This is a hard rock classic!Many reviewers say that this band was heavily influenced by Led Zeppelin , but i think that all this psychedelic explosion of the late sixties in Texas (with bands like 13Th Floor Elevators) was the real influence! Banned from the Houston's club "Love Scene" which was much affiliated to the local big record company International Artist (home of 13Th Floor Elevators , Chaparrals e.t.c.) started playing free concerts until they got a record deal in 1969. They recorded a whole album then, but their producer Jim Musil wanted them to change their name to "Come" .The band didn't wanted to do so and thought that they'll convince Musil to keep their original name. He released only a 7" single (with the name Come) in his "Dandelion" label.Rumors say, that because of their name , Musil didn't passed them to a big record company! So the band went back in studio and re-recorded the same album which was released from their own "Hookah" label in 1970,named "Dead Man", in a 3.000 pcs pressing! The new recording was slightly different from the original (which was finally released in 1993 titled "Get Off My Case") because guitarist Dave Mitchell plays all the guitar parts (guitarist Phillip White left the band just before the recording sessions).For many , this album is the bridge from 60s hard rock to 70s heavy metal! Well , i don't know!Heavy metal came some years later , with bands like Judas Priest! But if you listen to Stone's "Gimme Shelter" cover maybe you'll feel that it's better and more powerful from the original!Not to mention the psychedelic-hard rock track "Dead Man"! As i said...a hard rock classic!
To be continued with the next post...
GET IT HERE
After "Dead Man's" release the band started touring around Texas.They opened for major acts and were headliners in smaller cities.The road trips were increasing, the concerts were kicking but the band didn't spent enough time together creating music!So when "Mainstream" wanted a new record , the band was tired ,the members were frustrated and the album that came out , a self titled album , was a disappointment for all!The band didn't wanted to follow the company's plans for major concerts in New York and saw everything around them falling apart! They just played out their remaining commitments and broke up!But even if "Josefus" wasn't in the "Dead Man's" level , it was a good album from one of the pioneers of hard rock...
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This is the Sire records edition of this legendary comp , originally released in 1972 from Electra records .It was released in 1976 in a double LP edition, just like the original , with the same tracks but different cover!Compiled by Lenny Kaye , music historian and future guitarist of Patti Smith Group, this album begun the sixties revolution (again) and it was the cause for many collectors to bring to surface hundreds of unknown garage,psychedelic and pop bands ,
revealing what was really happening in the underground mid-sixties!Later Rhino records made a ten single lp's series and in 1998 and 2001 four-disc cd editions followed.The 2001 box set was called "Nuggets II:Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond , 1964-69" with cuts from U.K. , Japan , Iceland And Brazil. In 2004 Rhino tried to revive Nuggets releasing two new compilations in a 7500 pieces limited edition , available only through internet. And finally released a third four-disc cd set named "Children of Nuggets:Original Artyfacts From The Second Psychedelic Era , 1976-1995".
And as Lenny Kaye wrote in the liner notes of the first Nuggets:"This is the story of a transition period in American rock and roll of a changeling era which dashed so fast that nobody knew much of what to make of it while it was around...".But started a whole new wonderful sixties-based movement i should say!For many,this album is the bible of rock 'n roll!!!
This is a de-noised vinyl rip.GET IT HERE LP1, LP2
This cd was released in 1996 from Ace records and it's featuring some of the best songs of the classic surf-era .All the recordings were made in 1963-64 and were released from Capitol , Imperial and Liberty labels in U.S. and from EMI in Europe , which actually owned those labels!Here's the story taken from the notes of the booklet , written by Alan Taylor & Dave Burke (editors of the rock instrumental magazine "Pipeline"):"In the late '50s the mega-stars of rock 'n roll begin to fade and the charts soon filled with soft pop teen idols ("the Bobbies" as Jerry Lee Lewis termed them),with some great songs , innocent charm ,but no rock 'n roll!Their soft pop was high on sales but low on thrills!So the new musicians turned to something more exciting:the instrumental rock .Their interest in the rock instrumental styling of Link Wray,Duane Eddie,Dick Dale , the Ventures e.t.c.They were linked to the surfers in the early '60s as the bands played for them (the popularity of surfing was growing at that time) and they begun to use surfing terms for song titles , a trick soon adopted by garage bands!
The regional success for such recordings was followed by national hits (Wipeout,Pipeline,Baja) and soon every major label had a surf act on its roster."
I'm not a music historian , but i think that the major labels will always "manufacture" innocent and charming idols !There's no risk in it and their job is to make money! As for the surf music, is one of the purest rock genres and maybe the first in rock history with real electric guitars,as you will see in this excellent compilation!And still is...
GET IT HERE
Vibrators are one of the longest running original punk bands!They were formed back in 1976 and in their 30-year career they released more than 16 albums ,not to mention the huge number of 7" singles,12" singles , cassettes and compilations! The great guitar work from Ian "Knox" Carnochan (he became occasional session guitarist for major acts like Peter Hammill) and John Ellis along with the tight rhythm section of Pat Collier and Eddie , made Vibrators one of the bands that forced a lot of music journalists of the time , to have a look over the new (in those days) movement of punk rock!"Pure Mania" is like that!It was released in 1977 , featuring one of the band's greatest hits , the song "Baby,Baby" .An album which shows the band's garage and pop influences , but so well performed!A real punk classic!
This is a de-noised vinyl rip.
GET IT HERE
One of the leading bands of the German rock movement which started in 1968.Groups like Guru Guru ,Faust, Amon Duul ,Can , Tangerine Dream and many more , created an underground rock scene which was not influenced by the English-American sound.This scene is known as Kraut rock and because of its experimentation and sound innovation became a major influence for thousands of bands!Guru Guru was (is) one of the bands that gave a definition to that term. Their music was highly experimental and sometimes with big dose of comic elements! As their drummer Mani Neumeter said when he was asked by a journalist if they play Cosmic rock he replied: No, we are playing comic rock!It was a band with many musical styles from jazz to pop ,even middle-eastern sounds (depending from the band's line-up )!This album , featured in this post, was released in 1972 and it was their fourth.An exiting experimental and highly recommended album ,a perfect sample of the first period of this great band as for the whole Kraut rock scene!
GET IT HERE
Even if they were part of the mid '70's New York's CBGB's scene , this band's roots were from Cleveland Ohio and the legendary band "Rocket From The Tombs" , which included two future members of the Dead Boys: Cheetah Chrome on guitar and Johnny Blitz on drums (the other two would be members of Pere Ubu).The Dead Boys were heavy influenced from Iggy & The Stooges , New York Dolls and the punk scene and their outrageous,wild and agressive live performances remained in history!They moved in NY in 1976 after Joey Ramone booked them for some tryout gigs in CBGB's.Six months later they signed a contract with the "Sire" label,already home of the Ramones and they relesed their debut album, featured in this post.A classic punk rock album including songs like "Sonic Reducer" , often reffered as a great punk anthem,"All This And More","High Tension Wire" .It was a real punk rock album , from the ones that the American music press of the time was afraid and misunderstood and didn't gave a lot of coverage and acceptance and , as a result of this, the album didn't perform the expected sales!
To be continued with the next post...
GET IT HERE
Due to the low sales , "Sire Records" pressured the band the change their sound , look, even and their name!So, to do that ,Felix Papallardi (from Mountain) was brought , as a producer ,but it was a disaster!However , the album,featured here , includes great songs again ( 3rd Generation Nation is one of my favour)! But "Sire" seemed determined to "kill" the Dead Boys and when the band's drummer was stabbed and put into intensive care , dropped them from the label!The end came in 1979 when Cheetah Chrome cracked his hand and he was thrown out of the band.A few months later they will reunite due to contractual obligations to "Sire",recording a live album!Stiv Bators sung off the mic and the recording became unusable .Something like a payback to what "Sire" did to them .When it was released from "Bomp!" in 1981 , Stiv re-recorded the tracks in the studio!The Dead Boys were one of the best punk rock bands and these great albums , featured in these posts , made them undead!
GET IT HERE
This band could easily existed in the early seventies , because of their hard rock psychedelic sound and the vocals style of Brian Kild.It was their track "I think I'll die" in the third Battle Of The Garages which put them on the garage-punk map!This is their third album , a follow-up to the "Road To Peace" which Enigma records refused to publish because of the very low sales of their previous one,"Rest In Peace" (it was finally released in 1989 from Barred records)!Medieval Mosquito is a very interesting album with a hard-rock-garage-psychedelic sound with a great use of keyboards from Jim Hawkinson (he died in 1987 in a motorbike accident) and an also great guitar work of the Chicago Blues legend Honey Davis. All that , with the dark , violent and sometimes pessimistic lyrics along with Kild's interpetation lead to great result!This is a de-noised vinyl rip.GET IT HERE
Formed in Michigan in 1967,they were linked to the MC5 , as they were in the same artistic commune (Detroit Artistic Commune , Trans Love Energies) and opened almost all of their gigs at that time , including the legendary concert at Union Ballroom which offered a contract from Electra records for MC5 and the Stooges but not for them!Often described as proto-punk (what about the Sonics?) because of their political attitude and their primitive sound (which , i think sometimes is very close to the Stooges sound).
In 1970 they released their first single called "Just Like An Aborigine".They were the primary musical outlet of John Sinclair's(poet,musical activist,manager of the MC5 for sometime)White Panthers Party along with the MC5 (they broke up later).After John Sinclair's imprisonment they released their second single called "Free John Now" , included in this comp along with Allen Ginsberg's "Prayer For John Sinclair" (the flip side of the single).The song became the anthem of "Free John Sinclair" campaign.They broke up in 1970 but they left enough material of their primitive "Detroit Rock" sound for John Sinclair to make this compilation in 1995.GET IT HERE
This is a hard rock classic!Many reviewers say that this band was heavily influenced by Led Zeppelin , but i think that all this psychedelic explosion of the late sixties in Texas (with bands like 13Th Floor Elevators) was the real influence! Banned from the Houston's club "Love Scene" which was much affiliated to the local big record company International Artist (home of 13Th Floor Elevators , Chaparrals e.t.c.) started playing free concerts until they got a record deal in 1969. They recorded a whole album then, but their producer Jim Musil wanted them to change their name to "Come" .The band didn't wanted to do so and thought that they'll convince Musil to keep their original name. He released only a 7" single (with the name Come) in his "Dandelion" label.Rumors say, that because of their name , Musil didn't passed them to a big record company! So the band went back in studio and re-recorded the same album which was released from their own "Hookah" label in 1970,named "Dead Man", in a 3.000 pcs pressing! The new recording was slightly different from the original (which was finally released in 1993 titled "Get Off My Case") because guitarist Dave Mitchell plays all the guitar parts (guitarist Phillip White left the band just before the recording sessions).For many , this album is the bridge from 60s hard rock to 70s heavy metal! Well , i don't know!Heavy metal came some years later , with bands like Judas Priest! But if you listen to Stone's "Gimme Shelter" cover maybe you'll feel that it's better and more powerful from the original!Not to mention the psychedelic-hard rock track "Dead Man"! As i said...a hard rock classic!
