THE ADVANCEMENT
The Advancement (Fallout; CD)
Do you ever pretend, when you're driving to the petrol station or the supermarket, that you're not some
dreary suburbanite mired in the suffocating hell of thankless routine but are actually a narrow-eyed
maverick detective on the West Coast of America circa 1969, tailing an enigmatic suspect?
Of course not. I don't either. That would be foolish and immature.
If you did, though, this album would create exactly the appropriate ambience. It's the kind
of crepuscular, inscrutable, instrumental light jazz (with the odd acid rock guitar interjection)
that crops up time and again in films of that persuasion and vintage.
Not only would it be playing in the background while our hero moodily drove
around with his furrowed brow touching the windscreen, but it would also be playing in the club
he followed his suspect into by the group themselves, hunched busily in a corner, uniformly clad
in black polo necks offset by manhole cover-sized gold medallions. I'm sure you get the idea,
and if you're a devotee of low-key late '60s policiers it can only add to your enjoyment of this
terrific album.
The Advancement were a short-lived, studio-based ensemble built around
respected jazz rhythm section Lou Kabok and Hal Gordon, ιmigrιs from Gabor Szabo's band, and the great
Cosmic Brotherhood vibes player Lynn Blessing. Kabok and Gordon swing like untethered genitalia
throughout the album, while Blessing's vibraphone coats tracks such as 'Moorish Mode', 'Child At Play'
and 'Painful Struggle' in a persuasive, enveloping fog.
The requisite period SF-style fuzztoned guitar is provided by the 24-year-old
Art Johnson, who yoks it up on 'Fall Out' and the uncharacteristically straight 12-bar sequence
of 'Hobo Express' in finest free-associating John Cipollina fashion.
www.soundlinkmusic.com
Marco Rossi
APPLE PIE MOTHERHOOD BAND
Apple Pie Motherhood Band & Apple Pie (Collectors Choice; CDs)
Apple Pie Motherhood Band were one of the lesser known "Bosstown Sound" groups of the late '60s.
Issued in the summer of 1968, their eponymous album starts with a seven minute heavy rock version
of Albert King's 'Born Under A Bad Sign' from then on the album mixes shorter pop songs, with a touch
of 
psych like 'I'd Like to Know' written by David Blue and 'Apple Pie' with longer heavier tracks
like 'The Ultimate/Contact' where a Vanilla Fudge sounding instrumental, complete with drum solo,
segues into a Bonner /Gordon song. Add in 'Bread And Jam' a jazzy instrumental with great piano
and acid guitar break and you have an interesting album,
By the time the group came to cut their second album Apple Pie in 1969, Joe Castagno had left
after getting tired of life on the road. He was replaced by new singer Joe Paine and guitarist
Michael Sorafine, who had both been performing in Greenwich Village and harmonica player Adam Myers.
Produced by Tom Dowd, the album is a mix of R & B covers and originals, mainly penned by Sorafine.
Jeff Labes who had written most of the original songs on the first album wrote just one 'Super Music Man'.
The album's opener the seven and a half minute 'Orangutang' written by Sorafine, is a great track with a long
jazzy piano/guitar break. Unfortunately this is followed by turgid covers of Willie Dixon's 'I Just Want
to Make Love to You' and Chuck Berry's 'Brown Eyed Handsome Man' that add nothing to the originals.
Throw in a cover of 'Get Ready' which still fails despite (or because of) constant time changes and you
have an album that dies under the weight of cover versions. This is a pity as the last three original tracks
are excellent, especially the closing 'He Turned You On' with its freaky beginning and lyrical guitar.
Unfortunately by the summer of 1969 the group had broken up having by then been tarred by the backlash
and fallout from the 'Bosstown' hype.
www.ccmusic.com
Pat Curran
STEVE BARON QUARTET
The Mother Of Us All (Fallout; CD)
Despite Pete Townshend's sleeve blurb, proclaiming, "all musicians are in perfect harmony, all the
songs are full of life, all the sounds spontaneously and simultaneously imploding and exploding",
Baron and his guitar/bass/keyboard partners couldn't move copies of their lone LP, originally released
on Tetragrammaton in 1969. Nevertheless, it's a fine amalgam of jazz, folk and psych, opening with Baron's
gentle acoustic guitar and quivering vocals on the title track, 'Bertha Was The Mother Of Us All,'
which fondly recalls Barleycorn-era Traffic, with a delicious Bert Jansch chaser. The group's
impressive improvisational skills are to the fore on 'Don't You Hate The Feeling,' with Tom Winer's
strolling piano lines, Jef Lowell's throbbing, walking bass lines and guitarist Bill Davidson's tasty,
Garcia-influenced finger picking imbuing the track with a delirious Quicksilver Messenger Service vibe.
'Goodbye Road' boasts such suave, smooth harmonies from Baron and Lowell that you'd swear they had Mel Torme
and Perry Como in the room with them, but the track flows like a gentle mountain stream, delivering its
nostalgic message like a cross between The Kingston Trio and The Lettermen. Baron tosses an unusual
Christian element into the mix with 'God Never Lived For Me,' an inquisitive look at God's presence
(or lack thereof) in the world, before launching into side two's anchor (and the album's centrepiece),
the massive, 11-minute closer, 'Shadow Man.' Baron and Lowell's strident dual vocals open the track
like an aggressive Kingston Trio shout along before falling back into the shadows (no pun intended)
to let co-writer Winer's fingers work their magic on the 88s. Lowell's bass thump-thump-thumps
its way around the room, and Herb Lovelle adds some omnipresent, snazzy-yet-unobtrusive drum fills.
Davidson's fancy fretwork matches Winer stride-for-stride, and even tosses in some spacey wah-wah
for that ever-popular, Dead-meets-Quicksilver, West Coast vibe, which, despite their New York origins,
the group faithfully recreate in all its heady glory.
Elsewhere, there are soft, pensive folk ballads with wistful string arrangements ('I Sang About My Lady')
and a playful/calypso two-step ('In The Middle'), all adding up to another fascinating archival release
from the wonderful folks at Fallout.
www.soundlinkmusic.com
Jeff Penczak
BREAKTHRU
Adventures highway (Circle; CD/LP)
Gaining a reputation as one of the most misinterpreted, and therefore most underrated bunch locally,
these heavy Brumbeatsters finally make their own break-thru, right through the fragile lightweight pop
wall mistakenly built around them. However wrong their image might've come out of the sound of their sole
1968 single, considered from the Toytown pop standpoint, its sunny side 'Ice-Cream Tree' isn't that bad
at all, making an almost perfect contender for an imaginary outtake from The Idle Race's debut LP.
On it's back, there's 'Julius Caesar', showing off just a snippet of the group's much wilder side,
through a punchy blue-eyed soul number, written by their manager, and to these ears, slightly reminiscent
of similar stuff by The Smoke (UK). Nevertheless, it's the more "adventurous" unreleased stuff,
displaying "the loudest group around" and the flashing psych experience that both excites and marked
their outrageous live antics. From the earliest '67 acetates, come the freaked-out pair of R&B organ
led winners, 'Here Comes The End' and 'Spoonful', along with the less freaky but nonetheless
weird 'Yours', being halfway between the Dave Mason conducted early Traffic and '67-Who-like quirk.
A year later, they were already progressing towards more spaced-out sounds, leaving behind
some shoulda-been-genre-defining-classics (whatever genre they were fiddling with) such as the title tune,
sure to meet the approval of either prog, freakbeat or Britsike fans, 'I Have A Dream' with a kind
of a loony Syd-through-Blossies popsike vibe to it, the harmony-drenched acid folk of 'Growing Older',
or the (over) ambitiously conceived pair of pocket-symphonies, making the unreleased second single
('The Story Of Peer Gynt'/'Troubleshoot'). The 1970 sessions, seem to be a mish-mash of styles they'd
been exploring, starting with the harder edged, Grape-flavoured powerhouse of a rawk-out of 'Believe It'
and the even harder hitting, Zeppelin-like 'Alice Dropped Out'; through the Pretties kind of psych
heard in 'The Sailor Song'; or 'Shake Off That Lead', being just plain melodic pop swagger by way
of The Small Faces.
Making the release come full "circle", Mike Stax provides an expectedly informative story,
along with a chock full set of photos, showing the group's many sides: skinny-tied modernists,
full blown dandies and "down-and-out" longhaired outlaws, which is a strong enough recommendation
to opt for the "big" LP version ... but then again, the CD version comes with a couple of bonuses,
so I suppose you should just take them both!
www.circlerecords.co.uk
Garwood Pickjon
BRILEY AND ENGEL
Between The Sea And The Sky (RPM; CD)
Martin Briley and Brian Engel were the song writing partnership behind the mysterious group that was
Mandrake Paddle Steamer. Their 1969 'Strange Walking Man' single is a highly prized and oft comped
alter piece that the popsike cognoscenti have long been worshiping. There is much more than this
to them however as anyone who has heard the two bootleg compilations Forgotten Jewels and
Overspill will realise. A full MPS/ Mandrake anthology is due (complete with hitherto unseen pics!)
in the not too distant future. Between the Sea And The Sky is a collection of post MPS/Mandrake
songs dating from 1970-71, the first 11 of which were for an intended LP that never happened,
with two re-recordings from 2006 (both immaculate!). Mark A Johnston gives the whole story in intriguing
detail in the booklet whilst both Briley & Engel narrate the disc track by track.
The disc as a whole falls somewhere between John Plum and Fairfield Parlour, or late
era Kaleidoscope at least. Each song tells an engaging story. Standouts for me were 'The Oak Tree',
a tale of an aged oak and all it has seen under and in its branches, 'Goodbye Uncle Freddie', a lament
for an end of the pier entertainer the seagull sounds that intro and outro it are a tad long but the song
itself is too short, I want more! 'Mr Middleton's Lament' is about a sexually frustrated midde-aged man,
envious of the younger generation's promiscuous life style; 'Subway Superstar' speaks for itself,
'Do You Dream' is a psychy pop number and 2006 recording 'Creeping Tom' is a reconstruction of a long
lost nugget in the B&E cannon. Thank God Johnston encouraged them to reconstruct it, it's a belter!
These guys deserved more success, but at long last it has all made the public domain in good sound
quality and with the participation of the artists. Good on 'em!
www.rpmrecords.co.uk
Paul Martin
THE CAKE
More Of The Cake Please (Rev-Ola; CD)
They've been dubbed "the missing link between The Ronettes and The Runaways", and while that might
not be entirely accurate, none other than Rodney Bingenheimer, who has always thought of both
of those groups as "Godhead", continuously sung the praises of The Cake. One thing is certain:
there was no other group like this young trio from New York, who cut two albums under the watchful
eye of arranger Harold Battiste, and who were able to tackle just about any style within the pop,
rock and soul arena. More Of The Cake Please contains both albums, as well as a mono version
of their classic 45, 'Baby That's Me', and will definitely whet the appetite of girl group fanatics
and '60s pop fans in general.
While both albums were recorded at the legendary Gold Star Studio, it's really side one of the first album,
The Cake, recorded in 1967, that most exemplifies what that recording house was known for.
The lead track, the aforementioned 'Baby That's Me,' is certainly one of the best tracks
Phil Spector never wrote, and it's followed by the likeminded 'World Of Dreams' (written by,
of all people, one Mac Rebennack-aka Dr. John) and 'You Can Have Him'.
Suddenly the album takes an abrupt left turn with a couple of baroque numbers 'Medieval Love,'
the ultra Left Banke-ish 'Fire Fly,' and 'Rainbow Wood'. Then, another left
turn ensues, as side two of the album is comprised by faithful renditions of the R&B classics
'I Know,' 'Mockingbird,' 'Ooh Poo Pah Doo,' 'Stand By Me,' and 'What'd I Say'.
Wow!
In 1968 The Cake recorded A Slice Of The Cake, and the times,
they were a changin'. Though the album was also recorded at Gold Star, gone was the wall of sound,
replaced by the sparse folk of 'Have You Heard The News 'Bout Miss Molly,' 'Sadie,' and 'Tides Of Time,'
the island-y 'Extraverted Introvert,' and the dark, almost Nico-esque 'P.T. 280' and 'Annabelle Clark'.
While the girls lent their songwriting chops to a couple of tunes on the first album, they wrote six
on A Slice Of The Cake, lending a palpable cohesiveness despite the album's disparate nature.
Yes, we've heard for years that The Cake were one of the most underrated of the girl groups,
but they deserve to be known for more than that as More Of The Cake Please proves that they
were an underrated group, period!
www.revola.co.uk
David Bash
KEVIN COYNE
Dandelion Years 1969-1972 (Cherry Red; 3-CD Box)
The late Kevin Coyne released an astonishing 44 albums during his career, and yet he never rose
above the level of minor cult attraction, despite the patronage of several influential figures
(John Peel, Jac Holzman, Robert Christgau) and a decade-long sojourn with Virgin Records.
This attractively packaged box showcases the first three albums of that vast output (including several
bonus tracks), all recorded for Peel's Dandelion label.
The first two albums Siren (1969) and Strange Locomotion (1971) are credited
to the group name Siren but although guitarist Dave Clague also carried out the production duties,
it's obvious that Coyne is the main man. The songs are all his apart from the cover of blues standard
'Rock Me Baby'. Coyne had worked as a therapist at a psychiatric hospital and it was immediately
obvious that he had great potential as a songwriter, however the overall impression of the Siren
albums is that of a stolidly average blues-boogie group fronted by a rabid Van Morrison wannabe.
By 1972's Case History, Coyne was a solo artist beginning to find his own voice, in both senses
of the term. The songs, not exactly full of cheer on the Siren albums, are now certainly twisted
if not bitter. 'Evil Island Home', 'Need Somebody' and 'Mad Boy' find Coyne railing against age,
madness, loneliness and the confusion inside his head in as stark a fashion as any other songwriter
you could name, yet there's also the beauty of 'White Horse' to temporarily sweeten the pill.
To be honest this is one of those records that is perhaps best experienced in old-style two-sided fashion,
as the brow-beating of 'My Message To The People' and the ludicrous, almost Wolfman Jack vocalisms that mar
the otherwise atmospheric 'Sand All Yellow' cause things to pall somewhat two-thirds of the way through.
It's certainly a great improvement on the first two LPs though, and it should have been the springboard
for a successful career.
The three discs are housed in card sleeves that fit inside a sturdy box, along with a
44-page booklet that includes full lyrics (worth reading, for once). Nice package. Yep, recommended.
www.cherryred.co.uk
Mick Capewell
CZAR
Czar (Sunbeam; CD)
Although progressive rock may be a dirty word to some
psych collectors, Czar's harmony vocals and heavy structured sound owes little to the over complicated
acts that took the term to epic proportions. After harmony-pop-group-that-went-psych Tuesday's Children
(whose output was recently anthologised by Rev-Ola) got bitten by the progressive bug Paul Kendrick
(bass, guitar) Bob Hodges (organ etc), Mick Ware (guitar) and cohorts morphed into a slow,
ponderous group that sounded more like Procol Harum and early King Crimson than the bright and cheerful
harmony-pop-psych that they had previously played. The quickly recorded album Czar is nicely
underdone with mellotron and assorted keyed instruments to the fore and some very cool vocals.
The bonus cuts were recorded as demos in 1971 for a major Motown producer who thought that a more commercial
rock sound would make them stars. The sound and style is completely different, with the gospel inflected
single 'Oh Lord, I'm Getting Heavy' even receiving positive press. Alas, but the fame never came.
Sunbeam does a decent job here, with fine liners, great pics and integral bonus material.
A cult album that although not a classic now gets the treatment and reappraisal it deserves.
www.sunbeamrecords.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills
THE DOUBLE DECKERS
Original TV Soundtrack (Poker; CD)
You can't help wondering what society would be like if only childhood were a bit more like this.
The Double Deckerspremiered on British TV
in 1970 and presented a world where children didn't arbitrarily smash each other's teeth in,
no one in the playground was tooled up, "happy" was a state of being which didn't preface "slapping"
and Tomorrow's World reassured the Curly Wurly generation that they could look forward to a
utopian future of mobile phones, Nintendogs and crunk. Hell, no one so much as gave anyone a wedgie
probably because no one in that idealistic universe had a bottom.
I was nine years old when The Double Deckers began, so I naturally
lapped the whole thing up like Ambrosia the creamed rice concoction which was inexplicably popular
in school canteens of the time. However, as wiser heads than mine have noted, You Can Never Go Back.
Listening to Poker's lovingly compiled CD of songs from The Double Deckers programme fills one
with a sense of existential longing more suited to the protagonists of Edgar Reisz' Heimat than
to the knockabout farceurs of children's TV. The dog whistle-pitched pre-pubescent vocals
and already-archaic-by-1970 arrangements ('Life Is A Wonderful Thing', Grannie's Rocking Chair')
speak of a fleeting innocence long buried if it ever existed in any significant sense at all.
It is, nevertheless, a beautifully presented package. David Noades supplies
a well-informed and touchingly supportive sleeve note, and pictures of spin-off merchandise ranging
from lunchboxes to colouring books are powerfully evocative.
And, of course, that avuncular, exultant talisman of a theme tune 'Get On Board'
is a keeper. Incidentally, there is no truth in the rumour that attempts were made to resurrect
the format in the 1980s as The Carol Deckers.
www.cherryred.co.uk
Marco Rossi
THE GROOP
The Groop (Sundazed; CD)
Yet another "Holy Grail of Pop" LP finally sees a CD reissue! The Groop
was originally released in 1969 on Bell Records, and disappeared as quickly as a turkey on Thanksgiving,
and almost as quickly forgotten about until the recent '60s renaissance, when collectors voraciously
researched and searched for just about anything cool they could get their hands on. CD-Rs of the album
started circulating, individual songs showed up on unauthorised compilations, and "Have you ever
heard that album by The Groop?" was invariably uttered in collector's circles; all of the hoopla was
finally put to rest with this Sundazed reissue. The Groop was a quartet of two men and two women from
different geographical locations and backgrounds, who harmonised as if they'd come from the same womb.
The Groop will remind one most of The Mamas & The Papas, particularly their laidback,
earthy Papas & The Mamas LP, but without the trippyness. There's enough vocal counterpoint
and tempo changes to pop the most stubborn of your musical neurons, and the album will definitely give you
a peaceful, easy feeling. Naturally, The Groop had a little help from their friends
such as studio cats like Tommy Tedesco, Joe Osborne, Larry Knechtel and Jim Gordon, along with songwriters
Chris Ducey (from The Penny Arkade), Joey Stec & Sandy Salisbury (of The Millennium) and a relative
yet more than capable unknown called Jeffrey Comanor. A very solid album from
start to finish, and the reissue appends two bonus cuts: the single B-side 'Tears And Joys,' which rocks
more than anything on the album, and a peppy cover of Nilsson's 'Don't Leave Me'.
Very informative notes by Keith D'arcy round out this fine, and worth waiting for, package.
www.sundazed.com
David Bash
HANSON
Now Hear This (Ork; CD)
No, no, no...not the 'Mmm Bop' poppets! This Hanson is Junior Marvin Hanson, the Jamaican guitarist who's
probably best known for his controversial stint with Bob Marley and The Wailers from 1977 until Marley's
death in 1981. Junior's fret-wanking and attendant poses and grimaces didn't go down too well with a
section of Marley's fans who felt that he was too "rock" and not enough reggae.
Now Hear Thisis a 1973 release that shows Hanson to be Hendrix influenced (Yay!) but it's
the tired Hendrix of the Band Of Gypsies/Cry Of Love era (Boo!)
Having cut his teeth in the New York session scene, Hanson moved to London
and landed a role in Hair in 1970, staying for over two years. Following this he formed
the Hanson group with several UK session veterans; Clive Chaman, Conrad Isadore and Bob Tench.
A deal with ELP's Manticore label resulted in this long player, which a contemporary wag dubbed
"Below average Average White Band". To be honest I can't think of a more apt description.
The playing is predictably impressive but the songs are mostly mediocre funk-rock workouts.
There's an odd moment of two of attractive atmospherics but generally the wah-wahs and clavinets rule.
It doesn't help that Hanson's vocals are mostly atrocious. File under F for forgettable.
www.orkrecords.co.uk
Mick Capewell
MOTORHEAD
Motorhead (Chiswick, Digipak CD)
In 1977 mainstream hard rock and metal were getting slicker and slicker. And then there was Motorhead.
We all know the thread: Lemmy, a vicar's son that dabbled with beat (Rockin' Vickers) went psychedelic
(Sam Gopal, Opal Butterfly), roadied for Hendrix, dropped out in Ladbroke Grove, took lots of drugs,
joined Hawkwind, took even more drugs, got fired from said DRUG group for taking too MANY drugs
and then formed the now legendary Motorhead in 1975. Named after one of Lemmy's Hawkwind songs,
the inaugural line-up didn't last long, but the regrouped Motorhead released their debut
album in 1977 on pub rock label Chiswick. The guys looked liked filthy bikers, played loud and fast,
thrashier than what had gone before, straddling both the metal and punk scenes, equally loved
by Hell's Angels and safety pinned ridden art school drop outs. There's nothing subtle
about Motorhead and it sure ain't pretty. It's nihlistic rock music grounded in,
oddly enough, the long haired rock of the late '60s and The Yardbirds'/Birds' rave-ups of the mid-'60s
(i.e. 'Leavin' Here'). More Blue Cheer and Pretty Things than Stadium and more dirty and under nourished
than anything! Ever! Immortal freak-rock!
www.acerecords.co.uk
Jon 'Mojo' Mills
JOHN OTWAY
The Patron Saint Of Losers: The John Otway Anthology 1972-2007 (Sanctuary; 2-CD)
Few people forget the inspired craziness and fun of a John Otway live set.
John used to play in the garden or tiny bar of one of my local pubs, (often when there was a beer festival).
His "lovable headcase" persona would always win over the entire audience, from record collector
types to people who didn't normally watch live music. Once he even charmed the local police,
who arrived because the neighbours had complained about the noise! Like The Fleshtones, almost anyone
who sees the live show is converted. For Otways' fans and I would definitely count myself as one
his records serve as reminders of the live shows. I tried to put myself in the place of someone
who had never seen him play and was only vaguely aware of his two hit singles, but, having seen so many
great shows, I couldn't do it -I'm still not sure if people can really get songs like 'Headbutts'
or 'Beware Of The Flowers' without watching the live stunts.
Even for a die-hard fan, this compilation has a lot going for it. David Wells'
liner notes are really funny and entertaining, for starters. There are 23 songs on each CD, largely in
chronological order. It's a really good way to follow Otway's progress (or lack of it) over the years.
Some of the earliest songs with Wild Willy Barrett, such as 'Gypsy' have strong country and folk influences.
Three strands consistently thread themselves through John's music. John has always been a primitive rocker,
able to go off the deep end at any moment ('Louisa On A Horse', etc) but also a tender romantic,
delivering passionate ballads with strings and backing vocals like 'Geneva' or 'Josephine',
sometimes getting serious and musical (e.g. 'Poetry and Jazz'). Thirdly, John is famous for a string
of truly demented cover versions which expose the preposterous bombast and lyrics of the originals without
completely taking the piss. If you haven't heard the Otway versions of 'Blockbuster', 'Crazy Horses'
and 'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet' you need to.
The massive contributions of Otway's musical collaborators needs to be acknowledged,
as co-writers, musicians, producers and arrangers. Wild Willy features on the early stuff,
Richard Holgarth on the '90s and contemporary material. As for Mr. Otway, patron saint of losers nahhh,
more like one-off crazy winner.
www.universalmusic.com
Phil Suggitt
THE PEEP SHOW
Mazy; The Secret World Of The Peep Show (Castle; CD)
Prior to this, I knew nothing of The Peep Show other than this compilation's blurry, soft psych
title track a cherished 1967 B-side and its topside companion, the courtly and dignified
'Your Servant Stephen'.
My first thought on listening to this album was: Where on earth did The Peep Show
fit in 1967? They sound so properly anachronistic that they may as well have gone into hibernation
at the same time as Adam Adamant.
For sure, they flourished during that brief time frame in which the clothing,
ephemera and tat of old England became a fashion statement, and British pop proliferated with songs
about watch repairers, lamplighters, batsmen and batmen. But where their youthful peers may only have
sought the company of Chelsea Pensioners in order to steal their jackets then push them over a hedge,
The Peep Show genuinely sounded like holdovers from a bygone age.
If I'm making them sound like The Temperance Seven, that's not true either.
The Peep Show's instrumentation was conventional give or take the odd banjo but it has more to do
with their polite restraint as musicians and the deferential, empathetic and laudably unfashionable
respect for their elders displayed in songs such as the aforementioned 'Stephen' and its follow-up,
'Esprit De Corps'.
Those plummy vocals may call to mind The Marquess Of Kensington,
and 'Silver Queen Of The Screen' may skirt the vaudevillian territory staked out by The Kinks on
'Tin Soldier Man', but in the main The Peep Show sound like no one else and God love them for that.
Perhaps if their faces had fit, songs of the calibre of 'My Friends And I' and 'Do Not Wait For Better Times'
might never have been lost to us.
Marco Rossi
RARE BIRD
Rare Bird
As Your Mind Flies By (Esoteric; CDs)
Ill-served by the reissue market over the past three decades, Rare Bird has finally been given
a sympathetic exhumation by the Esoteric label. Freshly remastered, boasting comprehensive liner
notes with period photos, bonus tracks and with the original artwork restored, these CDs will stand
as the definitive word on Rare Bird Mk1.
Rare Bird were something on a pop-psych supergroup, comprised of ex-Fruit Machine
vocalist/bass player Steve Gould and former Turnstyle drummer/songwriter Mark Ashton, with keyboardists
Graham Field (previously a session musician for Saga Records) and David Kaffinetti (who would resurface
in the '80s as Spinal Tap keyboardist "Viv Savage") rounding out the line-up. That's right, no guitarist,
but with Kaffinetti's electric piano fuzzed up on an as-needed basis, you hardly notice the lack of guitar.
Their eponymous 1969 debut is the keeper. Though instrumentally indebted to the progressive rock moves
of The Nice, Rare Bird's songs and vocal performances are far more rock-oriented than the classical
pretensions of The Nice. Their best-known song (and massive European hit), 'Sympathy', is the highlight
of the set and it sets the dark-hued tone of the album. The pervasively pensive mood is broken
somewhat by the more upbeat 'Nature's Fruit' and 'Melanie', although the album closes with the ominous
'God of War'. A mono single version of 'Sympathy' and its fine B-side, 'Devil's High Concern',
round out this excellent package.
Issued in 1970, their second album As Your Mind Flies By largely picks up
where their debut left off. It is more indulgent and progressive in places than their initial offering
(clocking in at just under 20 minutes, the four-part opus, 'Flight' is choc-a-block with choral
arrangements and Emersonesque displays of keyboard virtuosity) but don't let that put you off.
The hard-riffing progressive pop of 'Hammerhead' is mighty impressive and Rare Bird completists will
certainly welcome the previously unreleased 'Red Man'. Rare Bird would record several more LPs without
Ashton and Field, but these two albums form the core of their legacy.
http://www.cherryred.co.uk/esoteric/
Stefan Granados
THE RECORDS
Music On Both Sides (On The Beach; CD)
With the re-release of this, The Records' third and final album from 1982, all of the classic UK power
pop pioneers' albums are available on CD. The record comes with its original stylish Barney Bubbles
cover art, but with nine extra songs. 'Your Own Soundtrack' a fine ode to the then cutting-edge Walkman,
is restored to its intended position as the opening track.
As a huge fan of the groups' first two albums, Music On Both Sides took a while to grow on me.
The songs were quite dark (which is unsurprising, given the way they were shafted by their manager),
and new guy Chris Gent had a more up-front lead vocal style. Whilst not quite in the same league as
the masterpiece that is their first album, I soon grew to appreciate the memorable songs in The Records'
unique and wonderful style. Songs like 'Selfish Love' never follow predictable patterns whilst
avoiding quirkiness. Also included are three demos for the album, with John Wicks singing lead.
Irrespective of who is singing lead, The Records' multi-part harmonies sound like no-one else.
There are three strong live cuts from the Stiff tour in which the group backed Rachel Sweet.
Rachel doesn't feature personally, but there is also a nifty final cut featuring the group backing
Jane Aire on 'Lovin' You Ain't Easy'.
The real mystery about this album is why it was never promoted. The group went through a lot
of grief to record it, successfully taking their appalling manager to court, as he had loaned all their
equipment to a US group he was promoting. Having recruited a new lead guitarist and vocalist to record
the LP, it seems strange that the group split after playing only a couple of low-key gigs to promote it.
Guitarist John Wicks states that a telepathic glance at drummer and co-writer Will Birch was all that it
needed to signal that it was all over. 25 years later The Records' reputation has grown and grown,
suggesting that telepathy ain't all it's cracked up to be!
If you like power pop and don't have this, buy it. Get the first two albums as well,
to complete the set.
www.therecords.com
Phil Suggitt
TOMMY ROE
Phantasy (Fallout; CD)
After the artistic but limited commercial success of the Curt Boettcher masterminded It's Now
a Winters Day on which he sounded as if he was lead singer in a vocal group, Tommy Roe
returned to the studio for his follow up minus one vital ingredient, Curt. Produced
by Steve Clark with vocal arrangements by Jim Bell, the vocal backgrounds were handled by Boettcher
cohorts Sandy Salisbury, Dottie Holmberg, Lee Mallory, among others and instrumentalists included
Mike Deasy and Ben Benay. Tommy wrote all the songs, except for two by Sandy Salisbury, and the album
although lacking the full group harmonies of the earlier one is a pure slice of sunshine pop.
The first track 'Paisley Dreams' sets the scene with its jaunty tune and touches of sitar, to be
followed by 'Plastic World ' a great track with sound effects, swirling strings and changes of tempo.
'Melancholy Mood' follows with a slow stately baroque string arrangement. 'Visions' is the standout
track on the album containing full background harmonies, more baroque strings and lines like "Visions
of a photogenic universe" that show that Tommy was fully attuned with the times.
Later songs, including the two by Sandy Salisbury, have children's voices in the background and
the final song 'It's Gonna Hurt Me' has an eastern flavour with sitar and koto in the backing track.
Containing the same happy vibe as Gary Zekley produced albums like The Fun and Games and Yellow Balloon
this is a paisley pop gem with sumptuous vocals, catchy songs and wonderful string quartet arrangements
that give it a baroque feel. Although his flirtation with harmony pleased him artistically,
sales wise it was a disaster, so Tommy went off to be produced by Steve Barri and a string of hits
like 'Dizzy' followed. However, for people like us, this is highly recommended.
www.soundlinkmusic.com
Pat Curran
SQUIRE
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed... ( Hi-Lo; CD)
This is a re-release of Squire's hard-to-find 1982 fan club LP, which was eagerly snapped up by our
pre-teen editor and a couple of other thousand young Mods. In many reviews it has
been rightly stated that Squire stood out from the legions of dull Mod revival Jam clones due to their
interest in classic power pop and the paisley pop sounds emerging from the US. Songwriter, guitarist and
lead vocalist Anthony Meynell writes tunes that go down as well with old Mods as with power poppers.
The original vinyl release contained a side of early demos of some of the group's earliest tunes.
Like the groups early records, these tunes are simple, innocent pop songs with titles like
'I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend' and 'Teenage Girl'. Although the sound is rather tinny the songs still
sound good. Three extra songs from the same era are included for this CD release.
The second side of the LP, (the last seven songs on the CD) is a live set recorded
in Swindon. The tray photo shows a wonderful nostalgic shot of a store window display for Squire's 1982
LP Get Smart. In the UK the Internet and supermarkets have all but wiped out such local High
street record stores. Initially I regarded Get Smart as ambitious but somewhat over-produced,
with strings and brass appearing where a chiming Rickenbacker could have been. 25 years later I
appreciate the album a lot more than I did when it came out. However, it's great to hear some of
the Get Smart songs in a stripped down live setting, with the guitars doing all the work.
The sound is full and powerful for a three piece, with the vocals and backing vocals still clear
in the mix. The group clearly feed off the audience's enthusiasm and turns in a great live show.
It's good to know that the group is still gigging, with an all-Meynell family line-up.
www.squirenet.co.uk
Phil Suggitt
KATHY SMITH
Some Songs I've Saved (Fallout; CD)
The first of two albums Smith recorded for Ritchie Havens' Stormy Forest label (1970) offers an intimate
look into her personal life with literate lyrics and imaginative arrangements that feature sitars,
tablas and flutes. Crystalline, emotionally powerful vocals imagine a bluesier Joan Baez are
an attractive strength and the session musicians (Eric Weissberg, Jeremy Steig, Blood, Sweat &
Tears' bassist, Jim Fielder) cut loose with a incredible jam wrapping up the single (and opening track)
'Topanga.' Weissberg's sentimental fiddle and Steig's flickering flute couch the gentle acoustic
rumination 'What Nancy Knows' in a comfortable, coffee-house vibe (Smith was a fixture at LA's Troubadour,
along with Jackson Browne, Tim Buckley, et. al.). There's a mellow, laidback, West Coast vibe hovering
over much of the album, particularly on the lengthy, side one closer, 'End of World,' which wanders around
the room in a narcoleptic haze for about seven minutes, occasionally nodding off only to have a stray
guitar note or flute burst wake everyone up. In this regard, comparisons with David Crosby's debut
(If I Could Only Remember My Name) are appropriate and will hopefully attract fans of that stoned
classic to this fine collection of elaborately arranged folk songs.
The evocative string arrangements on 'Blackbird and The Pearl' surround Smith's finest
vocal performance, resulting in a tear jerking Kodak moment that, believe it or not, sounds exactly
like one of Agnetha Fδltskog's heart melting performances that are amongst the most pleasant surprises
hiding inside some of the later ABBA album tracks. With hints of Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, Judy Collins
and a laidback atmosphere that allows the songs room to breath and develop a personality, the album
is the perfect soundtrack for whiling away a rainy, foggy afternoon, alone in your bedroom with your
poetry journals. And if you don't find yourself leaping to your feet, grabbing your neighbour's hands
and hopping around in stoned circles to the anthemic hippie closer, 'Circles of Love,' then you don't
have a musical bone in your body and you might want to consider some happy therapy to add a little
excitement into your life!
www.soundlinkmusic.com
Jeff Penczak
THE TEARDROP EXPLODES
The Peel Sessions Plus (Mercury; CD)
When I last saw The Teardrop Explodes in 1981 I never imagined I would have the lead singer to thank
for a well-researched book which led me to the awesome ancient stone monuments from Ireland to Malta!
This fine collection, culled from several BBC sessions, includes versions of many of The Teardrop Explodes'
best songs from their first two albums. Don't pass this up if you already own these, as lead singer
Julian Cope points out that the group put a lot of work into their sessions, making creative use of
the expensive and varied instrumentation available at the BBC Maida Vale Studios. The sound is excellent,
featuring some versions that differ strongly from the LP versions, bringing to mind some of the live
shows they produced in their brief lifetime.
It's been a while since I heard these songs. With hindsight the group was at their best
when they showed their "pop face". The driving brass and keyboards of 'Reward' still sound great.
So does the piano in 'Poppies In the Fields'; in fact, Dave Balfe's layered keyboards are
excellent throughout. I presume it is Balfe the personnel changed rapidly, and no info is provided.
Guitars tend to stay in the background, although they are still important to the overall sound.
Cope's confident vocals make the sound unique. Sometimes there are vocal similarities to contemporaries
such as Duran Duran, (Sorry, but it's true!) sometimes the songs are coming from another place entirely,
like 'When I Dream'; AbabadadadadaWhoah!
Although collectors may focus on the less well known or unrecorded tunes, such as
'Log Cabin' and 'Buchanan', they tend to meander when compared to the better known songs, or to slower,
atmospheric pieces like 'Bent Out Of Shape'. On these later tracks Cope's vocals aren't his finest moment,
as if he had already decided it was time to move on.
www.mercuryrecords.co.uk
Phil Suggitt
THE UNSPOKEN WORD
Tuesday, April 19th (Fallout; CD)
This Long Island quintet's debut album, originally issued on Ascot in 1968 is a wonderful collection
of folk rock with proggy overtones. 'Anniversary Of My Mind' strolls into the room on the back
of Gene Stashuk's soft guitar and delicate vocals, while the short, suite-like 'For The World'
features numerous time changes to create a strange, prog-like affair. The angelic, choir-like vocals
of DeDe Puma highlight 'Waking Up,' which combines a snappy, jazz/rock backing with some excellent
Mamas & Papas-styled harmonies. The syncopated arrangement has a theatrical vibe about it;
as if it was lifted from some proposed Off-Broadway score.
Don't let the typically pretentious title 'After The Before' (remember, this is 1968 we're listening to!)
prevent you from enjoying this lovely orchestrated, harmony-filled dreamscape, with Puma again
taking lead vocals and soaring heavenward above her groupmates, like a psychedelic Free Design.
It's a lovely rumination to enjoy on a crisp Winter morning, sipping a steaming cup of coffee and watching
the birds dance on a frosty lawn. I can only imagine what a master arranger like Curt Boettcher
or David Axelrod could have done with this.
'Distant, Oh So Far' benefits from another of the group's complex arrangements: Puma and Stashuk
duet on lead vocals, and the track is reminiscent of some of David Crosby's multi-layered tunes from
the early CSN days. I also particularly liked 'Flock Of Birds' over on side two with its distinct
It's A Beautiful Day vibe, a la 'White Bird.'
Fallout has completed the package in their inimitable style by appending both sides of the group's
pre-LP 45s, including the tender baroque ballad, 'Boy,' featuring one of Puma's finest vocals;
its stalking flip, 'Nobody's Nothing,' with an upbeat chorus that borrows a few pointers from
The Mamas & Papas, Spanky & Our Gang, and Peanut Butter Conspiracy; and 'On A Beautiful Day,'
which is the best of the lot, with its bouncy rhythms, gorgeous harmonies and Puma's winning charm
all begging the musical question, "Why wasn't this a massive hit"?
www.soundlinkmusic.com
Jeff Penczak
VARIOUS ARTISTS
A Glass Menagerie; Pop, Psych Pye Collectables 1967-1969 (RPM Retrodisc; CD)
As a child in the 1960s, I used to spend hours poring over my big brother's singles and, if a beaker
of juice was to hand, literally pouring over them in a slack-jawed reverie.
I had a particular fascination with certain record labels, but was a bit
suspicious of Pye for some reason. The label was nice and bright, and I cherished those Kinks singles,
but my tiny antennae somehow detected an indefinable air of naffness somewhere in the works.
With the benefit of hindsight, it appears that Pye was subtly off-beam,
slightly Old School one of many labels gamely chucking as many groups at the wall as possible
in the hopes that one or other would stick by their Jaggeresque lips.
A Glass Menagerie collates 22 A and B-sides by nine of the era's hopefuls,
not least the Lancashire legends who give this collection its name, and vastly enjoyable it is. Much of it
would have verged on the terminally unhip at the time: groups such as Gentle Influence, The Movement
and New Formula sound predestined for residencies on the lunchtime Radio 1 Club and a desperate
appearance some years down the line in velvet jackets and outsize bow ties on New Faces.
However, it's all a source of simple joy now. Of the more credible offerings,
Glass Menagerie provide the terrific psych groover 'Frederick Jordan' and a stupendously over-emphatic
version of the Spoonful's 'You Didn't Have To Be So Nice'. Timon sounds like English is his fifth language
on the toytown treasure 'Bitter Thoughts Of Little Jane', and The Mooche rock like mentalists on a version
of Bubble Puppy's 'Hot Smoke And Sassafrass' and its Van Der Graff-ish B-side 'Seen Through A Light'.
www.rpmrecords.co.uk
Marco Rossi
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Ah Feel Like Ahcid (EMI; CD)
A companion to last months Insane Times collection of British Psychedelia, this time the focus
is on US psychedelia licensed by EMI, mainly from the Capitol and Liberty labels
Containing erudite sleeve notes from John Reed that not only include photos of the album covers
but details of reissues of the tracks in question this compilation mixes garage cuts like
The Balloon Farm's 'A Question of Temperature' and The Third Bardot's 'Five Years Ahead of Our Time'
with 'Wind Chimes' by Mad River and 'The Beauty of Time Is That It's Snowing' by The Steve Miller Group.
It also avoids the obvious by using the up tempo 'Up All Night' by SRC rather than the often
compiled 'Black Sheep' and the instrumental 'April 15th' by The Human Beinz rather than
'Nobody But Me'.
However it is the lesser-known tracks that are the most interesting.
'Isha' is a wonderful sitar and harpsichord driven eastern tinged single originally released on the Capitol
label by Chris Ducey And Craig Smith who went on to form the Mike Nesmith produced Penny Arkade.
'One Ring Jane' a manic fuzz guitar driven rocker by Canada's Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck is another
ace track. Add to this 'Bears' the B-side of Quicksilver's single 'Stand By Me', a one off Capitol single
by the duo Fargo ('Sunny Day Blue') and the orchestral psychedelia of David Axelrod, The Common People
and Food and you have a very well thought out compilation.
Pat Curran
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Fairy Cakes For Tea: Fairytales Can Come True Vol. 2 (Psychic Circle; CD)
Here's another clutch of dainty poppets to help you find the secret garden lost. Well, other than
the starter track which is a rather zesty affair in the form of Crackers' Honey Do'.
(Crackers were in fact The Merseys' Tony Crane & Billy Kinsley). Dating from 1969, it is
the best thing they had recorded since The Merseybeats 1965 beat master swansong 'I Stand Accused'.
Beyond this, the tracks all wear the right clothes. We're off to Toyland with The Starlites''Good
Morning Mr Milkman', The Guards' 'Fantastic Fair' (a Mark Wirtz production and German only release)
and Mike Quinn & The Breadcrumbs' 'Fairy Cakes (For Tea)'. All of which are as engagingly whimsical
as Tinkerbell making a daisy chain. There are also shakers and movers and orch-pop groovers.
Rescue Company No.1's 'Gotta Find You' dates from 1971, Lloyd Banks' 'Look Out Girl', Peter &
Gordon's I Feel Like Going Out' and Oliver Norman's 'People, People' contain the sort of plectrum
clicking bass guitars indicative of polo necked instro hipster type session players. Others are
observational numbers like Scott Henderson's'Saturday Night People (he wishes he could be one of them),
The Foresters' 'Mr Smith' and Peter (Hallett)'s 'Values'. There's also a very cool version of 'Spooky'
by Sasperella with a neat period guitar break. All in all it's an enjoyable fairground ride you'll
be happy to repeat more than once.
www.soundlinkmusic.com
Paul Martin
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Ils Sont Fous Ces Gaulois! Volume 4 (Disques Ronnie; LP)
This one's been out for quite some time now, but don't let that stop you from trying to track down a copy
for your next soiree. It's another great release in the Ils Sont Fous Ces Gaulois! series,
and as before, it's a gloriously whacked-out mixture of French and Belgian '60s sounds, taking in
singers and groups from all over the joint: Canada (Les Bel Airs who turn in a magnificent garage
punk performance on 'Les Degonfles'), Gaudeloupe (the ultra-cool 'Sekirite' is Maurice Alcindor's
exotic boogaloo-style workout) and Turkey (home to Galatasaray Lisesi whose contribution 'Zazie'
is one of the this volume's poptastic high)s. Even the Congo gets in on the action too (yes, really!!!)
with the decidedly off-the-wall sounding afro-billy cut 'Docteur' from Le Ry-Co Jazz.
Meanwhile, 'Si Je Buvais Moins' by Douglas, and 'Aouaie! Viens T'en' from Francois Guy provide
a few happening moments of a more lysergically-enhanced flavour, while Belgium's Jacques Albin &
The Klan take us right back to the garage with their excellent offering 'C'est Du Velours'.
Real fine sound quality from beginning to end, and the sleeve, with insert, has a wealth of great pics
and a ton of info all in French of course.
Lenny Helsing
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Psychedelic Schlemiels (Wooden Hill; CD)
To paraphrase a well-known confectionary advert: "Mr Ambassador, with all these obscure acetates,
you are really spoiling us!" As a listening experience it's a much different affair than a collection
of properly produced 45s of course. This is like being at somebody's rehearsal and that's half the fun.
Lovers of 10th Planet's vinyl Syde Tryps series and the Story of Oak Records
collection will want to jump on this as well. David Wells has done a nice job of putting together
some disparate recordings whose only common denominator beyond a general time frame of the late 1960s
is their total obscurity. That is except for West Coast Consortium whose two early home demos included
here 'Elastic Band' and 'Ginny Stop' will be a big draw for popsike fans. I adore (darlings!)
The Carnabys''I Don't Deserve A Girl Like You' from early 1967, seemingly some months after they were
supposed to have split. It certainly sounds like the 'Jump And Dance' crew however. The delightfully named
power trio Peanut Rubble give us three cuts and the addition of lost Barnaby Rudge track, 'In The Sunset'
is a real treat. Not least because, as an abandoned B-side for a projected single, it stands out
production wise. It's a very nice 65 minutes worth of intriguing and generally worthwhile music and I
heartily recommend it. Wells' liners are as informative as you would expect.
Find it via your local tuned in mail order or email Wooden Hill at wooden-hill@hotmail.co.uk
Paul Martin
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Try Me Out: Ballroom Beat Vol. 2 (Psychic Circle; CD)
Yes, there're still tons of uncompiled platters from the British beat era, even now. Here's twenty
of them for starters, mind those Cuban heels sir! Bern Elliot & the Klan start us off with their only
(post Fenmen) 45, which is a moody beat ballad with a kick. My fave is a Brian Epstein signing
from Plymouth, The Rustics. Their 'Can't You See' is a fabulous melodic piece of mid-paced beat.
It sounds two years older than its 1965 release date and has a real live in the studio feel.
Marshall Scott's 'How It Ought To Be' from 1966 is a delicious descending chorded ballad with a
lightly syncopated jazz rhythm and a pre- Marmalade Dean Ford & The Gaylords entertain with a
Billy J Kramerish sounding 'Mr Heartbreak's Here Instead' both excite. Another 1965 release sounding
two years older is The Peeps (as in Marin Cure and the) 'Got Plenty Of Love'. Dig that '63 era Beatles
rip on the 'She Can't Give Me Anything' line. Birkenhead's The Pathfinders' 'Caroline' was briefly
used as a theme tune by Radio Caroline. It's a steady beater from 1964 and finishes the show.
The disc comes with the usual breezy liners and group pics and I like the red, yellow and black mid-60s
Star Club sampler LP type sleeve design. A nice 45 minutes worth.
www.soundlinkmusic.com
Paul Martin
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Waking Up Scheherazade Arabian Garage Psych Nuggets from the '60s and early '70s (Ali Baba And His 40...Records; LP)
What in the worldddddd I hear you scream? ...well, it was only a matter of time before the garage/beat/psych
spotlight was trained toward the east, waxing up the finds for the hungry beat-o-philes out here.
There have been one or two similarly-styled releases before, like Love Peace & Poetry and
who could forget Grey Past's stunning Steam Kodok, but on Waking Up Scheherazade,
the excavation goes a little deeper; Lebanon, Algeria, Persia, Egypt, and Iran too. A few selections
have also come via USA and France. It's a mind-boggling journey into far-out ethno-garage and exoti-sike,
or whatever you wanna call it, much of it brimming with exuberant pop hooks, staggering bursts of fuzz
crunch and crude-u-like garage production values. Not lo-fi though, as lots of this stuff actually
blows both your eardrums and your head off in one foul swoop.
From Lebanon originally, The Sea-ders landed up in London for a time, with a spell on Decca before
a name-switch to The Cedars, and it's their magical raga-romp 'Thanks A Lot' from 1966 that opens this
garish yellow vinyl slab in class Revolver trip style. Nai Bonet is another name some may know
from her 'Jelly Belly' on Girls In The Garage. Here they've opted for the delightfully cool flip,
'The Seventh Veil'. Wrap those ears around 'The Way I Do', another Lebanese affair courtesy of
Simon C Edwards and His Soul Set and I swear you won't know what's hit you. There's a wildly wayward
psychedelic-style fuzz ride from Kouroush, while the insanity-meter creeps higher in the presence
of Morocco and their two cuts 'Ela 'Tho' and 'Opa Kukla', issued on MGM these guys were part of an
Armenian scene outta NYC. It's choice material all the way and the melding of ethnic-style melodies,
utilised with the resources of the (then) new, loud rock'n'roll group scene makes for incredibly
heady sounds that fill the room with great woozy vibrations. Probably a very limited pressing,
so you'll need to get it while you can.
Lenny Helsing
VARIOUS ARTISTS
You Only Get One Shot At The Big Time (Wizzard In Vinyl; CD)
Despite the title, "the big time" was very low on the agenda for the five groups on this compilation.
This is the sound of young local groups having a good time, inspired by late '70s punk and early '80s
new wave.
You won't find any long lost classics here. Just like the early Ramones, most of
the groups here were trying to write classy three minute pop songs, but they just didn't come out
that how they intended. This CD is accurately subtitled 'Obscure Powerpop and Punk, 1979-1985'. You
get five tracks apiece from Hartford's M80's and LA's BlackJax, six from Fort Worth's Ejectors
and three from The Zellots (London, Ontario) and The Statics (CT). Most of the '80s groups were
equally in love with The Knack and The Cars as they were with the Pistols and The Ramones, so you get
"rock'n'roll with la la la's", to paraphrase the power pop blog. The only exception are The Zellots,
whose female vocalist styles herself on Siouxsie of the Banshees. Sorry, but this style is so bombastic
and annoying I just can't listen to a track all the way through.
Each group gets a page or so in the liners, yet The Ejectors get seven whole closely
typed pages! At first this seems very unfair, as musically The Ejectors don't deserve any more space
than anyone else. However, the author really builds up a picture of the emptiness of teen culture in mid
western US towns in those far off days. No Internet, no good groups to see, no information about what
was happening elsewhere, crappy radio, hardly any of the new cool records to be found in stores, etc.
In doing so he gets to the heart of what these groups were about; making the kind of music you
wanted to hear but couldn't hear anywhere else. If you like fast, simple, obscure powerpop punk,
this is for you.
www.wizard-in-vinyl.com
Phil Suggitt
VASHTI BUNYAN
Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind (Fat Cat; 2-CD)
It's a perfect case of history re-writing itself. Fawn-like folk wastrel is re-discovered and championed
by a new generation of hip, mostly bearded, record collectors, finds her remarkable but previously
ignored 35 year old long-player sound tracking mobile phone ads on the telly, is coaxed out of retirement
to play serious festival dates to huge acclaim and then blots her copy book ever so slightly with
the inevitable but unsatisfactory belated follow-up.
It's strange then that five years before Just Another Diamond Day was released to a deafening
shrug in 1970, the beautiful and improbably named Vashti Bunyan had come very close to having her fifteen
minutes of fame under the auspices of Andrew Loog Oldham, then desperate to capitalise on the unworkable
success of his reluctant pop angel Marianne Faithfull.
In true Loog fashion, he had her record a bombastic version of an unreleased
Stones song - this collection's title track - and backed it with her own 'I Want To Be Alone', which set
out her stall as both wallflower and troubadour. A second single, 'Train Song', eschewed the big
band sound, presenting Vashti's impossibly fragile compositions as baroque folk-pop.
A brace of unreleased singles for Immediate followed,
including the unfathomably pretty 'I'd Like To Walk Around In Your Mind', before Vashti tired of
the business and chucked it all in for a life of rural simplicity, writing the songs that would make
up that now-revered 1970 album.
This double disc collects those early single sides and adds half a dozen
1966 guitar and voice demos, no less than three of which have 'winter' in the title, which join
the dots between the Loog-helmed pop starlet phase and the gossamer pastoral folk that followed.
A second disc of 1964 recordings adds little to the myth but will appeal to fans and the exemplary
packaging is almost worth the price of admission alone.
www.fat-cat.co.uk
Andy Morten
WE ALL TOGETHER
Singles (Repsychled/Lion; CD)
We All Together are the undisputed kings of Peruvian early '70s Beatles-flavoured power pop (the greatest
in a field of one?), the pair of albums they recorded between 1972 and '74 are testament to that.
So it comes as something of a surprise to discover that they also found time to release around half
a dozen non-album singles during this period which pretty much constitute a third album.
Opener 'Lo Mas Grande Que Existe En El Amor' is your archetypal
Badfinger/Abbey Road hybrid, all Leslie-d guitars and diminished chords. It features a rare
lead vocal by guitarist and producer Saul Cornejo (the group were a truly self-contained unit,
equally contributing to the production and releasing albums on their own MAG label) and as a
result, don't immediately sound like the We All Together we know and love. You have to wait
for regular WAT vocalist Carlos Guerrero to enter the picture on track two, the even more astounding
'Soy Timido', before the hairs truly start standing up on the back of your neck.
From here on in, the group switch to predominantly English lyrics with such panache
that when their singles were first played on Lima radio stations in 1972, it was assumed that they
were foreign. Further self-composed gems like 'We Live Too Fast' and 'Everyday' and a rip-roaring take
of Badfinger's 'Rock Of All Ages' (bringing the number of songs from Magic Christian Music covered
by WAT to three!) follow before the group bow out with a brace of Paul McCartney songs 'Band On The Run'
and 'Bluebird' released as their last single in 1975 and executed so perfectly it's frightening.
Sadly, this calculatedly commercial move split the group down the middle and only three members remained
for the ironically titled swansong 'Together Forever'.
www.lionproductions.org
Andy Morten
WRITING ON THE WALL
The Power Of The Picts (Ork; 2-CD)
This bunch of hairy, lairy Jocks from Edinburgh were almost permanent fixtures at the legendary
psych stronghold the Middle Earth Club back in the late '60s, so it wasn't a great surprise when
they were signed up to the Club's offshoot record label. Power Of The Picts was released
in 1969 to resounding indifference and has been largely forgotten since then, which is a shame
because belated inspection shows it to be a minor gem of the psych-prog genre that easily outshines
other cult classics of similar vintage. It pisses all over the Open Mind album for instance,
being far more varied, imaginative and energetic. Wild organ and guitar solos are splashed all over
like Henry Cooper's after-shave, while Linnie Patterson does a passable Arthur Brown imitation.
In fact this often sounds like the Crazy World complemented by a young Ritchie Blackmore.
The non-album 45 'Child On a Crossing'/ 'Lucifer Corpus' is added here to the original nine track album.
Blast it out loudit's top stuff. The only black mark is that they claim writing credit for the
track 'Aries', which was actually originally recorded by Cosmic Sounds on the Zodiac album
(and was also given a good 'rogering' by Keith Emerson and The Nice on a BBC session).
The second disc presented here mainly consists of 1972/73 tracks that were recorded
for prospective album projects that never saw the light of day at the time. This material is predictably
more Proggy than The Power Of The Picts, and the more intricate arrangements robs the group
of much of their former vitality, although the seven minute long 'Buffalo' is beautifully floaty
in a Mighty Baby-esque fashion. A 1968 demo 'Felicity Jane' completes this fascinating look at a group
that never set the world on fire but whose raucous enthusiasm and under-rated ability are still able
to leave a warm glow.
www.rpmrecords.co.uk/ork
Mick Capewell
