08-04-07 - 15-04-07
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Popi Asteriadi with Lakis Pappas - Another Sunday Gone (Psych-Acid Folk, Greece 1969)
Popi Asteriadi and Lakis Pappas recorded Another Sunday Gone during a peak moment of creativity in late 1960s Greece. Their sound was part of the Neo Kyma (New Wave), a style that blended the acoustic guitar-based psychedelic folk of France and England with the traditional bouzouki music of local Greek fishermen's bars. A lovely girl in her early 20s, Popi Asteriadi sings on about half these songs, accompanied by guitarist Lakis Pappas, who sings on some of the other tracks by himself and in duets on others. There's purity and tenderness inherent in both of their voices, with the evocative beauty of the Greek language transcending the need to comprehend the lyric's meaning. A sense of wide-eyed and wondrous discovery pervades the album-to be young, beautiful, and in love in Greece. All is perfect, yet the ache of the heart remains; no amount of earthly beauty can satisfy them. The title track finds Asteriadi singing a soft ballad over the gentle acoustic picking of Pappas, who then takes a vocal turn on the next track, "And You Dare Talk to Me," (Kai ustera mou milas) aided by an unabashedly romantic string section, tinkling piano, and drums, his voice a sweetened, husky, romantically tortured croon. "Wild Bird" (Agriopouli) features recognizably "psychedelic" orchestration, with clavichord, piano, electric bass, and flute, as well as Pappas' flickering-candlelight vocals. The album progresses rather like a magical third date, as the sweetly romantic confessions and wistful stares give way to passionate dancing and merriment, with cafι tables pushed back to make room for dancing and celebration. More traditional Greek melodies get dusted off along with the bouzouki and tin whistle for tracks like "Not Our Wine," (Den einai aspro to krasi mas) with Pappas adding vibrato to her voice as she harmonizes with Asteriadi. The sound of this Neo Kyma album is elusive-at some level it's like Mexican mariachi music, at other times sweet folk ΰ la Nick Drake. With its mix of melodies old and new, rich tradition merges with a global movement of youth, and no one leaves until the sun comes up, even though they know with that sinking Sunday feeling that their boat's leaving at 9 a.m, by Daily CD.
Fionn Regan - End of History (Folk/ Acoustic-2006)
A really good effort by Fionn Regan, a new Irish musician. Great guitar finger picking technique and a mellow voice over the guitar. Percussion is also been discovered in this album. That’s something for 2006, taking into consideration that Fionn is a new artist, a true talented guy. A folk album with many early Dylan-Drake influences. We are waiting in vein for such efforts, that’s all we need. Ok he is not Drake, but maybe a new Drake is been born…..Why not?
Favorite Track: Put a Penny in the slot
Friday, April 13, 2007
Forever Amber - 1969 - The Love Cycle
Forever Amber must have worn out the grooves on their copy of the Zombies' Odessey and Oracle. Their rare 1969 LP, The Love Cycle, emulated the late-period Zombies rather well with its classically influenced melodies and careful harmonies
Probably the best private-press $1000+ LP from the UK, a Psychedelic Pop gem.
The Review
One of the most highly sought – after artefacts of the British Psychedelic area, having started life as The Country cousins, changed their name to the more evocative Forever Amber in response to shifting musical tide of 1967.Chris Parren – art student and keyboard player – was responsible for designing the sleeve for the band’s sole album, manufactured in a total quantity of 99 copies in order to avoid tax. The love Cycle was the brainchild of undergraduate john M. Hudson, an aspiring Brian Wilson style pop auteur who wrote the entire set, co produced it and also helped out on piano and harpsichord.
Bearing in mind the limitations of the set up – the six piece Forever Amber semi professional status, their extreme youth, the fairly makeshift studio facilities- The Love Cycle was a ludicrously ambitious work. The album featured non less than five lead vocalists over its 16 cuts, which ranged from ornate, Left Banke-leaning harpsichord based pop to full-blown psychedelic freak out.
The overall effects is akin to a low-budget garage band version of Zombies masterpiece Odyssey and Oracle, and would have been a notable achievement for a major label act.
Download Link :
Forever_Amber_-_1969_-__The_Love_Cycle.rar
The Cynics - 1992 - Cynicism
Pittsburgh's Cynics have matured a great deal, musically speaking, in the decade they have been around, and it's a tribute to guitarist Gregg Kostelich and singer Michael Kastelic that the group's '60s garage/punk/folk/psychedelic visions of tender love and hard breakups has endured. Utilizing a revolving lineup of bassists and drummers, Kostelich and Kastelic have released five genre-spanning albums on Kostelich's own indie-wunderkind label, Get Hip
by Matt Carlson AMG
1. You got the love
2. Close to me
3. Yeah!
4. Took her hand
5. Waste of time
6. No friend of mine
7. Now i'm alone
8. Blue train station
9. On the run
10. Business as usual
11. Brother the man (from screaming apple out-of-print single non-album track)
12. Baby, what's wrong
13. Way it's gonna be
14. Get my way
15. Girl, you're on my mind
16. Creepin
17. Erica
18. Blues in d
19. I got you babe (from sonny bono tribute album)
20. What you get
21. Get away girl
22. No way
23. Love me then go away
24. Cry, cry, cry
Each and every CYNICS release is a passage into the depths of simple, heartfelt punk rock. It should be noted that their live perfomances are more effective than their vinyl. A bit harder rock sound began to creep into bands style as the 90s dawned. But with their '94 album Get Our Way they proved they haven't forgotten any of
their influences and once again you hear incursions into Garage, Punk, Folk-Rock and even Psych (with surprising farfisa and theremin parts in a couple songs).....On the LATEST Record "Living is The Best Revenge" , the Title Track speaks for itself and the Live Band is Better than Ever!!!!....
Please check out the video of The Cynics! This video was originally aired for several months on MTV in 1990 / 1991, and now available on The Knights of Fuzz DVD
As an added note, I have known Gregg and Michael for 20 years now, and am glad to have the chance to create this space for them. Gregg, Michael, Steve Magee, and Beki Smith, were the first members I met. From 1987 to today, the nucleus of Gregg Kostelich and Michael Kastelic have maintained the energy, excitement, and impetus behind what continues as The Cynics today. I am very glad to know these guys, and am proud of their history in the
music business. They remain in the forefront of Garage Rock by far.
Mark Jerson 2006
Download It Here :
http://rapidshare.com/files/25694514/cynics.rar
Labels: C, innocent76, T 
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Selda Bagcan - Selda (1976) + Vurulduk Ey Halkim Unutma Bizi (1976)
Two 1976 albums from Turkish singer/guitarist Selda Bagcan. The self-titled one has all of the Anatolian Rock features everyone gets excited about- crazy phased rhythm guitar ("Yaz Gazeteci Yaz"), fuzz leads playing snaky minor-key melodies ("Ince Ince"), herky-jerky time signatures, etc. etc. Overall, if you like Erkin Koray, Edip Akbayram, Baris Manco, Mogollar, Bunalim, 3 Hur-El, et al., you'll find much to enjoy here. This album is from slightly later than most of the prime Turkish psych cuts of the other acts mentioned above, and it seems in the years between 1971 and 1976 the monophonic synth made its way to Turkey, and on a couple of the tunes here it's used to great effect (check "Gitme," "Yaylalar," and the aforementioned "Yaz Gazeteci Yaz") Plus Selda's got a great, passionate, declamatory voice.Get it HERE.
The album "Vurulduk Ey Halkim Unutma Bizi" is a far more traditionally folky and mellow affair (file under "World")- I think there's only electric instruments on two of the tracks. This album also includes more folk cuts from earlier (1971-1973) singles as bonus tracks. This one just went over 100MB so I had to split it.Get part 1 HERE and get part 2 HERE.
Enjoy!!!
Labels: B, fuzztunnel, S
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Amboy Dukes - 1967 - Amboy Dukes
..
Just found this recently...it's probably one the highest quality versions of this album available and it includes the bonus tracks as well. It's a classic; you're not a psych/garage enthusiast if you haven't heard this, heh.
Allmusic review:
The debut album by the Amboy Dukes should be high on collectors' lists. Fusing the psychedelia of the early Blues Magoos with Hendrix riffs and British pop, the band which launched the legend of Ted Nugent has surprises galore in these lost grooves. More experimental than Ambrose Slade's Ballzy — could you conceive of the Cat Scratch Fever guy performing on Peter Townshend's "It's Not True" and Joe Williams' classic "Baby Please Don't Go"? The latter tune was the flip side of the group Them's single "Gloria," but Ted Nugent and the boys totally twist it to their point-of-view, even tossing a complete Jimi Hendrix nick into the mix. The Amboy Dukes issued this as the single backed with their sitar-laden and heady "Psalms of Aftermath." "Baby Please Don't Go" is extraordinary, but isn't the hit single that "Journey to the Center of the Mind" would be from their follow-up LP titled after that radio-friendly gem. Producer Bob Shad's work with Vic Damone, Dinah Washington, and Sarah Vaughan wasn't what prepared him for the psychedelic hard rock of "Colors," a song with some of the experimentation Nugent would take further on the Survival of the Fittest, Live and Marriage on the Rocks/Rock Bottom albums further down the road. Those latter-day Dukes projects took themselves too seriously and got a bit too out there. The fun that is the Amboy Dukes take on the Ashford/Simpson/Armstead standard "Let's Go Get Stoned"; it's the kind of thing that could have stripped away the pretension of the post-Mainstream discs. The dancing piano runs and Ted Nugent confined to a pop-blues structure certainly got the benefit of Shad's record making experience, and it is a treat. Of the 11 tunes, seven are band originals. Taking on a faithful version of Cream's "I Feel Free" is interesting, and like Slade's first disc, they inject enough cover material to make the product interesting for those who had never heard of this group. "Down on Philips Escalator" could be early Syd Barrett Pink Floyd, and that's what makes this album so very inviting. As essential to the Amboy Dukes' catalog as the non-hit material on Psychedelic Lollipop was to the Blues Magoos, the first album from the Amboy Dukes is a real find and fun listening experience. "The Lovely Lady" almost sounds like the Velvet Underground meets the Small Faces by way of Peanut Butter Conspiracy. This is a far cry from Cat Scratch Fever, and that's why fans of psychedelia and '60s music should cherish this early diamond.
Labels: A, Lanchester
Monday, April 09, 2007
Ars Nova - 1968 - Ars Nova
A Very Rare Psychedelic Rock Album from this N.Y. Band with no success in 1968.
Some fine musicanship and fairly decent tunes, this recording works as having a certain dated 'cool kitch' feel to it.
Tracks
A1 Pavan for My Lady 2:45
A2 General Clover Ends a War 2:12
A3 And How Am I to Know 4:45
A4 Album in Your Mind 3:01
A5 Zarathustra 3:30
B1 Fields of People 2:52
B2 Automatic Love 4:06
B3 I Wrapped Her in Ribbons 2:18
B4 Song of the City 2:08
B5 March of the Mad Duke's Circus 3:17
The Reviews
1
Ars Nova's sole release was intermittently intriguing eclectic psychedelic rock with a slight classical influence, as well as some unusual instrumentation in the bass trombone of lead singer Jon Pierson and the trumpet and string bass of Bill Folwell. The songs — often linked by brief interludes — are a mixed bag, though, that seem to indicate a confusion over direction, or a bit of a psychedelic throw-in-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach. There are haunting tunes with a folk-rock base and a faint Renaissance ballad melodic influence, jaunty narratives with a vaudevillian air that bear the mark of then-recent albums such as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and harder-rocking period psychedelic tracks with a bent for unpredictable bittersweet progressions and vocal harmonies. It's unusual, and in some senses attractive. But to be less charitable, there's a sense of listening to a generic psychedelic band that sounds better than many such acts mostly by virtue of benefiting from Elektra's high-class production, here handled by Paul Rothchild of Doors fame. Put another way, the songs themselves aren't as good as their arrangements. "Fields of People," about the best of those songs, might be the most famous one here due to getting covered in an elongated treatment by the Move, who did a better job with it than Ars Nova.
2
With this LP, I guess it really depends on what you're into. If your looking for a heavy psych/rock masterpiece...don't go here! This is a very unique album by a very unique band formed in New York. It's made up of so many different musical styles ranging from Jefferson Airplane late 60s psych to almost medieval troubadourian dansa's or balada's. The term 'Ars Nova' pertained to a period in French medieval history, in the early 14th century. Translated it means 'new art or technique'. Listening to this LP is like a freaky acid trip back to that time! The band employs such a variety of instruments, you never know what you'll hear next. From psyched out distorted guitars, to banjos and bells, brass and classical instruments... really it's pretty amazing stuff! The music is quite varied throughout. It was originally released on the 'Elektra' records label in 1968, and I feel it's light years ahead of what anyone else was doing at the time, with the exception of maybe 'East of Eden' over in the UK. Paul A. Rothchild produced it, and you may recognize his name from the back covers of LPs by 'The Doors', 'Love' and 'The Stooges'.
Download Link :
Ars_Nova_-_Ars_Nova__1968_.rar
Tracks
A1 Pavan for My Lady 2:45
A2 General Clover Ends a War 2:12
A3 And How Am I to Know 4:45
A4 Album in Your Mind 3:01
A5 Zarathustra 3:30
B1 Fields of People 2:52
B2 Automatic Love 4:06
B3 I Wrapped Her in Ribbons 2:18
B4 Song of the City 2:08
B5 March of the Mad Duke's Circus 3:17
The Reviews
1
Ars Nova's sole release was intermittently intriguing eclectic psychedelic rock with a slight classical influence, as well as some unusual instrumentation in the bass trombone of lead singer Jon Pierson and the trumpet and string bass of Bill Folwell. The songs — often linked by brief interludes — are a mixed bag, though, that seem to indicate a confusion over direction, or a bit of a psychedelic throw-in-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach. There are haunting tunes with a folk-rock base and a faint Renaissance ballad melodic influence, jaunty narratives with a vaudevillian air that bear the mark of then-recent albums such as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and harder-rocking period psychedelic tracks with a bent for unpredictable bittersweet progressions and vocal harmonies. It's unusual, and in some senses attractive. But to be less charitable, there's a sense of listening to a generic psychedelic band that sounds better than many such acts mostly by virtue of benefiting from Elektra's high-class production, here handled by Paul Rothchild of Doors fame. Put another way, the songs themselves aren't as good as their arrangements. "Fields of People," about the best of those songs, might be the most famous one here due to getting covered in an elongated treatment by the Move, who did a better job with it than Ars Nova.
2
With this LP, I guess it really depends on what you're into. If your looking for a heavy psych/rock masterpiece...don't go here! This is a very unique album by a very unique band formed in New York. It's made up of so many different musical styles ranging from Jefferson Airplane late 60s psych to almost medieval troubadourian dansa's or balada's. The term 'Ars Nova' pertained to a period in French medieval history, in the early 14th century. Translated it means 'new art or technique'. Listening to this LP is like a freaky acid trip back to that time! The band employs such a variety of instruments, you never know what you'll hear next. From psyched out distorted guitars, to banjos and bells, brass and classical instruments... really it's pretty amazing stuff! The music is quite varied throughout. It was originally released on the 'Elektra' records label in 1968, and I feel it's light years ahead of what anyone else was doing at the time, with the exception of maybe 'East of Eden' over in the UK. Paul A. Rothchild produced it, and you may recognize his name from the back covers of LPs by 'The Doors', 'Love' and 'The Stooges'.
Download Link :
Ars_Nova_-_Ars_Nova__1968_.rar
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Mike Heron - Smiling Men With Bad Reputations (1971)
Solo album from one of the two masterminds behind the incredible Incredible String Band. This is a schizophrenic album to be sure, combining good-natured rockers with weird-yet-accessible avant-folk. The album opens with a killer one-two punch: the first cut is the dynamite soul-rocker "Call Me Diamond," which is followed by the wistfully loping "Flowers of the Forest," whose hook (the "deep is the river running through my life" part) is the best little melody Cat Stevens never wrote. After that we drop into "Very Cellular" territory for a couple of tracks, where we can enjoy weird modal melodies and raga excursions before returning to rock with "Warm Heart Pastry," where Heron's backing band is... The Who! It's a great song (with lyrics as questionable as the Stones' "Brown Sugar"), but Heron sounds a little overwhelmed by the musicians playing behind him, though my jury's still out on whether or not he's outclassed by his bandmates or just mixed too low. Then there's "Beautiful Stranger," which melds ISB-style verses with rousing rock choruses. And then... oh heck, just listen to it already!
*** QUALITY ALBUM ***
Get it HERE.
Labels: fuzztunnel, H, M
