are in to, or the blog?

Yes I live in one of the shittest bluecollar suburbs of Stockholm and lived in a similar suburb in Sydney AUS so yes when you have a heavy environment it affects you. For my part the earliest Raw heavy sounds that attracted me were like pre-84 M O T Ö R H E A D, Bon Scott-era AC/DC, Venom and bands like Sodom, Hellhammer, Bathory. Those were the rawest n' heaviest bands of the time I knew about. Well in the early '90s that pseudo death metal thing started by disillusioned ex Metallica and Slayer fans and the objectionable (in my opinion) character of Öystein Arseth of Mayhem who invited all manner of people into the black death metal scene destroyed everything and I lost interest in that scene. The stuff after 91/92 is awful at best IMO.

Dave Chandler of St Vitus

What was I going to listen to now? Well I loved doom metal like Candlemass, Mercy and Vitus and I think it was Dave Chandler who said he was influenced by Blue Cheer for his leads. Vitus V or five, was a major influence that got me interested in the Heavy '70s scene. It had the hippy bias thing going on BUT the music was HEAVY I mean Heavier than the stuff I had listened to previously. The easiest to find here in SWE was Purple, Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Mountain on LP. I got them and the CD reissue boom came around then also. I began to exclusively listen to '70s heavy music, but the raw edge of the stuff I'd previously liked lingered on and I discovered Blue Cheer and that was a major introduction into heavy psychedelic sounds with a heavier and wilder style than all the rest so I started to explore more and gradually discovered more and rarer bands.

To make a long story somewhat graspable, 1990s tape trading and the '70s music reissue boom in the '90s laid the musical foundation for Heavypsychman as the blog was originally called. I wanted to share this wealth of great raw HEAVY music with like-minded people and blogspot was a great medium and a super tape trading platform. Also that Sabbath is the only really heavy band talked-about pissed me off so I showed people MORE bands were heavy and even Heavier hehe.


Q2.Have you ever been a musician yourself? If so, what do you play and are you in a band?
I played guitar and in the early '90s and wanted to start a trio into demo-era Sodom/Hellhammer kind of music but guys here in Sweden didn't get it, (so much for a death metal boom here) so nothing happened, I still play but now raw southern Bluesy Kinks meets Zeppelin/Cheer stuff. Now I don't have time to play in a band but you never know...


Q3.You have used a lot of different bands and styles on your blog. Could you tell us what your favourite styles in old rock are, and why?
The rawer and the heavier the better, provided the music is good 1965 - 1975. I also love long jam psych from SWE and SF USA and AUS rock. The warm heavy tone of that era combined with super songwriting and talent is a winning combination. I use the term Heavy psych which I actually snatched from a comp called Heavydose of Heavypsych by Arf Arf records. I love fuzz psych and monster heavy bass/drums and raw sounds. Motörhead/Venom had that sound which originally influenced me and has never left me.

Mecki Mark Men poster 1969

Q4.Who are some of your favourite artists from those times, famous or not?
Rare bands: Stone Garden, Josefus, Joshua (Ca), Bulbous Creation, Sainte Anthony's Fyre, Bolder Damn, Jarvis Street Revue, Bent Wind, Smack, Firebirds (Crown band) and Mecki Mark Men. I also like original loner-folk and good original underground psychedelia.

Known bands; Zeppelin (specially 2 & 4, Levee Breaks kills) Mountain, Blue Cheer 1 & 2, Cream, Hendrix, The Who (Live stuff), Grand Funk Railroad 69-70, Sabbath 1 to 4, Cactus 1st, Purple 'In rock'.



Q5.Personally, I think the short period between the late '60s and early '70s was the best and most creatively interesting time in rock history. What are your opinions on why there was such a creative explosion during those times and what other periods and genres interest you most up until the current day?

The zeitgeist of that era was progressive optimism and everything was possible. The future was bright and the postwar era prosperity made a renaissance of the regular man's music which, rock and blues is. A unique time in history from which we now enjoy the fruits. Progressively since the 1973 oil crisis things in the west have gone down hill. In the 90's rock really died and lost it's momentum. There's still good stuff out there like Mount Carmel and Endless Boogie but not in the spotlight like in previous eras. Stoner rock is bland and boring. I liked Fu Manchu's 'In search of' but the other bands sucked IMO, Just no good songwriting anymore or noticeable talent, or even real effort. I saw Vitus live a year ago and the opening act was beyond awful, people walked out and waited for Vitus to take the stage instead, that kind of says it all.


Q6.How are the bands chosen or found for your blog? Do you chose them all yourself, do you get suggestions and recommendations?
I choose the stuff myself and it must fulfill the originality and musical quality demands I have. If an album has one killer tune I save that for a compilation instead of posting a whole bland album. I learnt my trade from record lists and labels like Rockadelic, The Void. Subliminal Sounds and great fanzine and tape-trading friends like Ray Dorsey etc etc in the 90's. Great folks I am greatly indebted to. Cheers to you all you unsung heroes of the underground.

Captain Foam's wall of amps

Q7.Could you tell us three Heavypsychman discoveries or comps that are particular favourites of yours, and why?
The music I share is known by hardcore collectors but they are not always willing to share it. Captain Foam is a killer discovery (we need live tapes). Ceptic Frog is another (the tape owner is 'difficult' I'm told). Mecki Mark Men Live, It took me years of asking before they got posted on Youtube. I like everything I post and actively listen to it all before sharing. If it seems iffy it's not posted.


Q8.Have you ever got in contact with any of the artists?
Our mutual friend Klem[Breznikar of It's Psychedelic Baby - See Vol94] is great at this and his webzine is a dream come true. I have met and talked with members of Mecki Mark Men and Träd Gräs Och Stenar, great folks. They don't understand the big deal with their modern day fame. I would like to hear from members of Bulbous Creation or The Firebirds (LA band) as would most of us.

Bolder Damn

Q9.What is the future for Heavypsychman blog? Do you have any further plans regarding your love of rock music?
I'm happy just to post stuff once a month and searching for rare Heavy raw psych n heavy rock music like you yourself, I must say you and your friends are great at finding new stuff, Big thanks for your efforts you guys. That's what the underground is about. I saw that Bolder Damn was reissued by Guerssen, I still remember when Rockadelic and The Void reissued it years back. My Heavypsych Explosion series was inspired by all those garage psych compilation LPs of the '80s and '90s, I have No LP/CD ambitions, there's too much money and plastic hoarding involved. I'm a music fan not a plastic & cardboard fan. I hate the mainstream labels for all the money sucking they did before the mp3 revolution. I burn a CDR or DVDr to archive my stuff. I dream that a Spotify for rare underground music would come along, so computer nerds, get cracking, we know the music you know the tech...


Q10.Can you tell us something about being a psychedelic rock fan in Stockholm? Do you get much opportunity to watch old bands live, or old-styled/retro bands? I know Sweden has a lot of great stoner/psych bands and it's a relatively big thing over there.
Hehe we have Träd Gräs och Stenar here, I actually prefer Gothenburg bands Centralstödet and Ett Rop på Hjälpöver these Stockholm retro 70's bands. Not a fan of them, not authentic to my ears but surely nice guys, doing something they are passionate about.

Centralstödet are raw long jam-psych from Gothenburg (album out on Cassette!) and Ett Rop på Hjälp are heavy rock from Gothenburg. There's a lot of pop bands here with psych influences but that's not my bag.[Mik reviewed Ett Rop på Hjälp's 2012 album here]


Q11.Are there any bars, venues or record shops etc that would be good to check out for anyone who finds themselves in Stockholm or near-by?
One shop that I can recommend in Stockholm is Got To Hurry records (they had Rockadelics in their boxes when I was there last, Stone Garden!) Subliminal sounds is a must and the Guru as we call him (Stefan Kery) is a psych specialist and great super wired dude. His shop was legendary but Stockholm didn't get it (I did!).


Q12.Could you tell us about some of your favourite current or new artists from anywhere around the world?
Mount Carmel and Endless Boogie are great and underexposed as f**k, Hear them or be square! 

[Mount Carmel's label: link. Endless Boogie's label: link.]

I agree, wholeheartedly about Mount Carmel, I loved their 2012 album 'Real Women'. I will check out Endless Boogie too!


Q13.Is it correct you were editor of Golden Void Fanzine? If so, can you tell us a little about that?
Yes, it was a simple xeroxed zine typed/handwritten and used even computers for reviews. It had hand-drawn psych art by myself. It featured basically the same bands as in my blog, which is a kinda continuation of it. I have no copies left or even originals, but if ya like the blog, you'd have liked the zine. I did it 98 - 99 with 4 issues.


Q14.What have you learnt from your experiences of making the HeavyPsychMan blog? Do you have any useful advice for rock fanatics who are considering starting a blog or similar project themselves?
Be YOURSELF and share YOUR passion, Have quality control in mind because YOU influence the scene, YOU make it or destroy it. Don't post like a manic fool, take your time. For me once a month is good. I remember that dude "Chris Goes Rock" who posted 4 - 6 albums a day? Did he ever hear the music he posted? That's crazy. Get to know your underground friends and link each other. I wish you the best. Yes avoid major label artists or you get deleted links and "friendly" lawyer emails... Yes that's why I don't post Led Zeppelin 4 despite me loving it. Don't post new reissues until the small labels have a chance to sell their copies. I usually wait a year.

Yes, I remember Chris Goes Rock, he is still around in the blogosphere - I used to get a lot of music from him in the days before blogs, when his uploads where listed on torrent sites like Suprnova. He is how I first heard a lot of the music that helped me start TDATS. I do think he is genuinely knowledgeable and had been listening to this stuff for a long time before the internet enabled him to push it all...


Q15. Finally, do you have anything further to say to TDATS and Heavypsychman blog readers out there?
Rich, T H A N K Y O U and the rest of the guys in our scene for finding and sharing Great rare Heavy music. Your Biker rock compilation [Vol 109] was a Blast, Keep that level up n' you will rule. Special Thanks also to everyone who has visited and heard music from Heavypsychmanblog, hope you had a blast. It's great to see how many of the featured bands now actually are known by folks who can appreciate them. Great 2015 to everyone Rock On! Mik.

Dragonfly (1970) & The Legend (1968)

Durango, Colorado's Dragonfly made on album in 1970. They were actually the band The Legend without Ernie McElwaine. [tymeshifter at RYM: "Note that this is actually the band The Legend without Ernie McElwaine. The group never performed under the name Dragonfly, supposedly just the album title here only. Somehow, well after the band had broken up and on subsequent reissues, Dragonfly has stuck as an alias for the band."] The rest of the band was Jack Duncan (bass), Barry Davis (drums, backing vocals), Gerry Jimerfield (guitar, lead vocals) and Randy Russ [Randy Russell] (guitar, backing vocals). The album has been reissued by labels including Sunbeam, Guerssen, Gear Fab, Progressive Line and Eva.

Smack LP (1968)

Fire

Stone Garden promo shot

The Jarvis Street Revue LP (1970) - Full Cover

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Welcome to TDATS #111. Now and again I come across bands that sounded great, but only made some singles and no albums. The first thing I always wonder is, "How come this obviously-talented band were around long enough to make a string of singles and get on a major label, but did not make an album?". It seems to be a question that arises regarding Dutch bands as often as any other nationality, if not more so, and the band that we are interested in for this episode is Cobra. They had an instantly likable brand of hook-laden rock which encompassed hard rock, pop, glam and blues in such a way that Dutch bands seemed particularly adept.

The Netherlands had a great pop scene in the '60s and '70s, and The Hague was the place to be. Bands which started there like Golden Earring, Q65, Supersister and Shocking Blue are still respected the world-over. I'd say it was second only to Hamburg as a go-to European city for aspiring musicians. Often, English names can be found in Dutch bands, such as singer Christine Holmes (ex-Family Dogg, later known as 'Kristine Sparkle') in California License and guitarist Ray Fenwick (The Spencer Davis Group, Tee-Set) who was a founder of After Tea. (Incidentally, I used a ripping Ray Fenwick track back on Vol103). Cobra had a British singer called Winston Gawke. Before his time in mainland Europe he'd already tried his hand in the UK as Winston G and had various backing groups, culminating in The Winston G Set (later called Fox & The Whip). For fact-fans out  there, The Winston G Set was also an early band for Huw Lloyd-Langton of ├┤awkШind.

The Dutch quickly assimilated the popular hard rock sounds of the time, and one thing I like was their ability to mix these heavy sounds with a certain pop, almost glam sensibility, avoiding getting too cheesy, but remaining endearingly fun. Good examples of this were Blue Planet, Big Wheel, Panda, Inca Bullet Joe and many more. I hope to focus on some more of these names in later episodes...

Back to Cobra. They made five singles (including one under the name of Island), all of which are great. I have contacted the original guitarist of Cobra, who does an excellent job on all the singles, his name is Rob Vunderink. He still works successfully in music and has been a member of distinguished Dutch progsters Kayak since 2001. One of Rob's other notable successes was as a founding member the pop rock band Diesel, which had a number-one single in Canada from an album which was also popular in the US around 1980.

The other two main members of Cobra were Michiel Driessen (drums - later in Livin' Blues, Sun, Flair and Monte Carlo) and Paul Heppener (Bass - ex-Confrontation, later in Centaur, Drama, Shocking Blue, Fontessa and Belgian band Otger Dice).

Rob (left) in The Counts

Q01. Hi Rob, Thanks for your time! Firstly, can you tell us about your beginnings in music?
I was born in Nijmegen. The Van Halen brothers lived here, as did Nina Simone. I got my first guitar when I was sixteen, because I loved the Beatles. Why guitar? That's what they played. I never had lessons, I taught myself and I was in a school band. At a certain point I joined a local top band called The Counts [links: 1, 2] and they had a manager, who became my personal manager also.


Q02. What happened after The Counts?
My manager called and said the singer of the Yardbirds was looking for a guitarist in Nijmegen. These had been a peculiar German version of The Yardbirds [a bogus, or 'tribute' version] without any real Yardbirds. The singer was Winston Gawke from the UK. I started a band with Winston which was first called Jasper Mule. At this point we also had Joop van Kesteren (bass, ex-Counts, who later went on to Grass) and John Lejeune (drums, ex-Corporation, later to Livin' Blues).


Q03. What music were you personally in to at the time?
I liked Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and other hard rock bands.

Cobra

Q04. Can you tell me about Island's "Move Over / Super Woman" Single? I know it had some connection to you and Winston. It is fantastic, Super Woman sounds like a lost Led Zep song! I have only heard this side as it was included in a comp at the time called "Hey June", I've not heard the flipside.
Winston attracted John van Setten as our manager. John had managed a band called Island previously, which had ceased to exist by this time. He arranged a recording session for us and the resulting songs, "Super Woman / Move Over", were released as an Island single. We had nothing to do with the old Island and it was a one-time occasion. 

1. Michiel Driessen 2. Rob Vunderink 3. Winston Gawke 4. Paul Heppener I'm in Love single (1971)

Q05. How did Cobra come about?
We moved to the Hague in 1969, Michiel Driessen and Paul Heppener then took the roles of drums and bass respectively, and the Cobra lineup was made. At one time Cor van der Beek (Shocking Blue - drums) had one or two rehearsals but didn't join. We got ourselves a record deal with Polydor and after my suggestion for calling the band Grizzley, Winston came up with 'Cobra'.


Q06. How did Cobra get signed to the Polydor label?
We just went there and talked to Freddy Haayen, who was director and producer for Golden Earring. He produced us himself, including our first single, 'The War Will Soon Be Over (My Love)' which became a hit in Holland.


Q07. Was there a big rock scene in The Hague in the early '70s?
The Hague was called 'beat city'. Lots of big Dutch bands were from the Hague, like Golden Earring, The Motions, Q65, Supersister and more. Every Tuesday evening musicians would hang out in a place called De Maraton[inc. Q65 and Golden Earring - wiki]. So yes, a big rock scene and a fun place too.


Q08. Did Cobra play many gigs or festivals?
We played all over Holland, both clubs and festivals. We opened up for Ten Years After in Amsterdam in the early seventies. Alvin Lee was a star then because of Woodstock. 

Paul Heppener (bass)

Q09. Can you tell us about the four 45s that Cobra released on the Polydor label?
I think 'The War Will Soon Be Over' was recorded at the Phonogram studio in Hilversum. I remember it must have been early January 1970. Haayen produced us and Cees Schrama played keyboards [aka 'Crazy Casey', also of Golden Earring, Casey & The Pressure Group - wiki, RYM]. The second single was called 'I'm In Love' and it was a Haayen production too, record at the Soundpush Studio in The Hague. The third single was called 'So Dissatisfied', written and produced by Craig Bolyn from the US [ex-Nazz, prod. Ash Tray], same studio as the first one. The fourth single 'Don't Do Like I Do' was produced by former Earring drummer Jaap Eggermont, who would peak at Billboard #1 in the band 'Stars On 45' in the '80s. It was recorded at Soundpush also.


Q10. Do you have any favourite Cobra songs? Can you remember anything about playing any of them, like ones which were hard to play?
I really like So Dissatisfied. I like the bass playing in I'm In Love. There was nothing hard about playing these songs.


Q11. I really like Cobra's music, and all the members put in a great performance. While it’s generally got an anthemic sing-along melodic style like 'The War Will Soon Be Over (My Love)', there's glam rock ('Don't Do Like I Do'), and couple of heavier rockers like 'Midnight Walker' and 'I'm in Love'. There's also some slow blues like 'Schoolgirl Blues'. Can you explain your thoughts on the band’s versatility and what influenced the sound of Cobra?
Winston was the one who got the band together and he wanted a blues/rock band like Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple. He introduced me to the guitar playing style of Rory Gallagher. The War Will Soon Be Over was the odd one out, actually, but the combination of acoustic and electric playing intrigued some people. Later Winston proposed a style more like Mother's Finest, but that never came off. For blues influence we listened to BB King.


Q12. Who were the creative leaders of the band, if there were some?
The song writing was done by Winston and me. No songs were written by Michiel and Paul. I think him and me were the creative leaders, if indeed there were any. 


Q13. There is some extra orchestration on the song 'So Dissatisfied', which sounds like a mellotron/keyboard. Is this correct, and can you remember who played it, or was it put in later?
Craig Bolyn experimented with the Moog synthesizer and he got it on board during the recording. He also added some low string guitar work during the guitar solo.

First Patricia Paay LP (1969)

Q14. 'Don't Do Like I Do' has some female backing vocals. Who did these vocals and how did that come about?
It was Jaap Eggermont's idea. He hired Dutch singer Patricia Paay [radio host, glamour model and television personality - wiki]. We hated Eggermont's production, he fucked it up and didn't even put his name on the record, so he knew he fucked up. The single was a flop.


Q15. 'What Next' is a mini progressive epic. It talks about world war, racism, greed and other such issues. It's longer, more philosophical, and quite different to all your other songs. What's the story behind that? It also has a very nice emotive guitar solo at the end, is that you playing?
That was Winston's work, those words. It was the time of hippies, peace and grass, so Winston was just exploiting the mood of the time, really. And yes, it's me on guitar.


Q16. What equipment did you use for your guitar sound in Cobra?
At first I used a Fender Stratocaster, later a Gibson SG which I've still got and used when recording Diesel's 'Sausalito Summernight', which peaked at Billboard #25 and #1 in Canada in 1981. For amplification I used Marshall.


Q17. I've been told that it was particularly hard for Dutch rock bands to get label money/backing to record a whole album in their home country back then, and they were often encouraged to focus on writing radio-friendly pop singles, in search of a 'hit'. Because of this, many bands with great hard-rock potential like Cobra made singles which may have been aimed more at commercial acceptance than what the bands actually wanted to sound like, and unfortunately made no albums. What are your thoughts on this? Did these issues affect Cobra?
It's the same everywhere: mainstream radio plays music for the average audience. If you want publicity you have to appeal to a large audience. We were moderately good in getting attention. It all went wrong when Eggermont overdid it with his pop song approach. By that time the band had grown tired of struggling. Myself and bass player Paul Heppener were especially unhappy with the situation.


Q18. 'The War Will Soon Be Over (My Love)' reached number 33 in the Dutch charts for two weeks. later-on 'So Dissatisfied' spent three weeks at #31. Did this encourage Cobra to aim higher?
You must first score better with singles before a recording company will spend money on you to make an album, we never got that far.


Q19. Do you think Cobra had the potential be more successful?
The band could have been bigger with some guidance and a better management.


Q20. How did the band end?
Paul Heppener and I made the decision to leave. We didn't like the lack of development, we disliked the manager who was filling his own pockets. Then Pim van der Linden joined on bass simultaneously with Ben de Bruin on guitar. Cobra lasted for a couple more years without success.


Q21. Is there anything notable you can tell me about what happened to any of the other guys after Cobra was finished?
Michiel Driessen made a living from having a duo with a keyboard player at parties. He bought his own apartment in the city of 's-Hertogenbosch so he must have been doing well. Winston went into business, he said. He must be a pensioner now, being 71 or 72 years old. Paul Heppener played in a group called Drama, and then later was in Shocking Blue, until singer Mariska Veres died. Ben de Bruin played with Rob Hoeke [and Herman Brood's Flash & Dance Band].

Q22. Do you have any final Cobra memories to share?
No, except that we had a lot of fun and I would not like to have missed the experience.

So there you have an explanation for how an original band with some initial success and lots of potential could lose momentum and fade away in the harsh pop world. I will be getting some stories on equally good bands from the same period later, so keep TDATS book-marked.


I asked Rob some further questions regarding his career after Cobra.

Q23. What did you do after Cobra? Can you tell us a little about how you came to play for Maywood (Dutch pop duo)?
After Cobra and an unsuccessful band called Centaur [also with Paul Heppener] I met guitarist Mark Boon who played in Smyle. Smyle's singer Bas Muijs sounded just like John Lennon and did the Beatles stuff for Eggermont's Stars on 45 later. Boon and me formed a band called The Hammer. Take a look here:



I play that red Gibson SG, as you can see. This was on a famous Dutch TV show around Sjef van Oekel. The Hammer had the same manager as Kayak. Pim Koopman was Kayak's drummer who later started producing artists like Maywood and Pussycat, for which Mark and myself were often hired as studio musicians.



Q24. It seems the band you started called Diesel had some great success, #1 in Canada! Can you tell me some more about them?
Later Pim joined Mark and me to form Diesel. Diesel had two hits in the Netherlands and Belgium with Goin' back to China and Down in the Silvermine. We recorded an album, Watts In A Tank. The opening song is Sausalito Summernight, written by Mark Boon and myself. [Sausalito Summernight on youtube] Both the album and the single got charted in the USA and Canada. In 1981 we toured the States and Canada for seven weeks, about forty gigs. Already before the American hit guitarist/singer/composer Mark Boon and bass player Frank Papendrecht had left. Later drummer/producer/composer Pim Koopman left to. Before the tour Mark rejoined. After the tour we recorded another album, without Pim, which flopped. I left. In 1987 Pim and me got together again, singer Jeroen Engelbert joined (he's the singer on the live version of Sausalito Summernight with Kayak in 2010 [below]). In 1987 we had another hit with the song Samantha. Diesel disbanded again in 1989. In 2000 Pim, me and some other guys recorded an album of covers with three original songs. The album was called Diesel on the rocks, You can find it on iTunes.

Q25. How did you come join Kayak late in its career?
Much later in 2001, when Kayak got together again, Pim asked me to join for one gig because guitarist Rob Winter had to play elsewhere. I never left. Here you can see Kayak playing Diesel's Sausalito Summernight during the Pim Koopman Tribute Concert at the Amsterdam Paradiso in 2010, one year after Pim's death:



As well as his musical career, Rob currently writes a weekly column for De Gelderlander newspaper, based in the Gelderland region of Holland. He gives special attention to healthcare, education, employment issues, and social absurdities. You can read his related blog here.

Click to go to Vol 105

I have added an extra track to Volume 105, the 'Going Down' covers special. This is another version of the song that Don Nix recorded, for radio. If you haven't listened to this volume yet, now would a great time to do so. In the clip, Don himself says that he wrote the song for Elvis Presley, who did not record it, and then says that Freddie King did. So, even Don does not acknowledge Moloch as being the first act to record it. Poor old Moloch! Well, this blog being a shrine to the Underdog, we salute you!
Read the update and download here: http://www.aftersabbath.com/2014/08/the-day-after-sabbath-105-goin-down.html
You can download the additional track on it's own here if you do not wish to download the whole thing again.

Cheers! Rich.

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Unlike most previous Christmas updates, there is some music to download in this one, keep reading...


TDATS is five years old today. It's been a great ride, and it will continue to get better. I have much more music to add next year, lots of new ideas, and a lot more interviews with acts that have never been spotlighted before. If you are an obscure rock digger you will surely continue to enjoy the fruits of these searches as much as I do. As usual, drop me advice and ideas to aftersabbath@live.co.uk if you feel so-inclined, or contribute at the fb group which now has almost 4000 members, wow! This year saw the creation of TDATS radio, which is still in early days and will hopefully get an upgrade in 2015 if it gets enough listeners.

Thanks to all who support, comment on, and encourage The Day After The Sabbath. Enjoy this year-end's festivities and see you again here soon!

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Welcome to volume 112! I have had many requests to make a follow-up to the southern rock-inspired Vol65. That will happen, but before-hand, this will definitely be of interest to those of you who like southern rock and it is every-bit as enjoyable as that volume.

The completion of this comp was triggered by a band I discovered quite recently called Heads Hands & Feet. They were an English act based in London, that were around for a few short years. They specialised in good-time bar room blues and US style country rock, similar in places to Lynyrd Skynyrd but with more focus on honky-tonk (stay with me) and country, not so much the hard rock, and they were an early band for renowned guitarist Albert Lee. I adored their honest, good-natured sound as soon as heard it, and it reminded me of a few other UK bands that had a similar thing going on. Thus the idea for this volume arose, and I hunted down some more UK-based acts that rocked in the finest of American tradition. I'm glad to say all these bands are new to TDATS, so making it has been a great pleasure and a complete learning experience.

TRACKS
01. Velvet Opera - Ride A Hustler's Dream / Statesboro Blues (1969)
       from album 'Ride A Hustler's Dream'
02. Cliff Bennett's Rebellion - Amos Moses (1971)
       from album 'Cliff Bennett's Rebellion'
03. Steve Gibbons - Bye Bye Buffalo (1971)
       from album 'Short Stories'
04. Heads Hands & Feet - Hot Property (1971)
       from album 'Tracks'
05. Legend - Moonshine (1971)
       from album 'Moonshine'
06. Gypsy - Comes a Time (1972)
       from album 'Brenda & The Rattlesnake'
07. Hookfoot - Tradin' Riffs (1973)
       from album 'Roaring'
08. Poet And The One Man Band - Light My Fire And Burn My Lamp (1969)
       from album 'Poet And The One Man Band'
09. Jellybread - Green Eyed Gypsy Queen (1972)
       from album 'Back To Begin Again'
10. Pacific Drift - Just Another Girl (1970)
       from album 'Feelin' Free'
11. Guitar Orchestra - Last Chicken In The Shop (1971)
       from album 'Guitar Orchestra'
12. Ellis - Your Game (1972)
       from album 'Riding On The Crest Of A Slump'
13. Cochise - Diamonds (1972)
       from album 'So Far'
14. Holy Mackerel - The Boy And The Mekon (1972)
       from album 'Holy Mackerel'

It's common knowledge that the US was shaken-up by the "British Invasion" pop of the 1960s. Early-on it was the Stones, The Beatles and The Who et al that were making big waves across the Atlantic. Then there were the English bluesrockers like Cream, Ten Years After and Led Zep who made more impact a little later. Of course, the majority of these UK acts owed their chops to blues, jazz, rock'n roll and other sounds that originated in the US. In general, it was an amazing time of rich cultural transactions and co-evolution in music. Something I was not fully aware of until recently was the following early '70s cultural return from the US to the UK, with a small uprising in US country rock appreciation that appears to have happened in the UK. It didn't last that long, as you can see from the narrow time frame of the tracks in this comp, 1969 to 1973. An interesting little observation before I go further, three tracks in this comp have turned out to have an indirect connection to Pink Floyd as you'll see - not the first name you'd expect, I wonder if it's got something to do with David Gilmour liking this kind of music?  There's also a couple of links to Elton John of all people. Make of it what you will...

Having recently become acquainted with the likes of Heads Hands & Feet, Gypsy, Cochise, Hookfoot and Quiver (although not a band that would fit in a TDATS comp, Quiver guitarist Tim Renwick does appear in this comp), i'm surprised I hadn't run into many of them sooner. Maybe one of the reasons is that these bands have been largely passed-over, despite the fact that they included a lot of very talented players who were in other bands that received a lot more attention. Speaking of such, the lineups of the bands in this volume read a little like a who's who of British journeyman/session musicians. Although they may have not achieved long-term international fame, they were "musician's" bands and you can at least say that they were not motivated by commercial success, but doing what they did for the love of it. In fact, researching this has become something of an incredible adventure through the halls and archives British virtuoso guitarists that all missed the spotlight.

In a short digression, although this volume doesn't really delve into it, some of the bands included here were closely tied to the "Pub Rock" scene in the UK. Exemplified by bands such as Bees Make The Honey and Brinsley Schwarz. It's said that pub rock was a retreat back to the roots of country & rock'n roll, partly in reaction to the wanton excesses of the burgeoning progressive rock movements. In that respect it shares the ideals of punk rock. Some of the later pub rock names, like The Count Bishops and Elvis Costello, indeed crossed over into punk territory. One of the catalysts of pub rock was the residency of a US (New York) band called Eggs Over Easy at the Tally Ho pub in Kentish Town, north London. They set-up there while recording over in London, and their countrified blues became a big hit, filling the pub every night. Soon they were being requested at larger venues like The Marquee. Another originator of the pub rock sound was a band that is included here, the modestly-named Legend, from Southend.

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unzip password:  tdats


A few things to say for the new year. Firstly, it's not long since I posted Volume 112, a themed selection of UK rock in an american country rock style, so if you haven't seen it, here it is. For those interested, I was kindly invited to do a telephone interview about TDATS with DJ Lucille for her Italian radio show 'Lucyfer', at 'Controradio' on 4th January. This streamed world-wide at http://www.controradio.it/. It will be repeated there on Sunday 8th January at 11pm CET, and for locals on 93.6 FM in Florence, 98.9 FM in Pisa, Lucca and Livorno (Tuscany West Coast). (more info)

On to today's post.....this is a quickly-made, fun downloadable comp of many of the best, most interesting, and most-worthy-of-further-investigation finds for the blog in 2014. There's quite a few picks from Volume 112, for which I found a ton of new bands. There's the great discovery of East-West Pipeline which was on biker movies, and the single made by Cobra called Super Woman, which was released under the band name 'Island'. There's a couple from the Indonesian Vol106 which turned out great and one of Mik Kay's great choices from Vol110, Bulbous Creation. I've added individual Youtube clips below for some quick listens. Below them I have included the band write-ups previously done for the blog.

Thanks for reading in 2014 and as usual, there's lots more in store for 2015. Happy new year, Rich.

TRACKS:
01. Guitar Orchestra - Last Chicken In The Shop (1971) on Vol112
02. Heads Hands & Feet - Hot Property (1971) on Vol112
       from album 'Tracks'
03. East-West Pipeline - Unlocked (1972) on Vol109
       from Bury Me An Angel OST
04. Ellis - Your Game (1972) on Vol112
       from album 'Riding On The Crest Of A Slump'
05. Holy Mackerel - The Boy And The Mekon (1972) on Vol112
       from album 'Holy Mackerel'
06. Island / Cobra - Super Woman (1971) on Vol111
       single
07. 60,000,000 Buffalo - Royalty Rag & Cocaine Shuffle (1972) on Vol97
       from album 'nevada jukebox'
08. Benny Soebardja and Lizard - Circle of Love (1977) on Vol106
       from album "Gimme a Piece of Gut Rock" [The Lizard Years]
09. Fort Mudge Memorial Dump - Crystal Forms (1969) on Vol97
       from album 'Fort Mudge Memorial Dump'
10. Jellybread - Green Eyed Gypsy Queen (1972) on Vol112
       from album 'Back To Begin Again'
11. Joe Soap - Get Out From Under (1973) on Vol103
       from album 'keep it clean'
12. Ray Fenwick - Stateside (1970) on Vol103
       from album "Keep America Beautiful, Get a Haircut"
13. Shark Move - Evil War (1972) on Vol106
       from album "Ghede Chokra's"
14. Bulbous Creation - Let's Go to the Sea (1970) on Vol110
       from album 'You Won't Remember Dying'
15. Martha Velèz - Feel So Bad (1969) on Vol97
       from album 'fiends & angels'
16. Lee Pickens Group - Thumbs Up (1973) on Vol103
       from album "LPG"




Heads Hands & Feet - on Volume 112





60,000,000 Buffalo - on Volume 97

Benny Soebardja and Lizard - on Volume 106
Fort Mudge Memorial Dump - on Volume 97

Jellybread - on Volume 112

Joe Soap - on Volume 99

Ray Fenwick - on Volume 103

Shark Move - on Volume 106

Bulbous Creation - on Volume 110

Martha Velèz - on Volume 97

Lee Pickens Group - on Volume 103



For track 1 is a very special find indeed. Actually more than just special, it's some kind of one-time-only occurrence almost without precedent. I came across the album by the name of "Guitar Orchestra" while looking into the side-projects of Mick Grabham and Ray Fenwick. I tracked it down and have been knocked over by the quality of stella musicianship that it contains. The story is that guitarist Ray Fenwick (The Spencer Davis Group) and guitarist Mick Grabham (of Cochise, previously of Plastic Penny) met up one day through ex-Plastic Penny drummer Nigel Olsen, when he joined Spencer Davis Group.

Ray and Mick got on well straight away and soon formulated a plan, in the finest of '70s rock excess, to make a touring band and album dominated by many expert guitarists. Four lead guitarists were initially planned, but as it never amounted to a live entity, the multiple guitar layers and harmonies were over-dubbed by Ray and Mick. Mick claims that the idea was inspired by a 1962  LP called "Guitars'a Plenty", made by the George Barnes Guitar Choir (link). Also invited in were Dee Murray (Elton John Band) on bass and Tony Newman (May Blitz, Three Man Army) on drums. Vocals were mainly provided by John Gilbert of Cochise. Tim Renwick also guests on the album, he was mentioned at the beginning as a member of Quiver - on a small side note, Tim was a key supporting guitarist for Pink Floyd in all their shows since Momentary Lapse of Reason, up until Live 8, and a great job he did too. Dave Gilmour produced an early Quiver album, as one of his first production credits.

Mike Grabham - Ray Fenwick

The end result is a fascinating collection of mostly instrumental guitar-heavy blues, with lots of harmonised guitar parts and hints of country and progressive rock. The set opens with a nine minute rendition of Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance March", while impressive it is the most self-indulgent piece. The rest of the LP is played with equal skill and the songs themselves are genuinely good, with the likes of "Ghost Town" being particularly affecting, aided by John Gilbert's impassioned performance. The same can be said for the song I have picked for this comp, "Last Chicken in the Shop", a perfect choice as it's one of the most country flavoured tracks, and one of the heaviest. This is not some guitarist's show-off collection, it sounds like a fully-formed band, like a hard rock Eagles album that never-was. Lost to the vaults after being made, it was not officially released until 1997 by AngelAir. This is without doubt one of the most impressive curios I have ever found. Looking into the talents that made it, the best of Ray Fenwick, John Gilbert or Mick Grabham's previous works don't have anything to quite compare, so there was clearly a great chemistry happening when they all got together for this. It's a shame will not see more of it!

Personally speaking, the story of Heads Hands & Feet is a bit of a sad tale of missed opportunity that I find to be poignant. Still, the band was made up of seasoned musicians who's careers would continue without the band. They evolved from a studio-only band's record put out under the name of "Poet And The One Man Band", which was overseen by Tony Colton. By this point Tony had become an industry name. He was a band-leader, writer, arranger and producer who had made many of his contacts while frequenting The Flamingo Club in Soho, especially the Flamingo Allnighter on Friday nights. There's an incredible interview with Tony you can read here that recounts the many personalities that he was acquainted with.

Head Hands & Feet was the logical conclusion for Poet And The One Man Band, a band that Tony had gotten together as support for some of his clients. For instance, they played behind Shirley Bassey on her 5 million-selling album "Something". Variously they were Albert Lee (gtr), Jerry Donahue (gtr), Pat Donaldson (bass), John Bell (clarinet), Speedy Aquaye (percussion), Barry Morgan (drums), Peter Gavin (drums), Raymond Barry Smith (gtr) and Tony (lead vocals). A number of piano/organ players were involved: William Davies, Roger Coulam, Nicky Hopkins and Mike O'Neill. Track 8 in this comp is from Poet's album which was made in 1969.


Most of those names, with the addition of Chas Hodges, were to make up Heads Hands & Feet. Chas, from Edmonton, north London, had been in many beat bands by this stage, including Cliff Bennett's Rebel Rousers, and Joe Meek's house band The Outlaws (with Ritchie Blackmore). He also took part in the Green Bullfrog Sessions (See Vols 13 & 59) with a whole bunch of names including Albert Lee and Rod Alexander of Jodo (See tdats interview with Rod here). HH&F were snapped up by record labels, with their ready-made credentials and mass appeal which was seen as ripe for the US, they were reputedly offered the biggest advance in the history of rock, half a million dollars from Capitol in the US. In the UK they were on Island records. HH&F never realised their full potential, even though they made three albums proper, and after a faltering start they imploded within 4 years of forming. For fascinating details into the times, read the interview I mentioned previously.

C.J. Flanagan and Tony Colton

Most of the band continued productive careers in music, Chas became one half of the 'Rockneys' Chas 'n' Dave and Albert Lee's guitar virtuosity has gained him notoriety playing with big names like Joe Cocker (RIP), Emmylou Harris and Eric Clapton. Despite remaining productive in the industry, Tony admits he was hit extremely hard by the failure of HH&F.  At the time he was also burdened with marital problems, he lost interest in making it big, sinking into periods of drug and alcohol addiction. His resurgence occured after US country artist Ricky Scaggs won awards with a 1984 cover of the old HH&F favourite, "Country Boy". Tony has since been re-building a successful career up to this day, in US country music. Reports that he has a side-line as a Dustin Hoffman look-alike remain unconfirmed however...

Ellis

We move on to Ellis, a band which produced two records, the debut being by far the best. The key members were namesake Steve Ellis (vocals - ex-Love Affair) and 'Zoot' Money, real name George Bruno Money (Keyboards, The Animals, Humble Pie). There's a definite Faces vibe about the LPs, not only in Steve's 'Rod Stewart' rasp, but in their good time bar-room sound. The self-depreciatingly titled debut  LP "Riding On The Crest Of  A Slump" was produced by Roger Daltrey, who Eliss was renting from and living next to at the time.

Ellis Riding On The Crest Of A Slump

I have used the track 'Your Game', with it's southern rock sound. The guitar embellishments provided by Andy Gee (real name Gröber) really push it to another level. Complementing the band along with Andy (ex-Peter Bardens), was Jimmy Leverton (bassist, ex-Fat Mattress - later replaced by Nick South) and drummer Dave Lutton. Ellis quit after the second album, which he admits was lacklustre, feeling they'd been ignored in favour of the Epic label's more established stars like Jeff Beck, Argent and Donovan. There's a good read here on Steve's website, where he talks about Ellis, using the previously-mentioned Eggs Over Easy as a backing band, his friendship with Keith Moon and almost losing his ability to walk in a dockyard accident. Steve and Zoot would soon pair up again on the first Widow Maker album in 1976.

Holy Mackerel LP

This took me a while to track down, and I have now managed to find it, to my great satisfaction. While looking up UK bands online that had been tagged 'country rock', I discovered a completely new one to me, called Holy Mackerel. I did a youtube search for it to see if I could get a quick listen, and low and behold, I soon find a song with "Holy Mackerel - Members of Samuel Prody and Orang-Utan" in the title. Now, alarm bells start ringing. As many of you may know, Orang-Utan was the one-shot London band who recorded a great session one day in 1971.

They got stitched-up by a dodgy producer, who released it as an album in the US without telling any of them, keeping all the profits to himself of course. He even made up the artwork, and the name Orang-Utan, for the sake of the cover. There is a little more on the subject in an interview with guitarist Mick Clarke at It's Psychedelic Baby magazine (link). The connection between Orang-Utan and Holy Mackerel is singer Terry Clark. Now, Terry Clark links another band to Holy Mackerel, Jason Crest. This was a singles-only late '60s psych band who made some average stuff in their time, up until a final acclaimed heavy single in 1969; A Place In The Sun / Black Mass (youtube). Vocalist Terry, Roger Siggery (drums) and Derek Smallcombe (guitar) were all members of Jason Crest, and they all moved on to form Holy Mackerel afterwards. The final associated act is Samuel Prody, an English band that included Derek Smallcombe, which recorded one album in Germany, that has some pretty good heavy stuff on it (youtube).

Holy Mackerel band

The story goes that this group added a second lead guitarist Chris Ware, a bass player Tony Wood, and then relocated to the Lancashire countryside to practice for an album of rural rock. The result was the self-titled Holy Mackerel album, which was released by CBS in 1972. It's great! There's no doubt that the guys had a definite idea about what they wanted with Holy Mackerel, it certainly is no re-hash of Orang-Utan, Jason Crest or Samuel Prody. It's a mainly up-beat set of country rockers, with a glam edge, and a couple of ballads. Although the country aspect is of the american flavour, it still maintains a very English feel also, making this quite a unique sounding record. Don't expect any Sabbath heaviness, or any other typical hard rock moves, it's got a fresh, melodic sound of it's own, with a glam energy and urgency that rocks all the way! Apparently Holy Mackerel recorded a second album which was shelved after the band was dropped by it's label. But they did release three singles after the first album. One of which, 'Gemini', was for the second album, which was posthumously released in 1993 (link).

Judy Roderick & Bill Ashford

Nevada Jukebox - LP front (1972)

The story behind the group's name is unclear. Perhaps it has something to do with the number of buffalo that lived on the North American continent prior to their near extinction brought about by the colonization of white people. I've read that some folks compare this group with another Colorado band, Zephyr (which featured a very young Tommy Bolin on lead guitar). But other than the superficial fact that the two outfits both featured female lead vocalists (Zephyr's was the caterwauling Candice Givens), I don't think they have much in common in regard to music. While Zephyr was very much a rock and blooze band, Roderick's folk background clearly had a strong influence on 60,000,000 Buffalo's more rootsy sound.

Nevada Jukebox - LP rear (1972)

Most of the album's songs were written by Roderick and her husband William Ashford. The opening cut, the brief "Royalty Rag" segues into the cowbell-laden and quintessentially early 1970s ode to blow, "Cocaine Shuffle.""Canyon Persuasion" is a pleasant laid back piece featuring Roderick's strummed acoustic guitar and DeBacker's Leslie speaker-amplified electric instrument. "Lovely Ladies" is more of an all-out rocker with some somewhat herky-jerky time signatures, while "Denver Dame" may very well be an autobiographical piece that deals with Roderick's life experiences in Colorado. The traditional "Maid of Constant Sorrow" is definitely Nevada Jukebox's highlight and, in fact, just might be the heaviest version of this particular song ever committed to wax. Folk rock was a dying breed by the time this album came out, but bands like this weren't going to let the genre go down without a fight. Seriously, this rendition of this venerable warhorse fuckin' rocks, especially with the outstanding guitar interplay between Roderick and DeBacker. "Shake It and Break It" is a decent cover of a song originally done by prewar Delta blues legend Charlie Patton and features the boys in the band - DeBacker and Williamson - handling the lead vocal duties. More early 1970s vibes and plenty of cowbell are to be found on the rock-meets-folk-meets-country-meets-funk piece "Callin' You Down." After a fine arrangement of the traditional "Country Girl Again," there is some really nice slide guitar work on "American Money Blues." The closer, "Do What I Tell Me To," is a tune in the same bag as "Cocaine Shuffle" and "Callin' You Down" - definitely a product of its time."



We'll go straight to Jellybread's country-funktastic "Green Eyed Gypsy Queen". I find the first three Jellybread albums to be unremarkable, pedestrian, straight-blues. They got a real shot in the arm for the fourth, "Back To Begin Again". Maybe the name says it all. They do sound like a different band, beginning again, and the addition of Rick Birkett on guitar (ex-Accent see Vol57) and Kenny Lamb (drums) must have been a contributing factor. On this one they play predominantly hard, funky, country-tinged tunes, with much more attitude in Paul Butler's vocals. Maybe spurred on by the harder hitting music?

Jellybread - Back To Begin Again

Here's what Allmusic (link) has to say about them: "Formed at England’s Sussex University by pianist Pete Wingfield, Jellybread was originally completed by Paul Butler (guitar/vocals), John Best (bass), and Chris Waters (drums). In 1969 the quartet secured a recording contract with the exemplary Blue Horizon Records label and although largely unadventurous, their albums offered a highly competent grasp of black music, including both blues and soul. They provided stellar accompaniment on Lightnin’ Slim's London Gumbo and B.B. King in London, but the unit dissolved in 1971 with the departure of Wingfield and Waters. Newcomers Rick Birkett (guitar, ex-Accent) and Kenny Lamb (drums) joined for Back to Begin Again, but Jellybread broke up when the set failed to make commercial headway. However, Wingfield enjoyed success as a solo artist, session pianist, and member of Olympic Runners." He's also played with Alan Parsons rhythm section, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Paul McCartney, The Hollies and Van Morrison.

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The first new volume for the new year, and it's a country that has had no exposure anywhere on the blog yet, Portugal. After a tricky start I found more than enough tdats-friendly cuts for one volume, so this is part 1, a selection of the heaviest offerings. The forthcoming second part will be a more eclectic set. This is all good stuff, passing through the late '60s groovy beat of Quarteto 1111, the proto-metal heavies Beatnicks and Heavy Band, the nasty prog of Tantra, to the heavy metal of Xeque Mate and NZZN. The cover art is an interpretation of Adamastor. It's a mythological character that symbolised the forces of nature that Portuguese sailors had to confront during the country's time of its explorations. It was famed by the poet Luís de Camões in his classical 1572 work, "Os Lusíadas".

In a similar way to Franco's Spain, the fascist 'Estado Novo' political regime (over-thrown in 1974) was a particular hindrance on rock music. Patriotic, traditional folk and pop music was encouraged and the PIDE security agency (wiki) was used to censor and destroy music that was deemed subversive. It is clear there were very few rock releases for a country of Portugal's size, although there seems to have been a healthy-enough beat scene in the '60s to enable the creation of the four "Portuguese Nuggets" volumes (link). Bands such as Sheiks, The Chinchillas, Banda 4 and Quinteto Académico are some of the '60s bands that laid the groundwork for Portuguese rock. It would appear that after 1974 progressive rock made a belated start, with names like Tantra, Quarteto 1111, Petrus Castrus and Banda do Casaco starting to catch up with the times, the first two of those appear in this volume. Another good CD to look at if you want to investigate more seventies sounds is "Psychadelic Portugal" (link).

Festival de Vilar de Mouros

The first proper rock festival in Portugal was 1971's Festival de Vilar de Mouros on the 7th & 8th of August, which had between 20,000 and 30,000 visitors. The event was enjoyed by the crowds who had never seen such a thing before, but the organisers needed to sell 50,000 tickets to break-even, and it was not put on again until 11 years later.  There's lots to read in Portuguese here: link1, link2, link3. The two big international names appearing were Manfred Mann and Elton John. Quarteto 1111 and Pop Five Music Incorporated, who are both in this comp, were there. Also appearing were Objectivo and Psico, who will both be in the next one.

TRACKS
01. Beatnicks - Back In Town (1972)
       single
02. Beatnicks - Money (1972)
       single
03. Quarteto 1111 - Bissaide (1969)
       'Nas Terras Do Fim Do Mundo' single
04. Xarhanga - Acid Nightmare (1973)
       from single and retrospective album 'Bota Fora'
05. Xarhanga - Wish Me Luck (1973)
       from single and retrospective album 'Bota Fora'
06. Arte & OfÍcio - Lobster Society (1979)
       from album 'Faces'
07. Xeque Mate - Vampiro Da Uva (1981)
       single
08. Tantra - Maquina da Felicidade (1977)
       from album 'Mistérios e Maravilhas'
09. Heavy Band - Beggarman (1972)
       single
10. Heavy Band - Funky (1972)
       single
11. Go Graal Blues Band - The Fault Is Her Own (1979)
       from album 'Go Graal Blues Band'
12. Go Graal Blues Band - They Send Me Away (1980)
       single
13. Pop Five Music Incorporated - Stand By (1971)
       single
14. Pop Five Music Incorporated - Page One (1970)
       single
15. José Cid - Doce E Fácil Reino Do Blá, Blá, Blá (1972)
       from 'Green Windows' album and 'Cantiga Portuguesa' single
16. NZZN - Vem Daí (1981)
       single

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Those of you that spend a lot a lot of time looking for obscurities in the realm of '60s/'70s rock will no doubt be familiar with some of the independent record labels that are re-issuing lost gems. They are of course one of the essential driving forces that keep the interest going in this scene, frequently revealing new artists' work that was previously lost in the vaults of old studios or forgotten in shoe boxes in dusty attics. Myself and everyone else who shares this stuff is indebted to them for making this music known and accessible. I list all the labels that I have used music from so far in the 'recommended' section on the right, so please check that out at some point.

Chris Peters

I was recently contacted by someone who works for one of these labels. He is Chris Peters (link), singer and guitarist for the contemporary heavy psych band 'Samsara Blues Experiment'. There is another great interview with him here at ItsPsychedelicBaby (link). One of his other pass-times is assisting in the running of the independent label that his band is signed to, called 'World In Sound', aka 'WIS' (website). Originally started in 1998 by founder Wolf, the label began as a '60s-'70s rarity re-issue label, and has since branched out into signing current bands. In a recent vision-shift it has just moved on to its first '80s re-issue, as you will read below. I have used music from WIS re-issued acts more than a few times in this blog before, Fear Itself (Vol97), Ellison (Vol12), Darius (Vol108) and Goldenrod (Vol31) to name a few. Therefore I was more than happy to join-in with Chris's suggestion of doing a spotlight on the label, which is what volume 114 of TDATS has become.

What you get here is fifteen tracks which I have chosen as some of my personal faves from the WIS 'relics from the past' catalogue. This includes a few names that have appeared before in TDATS, and I am glad to say the rest have not, making for a very fresh set for you guys out there and some new discoveries to me. Label-owner Wolf has given us his opinions on the tracks. He also took part in an interview, which will be great for those of you interested in the world of re-issue labels and what it's like to run one. The majority of tracks are from albums, with two 45s, from Purple Canteen and Protein Bros. These are taken from the WIS obscure 45s comp, "Psychedelic Minds vol. 1" (link).

TRACKS with Wolf's comments (there's more detailed artist info at end of article)
01. Protein Bros - Drainpipe (1971)
        from album 'Psychedelic Minds Vol.1'
        Pure Euphoria! Also heavy as hell and should make everybody want to dance and freak
        out!
02. Gold - No Parking (1970)
        from album 'San Francisco Origins'
        For that period heavy as hell and in my opinion at least as powerful as "Ace of Spades"
03. Dragonwyck - The Vision (1970)
        from album 'Dragonwyck'
        Kind of a heavy punk version of the Doors'"Break on Through"
04. Purple Canteen - Brains In My Feet (1968)
        from album 'Psychedelic Minds Vol.1'
        Fuzziest Fuzz ever
05. Fred - By The Way (1971)
        from album 'Fred'
        Incredible music! An album which should be in each and every good '70s collection
06. Strawberry Window - Mercury (1967)
        from album 'Strawberry Window'
        The raw, intense roots of Westcoast heavy blues rock
07. Fear Itself - For Suki (1969)
        from album 'Fear Itself'
        Perfect culmination of teenage blues and distorted heaviness. Dramatic
08. Headstone - Ragin' River (1974)
        from album 'Still Looking'
        It was their later stuff, it´s a bonus track, a good 70s rocker, a ZZ-Top, AC/DC-like
        stomper, but the more excessive material is the album and the 45s.
09. Mystic Siva - Eyes Have Seen Me (1970)
        from album 'Mystic Siva'
        Mystic Siva were awesome performers. Checkout their live album “Under the 
        Influence”, incredible to me that they were just 16 on average when doing this. Most of
        their songs are really DIE HARD, which was also the major aspect in '80s thrash metal.
10. Jeff Simmons - I'm In The Music Business (1970)
        from album 'Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up'
        "I'm in the Music Business," in which the main character resorts to acting in a porn flick
        to pay his rent when his career as a musician goes nowhere. Frank Zappa produced the
        album and Simmons would later join The Mothers.
11. Freeman Sounds & Friends - If I Could Only (1970)
        from album 'Heavy Trip'
        A very epic heavy rock tune, heavy blues, haunting and unforgettable with stunning
        melodies and forceful guitar work. If it would have been released in 1971 it could have
        been a hit. It also has a bit of Krautrock flair
12. Psiglo - Cambiarás al Hombre (1974)
        from album 'Psiglo II'
        Theatrical South American prog psych at its best! Great rhythm changes and hammond
        riffs, mind-blowing guitar solo
13. Stoned Circus - Trust (1970)
        from album 'Revisited'
        Great! I invited them to Germany in 2005 and they came with original line up. It was
        pure and authentic!
14. Sproton Layer - The Blessing Of The Dawn Source (1970)
        from album 'With Magnetic Fields Disrupted'
15. Cosmic Dealer - Child Of Tomorrow (1973)
        from album 'Child Of Tomorrow'
        The Netherlands had a few spectacular bands with a typical "Dutch vibe" in songwriting.
        Shocking Blue were the heroes, and their heavy songs are just WOW! "Child Of
        Tomorrow" is a perfect heavy/pop rock song with cool Westcoast-feeling and from 2:28
        min. marching into the unexpected! Awesome! In my opinion that part could have been
        more extended to a real freakout, but it´s a song and not a jam. Still, in one word:
        remarkable.

Q1. Hi Wolf, welcome to TDATS. Firstly, can you tell us a little about yourself. Is 'Wolf' a nickname? Where are you from and where do you live in Germany?
Wolf is the short version of Wolfgang. I grew up here, close to Heidelberg in the south western part of Germany. For university I moved up 300 km north to Cologne, then returned and started my label as a hobby in 1998. Besides sports, music was always a true love of mine. My parents' musical taste plus the time I grew up as a kid (early-mid 70s) had a huge impact on my NOW-taste. It was Elvis, Pat Boone, '60s orchestra stuff and the Ennio Morricone Western or Jerry Cotton soundtracks, Joe Meek, who all had an epic, monumentally haunting feeling but catchy arrangements.This is what I call "dark euphoria" and what I see as one part of the World In Sound-philosophy.

Then in the 1980s I was a teen and at first owned only one vinyl; a 50s/60s Rock&Roll comp featuring Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Fats Domino – my next album was Judas Priest “Defenders of the Faith”… It was a great period for music and in retrospect the years 1983 – 1989 was the last serious revolutionary movement in rock history, when I had the ultimate pleasure of seeing Metallica with Cliff Burton in 1985, opening for Venom. Of course, most of the other acts that I saw live were a great experience. Almost every concert was a total blast and a happening with maximum tension – now days I often miss that magic. I feel mostly disappointed about today's LIVE heavy music scene. I ask myself sometimes, if the time to be truly euphoric is gone? Or is it that maybe the term 'euphoria' deserves a new definition?

Q2. Are you a musician yourself?
No I never played music but was always a passionate and conscious listener, hunting for intense and catchy music. I did professional sports for about half of my life (swimming).

Q3. Can you tell us some of the major events and influences in your life that led you to start "World in Sound"?
There was always the passion to discover great music and that is a lifetime quest and still growing. My major motivation was to dive deeper in the local US-underground scene while collecting 60s/70s original vinyl and 45 records at the end of the '90s. This was the period when lots of bootlegs flooded the market but also “popular” re-issue labels had been founded to create a renaissance with a look back to underground music history.

One day near the end of 1998, I decided spontaneously to release music on limited vinyl and to find the band members, with the hope to get more unreleased music and exciting biographies. And further, I had the intention of producing high quality releases, as an alternative for super expensive original albums, like Mystic Siva, Darius or Modulo 1000. I found several bands who just did rare 45 records, like Fred, and I was mind-blown (and still am) when I listened to their unreleased music for the first time.

Q4. Can you describe some of key moments in the development of the label since it started?
There were too many impressing moments to describe one as a key. It was a constant growth and it was always awesome, when after a difficult search for the original artists I had the right guy on the phone. Also meeting some of these guys and talking about their passion, what efforts they put in their music, was highly inspiring.

It was important for WIS to start with CD-releases in 2001, because by that it reached more international popularity. The next important step was to add contemporary groups on the label and most of the latest releases are really good albums, but especially live on stage most of my bands are really challenging.

Also, the jam-project Obskuria gave me an opportunity to produce albums and learn about studio work. I enjoyed the whole process of the production, from sharing ideas to recording, cutting, mixing and mastering it. It was a project with musicians from my label, Tom Brehm from Dragonwyck and the La Ira De Dios band, plus a keyboardist from my area. They jammed like hell and with the help of my sound-engineer we cut these jams to songs. It was a lot of fun and I still listen to it and I am mind-blown.

Q5. You cover a wide range of styles with WIS. TDATS is mainly about heavy stuff like hard rock and heavy prog/psych, but WIS equally features stuff like folk and experimental artists. Could you tell us what your favourite styles in old rock are, including some of your favourite artists from those times?
When people say heavy, I assume that they mean riff-orientated, doomy, less melodic and tight rock, like a hardcore-style kind of sound – Though I think true heaviness should also work on people´s minds and not just on their body, for me it´s more about intensity which is created by exciting layers, catchy melodies, fast(er) rhythms and a climax that every good song should have, plus unexpected movements which are floating into euphoric and hypnotic realms. I can not really tell you which styles I like. Before I already mentioned my "heroes" - the '80s thrash metal and punk movement was the strongest and most influential style, I have lived for - maybe also because of the chance to see all these great bands live on stage. Back then I took all my pocket money to the local record store ;-). I can for sure say that I'm not into most new styles, like Sludge, modern Doom or Nu-Metal, all that is too boring for me.

Q6. Personally, I think the short transitional period between the 60's and 70's was the best and most creatively interesting time in rock history. What are your opinions on why there was such a creative explosion during those times and what other periods interest you most up until the current day?
I totally agree with you, also 1955-1963 was spectacular when Rock & Roll and a serious youth movement opened up the gate – that heated people up for more freedom in music. Especially the fact that bands wrote their own songs, made the '60s/'70s movement this exciting and the naivety and passion of discovering something new drove it to the limit.

Compared to today the quality of dynamics in the productions had way more magical spirit due to the influences of classical/jazz orchestra music, which means the knowledge about music and how things work on the listener was at a higher level. Also that gave interesting crossover albums like Deep Purple the chance to combine classical movements with heavy rock and in the end it sounded like one big orchestra.

Q7. How do you choose the artists to reissue with WIS? Do you choose them all yourself, or do you have assistance or recommendations?
If I want to listen to an album over and over again, I want to release it. Of course I have friends who I "use" as test-listeners, also Chris Peters (from Samsara Blues Experiment and Electric Magic Records) consulted me for some releases, or forwarded to me bands like Postures and Sun And The Wolf. But my experience is, not to listen too much to other people, or think too long about things. It has to hit me from the first note or needs at least 50% of these "WOW"-songs. I think there are either way too many releases on the market, and I receive at least 2-3 demos a week, so I hope that every release is chosen well-enough to not end up in the 0.99ct special sale boxes (which is much less than the production cost).

Q8. How did you get together the obscure 45s that you used in your various artist comps like ''Psychedelic Minds Vol.1''.
They are all in my collection, good stuff ain't it? For a long time I've been thinking of a Vol. 2, so be prepared!

Q9. Do you have any interesting stories regarding how you found out about their lost work, or how you got in contact with any of the artists?
There were too many stories in that field of “detective-research”. Once I tried to locate Florencio Vargas from San Antonio TX. He's on the Psychedelic Minds sampler with the group Sangre Mexicana, a killer song! So, there was a search-website which displayed the ages of people and I called the oldest person with the surname "Vargas", out of 100 hits, who was a 91 year old woman, and asked if she could help me. She was so nice, we talked for more than 10 mins and joked and a few days later I got an E-Mail from Florencio. Most of the WIS releases have been realized after similar web-research for phone numbers and then calling the musicians to find out about an existence of tapes, deals and other things. I have also brought musicians together who lost track of each other, by releasing their music.

Q10. Could you tell us three artists reissued by WIS that are particular favourites of yours, and why?
A tough question, for me every album has at least one “must-have-listened-at-least-once-in-a-lifetime” song!

Fred is for sure one of the most musically-talented bands you'll find in my reissue catalogue. I love especially their self-titled debut, and feel sadness that they were not discovered in 1971. I met three of them in person.

Mystic Siva were awesome performers. Checkout their live album “Under the Influence”, incredible to me that they were just 16 on average when doing this. Most of their songs are really DIE HARD, which was also the major aspect in '80s thrash metal.

There are many, many more album highlights like Easy Chair, Cold Sun, The Id, Phantasia, Fear Itself, Dragonwyck, CK Strong, Headstone, The Head Shop, Gold ... They all developed their “own” remarkable sound and great songs.

Q11. What is the future for WIS? Do you have any other types of project in mind, like books for instance?
I guess the future will be good – several great albums are in the pipeline. With Samsara Blues Experiment this year we will have the first well-promoted US tour of a WIS-artist, and they will be the first WIS-artist at Hellfest in France. I hope that soon other WIS bands can follow.

In 2015 WIS will re-release Blind Illusion's "The Sane Asylum" album, a thrash metal band with psychedelic influences. It will also be the first '80s release in the WIS catalogue. With the new mastering I hope to bring out the 70s psych appeal better than you hear it on the original release. I love open and natural dynamics and sound. According to my knowledge it was Les Claypool's [of Primus] first ever album release. Just yesterday I received unreleased 1979 bonus tracks from guitarist Mark Bierdermann, who is the band leader and founder and... WOW! I hope the WIS fans will see that thrash metal also had psychedelic aspects... and also for you, as a reviewer for heavy progressive music, I think it´s a nugget, if you don´t know about it yet.

I´d also like to set up a festival with only WIS-bands this year.

A book is possible but only by spoken interview and someone else writing it. Could be very interesting though. Do you have any plans in writing a book, btw?

Rich: Possibly, if I can can come up with an original aspect that hasn't been done for a book before.

Q12. Could you tell us about some of your favourite current or new artists from around the world?
A tough question too, the last “current” band that knocked me out was Portishead. Compared to what I have seen live on stage and heard on album during the past 30 years I prefer looking back in time, than searching for current music I could like. I don´t want to sound ignorant and don´t doubt that awesome albums are around today, but I found none by coincidence yet ;-). Btw. I quit collecting about 10 years ago. But I was totally surprised by Black Sabbath's last tour.

Q13. What have you learnt from your experiences of running WIS? Do you have any useful advice for rock fanatics who are considering starting a label or similar project themselves?
I have learned that I would do the same again and I enjoyed the time when I researched a lot in historical music. I also enjoy working with young talented bands who look forward to their best years of making music. I motivate them to find ways to knock the fans out and recommend exciting inventive music for them to listen to. An artist's job is to entertain the fans and a label's job is to entertain collectors by picking the best artists and providing the best "product" in regard to our WIS-special LP-releases for example. If the choice of artists is great, your products will be sought-after as soon they are out of print!

Q14. Finally, do you have anything further to say to TDATS and WIS fans out there?

ROCK ON! WIS will never compromise in the choice of artists, and hopes to release more challenging albums. 

Thanks Wolf!

Strawberry Window - 'Strawberry Window' LP (link) 

Strawberry Window hailed from the San Francisco Bay Areas East Bay music scene in the mid 60’s and were truly one of the “early birds” and innovators who made their own distinct brand of Rock-N-Roll. They played in a heavy-psychedelic-garage style, sounding somewhat reminiscent of the Jefferson Airplane, (early) Mad River, Buffalo Springfield, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Frumious Bandersnatch. These previously unreleased recordings have survived for the last four decades in a box on a shelf in a band member's closet.

Meticulous care and detail has been taken to master these recordings with a fresh, open approach, while ensuring that the sound and integrity of the vintage songs remained intact. The music of this guitar based quartet ranges from catchy electric folk tunes and “West Coast” garage rock to raw energetic acid jams lasting over 10 minutes.


Fear Itself - 'Fear Itself' LP (link) 

The album was originally released in 1969 on Dot-Records but didn't receive too much attention - maybe it appeared as a "too" freaked out heavy version of Jefferson Airplane or Big Brother & the Holding Co. The group started back in Atlanta Georgia in 1967 as a quartet with two guitars, played true Psychedelic sounds, recorded with Tom Wilson at the Record Plant in NYC, and moved to Woodstock (NY). The 10 album tracks contain 2 arrangements of traditional tunes all others are originals reflecting true electric heavy blues with a strong Hendrix feel, duelling guitar work and an outstanding female voice/vocals/screams...lots of intense stereo effects.

The group performed at Woodstock Festival in 1968 (one year before...) and played the hottest venues of NYC such as Filmore East. Ellen McIlwaine, the founder of the group made an international solo career as blues-singer and slide guitarist sharing the bill with Jimi Hendrix (main influence), Laura Nyro, Howlin' Wolf, Weather Report, Taj Mahal, George Thorogood, Tom Waits, Chicago, Bruce Springsteen and played a series of concerts with Johnny Winter.


Headstone - 'Still Looking' LP (link) 

This reissue by Headstone, a hard rock quartet from Indiana was their only album release. Their sound is strong and melodic with guitar/organ leads and catchy vocals. Their natural float creates a hypnotic atmosphere. At all their musical spirit is closer to the end 60s blend, than the recording year 1974 reflects, and sometimes they remind of the early Bloodrock stuff. Acid Archives (Patrick Lama): "The opening seven minute title track is a killer journey through local underground guitar psych, and there's plenty more good stuff aboard including some more lyrical moves. Underrated LP, solid all-way through, better than many $1000 LPs."

They were discovered by a local producer from Ohio, who owned the label "Starr-Records" and went there to record "Still Looking" (further they released in 1975 two non-lp 45 records; three "45-rpm songs are bonus tracks on the LP version; on CD you´ll find in total 6 bonustracks on the CD incl. 2 previously unreleased tunes). A hard rock album with several of flashes of the upcoming" new wave of British Heavy Metal (NWoBHM).


Mystic Siva - 'Mystic Siva' LP (link)

This album is remastered and remixed from the original first generation master tape, while the original album in 1970 was taken from a second generation tape; it had included overdub guitar solos on the three songs, to get more of the intended intensity into mix but in the end the original album sound did not reach the expectations of the group, it was too sterile instead of a more natural sound with the distortion and feedback.

This issue here is the real thing, you will hear it like it was intended in 1970. The four Sivas put 60s hippie garage psychedelic rock music on a darker and higher level of intensity, while the slower atmospheric tunes remind of the Doors, Jimi Hendrix or Iron Butterfly, the heavy cuts are unexpectedly crazy, mind blowing and hypnotic with flashes of the later upcoming rural 1980s thrash punk/metal vibe. After 43 years these original album recordings express at its best the challenging and inventive concept of Mystic Siva´s music. 11 original songs with a total running time of 46 minutes incl. a 16 page booklet with liners and other memorabilia.


Jeff Simmons - 'Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up' LP (link)

There are two albums from the Straight label years of Zappa´s multi-talented 'sideman', Jeff Simmons. In 1968 in Seattle Herb Cohen and Frank Zappa was in the audience after his sound check, and was listening to “Easy Chair”, Jeff´s group. Fascinated by his talent, he was signed for Straight records. Both albums, Lucille and Naked Angels were recorded in 1969.

'Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up' contains 10 heavy Blues-Rock and Folk tunes. Jeff is playing a hard-driven and groovy bass, piano, organ and accordion and singing in a style similar to that of Jack Bruce with Cream.

Simmons presented a brace of strong, harmonically sophisticated songs that have some of the explosive, multi-hued impact of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The album was produced by Chris Huston (Led Zeppelin II, Undertakers, Young Rascals) and Frank Zappa under the synonym “La Marr Bruister”, who wrote the title track, played lead guitar on two tracks and co-wrote "Wonderful Wino”. Contains  memorabilia from Jeff´s vaults (posters, photos, liner notes).

Lucille was rated in Mojo Magazine as the 2nd best release on Straight Records. Strange Things Art Magazine mentions it as “the closest in execution to contemporary Mothers”, but Jeff´s individual talent made this album to a lost classic. To the right is a cutting from the UK's Melody Maker, December 5th 1970. It is one of the only articles written about Jeff, many thanks to Richard Morton Jack of Flashback magazine. (link)


Freeman Sound & Friends - 'Heavy Trip' LP (link)

I used a great cover of "16 Tons" from these guy back in Vol108. World In Sound presents another group that represents the late 60s, early 70s heavy psychedelic era scene in northeast Ohio, USA (the same region that Dragonwyck is from). Having won the Starshine Productions'"Battle of the Bands" in 1970, the five-member FREEMAN SOUND was established as the most popular of several bands (including Morly Grey), that had records released on the Starshine label. This special collection of original songs and sounds is an exciting bit of rock history that documents some of the charm, wit and depth of talent that made FREEMAN SOUND the special local hit they were.

This release includes 12 great, quality tracks with bio and photos. You'll get stoned on some mind-bending vocals backed by instrumentation that includes some very intense, heavy fuzz and wah pedal guitar sounds, solid drums and a screaming organ, with flashes of famous British groups. Prepare to get off on cuts like the 17 minute "Heavy Trip #70", the Hendrix-like "Tomorrow Is Plastic" and what we would venture to say is the heaviest version of Merle Travis'"16 Tons" ever recorded! This band broke up before they were able to make the most of their popularity. With this previously unreleased album, they may be taking up where they left off.


Psiglo - 'II' LP (link)

First vinyl reissue of this heavy progressive masterpiece from Uruguay. The second release of Psiglo is Uruguays rarest rock album, that was recorded in 1974 and first released in 1980 in an edition of only 200 copies. Contains long progressive tracks with heavy guitars pounding organ and creative arrangements. Second album of our SONDOR series with legendary records and recordings from Uruguay!




Stoned Circus - 'Revisited' LP (link)

This is an outstanding piece of US psychedelia – Stoned Circus – started in 1968 in Kansas City and became soon one of the hottest local acts. The powerful sound with male and female lead vocals has a strong “Jefferson Airplane” feeling, feat. a magic B3 organ and stunning heavy guitars. Not to be confused with the “Stone Circus” that recorded for the Mainstream label. This material was unreleased and found in the archives of Cavern Sound Studios where the “Wizzards from Kansas” recorded.

Rockadelic Records released these recordings as limited LP version in 1994 which is long sold out. Songs include “Gotta find Way”, “Try Love”, “New World”, “Trust”, and a fabulous coverversion of Zeppelin’s “Gonna Leave You”… Originally recorded in 1970 and for the first time on CD taken from the original masters including an 8p. with cool artwork, bio and photos. Highly recommended, reflects the honest summer, peace & love feeling!


Sproton Layer - 'With Magnetic Fields Disrupted' LP (link)

Sproton Layer was a psychedelic rock band based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which thrived from the fall of 1968 through the summer of 1970. They began under the name “Freak Trio” - three hyperactive brothers, Laurence, Ben, and Roger Miller who became, at the young ages of 14 – 16, addicted to Pink Floyd´s “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” when it came out in '67. Their unique and euphoric creation of music ranges from progressive-acid-punk to heavy psychedelia with catchy chord changes and Spaghetti Western Ennio Morricone flashes.

The energy of "With Magnetic Fields Disrupted", which was recorded in 1970, are strong, intense space music episodes of destruction and rebirth. Journalist Michael Azerrad described their recordings in his book OUR BAND COULD BE YOUR LIFE as "...a valuable document of an amazing band that sounded like Syd Barrett fronting Cream". The album was first released in 1991 by New Alliance Records, but it did not catch much recognition among the '60's collector freaks. Here is the next chance to discover the whole story of one of the “almost forgotten” US underground art-performance groups. Forty minutes long, the album was remastered from the original tapes.

Features extended band info and about four dozen artifacts including drawings, set lists, photographs, journal entries and more. After Sproton Layer, all Miller brothers contributed to numerous bands such as Destroy All Monsters, Mission Of Burma, and M3 …


Cosmic Dealer - 'Child Of Tomorrow' LP (link)

This is the second previously unreleased album by the Dutch psychedelic hard rock band Cosmic Dealer. Their first album “Crystallization” from 1971 is an outstanding and rare masterpiece for all psych collectors and for sure one of the best Euro-Underground rock albums of the 70s. In 1971 the band was shortly disband but found together in 1973 with a few line-up changes but kept the same musical intention: heavy psychedelic, progressive and guitar driven hard rock, with catchy song writing, a few US-Westcoast flashes but also extended instrumental jam excursions.

This album contains 6 songs which were recorded in 1973, plus 3 demos from 1971 and as bonus you´ll find 7"EP with 4 live cuts (25 mins) and was recorded in 1971, including the title track from their debut Crystallization. The album is is carefully re-mastered to catch the real spirit of the beautiful and intense music and contains a poster and a with lots of photos and liner notes.

Thanks Chris and Wolf, and thanks for reading! Rich

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