Barclay James Harvest - Barclay James Harvest (Superb debut album 1970 - plus bonus tracks)

Barclay James Harvest's sensibly titled debut album was one of the unsung classics of the late '60s, a post-psychedelic pop album that posits a peculiar collision between the Bee Gees' vision of classic grandeur and the heftier sounds leaking out of the rock underground. Add Norman Smith's epic production and one cannot help thinking that if the Pretty Things had ever looked elsewhere for their follow-up to S.F. Sorrow, Barclay James Harvest could have handed it to them on a plate. The opening "Taking Some Time On" is absolutely phenomenal, churning and riffing on the one hand, positively hymnal on the other -- and poised, during its chorus, to plunge into a virtual dry run for R.E.M.'s "Talk About the Weather." Elsewhere, "When the World Was Woken" is unmistakably daubed in a whiter shade of Procol Harum, while the 12-minute closer, "Dark Now My Sky," is simply spellbinding. Barclay James Harvest ranks among the finest albums of the entire early prog boom.

AMG Review by Dave Thompson

Lemon Fog - The Psychedelic Sound Of Summer (1968 Fine US Psychedelia)

The Lemon Fog were a Houston-based quintet that had the distinction of being the first rock act signed to Ray McGinnis' Orbit Records label. They started out in the spring of 1963 as the Bar Eights, formed by Fillmore High School classmates Danny Ogg and Terry Horde, with Timmy Thorpe on bass, and Dale VanDeloo on saxophone and vocals. They were a Rip Chords-type surf band, with a few pop-soul numbers mixed into their sets. The group got a few coffee bar gigs and a sock hop or two to play before they broke up when VanDeloo supposedly attacked Ogg with a mike stand during an argument. Enter Chris Lyons, who was recruiting musicians at Clem's Music in Houston for a new band he was forming. Danny Ogg showed up at the store, and Lyons asked him to join -- Ogg agreed on condition that Timmy Thorpe, who had just gotten laid off from work, play bass. Lyons agreed, and by that weekend, the Pla-Boys, as they were known, were playing their first gig, at St. Regis College for the Arts. It was there that they were seen and heard by Ted Eubanks, an avant-garde composer on Houston's mod scene, who caught The Pla-Boys' act, which consisted mostly of covers of such garage greats as Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs and ? and the Mysterians. Eubanks liked the way they played more than what they played, and immediately approached them after the show. The band liked his suggestions, and he began putting original numbers into the group's sets. He also changed their image from clean-cut, matching suits to psychedelic, including beads. In a matter of weeks in 1965, they went from being the Pla-Boys to the Lemon Fog, who quickly became recognized as one of the more formidable bands in Houston.

The group's lineup soon shifted as Timmy Thorpe was dropped and Danny Ogg moved to bass, with Terry Horde taking over the lead guitar spot. They won a local battle of the bands, and, with help from producer-songrwriter Jimmy Duncan, were approached by Orbit Records with the offer of a recording contract. Only three singles were ever issued on the group by Orbit, although they recorded many hours' worth of demos under Eubanks' direction -- he handled most of the songwriting, alternating with Duncan. The best of these was "The Living Eye Theme," also known as "The Lemon Fog," which reached number eight on the regional and local charts in the Houston area. The group was a major draw there and in the Houston area, and made many television appearances promoting their singles.

Their sound, initially typical garage band-dance material, had advanced by leaps and bounds. Some of their songs resembled the folk-rock of the Byrds or the Beau Brummels, while their playing was closer in spirit to the complexity of Moby Grape, with lots of unexpected twists in the guitar and organ parts, and interesting harmonies. Personality conflicts eventually doomed the band, despite some extraordinary music to their credit. Egos clashed, and the use of drugs hampered the talents of one member, and in 1970, Eubanks was cutting records as a solo artist, which heralded the group's disintegration.

AMG Review by Bruce Eder

Original post by Rockasteria & Phrock

Love Exchange - The Love Exchange (1969 Sunshine Psychedelia from Los Angeles)

The Love Exchange's only album is an obscure also-ran psychedelic effort, though it's not poor. "Swallow the Sun," their most familiar tune due to its appearance on some '60s anthologies, is the standout on this assortment of rudimentary trippy garage-psych explorations. The minor-key yet poppy melodic progressions, leaning on snaky guitar lines and organ, are typical of much 1966-1968 California hippie rock. The tunes, however (often written by producer Larry Goldberg), are derivative and the lyrics self-conscious in their incense-tuous air. The production sometimes verges on the hasty and crude; Bonnie Blunt's voice, usually the focal point, is deserving of better material and arrangements. The folk-rock quotient comes to the fore on two of the better tunes, the appropriately melancholy and ghostly "Ballad of a Sad Man" (written by bassist Mike Joyce) and "Nothing at All," on which Blunt cedes the lead vocal position to one of the guys. The latter song, in fact, has a garage folk-rock air (and unrefined production) that leads one to suspect that it may have been cut earlier than most or all of the other tracks on the record. The 2001 Sundazed reissue has three previously unissued cuts (including a couple of awful quasi-showtune ditties) and three alternate takes of songs from the LP.

AMG Review by Richie Unterberger

Original post by Rockasteria & Phrock

Walkabouts - Train Leaves at Eight (Superb Alternative collection of covers 2001)

The Walkabouts' second collection of covers comes with a quite definite theme, a musical tour of Europe, ranging from Greece in the South all the way up to Norway. And it's most definitely a journey, one which suits the darker, more introspective, and very literate nature of this Seattle band. But the ground covered is more than geographic; not many bands could move from Greek icon Mikis Theodorakis to Krautrockers Neu! on the same record. But the Walkabouts, whose career has largely happened in Europe, handle it with aplomb, throwing up plenty of changes in arrangements and working hard to penetrate to the core of a song, even the enigmatic "Solex in a Slipshod Style," on the face of it an odd choice, coming from Dutch sampling queen Solex. A few of the writers might be familiar to Americans, like Jacques Brel and Scott Walker, but the majority of the names will be unknown -- a good thing, since the music can be judged on the interpretation, not the original version. A few famous friends, like R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Los Lobos sax man Steve Berlin add contributions, but it's the band who make it special, with Carla Torgerson's velvety voice caressing the lyrics while Chris Eckman worries his way into others. It might not be the most relaxing journey on offer, but it's one of the most rewarding, a night train across a Europe, not only through the countries, but also the hearts, minds, and souls.

AMG Review by Chris Nickson

Procol Harum - A & B: The Singles (Great compilation of all the PH singles)

Although Procol Harum owed their career to their initial single, "A Whiter Shade of Pale," they were never really a singles band. Annotator Chris Welch notes that the group was not a one-hit wonder, but it might be called a three-hit wonder by tossing in "Homburg" and "Conquistador" (four, if "Pandora's Box," a U.K. Top 20, is included). For the most part, Procol Harum were known for their LPs, so the idea of organizing a compilation around singles that happen to have been excerpted from those LPs, largely without the band's say-so, in one country or another, is a curious one. But A&B: The Singles, a three-CD set running just under three and three-quarter hours, manages to include most of Procol Harum's better tracks along with rarities that will intrigue fans. Of course, there are the non-LP B-sides, such as "Lime Street Blues," "Good Captain Clack," "Long Gone Geek," "Drunk Again," "Backgammon," and "Into the Flood." Then, there are foreign curios, including "Shine on Brightly" sung in Italian ("Il Tuo Diamante") and a French single with "Adagio di Albinoni" on one side and "Blue Danube" on the other. Getting into hair-splitting territory, there are singles that represent alternate takes ("Quite Rightly So," "In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence"); that have been remixed ("As Strong as Samson Is"); that have been edited for single release; or that are in mono because that's how they were released as singles. The average fan may lose interest at this level of obscurity, but the more fanatic will be engaged. And that's who this collection is aimed at: Procol Harum aficionados who have already bought most of these tracks umpteen times, but not all of them, and not necessarily in these exact forms. For those fans, this album is a godsend; for others, it will seem redundant.

Disc one:
1. A whiter shade of pale
2. Lime Street blues
3. Homeburg
4. Good Captain Clack
5. Il tuo diamente
6. Fortuna (Repent Walpurgis)
7. Quite rightly so
8. In the wee small hours of sixpence
9. Quite rightly so (alternate)
10. Rambling on
11. In the wee small hours of sixpence (alternate)
12. A salty dog
13. Long gone geek
14. The devil came from Kansas
15. Boredom
16. Whisky train (single edit)
17. Broken barricades
18. Power failure

Disc two:
1. Simple sister
2. Song for a dreamer
3. Homburg
4. Conquistador
5. Conquistador (live)
6. Luskus Delph (live)
7. A salty dog (live)
8. All this and more (live)
9. Robert's box (single edit)
10. A rum tale
11. Grand Hotel (single edit)
12. Bringing home the bacon
13. Fires (which burnt brightly)
14. A souvenir of London
15. Toujours l'amour
16. Nothing but the truth
17. Drunk again
18. Beyond the pale
19. Fresh fruit

Disc three:
1. Pandora's box
2. The piper's tune
3. The final thrust (single edit)
4. Taking the time
5. As strong as Sampson (remix)
6. The unquiet zone
7. Adagio di Albinoni
8. The blue Danube (live)
9. Wizard man
10. Backgammon
11. Something magic
12. All our dreams are sold
13. The truth won't fade away
14. A dream in ev'ry home (edit)
15. (You can't) turn back the page
16. One more time
17. Perpetual motion
18. Learn to fly
19. Into the flood

AMG Review by William Ruhlmann

Plan 9 - Keep Your Cool & Read the Rules (1985)

Keep Your Cool covers lots of stylistic ground, including the film noir ambience of "Street of Painted Lips" sung by DeMarco, an unclassifiable rollicking instrumental ("King 9 Will Not Return") and various stripes of '60s rock, running the stylistic gamut from Spirit to Steppenwolf. Although some are a little undeveloped, the band's songs are solid; the two covers are righteously arcane.
Tracklist:
01 - That's Life
02 - Poor Boy
03 - The Beast Was An Old Tale
04 - For Hillary
05 - Machines
06 - Face In The Box
07 - 11th Hour
08 - Street Of Painted Lips
09 - King Nine Will Not Return
10 - Keep Your Cool
11 - Hot Day

Plan 9

Vampyros Lesbos - Sexadelic Dance Party (Beautiful Funky/Psychy/Jazzy Soundtrack 1969)

"Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party" is a total trip. As the CD's liner notes explain, this disc contains music from the soundtracks of three films made by Jess Franco in 1970. The music was conducted and composed by Manfred Hubler and Siegfried Schwab. The 14 tracks have such intriguing titles as "The Lions and the Cucumber," "Necronomania," and "The Six Wisdoms of Aspasia."

The liner notes describes the genre of this music as "acid jazz-pop," which is probably as good a description as any. The music combines ebullient horns, weird vocal effects, exotic Eastern-sounding instrumental effects, and other elements into a truly unique blend. This CD is often sensuous and often playful, and has bewitchingly sinister aspects as well.

But ultimately, the music is a lot of fun. If you're seeking musical accompaniment for an orgy, a Satanic ritual, an avant-garde fashion show, or a late 60's/early 70s theme party, check out "Vampyros Lesbos."