Douglas Leedy - The Electric Zodiac (1969)

In my ongoing attempt to surprise readers, here's something quite different than anything I've posted before. While this is presented as psychedelic music among some record sellers (who will present almost anything as psychedelic) it's really early, avant-garde electronic music from a major figure in the development of computer music. His hair is on the long side, though, and he was influenced by Indian classical music, which also had a big influence on the direction psychedelic music took during this period.

At the time of the recording, Leedy was on the UCLA music faculty and he apparently designed and constructed the Electronic Music Studio there. Prior to that he had been a classmate (at UC Berkeley) and fellow traveler of Terry Riley & LaMonte Young (Pauline Oliveras was a student there too). Although, he had more classical training and less jazz experience, his music also has a modal and repetitive nature (at least on this release) that links him to those better known composers.

More information on Leedy's career is available online here and here and you can read an interview with him from 1974 here. If you want to hear more of his music there's also an orchestral piece, the Quaderno Rosiniano, performed by the San Francisco Chamber Music Society available here.

So what about this record? As the cover notes, it is "A continuum of music of the cosmos resting in a momentary position of influence composed and arranged for Moog and Buchla synthesizers and Ognob Generator by DOUGLAS LEEDY. There is no beginning there is no end no side one no side two." Personally, I'm not sure I see any relationship to the Zodiac in the music, although there may be some esoteric calculation in use relating to astrology. It is a pretty great piece of early electronic/moog music, very cyclic in nature and not overly dissonant (as some of the more early, avant-garde, electronica can sometimes be).


Because of the nature of the music I was not comfortable doing much in the way of noise reduction so you may hear more than the usual level of clicks and pops (it wasn't as clean a copy as I would have liked either). Still I hope you enjoy it (here).

Deena Webster - Hurry, Tuesday Child (1968)

I was kind of surprised to find that this record hadn't been blogged before (at least that I could find). It's bad enough that it hasn't been reissued on CD. So even though I have some of my own records to get ready for posting I thought I'd take a few minutes to put this one up for you. As suggested, it's not my recording, but was done by FolkPhile (from vinyl) some time ago. FolkPhile is a great collector and poster who has been around in file sharing circles for a long time, posting in newsgroups and sharing in other places as well. So thanks to her (?) for this one.


And what about the record? It was issued on Parlophone in 1968 and features some excellent covers of contemporary folk/pop selections (the Flower Lady, NY Mining Disaster 1941, Colours, etc.) and older, popular folk numbers (House of the Rising Sun, Geordie) accompanied by the guitar playing or by string orchestra (under the direction of Arthur Greenslade). Deena is a British folk singer in the popular style of the day (think early Marianne Faithful or Bridget St. John). Perhaps not an original approach but all well performed. Deena has a great voice and is perhaps a little unemotional at times, but that's nit-picking really. Overall an excellent and unjustly forgotten record.

There's not much information available on the Web about Deena. The only Web page devouted to her is in German and, if the number of Google hits is any indication, she also appears to be popular in Japan.

Here's a tracklist:
A Side
Hurry, Tuesday Child
Hair Of Spun Gold
New York Mining Disaster, 1941
Geordie
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
The House Of The Rising Sun
B Side
Who Will Buy
The Flower Lady
Summer Day Reflection Song
Colours
Tangles Of My Mind
The Last Thing On My Mind

And you can get the music HERE (reposted).

More news and requests

UPDATE: Got the Joe Clark & Tony George but I still need a copy of my Rabbit McKay post. I hate to resort to extortion but I have a lot of new records to post & little desire to do so if no one can help by reposting this.

I wanted to let people know about another new release by an artist whose first (full-length) album was posted here. Bruce Murdoch, one of the most under-rated folk singers to come out of the 1960s, has a new CD entitled Matters of the Heart, which you can purchase from his Web site. In an interesting contrast to the new Andy Zwerling release I mentioned a couple weeks ago, Murdoch's new music is less political (in the macro sense) and more hopeful than his first album. The songs, while introspective and melancholy at times, still seem to be largely songs of love and acceptance (even in the face absence). You can also preview some tracks on the Web site. For what it's worth, my recommendation is that you get a copy now.


I also need to request a couple of the albums I posted here: Rabbit McKay's Bug Cloth and Joe Clark & Tony George's One Man Bands. My recordings for both of these were lost when my hard drive crashed and I'd like to repost them. I recently heard from Tony George's daughter and am hoping to get some further information on that obscure release. I know plenty of people downloaded both of these, so here's your chance to contribute to the blog by either leaving a repost link in the comments or emailing me one. Thanks, BTW, for the person who reposted Rosemary Haddad.


Finally, I've recorded a few new albums and will try to get at least one up per month over the rest of the year. Next up, by request, is Douglas Leedy's early computer music classic, The Electric Zodiac.

P.S., I forgot to mention that the Bobby & Laurie record I posted will soon be reissued on CD, so grab it now. I'll be taking it down & letting you know where to get the CD when it comes out.

Aesop's Fables - In Due Time (1969)

This one has been a long time coming, as this was promised about a year ago and this is the 2nd time I recorded it.

Aesop's Fables only released this one album on Chess Record's Cadet Concept imprint and as such it's one of only a couple of real rock records on Cadet Concept (the other I know about is the 1st Status Quo album). The music is inconsistent and varied in style. A lot of it falls into the horn rock genre popular at the time (e.g., Blood Sweat & Tears, Rare Earth), which is not my favorite style of rock music and biased me against actually posting this for a while, but there are some other tracks that go into blue-eyed soul and psychedelic territory and are more to my liking. The band is excellent especially when one or all hit a groove like the organ freak out on "In the Morning" and pretty sublime, psychedelic jamming on "And When It's Over." Lyrically I'm not as impressed. They also cover "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" and (to greater effect) Bert Sommer's "And When It's Over."

Robert Gallo who turned out a lot of tax write-off releases has his hands all over cowritting a lot of the songs, as well as arranging and producing. The band consists of

Ronny Alterville -- bass, guitar, backing vocals (1967-69)

Sonny Bottari -- vocals, percussion (1967-69)

Robert DiMonda -- flute, sax, backing vocals (1967-69)

Joe Fraticelli -- sax (1967-69)

Frank Krepala -- guitar, backing vocals (1967-69)

Louis Montaruli -- trumpet, trombone (1967-69)

John Scaduto -- vocals, drums (1967-69)

Barry Taylor -- keyboards (1967-69)

And here's a tracklist

SIDE 1

1.) Lift Up Your Hearts (Barry Taylor - Ronny Alterville)

2.) What Is Soul (Robert Gallo)

3.) In Due Time (Robert Gallo - Segal)

4.) In the Morning (John Scaduto - Robert Gallo - Ronny Alterville

5.) Everyone's Talking (Robert Gallo - Segal)

6.) Spoons Full of Sand
SIDE 2

1.) The Sound of Crying (Sonny Bottari - Barry Taylor - Ronny Alterville - Heins)

2.) What Is Love (Robert Gallo)

3.) Look Out (B. Bottari - Barry Taylor)

4.) I'm Gonna Make You Love Me (Jerry Ross - Kenny Gamble - Williams)

5.) And When It's Over (Bert Sommer)

You can hear the music here.

I should note that you may hear a bit of distortion, especially in the quieter moments. I don't want to go into the whole story--as I know I complain about my computer set-up too much already--but I recently installed an exterior upgrade for my Creative sound card and it has a number of useless features one of which (the 24-Bit Crystallizer) was accidently turned on during recording. Suffice it to say I won't be using it again.

Some News & New Releases

Just wanted to let fans of Andy Zwerling and Monte Dunn & Karen Cruz know that the former has a new album and the latter a reissue.

Andy's new record, Hold Up the Sky, is now available from the artist's Web site and you can sample some tracks on his myspace page. Like his previous releases it features some great pop songs done in a variety of pop styles, ranging from a sort of jazz-lounge track to a couple nice indie pop numbers. Lyrically it may be a bit darker but it all fits together well. I recommend it highly.

Also, the Monte Dunn & Karen Cruz has been reissued on Fallout Records, which is the new imprint from the owners of Repertoire Records. However, like Repertoire I suspect Fallout is a bootleg label and doesn't pay any royalties so I'm not in any hurry to take down the rip I posted, which is my usual policy when one of these records gets a CD reissue. I may do so in a month or so or just won't repost when that link expires.

Finally, I'm set-up again to do some recording from vinyl and as I write this I'm copying the Aesop's Fables lp. Expect to see it posted in a week or 2. After that, I'll try and keep up with a new post every month.

Bobby & Laurie - Exposiac (1967)

Bobby Bright & Laurie Allen were an Australian duo who started performing in the beat-pop vein in 1965. Exposiac is their last record and from what I've read is a major departure from their earlier work venturing into country rock territory with some nice psychedelic and pop flourishes as well as a couple tracks that try to capture a Dylanesque sound. Most of the tracks are originals but there are also nice covers of High Noon and Long Black Veil. All-in-all it's a great record from a group that I expect is pretty unknown to American audiences (not sure how well they were distributed in other parts of the world).

The duo broke up soon after this, although they reformed a couple years later (in 1969) and released a couple singles, also in a country vein. As their discography shows, they also put out a few solo releases. Sadly, Laurie Allen passed away in 2002.

Their backup band, the Rondells, included Wayne Duncan [bass], Barry Rogers [rhythm guitar], John Sullivan [rhythm guitar], Roger Treble [lead guitar], and Gary Young [drums, vocals].

Thanks to Micko at the Midoztouch board (you can find the link in the blog list to right of your screen) for supplying this rip. It's a nice high quality variable bit rate rip from vinyl, as always.

Also, note that the ID-tags for the tracks are incorrect but the seperate files are (to the best of my knowledge) labelled correctly. The file also contains one track, I Want Woman, that was recorded for this album but not included on it.

You can get the music here. Enjoy!

A request and a promise

First, I wanted to let people know I will have another post (although not my own rip) before the month is over. So expect some new music soon & that's a/the promise.

Second, as you are probably aware (if you read my last post) I lost a number of the rips I had previously posted here. Many of these I could get from the blog itself but there are a few that are not available and, in order to repost them, I'm hoping some of you can supply me with copies. The posts I'm looking for are (1) the Sidewalk Swingers, (2) Rosemary Haddad, and (3) Andy Zwerling. If you don't want to post a link in the comments, drop me an email (you can get the address through my blogger profile). Thanks in advance.

Finally, some news on a couple blog-related topics. I recently got my copy of Kathe Green's Run the Length of Your Wildness from Rev-Ola. It sounds great and I suggest you all buy it. The liner notes refer to this blog, although not by name, as the place the Rev-Ola producer 1st came across this great release. It's nice to now we had a hand it getting it rereleased. Bruce Murdoch also has a new CD coming out, although I still am looking for it myself and when I find out where you can get a copy I'll let you know.

The End of My Blog?

Aaaarrrrrgggggghhhhh! My external hard drive, on which was stored my music rips along with a hell of a lot of other stuff appears to be dead. I had just about finished fixing the Aesop's Fables lp I had promised to post but that's not going to happen now. I could rerip a whole bunch of records and perhaps I will but right now I feel pretty discouraged. So at the very least expect a few months hiatus before I return to blogging. My brain hurts.

UPDATE: Upon reflection and after receiving words of encourgement I will be returning to blogging but definitely need some time to rerip, etc.--so expect a new share in 2 or 3 months (most likely the Aesop's Fables record, since I had promised that).

Bill Hershey & the Almonds - Is There a Doctor in the House/Yogi Man's Bikini

I didn't have time to rip & post an album for you this month, so I dragged out a very-obscure and pretty scratchy single for your audio enjoyment. I can tell you nothing about Bill Hershey & his Almonds except that they recorded this for Gulf Records (which gave it the catalogue number 27). I'm guessing its from the early 60s. Bill Hershey and his gang sound like they could have performed at the Wolf's Den (see picture) and would have fit right in on one of the Las Vegas Grind compilations. These songs include Yogi Berra imitations (or maybe Yogi bear imitations), silly Dracula voices, and lyrics that touch on fun subjects like bikinis and doctors. What can I say except "It's a gas!" Listen here. I'll be back next month with a full album for ya.

Toby Ben - Wake Up To the Sunshine (1968)

This month's post (and I am on a monthly posting schedule until further notice) is courtesy of "abracadabra" who kindly provided a rip of this soulful, 60's rock record released on the Venture label. Toby Ben was the stage name of the singer who has since recorded under his real name, Jon Ben Berger.

This record features a combination of blues- and soul-inspired music and hippie sensibility that should have given it a wide audience at the time of its release but apparently did not. Perhaps the fact that he recorded for a label best known for its soul records may have hindered him. His about love, loss, hippie chicks (Salliey is a classic in the latter category), the war (Draft Call), and the joy of living (Peace, Wake Up to the Sunshine) are all well-written and touch on the appropriate topics of the day. I also like his vocals, which have a very soulful quality.

Jon Ben Berger's musical career started on the East Coast, where he performed as a folk singer at the Gaslight & the Bitter End. He later headed west to San Francisco where he formed the group Burning Bush and then as Toby Ben. He went back to New York at some point thereafter and was involved in collaborative projects with members of the Phillip Glass Ensemble, director and dancers from Merce Cunningham's troupe. Nowadays he lives and performs in Stockholm, Sweden and has new material available (check the prior link). There's a video online for a cool blues song he did recently for a film about St. Francis (I think) that's definitely worth checking out as well.

You can get the music here.

One other note, I am trying to regularly update the links, which I consider an important part of the blog. A lot of blogs are disappearing and others are going private--in both cases I'm deleting the links. I'm also deleting ones that haven't updated for a year or so. At the same time, there are a lot of new blogs out. The newer ones, in case you weren't aware, can be found at the bottom of the list for each letter but not at the very bottom (as that's where I tend to put blogs that don't feature full albums). If you enjoy this or any other releases please leave a comment or send an email. I think that if I got more comments/emails I might post more often.

John Wood - Turn Of The Century & I'll Come Back

I must apologize for taking so long between posts but I'm extremely busy with life right now & will continue to be for the next couple months, so don't expect regular posts for a while. I will try to get one up every month--but even that's not a promise.

So what about this record? I guess you could call it "lounge" music. It's certainly instrumental and as the liner notes proclaim"It's not rock, jazz, folk, country, or western." The musical selections include compositions by Herbie Hancock, Burt Bacharach, Riz Ortolani & Joe South (and one original number) and are performed by a trio of keyboards (John Wood), guitar (John Koenig) & drums (John Guerin). The performance is often eerie and sometimes just weird (in a good way). Overall a unpolished (and poorly mixed) gem well worth a listen.

Here's the tracklist:

A1. And I'll Come Back (1:58)
A2. Rose Garden (1:57)
A3. One Teardrop (Una Lagrima) (2:20)
A4. Green, Green, Grass Of Home (2:50)
A5. Till Love Touches Your Life (1:55)
A6. Maiden Voyage (3:05)

B1. She Loves (Her Oleander Tree) (3:14)
B2. A Ray Of Sunshine (Un Rayo De Soil) (2:17)
B3. Alfie (2:35)
B4. (Impressions Of) Throb (5:37)
B5. Love Means (You Never Have To Say You're Sorry) (2:00)

And you can get the music here.

Yanoska - Yanoska (1969)

The 1st, eponymous record from Michael Yanoska was released on the Epic label on 1969 and has remained out-of-print since that initial edition. It's a fine record of period folk-rock with some nice melodies played well and pleasing (if not ground-breaking) lyrics sung with conviction and, at times, good humor.

Yanoska had previously recorded an lp as part of the Towne Hall Trio and has released a number of other records since the mid-90s. You can get his newest release from CD Baby here.

Here's the tracklist for this one:
Side A
1.May First
2.23 Years and Back
3.Somethin' I Can't Explain
4.California Sundown Queen
5.Song
6.To the Castle of Lord Tim
Side B
7.Don't Say Goodbye
8.Annette's Song
9.Go Down East
10.Today I Wrote a Song
11.Charlotte

Listen to this record here.

IN OTHER BLOG-RELATED NEWS:
For those of you who don't read through the comments...

John Campos, St. George from St. George & Tana, has posted some of his newer musical compositions on Youtube accompanying some bike racing footage.

Sundazed Records has released the first, previously unissued record from Smokey & His Sister--an excellent set of songs as good as the one posted here.

Stay tuned for at least 1 (maybe 2) new posts in January--next up is John Wood's Turn of the Century record released on Ranwood Records.

Cook E. Jarr - Pledging My Love (1969)

I had intended to rip and post this some time ago but just recently found another, quality rip (thanks to the great Tamara from the 1960s binaries news group) and decided I would post that rather than going another week without a post.

Cook E. Jarr's first album is a pleasant and at times soulful slice of pop music with full orchestral arrangments and occasional choruses. It may sound a bit overproduced to contemporary ears but Mr. Jarr sings it with feeling and generally has fun with the material. He also makes a fine selection of songs to cover including FOUR Tim Hardin compositions (his version of Red Balloon is my favorite track on the album) and versions of Knock on Wood, Pledging My Love, Do You Believe in Magic, and the title cut.

Cook E. Jarr currently resides in Las Vegas where he has a popular lounge act and the same haircut he featured on the cover of this album. He has two more recent CDs available on his Web site. Next time you're in Vegas you should check him out and if you like this give his new CDs Almost Grown & Old School, New School a listen.

You can hear this album here.

I will be back with one more post this month (the self-titled Epic records release from Yanoska) to keep up the new twice a month schedule. I'm also making an attempt to update the links list & have tracked down a number of great, new blogs to add there.

Arthur Miller & all the Little Millers - Hanging out and Settling Down (1971)

This is not a record by the famed American playwright, even though All Music Guide apparently believes it is (they list it as a spoken word record, which is also incorrect). This Arthur Miler is a graduate of the Ethical Culture School and Oberlin college, an actor, a filmmaker, and a hippie (according to the liner notes of the record). He was also apparently a father, brother & husband (thus the appearance of other Millers on this record). He writes all the songs on this record and sings them as well, which I guess makes him a singer-songwriter too. I believe this is his only album and I could find no mention online of his film work.

There is a definite difference in the music between Side A (aka the Hanging Out side) and Side B (the Settling Down side), with the former filled with upbeat and often humorous tunes and the later with introspective and occassionally sappy numbers. If you didn't guess I like side A more, but some of the tracks on side B are very nice folky love songs. The recording levels are also a little low on Side B leading to more prominent surface noise but I guess we can blame the producer (John Hammond, Sr.) for that. The personnel on the record are as follows

Bob Pozar - Drums

Stanley Schwartz - Piano

Barbara Miller - Vocals

John Miller - Bass, Vocals

Arthur Miller - Guitar, Composer, Vocals, Producer

Paul Motian - Drums (on Tubby Terwilliger)

Tim Jerome - Kazoo (on Tubby Terwilliger)

The track list is

Side A/Hanging Out---Tubby Terwilliger, Chocolate Pudding, Dollar Ain't a Dollar, Down the River, When My Mama Met My Papa, Human Being
Side B/Settling Down---Clear Eyes, Wrong Side of the Bed, Chime Me Down, Another Night of Love, Wonderhouse, Finish the Song

I hope you enjoy this record (reupped again). Please keep the comments coming and click the ad links once in a while. I'll try to get another post up in 2 weeks time.

Rosemary Haddad - Coming Hohm (1975)

My apologies for being late again with a new post--even on the every 2 week schedule I managed to be a couple weeks late with this one. Also, while I'm apologizing, I should also point out that the sound on this one leaves something to be desired. However, I hope the relative rarity of the record will be compensation enough.

Rosemary Haddad's Coming Hohm is described by one of the reviewers on the Acid Archives site as "one of the best hippie commune albums" and I'd have to agree. Great psych-folk with a joyous message. Some of it sounds like it could be Christian but at other times it's definitely Hindu and all of it is infused with a hippie sensibility that keeps it from ever sounding dogmatic. In the end the message is not so important as the delivery, and Haddad is spot-on with her vocals while still coming off as a amateur, interested in the joy of the experience rather than trying to sell records. Some fine flute, acoustic guitar, and percussion compliment her songs.

Here's the tracklist:
Side 1
Coming Hohm
It's alright now
Spiritual Slavery
The Nest
The Great Siddha
Side 2
I am the Lord
Steady in the Flow
Lady Kali
Sing with your Heart
The Kitchen Floor Song
Reprise

This one is not my rip (thanks to jflyaway for it) and as mentioned it's pretty noisy at times. I did split the original side long rip into songs and started to clean up the clicks and pops on side 1 but then I listened to side 2 and realized that there was just too much noise to really do a suitable job (although I removed some of the nastier ones). So much of the noise remains, but unless your willing to fork over $500 this rip is probably the best chance you'll have to hear this gem.

Frank Gallop - Would You Believe Frank Gallop Sings? (1966)

Well it's been longer than I'd like since my last post. I've been busy with other things and I don't see that changing for a while yet so for the time being I will be posting new records less than weekly--I promise at least one post a month for now & I'll try for two. I'll also keep the repost coming per your requests (this week I reposted St. George & Tana and Colonel Jubilation B. Johnston and His Mystic Knights Band and Street Singers).

So what about Farnk Gallop? He is probably best known for his contributions to 60s-era hit comedy records like You Don't Have to be Jewish & the First Family and for his top-40 novelty number, The Ballad of Irving. He also had a career as a TV & radio announcer and host.

I was always a fan of the Ballad of Irving (perhaps because the bad guy is called "Bad Max"), and this album has a sequel to that song. It also has some somewhat humorous versions of popular music standards and a few other songs that are a bit dated.

The music is in mono and has a few more clicks & pops than I would like. I hope you'll enjoy it or at least be mildy amused.

And remember Irving:
One day Bad Max happened into town.
His aim was to shoot fat Irving down.
Bad Max said, "Draw, and draw right now!"
And Irving drew, drew a picture of a cow.

A short update

No post this week but hopefully I'll have something for you next week. Just wanted to let people know that the Kathe Green & Rainbow Band records have been reposted. Also the Jim Pepper & The Cake links have been permanently removed--both records are now available on CD & I highly recommend that you pick them up.

Sarofeen & Smoke - ST (1971)

I had ripped a copy of this record a couple weeks ago but had some problems with the rip. Before I could rerip I found another version (generously provided by abracadabra) that I think is quite good (ripped at 320k) & so I've decided to post that one instead of my own, thus saving myself some much needed time while still bestowing upon you this jewel of an album. Sarofeen's vocal style has been compared to Janis Joplin, Ellen McIllwaine, & the Shocking Blue's (recently deceased) Mariska Veres, and if you like those vocalists you should give her a chance. Even if you don't like that heavy, bluesy 60's female vocal style you should still give it a try. Sarofeen & John Martin (especially the latter) wrote some excellent material for the album and the band (listed below) is strong:
Dave Arliss - bass
John "Zilch" Martin - keyboards, harmonica, guitar
Anne Sarofeen - vocals
Ed "Duke" Shanahan - lead guitar
Jim Watts - drums, pecussion
Anonymous - horns
And here's a tracklist:

Side 1

1. Susan Jane (John Martin) - 2:23
2. Cream of Nowhere (Dave Arliss - Anne Sarofeen) - 2:10
3. It's Love (John Martin) - 3:58
4. Lady Tragedy (John Martin - Anne Sarofeen) - 3:35
5. Swamp Man (Martha Velez - Bellinger) -2:15

Side 2

1. You Make It So Hard (John Martin - Anne Sarofeen) - 2:40
2. Witch (John Martin) - 2:48
3. Tomorrow ( Anne Sarofeen) - 4:03
4. Rocky Mountain Blues (F. Haywood - M. Tucker) - 4:40

Anne Sarofeen also performed on broadway in A Hard Job Being God and later recorded a second album (sans Smoke) entitled Love In A Woman's Heart, which I didn't find as good as this release. Smoke (& Sarofeen presumably) were originally from Auburn, NY, and at least one member of the band, guitarist Ed "Duke" Shanahan continues to perform in that area. He also recordedd with the band Siddhartha (for RCA) in the year before this release and has performed with blues and r&b legends like Muddy Waters, James Cotton, Bobby Comstock, & Bo Diddley. I'm not sure what Sarofeen is up to these days.

You can hear the music here.

I have a couple other bits of news. 1st, (as you can probably see) I went ahead an put some google ads on the blog to help pay for a new turntable. If you get a chance click on one (or more)--the help is appreciated. 2nd, this will likely be my last post until September. I've got some vacation time coming up as well as a lot of work at the moment, so don't expect another post for a few weeks. Hope you all are having an excellent summer!

Cheryl Dilcher - Special Songs (1971)

A little pressed for time this weekend so I'll keep this post short, in spite of the fact that the album deserves a better write up. This was Ms. Dilcher's 1st album (and also the 1st recording by Bette Midler). Suffice it to say this record contains excellent folk-psych songs (all written by the artist) well performed and certain to appeal to fans of Melanie' or Janis Ian's recordings from this period.

I will refer you to the Cheryl Dilcher web site for more information about the artist.

Unfortunately the record quality was a bit poor in places and there's more noise (at least on some of the tracks) that I would like. As I mentioned before, I think my turntable may be adding to the problem.

Here's the complete personnel:

Cheryl Dilcher - Guitar, Piano, Harpsichord, Vocals

Amedeo Borsetti - Organ, Piano (Electric)

Bette Midler - Voices

David Smith - Flute

David Wagner - Guitar (Bass)

Jim Turner - Voices

John Adelson - Organ, Guitar, Harmonica

John Dee - Producer

Lane Emley - Guitar (Bass)

Mario Garcia - Bongos, Drums

And the tracklist:

Side A

1. A Better Day

2. Mercy, Dear Lord, Mercy

3. Three Wishes

4. Richard Never Cries

5. Do I Have To Wait Very Long

6. Song By a Bird

7. Music Box

Side B

8. How I'd Like To Go Home

9. Cotton Joe

10. Little Miss No One

11. Happy Times

Listen here (REPOSTED).

A question & a correction

OK, the correction 1st--that is Kathe Green (who recorded the Run the Length of Your Wildness album I posted last July) on the right performing there with Glenn Close on tour with Up With People. Green, Close, Virginia Entwistle and Jennie Dorn formed the Green Glenn Singers who were a central part of the 1st Up With People performances. I had previously said that I thought it was a different Kathe Green in the group. By the way, Up With People is still going strong. Thanks to Kathe/Kate and to her sister Babbie both of whom (indepently) set the record straight.

Now onto the question. First, I should say that the sound quality on my current cheapo turntable has never been great but it seems to have gotten worse recently (not that I every played it much since all I use it for is to record lps for this blog) and so I was thinking of replacing the cartridge with a better one. That's when I discovered that the crappy Sony LX-250H doesn't have a replaceable cartridge. So that leaves me one option, purchasing a new turntable. So is that the question, what turntable should I get? No. Although I am interested in hearing opinions on that subject as well. My question has to do with financing this new project. How would you, my readership, feel about me adding some ads (probably the little Google ones) to help pay for this equipment upgrade. I'm not looking to make big bucks here (on any bucks for that matter) but it would be nice not to be spending a lot of money to bring you this blog. Of course, if I did get some ads up they would only generate money if people clicked on them every once and a while. So that they wouldn't help if people were so opposed to them that they ignored their existence. Anyway, let me know your opinions on the subject. Should I get ads and a better turntable for recording blog posts or just leave things the way they are?

Also, don't worry there is a new music post coming sometime this weekend.

Monte Dunn & Karen Cruz - ST (1969)

Well I managed to get a new record ripped and posted for this week. A fine but not particularly well-known folk-rock outing from 1969 that was on the Cyclone label, from the husband-wife duo of Monte Dunn & Karen Cruz. Cruz wrote most of the songs (with the notable exception of Tim Hardin's "Yellow Cab" & their cover of that song is better than the original). Dunn contributes guitar, and they both sing.

Monte Dunn was well known as a guitarist on the folk scene having played with Phil Ochs, Judy Collins, David Blue, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tim Hardin, and even Cher (among others). Cruz had sung solo and with others. When they married they managed to produce this one record before going back to session/backing work.

The music is excellent folk-rock/country-rock with good vocal harmonies and musical accompaniment (including contributions by Eric Weisberg, Bruce Langhore & Hal Blaine). It has a nice laidback, late-60's vibe and some well-written love, nature, and anti-war songs, which (perhaps unfortunately in the latter case) are not at all dated.

1. Never in My Life
2. Order to Things
3. You Don't Smile Much
4. Loving You
5. Self Satisfaction
6. Outside Looking In
7. Lullabye
8. So Much Lovin'
9. Tip of My Mind
10. Yellow Cab

Note that track 3 is incorrectly labelled "Loving You" (track 4 is correctly labelled "Loving You" as well) and it should be "You Don't Smile Much."

Listen here (reupped).

More News, Less Music

Since my computer issues are still not entirely resolved I've decided to take this week off (at least as far as posting music goes), but I did have some news about a number of blog-related topics that I wished to impart. All of it totally unrelated to the picture above.

First, it seems I've finally been hit by the deleter(s) and that a number of my older posts have been removed from Rapidsh#@! Never mind that these are unavailable on CD, out of print in other media, and (for the most part) produced prior to 1972 and therefore unprotected by Federal copyright. So I'm in the process of reposting those dead links on Massm-rr-r. So far I've posted new links for Smokey & His Sister, Pete Kelley, Sesame St. Disco & Rabbit McKay.

If there are any other specific dead links you'd like reposted you can also drop me an email or leave a comment & I will try to get them up ASAP. Otherwise I'll just be checking and reposting at my leisure. Also note that the Happy Feeling link has been permanently deleted as I've been informed that a CD reissue is on its way (from superoldies.com although they don't have any info up yet). Since it looks like there will be Cake & Jim Pepper reissues coming out soon those links will also be going away soon.

Also, I recently got an email from Andy Zwerling, who's Spiders in the Night was posted here a little while ago. His 2-CD collection Somewhere Near Pop Heaven is available again from his Web site. While it is quite different from the earlier record, it is also excellent in its own right & a must have for powerpop fans & people who just like well-written, well-performed pop/rock tunes about love and related topics. The record made it into the top 20 in Croatia in 2004. He also has a new record coming out sometime this year.

Finally, in the "where are they now" category here's some fine investigative reporting about one-time teen idols, the Banana Splits. Unfortunately because there is a pretty widely released CD bootleg of their album available I won't be posting it here, but it's still nice to know what happened with the one of the 60's finest TV bands (right up there with the Monkees & the Archies).

Hedge & Donna - All the Friendly Colours (1969) & Special Circumstances (1971)

I finally decided to reformat my computer abandoning Vista & reinstalling XP (for those of you concerned about my computer problems) and so things here should return to normal soon. In the meantime, I'll try to make up for a lack of new rips (and a lack of time to write a better entry) by posting not one but two Hedge & Donna records. I had request for something by this folk duo a while back, so here it is. As mentioned these are not my rips & thanks go to the anonymous ripper (to be honest I don't even remember where I got them, a newsgroup I suspect).

These are the last 2 records by Hedge & Donna Capers (as far as I can tell). After recording a number of albums together they apparently went their seperate ways finally settling on careers outside music. Don't know too much about what happened to Donna but Hedge appeared in a B horror movie in 1972 called Who Fears The Devil? , which was edited and re-released as The Legend of Hillbilly John in 1973. I haven't seen it but it was based on Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John stories (some of which I have read). He then became a clinical psychologist who works primarily with businesses. If you're interested in reading some more about the duo, by people who've known them over the years, look here.

So what about the music? It's well written folky-pop or poppy-folk, well performed with a component backing band--but neither record strikes me as exceptional (although perhaps I'm just getting jaded).

Of the 2 lps, I prefer All the Friendly Colours, which is the folkier of the two and features some nice covers including Dylan's "I Shall be Released" (listed as "Any Day Now") & Jackson Browne's "There Came A Question." My favorite track though is off Special Circumstances--"The River," a fairly atypical outing on which their band is able to cut lose a bit and get kind of funky.

As I mentioned, these are not my rips & the sound is a little muddy--still I hope you enjoy both of these records (posted as one file).

Also, I recevied a comment that the Happy Feeling is due for a CD reissue & so it the link will be coming down later this week (check the comments for that record for more info).

Blame Microsoft for the Lack of a Proper Post this Week

I'm still contending with major changes & major screw-ups resulting from a switch from Windows XP to Vista. In addition to the fact that most of the CDs I recorded with previous versions of windows no longer run on my computer, I'm having trouble reinstalling CoolEdit (my software of choice for soundediting--I know it's outdated!). If anyone knows how to enter the serial number for CoolEdit 2000--I have a licensed copy--please let me know.

So enough with the excuses for why I didn't post a record this week--I don't want to leave you without something to listen to--so here is my rip of the opening beatnik jazz poem from the Roger Corman classic Bucket of Blood as performed by Paul Horn and Julian Burton (in the persona of beat poet Maxwell H. Brock).

Life is an obscure hobo, bumming a ride on the omnibus of art!

Burn gas buggies, and whip your sour cream of circumstance and hope.

And go ahead and sleep your bloody heads off.

Creation is, all else is not.

What is not creation is graham crackers.

Brian Briggs - Brian Damage (1980)

I'm still in the middle of making a long & painful transition between computers, so I haven't had time to rip any new records this week. Instead I've pulled one from my collection of other peoples' posts (another from a newsgroup--props to the original poster).

Brian Briggs real name was John Holbrook and he was (and, as far as I know, still is) a well-respected mixer and sound engineer who worked at Todd Rundgren's Bearsville Records and, prior to that, at IBC studios in London. In his role as engineer/mixer he worked on the Who's Tommy & Hendrix's Electric Ladyland (at IBC) and with Utopia, Ian Hunter, & the Isley Brothers (at Bearsville). He's likely to be the only artist posted here with multiple Grammy wins (albeit not for his own recordings). He also played guitar on the Five Day Rain's sole album, which is available at the great Lost-In-Tyme blog. More recently he's composed music for TV shows & commercials.

So what about this record? Well, for lack of a better term, I'd call it an underappreciated New Wave classic. But really Briggs' knowledge of the entire rock & roll tradition comes into play as he touches (musically) on a dozen different musical styles popular at the time including rockabilly revival, synth-based new wave, mod rock, surf instrumental, and even world-music. Probably my favorite track is "See You on the Other Side" about 2 guys playing chicken with a train on their scooters--it ends as one might expect but its synth percussion, rock-n-roll guitar licks, & 60's pop girl chorus make it rise to the level of grand musical pastiche. There are also great covers of Eddie Cochran's Nervous Breakdown & Terry Randazzo's Goin' Out of My Head. A second record, Combat Zone, came out in 1982, but I guess neither brought the fame & rewards they deserved.

Tracklist:

1. Lookin' Out
2. Nervous Breakdown
3. See You On The Other Side
4. AEO (parts 1 & 2)
5. Psyclone
6. Goin' Out Of My Head
7. Spy Vs. Spy
8. Let Me Hear Talkin'
9. Lifer

You can listen to it here.

Anna Black - Meet Anna Black (1968)

Well I had actually planned for you to meet Sarofeen & Smoke this week but when it came time to prepare the rip I had made for posting (seperating the tracks, removing clicks & converting to MP3s) I discovered some problems with the sound. Since I'm now in the process of changing over to a new computer I probably won't get to rerip it for a couple weeks, but it is on its way along with the Cheryl Dilcher, which someone else asked for. So instead I bring you another female vocalist, as good in her own way as those previously mentioned.

Anna Black, according to the liner notes, was born in Oklahoma City, is part Chickasaw Indian, and likes/liked sardines smothered in chile. She's against fear, waste, and war. And she cuts her own hair. The liner notes contain some other useless details but I won't bore you with them. What's important is that she has an excellent voice and writes a pretty good song. This record ranges over a pretty wide range of musical territory including some jazz standards (i.e., Gloomy Sunday & Miss Otis Regrets) and a creepy Beatles cover (Eleanor Rigby, which, come to think of it, was covered by jazz singers at the time too).

Black's own songs (the best one's on the record) generally fall into the country-swamp-funk category--think Tony Joe White or "an overlooked gem in the vein of Southern white songstresses like Bobbie Gentry" (which is what the reviewer for the allmusic.com has to say about this release). Lysergia.com calls it "femme folk psych" but that's probably the drugs talking because I don't hear much psych and just a touch of folk here. However, if you want a somewhat funky/somewhat soulful musical perspective on Southern, country living (as imagined in the pop songs of the 1960s) you have some excellent examples here in You-All Come, Muddy Hay & Billy Goat Run.

All-in-all this is a fun, fine record. Black went on to record one other lp the following year, which I haven't heard but would like to.

Here's the tracklist for this one:

Side A

1. Miss Otis Regrets 2. Little Annie Weed 3. You-All Come 4. Hey Now Now 5. The Tullys & the Tolphins 6. Jimmy Ben

Side B

7. Eleanor Rigby 8. Freedom Train 9. Gloomy Sunday 10. Muddy Hay 11. Drinkin' Daddy 12. Billy Goat Run

Listen to it here.

Boa Constrictor and Natural Vine - ST (1968)

Well my new computer has yet to arrive but I didn't want another week to go by without a post--and really folks this one was too good to hold onto. Boa Constrictor and Natural Vine were a psych-folk duo who recorded this, their sole record, for Vanguard Apostolic.

Given the current vogue for acid-folk I'm suprised this one is not better known. It has all the elements one looks for in that genre and few others as well. There are some really deranged, acid-drenched compositions like Devil & the Ace of Spades (with its backward tape loops, mornful sax, and downer guitar strumming) as well as dissonant, freaky, rocking, blues numbers like Time is Money. Their music, while it owes something to other folk-experimentalists from the late 60s is also inspired by classic, country blues and at times they come off as a sort of hippie ancestor of garage-blues-rock duos like the Bassholes or Black Keys.

The artist who did the cover, Phoebe Stone, went on to some success as a children's book author & illustrator. Unfortunately I don't know what happened to George & Ben, who recorded this masterpiece.

Speaking of the cover, you might notice an ebay logo in the bottom corner. I actually grabbed this illustration off the Rate Your Music site and they stole it from ebay. Just to set the record straight.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Little David

2. Pig Quick-Finger

3. Devil & the Ace of Spades

4. Son of Kong

5. Down Child

Side B

6. Time is Money

7. Alligator Man

8. Sundown Stick

9. Don't Try To Hide from the Lightning

10. Build Your Wall

The record is ripped from vinyl and encoded at variable bitrate-extreme settings. Because most of the tracks run together it was sometimes difficult to clearly seperate 2 tracks & in a couple of cases I left them combined rather than compromising the integrity of the sound. There was also some soft crackle and surface noise on the record that I wasn't able to clean up (it's actually much easier to deal with sharp clicks and pops) and so it remains in places.

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I have. Listen.

News & Stuff

I'm going to be upgrading my computer system and so I think I will take a couple weeks hiatus from posting. I will though use this opportunity to update my links list.

When I get back I have a number of fine records waiting to be ripped & posted (& I'm willing to entertain suggestions about the order of the posting):

Boa Constrictor & Natural Vine - ST (Vanguard), Anna Black - Meet Anna Black (Epic), Vida E Inspiracion - ST (Decca), Crow Dog's Paradise - Sounds of the Sioux (Elektra), Richard Barbary - Soul Machine (CTI), Harold Alexander - Are You Ready (Flying Dutchman), Douglas Leedy - The Electric Zodiac (Capitol ), Turn of the Century - And I'll Come Back (Ranwood), Monte Dunn & Karen Cruz - ST (Cyclone), Frank Gallop - Would You Believe Frank Gallop Sings (Musicor), Cheryl Dilcher - Special Songs (Ampex), Arthur Miller & the Little Millers - Hanging Out and Settling Down (Columbia), Robert John Gallo - Painted Poetry (Mandala), El Roacho's - The Best of El Roacho's Greatest Hits (Columbia), Hank & Lewie Wickham 0 ST (King), Aesop's Fables - In Due Time (Cadet), Holiday Clocks - ST (Hopewell), Bobby Hebb - Love Games (Epic), Cook E. Jarr - Pledging My Love (RCA), Sarofeen & Smoke - ST (GWP), and some Hedge & Donna (as requested but not my rip).

Also please keep your comments & requests coming.

Dick Rosmini - A Genuine Rosmini (1969)

A busy week = a short post.

Dick Rosmini was a 60s guitar genius --if he's not as well remembered as John Fahey or Sandy Bull it's probably because he preferred poppier material and full orchestral arraignments. He put out a couple records under his own name & added guitar to a number of others before switching careers to become a professional photographer. Check this discography for more detailed info. He even sings on this, his 2nd record.

Rosmini's earlier Adventures For 12 String, 6 String and Banjo record was posted a little while ago on the excellent Grown So Ugly blog.

Here's a tracklist:

Side A
1. Paradise Thursday
2. The Fool On The Hill
3. Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind
4. Licks For Sale
5. Trains And Boats And Planes
6. El Funko
Side B
7. Let's Go Get Stoned
8. The Duchess
9. People Got To Be Free
10. With A Little Help From My Friends
11. I Heared It Through The Grapevine
12. Wichita Lineman

Listen here.

Joe Clark & Tony George - One Man Bands (1976)

Here is that private press, 70's. moog-psych record I promised a while back. Although technically I should have only promised half a record of moog-psych (as I will explain).

Now I really know nothing about Tony George (aka Anthony M. George), Joe Clark (aka Joseph A. Clark), or the American Arts, Inc. record label out of Baltimore. This was the 1st (& I suspect the last) release on the label and, as Clark & George play all the instruments on their respective sides as well as listing themselves as composers, producers & engineers, I suspect they also fronted the cash for the record. But I do have opinions.

The l.p. is a split release between two artists whose only common denominator appears to be that they are the sole performer on their side of the record.

The real ace here is Tony George's extended, moog-psych-freakout, "And He Thought" (the sub-parts are labelled in the tracklist below). There is some deep, crypto-religous/philosophical message here but unless you've obtained (however temporarily) some alternate state of consciousness I wouldn't worry about it but just sit back and coast on Tony's sine wave interupted by the occassional rant. Tony asks, "Did you ever think happiness is to know me?" I'm pretty sure the answer before listening will be no (& I'm pretty sure none of you have heard this before), but afterward you may change your answer. Or maybe not. Happiness is not the word I would chose to describe your listening experience, but this is some weird-ass shit.

Joe Clark also performs solo but is certainly using some multitracking as he plays more conventional rock instruments. Clark's side has its moments and the music is fine, but I wouldn't have posted it if it weren't weren't paired with Tony George. Clark generally sounds like low-budget, late-60s/early-70s rock with some psych influences. There are also some odd moments--like the song about America (it was the bicentenial). However, overall, I think Joe would have been better off if he skipped the lyrics entirely. Sometimes they get downright confusing (& not in a weird, stream-of-conciousness, psychedelic way)--e.g., who is being addressed in "Don't Turn Your Back" (the 1st song)--it seems to change part way through the song? Other tracks (like Dreaming of You & Drinkin' 'n' Thinkin'...) are nice enough pop songs but never more than component.

Side J (Joe Clark): (1.) Don't Turn Your Back (2.) Freedom Train (3.) Dreaming of You (4.) Drinkin' 'n' Thinkin' 'bout You (5.) I Feel Her Hand Side T (Tony George): (6.) And He Thought (The Owl-Journey to a Dream-the Mirror-Can I Know You-Descent Into Madness-And He Thought)

If, by chance, anyone out there knows anything about this record (or has even seen it before)--please drop an email or post a comment.

I ripped this from a copy in the WMUC record library & have never seen even a mention of it elsewhere.

Music here.