Reviews of tasty and obscure hook-filled rock'n' roll releases (Glam, Heavy Bonehead Crunchers, Powerpop, Pop/psych,Garage, Surf, 60s Girl Group Rock)...Plus any quirky musings that tickle my fancy...
I created this blog in order to stimulate interest, share discoveries and encourage people to go out and search for the original vinyl. Hopefully this blog might also encourage labels to actually compile some of this stuff officialy.
Holiday Brown –One Way Street/Morning/Evening –Marjon Records MJ-700322 (1970 US)
Holiday Brown deliver a wonderfully Primitive Hard Rock/Garage single. One Way Street is very amateurishly recorded, but this gives an extra depth the proceedings. Of particular note is the bass drum sound, there is no definition, but the cavernous boom is most distinctive. The singer’s wails are drowned in reverb, whilst the guitar riffs along with some neat lead interjections, strange false ending as well. Morning/Evening is slightly more realized, although more of a Blues structure, the band break out from behind the format with hot sharp guitar parts and a doubling up of the tempo. Don’t know anything about the band; they were possibly from Pennsylvania or nearby Ohio.
Fox were an unjustly overlooked Aussie band who specialised in crunching Hard Rock with the odd nod to Glam. Culled from their only album “What The Hell Is Going On”, Who Do is one of the many loud and raucous tracks this fine Australian released at the time. However the B side which is as good if not better; is only found here.. The other Fox single I Said also had a non-album B side namely a cover of Bowie's Ziggy Stardust. Sounds like a contender for BC5 me thinks…
Stand-By –My Girl/ Rock and Roll is Here to Stay –Marktown (1974 NL)
From the rural depths of Friesland (NL) comes this (final?) missing piece in the NederGlam puzzle as Stand By are none other than Black Fire; authors of one the crunchiest slices of crunchiness known to man, the great Do Ithttp://purepop1uk.blogspot.co.uk/2007/03/black-fire-do-it.html . After 6 years searching for it, I must thank Jos and guitarist Syds for finally having this single in my hands. Housed in the most fluorescent pink sleeve (it’s so pink that my scanner couldn’t handle it, so I had to use my camera!), their debut single is very much a self-produced affair: Syds Schat“Black fire was active from 1975 untill about 1981. From 1972 untill1975 the band was called Stand By. The line-up was the same we only had another drummer. The single My Girl was recorded in Breda in the Tony Dirne Studio, we paid for it ourselves and sold the records during our gigs. We didn't have any experience in recording…” OK so this single it is not as loud or in the same class as Do It, but Rock n Roll is Here to Stay is heartfelt and a pure Saturday night Barn-stormer, whilst My Girl is a good and catchy number by a band still finding their feet. Following this release the band would meet producer Ad Van Olm and the rest is NederGlam history… Jos will soon be featuring the Stand By/Black Fire story on his NederGlam site http://www.nederglam.nl/. Black Fire have now reformed and are active to this day!
Hear a full version My Girl
Hear a full version of Rock and Roll is Here toStay
The Pops Merrily –Help Me Down/Legge’s Lurk –Aquarius AQ 5004 (1970 Canada)
If ever there was a Canadian volume of Bonehead Crunchers, Pops Merrily’s Help Me Down would surely feature in a prime position. Of particular note are Peter Sutherland’s “affected” vocals, jesus talk about method singing…The beat is underpinned by a stoic cowbell and the riffage is supreme with the guitar going totally out to lunch upon exit. It appears that this was one of two singles from this Montreal outfit who featured Gary Moffet who would turn up in a later incarnation of April Wine.
The Harlots of 42nd Street - Polyethylena Purebred/ Shake My Blues (Unreleased acetate US 1973?) When platform-booted slags ruled the roost…The Harlots of 42nd Street were major players in the early 70s New York underground Glam/Trash crowd which also included The New York Dolls, Stilettoes, Bitch, Teenage Lust, Brats, Magic Tramps, Luger and others. Apart from the Dolls, very little has been heard from these bands, although a Harlots single was released on Sunburst http://proudfootsound.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/harlots-of-42nd-street-cool-dude-foxy.html This unreleased acetate s hints at the power and sleaze promised. It’s rough, fun, under-produced and but still doesn’t quite capture the band in all its expected raw glory. Polyethena Purebred is surprisingly melodic over the NY Dolls raunchy backdrop whilst Shake My Blues is a good chug-a-long, again quite melodic with and end sing along. So this acetate ends up being more of an important historical document in the Proto Punk archives, than a revelatory kick-ass single. But the questions remains: What else is potentially in the vaults somewhere?
