1970s

WITHOUT ROOTS
Forgotten folk renegades and country dropouts make for a fascinating mix.
By HUGH DELLAR.

various artists
Wayfaring Strangers: Lonesome Heroes
Numero CD
www.numerogroup.com

Somewhere along the line, the very notion of the singer-songwriter sounds became sullied. For many years, the tag came steeped in trite and whiney Me-generation clichés – with a side order of extra syrup – and called to mind the yawn-inducing mid-70s Coked-up Laurel Canyon smug-fest that spawned James Taylor, Carly Simon and their ilk.
Numero's jaw-dropping new compilation, Wayfaring Strangers: Lonesome Heroes, sets straight that half-truth and returns the genre to its lonesome rebel roots. Think Fred Neil, Tim Buckley and Townes van Zandt and you're halfway there already.
As beautifully packaged and lovingly compiled as you'd expect from this splendid label, the 17 tracks herein encompass a 13-year span, from 1970 up to ’83, and feature a motley crew of peripatetic male folkies, with ties to neither each other nor any particular type of scene. What weaves a thread through the selection is a dark power; a rootless restlessness and a weary familiarity with uncertainty and change. This is the sound of the long, slow post-60s comedown being played out in no-name towns and spread thin through private press releases.
The music is hazy and close, possessed of an eerie intimacy that is enough to make you shudder in the night on occasion. The arrangements tend towards the starkly simple, and the mood towards the deeply nocturnal – though there are moments of lush loveliness, such as the haunting flute flow that embellishes half of Richard Smyrnios' ‘As I Walk’.
Every track hits home, but personal stand-outs include the dreamlike gaze on the apocalypse that is ‘Before’ by ice hockey player Jim Schoenfeld, culled from his ’71 release, Schony. It is nigh-on impossible to imagine there's another LP out there by a professional sportsmen that features music of such spectral fragility or that drips and aches like the molten music of the midnight moon.
Also astounding is ‘The Tailor’ by Jack Hardy, a man once convicted of libel for a political cartoon that lewdly lampooned Tricky Richard Nixon. Veering out into the dark back roads of country music, this moral fable hangs in the head long after it fades from the speakers.
And of course, there's more, much more. For anyone hurtin' to hear some bruised and beautiful loner, stoner sounds, this is truly compulsory.
Hugh Dellar

TALKIN’ ’BOUT MY GENERATOR
A cherry-picked anthology of prog’s bravest sonic explorers.
By MARCO ROSSI.

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Refugees: A Charisma Anthology
Virgin 3-CD
www.virginrecords.com
‘Refugees’ by Van Der Graaf Generator was said to be Charisma Records label boss Tony Stratton Smith’s favourite song, so it is only fitting that it should lend its name to this essential 3-CD collection of epochal favourites and mislaid gemstones from one of the key labels of its era.
Established in October 1969, Charisma got off to a standing start when the label’s first single release, ‘Witchi Tai To’ by Topo D Bill (thinly-disguised Bonzos loose cannon “Legs” Larry Smith), failed to chart despite reasonably hefty airplay. This must have been as inexplicable then as it remains now: the song is as contagious as swine flu and as enigmatically beautiful as the Mona Lisa smile, lambent with a lovely late psych glow courtesy of Tony Kaye’s placidly floating Hammond. I would say that it’s a highlight on the first CD in this set, but Jesus; there are no lowlights.
The aforementioned ‘Refugees’ is of course present and correct, with its beguiling “West is Mike and Susie” refrain (“Susie” was actress Susan Penhaligon, fact fans). The Nice, Rare Bird and Lindisfarne provide some chart action – ‘America’, ‘Sympathy’ and ‘Lady Eleanor’ respectively – while Brian Davison’s Every Which Way and Jackson Heights’ prove that it wasn’t just Keith Emerson who exhibited belligerent signs of life beyond The Nice. ‘Doubting Thomas’ by Jackson Heights is particularly revelatory, built upon a cantering percussion track which appears to be someone slapping his own cheeks. I hope they got it in one take for the sake of the man’s ruptured blood vessels, gum ulcers and loosened teeth.
Refugees pokes into some unexpected but entirely welcome corners over the course of its three CDs – Bo Hansson, Monty Python (‘Spam Song’ – still funny), Capability Brown, Jack The Lad, Audience, Bell & Arc, Brand X – but it is a testimony to the label’s innate good taste that the quality never dips significantly. Genesis fanatics will applaud the inclusion of the tricky-to-find ‘Twilight Alehouse’, while any compilation that can accommodate all 12 minutes of Van Der Graaf’s ‘Pioneers Over C’ gets a Macca-style thumbs-up from this jury for sheer chutzpah.
Unequivocally recommended.

TONIGHT WILL BE FINE
How LEONARD COHEN calmed the Hendrix-battered, rain-soaked masses.
By GARY VON TERSCH.

LEONARD COHEN
Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970
Columbia/CMV/Legacy CD/DVD
www.legacyrecordings.com
Bob Dylan put the initial Isle Of Wight music festival on the map when he played there in 1968 – his first public appearance since his fabled motorcycle accident in ’66.
Two summers later it was left up to novelist, poet and lately singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, awakened at 2AM from a nap in his trailer, to calm a rain-soaked, near riotous audience of 600,000 which had just been so stoked by one of Jimi Hendrix’s most incendiary sets that they set the stage on fire.
This two disc CD and DVD package couples Teo Macero’s superb audio recording of the event (Cohen is accompanied by his Army, a small band of Nashville-based musicians including Bob Johnston, Charlie Daniels and Ron Cornelius) with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Murray Lerner’s documentary styled video remembrance of Cohen’s electrifying performance that also includes recent interview segments with fellow festival artists Joan Baez (who had performed before Hendrix), Judy Collins (who introduces ‘Suzanne’ on the DVD), Bob Johnston and Kris Kristofferson.
The majority of songs derive from Cohen’s first two albums (Songs Of Leonard Cohen from ’67 and ’69’s Songs From A Room) save three that were destined for his upcoming third release, ’71’s Songs Of Love And Hate. All are Cohen originals, except for the highly-charged ‘The Partisan’, originally a French World War II resistance tune, which he dedicates “to Joan Baez and the work she is doing”.
Particular pleasers include a solemn, slowed down rendition of his existential anthem ‘Bird On A Wire’ (that he opened with, immediately transfixing and calming the restive throng), an extended, cathartic version of his rowdy ‘Tonight Will Be Fine’, a blues-haunted, droning ‘So Long Marianne’, the tranquil, lullaby-like ‘Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye’ and the emotionally overwhelming, confessional tone-poem ‘You Know Who I Am’.
The trio of newer titles encompasses spellbinding run-throughs of both the erotically elliptical ‘Diamonds In The Mine’ and the spiritualistic ‘Sing Another Song, Boys’ along with what would become one of his most covered compositions – the bleak letter-song ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’. Throughout, Lerner’s cameras brilliantly capture Cohen’s arresting presence, enchanter’s allurement and an eerie intimacy that seems out of place given the circumstances.
Also available in double LP and Blue-ray configurations.
Gary von Tersch

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BANDS
Magneticism: The Best Of Captain Beefheart & His Magic Bands Live
72-81
Viper CD
www.the-viper-label.co.uk
No need for introduction here when it comes to the Shindig! in-crowd, but here’s a quote for newcomers as appropriate as any, coming from the liners by Viper’s in-house scribe Bernie Connor: “beautiful, strangled mass of dischord and hardcore blues which in reality had nothing to do with rock, but more to do with the avant-garde jazz ramblings of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, smattering some already estabilished art forms in free jazz and delta blues, and twisting them and contorting them into a brand new art form, so alien that the purists just refused to see the beauty”.
This is a collection of live recordings, mostly from UK and USA, with the exception of one entry from each Toronto and Paris. All of these make pretty clear why Don Van Vliet has been considered for both one of the most important and least comprehensible recording artists in whatever you consider to be called rock ‘n’ roll. If you think that the studio recordings sound far out, these will blow your mind!
Goran Obradovic

CHRIS BELL
I Am The Cosmos (Deluxe Edition)
Rhino 2-CD
www.rhino.com

While Alex Chilton unwittingly became the curmudgeonly elder statesman of edgy, alternative rock – almost completely disowning the shimmering pop music that characterised most of Big Star’s best work – his original sparring partner and creative foil Chris Bell never enjoyed such luxuries. He died in 1978, leaving him frozen in time at some point in the mid-70s and forever in Big Star’s shadow.
When these recordings first saw the light of day in ’92 they did little to dispel that myth. Cuts like ‘Make A Scene’ and ‘I Got Kinda Lost’ (the latter also cut with Big Star before his departure in ’72) rarely deviate from the kind of sucker-punch melancholic guitar moves of his BS signature tunes ‘Feel’ and ‘Don’t Lie To Me’ and it’s not hard to imagine them snuggled in with ‘O My Soul’ and ‘Back Of A Car’, were Bell to have hung around for Radio City.
Despite the addition of an entirely new second disc of alternate versions and early outtakes, the aces here remain ‘I Am The Cosmos’ and ‘You And Your Sister’, both sides of the 45 released in ’78 just prior to his death and the only solo record to appear in his lifetime. Bell and Chilton’s harmonies and Bill Cunningham’s string arrangement on the impossibly pretty and poignant ‘You And Your Sister’ match Big Star’s best.
Andy Morten

BLONDE ON BLONDE
Rebirth
Future Noise CD
www.futurenoisemusic.com
Our fave Welsh progressive pop/psych group Blonde On Blonde get a welcome reissue of their follow up album to Contrasts. 1970’s Rebirth features the dreamlike ‘Castles In The Sky’ and a number of near equals, all of which feature a sharp and tight production. This is music that has barely dated at all. Indeed ‘Heart Without A Home’ sounds more like a new psych act than an actual new psych act!
This reissue also adds some rather excellent photos of the band in their psychedelic splendour all culled from the archive.
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills

CAPTAIN BEYOND
Captain Beyond/Sufficiently Breathless
Raven CD
www.ravenrecords.com.au
In 1971 Iron Butterfly’s bassist Lee Dorman and lead guitarist Larry ‘Rhino’ Reinhart split off and picked up Johnny’s Winter’s drummer Bobby Caldwell and Brit vocalist Rod Evans, recently of Deep Purple. The resulting heavy metal supergroup released these two stellar albums in ‘72 and ’73, respectively.
Progressive hard rock that combines barroom guitar riffs with a jazz-based, exploratory yearning in the lyrics and overall sound, they are something like The Flamin’ Groovies meets Yes, say, or The James Gang meets Dark Side Of The Moon-era Pink Floyd.
Sufficiently Breathless is less rocking than its eponymous predecessor, in part because the lineup had changed, Caldwell leaving and being replaced by Marty Rodriguez, with a piano player and percussionist being added. So where Captain Beyond has you thinking of what Grand Funk Railroad might have sounded like if they’d gone prog, the follow-up conjures the image of Blue Cheer taking a stab at ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’.
Brian Greene

Jan Dukes De Grey
Sorcerers/Mice And Rats In The Loft
Cherry Tree 2-CD
www.cherryred.co.uk
This double CD represents the complete recorded output of late '60s/early '70s UK acid folksters Jan Dukes De Grey and this really is a tale of two albums.
Recorded as a duo and originally released on Decca imprint Nova in 1970, Sorcerers is an easy on the ear collection of mellow acoustic ramblings apparently recorded inside a meditation tent to ensure the vibes were just right. However, there's never any hint of the seismic eruptions that were to follow one year later with the arrival of the extraordinary Mice And Rats In The Cellar.
Having switched labels to Transatlantic and expanded to a trio, a gaping stylistic and conceptual void separates the three lengthy tracks that make up the near unclassifiable Mice And Rats... from its gently hued predecessor.
Completing the story are two tracks from post Jan Dukes De Grey outfit Noy's Band originally released as their one and only 45 on Dawn in ’74.
Grahame Bent

Louie & The Lovers
The Complete Recordings
Bear Family CD
www.bear-family.de
The Complete Recordings comprises the Salinas quartet's debut album Rise originally released on Epic in 1970, non-album singles, outtakes and their never previously released second album.
Produced by Doug Sahm and recorded in one mammoth 18 hour session, Rise is, by and large, a straight ahead collection of rootsy chicano rock ‘n’ roll originals save for covers of ‘Rock Me Baby’ and Kaleidoscope's ‘If The Night’, whose pared down sound brings with it audible echoes of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Despite the album's complete commercial failure a second album was recorded at the behest of Atlantic which, following Jerry Wexler's departure for Warner Brothers was put on ice and is only now finally seeing the light of day.
These Tom Dowd engineered Atlantic sessions are notable for their fuller sound and feature guest appearances from, among others, Doug Sahm, Flaco Jimenez, Dr John and the Memphis Horns.
Grahame Bent

ONE ST STEPHEN
One St Stephen
AnazitisI LP
YEZDA URFA
Boris
AnazitisI LP + 7”
www.anazitisirecords.com
For a few years now the Greek label Anazititsi has been quietly issuing some of the most genuine mega rarities of the ’60s and ’70s. One St Stephen, from 1975, has suffered multiple bootlegs but this is the first official release for the album incorrectly rumoured to be the second by Steve Cataldo (St Steven/Nervous Eaters).
One of the best American private pressings, well recorded, filled with ripping acid guitar, Doors-like vocals, and dark, brooding, druggy songs, it’s a minor classic. The deluxe booklet reveals an equally entertaining history of creator, Don Patterson.
Another 1975 US mega rarity Yezda Urfda - not previously reissued - is also a rare example of ’70s US prog, much demanded by collectors. Brilliantly played with complex instrumentation and silly song titles, it’s full on prog mayhem.
Again, a deluxe booklet, insert and bonus single add to the overall wonder.
Richard Allen
Orange Wedge
Wedge
No One Left But Me
Both Wah Wah LPs
Orange Wedge from Baltimore, Maryland cut these two incredibly rare hard-rock albums in the early ’70s, now lovingly reissued by Wah Wah in cardboard sleeves so thick they’re virtually plywood.
Collectors generally seem to prefer the first album primarily for its naïve basement sound though I found the song-writing a tad under-developed and, for a hard rock LP, it never convincingly rocks out. That said it’s got great charm and well-crafted guitar work across several long tracks, particularly ‘Death Comes Slowly’.
From the first riff on the second LP it’s clear to see the band have beefed up their sound considerably and the posturing on the ultra-tough title track will have you wondering what occurred in the intervening two years between albums. The awesome first side is followed by a the second that opens with an interminable blues jam then a meandering filler that neither rocks nor impresses on any level before redemption in another long track ‘The Gate’ that recalls ‘Child Of Time’ era Deep Purple.
Wah Wah has done a great job on the packaging and sleevenotes and, more importantly, both albums sound terrific.
Austin Matthews
JOHN PHILLIPS
Man On The Moon
Varese Sarabande CD
www.varesevintage.com
Inspired by his viewing of astronaut Neil Armstrong’s 1969 moon landing on television, Phillips and his third wife, South African actress Genevieve Waite, began working obsessively on what, after five years, turned into an off-Broadway musical comedy flop (It ran less than a week in ’75) but the critics did enjoy the music.
This enhanced CD project collects 34 previously unreleased original songs variously performed by Phillips (with and without his Celestial Choir), various members of Andy Warhol’s Factory (Warhol ended up producing the fiasco) and Phillips’ fellow Papa, Denny Doherty, along with Waite and sex siren Monique Van Vooren.
Key tracks, with alternating themes of entrapment and constraint coupled with plenty of levity and promise for the future include the heart-wrenching ‘There Is A Place’, ‘Midnight Deadline Blastoff’, ‘Andy’s Talking Blues’, ‘Speed Of Light’, ‘Yesterday I Left The Earth’ and the autobiographical ‘Boys From The South.’ The material recorded live by Warhol on opening night and the video rehearsal footage also fascinate.
Yet another testimonial to Phillips’ under-recognised musical genius.
Gary von Tersch
QUINTESSENCE
Cosmic Energy: Live at St Pancras 1970
Infinite Love: Live at Queen Elizabeth Hall 1971
Both Hux CDs
www.huxrecords.com
Of the UK countercultural community bands of the late 1960s, Quintessence is served least well by history. Due to their overtly religious music – underscored by the appearance with a dodgy guru at Glastonbury Fayre – and also their reputation as a live act who never “got it down” on record, interest in Quintessence has really only been supported by dyed-in-the-wool hippies and collectors.
Yet in many ways the band are one of the more interesting manifestations of the countercultural era, who could only have existed at that moment in time, mixing multi-cultural and religious concepts with spectacular psychedelic jams and the odd decent tune.
Their minor hit ‘Notting Hill Gate’ captured the pre-Withnail & I bliss of West London’s hippy community whilst these stunning quality live recordings (recorded on multi track and recovered from Island’s vaults) reveal just what an exciting improvisational and inspirational band they could be given the right context and, no doubt, the right cosmic propellants.
Richard Allen
SLADE
Live at the BBC
Salvo CD
www.salvo-music.co.uk

Boy, is this a band I’d love to have seen in their pomp, and in their pomp is pretty much where we find them on disc two, on 17th August 1972 to be precise, a month away from their third UK #1 single. A blistering 11-track live set of stomping rock ‘n’ rollers thrashed to within an inch of their lives – punk rock in all but name.
We get a sensational world premiere of ‘Mama Weer All Crazee Now’ and an absolute masterclass from Nod in winning over an audience. He has them banqueting out of his hand (apart from the ‘erbert at the back shouting “rubbish”!).
Disc one dates from between October ’69 and May ’72. A mostly great selection of psych-rockers, Quo-esque boogies, bolshy pop songs and the odd ballad. Great covers too, particularly Traffic’s ‘Coloured Rain’, Janis Joplin’s ‘Move Over’, Moby Grape’s ‘Omaha’ and Fairport’s ‘It’s Alright Ma, It’s Only Witchcraft’.
This is a magnificent set – meticulously researched and presented. I can’t recommend it too highly.
Vic Templar
Thunderclap Newman
Hollywood Dream
Esoteric CD
www.cherryred.co.uk
That brief moment that constituted Thunderclap Newman's recording career is laid out in its entirety on this reissue of their sole 1970 Track Records album which includes six bonus tracks in the form of single versions and non-album B sides.
Principally remembered for 'Something In The Air' which spent no less than 12 weeks on the UK charts during the summer of ’69 – three of them at #1 – Thunderclap Newman was a motley trio. Take a bow singer/guitarist and former Who roadie (he also wrote and sang ‘Armenia City In The Sky’ on The Who Sell Out) Speedy Keen, a teenage pre-Stone The Crows Jimmy McCulloch and pianist/self-confessed Bix Beiderbecke obsessive, former Post Office engineer and reluctant frontman Andy Newman.
Thunderclap's most enduring claim to fame is their Pete Townshend connection which found PT in the producer's chair and playing bass under the nom de guerre Bijou Drains, meaning there's plenty here for Who completists and connoissuers of late ’60s British eccentric pop alike.
Grahame Bent
VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Electric Asylum Volume 3: Rare British Acid Freakrock
Past & Present CD
The previous two volumes in this series have been excellent and this volume keeps the standard equally high.
This time however, there’s less emphasis on prog pop and freak rock than junkshop glam and groovy dancers. Caberet comedians’ uncharacteristically cool sides feature in the forms of The Grumbleweeds’ ‘(Hey Babe) Follow Me’ – a fuzz guitar cruncher ­– and The Barron Knights’ 1972 outing ‘You’re All I Need’, sporting a mesmerising drum pattern and more fuzz guitar.
The Mike Berry produced, mono-phased dancer ‘Sweetness’ by Boneshaker is infectious whilst the oddly named Things Fall Apart’s ‘Bye Bye Rose’ supplies the crudest fuzz tone guitar imaginable on a British ’70s record. Dynasty’s ‘Tutankhamun’ is a ’72 cash-in on the exhibition of that year but it’s still a cool bubblegum sound.
The sound quality leaves something to be desired but then that’s boots for you.
Paul Martin
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Ghana Special, Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Ghanian Blues 1968-81
Soundway 2-CD/5-LP
Back again and over the boarder to Ghana, Soundway have not only given us another reason to intrepidly explore but have also granted us a complete dissection of Afro-soul and style. Instantly recognisable is that big band beat ethos which frames the indigenous rhythms of Ghanaian musical endeavour naturally. Whether it’s taking the soulful brass from Soul Sound System (‘Akoko Ba’ by Gyedu-Blay Ambolley & His Creations), or translating guitar parts originally lifted by Eddie Hazel or The Fame Gang for Clarence Carter (The Ogyatanaa Band), these sounds are lured south of the equator and presented in undiluted form. Hammering home the real feel of afro-soul, dancehall blues and the sweat of pure immersion.
This isn’t just a sweeping overview of the genre either. Whether it’s the 5-LP vinyl boxset or double CD hardback case-bound book, without this you aren’t going to get anywhere near to understanding what made Ghana so special.
Richard S Jones
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Sweet Surrender: Ember Pop 1970-78
Ember CD
www.futurenoisemusic.com
This companion volume to Rainy Day Mind: Ember Pop 1969-1974 (reviewed last issue) once again gathers near-misses from that point in time when the middle of the road briefly took rock to its red velvet bosom.
US singer Polly Niles’ throaty versions of Stephen Stills’ Buffalo Springfield favourite ‘For What It’s Worth’ and Neil Young’s ‘I Am A Child’ are two wonderful choices. Avengers star Linda Thorson sings the rather shaky but engaging Kenny Lynch production ‘Wishful Thinking’ and the rather bootifully clad Mother Trucker get funky with ‘Explosion In My Soul’ and ‘Wrap It Up’.
Many tracks may well be just spare sides from the previous comp and duds from The New Faces, Nikki Richards, Paula Knight and Mahogany certainly don’t help.
But we do get the brilliant schmaltzy Fading Yellow styled two-sider, Robin’s ‘Back On Watership Down’ and ‘To My Surprise’.
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills