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.
Kevin Coughlin –
The Gay Deceivers/I Gotta Be Me – Happy Tiger HT 509 (1969 US)
Fun Fuzzy Romp featuring
a cool overloaded guitar sound with actor Kevin Coughlin sounding like a dead-
ringer for Sky Saxon. I Gotta Be Me is the B sideto the theme song of the
twist-in-the-tail film of the same name about some likely guys who “go gay” to
avoid the draft.On this
single Kevin is backed by the great Heavy Psych band Stack who released the
Above All in minute quantities in 1969
Arlan Green –Moonbrite
EP –Test pressing- Bell 1000 (UK 1974?)
I don’t
honestly know who Arlan is/was, his only near-official release appears to be a
demo version of Rock Hotel on Mooncrest in 1975…as well as this strange test
pressing EP. The EP plays at 33.1/3 and has the immortal words “not for sale or
broadcast” on the sleeve, so was it that
Bell Records were considering signing Arlan, but then desisted when there was a
severe lack of positive feedback? Regardless of its strange lack of release, it’s
a mighty weird yet compelling EP. Moonbrite starts off with analog space beeps,
then Arlan declares his desire to be the first dentist on the moon…it’s all bit
like Jobriath channeling Gilbert o’Sullivan delivering a futuristic toothpaste
commercial. The 2nd track I
Do is pure McCartney Pop (with a Lennon middle bit) and could have been an
outtake off the first Jellyfish LP with some quite extensive and adventurist orchestration.
Rock Hotel kicks off side 2 with novelty
voice weirdness before settling down into something resembling the Bonzo Dog
Doo Dah Band with Bowie at the helm auditioning for the Rocky Horror Show. The
last track The Next Time starts off kinda like a normal heart felt piano
ballad, but then our Arlan can’t contain himself and SHREEKS with the song then
taking several unexpected twists and turns (note something weird happens near
the end, it might be an on-purpose stick, or just a bit of dirt on the record…who
knows, but I hope it was on purpose. Arlan who the hell are you? I hope you’re
still around and can tell us all about it…
Phafner –Overdrive/Plea From The Soul –Dragon Records 45-1001 (1971 US)
A bit of a change of focus this time… I am pleased to have made the acquaintance
of “The Digger”, a long standing legend in the record collecting world. The
last few months have been filled by a mass of back and forth emails with tips, recommendations
(records and film) and the odd transatlantic swap-shop session. I am now in
serious debt and full of gratitude to him for sending me his copy of this
highly rare and heavy single which got the ball rolling and led to the “discovery”
and original reissue of their sole album. The copy is rough, and although the crackles
add authenticity, I am very open to someone finding me a pristine copy one day!
Overdriveis a Killer Hard Rock/Heavy Psych performance and initially
reminded me of a long lost 4thSeompi single
You can find the story of Phafner elsewhere, so what follows, in his own
words, is a tale of tracking an act down in a time before the Internet and
social media. I am pleased to say that the Digger is still active digging stuff
up , often relying on his pre-Internet sleuthing skills for his searches to
reach their goal. Over to you Digger…
For private hard rock LP fanatics/collectors, Phafner's original 1971
miniscule pressing of their self-released 'Overdrive' album has been the
definition of 'holy grail' since Rockadelic's reissue back in 1989. Although it
was 17 years after the fact, the story of how the band was even located has
never been revealed - until now, that is:
I am a hard core/long time midwest 45 vinyl digger, and I was flipping
thru piles of 7" discs at a flea market in Tulsa, Oklahoma, circa
1987-1988. Amongst the thousands of dusty records I handled that day, one that
caught my attention was a pounded copy of, what was, to me, a total unknown:
Overdrive b/w Plea From The Soul, on the Dragon label, by a band named Phafner.
Though I had a no idea what a
Phafner was, I decided it was worth spending 50 cents to find out what this
mystery single sounded like. I was particularly intrigued by the caption
underneath the "Overdrive" song title - (taken from the 'Overdrive'
LP).
After returning home &slapping the 45 on my turntable, I realized
the sound wasn't really my bag (being an anal, narrow minded 1960s garage rock
purist). But I did know it was right up the alley of his pals in Texas, Rich
& Mark, of the Rockadelic label. A phone call to Rich revealed that this
band/record was unknown to them. At the time, these 2, along with Paul Major on
the east coast, were the undisputed kings of private indie U.S. rock & psych albums from 1968 onward. So for them to not be familiar with this, it
meant this had probably not circulated at all in record circles, so
knowledgeable & connected these guys were. Rich suggested I try to search
out the band members.
With little information to be found on the record's labels (no address,
city or state), I wasn't sure where to
begin. Since the record turned up in Tulsa, my immediate speculation was that
they were of Oklahoma origin. The publishing info on the label: had Buckskin
Music (BMI). Now from experience, I knew that the majority of the time that
music publishing companies listed on private labels were either: a.) long
defunct, having existed only for a short period of time while the artist was
active, or: b.) never even existed at all, they were simply printed on the
labels to give the impression the artist/label was 'professional.'
Lo & behold; a call to BMI revealed that Buckskin Music was still an
active affiliate &, even more amazing, the contact information
(name/address/phone #) was up-to-date. For whatever reason, the Shultz brothers
had kept current w/ BMI & as it turned out, they resided nowhere near
Oklahoma - as Marshalltown, Iowa was the former group's stomping grounds.
After a couple of phone conversations with ex-members, I purchased an
original copy of the LP from one of them, which turned out to be the first copy
in the vinyl collecting world. Passing it on to the Rockadelic pair, who were
immediate fans upon hearing it, they set about putting out a legal reissue
(minus 1 track from the original & adding 2 others, including the non-LP 45
flip, "Plea From The Soul") which hit the streets in 1989. This
limited, tiny pressing of 300 sold out immediately.
At some point in time I purchased a 2nd copy of the album, from another
ex-member - and this copy was STILL SEALED. That's right, folks, there was
indeed one flawless, never been played copy that traded hands in the record
collecting world, approx 25 years back. Where is that copy today & is it
still in sealed condition? That's the 21st century Phafner mystery, so modern
day sleuths, get to work & try to find it. Incidentally, it's unknown how many copies of the 45 were pressed &
how many are in the possession of collectors. I am only aware of 2 being known
in collections; odds are it too was pressed in very tiny quantities, 25-50
would probably be a reasonable estimation. (One now proudly resides
here in the UK!)
Hear a full version of this “Crackly” copy of Overdrive(Note –you can easily find Plea From The
Soul elsewhere on Youtube)
An update to the Phafner story - in late 2015, the band was nominated to be considered for the Iowa Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame (IRRMA - Iowa Rock& ;Roll Music Association), which has been in existence since 1997, and includes hundreds of small name/no name home state nominees that never even recorded, probably never wrote original material & were barely popular only within a 100 mile radius of their hometowns. Needless to say, Phafner did NOT make the cut & are not in the 2016 inductees class. Pretty incredible for a band that wrote & recorded originals, are now known & revered by collectors worldwide, whose album has been reissued several times & the original is now one of the most valuable vinyl artefacts of that era. What does that tell you about the IRRMA??
Pelican Peace Band
–Take it off/ Glory Road -Heads Up Production – WS-101 (1973 US)
Power trio
featuring Steve Dykmann, Danny Silvester and Kent Huss. Take it off is a hot
hot example of killer US Proto Punk supremely
loud and heavy, oozing attitude and featuring some ripping blistering lead
breaks. From Des Moines (Iowa) the band later evolved into Sky Dancer over time
following different line up changes. The Chicken House credit may provide a
direct link to those other Iowa legends Westminst'r. Brutal, Rockin’ and Totally
Essential!
Note: Purepop may
be changing. Blogs have to move with the times with many people now accessing
the site through phones and tablets, so posting the sound clips on Youtube may
be the way to go. So I have started my channel, let’s see how it works,
feedback most welcome here or on Youtube itself
Summit –The Darkness/Thank You Mister Jones –North Room Records (US 1969)
Monster proto Doom from Summit. Now it has been mentioned that it owes some to Factory’s Path Through The Forest and it certainly shares a similar monotone drone effect with machine-like drumming,if you ask me, you can also throw in a bit of Pere Ubu for good measure, but this one goes full downer without reprieve. It’s heavy dark pounding number with an amazing lead fuzz guitar break from the guitarist (who was only 15 or 16 at the time!). The lyrics allude to Amazon warriors, but remain pretty cryptic. The B side is tribute to Brian Jones and was sung and performed by the bass player. It’s a stripped down basic affair and a nice counterpoint to the A side. Summit was never an actual band, just a bunch of kids who got together to jam, but still managed to record these 2 songs in September 1969 at Damon Studios in Kansas City. 3 members were from Clinton, while the guitarist had to commute from Sikeston, which was quite a trek and perhaps explains why they only played ever played one gig. A self-release, North Room refers to their practice space, which was the north room of the basement in the bassist’s house… A bit thank you to Mark P for the thorough detective work!
Blitzkreig –Kommen Heir SaÜgling (Come Here Baby)/ Das Führer –Vier Reich Records SS 1047 (1976 US)
Nazi Proto Punk Boogie of the highest order with a heavy Bonehead twist (and a T shirt).What’s with all this German stuff? With a modest grasp of the German language (can’t spell Blitzkrieg) these Palm Spring bozos went all Nazi for this release, on Vier Reich records with Das FÜhrer on the B side no less. Kommen Heir Saugling (come here you cow!) was released in early 76 and is basic Hard Rock at its most caveman without an inkling of any Übermensch to be found. It sounds like the guitarist had access to the mixing desk for 6 seconds as the volume of the guitar intro cuts and slashes across the mix in fine fashion. Blitzkreig’s tenuous grasp on reality didn’t last long under the introspection of all that healthy desert sun and this appears to be their only release
Hear a full version of Kommen Heir SaÜgling (Come Here Baby)
Ballyhoo –Lovemaker/Paperback Love –Gallo PD 1070 (1975 South Africa)
The link between the Netherlands and its Boer descendants continued well into the Glam 70s, with several Bonnie St Clair tracks getting the SA treatment including Maria’s Clap Your Hands And Stamp Your Feet and Jessica Jones’s Waikiki Man. Here it’s the turn of the storming Lovemaker by Heart (the NL one) to receive the South African treatment. The first difference is that we get male lead vocals replacing Patricia Paay’s vocals and that translates fine, the bum bum titty titty bum bum bum chant is still present and correct, however although the crunching and the stomping has been preserved, the performance here is not quite as wild and brash as the original
This was the first single by Ballyhoo who then went on a more MOR trip including the hit Man in The Moon in the early 80s
Mammoth - Sensations (Head to Toe)/ Mammoth –United World Records UT-01970-001 (1970 US) Mammoth came out of San Antonio (TX) and the fittingly titled Mammoth was to be found on the B side of a lightweight piece of Psych. Here the bands thump and grind in most HEAVY fashion over what sounds like a Stoner version of Mr. Soul and leave any musical pretensions safely at home. However this was not the case later, when the band morphed into “Der Tremoloids” who might as well been called the haemorrhoids as their awful progressive Jazz Rock leanings is bound to give you piles
Diehard –Heartbreak/Lonetowers –Posae Records 208 (197? US)
Heartbreak is at the crossroad of crunching Hard Rock with a nice fat guitar riff and Prog due to to proggy leanings instilled in the vocal delivery and synth break. What really saves the day is the masterful unifying power of the mighty Cowbell that grounds the performance in fine fashion. God bless the Cowbell! I am assuming it is played by Dan Derda who was the drummer the pre-David MarksBand Without a Name. The production is tight and Stan Ross is on engineering duties, but does that mean that it was recorded at Gold Star? It’s an LA affair in any case, with the Posae /Sea Seven labels having been around since the 60s.
Never a wrong time to feature the mighty Easybeats, but with Stevie's recent passing, here's a great reminder of what a bundle of joy and energy he was in his prime, seen here on German TV in 1966
The highlight DVD of 2015 was for me the Easybeats movie Somewhere between Heaven and Woolworths gaining release nearly 50 years later as Easy Come, Easy Go. It includes these great scenes from Olympic Studios with Glyn Johns working on Heaven and Hell. Magic!
See you next year. Hard to believe it will soon be 10 years of Purepop...
Drift -Get Out Of My Life, Woman/Plastic People –AMCAN AM 1-72 (1972 US)
Remaining in the realm of Rock ‘n’ Roll Christians and this being the season of goodwill and special births, I bring you a revelation, Jesus was a BONEHEAD! Well at least the singer on this killer single proclaims (or screeches) that Jesus loves you, however that message did not seem to reach the dullards in the band who rock out in immensely heavy fashion. This is one of the most basic infernal fuzzed-faced backing tracks which isn’t in any way diluted by the XIAN fairy dust sprinkled atop, this one is leading straight to Hell. Simply amazing… Out of Ohio 1972
Grunt Futtock – Rock ‘n’ Roll Christian/Free Sole –Regal Zonophone RZ 3042 (1972 UK)
There’s surprisingly little in the way of information on this release. Surprising as this was a real supergroup made up of Roy Wood (on lead vocals), Steve Marriot, Peter Frampton and Alan Bown plus it was produced by Andrew Loog Oldham! Although released in 1972, I have the feeling the recording session would have taken place earlier at the transition point between the end of The Herd and the beginnings of Humble Pie. Another clue is that Roy was no longer on Regal Zonophone in 1972. Rock ‘n’ Roll Christian is in fact a rousing, near Crunching Glam, take on Jimmy Webb’s Dorothy Chandler Blues (released in 1970 on the Words and Music LP) a weird choice, but that’s Roy Wood for you!
The B side is more experimental and soundtrack panoramic and is probably Roy Wood having a bit of fun with orchestration (using the Edward G. Reed pseudonym?) I love the sound on the Be My Baby drums at the close... So all in all, it’s a bit of a transparent mystery, I would love to have known how these sessions came about.
Saturday, normally all the good deals are made on the Friday, but this time I had not picked up stuff in the usual numbers. However I am well pleased with the finds.
A new discovery for me was this Penny Wise single. I believe it is the 2nd of 3 singles the band released before they metamorphosed into Amsterdam It's a lovely lush pop number, starting in a near Pet Sounds setting then crossing the Atlantic into a British 68 popsike sound...
Now a new feature these last few Utrechts are the Omega auctions taking place on the Saturday. I had dreams of living out my Storage Hunters fantasies
However there was a reason. I had my heart set of securing an original sleeved copy of the A2 Looking at You. A nice touch was meeting John Sinclair after the win. He asked if I wanted him to sign it and I reacted by a loud NOOOOOOOO!!!! Not too cool on my part, but I was well pleased that he signed the white paper sleeve. He confirmed that there were 500 sleeves.
I lost out on I Can Only Give You Everything, but my flutter on my main object of desire paid out without going too crazy even with the 25% commission!
Of course there was another A&M God Save The Queen, but the prices are decreasing each time as the awareness spreads of the number of copies still available
So it really began in earnest...only this time it felt rather flat. I was there at 7:10am as the first dealers drove in, but by 9am, I had only found 3 singles! Normally I have upwards of 30 by that time.
Some of the regular German singles guys had less in the way of 60s/70s stuff, more 80s. Also I no longer have the urge (and patience) to go through 10.000 cheap singles in one swoop.
But as the day went on, I found some good stuff, main winners included the 32nd Turnoff Italian only single, but I will only spend one night with this tiger as it is destined to someone who has been looking for it for years.
The Thane Russall and Cape Kennedy Construction Company are the main personal finds.
Of interest is the self-released Dutch Trash single a buzzing proto punk take on Johnny B Goode 1973) and the Weird Swedish Don Curtis single (1969)
Let's see if the excitement levels rise tomorrow...Well John Sinclair will be there, and there's the live Auction which includes some great MC5 stuff. Storage Wars, here we come...
Here I am in a dark rainy Utrecht. I got in quite late and only caught the end of the pre main fair outdoor mini record fair. Picked up a nice upgrade copy of the rare third PANTHERMAN single, where Frank goes for the Kiss unmasked look. You decide which is more scary....
Anyhow I will be there at the main event from 7am....who knows what tomorrow will bring
Kingdom –All I Need/Nothing Could Be Better –United Artists UP 35145 (1970 UK)
Heavy Gritty Freakrock of the highest order. All I Need is a deep dirge that reeks of a Carnaby Street hangover waking up in the middle of Underground Explosion ’69. The cavernous drums are amazing as is the lead guitar played with wild abandonment. The performance works even better as the chorus helps to keep things tight and compact. The B side is also good, but is more diffused and lacks the focus of the other side.
I couldn’t find much about these guys, but it appears this single was a one-off. Nice touch it being a “joint” production. Heavy man, heavy…
Choya –Let The Children Boogie
Choya –Let The Children Boogie Part 1/Part 2 –Cue C502X (1973 Canada)
An interesting example of a Canadian Glam and Hard Rock crossover by Ex Magic Cycle/ TheCycle member Paul Clinch. Mid tempo, both sides sound like they were obviously inspired by T. Rex but the vocal delivery is closer to Heavy Cruiser or Thundermug. An extra dimension is added by the use of old synths and especially a Mellotron, which is somewhat unworldly and really takes off on part 2. This was the first of three singles Choya released. An album also came out on Buddah in 1976.
Hear a full version of Let The Children Boogie Part 1
Hear a full version of Let The Children Boogie Part 2
Plenty of great stuff including the woefully obscure and
great Boppers single
Boppers -Cleveland Dolls/ Rocket City -Wild obscure US Proto Punk -1972? Cleveland Dolls
Dancing in Rocket City
Here is the full list. More funds for the upcoming Utrecht
welcome –Thanks!
Bilbo Baggins -Saturday Night -Dutch Pic Sleeve -Hard Glam
Stomper-1974
Stud Leather -Cut Loose -Proto Punk Garage Madness-1973
Tiger -I Am an Animal- Wild Glam Cruncher -Demo 1975 Equals -Diversion -Crunching Stomper -German pic sleeve 1973
Easybeats -Easy Fever Vol 2 EP - Vanda and Young with All
Gone Boy 1967
Reparata -Your Life is Gone -Great 70s Girl Group Death Disc
-1972
Jook-Oo Oo Rudi -Stomping Glam-John's Children 1973
Paul & Barry Ryan-Carry The Blues -French Picture Sleeve
1974
Blue Maxi -Here Comes Summer -Psych era Surf Powerpop -1970
Blue Planet -I'm Going Man- Great Dutch HEAVY Psych Hard
Rock 1970 Glass Menagerie -Do My Thing Myself -Driving Hard Hitting
Hard Rock -1969
Cobra –Midnight Walker - Heavy Psych FREAK Hard Rock 1971
Apocalypse -Neurotic Reaction -Wild German Heavy Psych 1970
Buster Jangles Flying Mattress - Love Taken Over My Brain
FUZZ Psych-1971
Blue Goose -Loretta -Wild Glam/Hard Rock Cruncher -Demo 1975
T.C. –Zoom City/Long Way Home –Self released (1980 US)
Here is as truly wonderful unknown Powerpop gem out of Arizona. Although quite slick, the killer hooks and tough guitars make this a true classic. T.C.’S vocals are great with a strident edge that gab you on first hearing. It has been mentioned that it sounds like a tougher Rick Springfield playing with The Cars. T.C. was a big Cars fan, and that was the sound he was going for at the time, but this goes way beyond that!
Long Way Home is less obviously a work of genius; sounding more like Supertramp covering Willie Nile! Surprisingly it was Long Way Home that became the plug side and garnered airplay in Phoenix, Springfield (MO), St. Louis andeven in Bolivia!!! It appears that he performed there, receiving “star treatment”.
So who is T.C.? Well he is one Thomas Ben Chambers, he still has a Myspace page https://myspace.com/tcpoprok/music/songswith other stuff he has recorded. Not included on his site is the Morning Sunlight single he released in 1976; where the high pitch voice sounds like it was recorded when he was 13.
It’s folky and orchestrated and doesn’t gel at 45rpm, however when played at 33.3rpm Morning Sunlight could be a Forever Changes outtake with T.C. sounding like a dead ringer for Arthur Lee. These two records appear to be the only vinyl releases by T.C.
Thanks to Mark P. for turning me on to this wonder and for the background info
The Salt –Lucifer/A Whole Lot of Rainbows –Cotillion 44012 (1968 US)
Here’s a marvellous Joey Levine oddity. Giving The Dark One the levity he sometimes deserves, Lucifer is a wondrous mix of Heavy Bubblegum/Psych, OTT orchestrations and goes off in all directions while remaining a united focused effort. At times I wonder if this was not a Third Rail outtake as it takes in near Pet Sounds interludes amid the Captain Groovy Grooves. It must have been fun creating this one in the studio as it sure is fun listening to it 47 years later! Immortal stuff…
