THE RISING STORM

Clear Light were a folk-rock/psych-rock group from LA that released one lp off Elektra in 1967. Clear Light are famously known for including two drummers, one of them being Dallas Taylor of CSNY and Manassas fame. Paul Rothchild produced the lp, which explains why the recording sessions were fraught with tension and negativity. The group was really masterminded by guitarist/vocalist Bob Seal, bass player Doug Lubahn and lead vocalist Cliff De Young. Prior to Clear Light the band had been known as the Brain Train. Seal felt a name change was appropriate to coincide with the release of a newly recorded debut single, Black Roses. Seal decided on Clear Light, a concept he had come across in his readings of Eastern philosophy - a name also shared by a potent brand of LSD.

Black Roses was released in September of 1967 and written by outside songwriter and ex-boxer Bud Mathis. It was a great hard charging folk-rock single with an acid tinged guitar solo that deserved to sell much better than it did. Black Roses appeared on the group’s only full length platter, released in late 1967. Many psych fans are divided when it comes to the Clear Light lp but I think it’s a good one. Maybe not a true classic on par with Love’s Forever Changes or Moby Grape’s debut but still a very good lp without any weak tracks. The band tries nearly everything within a 2 to 3 minute pop song context, meaning the songs are loaded with good quirky ideas and great guitar solos (check out Think Again). Some tracks like They Who Have Nothing and the baroque Ballad of Freddie & Larry bear a strong Doors and Love influence but this makes sense considering the fact that all groups were on Elektra. Other songs like the outstanding fuzz guitar psychedelia of Sand and the trippy Night Sounds Loud are more original and hinted at a strong future for the group. The former track features some great organ and spiraling acid guitar interplay. The album’s most famous track, a cover of Tom Paxton’s Mr. Blue, sounds dated today with its spoken word dialogue although even this song is oddly appealing in its own way and definitely still considered a highlight.

Rothchild’s iron fist policy coupled with the lack of commercial success led to Clear Light’s demise, shortly after the release of this solid album. Not everyone will like this record because of its eccentric nature but it really is a crime that Clear Light were unable to release a followup to this debut. A very worthy release from a talented, accomplished California group.

mp3: Think Again
mp3: Sand

Vinyl Reissue | Sundazed | buy from sundazed ]
Original Vinyl | 1967 | Vogue | search @ ebay ]
MP3 Album | download @ amzn ]

A Gift From Euphoria is an well-funded album loaded with symphonic arrangements, excellent studio musicianship, psychedelic audio collage, and sound effects. It’s probably near to the apex of experimental rock from this era, and of the melding and juxtaposition of different styles of music.

The first two tracks on the record demonstrate the pace. Lisa an expansive and string laden orchestral number gives way to a legit bluegrass-country tune with banjo and pedal steel. Wait a little longer and you’ll get some fuzz guitar brain melters. Euphoria is all over the place on this album, which was recorded in Hollywood, London, and Bradley’s Barn. Some of the best session men in town put this one together, and it shows. Nary an unprofessional sound is on this record and some of the arrangements are stunning. They could use this album to replace the orchestra at the Boston Pops.

This is the only album released by the short lived Euphoria. The liner notes imply that the members disappeared, but parts of the liners are as out there as the sounds. Get this one for a supreme example of country and rock gone suicidally psychedelic, sounding remarkably fresh today.

For more from the Euphoria guys, be sure to check out the Bernie Schwartz record, The Wheel.

mp3: Did You Get The Letter
mp3: Lady Bedford

CD Reissue | 2003 | Revola | buy from amazon |
Original Vinyl | 1969 | Capitol | search ebay ]
reposted from June 6, 2007

This is a special record. If you can’t figure that from the amount of online chatter, user reviews and critical reviews declaring Have Moicy to be one of the best records of all time, or at least proclaiming some kind of undying allegiance (Moicy made the New York Times’ top 20 LPs of 1976), you’ll get it falling in love after just a couple spins. Count me in on the converted! Sometimes I fall so deep for a record that listening to the music isn’t enough, I wish I could touch or hold the sound itself. If it were possible, Have Moicy would get a hug.

A collaborative and joyous meeting of out-there minds, the founders of freak-folk hadn’t lost a touch of steam by 1976. Michael Hurley, known by fans as Snocko (see his official homepage), was a Folkways recording artist while Peter Stampfel was one half of the Holy Modal Rounders, Steve Weber absent from these sessions. This would be Jeffrey Fredericks and the Clamtones’ first official recording but all were essentially part of the Rounders family, and best of all, Have Moicy! is merely a gateway into the fine solo recordings of all the artists involved.

Stampfel’s numbers drive with clawhammer banjo, washboard and ratchet percussion, and unconcerned fiddle and mandolin leads. Half the other songs are electrified with pre-Meat Puppets unaffected treble licks and interlocking rhythms. The players never fill too much space, giving each instrument enough breathing room to act as genuine ear candy. The band somehow converges to create a clean renegade folk constantly teetering on the edge of chaos. Some undefinable bit of magic holds it all together. The tunes have unserious and silly lyrics but are never overtly comical or embarrassing, just fun, unpretentious, and honest folk music.

It’s impossible to pick two standout tracks from such a solid lineup. If you like what you hear, don’t delay in grabbing the 1992 reissue or the mp3 download, you won’t be disappointed. Every tune is positively great, and for the initiated, few other records will bring as much cheer.

mp3: Midnight In Paris
mp3: What Made My Hamburger Disappear

CD Reissue | 1992 | Rounder | buy from rounder | amazon ]
Original Vinyl | 1976 | Rounder | search ebay ]
MP3 Album | download from amazon ]

Kaleidoscope was an important architect of the American rock n roll sound. This group introduced ethnic sounds that were new and exciting back in the 60s and also featured some fine techinical players in David Lindley and Chris Darrow. Incredible! was their last really good album that saw the departure of Darrow, one of the group’s founders and a key component to Kaleidoscope’s special sound. Darrow explained a while back:

“The root of the problem, was a combination of business hassles and the fact that we weren’t a success commercially. The effect was astonishing; friends started acting like enemies…and, in the end, I just passed. I said ‘that’s it…I’m going,’ at which point David said ‘you’re fired anyway’ - it was he who fired me. So I quit and got fired at the same time. It just ceased to satisfy me all of a sudden - something had to give, and the obvious solution was a change in personnel.”

Darrow went on to release a few solo efforts and contribute some fine material to the late 60s/early 70s Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. His departure was a major blow but the group rallied and released what many feel is their most consistent record to date. Side Trips (1967) and A Beacon From Mars (1968) were both excellent, eclectic records with more of a psychedelic feel though Incredible saw the band maturing, incorporating elements of cajun, blues and bluegrass into an already diverse mixture of music styles. They never abandon psychedelia though, and turn in two outstanding eastern rockers, the funky Lie To Me, which had serious radio potential and the cosmic 11-minute Seven-Ate Sweet. These tracks bookend Incredible though blues rockers Killing Floor and Cuckoo are just as strong and highlight some fine harmonica playing and nice subtle fuzz guitar work. Other tracks like the stark instrumental Banjo are inventive and show us how good a banjo player David Lindley was.

Fans of psychedelia and roots music are urged to seek out Kaleidscope’s first three albums and non-lp singles, these are all “must haves.” Kaleidoscope is one of America’s greatest lost groups, they were always ambitious, trying out new ideas and never giving in to commercial demands.

mp3: Lie To Me
mp3: Banjo

CD Reissue | 1994 | Edsel | buy from amazon ]
Original Vinyl | 1969 | Epic | search ebay ]

J.J. Light is actually Jim Stallings, former bassist of the Sir Douglas Quintet, who played on the excellent Mendocino lp onwards. Prior to 1969’s Heya, Stallings released some singles in the early 60’s which are reportedly in a doo-wop style. The notorious Bob Markley had some involvement with the Heya lp, as he supposedly wrote some of the album’s lyrics and coined the J.J. Light name.

Heya is a diverse program that rocks hard in spots but also showcases a unique brand of music that is no doubt influenced by Stallings’ Native American roots. Both Na Ru Ka and Heya combine hard rock and ethnic influences into something that’s new and refreshing. I have heard other reviewers describe Stallings’ music as “hypnotic” though I hear more of a hard rock sound that’s laced with country and folk roots. Sure, there are a few excellent psychedelic cuts that will catch your ear first, like the rollicking It’s Wednesday and the acid fried country-rocker Gallup, New Mexico. The fuzz propelled, late period garage rock track Follow Me Girl is also top of the heap. But folk-rock and country numbers Silently Sleeping and Hello, Hello, Hello give the album its diversity and display a strong Bob Dylan influence. All the above tracks are fine statements indeed, though this album has major grower qualities that might not be apparent upon first listen.

The recent Sunbeam Records reissue (there is also a CD Baby reissue) includes an unreleased 2nd album from 1969 that Stallings had been keeping on a dusty shelf. After his recording career as J.J. Light, Stallings played bass for the band Truth, who released the trippy P.S. (Prognosis Stegnosis) 45. While being a part of Doug Sahm’s band, Stallings and the group also released an lp without Doug’s involvement entitled Future Tense by the Quintet. In it’s day the Heya album was hardly known in the States (it was never issued in the U.S.), so it was somewhat strange when the lp sold large numbers in Europe, Japan, South America, and New Zealand. Definitely a solid 4 star record, Heya is truly a lost gem by one of rock’s unknown legends.

mp3: Hello, Hello, Hello
mp3: Silently Sleeping

CD Reissue | 2007 | amazon ]
Orig Vinyl | 1969 | search ebay ]

In 1974, Leonard Cohen hired producer John Lissauer to help him create the new sound for his songs. Moving away from the heavily reverberating, simplistic arrangements of Songs of Love and Hate (1971), Cohen uses large vocal ensembles, banjos, jews harp, heavy percussion, strings, and woodwinds to create a palate that is, in my opinion, finally equal to the depth of the writing itself.

The album opens with one of my favorite Cohen songs, “Is This What You Wanted.” The record is probably worth its weight in gold for the horn arrangements alone during the first verse (listen, kids, right channel). Once the chorus kicks, with the broken, funky backbeat and the monotone call and response chorus, you know you have stumbled upon something brilliant. Although Rolling Stone called this record “not one of his best,” I feel that it must be considered a classic. Coming in at track 2 is the controversial, beautiful, sex charged new york anthem, Chelsea Hotel #2. One of the few songs Cohen co-wrote, this track details the alleged sexual encounter between our Hero and the one and only Janis Joplin. Songs like “There is a War” bring out the louder, more politically charged side of this artist. While “Who by Fire” is a stunningly beautiful octave charged and simplistic male/female duet which borrows from traditional jewish prayer to ask the question of how will we all die.

Still want to listen? Good. Me too. Full of good funky 70’s folk-rock production with a knack for the depressed and the overly beautiful, this record sings about all the necessary topics you need to get you through the end of march and bursting into the spring. Also, the cover art is so awesome that Columbia refused to press it on the first release of the record. And if Angels want to screw to this music, it can’t be half bad.

mp3: Is This What You Wanted
mp3: Who By Fire

CD Reissue | 1995 | Sony | mp3 Download | Buy from Amazon ]
Original Vinyl | 1974 | Columbia | search ebay ]

The Blue Things were a great band from the Midwest. They had a Beau Brummels Volume 2/From The Vaults sound crossed with some Gene Clark era Byrds. While they were extremely popular in the Midwest, the Blue Things never reached fame at a national level despite a great folk-rock album and some groundbreaking early psychedelic singles.

The band started out releasing singles on independent (private) labels around 1964/65 with a strong Searchers or early Beatles flavor. Some of these singles such as Pretty Things-Oh! were very strong and deserved more attention. Eventually they evolved into a tight folk-rock band that strongly recalled Help/Rubber Soul era Beatles.

Val Stocklein wrote most of the compositions and his vocals are that world weary mixture of Gene Clark and a sarcastic, biting John Lennon. They released their only self-titled album (or commonly referred to as Listen & See) in 1966 and by this time, the band had already been experimenting with a psychedelic sound. The album is one of folk-rock’s highlights. A singled released from the album, Doll House/Man On The Street was spectacular. Both songs dealt with subjects uncommon for rock in that era (or any era), prostitution and social injustice.They are both characterized by glittering guitars, thoughtful lyrics, great harmonies, tambourine and a driving beat. There is no doubt that this was one of the defining moments of the folk-rock revolution. Honor The Hearse was very Dylan-like but still effective while High Life, I Must Be Doing Something Wrong, It Ain’t No Big Thing Babe and Now’s The Time were also really strong, classy folk-rockers.

There were a few raw covers of old rock standards as well, that recalled their club and bar days. Ain’t That Lovin’ You Babe is particularly noteworthy for a blistering guitar solo. Desert Wind, an outtake from this era, is another great melancholy folk-rock winner. The Blue Things would eventually release two classic psychedelic singles before Val Stocklein left, effectively putting an end to a great group. Orange Rooftops Of Your Mind was their creative zenith, an explosion of sound, featuring violin-like fuzz guitar tones, echoed vocals, a great folk-rock bridge and an organ rave up. The B-side, One Hour Cleaners, was almost as good, with some strange lyrics and a good beat. This single was released in 1966 just when psychedelia was beginning and may have been the first genuine Midwest acid-rock single. You Can Live In Our Tree, another good A-side paired with a great psych version of Twist and Shout was more of the same.

The inability to sell records or become commercially viable frustrated the group and left them bitter. One more single was released in 1967 after Val’s departure and without his involvement. Yes My Friend paired with Somebody Help Me did not recall the band’s heyday in any way and was actually pretty weak. The Blue Things soldiered on for a while playing live but eventually decided to call it a day before the end of the decade.

“Doll House”

2CD Reissue | 2008 | Cicadelic | Buy @ Cicadelic Records ]
reposted from March, 2007. Check out the brand new 65-song reissue.

The Insect Trust’s only two albums are a great example of what would be called today, wyrd America. Back then, they did not have such terms and even still, it’s unfair to label this individualistic band.

They were often compared to San Fransisco bands such as the pioneering Jefferson Airplane, although this comparison really doesn’t do them justice. Hoboken Saturday Night (1970), the band’s sophomore effort usually gets the nod, or at least the most attention. Though it must be mentioned that most fans forget about this startling, groundbreaking debut.

They were a classic east coast band taking in a multitude of influences from folk, blues, psychedelia, rock n’ roll, country, jazz, ragtime and bluegrass. Nancy Jefferies had a strong, clear voice while Bill Barth and Bob Palmer were always experimenting with exotic instruments. Skin Game is typical of their approach, starting off as a country blues shuffle then exploding into a slide guitar freakout that is quite marvelous. Miss Fun City is a great trippy slice of Americana with some great hypnotic banjo, a most excellent composition! Be Here And Gone So Soon, has to be the most classic track on this legendary album. It opens up with some classic hippy dialogue, then bursts into a magical folk-rock song.

Anyone searching for a good organic slice of authentic American music along the lines of the Dillard and Clark Expedition, Robbie Basho’s Zarthus or Michael Chapman’s Unqualified Survivor will love this classic from 1968

mp3: Miss Fun City

180G Vinyl Reissue: Capitol 2007 | search ebay for Insect Trust ]
reposted from March 21, 2007, check your local shop for the reissue

The mother of all break-up albums. Hazlewood had just hit middle age at this point, so I’m sure he was already up to his neck in heartbreak. Bad for him. Good for us - because it supplied him with all the ammunition he needed to slug us in the heart with this surprisingly poignant and honest portrait of a broken man and the cold women who left him this way.

Released only in Sweden and the UK (making it pretty damn rare), this is the album where he makes his shrink proud by getting it all out. The ‘almost-lady’ actually represents all the ladies he’s lost over the years.

We find him revisiting the spoken interludes between tracks that graced his first two albums (Trouble is a Lonesome Town, The NSVIP’s), but on this one he keeps them short and not so sweet over some rather doomy guitar strumming.

It maintains, for the most part, a psych-tinged folk/country feel not too dissimilar from his late 60s releases, except this time drums are eschewed for a minimal arrangement of mainly acoustic guitars and bass. But there’s never an empty moment as any void is adequately filled by Jerry Cole’s stunning bass lines. Allow them to give you goose bumps on the tremendous “I’ll Live Yesterdays,” which is definitely the strongest track on the record. Hazlewood’s lyrical genius really shines here – simply impeccable. The hurt keeps on spilling from that inimitable deep gravelly voice on the reflective weepers “If it’s Monday Morning” and “Won’t You Tell Your Dreams.”

Too bleak for you? Don’t forget who it is we’re talking about here. While it’s unquestionably a sad album, the perpetually jilted Hazlewood’s pop sensibilities still reign, turning even his most lashing fits of hostility into irresistible sing-a-longs. It’s hard to not crack a spiteful grin and join in on a chorus that spits “I’d rather be your enemy, than hear you call me friend.” And the countrified rockers “LA lady” and “Stone Lost Child” offer a nice balance, kicking things up to a galloping pace.

In anyone else’s hands material of this sort probably would have resulted in a self-indulgent whining session or a pointless diatribe. But Lee manages to successfully assemble his emotions into a meaningful and coherent stream of songs. All the bitterness he expresses is perfectly tempered by streaks of vulnerability, loneliness and regret.

Requiem for an Almost-Lady and a few of his other classic LPs were reissued on Smells Like Records

mp3: I’ll Live Yesterdays

CD Reissue: 1999 | Smells Like Records | Buy @ Amazon ]
Vinyl Search @eBay: Search Lee Hazlewood ]