THE 49th PARALLEL
The 49th Parallel (Pacemaker; CD)
    The self-titled 1969 album by matured garage band The 49th Parallel is certainly one of the strongest homegrown Canadian albums of the period.     From the baroque 'Magician' to the bubble-punk-soul of 'Eye To Eye' and the quite brilliantly realised UK psych sound-alike, which concerns the suitably Dickensian named taxidermist 'Lazerander Filchy', the record succeeds in encompassing practically every musical trend that had been a-happenin' over the past few years. '(Come On Little Child And) Talk To Me' bridge the gap between garage, soul and rock and even if the veil of harmony pop does hang over the album, you never forget the band's humble garage punk roots! Somehow it all gels together too, and the songs are unanimously impressive.
    And whilst we're on the subject, the earlier garage punk singles are all included as bonus cuts. The angst ridden 'You Do Things' has seldom been rivalled for it's degenerate garage angst and as the band evolve into the Zappa-esque ('Citizen Freak') onto quality harmony based pop and more thoughtful material it's more than apparent that The 49th Parallel were a great band. Add to the list along with Painted Faces, We The People, Zakary Thax etc etc. Very, very good!
lionproductions@earthlink.net
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

THE CHESAPEAKE JUKEBOX BAND
The Chesapeake Jukebox Band (Rev-Ola; CD)
    Say, didja hear the one about the Beatle freaks and the Pink Floyd freak who walk into The Record Plant and make a rather astounding album? Well, if you haven't heard that one, then it's time for you to sink your teeth into The Chesapeake Juke Box Band, a disc of unbridled weirdness which is a collaboration between two New York songwriters, Steve Sawyer and Freddie McFinn, and an arranger (and contractor!), Ron Frangipane. The resulting bastard child (if you will) is…well…try to imagine a hybrid of The Left Banke Too and Smile, or perhaps Sgt. Pepper meets The Firesign Theater. At any rate, The Chesapeake Jukebox Band is an album on which no chord structure, instrumental interlude, or permutation of voices, styles, or tempos is safe from use, but even devoid of these trappings, it would be a rather remarkably elegant album.
    Interestingly enough, the first song on the album, 'Until We Meet Again,' is probably its straightest laced (a relative term, to be sure), as it's a Beach Boys influenced tune that name checks Brian Wilson, Marlene Dietrich and Charlie Tuna, among many others. From then on, The Chesapeake Jukebox Band has more left turns than the Indy Speedway; for example, 'Love' starts out as a pretty ballad but soon morphs into a Jesus Christ Superstar-like chant and then into a samba, all in under six minutes! 'Has To Be,' whose grandiosity would make it perfect for a spectacular Broadway production, begins in rapid fire but soon enough becomes a sleepy ballad not unlike The Alan Parsons Project's 'To One In Paradise' (which it precedes by almost five years!). "Side 2" of the album, a "rock opera" entitled Act 1, Martha & Walley Fizbee's Memorabilia (hey, why not??) follows suit with nuggets like the John Lennon meets Nick Danger (!) meets The Fifth Dimension (!!) 'Frisbee's Town' and 'The Door's Unlatched,' which can only be characterized as Carly Simon's 'That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be' on acid.
    This Rev-Ola reissue appends three bonus tracks taken from recording sessions slated for a second album which never materialized, and which display a marked change of direction. 'Don't Howdy Doody Me' is the kind of whacked out glam that Roy Wood was doing in his Wizzard days, the soaring and sweet 'Don't Cry Your Eyes Out' is off centre enough to have fit on Wood's Boulders LP, and 'Crime Of The Century' (not the Supertramp tune) is a Scottish march wrapped up in that wall of voices and weirdness that could only be The Chesapeake Jukebox Band.
    To be sure, The Chesapeake Juke Box Band is not for everyone. But to be equally sure, those of you who are into this sort of thing will no doubt hail it as a major stroke of genius, as well as a huge favorite!
www.revola.co.uk
David Bash

FIFTH FLIGHT
Into Smoke Tree Village (Radioactive; CD)
    Garage/psych classic or a covers band fronted by jocks? It's debatable, but these broad chested lads do breath enough life into 'Sugar Mountain' to make it their own.
www.radioactiverecords.co.uk
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

GORDON JACKSON
Thinking Back
FRESH MAGGOTS
Fresh Maggots
JULIET LAWSON
Boo
CLIVE PALMER
Banjoland
LAZY FARMER
Lazy Farmer (all Sunbeam; CDs)
    Sunbeam is a brand new imprint which aims to bring rare and unknown '60s and '70s folk and folk-rock titles to the masses. Their timing is excellent - there's certainly a demand for these sounds at the moment, no doubt encouraged by the new folk-inspired sounds of Devendra Banhart and The Espers and the re-emergence of figurehead artists like Donovan, Vashti Bunyan and Jade.
    The five titles with which the label has launched itself illustrate considerable stylistic breadth and bode well for the future.
    First up we have Gordon Jackson's sought-after 1969 Marmalade album Thinking Back. Jackson did his mid '60s beat group service with future members of Traffic and it's their involvement here that is at least partly to blame for this album's reputation and collectability. Marmalade head honcho Gorgio Gomelsky obviously believed in Jackson, surrounding him with a crack team of players and collaborators that included Julie Driscoll, The Action's Reg King, Welsh legend Meic Stevens, members of Family and Blossom Toes and all four original members of Traffic with Dave Mason in the producer's chair. It's therefore a shame that Jackson's slight, meandering songs never light up enough to elevate this all-star jam session into the potentially monumental project it was.
    Fresh Maggots' self-titled 1971 RCA album is a far more exciting prospect. By taking the tried and tested acoustic duo format and adding layers of electric instruments, strings, woodwinds and studio technology, the exotically named Mick Burgoyne and Leigh Dolphin offered a highly listenable and unique take on the traditional UK folk-rock sound. "Rosemary Hill" is sheer bliss.
    Boo, by Juliet Lawson's own admission, was borne from a love of Joni Mitchell's Clouds and her influence is evident throughout in the piano/guitar-led arrangements and the way Miss Lawson's voice soars skyward on a regular basis. Happily she was blessed with an original song-writing vision and a strong enough voice to distinguish this 1972 debut and lift herself out of the folk-rock doledrums. "I Won't Get My Feet Wet Again" and "Rolling Back" are sublime creations in anyone's book.
    Clive Palmer famously co-founded The Incredible String Band and later formed COB and is ably accompanied on this 1967 rarity by guitar legend Wizz Jones. Unfortunately, it takes a more patient pair of ears than mine to sit through an hour's worth of traditional folk ditties played on the banjo.
    Mr Jones crops (Ha! See what I did there?) up again as one fifth of Lazy Farmer, whose rare as rocking horse poop, recorded in a German barn, privately pressed self-titled 1975 album is a true and delightful surprise. Comprising of largely traditional folk titles with a couple of originals and one beautiful tune donated by their friend Ralph McTell, Lazy Farmer serve up a rich stew of guitars, banjos, flutes, dulcimers, warm vocal harmonies (and even a hurdy gurdy) that demands repeated listens and grows on you like magic musical moss. Arrrrrrr.
    Right, where's me scythe?
www.sunbeamrecords.com
Andy Morten

THE KING'S SINGERS
Colouring Book (el; CD)
THE JOHNNY MANN SINGERS
Sixties Mann (el; CD)
    El has the habit of making the seemingly unacceptable develop a hip sheen. Take England's choral geeks The King's Singers and the American MOR swingle-like Mann Singers for instance. With these two compilations, drawn from the collective's late '60s and early '70s catalogue, the straight-laced singers tackle recent pop hits in perfect choral harmony. The Mann Singers mix male and female vocals whilst monastorial academics The King's Singers are strictly male, but have a far more impressive range. From Mann we get some decent interpretations of Webb and Bacharach tunes and some cool covers, namely a slew of Association hits and cool treatment of 'A Heartful Of Soul'. The early '70s recordings by The King's Singers are a little more adventurous with the mainly a cappella versions of 'She's Leaving Home', 'Penny Lane', 'Eleanor Rigby', 'Strawberry Fields Forever', 'After The Goldrush' and 'Life On Mars' all working incredibly well. And when musical accompaniment is used it's subtle and …errrm… even a bit groovy.
    Rock 'n' roll it ain't, but then the counter culture wasn't the target audience for this material at the time of release. An interesting diversion from the norm. (And as an aside, The King's Singers came to my Primary School!)
www.elrecords.co.uk
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

PHIL SEYMOUR
Phil Seymour (Collector's Choice; CD)
    As many Shindiggers know, Phil Seymour was the long-time drummer and bass player in The Dwight Twilley Band, and after several years with that outfit, Seymour decided to go it alone on this 1980 self-titled album. the burly rocker 'Don't Blow Your Love Away' and the sprightly, Ian Mitchell-esque popper, 'Won't Finish Here'. Three bonus tracks are included on this reissue, including Seymour's skittery take on the Twilley classic 'Looking For The Magic' (a more polished version would appear on Seymour's second album) and a nice keyboard-based tune written by Seymour, 'I'll Be Waiting'.
    Actually, "go it alone" is pretty much a misnomer, as the album is graced with the spectre of Twilley, as it sounds very much like a Twilley album sans that patented echo but with a straighter-laced production, as well as with the man himself, who writes two of the tunes. However, this shouldn't detract from the fact that Phil Seymour is a pretty nifty pop album, featuring the top 25 hit 'Precious To Me,' and the equally worthy, should have been a hit 'Baby It's You'. Both of the aforementioned tunes were written by Seymour, and while they're certainly reminiscent of Twilley's style, it's the Twilley-penned 'Love You So Much' and 'Then We Go Up' that most eloquently captures that sound. Other worthy numbers include the popabilly ass-shaker 'I Found A Love,' and a couple of tunes written by another Twilley alumnus, guitarist Bill Pitcock Jr.,     Sadly, Seymour was taken from us in 1993, but this album remains as a fine legacy. Kudos to Collector's Choice for allowing it to (finally!) see the light of day.
www.collectorschoicemusic.com
David Bash

STRAWBERRY PATH
When The Raven Has Come To Earth (Radioactive; CD)
     Heavily indebted to Hendrix this 1971 Japanese album is more interesting than it at first may appear. Underneath the heavy charade of guitar work outs and masculine sexuality lay some subtle moods and textures; it is here where the record takes on a character of its own. Although nowhere near as impressive as Satori, Strawberry Path is certainly worth a listen if well produced '70s acid rock with a Japanese twist appeals.
www.radioactiverecords.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

TUCKY BUZZARD
The Time Will Be Your Doctor (Castle; 2-CD)
    Late 1969 The End (still working with mentor and producer Bill Wyman) decides the name is dated, become Tucky Buzzard and continue in a similar vein as heard on the Tenth Planet Last Word album. Their self-titled '71 debut depicts the band as a boogie rock wannabes (bad) and an excellent diminishing psychedelic rock band resplendent with fine harmonies and some stirring Hammond work. Clearly not quite sure where they were going the two influences are uncomfortably straddled, which is distracting; the first half of the album is superb. On the second naff titled album Warm Slash ('72) the boogie takes over, and for the main part it's a hard task to get through. Further proof of their confusion can be heard on the rather wonderful orch-prog album cut a little later in the same year. Coming On Again almost makes a U-Turn and blends the older whimsical song styling with full on progressive pop/rock and heavy orchestration courtesy of the Madrid Philharmonic Orchestra.
    Throughout these two CDS much of what made The End so special can still be heard… but there are more than a few embarrassing moments and lyrics to contend with too. Tucky Buzzard never made it and much of their output was relegated to Spain, but they played hard and nearly broke through to the rock hungry US.
    Yes, if you like The End you probably need this, but it's clearly a game of two halves, or in this case three!
www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

VARIOUS ARTISTS
New Rubble Volume 4: Utopia Daydream (Past & Present/Radioactive; CD)
    At last! A New Rubble that actually resembles a real Rubble! After the questionable cleanbeat/hard rock/R&B agendas of the first three volumes (albeit featuring a handful of killer cuts apiece), Utopia Daydream serves up 20 "lost pop gems of the '60s". The honesty of this branding is a credit to the compiler, noted '60s nutter Nick Saloman. There are none of the usual misleading allusions to 'psychedelia', 'psych-pop', 'pop-sike' or 'pipe-sock'. Punters have become educated by the glut of barrel-scraping compilations over the last few years and I for one would rather collections like this owned up and billed themselves as "20 third rate Bee Gees and Hollies rip-offs" than pretending to be something they're not. I'm pretty sure most of their current patrons would still buy them. Bah!
    There aren't any real clunkers here and plenty of highlights to boot. The Gentle Power Of Song's 'Constant Penelope' treats The King's Singers scholarly choral style to a lighter-than-air pop ditty full of parping French horns and a distant fuzz guitar line seemingly played by somebody who wandered into the wrong studio. The Definitive Rock Chorale's similarly conceived 'Picture Postcard World' is less convincing but still a joy to hear. The Dodos' lone single 'I Made Up My Mind' is assured pop built on Cat Stevens-flavoured piano and click bass riffs; The Fresh Windows' soporific 'Summer Sun Shines' compliments their Chocolate Soup classic 'Fashion Conscious' perfectly; The Endevers' 'She's My Girl' is slick, fuzz-driven soul-pop in the Timebox mould; Jon's 'Polly Sunday' is a charming and unusual beast not unlike their exquisite 'Is It Love?'; overlooked Belgian heroes The Pebbles' 'Playing Chess' could be Marvin, Welch & Farrar singing over a Small Faces backing track and may just be their best track; Toby Twirl provide the compilation's title track which sits happily next to their 'Harry Faversham' and rather neatly makes all their sides available on various reissues.
    This compilation is a positive ray of sunshine on a dark winter's day. Let's hope that the forthcoming New Rubble volumes five and six can maintain the quality control.
www.radioactiverecords.com
Andy Morten

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Time Machine: A Vertigo Retrospective (Vertigo; 3-CD Box Set)
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal: An Island Anthology 1967-1972 (Island; 3-CD Box Set)
    Although rather cheaply packaged both of these sets feature over 3 ½ hours of patchouli soaked music that will serve as more than a cursory introduction for the inquisitive. On the down side, there is very little rare material to draw in label collectors and enthusiasts. If however, you want to skirt over both label's more popular signings these are ideal bookends.
    Of the two, Island by far outshines Vertigo. For every tedious Vertigo jazz rocker in the mould of Ben and Atlantis come Island with Traffic, Art or the excellent post Skip Bifferty incarnation Heavy Jelly, the wonderful fok rock of Sandy Denny, The Incredible String Band, Nick Drake and the thinking head's faves King Crimson. Then there's Jethro Tull, Traffic, Free, John Martyn and so on… Of course, progressive stalwarts will defend the meandering jazz meets rock muso-overload favoured by Vertigo and fight to the bitter end over the merits of the truly forward thinking nature of the label. My diatribe isn't entirely one sided and I'm not taking a pot shot at everything the folk behind the swirly op art logo released. Take Vertigo stars Black Sabbath, who issued some of the finest music cut in the '70s on Vertigo or the less successfully bludgeoning May Blitz, the unlucky Patto, the super Tudor Lodge or the obscure folky psych of Clear Blue Sky. Good music one and all… but man, I can't take that jazz-rock.
    Island erred on the commercial side, and at that their brand of rock is more accessible and has aged far better.
www.heyday-mo.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills