Often placed in the acid psych bin but although in places the album does sound in that catergory it is progressive as well. A lot of acoustic guitar is used throughout these tunes with a mixture of keyboards. Eccentric could be used to describe the style of this album.~ Matthew T from progarchives.com
Armchair Theatre is the 1st track on this album and could be described best as something that seems to be from the 1930's in places with a blues vaudeville sound which takes a more modern approach to the end of the tune with a Kazzo used in places.Feel How Cool the Wind is the 2nd tune with a slow dreamy feel and with what sounds like wind in the background primarily over acoustic guitar with keyboards . Why I am listing tracks in order because there is a far amount of variation and styles used throughout as with the next song Sometime is another Acid folk tune and shows the vocals employed throughout with which were sung with different band members at the same time in unison or used as an echo effect with the backing vocals. Track 4 Maybe My Mind( With Egg) has the strangest title and is very acid in texture. Blues influence is present on this album with folk as with the following track The Come On. The last track 9 would be considered Avante Garde for me and the song leads in with a flute intro and a Keyboard sounding like a Harpsichord, the tune at the start and end remind me of Peter Hammil but that is about as far as it goes and the tune quickly goes to a keyboard ( piano) solo and then the Avante Garde seems to appear.
All in all a very interesting listen that takes time to appreciate but the reward is there with a bit of peserverance. I will admit with my first listen of this album the response was Ehhhhh but give it another go and enjoy what really is something you will not hear anywhere else. Original and different and that most likely is the reason this album did not sell well back then. Great cover as well.
Begin is the only album ever released by the collective known as The Millennium during its lifetime (though there have been several compilations since the group's demise).~ Wikipedia know
Begin has gained notoriety throughout the years as being the most expensive album that Columbia Records had released by that time, though critics generally agree that the money was well spent. It is now generally considered to be a classic of sunshine pop.
Begin has been reissued numerous times throughout the years, despite the extremely poor sales of the original release, and has been reissued in three different configurations on CD. The 1990 reissue featured truncated cover art, but included brief interviews with several band members in the liner notes and both sides of a rare promotional single, "Just About The Same" b/w "Blight". A later reissue featured the single versions of several tracks from the album. The most recent reissue of the album is as the third CD in the three-disc set Magic Time, released by Sundazed Records in 2001. It features all of the bonus tracks from the two previous versions, but "Just About The Same" and "Blight" are presented in mono, whereas they were presented in their original stereo mixes on the 1990 release.
Soft psych music, with female vocals, and an occasional outburst of fuzz. Somewhat typical of the "lost year" of 1970, when bands were actively seeking an audience between the new found progressive sounds and soft pop. The melodies are the selling point here. File next to Michaelangelo and late stage Free Design.~ ashratom from rym
Acoustic folk with a downer psych vibe, backed by the cream of the Los Angeles studios (Carol Kaye, Jim Gordon, Al Casey, Licoln Mayorga and Earl Palmer).~ Fuzz, Acid & Flowers
Paul Giovanni (1933-1990) was an American playwright, actor, director, singer and musician. New Yorker Giovanni was best known for writing the music for the 1973 British horror film The Wicker Man. The soundtrack, which was eventually released by itself in 2002, uses Celtic musical themes, traditional instrumentation played by folk-rock group Magnet and a combination of ancient pagan verse, as well as Giovanni’s own lyrics.~ Wikipedia know
You Could Be Born Again is the second album by The Free Design; it was released in 1968.
Desmond Dekker (16 July 1941 – 25 May 2006) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group, The Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the first international Jamaican hits with "Israelites". Other hits include "007 (Shanty Town)" (1967) and "It Miek" (1969). Before the ascent of Bob Marley, Dekker was one of the most popular musicians within Jamaica, and one of the best-known musicians outside it.~ Wikipedia know
The Free Design was a Delevan, New York-based vocal group playing jazzy pop music. Their music can be described as sunshine pop and baroque pop, which were pop music subgenres at the time, which later influenced the bands Stereolab, Cornelius, Pizzicato Five, Beck and The High Llamas.~ Wikipedia know
Kites are Fun is the debut album from The Free Design, released in 1967.
All over the net you can find the words of Richie Unterberger stating that Blond's album The Lilac Years (1969) is 'a respectable though unexceptional effort with echoes of the Hollies, the Beatles, the Easybeats, and the like.' I don't know what motivated Unterberger to depreciate the album this way - The Lilac Years may not contain a single track that had the potential to be a huge hit single such as those regularly produced by the Beatles and the Hollies, but it is nonetheless an outstanding piece of work that ranks among the very best pop/rock albums produced in the '60s.~ jimjamtwo rym
While it probably wouldn't outrank the Beatles' albums for most listeners, it's certainly better than any album by either the Hollies or the Easybeats - neither of whom were capable of producing a real album. In addition to containing excellent songs, The Lilac Years contains some of the best production, including drum and bass sounds, and some of the best vocal performances of the time. It's a five-star outing that should be at the top of your list if you're looking into the '60s beyond the big names like the Beatles and the Beach Boys.
I have one criticism only - on the second track, Deep Inside My Heart, singer Göran Lagerberg has to strain a little to reach the higher notes. In my opinion, it wasn't wise to put the least successful performance second on the album!
This is almost entirely acoustic guitar driven male vocal duet folk, with some piano and fuzz guitar. At times, it is mildly reminiscent of Simon and Garfunkel, and surprisingly good for it's genre. Grades - 1 B+, 2 B's, 3 B-'s, 5 C+'s, 5 C's, and 5 C-'s. Yeah, there's plenty of mediocre stuff, but the good makes it all worthwhile. Came out on the "M" record label. They were an Arizona outfit.~ tymeshifter from rym
Overdubbing recordings with pop/rock instrumentation to make them more commercial was a mini-vogue of sorts as the folk-rock boom peaked. The most famous example was Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence," but there were more infamously and exploitative releases, as in the overdubs of some early Richie Havens tapes and, in the case of The Elusive Bob Lind, early Bob Lind efforts. After "Elusive Butterfly" became a smash, Verve got a previously unreleased tape that Lind had done prior to signing with World Pacific, and overdubbed electric instruments, drums, and orchestration. Lind, understandably and justifiably, was not pleased about its appearance. He also could not have been pleased that, despite the use of the title The Elusive Bob Lind, the LP did not include "Elusive Butterfly." Whatever strength and appeal the tapes might have held were often undercut by the overdubs, which (as they had to a lesser extent on the Havens albums) were sometimes out of sync with the original vocal and acoustic guitar. Actually, this mixture of Lind originals and folk covers (including "The Times They Are A-Changin'") has some sporadic dated period charm, the oddball string arrangements mixing with basic tentative folk-rock rhythm sections. Too, Lind's singing and songwriting is not much different than what you hear on his early World Pacific recordings, though it's more innocuous and, at times, indebted to the early-'60s troubadour folk approach. It was certainly a mistake, however, to include "What Color Are You?," an incredibly clunky commentary on racism that one hopes was an out-of-hand joking studio improvisation never seriously intended for public ears.~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
Originally The Phantoms (minus Lawley) they'd formed in Cleveland, Mississippi. After relocating to Biloxi, they recruited Linda Lawley and changed their name to Eternity's Children. With aspirations to become an L.A. pop-psych band, they honed their skills on the New Orleans circuit (playing as Charlie Rich's backing band?), before venturing to L.A. to record. Their main claim to fame was Mrs. Bluebird, a minor hit, which was produced by Millennium's Curt Boettcher and Keith Olsen. By the time their first album was released however, Bounds, Walker and Blackman had left, with the latter replaced by Texan McClain (ex-Neurotic Sheep).~ Fuzz, Acid And Flower
Overall their eponymous debut album is a top album for Boettcher fans, and features songs by Boettcher plus other Millennium members - including Flowers, a Michael Fennelly composition dropped from Millennium's Begin album. Curiously, the "cover" of Sagittarius' You know I've Found A Way is the exact same track as the demo logged at the publishers, and may not even feature Eternity's Children at all!
Their second album was produced by Gary Paxton in Bakersfield, with compositions by Clarence White, Gene Parsons, Ben Benay and Gary & Jan Paxton. Sounding like a tougher Fifth Dimension, with a European tinge, akin perhaps to Glitterhouse's performance on the "Barbarella" soundtrack. A couple of the tracks, Blue Horizon and Sidewalks Of The Ghetto were cut with Spooner Oldham and Chips Moman - presumably in Memphis.
In 1969, the 45 releases get a little confusing, with consecutive Tower catalogue numbers mixing tracks credited to Charles Ross III, with Eternity's Children cuts. This kind of begs the question, whether this parallel release was a marketing ploy, to push Charles Ross III on the back of the more familiar group name. In addition, their final 45 includes an unreleased Curt Boettcher tune on the 'B' side which may even date back to their first album sessions.
Blackman went on to form Starbuck and later Korona.
The band also recorded a further album which wasn't released at the time. This has recently been discovered by Gear Fab and is due to be reissued together with other bonus material from '65 - '67, sometime in the near future. Alternatively, there is a Revola CD which comprises 25 tracks, covering both LPs and assorted 45s from 1967-1970. This comes with a detailed history by Dawn Eden.
A Massachussefts outfit whose album is full of interesting and quite imaginative pop/folk-rock, obscure enough to have been reissued. Apart from a cover of Tim Hardin's Hang On To A Dream, all the songs were penned by Paul Applebaum. It's certainly worth hearing.~ Fuzz, Acid and Flowers
Behind one of the drabbest album covers (and album titles) of 1967 lies a little psych-pop gem. Most people go running for the hills when they spot this album and really who could blame them? Can the casual record buyer justify purchasing an Everly Brothers album with a 5-minute rendition of "Whiter Shade of Pale" on it? How about a song called "Talking to the Flowers", conjuring up mental images of Phil Everly wearing a kaftan sitting cross-legged on the floor fumbling through sitar fingerings. Approach this album with an open mind, however, and you will find a delightful example of what US psych should be.~ by mag1c_hands from rateyourmusic
The beauty of the first side is that it sounds sophisticated and intricately produced without sounding particularly psychedelic. Album opener and modest hit "Bowling Green" is in the same melodic, psych-informed, country-inflected pop territory as the Beau Brummels' "Triangle". Everly original "I Don't Want to Love You" is a wonderful pop moment, with Phil's (or Don's, I can't tell which is which) ever-so-slightly-raga vocal wail leading from the second chorus into the darker bridge reminding the listener that yes, this is 1967. "Talking to the Flowers" may be the most well-known track here to UK psych collectors who would be familiar with the Rick Price cover. I prefer the original for its unbeatable harmonies and its oddly sincere lead vocal. So ends the first side. 'A little flower pop-ish, not too over-the-top', you think to yourself.
Then comes Side 2 opener and psychedelic monster "Mary Jane", also known as "how many overdubs can we smash into one song?". One would assume the Everlys singing a song with obviously-forced drug imagery would buy them a one-way ticket to Squaresville but this thing is blistering. Fuzz abounds, possibly courtesy of Glen Campbell (how are his session appearances so good and his solo work so...Jimmy Webb-ified??) while hyperactive congas are trying very hard to sound like tablas. The only thing that betrays this track from being considered almost a lost UK psych single is the occasional vocal twang that places this firmly back in the States. This is followed by "I'm Finding it Rough" a cover of a B-side from beyond obscure UK freakbeat band Hat & Tie (pre-Nirvana, of "Simon Simopath" fame and Cobain-fan ire). How on Earth the Everlys first heard this track is beyond me. Someone in their entourage was obviously hipper than hip, and it sure as hell wasn't Glen Campbell. A brilliant collision of jubilant vocals, overdubbed harmonies flitting about, modulated tom-toms, and an incessant fuzz figure doubled by woodwinds. This track sounds like power-pop went back in time and paid tribute to itself before it even existed (did I just describe the plot to 1989-1993 TV show "Quantum Leap"?).
The album ends with much-maligned covers of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", which sounds very incongruous on paper, i.e. these 2 songs share space on the same album!? I actually think both covers are quite good, though unnecessary given the brilliance of the originals that come before. Arrangements are by Gene Page, Al Capps, and Billy Strange, which is an odd but consequently magical grouping.
Yes, pre-Beatles pop stars were capable of making solid psychedelia, though it's probably a good thing that Neil Sedaka never tried.
For his second American LP, released October 1958, Esquivel plays piano and provides arrangements not just for the 26-piece orchestra, but for the six-member Randy Van Horne Singers as well. The majority of the "singing" consists of various "zu," "ooh" and "ah" sounds, but that's all part of the charm. This three-day session was Esquivel's first opportunity to experiment with stereo recording. His dynamic use of the two-channel recording process is exciting and inventive. It's here that Esquivel's trademark sound starts to emerge. 'Course, most people probably bought the album because of the cosmic hottie on the cover and, I imagine, were amazed by Esquivel's quirky sound on first listen.~ from web
Would You Believe is an album by Billy Nicholls recorded in 1968.~ Wikipedia know
Billy Nicholls was originally hired by Andrew Loog Oldham as a staff writer for Oldham's Immediate Records. Oldham was so entranced by the Beach Boys' 1966 album, Pet Sounds that he enlisted songwriter Billy Nicholls to record a British response, which became this largely forgotten album. The Small Faces' Steve Marriott can be heard very prominently on "Would You Believe?", despite Oldham's attempts to drown them out with heavy orchestration. Oldham wanted this to be the British Pet Sounds but financial difficulties with the label caused it to be shelved (it only achieved an initial promotional run of 100 copies, as Immediate IMCP009) before it ever hit the streets.
In 1998 Nicholls released it on his own label Southwest Records, and on 29 Max 2006 it was eventually released by Castle Communications (CMQDD1358).
Apple were a British psychedelic rock band. The band was founded in Cardiff in 1968 by Rob Ingram on guitar and Jeff Harrad on bass. They released a single LP in 1969, titled An Apple a Day. The album was a commercial failure, and the band ceased to exist shortly after its release. However, during the subsequent years several tracks from the LP, most notably "The Otherside" by Harrad, were dubbed classics of British psychedelic rock by critics, making An Apple a Day one of the most sought-after British psychedelic rarities.~ Wikipedia know
The original vinyl version (released by Page One Records) is now extremely hard to find. A reissue by Repertoire Records was released in 1994, which included several bonus songs (those being early mono versions of some of the album's tracks).
Dutch freakbeat band the Zipps formed in Dordrecht, the Netherlands in the fall of 1965. Lead guitarist Peter Nuyten and drummer John Noce Santoro previously teamed in the Moving Strings, who issued a pair of singles on the Delta label before dissolving, while singer/guitarist Philip Elzerman and vocalist Jan Bek came to the Zipps lineup from the Beat Town Skifflers, and bassist Theo Verschoor tenured in the Twilights. Bek quit the Zipps prior to the release of their debut single, "Roll the Cotton Down," issued in early 1966 on the Op-Art label; after signing to the Relax label, the group issued two more singles that year, "Chicks and Kicks" and "Beat and Poetry." Beginning with 1967's "Marie Juana" — a record which required significant lyrical revisions before Relax censors would agree to its release — the Zipps steered their garage-influenced sound towards psychedelia, and thanks in part to their hallucinatory light show, they earned the sobriquet "The Dutch Pink Floyd"; Elzerman openly espoused drug use in interviews, and stickers reading "Be Stoned! Dig: Zipps Psychedelic Sound" were distributed at live dates. After backing French pop singer Philippe Salerne on his singles "Elle" and "Venez Voir Comme On S'Aime," the group replaced Santoro with drummer Wim Klein, but after a December 1967 date in support of the Electric Prunes and the Soft Machine, the Zipps dissolved when Nuyten, Verschool, and Klein all announced their exit. Elzerman and Santororeformed the group in early 1968, adding guitarist Dick VisschersDick Visschers and bassist Ruud van Seventer for one final single, 1969's "When You Tell It, Tell It Well..!" The Zipps eventually disbanded for good, and in 1999, the Dutch label Pseudonym compiled all of their singles, the Philippe Salerne sessions, and a handful of live cuts for a retrospective titled Be Stoned! Dig: Zipps. In December 2001, a Zipps lineup consisting of Elzerman, Nuyten, Santoro, van Seventer, and former Heatwave keyboardist Janco Barut reunited for a hometown performance in Dordrecht; the following year, "Chicks and Kicks" was included on the second Nuggets box set.
Quite possibly the grooviest album ever from Enoch Light – a trippy blend of many 60s styles, all put together with sublime Project 3 Sound! The album's billed as featuring "exploratory trips through the music of Bach, Bacharach, the Beatles – Integrating the Moog, the Guitar Scene, Electronic Harpsichord, Flugelhorns, etc" – and it definitely lives up to that bill, given the range of songs included! Rhythms are strong, and the use of sweetly compressed horn parts is very much in an A&M mode – as is the backing vocals, which are light and wonderful – a bit like Free Design, but more towards the territory of Singers Unlimited, although even groovier. The Beatles and Bacharach material is especially great – but even the Bach tunes come out wonderfully, given that most are re-arranged with a hip 60s soundtrack sort of groove – classical roots, but contemporary execution – especially when there's a bit of moog or electric harpsichord. Titles include "Walk On By", "Norweigan Wood", "What The World Needs Now", "Get Back", "Bond Street", "Petite Paulette", "My Silent Song", and "Lover's Concerto".~ dustygroove.com
Released in America under the name of "Elsa Popping & Her Pixieland Band" – the record is actually stunning collaboration between French orchestra leader Andre Popp and sound effects wizard Pierre Fatosme. The sound is wild and swinging, with a feel that's similar to Esquivel, but with a lot weirder effects, and a little bit less music-based sound overall. Popp cares less about swinging than Esquivel, and he's much freer with his music – as there's moments on here that sound like avant garde chamber pieces, which then swing into tight little bits with cool sounds made by editing and playing with tape. The album's wonderful all the way through – with very high quality material that makes a lot of the other cheaper lounge releases sound hollow! Titles include "Java", "La Paloma", "Java Du Diable", "Java Des Bombes Atomiques", and "Adios Muchachos".~ from web
Originally known as Paradise Lost this band were formed in 1964 by Bill Heath whilst he was at Uppingham Public School in Rutland. The early line-up fluctuated quite a bit but eventually stabilised into 'A' above. They started out playing R&B and in August 1966 visited R.G. Jones' recording studio in Mordon, Surrey. The session produced a cover version of Neighbour, Neighbour, a recent Stax single by Jimmy Hughes, which was also recorded by The Spectres (a pre-Status Quo act) and a Rolling Stones'-influenced Bill Heath/Chris Hatt composition, Problems Of Day To Day Living, but neither recording made it onto vinyl. They were augmented for this session by Stu Taylor, who'd been with The Tornadoes and The Savages (Screaming Lord Sutch's band).~ Fuzz, Acid and Flowers
By 1967 they were known as simply The Lost and a seven track single-sided acetate album was cut at a Birmingham studio. The featured tracks were four Bill Heath/Chris Hatt compositions:- Problems Of Day To Day Living, Bread Van, The Times Are Gone and Something To Us; covers of The Rolling Stones' Spider And The Fly and Chuck Berry's Guitar Boogie and a Chris Hatt instrumental Lost In Paradise. Of their originals Something To Us was arguably the most complete.
The Lost then augmented their line-up with the recruitment of pianist Patrick Hannay and ex-Amber guitarist Mike Read. This new line-up returned to R.G. Jones' studio cutting two new tracks - the raw and primitive What's The Matter (With You Babe) and Don't Open Your Mind, but still there was no record company interest. Don't Open Your Mind was a pulsating number which they later re-recorded as Just Plain Smith.
In mid-1968 Heath and Walton departed to tour the world. The Hatt brothers teamed up with Charlie Adamson (who'd been one of the early drummers with Paradise Lost) and vocalist John Vaughan in a temporary band, Undergrowth Of Literature. Their tour manager was future Radio One disc jockey Peter Powell and they also cut an acetate album at R.G. Jones' studio.
The Lost had reformed by Autumn 1968, returning to R.G. Jones' studio to record a piece of pop-psychedelia, Ernest Seymour, The Man From 66c, but again it failed to secure a commercial release, although it was easily their most inventive recording. In mid-1969 they evolved into Just Plain Smith.
A compilation of songs written and/or sung by Dave
Superb record with the incredible and absolute must have fuzz killer : "I'm sick of living" which is worth buying the ep for itself. This edition date back, I'm sure now from 2000, (and not 1997 as written previously.) ...I buyed it on a specialised list at that time, among other reissues, and payed really attention each month between the lines for this kind of gem. Each list was dated and this ep was noted as "new".~ by hectorvadair1 from rateyourmusic
Andrew Youakim, performing as Andy Kim, is a Lebanese Canadian pop rock singer and songwriter. He grew up in Montreal, Quebec in Canada. Kim is known for a number of hit singles that he released in the late 1960s and early 1970s such as "Rock Me Gently", which topped the U.S. singles charts. In 1968, he co-wrote "Sugar, Sugar" for The Archies. The song was No. 1 for four weeks and in 1969 was certified "Record of the Year" by the RIAA.~ Wikipedia know
Kim has also recorded under the stage name Baron Longfellow since the mid 1980s
Frank Sinatra Christmas Collection is a 2004 Christmas album from Frank Sinatra. :)
The second lp when Grechuta was with Anawa carried on in the same manner as their first. Poetry sung or spoken either quickly or slowly while the group either plays along or creates experimental white noise. Not really know for "electric music" till he went solo, Marek possessed a pleasing voice but never "rocked out" really. This music is not for all tastes but it's creative and progressive in its early stages. Fans of early Genesis or Gilbert O' Sullivan may actually enjoy this album. I can picture some blank stares from the musicians in the studio as how to end some of these songs. At times abrupt and puzzling. Another interesting rarity to search for is the "Serce" 7"ep which contained the early 3 -piece version of Anawa and came out right before their first expansive lp. Rare but worth the trouble to find!~ Kupa99(progarchives.com)
Born in Zamość, he studied architecture at Cracow University of Technology. Here he met the composer Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz, with whom he founded the student cabaret Anawa in 1967. In the same year he was awarded second place in the VI National Contest of Student Musicians (VI Ogólnopolski Konkurs Piosenkarzy Studenckich) and also received an award for Tango Anawa, with lyrics by him and music by Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz. Since 1968 he would win several awards at the Festival of Polish Music in Opole. In 1969 he played a minor role in Andrzej Wajda's film Polowanie na muchy (Hunting Flies). In 1971 he left Anawa and founded the band WIEM (W Innej Epoce Muzycznej, In a Different Musical Epoch).~ Wikipedia know
Grechuta scored a large number of popular hits, with his songs often characterized by use of poetic and literary elements. He co-authored, along with P. Birula and K. Szwajgier, the music for Exodus (written by L. A. Moczulski) at the STU Theatre in Kraków (1974), and co-wrote the musical adaptation of Stanisław Witkiewicz's Szalona lokomotywa (The Crazy Locomotive) with K. Jasiński and J. K. Pawluśkiewicz in 1977. In 2003 he collaborated with the group Myslovitz and re-recorded their older song Kraków. His song Dni, których nie znamy (The Days We Don't Know Yet) is the anthem of the football club Korona Kielce.
Marek Grechuta died in 2006 being outlived by his wife Danuta (whom he married in 1970) and son Łukasz. He is buried in the Rakowicki Cemetery in Kraków.
The album, which was recorded in New York, is not greatly acclaimed although there are some good tracks including the mellow psychedelia of Tomorrow Waits For Today and Peace In My Mind. The outstanding track, however, is Bird with strong out-there vocals and a jazzy piano solo.~ Fuzz, Acid and Flowers
In 1969, George Stavis and Timmy Ackerman recorded an album for Vanguard. In 1970 Stavis, Ackerman, Stern and Bowers formed a new band Oganookie in Santa Cruz, California with Bruce Frye. Oganookie released a great country psych album in 1973, and about half the members backed up Bruce Frye in 1974 on a local Santa Cruz compilation album.(Vernon Joynson/Dave Monahan)
They have the honour to have recorded the earliest Norwegian rock album still of interest today (Pussycats are best remembered by a few early singles). Other bands only recorded a couple of singles or made dubious albums mixing pop and beat. In contrast to this, Firebeats Inc. learned more from the dirty r&b of The Pretty Things and early Rolling Stones. The album is a freakbeat classic, but impossibly rare in its original form. Luckily it's been repressed lately.~ Scented Gardens Of The Mind
