Small Faces - The Decca Anthology 1965-1967 [2CD] (1996)

Year: 1965-1967 (CD 1996)
Label: Deram Records (Germany), 844 583-2
Style: Rhythm & Blues, Psychedelic Rock, Mod
Country: London, England
Time: 46:09, 46:34
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 271, 277 Mb

This 36-song double-CD set covers most of the group's released songs from Decca, minus one song ("I Can't Make It") that they lost the rights to, and augmented with a handful of solo tracks by Steve Marriott and songs by Jimmy Winston's band. The sound is fair -- none of the Decca songs by any band from this period seem to be in great shape -- but not earth-shattering; what is earth-shattering is the performance of Marriott and company, especially on their earlier tracks. Despite being worked to death by the record company and their own touring schedule, and their rapidly growing disillusionment, they generated some incredibly passionate British Invasion-era R&B, embracing Stax and the more soulful sides of Motown with equal ease. The later material shows the first appearance of the druggy ambience and psychedelic haze that was to characterize their Immediate period, not surprising since they moved from Decca to Immediate in a matter of days, the moment they had enough material to satisfy (at least on paper) their Decca contract, with some songs ("E to D," etc.) shared in different versions between the two companies. The packaging is a bit unwieldy, however, and while the photos are great, Paolo Hewitt's well-intentioned notes seem driven more by enthusiasm than care or skill (not only is the connection between "You Need Loving" and Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" debatable, but he gets the title of the Zeppelin song wrong, referring to it as "Whole Lotta Lovin'."
(allmusic.com/album/decca-anthology-1965-1967-mw0000901670)

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Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells II [Japanese Ed.] (1992)

Year: 31 August 1992 (CD September 25, 1992)
Label: WEA Music (Japan), WMC5-531
Style: Art Rock, New Age, Instrumental
Country: Reading, Berkshire, England (15 May 1953)
Time: 58:41
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 336 Mb

Charts: UK #1, AUS #12, AUT #4, GER #7, NL #15, SPA #1, SWE #18, SWI #19. GER: Gold; UK: 2x Platinum; Spain: 5x Platinum.
And here it is: Mike Oldfield phase three, all fresh and shiny and with a new record company ready to promote him. Ironically, Virgin had hounded him for more than a decade to produce a sequel to ‘Tubular Bells’, but he held out, having become increasingly angry at their treatment of him. WEA were the happy recipients of what must have been a marketer’s dream. For once the buying public got it exactly right, for this is even better than the stellar original.
Every note here is crafted with loving care: unlike 1973, Mike Oldfield had the time and the money to make it sound exactly the way he wanted. And even before ‘Sentinel’, his reworking of the famous opening theme, is half-finished, you know he’s got it exactly right. Smooth as cream, deep as a well, cool as cavewater. His guitars never sounded so good. The timbre of his acoustic makes me want to weep, and his crying electric fills each track with pathos. Trevor Horn helped produce the album, and his legendary behind-the-desk ability makes this an audiophile’s treat.
This is not a copy of the original. He finally did that in 2003. This is a free reinterpretation, with each piece reflecting the mood of the original, but the tunes and rhythms altered or even completely different. Here we have a decade’s worth of creativity sandwiched into one album. Individual tracks are given names here, giving the various parts a personality, and he’s polished each one until it shines. ‘Sentinel’ begins with nice but nondescript piano – a tease, everyone’s expecting the famous notes – and here they come. But the track is much more than just the piano theme. He drenches it in the most beautiful liquid guitar, with ominous chords filling the background. Female vocalists – just the right side of cheesy – guide us through the track, along with bass with a vibrato sound straight out of CHRIS SQUIRE’S notebook. We even have our first sighting of the famous bells, underlining the climax to the track. Oh yes. This is real music, not just a money-making exercise.
(full version: classicrockreview.wordpress.com/2021/06/27/mike-oldfield-tubular-bells-2/)

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Tracy Nelson - Mother Earth Presents Tracy Nelson Country (1969)

Year: 1969 (CD 1996)
Label: Reprise Records (US), 9 46233-2
Style: Country, Country Rock
Country: Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. (December 27, 1944)
Time: 42:36
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 260 Mb

Tracy Nelson (born December 27, 1944) is an American country and blues singer. She has been involved in the recording of over 20 albums in her recording career, which started in 1965.
Nelson was born and grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. There, she first learned about R&B music from nighttime listening to WLAC radio from Nashville, Tennessee. In her teens, Nelson sang folk music in coffeehouses and with The Fuller-Wood Singers group, and was lead singer in The Fabulous Imitations band. She attended the University of Wisconsin as a social science major.
In 1965, Nelson recorded an acoustic blues album released on Prestige Records, Deep Are the Roots. It featured blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite as a member of her backup band. In Chicago, where the album was recorded, Nelson met and learned from artists including Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Otis Spann.
Nelson moved to San Francisco in 1966, where she became part of the music scene there. Her band Mother Earth played the Fillmore Auditorium, sharing bills with the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix. It was during this period that Nelson wrote and first recorded her signature song "Down So Low" (released on the first Mother Earth album Living with the Animals, tracked in Nashville and the vocal recorded in Memphis with Terry Manning), which was later covered by Linda Ronstadt, Etta James, Diamanda Galás, Dee Dee Warwick, Ellen McIlwaine, Maria Muldaur, and Cyndi Lauper. Nelson also re-recorded "Down So Low" herself several times. The album also featured Mike Bloomfield, who she had met earlier in Chicago, on the band's eponymous song, "Mother Earth."
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Nelson_(singer))

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Love - Forever Changes [2CD] (1967)

Year: 1967 (CD 2008)
Label: Rhino Records (Europe), 812279938-4
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Rock
Country: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Time: 42:55, 78:43
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 259, 449 Mb

Love's Forever Changes made only a minor dent on the charts when it was first released in 1967, but years later it became recognized as one of the finest and most haunting albums to come out of the Summer of Love, which doubtless has as much to do with the disc's themes and tone as the music, beautiful as it is. Sharp electric guitars dominated most of Love's first two albums, and they make occasional appearances here on tunes like "A House Is Not a Motel" and "Live and Let Live," but most of Forever Changes is built around interwoven acoustic guitar textures and subtle orchestrations, with strings and horns both reinforcing and punctuating the melodies. The punky edge of Love's early work gave way to a more gentle, contemplative, and organic sound on Forever Changes, but while Arthur Lee and Bryan MacLean wrote some of their most enduring songs for the album, the lovely melodies and inspired arrangements can't disguise an air of malaise that permeates the sessions. A certain amount of this reflects the angst of a group undergoing some severe internal strife, but Forever Changes is also an album that heralds the last days of a golden age and anticipates the growing ugliness that would dominate the counterculture in 1968 and 1969; images of violence and war haunt "A House Is Not a Motel," the street scenes of "Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hillsdale" reflects a jaded mindset that flower power could not ease, the twin specters of race and international strife rise to the surface of "The Red Telephone," romance becomes cynicism in "Bummer in the Summer," the promise of the psychedelic experience decays into hard drug abuse in "Live and Let Live," and even gentle numbers like "Andmoreagain" and "Old Man" sound elegiac, as if the ghosts of Chicago and Altamont were visible over the horizon as Love looked back to brief moments of warmth. Forever Changes is inarguably Love's masterpiece and an album of enduring beauty, but it's also one of the few major works of its era that saw the dark clouds looming on the cultural horizon, and the result was music that was as prescient as it was compelling.
(www.allmusic.com/album/forever-changes-mw0000193671. AllMusic Review by Mark Deming)

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Savoy Brown featuring Kim Simmonds - You Should Have Been There [Live] (2004)

Year: recorded 23 February 2003 (CD 2018)
Label: Panache Records (US), CD 1251
Style: Blues Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 59:19
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 416 Mb

Their Best Live CD.
This decade has been a good one for Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown. Their 2003 disc, STRANGE DREAMS was one of the best studio efforts from SB in years, and now they follow it up with this live set, recorded in Canada for the CBC. From the new number, Where Has Your Heart Gone, to the old stuff like Poor Girl and Hellbound Train, Simmonds and crew are sharp, tight and amazing! I hope this lineup sticks around for a few years. Just a great effort all the way through.
(amazon.com/You-Should-Have-Been-There/dp/B00092997E) Review by Randall Richmond. August 16, 2005
Savoy Brown at its current BEST!!!!!!
Saw them in Mill Valley, Ca two yrs ago!! I have seen this band at least 10 times, starting at the Fillmore SF in 1968 with various band lineups--Kim has a good band --his best since the Foghat lineup days. The album is recorded well and sounds great --the only problem it should be longer. Get this album--you will not be disappointed. Blues-rock at its best!!!!!!
(amazon.com/You-Should-Have-Been-There/dp/B00092997E) Review by J. R Sategna. March 26, 2006
Blues served up just right!
This is a great live blues album by one of the long standing bands that have never sold themselves as anything but a down home blues outfit. They never went commercial and obviously never cared! Six well chosen tracks with plenty of dynamics to make it very interesting. Solid bass lines and tasty guitar licks throughout. Fresh sounding and yet- still old school-- and worth listening to!
(amazon.com/You-Should-Have-Been-There/dp/B00092997E) Review by Sam. October 27, 2005

01. When It Rains (02:57)
02. Where Has Your Heart Gone (11:30)
03. Poor Girl (11:24)
04. Blues Like Midnight (09:54)
05. Street Corner Talking (12:34)
06. Hellbound Train (10:58)

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Electric Light Orchestra - Time [Japanese Ed. 3 bonus tracks] (1981)

Year: 31 July 1981 (CD Feb 21, 2007)
Label: Sony Music (Japan), MHCP 1161
Style: Progressive Pop, Pop Rock, Disco
Country: Birmingham, England
Time: 54:36
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 391 Mb

Charts: UK #1, AUS #2, AUT #2, GER #1, JPN #36, NLD #2, NOR #2, SWE #1, US #16. CAN, GER & US: Gold; UK: Platinum.
TIME is not only a beautifully crafted journey into the future with the production taking all kinds of liberties of crossing every "t" and dotting every "i" with every pop sensibility explored to the nth degree but also by creating some of the most sophisticated ELO ear worms of their entire career leaving absolutely no note on this release without an addictive coating! The tracks are all reminiscent of the true classic bands whether it take form of The Beatles in "Rain Is Falling" or a disco laden Donna Summer feel (from "I Feel Love") on "From The End Of The World," or the rockabilly 50s feel of their single "Hold On Tight," TIME manages to celebrate the harmonic and pop achievements of the previous three decades all the while adding progressive touches that embellish TIME to a new level of ambitiousness. It's almost as if the band felt the finality of their career and were going for the pop hook jugular and with TIME i personally find that they achieved exactly what they set their sights for.
(progarchives.com/album.asp?id=10547) Review by siLLy puPPy. May 15, 2017. 5/5
What I want to say here, is that on the contrary of the feeling that this album is one of the most underrated ELO album, I would on the contrary say (when I look at the ratings) that it is substantially overrated.
Jeff is again willing to reproduce a symphonic and concept album like "El Dorado" on and on. A "Prologue" to start like in the good old days ... But, gosh ! What a miserable one. "Twilight". is one of the very few bearable track to my ears.
Disco is almost everywhere, poor melodies are reigning (what happened to you Jeff ?). If it were not such a pity, one could laugh at least. But there are no reasons to laugh. Only cry my friend.
When I selected the first fifteen bands I would review on this site, I decided to do it all the way through : from start to finish. I picked up ELO since it was a band I quite appreciated in my youth (74-76 period). How is it possible in such a short period of time to go from the Capitol to the Tarpeian Rock ?
We'll even have to suffer a reggae-ish disaster with "The Lights Go Down". Please, when will this nightmare stop ? Not with "Hold On Thight" and its ridiculous French wordings I'm afraid. I can only be glad to have reached the "Epilogue" : this one is not so bad (but lasts only for 1'31").
There are almost not a single good track on this album. Just a collection of useless songs and boring moments. A VERY weak ELO album.
Even their participation on "Xanadu" was better ! Fortunately, in these days there were real good bands emerging to avoid us being completely devastated with stuff like this. FYI, I have liked ELO quite a lot : my previous reviews speak for themselves (up to "Out Of The Blue") but this is really a bad effort to which I can only apply the one star rating.
I really had a hard time with this review (but, unfortunately there are more ELO albums to come). Sorry Jeff, but you did this, not me.
(progarchives.com/album.asp?id=10547) Review by ZowieZiggy. April 15, 2007. 1/5

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Grand Funk Railroad - E Pluribus Funk [Japanese Ed.] (1971)

Year: November 1971 (CD February 24, 1993)
Label: Toshiba-EMI LTD. (Japan), TOCP-7621
Style: Hard Rock, Classic Rock
Country: Flint, Michigan, U.S.
Time: 35:56
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 250 Mb

Charts: US: #5, AU #11, CA #3, JP #15. US: Platinum.
“E pluribus unum,” Latin for “out of many, one,” is a motto on the Grand Seal of the United States, the seal that is used to authenticate documents by the US government. But on November 15, 1971, that phrase was adapted into the language of one of America’s biggest rock bands, as Grand Funk Railroad released their fifth studio album, E Pluribus Funk.
By this stage in their career, Grand Funk were producing platinum-selling albums for fun, and at an incredibly productive rate. Their fourth LP Survival had been released only seven months earlier, and took just two weeks to go gold, later moving to platinum. The Michigan band’s two albums before that are now both platinum, and E Pluribus Funk wasn’t about to see them lose their magic touch.
The album, overseen in the studio as usual by manager-producer Terry Knight, was of its times in combining straight-ahead rock’n’roll with message songs. Written entirely by frontman Mark Farner, it combined tracks like “Footstompin’ Music” (its most successful single, reaching No.29) and “Upsetter” with protest comments such as “People, Let’s Stop The War” and “Save The Land.”
When E Pluribus Funk was released, it too only needed two weeks to turn gold. It debuted on the Billboard chart at No.40, in the week that it was picked by the magazine in its “Action Records” section, along with Alice Cooper’s Killer album. A week later, it was No.10, and peaked at No.5. When Billboard reviewed “Footstompin’ Music” as a single, it described the track as a “solid discotheque winner for jukeboxes and top 40.”
Grand Funk marked the album release with their second tour of Europe, beginning in early December in Copenhagen. The ten-date itinerary included the first live rock show to be staged at the Palais de Sport in Lyon. Pluribus was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA in 1991.
(udiscovermusic.com/stories/grand-funk-railroad-e-pluribus-funk-album/) Review by Paul Sexton. November 15, 2024

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Rebecca Pidgeon - The New York Girls' Club (1996)

Year: 1996 (CD 1996)
Label: Chesky Records (US), JD141
Style: Folk Rock, Contemporary Jazz, Country
Country: Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. (October 10, 1965)
Time: 45:32
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 263 Mb

Rebecca Pidgeon (born October 10, 1965) is an American-British actress who has appeared on stage and in feature films. She is also a singer, songwriter and recording artist.
Pidgeon was born to English parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while her father, Carl R. Pidgeon, was a visiting professor at MIT. Her mother, Elaine, is a yoga teacher. Her paternal grandmother, Monica Pidgeon, the editor of Architectural Design, was the sister of artist Olga Lehmann and academic Andrew George Lehmann.
Pidgeon moved to Edinburgh, Scotland in 1970 with her parents. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London with classmates Clive Owen and Liza Tarbuck.
From 1986 to 1990, Pidgeon was the lead singer of the British folk/pop band Ruby Blue. She left the group shortly after they signed to a major record label. She released the album The Raven in 1994, followed by The New York Girls' Club (1996), and The Four Marys (1998), a collection of traditional Celtic folk songs. Tough on Crime (2005) featured Walter Becker on guitar and Billy Preston on keyboards. Behind the Velvet Curtain (2008) included a cover version of the Beach Boys song "Wouldn't It Be Nice". Slingshot was released in 2012.
She appeared in her first feature film, The Dawning, in 1988, then starred in David Mamet's plays and films, beginning with the movie Homicide and the play Oleanna, a part Mamet wrote for her. She composed the music for the film version, which starred Debra Eisenstadt in her role.
Pidgeon has had roles in additional Mamet films, including The Spanish Prisoner (1997), The Winslow Boy (1999), State and Main (2000), Heist (2001) and Redbelt (2008). She had a supporting role in Red (2010). In the 2013 television movie Phil Spector, she played a supporting role and also sang "Spanish Harlem" over the closing credits. She appeared in the U.S. television series The Unit as Charlotte Ryan, and in the 2007 television film Jesse Stone: Sea Change as Leeann Lewis, a murder/bank robbery suspect.
Pidgeon is married to American writer and director David Mamet, whom she met while appearing in his play Speed-the-Plow at the National Theatre, London. Pidgeon and Mamet have two children, actress Clara and Noah, in addition to Mamet's two older children, Willa and Zosia.
Pidgeon, who was born to a non-practising Christian family, is a student of yoga as taught by B.K.S. Iyengar. She holds dual American/British citizenship.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Pidgeon)

01. Address to the Beams (03:47)
02. 24 Hours of Love (03:54)
03. Underground (03:24)
04. Jerusalem (03:20)
05. The Wedding Dress (03:29)
06. Under the Table (03:42)
07. Primitive Man (04:14)
08. The New York Girls' Club (04:58)
09. The Word Around Town (03:41)
10. The Penguin (03:33)
11. Friday Night Crowd (03:13)
12. Auld Lang Syne/Bring It on Home to Me (04:13)

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Mother Earth - Make A Joyful Noise (1969)

Year: 1969 (CD 2004)
Label: Wounded Bird Records (US), WOU 1226
Style: Blues Rock, Country Rock, Soul
Country: California, U.S.
Time: 40:12
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 246 Mb

Mother Earth was an eclectic American blues rock band formed in 1967 in California, fronted by singer Tracy Nelson.
Nelson, who hailed from Madison, Wisconsin, began her career as a solo artist, but formed the Mother Earth ensemble after moving to San Francisco. The group performed at the Avalon Ballroom and Fillmore Auditorium in the late 1960s, and was included on the soundtrack to the 1968 film Revolution. The group signed to Mercury Records, recording four albums. Mike Bloomfield played guitar on their 1968 release Living with the Animals, and Boz Scaggs contributed to their 1969 release Make A Joyful Noise. In addition to blues, the early incarnation of the group displayed influences from gospel, R&B, jazz, country and even a touch of psychedelia. After the first album, Mother Earth moved their base of operations from the Bay Area to a farm outside of Nashville, Tennessee. The nucleus of the band solidified around Nelson, keyboardist Andy McMahon and guitarist John "Toad" Andrews. Their manager and producer was Travis Rivers. Nelson was an astute judge of up-and-coming songwriters and was an early supporter of then largely unknown names like John Hiatt, Steve Young, and Eric Kaz. Mother Earth's version of Young's "Seven Bridges Road" predates the Eagles' cover by about nine years. After two LPs with Reprise Records and one with Columbia Records the ensemble continued to tour as Nelson's backup band but did not record anymore. They finally called it quits in early 1977. Tracy Nelson meanwhile returned to recording as a solo artist in 1974, issuing LPs on Atlantic Records, MCA Records, Adelphi Records, Flying Fish Records, and others.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Earth_(American_band))
Make a Joyful Noise is the follow-up to 1968's Living With the Animals. This time out, Mother Earth neatly divided their joint appreciations for rural and urban American music: a la the thematic "City Side" and "Country Side." The City Side is an R&B workout, powered by a robust horn section and the vocals of Rev. Ron Stallings on burning soul cuts such as "Stop That Train," Tracy Nelson's killer performance on Naomi Neville's cooker "What Are You Trying to Do," and sultry read of Little Willie John's babymaker "Need Your Love So Bad." The Country Side is more subdued, adorned by steel guitars and Powell St. John's quavering vocals on "I'll Be Moving On" and the strange "The Fly." Nelson's version of Doug Sahm's "I Wanna Be Your Mama Again" is her blues-country gospel version of Hank Williams' honky tonk nugget "You Win Again" (with a fine fiddle solo by Johnny Gimble). Some of the guest stars on this set include Boz Scaggs, Hargus Robins, Ben Keith, D.J. Fontana, and Pete Drake. Make a Joyful Noise remains an overlooked classic from the Warner Brothers catalog that finally saw CD issue in 2004 by Wounded Bird.
(allmusic.com/album/make-a-joyful-noise-mw0000259442)

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Yes - Close To The Edge [Japanese Ed.] (1972)

Year: 8 September 1972 (CD Sep 10, 1988)
Label: Warner-Pioneer Corporation (Japan), 20P2-2053
Style: Symphonic Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 37:51
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 233 Mb

The group Yes reached their progressive pinnacle with the 1972 album Close to the Edge. Containing just three extended tracks, the album became Yes’s greatest commercial success to date, reaching the Top 5 on both the US and UK album charts. However, this success did not come without cost as the complex arrangements and stressful studio situation ultimately led to the departure of drummer Bill Bruford.
Following the success of the group’s fourth LP, Fragile, Yes went on an extensive tour. In early 1972, they recorded a cover of Paul Simon’s “America” for an Atlantic Records compilation album and by the Spring of that year, they were back at Advision Studios in London with audio engineer and co-producer Eddy Offord.
None of the tracks on this album were fully written prior to entering the studio and there were several instances where the arrangements had gotten so complex that the band members forgot where they left off the previous day. Offord had worked with Yes on tour and tried to replicate their live energy by building a large stage in the studio. However the arduous process took its toll, especially on Bruford and keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who felt like “innocent bystanders” to the thematic vision of the record.
Close to the Edge opens with the ambient noise of nature and a world at ease before this vibe is quickly demolished by a piercing, psychedelic guitar lead by Steve Howe, which is impressive technically and interesting in its style. In contrast are Bruford’s rhythms and a punchy baseline by Chris Squire, which make for a tension-filled listen at first, until the song breaks around the three minute mark with a more melodic and atmospheric guitar lead that shepherds the listener into the catchy heart of this 18-minute title track. Composed by Howe and lead vocalist Jon Anderson, the vastly differing textures and moods are taped together in an atmospheric dream-like presentation, with funk based guitar riffs giving way to a hymn-like section and church organ solo before the main theme is reprised (albeit with differing instrumental arrangement) to close out the track.
The album’s original second side, features extended tracks clocking in at ten and nine minutes respectively. “And You and I” is a brilliant suite which offers listeners a completely different feel than that of the side-long title track. It opens with a beautiful, chime-filled acoustic guitar piece by Howe, somber in tone, but quickly picked up by a strong backing rhythm. Through its four distinct sections, the song transitions from folk to rock to a spacey, atmospheric piece with Wakeman’s synths, Squire’s pointed bass, and Howe’s guitars playing hand-in-hand. Eventually the song wraps brilliantly by returning to its folksy roots but with a differing rhythm to give the whole experience a forward motion.
The closing “Siberian Khatru” is the most straight-forward and, perhaps, the the easiest listen on the album. It features Yes’s unique combination of funk bass with more beautifully prominent guitar work, which really drives the song through from beginning to end. To achieve the unique sound of Howe’s guitar, Offord used two microphones, one stationary and a second swinging around to replicate a “Doppler effect”.
Bruford left to join King Crimson following the album’s completion and was replaced by Alan White, formerly of John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band, for the the subsequent tour and albums in the immediate future. Impressed with the commercial and critical success of Close to the Edge, Atlantic Records owner Ahmet Ertegun signed the band to a new five-year contract, which carried Yes through the rest of the decade of the 1970s.
(classicrockreview.com/2017/09/1972-yes-close-to-the-edge/)

01. Close to the Edge [I.The Solid Time of Change - II.Total Mass Retain - III.I ... (18:45)
02. And You and I [I.Cord of Life - II.Eclipse - III.The Preacher The Teacher - I... (10:11)
03. Siberian Khatru (08:54)

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Philippe Debarge With Pretty Things - Rock St. Trop (1969)

Year: 1969 (CD 2017)
Label: Madfish Records (Europe), SMACD1078
Style: Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 50:46
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 308 Mb

The Pretty Things' career was rife with peculiar episodes, and none was more peculiar than the unreleased album which makes up the bulk of this bootleg. In 1969 the band recorded eleven original songs with an unknown French singer, Phillipe DeBarges, taking the place of Phil May. May and Pretty Things bassist Wally Allen produced the record, which was never released. It's quite similar in nature to the Pretties' own late-'60s psychedelic recordings, though more pop-oriented than S.F. Sorrow, sounding more like the soundtrack items that ended up on Electric Banana; in fact, three of the songs ("Alexander," "Eagles Son," and "It'll Never Be Me") were done as authentic Pretty Things tracks on Electric Banana as well. It's pleasant if usually slight pop-psych, often utilizing chunky guitar strums of the kind that Pete Townshend used (possibly due in part to the Pretties' influence?) on Tommy. Some of these songs were probably too strong to donate to DeBarges, though, like "Alexander" (one of their best late-'60s cuts), "Running You & Me" (with opening guitar chords quite reminiscent of the Tommy style), the swinging mod-like "You Might Even," and "Eagles Son." Sound quality is good, although as it's been taken from an acetate, there's some surface noise. The disc is made all the more enticing to Pretties fans via a generous 13 bonus tracks. All are taken from 1965-69 television and BBC appearances, including performances of the hits "Honey I Need," "Don't Bring Me Down," and "Midnight to Six Man," as well as uncommon items like BBC versions of "Sitting All Alone" and a few songs from S.F. Sorrow; quality on these is only fair, but listenable.
(allmusic.com/album/phillipe-debarge-mw0001049770)

01. Hello, How Do You Do (04:06)
02. You Might Even Say (04:03)
03. Alexander (02:59)
04. Send You With Loving (03:04)
05. You're Running You And Me (04:55)
06. Peace (01:44)
07. Eagles Son (03:20)
08. Graves Of Grey (00:48)
09. New Day (04:08)
10. It'll Never Be Me (04:34)
11. I'm Checking Out (03:44)
12. All Gone Now (02:18)
13. Monsieur Rock (Ballad Of Philippe) (Bonus Track) (05:41)
14. Lover (Bonus Track) (01:41)
15. Silver Stars (Bonus Track) (03:35)

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The Pretty Things - The Pretty Things [Japanese Ed. 6 bonus tracks] (1965)

Year: 1965 (CD 24 March, 2004)
Label: Victor Records (Japan), VICP-62641
Style: British Rhythm and Blues, Garage Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 48:57
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 164 Mb

Is this album actually worth buying. The Pretty Things were certainly an entertaining and mildly recommendable band at every stage of their career, but at every stage of their career they also managed to drag behind the Beatles and the Stones, always trying to catch up but hardly even making number three in the race (only S. F. Sorrow might be truly considered an innovative record - at least they beat Jethro Tull to the flute!). And nowhere does this nagging "second-handness" show better than on their debut LP. Consisting entirely of R'n'B covers and R'n'B "originals" that are in fact disguised covers as well, the record is little more than a vain attempt to outstone the Stones in their brand of 'ugly rhythm-and-bluesmaking' to scare the shit out of easily scared mothers and attract their naughty children. Well, the Stones' connection is not at all amazing, considering that the band's guitarist, Dick Taylor, originally played bass in an early version of the Stones, before being replaced by Bill Wyman; but if you ask for my opinion (and you should!), it's also obvious that these guys don't hold a candle to the Stones or to the Animals.
First of all, there ain't a lot of imagination or inventiveness displayed on here. By early 1965, the Pretties had only mastered three styles of playing: (a) the generic Chuck Berry boogie, (b) the generic Bo Diddley beat, and (c) the generic Muddy Waters blues shuffle. Practically all the eighteen tracks on here fit into one of these three categories, and this makes up for a really monotonous record (not to be rude or obnoxious or anything, but, in comparison, the Stones' debut was at least thrice as diverse).
Second, the instrumentation is extremely poor - no keyboards at all, just the usual guitar/harmonica business all over the place. Dick Taylor is a competent guitarist with a tasteful approach to his playing, but nowhere near as masterful as Keith Richards: obviously, somebody hadn't done his Chuck Berry homework as diligently as the Riffmeister. His interplay with the second guitarist is usually draggy, with the guitars very poorly separated in the mix and displaying no personality. The rhythm section is competent, and at least they never mess up the rhythm, but they're not able to keep up a firm, steady, never-wavering, and actually threatening groove like the Stones' rhythm section could in those early days.
And one really irritating factor on here is the lead singer. Phil May tries to ape Jagger's approach to the material, with wild screams, 'evil' intonations and gloomy vocal overtones everywhere, but his voice, unlike Jagger's, isn't really suitable for such things, and he ends up overemoting and producing a really bad effect. Don't get me wrong: he ain't bad in a 'yeah, just another white boy trying to sound like a bluesman' manner, like, say, Keith Relf from the Yardbirds. Rather he's bad in a 'just another garage punk who's too feeble and limp to be truly scary' manner. If I want true brawl 'n' brawn, I'll take that guy from the Sonics, I guess.
(Full Version: starling.rinet.ru/music/pretty.htm)

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Nazz (Todd Rundgren) - Open Our Eyes (The Anthology 1968-1970) (2002)

Year: 1968-1970 (CD 2002)
Label: Sanctuary Records (UK), CMEDD593
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock
Country: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Time: 68:52, 61:49
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 464, 400 Mb

The Nazz was an American psych-rock band from Philadelphia that released the 1968–69 albums Nazz and Nazz Nazz on SGC. Frontman Todd Rundgren launched a prolific solo career and later fronted Utopia. Drummer Thom Mooney resurfaced in the hard-rock super-trio Paris.
Members: Robert “Stewkey” Antoni (piano, organ, lead vocals), Thom Mooney (drums), Todd Rundgren (guitar, piano, vocals, 1967-69), Carson Van Osten (bass, 1967-69), Craig Bolyn (guitar, 1969-70), Greg Sempler (bass, 1969-70), Rick Nielsen (guitar, keyboards, 1970-71), Craig Myers (guitar, 1970-71), Tom Petersson (bass, 1970-71)
The Nazz formed in Philadelphia in 1967 when guitarist–singer Todd Rundgren and bassist Carson Van Osten teamed with singer–keyboardist Robert “Stewkey” Antoni and drummer Thom Mooney. Rundgren and Osten hailed from Woody’s Truck Stop, an emerging blues-rock act that later (without the pair) cut an album on Mercury. They named their new band after the 1966 Yardbirds song “The Nazz Are Blue.”
(Around this same time, a band from Phoenix called The Spiders moved to LA and renamed itself The Nazz for the 1967 single “Lay Down and Die, Goodbye” on small-press Very Record. When they learned of Rundgren’s band, they changed their name to Alice Cooper.)
On June 18, 1967, The Nazz opened for The Doors at the Philly Town Hall. The Nazz became the flagship act on Screen Gems-Columbia (SGC), a label set up between Screen Gems (the TV division of Columbia Pictures) and Atlantic Records. They recorded their first album in April 1968 at I.D. Sound Studios in Hollywood. Their first single, “Open My Eyes” (b/w “Hello It’s Me”) appeared that July on SGC.
(jazzrocksoul.com/artists/nazz/)

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Twentieth Century Zoo - Thunder On A Clear Day [5 bonus tracks] (1969)

Year: 1969 (CD 1999)
Label: Sundazed Music Inc. (US), SC 11063
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Hard Rock, Blues Rock
Country: Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Time: 63:38
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 344 Mb

The band, under their new name, released two more singles that were regional successes, and garnered enough interest from Vault Records to sign them to their major label. Recording took place in AT Audio Recorders for the small Caz label. The singles marked a shift in the band's past sound into the more psychedelic and acid driven genres. The second of those singles, "You Don't Remember", is described as an early example of protopunk, although in this period of the band they were recordings a diversity of musical styles. Their sound was a combination of vocal harmonies, complex fuzz guitar solos, and other aspects of the Los Angeles music scene, most notably in their live performances. The band toured in the Southwest of the U.S., opening to more national acts. The band also appeared on television in several shows including The Wallace and Ladmo Show. Following the band's added exposure, they began recording for their debut album in late 1968. Album development began at Vault Records Studios in Hollywood, and featured tracks similar to Fever Tree. Along those lines, the standouts on the album were the prolonged guitar solos on the longer tracks. Eastern-influenced string and percussion instrumentals were utilized and assorted sound effects magnified the melodies of the compositions. In early 1969, the album, Thunder on a Clear Day, was issued on the Vault label to more regional success for the band, but failing to chart nationally. After another tour, the band partially completed songs intended for a second album, but the lead guitarist "Skip" Ladd was drafted into the Army. A brief attempt to find a replacement failed, and after one last single the band disbanded in early 1970. In 1999, Sundazed Music re-issued the band's album and an EP compiling three unreleased tracks originally designated for the second album release.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentieth_Century_Zoo)

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Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure [Japanese Ed.] (1973)

Year: 23 March 1973 (CD Jul 31, 2013)
Label: Virgin Records (Japan), VJCP-98137
Style: Art Rock, Glam Rock, Pop Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 42:19
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 293 Mb

Charts: Uk #4, AUS #41, AUT #9, GER #28, NOR #15, US #193. UK: Gold.
While attending Newcastle University, Bryan Ferry had studied under prominent pop art painter and theorist, Richard Hamilton. Hamilton saw a painting as a mood board pinning his inspirations and goals "that could as easily clash as blend together", which were adapted by Ferry on For Your Pleasure, thematically taking him from the past and into his representation of the future. Hamilton's work Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? got its mark on "In Every Dream Home a Heartache", a song about illusions, "glimpses of modern sophistication", and horrors behind them.
In the wake of the Four Your Pleasure sessions, Roxy Music sharpened their technique while touring their debut album. They lost some of the "freewheeling wildness", and in return gained a more concentrated, hearty and less experimental sound; the qualities especially yearned by Ferry. Bryan Ferry wrote the better part of the album within a two week writing spree during the 1973 winter, while "Grey Lagoons" and "For Your Pleasure" had already been conceived during the 1971 recording sessions, stockpiled for their debut album, and later developed for the release of their second album. In a way, Ferry was focused on writing a follow-up to the band's debut.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxy_Music_(album))

01. Do The Strand (04:04)
02. Beauty Queen (04:41)
03. Strictly Confidential (03:48)
04. Editions Of You (03:51)
05. In Every Dream Home A Heartache (05:29)
06. The Bogus Man (09:20)
07. Grey Lagoons (04:13)
08. For Your Pleasure (06:51)

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Ginger Baker (ex Cream) - Middle Passage (1990)

Year: 1990 (CD 1990)
Label: Axiom Records (US), 422-846 753-2
Style: Instrumental, Jazz Rock, Reggae
Country: Canterbury, Kent, England (19 August 1939 - 6 October 2019)
Time: 35:28
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 229 Mb

With producer Bill Laswell, who mixes African drummers (Ayib Dieng, Mar Gueye, Magette Fall) with fusioneers (Bernie Worrell, Jonas Hellborg, Nicky Skopelitis) and bassists (Jah Wohble and Laswell) to land in a "middle passage" of worldbeat. Not bad at all.
(allmusic.com/album/middle-passage-mw0000308235)
Saw many Cream performances in the 60's. Was always awe-struck with this man's drumming. Recently became re-acquainted through finding these many other more recent recordings. Since I have traveled to Africa quite a bit, the rhythms from that continent have become part of my soul. This album is fantastic. Captures these rhythms and beyond using modern recording technologies and definitely Ginger's style. This is but one of many new and great recordings (a must have in my book),and, hopefully just one of many more to follow. Thanks Ginger.
(amazon.com/Middle-Passage-Ginger-Baker/dp/B00008FC7S) Review by Dozer. January 27, 2005
Awesome mixture of exotic acoustic and electric elements, rhythms and tonalities. Ginger Baker is a world traveler and this has heavy leanings to African themes but Bill Laswell's production brings it out of the village into the studio, but just barely.
The drumming and percussion throughout the album goes beyond the boundries of both rock and world music. Bass duties are handled by Laswell and Jah Wobble, often both on the same track. Exotic guitars played by tonemaster Nicky Skopeltis. No vocals, no need for them here.In fact I've played this recording since it first came out (circa 1989) but not until writing this review now did the abscence of vocals even dawn on me.
Middle Passage is an album of six masterful arrangements of various intensities from bold to simmering. I like Laswell's production style but on some recordings he gets to "loop happy" and looses ground, but not here this is a great meeting of real playing with only a slight sense of production.
Ginger Baker is one of the most recognisable names in drumming the world over, despite over a 10 year sabbatical from the music industry (mid 70's until mid-late 80's) and also being an artist with integrity, taste and intention.
For those of you who are aware of his sublime Horses and Trees album Middle Passage is like the next progressive step in strength and intensity but with relativly similar exotic acoustic/electric instrumentation.
The overall picture presented by the music? maybe something like having a big bowl of saucy spiced hot stew inside the flame and insense lit brick and clay walls of an African-Asian hashish lunchoenette den.
(amazon.com/Middle-Passage-Ginger-Baker/dp/B00008FC7S) Review by ADK. July 17, 2003

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