Author Archive

The Mystery Meat “Profiles”

| Garage

Profiles

The Mystery Meat record was privately pressed by five Illinois college students in 1968. Only around 25 copies, each now fetching upwards of $6K, were made. The extreme rarity, combined with the provocative cover art and the visceral sounds underneath it all have made Profiles a garage LP of legends.

Legendary lost albums are not loved for their rarity alone. The Mystery Meat has a primitive sound as any dirty garage recording and then some, but the quality of the songs shine through as early as your first listen and maintain Profiles’ unique longevity.  Soft spoken, innocent vocals and sensitive lyrics contrast frightening drums recorded, it would seem, under a blanket. The muffled rhythm section is really distinct, recorded in the cavernous basement of a school building at Blackburn College, rounded on the high end with fierce Farfisa organ and trebly electric rhythm guitar.

It’s not all about loud scary beat rock, but good, strong songwriting, courtesy of Wayne Joplin, and a tender angle. “Both Have To Pay” and “You Won’t Believe It” stick out for their melancholy sound; the melodies alone seem to convey a love lost. Lead singer Dick Leighninger clearly knew how to put emotion into his vocal, and I can just picture the girl in his mind during these makeshift sessions.  “Don’t Take Me” is an exceptionally bizarre ode to death, “Sunshine Makes It” a swirling and slightly experimental piece. The rest make up an album of tunes so great any listener should be surprised. All originals.

“Give Me Your Love”

:D CD Reissue | 2005 | Shadoks | buy from amazon ]

Michael Chapman “Fully Qualified Survivor”

| Classic Rock,Folk,Pop,Power

Michael Chapman, apart from being a prolific English songwriter whose revered work spans four decades, is probably the best guitar smith you have never heard. While his skills are best evidenced on this album’s predecessor, Rainmaker, the original songwriting and tight production, seemingly informed by all music that came before it, steal the show here.

It’s as if every style of rock music were somehow harnessed and tamed into Michael’s unique folk vision. The album sounds fresh as anything recorded today, yet still of its time, sparkling with punchy drum fills and orchestral arrangements. The album opens with an understated triumph: experimental strings create a soundscape for the soothing rhythm of Aviator to “take my time away.” I cannot think of another 9 minute song that doesn’t seem to last long enough. The lyrics on the album evoke a feeling of hopelessness, and there is a kind of sad tone but all together I believe it can be an uplifting album. This may be thanks to sharing much of the same personnel responsible for early albums by Elton John and David Bowie. During Fully Qualified’s hardest moments, though, I hear a striking resemblance to Bowie’s classic Man Who Sold The World.

Stranger In The Room and Soulful Lady lend a classic rock balance to softer songs like the immortal Postcards From Scarborough, by far the most famous Chapman song. Through several interludes, we are treated to Chapman’s masterful six-string suites. I know my fair share of fingerpicking but still have trouble believing that Naked Ladies & Electric Ragtime is actually performed on one guitar by one person. In any case, it’s a piece that should be standard fare in guitar workshops the world over. But note that I’m not talking about the trite electric guitar leads, performed by Mick Ronson who would team up with Bowie for Space Oddity thanks to this record.

Fully Qualified Survivor is an exceptional collection of songs and your best introduction to one of England’s great underappreciated artists. One of the best.

“Andru’s Easy Rider/Trinkets & Rings”

:D CD Reissue | 2011 | LITA |  buy ]
:) LP Reissue | 2011 | LITA | buy ]
:) Original Vinyl | 1970 | Harvest | search ebay ]

Tages “Studio”

| Pop,Psych

Tages (pronounced “tah-guess”) are universally known as the best sixties pop band from Sweden. They struck it big early, hitting the Swedish #1 with “Sleep Little Girl” in 1964! Their efforts in the psychedelic era would be their last. Studio should sit comfortably next to masterpieces of the year, a few notches closer to Odessey & Oracle than Sgt. Pepper and not very far at all from the following year’s Birthday Party. Thanks to the tape cuts, orchestration, harmonies, and studio tricks, it even sounds like they got their hands on a copy of Brian Wilson’s unreleased Smile tapes. Certainly, anybody willing to spend enough time exploring all the rabbit holes in the Beatles catalog owes themselves a trip through this marvelous record.

The album opener, Have You Seen Your Brother Lately, proves how apt the name “Studio” is for such a creatively produced statement. Few won’t be sold within the first few seconds, hearing a looping string quartet surrender to a commanding rhythm highlighted by pounding drums and boxy plucked bass lines. Delicate touches of grand piano and kazoo bust open the door to an album rife with auditory treats and excellent craftmanship. Vocals are good, reminding me of an edgier Colin Blunstone, with plenty of fine backup parts.

But Studio is a diverse affair, It’s My Life, the 2nd track growls out dark guitar distortions straight from the Move arsenal under workout vocal leads. The drums stand out, consistently providing ahead-of-their-time and vicious beats. Tunes are often loaded with orchestration, like the soft ballad, People Without Faces, and bouncier brass marches like What’s The Time and She’s Having A Baby Now. Tasteful psychedelic treatments abound in backwards guitar leads, weird stomp boxes, and sound effects sprinkled throughout the record. Songs are short pop winners, maybe missing some of the excellent songwriting of their contemporaries, but the entrancing production really makes up for the lack of a better bridge or two.

The only real dissapointment is the lack of a proper CD or LP reissue (thankfully, the album is available digitally). An album like Studio should have propelled them to top 500 lists worldwide, rather than remain a Swedish rocknroll footnote. Members of the Tages would form Blond in 1969 but disband by 1970.

“Have You Seen Your Brother Lately”

;) MP3 Album | download at amazon ]

News: Latest Reissues

| Site News

I wish we could write a review on every reissue that pops up, but due to the growing multitude of quality reissue labels out there, the task is too much for one blog to handle (so far). Still, we love re-releases here at The Rising Storm, and are committed to informing our readers about the latest and greatest.

The newest feature on our sidebar is a list of the 10 latest recommended reissues. We hope to keep this list of CDs, LPs, DVDs, and magazines updated weekly. If you would like to inform us of a great release we may have missed, please feel free to use the Suggest A Reissue form just below the list.

For an archive of our selected reissues go to: http://del.icio.us/reissues

Big thanks to readers, commenters, and contributors as always!

B ;) :) :D ;) :) :D ;) :) :D ;) :) :D ;) :) :D ;) :) :D ;) :) :D

Bodine “Bodine”

| Americana,Country Rock,Pop,RnB

Bodine

Maybe not one of the top ten albums we’ve reviewed, but Bodine is as solid as it gets, loaded with tunes as good as anything played on classic rock radio today. You would think that stations would be interested in expanding their content with picks from the vast piles of unknown classics (Bodine included), but it’s still the same old hits, recycled day after day, some 40 years later. In any case, this little lost gem, produced by Bill Cowsill, is a strong promise from a band that would disappear after just one release.

The sound is influenced by country rock, with rural acoustic guitar driving back seat to funk bass lines and stabbing double tracked guitars. But the song structures have Ray Davies-ian 3-part movements and a strong Beatles influence, especially on the bouncy Statues Of Clay. Apart from this review, I think the vocal harmonies are cool, the backups strangely adding “eee’s” to the excellent Easy To See and trading vocal leads easily standing next to groups like Blood Sweat and Tears. It’s nice to find a record with a lotta soul made by some kids with seriously blue eyes.

I find it amazing a band so unknown could have such powerfully memorable songs, though not everything has aged wonderfully. Take It Back satisfies but teeters near television theme schmaltz. But the boys do manage to approach Jim Ford’s country funk on clear winners like Keep Lookin’ Through Your Window. If you give it a chance, you’ll find there really are no throwaways on Bodine’s only album.

This has never seen a CD release, who knows what it could sound like after a proper remaster. The record is relatively easy to find and affordable (mine was $4). Long due for a new release and reappraisal.

“Short Time Woman”

:) Original Vinyl | 1969 | MGM | search ebay ]
Not to be confused with the Dutch heavy metal band

The Blues Project “Projections”

| Classic Rock,Folk,Pop,Psych,RnB

The Blues Project were one of the hottest live acts of the time and one of the first album oriented bands. Not all blues, with certain tunes rooted in folk and this album bearing a psychedelic edge (nearly the American “Aftermath”) but listen to them cook through some classic blues standards and soulful originals, and the name starts to settle in just fine.

This Greenwich Village group lit up audiences weekly at New York’s Au Go Go Cafe. Before they cut their first record, the smokin’ hot Live At The Cafe Au Go Go, they were joined by session player Al Kooper who was looking to gig and improve his chops on the Farfisa organ. By the time Projections was released, they had become a hard-edged party band that were well-equipped to extend their jams for a drugged out San Fransisco scene, and their eagerness to incorporate other musical forms and experiment beyond the blues put this band ahead of their time.

Al’s “Kooperphone” (actually called a Tubon) on Can’t Keep From Crying supplies an opening dose of out-of-control psych. A completely unexpected classical suite introduces Steve’s Song, a folksy groover with light touches of fuzz. And it’s hard to not become a classic ’66 record with a track like the hard slow blues, Two Trains Running, running 11 minutes 30 seconds. Another toss-for-a-loop is a Jazz-lounge number featuring Andy Kulberg on the uncleverly named Flute Thing. Cheryl’s Going Home is a riff-based standout, but when they perform bluesy shuffles like Wake Me Shake Me and Caress Me Baby you know they’ve hit their stride. The blues numbers give the album its vintage appeal.

Though they could smoke an audience, they were unable to score a hit song. However, one of the last tracks they cut before Al Kooper left the band may be one of the best unknown singles of the year: No Time Like The Right Time.

The Polydor/Chronicles anthology has the Projections album on disc two, with scores of live material and outtakes from the first album on disc one and detailed liners.

“I Can’t Keep From Crying, Sometimes”

:D CD Reissue | 2011 | Sundazed | buy from sundazed ]
:) LP Reissue | 2011 | Sundazed | buy from sundazed ]
:) Original Vinyl | 1966 | Verve | search ebay ]

Sync: Jozsef Nepp & Michel Polnareff

| Video

mp3: Michel Polnareff – Hey You Woman

Classic Gear: Combo Organs

| Classic Gear

Forget the Hammond B3 and her clunky brethren, the organ of choice for the discerning (and touring) 60s rock band was bound to be colorful, compact, and a scorcher in sound. The suitcase style combo organs, revered for their “cheezy” timbre, defined a classic sound for many well-known outfits and devoured the churchy sound from the organs of yore, paving the way to the synthesizer age. Welcome to the wonderful reedy world of combo organs.

Vox Continental

The Vox Continental (1962)
Lord and master of all things combo, this line of organ is probably revered as much for its sound as for its sleek look. The beautiful inverted, harpsichord-like keys, smooth pull drawbars, and striking red flat-top cover set the bar for portable organ design over the next 10 years. Initially meant to replace the B3 for touring musicians, the distinct transistor sound of the Continental caught on with groups like the The Animals and Sir Douglas Quintet and was used most famously on Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gada-Da-Vida. The Super Continental boasted two sets of keyboards (known as “manuals”) and even more customization of sound with a “percussion” feature, while stripped down versions like the Jaguar featured only preset buttons, without the drawbars, and a slightly thinner sound. Hard to go wrong with the Vox Con tho; let’s hear it tear. “Lay it on me, Augie“:

Sir Douglas Quintet – She’s About A Mover

Farfisa Compact

Farfisa Compact (1965)
They’ll tell you any combo organ recording from the 60s… if it’s not a Vox Continental it’s the Farfisa Compact. The Farfisa sound is somewhat distinct, sounding punchy and chewier than the Vox, and the “Farfisa” name does seem to embody the whole combo-organ sound in our collective consciousness. The Italian-made Farfisa was converted from the company’s transistor accordians, and became the 2nd most popular combo organ after the Vox; probably a more affordable choice for tons of 60s garage bands. The octave of black keys on the left could be switched to a bass sound that was separate from the white keys, and uniquely, you could push the lever on the bottom with your knee to open the filter of the sound during performance. The Compact line spawned many fine instruments including the Farfisa Compact Duo (two manuals), the brilliantly designed (but non-transistor) Farfisa FAST and Professional, and a series of interesting organ/synthesizer hybrids. Here’s a clip of Herbie Hancock riffing nasty on a busted Farfisa for Miles Davis’s Tribute to Jack Johnson:

Miles Davis – Clip from “Right Off”

Gibson G101

Gibson G-101 (1966)
Ray Manzarek used the Vox Continental for the first two Doors albums, but switched and stayed with the G-101, also known as the Kalamazoo. His use of the instrument, combined with a Rhodes Piano Bass set on top, has lended to its classic, sought-after status. Not only did the G-101 have black bass keys like the Compact, but an additional set of gray keys that could switch between an extended bass section or extended treble section. Other features included vibrato, tremolo, and sustain controls. What most distinguished it from other combos were its Piano and Harpsichord sounds, similiar to sounds heard on Back Door Man (The Doors) and Lucy in the Sky, respectively.

The Doors – Roadhouse Blues (Live in Pittsburgh, May 2, 1970)
(buy new release)

Almost all thanks for this post goes to the heavenly Combo Organ Heaven site, a gem of the internet and loving tribute to these underappreciated and no longer manufactured keyboards.

Honorable Mentions
Ace Tone Top Series
Elka Panther Series
Lowrey T1 (G101 cousin)
Fender Contempo
Yamaha YC Series

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Cold Sun “Dark Shadows”

| Psych

Dark Shadows

Never seeing an actual release until 1989, Cold Sun is a devastating slab of Texas psych and the sickest of lost gems. I can’t say I’ve ever been so moved by feedback and noise in my life. The long awaited reissue from World In Sound sheds some long due light on this beauty and is one of the best we’ve seen in 2008.

The record is sometimes referred to as just Cold Sun; years later the band was unofficially renamed Dark Shadows which was printed on the sleeve as a pseudo album title. Interestingly, both names are derived from the same mythology that inspired the band Mu. Many of the details to the Cold Sun story have been lost in the cracks but Patrick the Lama’s (Acid Archives) essay is a noble piece of research and comes highly recommended for those interested in the history of this band.

I never thought hard psych could sound gorgeous. The magic of the record, for me, is in Billy Miller’s (who wrote most of the material and spearheaded the band) electrified autoharp. This instrument sounds like no other, but I initially mistook it for a distorted Fender Rhodes. The instrument is rarely strummed in the traditional autoharp style but finger-picked like a real harp, the sound full of sustain and grit. Add Tom McGarrigle’s stabbing guitar leads, Mike Waugh’s deep, dark, progressive bass lines, and Hugh Patton’s energy behind the kit and you’re hearing everything the third Elevators album needed to be. It’s clamorous and peyote-drenched and hard but also tender and beautiful.

The World In Sound reissue has great sound, excellent liners (in which Jello Biafra calls Dark Shadows “the best psychedelic album I know of”) and two badass live cuts from 1972. I found the CD available at Heyday Mail Order, but for the LP version you’ll have to wait til the end of the month (and fight for it).

Cold Sun fans? Come and testify!

“Here In The Year”

:D CD Reissue | 2008 | World In Sound | buy from heyday ]
:) Vinyl Reissue | Coming Soon | go to world in sound ]

Double Zappa |FZ| 1967 & 1969

, | Double Zappa

This is where putting Zappa’s albums into pairs of two may fall under some scrutiny. Sure these records were released two years apart, with three albums in between them, but chronology does not a sister-album make. Absolutely Free and Uncle Meat are linked thru their equal yet disparate parts of experiment, satire, absurdist pop recreations, and early Mothers dada fun. And “Louie Louie” of course.

Absolutely Free (1967)
After releasing one of the first double-LPs in history, the unprecedented and fantastic Freak Out!, FZ further pushed the singularity of his music with Absolutely Free, an album near conceptual in its composition. Tracks like Plastic People, Duke of Prunes, the classic Call Any Vegetable followed by a powerhouse orchestrated jam make up a virtual Act I, laden with referential voiceovers and musical segues. The 2nd side contains more traditional Mothers pop rockers: Big Leg Emma, Why Don’tcha Do Me Right, Status Back Baby, all doo-wop inspired favorites. While the sound of the band is spectacular and gritty with drastic tape manipulations and editing, the vocals are often purposely dissonant and off-putting (save for Ray Collins’ soulful singing). Even for weirdos like me, this is one of the harder albums to listen completely, but still a classic.

“Why Don’tcha Do Me Right”

:D CD Reissue | 1995 | Zappa Records | buy from amazon ]
:) Original Vinyl | 1967 | Verve | search ebay ]

Uncle Meat (1969)
This double-album was the result of the unfinished film, Uncle Meat. There is a tape out there comprising most of the footage, much of it extreme dadaism (“He’s using the chicken to measure it…”) but often some glimpses into the Mothers’ life on the road. The album is indeed cinematic, the orchestrations are advanced and informed from We’re Only In It From The Money, with Zappa carving out many of the elements to his unique sound. Some unforgettable tracks on here include Sleeping In A Jar, Dog Breath In The Year Of The Plague (see video below), Louie Louie on the Albert Hall pipe organ, and the monstrous instrumental King Kong parts I-VI, taking up the final side of the record. I have heard more than a few Zappaholics claim this as their number one.

“Sleeping In A Jar”

:D CD Reissue | 1995 | Zappa Records | buy from amazon ]
:) Original Vinyl | 1969 | Bizarre | search ebay ]

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