Birtha - My Pants Are Too Short

 

#Birtha #hard rock #blues rock #classic rock #boogie rock #heavy blues rock #1970s 

Hiding in a box under the frills and petticoats of a Victorian costume shop I spied “Spirit of Rock – The Probe Family Sampler”, It’s wild psychedelic cover featuring a naked green woman, adorned with strings of beads, throwing her head back in ectsasy had such an impact visually that I had to take her home. The opening track instantly blew me away. That was Birtha’s first single Free Spirit, female fueled rock like I never heard before, even my ovaries where banging along. Birtha pioneered the all female rock lineup, successfully breaking the mould of an almost exclusively male dominated genre. They paved the way for the likes of The Runaways and the Slits. These four ladies were highly accomplished musicians who totally kicked ass. Hailing from Los Angeles, Rosemary Butler (Bass) and Shele Pinnizotto (guitar) met at school where they formed their first band The Rapunzels. Rosemary went on to join the Ladybirds who opened for The Rolling Stones in 1965, whilst Shele got a job in a recording studio. In 1967 they came together again along with Sherry Hagler (Keyboard) and later joined by the extraordinary Liver Favela. Birtha had been gigging for four years playing on the west coast before they were signed. During their early performances they tested the water with their own material whilst throwing Motown and Rock covers into the mixture.
In November 1971, all-female blues rock act Fanny took off with their hit single Charity Ball. ABC Dunhill saw their chance and quickly signed up Birtha, taking up rank amongst label mates Three Dog Night and Steppenwolf. Birtha never earned the same commercial success as Fanny, though were both marketed as heavy rock. After two albums and a final single (a cover of Steely Dan’s Dirty Work) Birtha’s success waned and they were dropped by Dunhill before 1973 was out. For me, Birtha totally overshadow Fanny’s comparatively average blues sound. Birtha have huge rock appeal in a way that fanny just don’t, so Fanny, you can just get to the back of the queue and stay there!
Fanny’s label Reprise Records decided to brand their girls with the slogan “Get Behind Fanny.” Perhaps it was felt that rock audiences of the time would be put off by an all girl group. Whatever the reason, Dunhill would not be outdone and had to go one better with “Birtha Has Balls”. The slogan was a winner; especially when slapped onto their infamous T shirts. When they played the 1972 Rockingham Festival, members of Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac and the James Gang all chose to wear them for their own sets and revelers could clearly see the logo disappear from view as Alice left the arena hanging out of a helicopter still sporting his Birtha shirt. Oddly enough, Playboy magazine had a problem with the tastefulness of the Advert and refused to print the slogan on their matchboxes when they played at the Chicago club. Supporting the Kinks, Birtha hit the UK and even bagged an appearance in the British coffee table mag ‘Titbits’, posing topless on the front cover proclaiming “We want male groupies”. They were serious contenders who really lived up to their allocated metaphor, they are 100% women but there is no doubt that Birtha unquestionably has balls. I wish there were lots of all-female bands I could say cut it the same, but Birtha have to be my favorite all female band ever. They skillfully combine numbers which are gritty and heavy along side soulful blues numbers and ballads. They are seductive, solid, funky, from the heart sisters whose sound is unmistakably their own. Only Rosemary Butler went on to have a continuing career which disappointingly went in the totally opposite direction singing with the likes of Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, and Dolly Parton.
BILLBOARD MAGAZINE - 9/9/72:
There is no getting around it. Birtha has it! They're an all chick group and we all know that you've sort of got to make allowances . . . well forget it, they project more power and drive than most male groups with similar instrumentation. The intensity and proficiency they exhibit is total rapture excelling both instrumentally & vocally. Rock on with "Free Spirit," "Judgment Day" and "Feeling Lonely."
This first eponymous album was produced by Steppenwolf’s producer Gabriel Mekler whose high credentials definitely work to their advantage. Birtha is a mammoth stomper and has to be the most powerful and versatile record ever made by an all-girl band. They got the same kind of groove as Grand Funk, heavy funk and blues laden guitars with crystal clear vocals, great harmonies and that all American sound. They are always bass driven; Rosemary has that deep humming sound that really pounds some seriously exiting energy into the songs. These girls are serious rockers; they kick the shit out of loads of male rock bands of the time and all time for that matter. Out of the four, three of them take lead vocal. For the main part though it’s Liver Favela, who has all the guts and rasp of Janis Joplin. With an abundance of untamed fervor, she is by far the coolest, and she’s without doubt the wildest singing female drummer you ever heard.  From: https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1439/

 

Los Lobos - Kiko And The Lavender Moon

 #Los Lobos #roots rock #tex-mex #country rock #Americana #cowpunk #blues rock #folk rock #Mexican #1990s #music video

On their sixth album, 1992’s Kiko, Los Lobos alternately distilled and deconstructed their music by embracing studio experimentation. After two decades together, the East Los Angeles band’s multicultural influences remained audible, crossing state lines and national borders to draw from regional Mexican and American styles: mariachi, ranchera, and Norteño music, Chicano rock ’n’ roll and R&B, Tex-Mex and zydeco, electric blues and country percolated through their playing. New to the equation were raw sonic textures, layered overdubs and outboard studio effects that reflected their sound in funhouse mirrors. Mood and musical color brought wonder as well as menace to fables, dreams and visions evoking the magical realism of 20th century Latin-American literature with a hallucinatory glow.
Up to that point, their records had hewed to the scale of their live performances, documenting an ensemble honed since high school garage band adventures. For David Hidalgo and Louie Peréz, later to emerge as the band’s primary songwriters, the gateway into traditional Mexican folk styles came not from the neighborhood but from American and British folk-rock records by Ry Cooder, the Band, and Fairport Convention. Just as the Band had inspired Fairport to explore traditional British music, Hidalgo and Peréz immersed themselves in traditional regional styles and Mexican stringed instruments.
Together with guitarist Cesar Rosas, bassist Conrad Lozano, and mandolinist Frank Gonzaléz, multi-instrumentalist Hidalgo and percussionist Peréz launched Los Lobos del Este de Los Angeles in 1973, winning eastside audiences with their authentic mix of Mexican styles. Following Gonzaléz’s departure, the surviving quartet built a home turf audience before turning their sights to Los Angeles’ burgeoning punk and roots rock scene, culminating in their triumphant debut at the Whisky a Go Go in January 1982, opening for the Blasters, who quickly became crucial allies, sharing stages and lobbying their label, Slash Records, to sign Los Lobos.
Blasters saxophonist Steve Berlin then teamed with T Bone Burnett to co-produce the quartet’s label debut EP and the full-length that followed in 1984 before leaving the Blasters to join Los Lobos full-time. By 1987, the band seemed at a commercial tipping point, thanks to their faithful covers of Chicano rock ’n’ roll pioneer Ritchie Valens’ hits for the soundtrack to La Bamba, the Valens biopic that scored at the box office as well as on album charts where the soundtrack album reached #1.
By 1991, however, Los Lobos was grappling with frustration over disappointing album sales and an ambitious tour’s cost overruns. Refocusing their creative process, Hidalgo and Peréz rented an office for songwriting sessions, with the band demoing new songs at a small studio near downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row. When Lenny Waronker, president of Slash’s distributor, Warner Bros. Records, heard the new songs, he recommended they reunite with Mitchell Froom, who had produced their hit single of “La Bamba” as well as a standout
In Froom and engineer Tchad Blake the band found hands-on partners whose recent clients included Crowded House, Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello and Richard Thompson. The duo was at a turning point in using the studio to actively shape the music rather than merely document it. Waronker’s instinct that they would push the envelope was on target.
That the band and Froom were unlocking a new sonic palette was apparent from the opening track, “Dream in Blue.” Rattling percussion, terse bass pulses, handclaps and jangling guitar bob and weave beneath Hidalgo’s giddy vocal as he recounts a dream where “I flew around with shiny things, when I spoke I seemed to sing, high above, floating far away…” Steve Berlin overdubs octave choruses and single lines on multiple reeds while electric guitars respond to Hidalgo’s playful command to “sock it to me one time” with blasts of distortion. The track’s raw edges and hurtling momentum are part of a conscious design that Froom and Los Lobos, sharing production credit, devised to preserve the gritty, abstracted feel of their demos, five of which would be kept for the finished album. Leaning into studio manipulation, they elevated noise and distortion from sonic taboos to creative tools.
Thematically, dreams and visions generate moments of mood-altering surrealism. “Wake Up Dolores” is a brooding lament for travelers on a stony, endless trail, haunted by ancient Aztec images of “quetzal plums, of dying suns, and purple moons,” set to a nervous, syncopated arrangement in which guitars and voices answer the lead vocal like chanting supplicants as Hidalgo lapses into the pre-colonial Nahuatl tongue. (The album’s focus on percussion is bootstrapped by a strong cohort of guest percussionists to buttress an already full court press by all five members of the band.)
“Angels With Dirty Faces” slows to a methodical pace, suspending Hidalgo’s voice in a percussive clockwork haze as he bears witness to homelessness: As biographer Chris Morris would later report, the song was inspired by the band’s experiences during its demo sessions near Skid Row, translating to images of the “broken window smile, weeds for hair” of one lost soul and a brief elegy for a brother lost “to the howling wind.”
The atmospheric sound treatments and off-centered meter of these tracks give Kiko a mesmerizing impact without entirely eclipsing Los Lobos’ earlier instincts. Cesar Rosas animates an easy blues shuffle in “That Train Don’t Stop Here,” handily working a time-honored erotic metaphor in a lament for a lover who’s abandoned him for another, delivered with sly humor and a simmering arrangement warmed by soulful organ accents, darting rhythm guitar and Rosas’ taut, blues-drenched electric guitar. Rosas’ spry vocal and two lively instrumental breaks reinforce the suspicion that however heartbroken he is, he’s having a good time.
Mitchell Froom’s role in enabling Los Lobos to shift sonic shape isn’t confined to the control room and the toy box of technical effects at hand. He augments Steve Berlin and David Hidalgo’s keyboards and accordion with his own array of vintage keyboards, including Chamberlin and Optigon, both distant, pre-digital cousins of the Mellotron. Credit him with the distinctive “horn chorus” that serves the album’s most enchanted piece, “Kiko and the Lavender Moon,” a dream that creeps into view against a three-chord vamp that suggests an Ellingtonian riff on “Three Blind Mice,” easily mistaken for a cluster of Berlin sax overdubs—a Froom emulation on Chamberlin conjuring the retro glow of an old radio. In its title character, a dreaming child, the song achieves a bewitched, playful gleam cast by its fanciful imagery and a spare, circular conversation between “horns,” Hidalgo’s button accordion and a doubled guitar and piano phrase.
Los Lobos taps into traditional folk textures and a spirit realm tagged in Catholic imagery on “Saint Behind the Glass,” a rare solo vocal by Louie Peréz set against a lacy backdrop of guitarron, acoustic guitars and Veracruz harp that brings a religious relic to life, if only in the singer’s mind. Elsewhere among the set’s generous 16 songs, they echo early heroes: “Arizona Skies” is a lush acoustic border serenade on stringed instruments underpinned by rippling, treated percussion and slide guitar figures worthy of Ry Cooder, while “When the Circus Comes” is a rustic ballad that evokes the Band.
Kiko, released on May 26, 1992, was rightly acclaimed as the band’s studio pinnacle for its thematic breadth and sonic innovation, but commercially it fared no better than its predecessors. However discouraged they might have been, the five veterans in Los Lobos would persevere to survive intact as one of the longest-running American rock band sextant as of May 2022, touring constantly and releasing 18 more albums and compilations to date.  From: https://bestclassicbands.com/los-lobos-kiko-review-11-1-21/

Kitchen Witch - Slip Stream

 #Kitchen Witch #stoner rock #heavy blues rock #hard rock #desert rock #Australian

Australian red-dust desert rock outfit, Kitchen Witch liken themselves to the alcoholic baby if John Lee Hooker, Kyuss and Janis Joplin had hooked-up and had a kid. The quartet of Georgie Cosson (vox), Ed Noble (drums), Simon Elliott (bass), and Conor Kinsella (guitar) have been selected, alongside 21 other SA bands, to perform as part of the inaugural One12 Festival in Adelaide, a five concert series supporting local and emerging talent. Georgie was lovely enough to answer a few of our questions.

Firstly, let's start with the cracking band name; how'd you settle on Kitchen Witch?

Kitchen Witch is kind of self-titled, but a band.

Those new to the music stylings of the band, what's your elevator pitch of what people can expect to hear?

Guitar heavy, bubbling grooves, banshee wails, hip-swinging basslines to a heavy, heart-palpitating beat.

We're already in winter; the year has flown by, but what have been a couple of feel-good moments for the band so far?

Playing in the Cranker band room again! We had some great jams where we challenged ourselves to write a song in a night, with one idiot in the band being the boss and getting the rest of us to bring their idea to life. It's been great to be writing new tunes. New tunes feels is like a brand new day. A good one.

What does it mean to be selected to perform as part of the inaugural One12 Festival?

Wow, well we are stoked as a band and are really looking forward to playing with such an amazing line-up of bands.

Part of the gig includes the band's performance being filmed, recorded and streamed – that must be a super-dope opportunity to access?

Yes. It is super-dope. My Dad can watch. He is 1,500kms from Adelaide and hopefully people all over the world.

You're playing alongside Dirty Pagans, Sons Of Zoku and Rocky's Pride & Joy; can we expect you in the mosh for these bands?

I cannot stress how much awe I feel for these three bands. They are all different and top quality musicians. What a line-up!

Adelaide's local, indie music scene; who else has caught your attention lately; who's playing on Kitchen Witch’s local playlist?

We would have some Smoke No Fire, Hiatus Coyote, Planet Of The 8s, All Them Witches, C.W. Stoneking, Emergency Rule, Athletic Teenage Joggers, King Gizz of course, Indian classical, Bessie Smith.

The band released an album ('Earth And Ether') last year; when can fans expect more new tunes from Kitchen Witch?

Kitchen Witch are conjuring tunes from the ether as we speak. Keep your hats on; hopefully we get into the studio in a few months time.

What sort of skills does each band member have in the kitchen? And who takes responsibility for the BBQ tongs when you're all together for a backyard party?

You know what? We mostly just jam together and stay in shitty hotels eating baked goods. I do love to make festival-related treats on the sabbaths for the group. If you call a band a 'group' it makes it sound like you are in the '70s.

What else is on the cards for the band in 2021 (interstate tours)?

Yep, Kitchen Witch a taking this show on the road at the end of the year. Stay tuned to the socials and stuff for more info.

Best local takeaway joint for a 2am feed that will leave you with a food coma?

My house.

Which fictional character best describes your personality?

Tiabeanie from 'Disenchantment'. A princess who likes beer.

Last show you binge-watched?

I watch too much TV. Okay, 'Letter Kenny'.

Crows or Power (and no sitting on the fence!)?

What?

From: https://scenestr.com.au/music/kitchen-witch-purveyors-of-bubbling-grooves-banshee-wails-20210604

The Rolling Stones - Child of the Moon

 #The Rolling Stones #blues rock #hard rock #classic rock #British blues rock #rock & roll #folk blues #garage rock #R&B #1968 music video

The promotional film for the Rolling Stones’ 1968 track “Child Of The Moon” has been newly restored in 4K resolution. The clip, again directed by the group’s frequent collaborator of the time, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, is the latest in ABKCO’s series of restored clips from the band’s 1960s era. “Child Of The Moon” is perhaps one of the lesser-known songs in the Stones’ canon, largely since it was the non-album B-side of their May 1968 smash “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” It was recorded at Olympic Studios with producer Jimmy Miller that March, as sessions began for what became the classic Beggars Banquet LP. Miller’s voice is heard at the beginning of the track, which was sufficiently rated by the band to earn its own promotional video, recently described by Mojo as “an early semi-narrative work” by British director Lindsay-Hogg. The visually striking clip was filmed, in monochrome, in the Surrey countryside. “‘Child Of The Moon’ plays like a British sci-fi/horror short,” wrote the magazine, “seemingly referencing Italian giallo, Village Of The Damned and J. Lee Thompson’s 1966 pagan horror (and Wicker Man forerunner) Eye Of The Devil. The film possesses the dusk-light glow of a peaking acid trip, magic-hour euphoria tinged with a chilly unease, yet also tunes into the darker subtext of the Stones’ occult dalliances.” The song featured keyboards by Stones alumnus Nicky Hopkins, with the saxophone played by Brian Jones. It went on to be included in the More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies) compilation in 1972. Allmusic’s review notes that it “was indicative of their slide toward a slightly more laid-back, funkier rock sound than they’d pursued on their more pop- and psychedelic-influenced 1966-1967 releases.” The Elsewhere website describes the song as a “droning little gem” and “certainly the last gasp of the Stones in psychedelic mode.”  From: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/watch-restored-promo-film-rolling-stones-child-of-the-moon/

At end of the European tour in 1967, the Rolling Stones found themself in huge troubles. The tension inside the band was really high. The failure of their new psychedelic Lp “Their Satanic Majesties Request” few months later put them into a limbo, that paradoxally spurred the Stones to record one of the best rock’n’roll singles of all the times. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” was a karma: an anthem never heard before. It came out May 24th, 1968, in England and the 1st of June in Usa, with a strange B side called “Child of the Moon”. As with “Jumpin Jack Flash”, “Child of the Moon” was recorded during the session for the seventh studio album of the band “Beggar’s Banquet”, on March 28, 1968, at the Olympic Studios in London. Unlike the “A side” of the single, “Child” has a gothic sound, introduced by a country blues riff and by a chilling scream sang by the the producer Jimmy Miller just like apocalypse was nearly done. A strange mix for a single that is still recognised as one of their best records ever. “Child of the Moon” was a love letter from Mick Jagger to Marianne Faithfull, fixed with a lot of references to pagan rituals: a gloomy vision in the dark side of love. The band thought enough of the song to accompany it with a promotional video. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, this video was inspired by “Village of the Damned”. A sort of horror movie to give emphasis to the obscure mood of the Stones, according to their colder and satanic soul, in which a band of five men blocking the path to three figures: a child, an elder and a young woman. Maybe it’s the representation of most rebel side of The Stones or maybe it was the representation of the future in the middle of the Sixties for the youngest generations. A decade in which very soon things would have changed and everything would not have been the same again.  From: https://medium.com/@massimilianoleva/child-of-the-moon-the-psychedelic-vision-of-the-rolling-stones-65d932f61604

Humble Pie - I'm Ready

 #Humble Pie #Steve Marriott #Peter Frampton #hard rock #blues rock #classic rock #British blues rock #ex-Small Faces #1960s #1970s

Humble Pie were an English rock band formed by Steve Marriott in Essex during 1969. They are known as one of the late 1960s' first supergroups and found success on both sides of the Atlantic with such songs as "Black Coffee", "30 Days in the Hole", "I Don't Need No Doctor" and "Natural Born Bugie". The original band line-up featured lead vocalist and guitarist Steve Marriott from Small Faces, vocalist and guitarist Peter Frampton from The Herd, former Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley and a 17-year-old drummer, Jerry Shirley, from The Apostolic Intervention.

1969–1970: Humble Pie Formation and Chart Success
In January 1969 Steve Marriott, having just left Small Faces, got together with Greg Ridley, Peter Frampton and Jerry Shirley. Marriott had brought together Shirley and Ridley as a possible band for Frampton, then ended up joining the band himself. They chose the name Humble Pie and were signed to Andrew Loog Oldham's record label Immediate Records. Their debut album, As Safe as Yesterday Is, was released in August, 1969, along with the single, "Natural Born Bugie", which reached No. 4 hit in the UK Singles Chart; the album peaked at No. 16 in the UK album charts. As Safe as Yesterday Is was one of the first albums to be described by the term "heavy metal" in a 1970 review in Rolling Stone magazine. Their second album, Town and Country released in the UK during 1969 while the band was away on it’s first tour of the US. This album featured a more acoustic sound and songs written by all four members. Humble Pie concerts at this time featured an acoustic set, with a radical re-working of Graham Gouldman's "For Your Love" as its centrepiece followed by an electric set. Recent tape archives show that the band recorded around 30 songs in its first nine months of existence, many of which remained unreleased for decades, including an interpretation of Henry Glover's "Drown in My Own Tears".

1970–1971: Humble Pie Early Success
During 1970, Humble Pie switched to A&M Records and Dee Anthony became their manager. Anthony was focused on the US market and discarded the acoustic set, instigating a more raucous sound with Marriott as the front man. The group's first album for A&M, Humble Pie, was released later that year and alternated between progressive rock and hard rock. A single, "Big Black Dog", was released to coincide with the album and failed to chart, however the band was becoming known for popular live rock shows in the US.
It was during this period that Peter Frampton acquired his famed "Phenix" guitar, the black 1954 Les Paul Custom which became his signature instrument and his favourite guitar for the next decade. Humble Pie was playing a run of shows at the Fillmore West in San Francisco in early December 1970, and during the first show Frampton was plagued by sound problems with his then-current guitar, a semi-acoustic Gibson 335, which was prone to unwanted feedback at higher volumes. After the show he was approached by fan and musician Mark Mariana, who loaned him a modified 1954 Gibson Les Paul, and by the end of the second show Frampton had become so enamoured of the guitar that he offered to buy it on the spot, but Mariana refused payment. Frampton played it almost exclusively for the next ten years. It was featured on the cover of Frampton Comes Alive and was thought to have been destroyed in 1980 when a plane carrying Frampton's stage equipment crashed in Venezuela during a South American tour, killing the crew, but with the guitar in fact surviving the accident with some minor damage. It was eventually returned to Frampton in 2011.
On 9 July 1971, Humble Pie opened for Grand Funk Railroad at their historical Shea Stadium concert, an event that broke the Beatles record for fastest selling stadium concert, to that date. Also in 1971 Humble Pie released their most successful record to date, Rock On, as well as a live album recorded at the Fillmore East in New York entitled Performance Rockin' the Fillmore. The live album reached No. 21 on the US Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the RIAA. "I Don't Need No Doctor" was a FM radio hit in the US peaking at No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100, propelling the album up the charts. But Frampton left the band by the time the album was released and went on to enjoy success as a solo artist.

1972–1975: Clem Clempson, The Blackberries and Further Success
Frampton was replaced by Clem Clempson and Humble Pie moved towards a harder sound emphasising Marriott's blues and soul roots. Their first record with Clempson, Smokin', was released in 1972, along with two singles "Hot 'n' Nasty" and "30 Days in the Hole" (the latter of which became one of their best-known efforts). It was the band's most commercially successful record, and reached No. 6 on the US charts, helped by a busy touring schedule. After the success of Smokin' the band's record label A&M released Humble Pie's first two Immediate albums in one double album, as Lost and Found.
Looking for a more authentic R&B sound, Marriott hired three female backing vocalists, The Blackberries. The trio consisted of Venetta Fields, Clydie King and Sherlie Matthews who was later replaced by Billie Barnum. They had performed with Ike and Tina Turner as The Ikettes and with Ray Charles as The Raelettes. This new line-up included Sidney George on saxophone for the recording of Eat It, a double album released in 1973 made up of Marriott originals (some acoustic), R&B numbers, and a Humble Pie concert recorded in Glasgow. The album peaked at No. 13 in the US charts. Thunderbox was released in 1974, and Street Rats a year later. In 1975, Humble Pie conducted their Goodbye Pie Tour before disbanding.

From: https://www.ronnielane.com/steve-marriott-and-humble-pie.html

Spooky Tooth - Musikladen 1973

 Part 1

Part 2

#Spooky Tooth #Gary Wright #Mike Harrison #Mick Jones #hard rock #blues rock #psychedelic rock #progressive rock #classic rock #British R&B #1960s #1970s #live music video

Spooky Tooth were an incredibly proficient gaggle of musicians whose individual talents were often greater than the sum of the band — when they were good, they were brilliant, but when they were okay, well they were just okay. The original line-up included two powerful keyboard-playing lead singers Gary Wright and Mike Harrison, a brilliant guitarist in Luther Grosvenor (who became equally famous as Ariel Bender with Mott the Hoople), bassist Greg Ridley (who was a founding member of Humble Pie with The Small Faces’ Steve Marriott) and drummer Mike Kellie (a future member of The Only Ones). Later, the line-up included Mick Jones who (of course) went onto world domination with Foreigner — yeah, I know, but somebody had to do it. 
Originally tinged with psychedelia and early prog rock, Spooky Tooth’s musical focus was shaped by the songwriting talent of Gary Wright over the first two albums — It’s All About (1968) and Spooky Two (1969). But this nascent potential was literally destroyed by the strange collaboration with electronic wizard Pierre Henry for their third album Ceremony (1969), which Wright claims ended the band’s career: “Then we did a project that wasn’t our album. It was with this French electronic music composer named Pierre Henry. We just told the label, “You know this is his album, not our album. We’ll play on it just like musicians.” And then when the album was finished, they said, ‘Oh no no — it’s great. We’re gonna release this as your next album.’ We said, ‘You can’t do that. It doesn’t have anything to do with the direction of Spooky Two and it will ruin our career.’ And that’s exactly what happened.” Devastated, Wright temporarily quit, and Spooky Tooth’s next album The Last Puff (1970) - billed as Spooky Tooth featuring Mike Harrison - was a rather mixed bag of covers, though it did contain the greatest ever Beatles cover “I Am The Walrus.” 
Then Grosvenor and Kellie quit, Jones joined and Wright returned to the fold penning nearly all of the songs for their bizarrely titled fifth album You Broke My Heart So…I Busted Your Jaw (1973).  Next came Witness, which was Harrison’s last album with the band, before the arrival of the more poppy The Mirror (1974), which was generally well received.  The band split — Jones went onto greater success, while Wright released his million-selling solo album Dream Weaver. Spooky Tooth deserve attention not just because of the quality of their disparate players, but also because of the quality of their early and late music — which can partly be seen in these “lost broadcasts” where Spooky Tooth perform “The Weight” on Beat Club in 1968, followed by “Old As I Was Born,” two versions of “Cotton Growing Man,” “Waiting For The Wind” and two versions of “Moriah” for Musikladen in 1973.  From: https://dangerousminds.net/comments/spooky_tooth_the_lost_broadcasts

Moby Grape - Hoochie

 

#Moby Grape #psychedelic rock #acid rock #folk rock #country rock #blues rock #West coast sound #1960s

In the wake of Skip Spence's mental and physical breakdown, 1969's "'69" was recorded as a quartet featuring singer/rhythm guitarist Peter Lewis, singer/lead guitarist Jerry Miller, drummer Don Stevenson and bassist Bob Mosley. Produced by David Rubinson, the album doesn't get much credit from critics or Grape fans, but to my ears it's quite good. It's even more impressive when you consider the turmoil surviving members found themselves surrounded by. Part of the criticism is understandable in that the set isn't particular cohesive, leaving you with the impression it was cobbled together from earlier sessions and catalog odds and ends. Others aren't going to agree, but I've always found the album's diversity is actually one of the characteristics that makes it so enjoyable. With all four members contributing material, the set bounces between different genres, including country & western, folk-rock, pop and conventional rock. It's done with a sense of professionalism and a laid back charm. There are plenty of highlights with Mosley acquitting himself with particular distinction - check out what may be his prettiest song 'It's a Beautiful Day Today' and the boogie rocker 'Hootchie'. Other standout tunes include 'Ain't That a Shame', the rocking ''Going Nowhere' and the typically bizarre (and disturbing) Spence leftover - 'Seeing'. In fact, the latter selection may be enough for some psych fans to buy this set. If I had to find something to criticize then it would probably have to do with Lewis' growing interest in country, but I have to admit I liked 'Ain't That a Shame' and 'I Am ot Willing'. On tracks like 'If You Can't Learn from My Mistakes' the band reminded me of something out of Mike Nesmith's solo career.  Was it the best Moby Grape studio album? Nah, it doesn't come close to the debut, but I'm proud to own a copy, having done my part to boost its sales to #113 n the Billboard album charts. And as you'd expected by a band seemingly cursed with bad luck, things turned even uglier for the band when Mosley unexpectedly quit the band in order to enlist in the Marines Corps. He last nine months before be given a dishonorable discharge for hitting an officer (not a career enhancing decision).  From: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/moby-grape/moby-grape-69/

UrIah Heep - I Wanna Be Free

 #Uriah Heep #hard rock #heavy metal #progressive rock #British prog metal #heavy prog #heavy blues rock #1970s

Uriah Heep. A misunderstood band in this country, a band who have found such success in the States and in Europe that they haven`t really had the time to correct their British image. They arrived in the 1969 to 1970 period which was remarkable for the rise of the “heavies” such as Purple and Sabbath and to many people`s minds they play loud, heavy music and that`s that. But the band today is far, far more musical than the band which recorded “Very `Eavy, Very `Umble”, back in 1969. Perhaps the man who governs the direction most is guitarist and singer Mick Box and the opportunity of a Talk In with him gave me the opportunity to discover exactly the genealogy behind both the band and the super-fast guitar style of the man.

Can you remember what was the very first music you ever heard?

Oh dear, hang on. Yes, the first thing that actually stuck in my brain was the Buddy Holly era. I don`t even remember a particular tune, just that whole thing. I was knocked out with the sound. I liked the way he sung and it was different to anything else. That was a stage I was going through when I used to stand in the front room miming with a tennis racket.

So you knew that it was a guitar that you wanted to learn to play?

Yes, most definitely, there was nothing else.

How long after that did you actually get your first guitar?

It must have been about a year after that I got this little ukelele `cos I thought it was a cheap guitar. I was a bit dumb. I knocked out a few little tunes on that which was fun and then I wanted to get the proper thing so I got a £12 10s guitar called a Telston, or something like that, and that was from the pawnbrokers.

So when you switched from Uke to proper guitar you had to learn some new chords?

Ukelele chords are like shortened guitar chords, you know chords with just two fingers and I got a few little books that showed me the chords and I picked up a few things from there. I thought well I`ve got to go further than this so I tried to learn songs from records. That didn`t work at all. I couldn`t get it to sound like the music at all so I started going to a guitar teacher. I went to him for about a couple of months and he was a bit of a con merchant. He used to give me things to play and I had to go away and learn to play the thing in a week. But within half an hour I could play it to him, it did help in as much as he showed me the basic formation of chords with tonic thirds and fifths and I suppose he was really helpful in just being someone to report to. After I got fed up with him I didn`t know who to turn to so I just used to plonk away at home and with my knowledge of chord formation I was able to build my own chords.

So you still couldn`t get anything from records?

No, but the first thing I eventually got from records actually shaped my whole technique. I tried to copy a record by Les Paul and Mary Ford. I didn`t know anything about recording at all, nothing. His whole sound is a speeded up guitar sound and he`d play, in rough terms, something at 16 r.p.m. and speed it up to 45 and then put it out as a record. I used to try and copy him at that speed and in actual fact I kept on plugging away at that record. I think it was “Nola,” and eventually, I got it at the right speed and so I got on into a fast technique thing. After that I started getting into jazz players like Tal Farlow and Barney Kessel. Well soon after this period I formed my own band. That was just a local band that I formed with guys I`d heard of from the same area. We played the local youth clubs for six bottles of coke and that sort of fee. I remember our first paid gig. I think we got ten bob. That was very much the front room rehearsal scene and it was really a good era.

The band was playing what sort of music?

I think it was just before the Stones happened and we were into Buddy Holly music and Elvis` stuff. Our lead singer could only sing rock so we bashed that out all night. I think I must have been about 13 at this time so we were pretty young. All the music like “Jailhouse Rock” and “Blue Suede Shoes” is based on the 12-bar format and that also gave us a chance to do a few lead breaks because you don`t have to think too heavily.

What did you call the band you had at that time?

We were called the Stalkers, and that was for both reasons because we wanted the women as well, you see.

How long did the Stalkers last?

It lasted a good few years because we started to get £15 gigs, and all that and we thought “amazing” and we were really pleased. We started playing the Marquee and that was really the big time for us and just before we made the Marquee we realised we needed a new vocalist because the other guy just wasn`t up to it and our drummer`s cousin was David Byron who`s our singer now and he suggested that this guy David might be suitable and that was the start of a partnership that has taken us right through `till now. The auditions we had at that time were so silly, we just said: “What do you know” and if he knew “Blue Suede Shoes”, we said: “OK sing it.” So we settled on David.

Where did the band go to from the Marquee?

From there we thought we wanted a change and David and myself wanted a change, we wanted to go professional. I was working as a clerk in an export office. I was determined to be professional.

It must have been a big decision.

David was a bit unsure because packing up and going pro meant that we were going to lose two members because they wanted to go through with their apprenticeships. We struggled a long while when we first went pro and we spent a year just writing songs together. It proved a lot harder than we thought to get the right musicians and we finally got Paul Newton who was in this band and we got in a drummer and we called ourselves Spice.

So this was in fact the beginning of the band that`s now Uriah Heep?

Yeah, we started doing all the clubs after a period of a year with no work.

How did you live through that year?

For the first six months I did things like potato picking, get up at six in the morning and worked all through the day and get about £2 a week for it. I washed down shop windows and signs, cut someone`s lawn, anything to get money going and get through a week. It was just a struggle for ourselves and in the end we ended up going on the dole for six months. They kept sending us for jobs and they`d tell us to go on the ninth for an interview and we`d turn up on the 19th and swear that we`d seen a one in front of the nine on the piece of paper with the instructions on it and of course they would immediately consider us unsuitable. I also used to go down the dole in bizarre clothes like pyjamas and jumpers with huge holes in the sleeves and I`d do anything not to get a job. I did that for six months and in the end I couldn`t keep a straight face. We eventually got a drummer called Alex Napier in on drums and we started doing some clubs and being picked up by a few agents. A guy who helped us out a lot was Neil Warnock. He worked for an agency called Southbank and he managed us for a while.

What sort of material was Spice doing?

Well to get work in those days you couldn`t do what you wanted to. You had to remember that people wanted to hear certain things and you just had to play them. We tried to get away from playing all the run of the mill stuff and we used to dig out old Joe Tex things and numbers like that which went down very well. We never did the top twenty stuff, we used to spend hours in record shops digging out obscure numbers to play. I remember finding Donnie Elbert`s “Little Bit Of Leather” and songs like that.

Did you put any soul in the act at that time?

Well soul was the thing at that time and we used to do some as a kind of a mickey take thing with dance routines. Then we started to get into an improvisation kick and we started to play our own numbers on stage.

I remember that it was difficult for a band to play their own numbers on stage at that time?

Yeah it was murder. We got to a point where we were digging up all these old numbers and we thought we could write numbers just as good. At that time we couldn`t actually, but at least we were attempting it. So we started sticking in a few originals and they seemed to be getting the same reaction so we gained a little confidence.

About what year would this have been?

I think it was about 1967. It was during that year that we started doing our own numbers on stage and we did more and more of them until the whole set was just our own numbers.

What sort of clubs were you doing then?

We were doing the Marquee, college dates, the Red Lions, the Wake Arms, Epping, this sort of thing.

This was about the time of the start of the underground movement?

Yes very much so, I think we were one of the first bands to get a little bit indulgent in as much as I used to go and do a guitar solo for 15 minutes on stage with the rest of the band going off and at that stage nobody around was doing that. I think we were carving our own little niche then but we kept to the format that we used with this band that you can afford to be really heavy and exciting but still retain lot of harmony and melody with it and that`s what we were trying to do then. We`re still doing that. On stage five of us sing and normally with all that power going on you get just one guy out front who`s singing.

How long did Spice last under that name?

It ended at the end of 1969. Gerry Bron came to see us working at the Blues Loft, High Wycombe, and we`d heard that Gerry was a good straight manager so we`d invited him to come down. He thought we had it all there potentially, musically and so on but he knew there was something missing. So did we but we didn`t know what, we didn`t know where to turn. So he took us under his wing, he didn`t sign us or anything and he gave us a few pilot gigs to see if we were good enough, whether we`d turn up on time, if we were reliable or if we were temperamental. So he tried us out for a long while and then he slung us in the studio with a couple of our own numbers, just to try and find out our direction. We`d never been in the studio before except for a few demo sessions and we went in and what we came out with wasn`t very impressive at all – in fact, we still listen to the tape we made on that session now, just for a laugh. Gerry was knocked out with the enthusiasm and the will to get on and he stuck with us. Then we started to record our first album.

Was this the album that eventually came out as “Very `Eavy.”?

Yeah and it was during that we discovered what the missing link was we needed a keyboard player, and another voice. Our bass player used to play with a band called the Gods and another ex-God was Ken Hensley who was playing at that time with a band called Toe Fat. We approached Kenny and he agreed to come down to Hanwell Community centre and have a blow. We just played for a while and we realised it was going to work. In addition to playing keyboards he could also play guitar, write songs and sing and this was just what we needed. So we started recording that band.

The album came out a long while after you recorded it didn`t it?

Yeah, that was the drag, because when that album came out it was obsolete for the band because we`d moved so fast we were already into other material.

It did a lot of good for you that album, though, didn`t it?

It did more good for us on the Continent actually, it was OK here, but they really picked up on it.

When was the period that the band actually started to break?

We got the Uriah Heep name from Gerry. The band came to him in the centenary year of Dicken`s death or something and we picked up on a bit of publicity. We`d been thinking of all different names for the band like your Corrugated Dandruff and Clockwork Doughnut and it was nice to find a name that had a bit of a story behind it. We got all that dealt with and we were doing some pilot gigs in England getting new gear worked in and then we were slung over to be on a festival in Hamburg in Germany and we were first on the bill. We steamed in there and they gave us an ovation and they wanted an encore which wasn`t bad for a band there for the first time. There were a lot of influential promoters backstage who all saw it and they started booking us on German tours and things, which was beautiful and the Germans really started plugging for us. In six months we were over there six times on various tours. The album started going in the charts; it snowballed for us there.

How did the band come to go to the States?

Well we were very successful in Germany and it was slowly happening here, it was very slow but it was still going. We were having a lot of bad press which may have been right or may have been wrong. I don`t know, but it never concerned us that much because we were still going along to gigs and each time we went we got bigger crowds and we always got encores. We just hoped that the press thing would swing round which luckily it has done. We thought, States, OK. Let`s go there. We went over there as a support band playing 30 or 45 minutes just to get experience and it`s the first time we`d ever played before 20,000 people. It was like the Blues Loft, High Wycombe to the Los Angeles Forum, it was ridiculous.

What was the States audience reaction like?

It was interesting, it wasn`t brilliant but it was interesting. Three Dog Night wasn`t exactly our crowd. At the end of the tour we found there was enough reaction to go back and do another tour and then we toured with Deep Purple and Buddy Miles which really broke us out there.

Do you enjoy playing the States more than anywhere else?

I enjoy playing there but there`s no where like home, is there? Up the M1, play the gigs and then you can go home to your own bed.

From: https://geirmykl.wordpress.com/2018/06/02/article-about-mick-box-uriah-heep-from-sounds-november-25-1972/

White Denim - Pretty Green

 #White Denim #garage rock #indie rock #psychedelic rock #progressive punk #blues rock #experimental #music video 

The Austin, Texas, rock band White Denim flavors its basic rock 'n' roll with a potpourri of other styles, but that's kind of logical, since their origins came out of a virtual collision of bands. White Denim, whose sound has included tinges of punk-funk, psychedelic, country, heavy metal, and Latin jazz, became a band in a sort of ad hoc, almost accidental, manner back in 2005. The band Parque Torch, with singer/guitarist James Petralli and drummer Josh Block, was playing on a bill with another band, Peach Train, which included bassist Steve Terebecki. By the end of that night, Terebecki had joined Block and Petralli and the threesome evolved into another band. White Denim was releasing its own EPs by 2007, and combined a couple of those EPs for "Workout Holiday," their debut album, which, oddly enough, was only released in the United Kingdom. It was late 2008 before the band re-worked some of those tunes and added some more for "Exposion," which became their U.S. album debut. Their latest record is the group's seventh, and their music has always been noted for the different directions it takes, often record-by-record, or even cut-by-cut.
"Well, Parque Torch was James' original trio, which was cool and had no bass," explained Terebecki, from his Austin home, when we caught up with him last week, before the current tour started. "That band was a real in-you-face, riffy punk rock band, sort of like early Replacements. But of course Josh was a drummer with a real jazz background, so they played some really interesting music. Peach Train was the band I was in, sort of the band Makeup, a power trio with a lot of wah-wah used on the guitar, but basically noisy rock 'n' roll." "I was really excited to get a chance to play with Josh," Terebecki added. "I come from Virginia originally, and I had moved to Austin fairly recently then. I had played with some really accomplished drummers in Virginia, but Josh was the first really good drummer I had heard here in Texas. We began trying to build a sound of our own, and all this time later, we're still refining it."
No matter what stylistic permutations White Denim might take over the years, it seems that a basic rock 'n' roll feel, a 1950-60s garage band sound, ends up being their foundation. "I think basic rock 'n' roll is definitely at the root of it all, because it's all born from what we like to play onstage," said Terebecki. "Our live shows tend to be louder and more upbeat than our records anyway. We've all never been fans of performers who get up there and play all laid-back on stage. We have done a lot of experimenting with different things with our recordings, but live, in concert, we are always louder and nastier. We like to do what feels good in the moment."  From: https://www.patriotledger.com/story/entertainment/local/2018/10/04/expect-mix-musical-styles-from/9706010007/

Trigger Hippy - The Door

 #Trigger Hippy #blues rock #hard rock #Americana #roots rock #Southern rock #ex-Black Crowes #music video

I love bands that bring a melting pot of styles to the table to generate a sound all their own. The Nashville-based band Trigger Hippy exemplifies that aesthetic. This is one of the most anticipated listens (to review) of the year for me. Trigger Hippy is back with “Full Circle & Then Some,” available in your virtual and analog record stores as of Friday, Oct. 11, 2019.
The Trigger Hippy story is unorthodox, but genuine and interesting. The band is the brainchild of longtime Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman, and Nashville-based bass player and songwriting extraordinaire Nick Govrik. When Gorman and Govrik jammed with former Crowes guitarist Audley Freed in the mid-2000s, they all conspired to start a band. Trigger Hippy has had several incarnations over the years, with its lineups including Freed, Jimmy Herring, Joan Osborne, Jackie Greene, Tom Bukovac and Will Kimbrough. Trigger Hippy’s self-titled debut was released in 2014, and featured Greene, Bukovac and Osborne throughout. However, that lineup didn’t last. The new and reformed lineup includes singer/saxophonist Amber Woodhouse and Band of Heathens guitarist and vocalist Ed Jurdi.
The new lineup is excellent, and the results are right in line with the previous album’s efforts, which I already thought might be the best record by a Black Crowes band member in this millennium. Jurdi and Woodhouse scratch all the same itches that Greene and Osborne provided vocally, along with Jurdi’s exceptionally precise guitar playing, coupled with Govrik’s rock ‘n’ soul songwriting and Gorman’s best-of-the-modern-era deep pocket rock backbeat. Jurdi and Woodhouse sound, feel and vibe like Greene and Osborne, but it doesn’t seem like a knock off at all. Still feeling fresh and exuberant, it is a testament to the care taken with these songs, along with the recording and production process — and the new chemistry of the current ensemble. I don’t know of many bands founded by the rhythm section, where the frontline can get switched out and the results are steady-as-she-goes, a continuation of the spirit of the band without missing a beat.  From: https://tahoeonstage.com/album-reviews/trigger-hippie-full-circle-then-some/

Music Mecca: So can you talk about the origins of Trigger Hippy and how y’all came together?

Steve Gorman: So Nick Govrik, the bassist and I, started jamming together right when I moved to Nashville in 2004. That fall we put together a weekly jam at a friend’s bar. We would just set up a tip jar and play. It was me, Govrik, and whatever two guitarists were available that night and we called it Hey Hey Hey, originally. It was literally just an excuse to play on Wednesday night somewhere. But right from the jump when I first met Nick, we felt like our playing was right in sync with each other; we were super copacetic. And before long, literally within a few times playing together, we would say, “Man, let’s do something for real,” whatever that meant. That conversation meandered around for years. I would leave and go on tour with The Black Crowes and come back, then Nick and I would hook up and talk about doing stuff. Around 2009, after this sporadic four-year conversation, Kirk West, who works with the Allman Brothers, asked if I wanted to do something in Macon, Georgia to put on a gig for a fundraiser for the Big House Museum (the Allman Brothers museum). And I said “Yeah, let me put a band together for the night and we’ll do it.” So it worked out that Nick and I, along with Jimmy Herring from Widespread Panic and Audley Freed just put together a set list of covers to play. And for that gig, I came up with the name Trigger Hippy. Jimmy and Audley were soloing nonstop and I was like, “We should call the damn thing Trigger Happy with the two of you guys.” (laughs.) And as soon as I said that, I thought, Trigger Hippy was pretty funny. It’s not hippy/peace signs; it’s more hippy get-your-hips-moving. I like the duality of those two words together. So we called that gig Trigger Happy, a one-off/one-night-only thing. It was me, Nick, and a revolving door of other musicians. In 2013, we made a record, and put it out in 2014. That version of the band was more of a weekender band, and we wanted it to be more of a primary band. When that version of Trigger Hippy stopped in 2017, we found Ed [Jurdi] and Amber [Woodhouse] and then here we are.

MM: So Trigger Hippy’s latest album Full Circle and Then Some came out this past fall if I’m not mistaken. Where did you record it and who was involved in production?

SG: The production was me, Nick, and Ed. We did it ourselves. We have a studio here in Nashville that we just built for our purposes. It’s a house on Love Circle: we call it The Treehouse. It’s a rental property that Nick owns and we set up shop and write and record demos there, and ultimately made the record there.

MM: What’s the primary influence and inspiration behind this particular album?

SG: The short answer is all the same stuff we’ve always listened to; which is the gamete of all-American music forms. And all of which are southern music forms: rock n’ roll, jazz, bluegrass, and all of that stuff is in the mix. But one thing we did discuss in this album was that we really wanted a certain groove-thread. Just one of those records where everyone knows it, but they don’t even know they love it. Like Little Feat records, or the Meters. When those records are on at a party, the whole room is just moving, whether they even know it. We wanted this record to have that vibe. You can put the album on at the beginning and go all the way through. There’s a groove and vibe that holds together. So a song like, “Long Lost Friend,” “Butcher’s Daughter,” and “Paving the Road,” they’re all very, very different songs, but they all have a continuity, and it just works in a certain way.  

MM: Do you sometimes have certain artists in mind when recording certain songs as maybe kind of an ode to them? Like your song “Goddamn Hurricane” to me is very reminiscent of The Band.

SG: When Nick wrote that song he wasn’t necessarily thinking of writing a Band-type song, but when you write that song and that’s the expression - his vocal approach is somewhere between Levon Helm and Lowell George. Their bastard lovechild would be Nick Govrik. Everything he does is swimming in that end of the pool. But we don’t have to discuss what kind of tune it is, they usually just speak for themselves.

MM: How does the songwriting process work within the band? Do one or two of you do most of it, or is it more of a regimented and group collaboration?

SG: If you look at the liner notes on both Trigger Hippy albums, at least half the songs say Nick Govrik by himself. And if another member contributed just a few lines of the lyric, Govrik would give them credit, but they were pretty much Nick’s tunes. He’s very prolific. There are times when he comes in with a song, and he’s like, “Hey, I got this song! Listen!” And it’s done. Like the song is full circle and done, like “Goddamn Hurricane” was just finished. But then there are songs like “Born to Be Blue,” and it’s just the three of us sitting in the room and throwing ideas at the wall. And we realized, “This should just be a meditative number. Like, this thing should just simmer.” I think, right away, we all could hear something similar.

From: https://musicmecca.org/steve-gorman-talks-new-nashville-supergroup-trigger-hippy-and-more/

Lykantropi - Wild Flowers

 #Lykantropi #hard rock #blues rock #folk rock #psychedelic rock #retro-1970s #Swedish 

Melody Lane had an interview with Martin Ostlund, singer and guitarist of the Swedish psychedelic folk melancholic rockers Lykantropi. A great band highly recommended to fans of Coven, Blue Oyster Cult and Fleetwod Mac.

Melody Lane: First of all, can you tell us where the name Lykantropi comes from?  

Martin Ostlund: In my opinion it´s the process and transformation in the creation of songs. A song is like chapters in a book that is transforming in a way by its dynamic etc., and also I do love horror movies and you can hear that in the lyrics.

Melody Lane: The line-up of the band is confirmed. Is it the same from the beginning of the band, or have you had changes in the last years? Can you tell us something about the roots of Lykantropi? And where the band was born?

Martin Ostlund: I started the band in about 2013. No one except me was in the band from the beginning. Tomas joined us about 2014-15, Ia and My about the same time. We had just recorded our first album when the drummer decided to drop out, so then came Ola. The latest to join is Elias. He was a stand-in player instead of Pär “Pärry” Nordwall, and became a member about a year ago.

Melody Lane: Can you list us five songs from the Lykantropi discography (including new material), that can define the sound of the band. Five songs that can help our readers to know Lykantropi.

Martin Ostlund: Black Old Stone, Julie and Alexandra on the first album, Vestigia and Sällsammanatt on Spirituosa. Kom ta migut and Coming Your Way on Tales to be told

Melody Lane: Tell us something about the creative process of your music. Is there a main composer or is there team work? The songs come from ideas of a single member and then the band works on these ideas in the studio jamming together, or your songs are written in the studio and all the members compose together? What about messages and subjects of your lyrics?

Martin Ostlund: Oh, it’s different depending on which song, but what’s new for us is that me and Tomas have spit the writing on the new album. I did almost everything on the first two except two songs on Spirituosa. Both me and Tomas come with the skeleton of a song idea, and we work together as a band. Some songs have messages, but you have to read between the lines of fiction and private exposures. Some songs are inspired by old folklore and fairytales, but also we have much fantasy in it with the Northern melancholy touch.

Melody Lane:  Apart from the all the problems and troubles related to the Covid-19 pandemic, any chance for us to see Lykantropi playing live here in Italy/Europe in the next months/years? Maybe summer festivals? Any plans?

Martin Ostlund: We actually had plans for a tour in Italy, Spain, etc. just before the pandemic, so yes, we will come and play when it’s all over.

Melody Lane: Could you tell us two bands, from the actual international scene, you’d like  to tour with? Two bands that would represent a perfect line-up for Lykantropi to play with. And why these bands?

Martin Ostlund: English Purson, and maybe The Blood Ceremony. They have both the groove in their sound, but different in their sound.

Melody Lane: We know that ‘to define is to limit’ but how do you define the Lykantropi sound? Are you a psychedelic rock band? Prog/folk band? Vintage ‘70s rock band?

Martin Ostlund: Well, we define ourselves in all those actually. But the main thing is that we love vintage amps and what we call the warm tube sound, so there you go! Vintage rock it is!

Melody Lane: Which musicians are/have been your main musical inspirations?

Martin Ostlund: I have to say Fleetwood Mac´s “Then Play On”, and Swedish 60s-70s artist Bo Hansson; he played the Hammond organ, and has done instrumental records and is famous for “The Lord of the Rings” made in the 70s.

Melody Lane: Which are your favorite bands nowadays? Are there any musicians you’d really like to collaborate with? And why?

Martin Ostlund: No favorite, but I really like Amanda Werne in Slowgold, and also the Swedish band Amason with amazing Amanda Bergman on vocals. Great musicians and bands with the heart and soul in your face.

Melody Lane: What has been the most important concert for Lykantropi’s career?

Martin Ostlund: Hmm, I don’t know! We have had some great concerts in different places. Geronimos and Debaser in the capitol of Sweden Stockholm are some of them.

Melody Lane: As a musician, what has been your biggest achievement to date and what do you want to achieve in the near future?

Martin Ostlund: I think the latest soon to be released “Tales to be Told” is a really great record, where we as a band work together in the best way. It’s the best so far of our three albums in my opinion. We have plans for making a new album in the near future without revealing too much.

Melody Lane: Are you totally satisfied with your choices about sound and the writing of your previous albums? If you could, would you change anything?

Martin Ostlund: We are satisfied with the sound on all our albums. Even some years later.

Melody Lane: In the end - a message from you to all Melody Lane readers.

Martin Ostlund: Message to the people! Close your eyes in a calm spot in your favorite nature surroundings, and hopefully you hear and listen to mother earth’s prayer for our future existence and how we can take care of this place we call earth. A big kiss from Lykantropi.

From: https://www.melodylane.it/NEWSITO/index.php/818-lykantropi

The Move - Colour Me Pop 1969

 #The Move #Roy Wood #Jeff Lynne #psychedelic rock #blues rock #hard rock #British psychedelia #psychedelic pop rock #art rock #proto-prog #proto-metal #1960s #music video

Colour Me Pop was a BBC television series from the late 1960s that devoted itself to some of the best rock & roll acts of the period, without the usual compromises that such programs engaged in - groups would perform on camera, with their microphones live and their instruments plugged in, for as long as 30 minutes at a clip, and they wouldn't limit themselves to singles, either; Colour Me Pop was among the first television shows on either side of the Atlantic that could be used to perform and showcase album-length bodies of music.
The Move's set captures the four-man lineup behind Shazam in peak form. Whether they're playing hard electric numbers like "I Can Hear Grass Grow" or acoustic guitar driven pieces such as "Beautiful Daughter," or pieces that were otherwise unrepresented in their history, such as "The Christian Life" and "Goin' Back," they sound great - indeed, the version of "The Last Thing on My Mind" here is superior to the officially released studio recording on Shazam, and also makes good use of super-imposition and split-screen effects for its time. Oh, and the sound is excellent.
From: https://www.allmusic.com/album/colour-me-pop-the-small-faces-the-move-dvd--mw0001009492

I've seen the Moody Blues, Small Faces and The Move episodes of Colour Me Pop. Does anyone know if these performances are studio backing track with live vocals?

Somewhere in the dark part of my brain I remember seeing a web site that dealt with that very question. The interesting thing was that it varied, even within a particular episode. For instance, 'Fire Brigade' on The Move show is live, but there are other songs that aren't.

The Move January 1969
Several tracks are completely live - vocals and band - either that or the totally "live" numbers were exclusive pre-recorded backing tracks. Fascinating to see and hear Carl Wayne on bass on "The Christian Life" and interesting to compare the vocals on "I Can Hear The Grass Grow" to the 1967 "Beat Beat Beat" version with Ace Kefford. "Fire Brigade" is just magnificent. However, "Wild Tiger Woman" is a mime to the single release, as is "Something". "Beautiful Daughter" is a curious one - it's a mix of what appeared on "Shazam" - the vocal is identical but the mix is very different since it features a drum part on it and there's no strings - I think - getting a bit confuddled here myself (hence swiftly re-editing this post a couple of times). All three shows are magnificent slices of early colour British pop TV. How tragic that the vast majority of episodes of this show were wiped - editions featuring Love Sculpture, Family, David Bowie, Orange Bicycle, The Kinks, The Hollies, Manfred Mann and many more, all lost forever.

From: https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/colour-me-pop-uk-tv.146238/

Occasionally plundered for clip shows, The Move’s Colour Me Pop appearance from 4th January 1969 saw them tearing through hits like Flowers In The Rain and Fire Brigade as well as the popular b-side Something, chaotic chart-missing single Wild Tiger Woman, a work in progress version of Beautiful Daughter, and covers of the Gerry Goffin and Carol King number Goin’ Back and bluegrass standard The Christian Life, both of which had recently also been covered by The Move’s noted favourites The Byrds. As well as an early sighting of the sort of glittery jackets that the Carnaby Street boutiques had recently started to sell – maybe inspiring David Bowie and Marc Bolan to take a trip to Alkasura the following Monday – this performance is also notable for capturing the band as they were adjusting to the recent departure of original bass player Ace Kefford. The Move had always shared out lead vocals as the ‘narrative’ of each song dictated – if you want a good trivia question to catch someone out with, ask them who the first person heard singing on BBC Radio 1 was; chances are they’ll know the first record played was Flowers In The Rain and automatically say Roy Wood, but the opening verse was actually handled by Carl Wayne – and Ace Kefford can be heard prominently on many of their best known singles. Although any fan of The Move would be able to tell that they were audibly struggling to compensate for his absence in places, their vocal interplay nonetheless caught John Lennon’s attention; while discussing how to approach The Beatles’ new songs, he mentioned the effect that The Move’s distanced stage positioning had on their vocal arrangements and began playing around with ideas inspired by that. This was an especially startling moment for me, as when I had a chat with Beatles expert Chris Shaw about the Yellow Submarine soundtrack, we got on to the subject of speculation about how The Beatles might have sounded if they had started playing live in 1968. Sceptical of some of the more fanciful ideas of string sections and elaborate stage effects, I had suggested instead that they’d have sounded more like the flashy psychedelic pop captured on the live album Something Else From The Move. It’s quite something to realise how close to the reality that very nearly was.  From: https://timworthington.org/2021/12/21/did-you-watch-the-bbc2-thing/

The Golden Grass - One More Time

 #The Golden Grass #hard rock #heavy psych #blues rock #heavy metal #retro-1970s #music video

The Golden Grass are a rock band from Brooklyn, New York. Following close on the heels of the 7” single “One More Time,” the group’s self-titled debut album is one of refreshing, modern-sounding Blues/Rock in the vein of Led Zeppelin and Cream. “Please Man” opens up to some trippy, distorted guitar effects before giving way to the frantic drum fills that introduce the song’s exuberant main riff. From the wailing solos to its working-class lyrical content and spacey sound-effects, this song is a great introduction to the band, especially in the sense that it showcases the genuineness that permeates throughout “The Golden Grass”. Many groups only imitate the sounds they were inspired by originally, but The Golden Grass manage to channel the upbeat, carefree sounds of 60s/70s electrified Blues while sounding no less up-to-date in the process. Michael Rafalowich’s guitar playing is spot-on, reaching a great balance between technicality and musicality. In addition to his solid vocal performance, Adam Kinrey’s enthusiastic drumming is also noteworthy, maintaining a solid rhythmic foundation while also using the instrument to add to the energy and vibe of each song. “Stuck On A Mountain” is, to me, an even better realization of the band’s musical vision. Relaxing, infectious, and soulful just a few of the words that can be used to describe this sprawling, nearly-seven-minute long track, one of catchiest songs here. Lead single “One More Time,” with its confident, swagger-filled riffing and slower pace, is another winner, rocking with plenty of attitude before ceding to the bluesy behemoth that is “Wheels.” This song, like “Stuck On A Mountain,” is the complete package as far as key Golden Grass elements go, though its sheer length makes it just a bit harder to digest. Still, it is yet another inspired performance, replete with memorable lyrics, riffs and melodies and a great overall feel to it, mixing in psychedelic sounds and acoustic passages to great effect while never sounding pretentious. “The Golden Grass” is a breath of fresh air in this highly commercialized, post-Nirvana musical landscape we exist in today. The music itself is heavy, but the mood is much less so, and the group’s authentic, entertaining brand of feel-good Blues Rock will appeal to lovers of almost all kinds of rock music as well as old-school heavy metal fans.  From: http://www.metal-temple.com/site/catalogues/entry/reviews/cd_3/t_2/the-golden-grass-the.htm

Fleetwood Mac - Station Man

 #Fleetwood Mac #Mick Fleetwood #John McVie #Christine McVie #blues rock #heavy blues rock #psychedelic blues rock #blues-based pop rock #1970s

Peter Green is gone and he took his blues with him. Which means now Fleetwood Mac have to figure out what their new signature sound will be without him there. It'll take another five years, six albums, and the removal of half the original band for them to find that sound; but for now we have this: Kiln House. For the most part, this is the remaining members of Fleetwood Mac doing damage control. They can't play the blues anymore so what can they do? Well, they can play rock music I guess. Jeremy Spencer has returned to the spotlight after having been accidentally pushed to the side on Then Play On, and for the most part his stuff hems more towards classic rockabilly. He gets a Sun Records sound on "This Is the Rock", pays tribute to Buddy Holly on "Buddy's Song" (a track he credited to Holly's mother), and impersonates the classic vocal doo-wop groups with "Blood on the Floor" and the closing "Mission Bell". They're OK, but they don't really point the way forward. For that, you have to look to Danny Kirwan whose songs are more built around contemporary roots rock than classic 50s rockabilly. "Jewel-Eyed Judy" is the closest song that approaches the bluesy sound of classic Fleetwood Mac but it's not as much of a showcase of guitar pyrotechnics the same way the Green material of old is. It's far more subtle in its attack, which makes for a track that maybe doesn't hit as hard as the best of Green, but certainly makes for intriguing listening. On the same level is "Earl Gray", an instrumental which feels like the natural progressive evolution from the second half of "Oh Well". But if any Kirwan track points toward the future for Fleetwood Mac, it's "Station Man". And that primarily has to do with the uncredited arrival of Christine McVie on vocal and piano work. The woman who will later write "Say You Love Me" and "Don't Stop" isn't an official member of the band yet, but the moment you hear her distinctive voice breaking through the boys' club on the harmonies, it's an immediate attention-grabber that shows the way towards where this band will eventually end up.  From: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/fleetwood-mac/kiln-house/

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Effigy

 #Creedence Clearwater Revival #roots rock #blues rock #country rock #swamp rock #classic rock #1960s #1970s

"Effigy," written by Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty, is the last track on the Willy and the Poor Boys album. This was the fourth studio album released and the third platinum album for CCR, riding the peak of their popularity in 1969. This song is a good example of the "roots rock" style that CCR helped to pioneer. While Bob Dylan is largely credited with starting the roots movement in 1966, only a handful of bands followed that lead, while the rest turned to folk, blues, or psychedelia. CCR fits into the niche within the country-influenced roots rock genre in between The Byrds, Tom Petty, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Eagles, and of course The Flying Burrito Brothers. By sticking to the basics while everybody else was jumping on the experimentation bandwagon, they could be progressive and anachronistic at the same time.
Another thing that set CCR apart was the tight cohesion of the band members. While other groups swapped members between each other like so many kids playing Red Rover, CCR remained their own little island of Fogerty, Fogerty, Clifford, and Cook, with the only change being when Tom Fogerty split in 1971, after which they were down to a trio. Furthermore, they had considerable influence for a band that was only releasing albums together five years!
CCR drummer Doug Clifford said that this is a political song through and through. "It's pointing the finger at the Nixon administration when they were crumbling," he explained in Bad Moon Rising: The Unofficial History of Creedence Clearwater Revivial. "The dark period, if you will." An effigy is a model of an actual person that is made for the purpose of being destroyed as an act of protest or expression of anger. The "palace lawn" is referring to the lawn of the White House. In Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music, Fogerty affirms Nixon as the inspiration for his song, calling the former president "a schmuck." The specific event that triggered Fogerty to write the song happened October 15, 1969, when millions of people marched around the world to protest the Vietnam War. Nixon completely dismissed the event. As Fogerty remembers it, the former president said, "Nothing you do here today will have any effect on me. I'm going back inside to watch the football game." That dismissive attitude enraged Fogerty at the time and, judging from the writing in Fortunate Son, enrages him still.
From: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/creedence-clearwater-revival/effigy

The Zombies - I’ll Call You Mine

 #The Zombies #Rod Argent #Colin Blunstone #psychedelic rock #blues rock #pop rock #baroque pop #psychedelic pop #classic rock #British invasion #1960s

Q: Where did the name, The Zombies, come from?

Rod Argent: We got together in 1961, at the very beginning of the English band scene. That was even a year before the Beatles. We didn't know what to call ourselves. For the first month or so, we were called the Sundowners. But I think that may well have been a western film in the same way as the Searchers' name was from a John Wayne movie. We were also the Mustangs for a couple of weeks, but never went out on a gig with that name.  One day, our bass player at the time, who was the only one initially who left the band before we were professional, said, "What about The Zombies?" This was in the days before any of the crop of zombie films, like "Return Of The Living Dead." Now I just about knew what a zombie was. It had something to do with Haiti, and some sort of voodoo, unsavory sorts of things. Colin Blunstone didn't even know that. He hated the name! But I loved it. If we were lucky enough to get any recognition later, then very soon the name itself would be unimportant. It would just become whomever the members of the band were. A year after the Beatles were named, no one that I know thought about insects or even the play on words. They just thought about John, Paul, George and Ringo. That proved to be the case with us. When we were in the studio once, I was wandering around and heard the sound of Miles Davis coming from a record player in someone's dressing room. I knocked on the door. It opened, and there was Manfred Man. I asked if that was Miles playing, and he said, "Yeah, yeah." Then he looked at me and asked, "You're Rod Argent, aren't you?" I said, "Yeah." He said, "Man, I love your record, but you have to change that band name." But we never did [laughs].

Q: How did you meet Colin Blunstone?

Argent: The day we had our first rehearsal was the first day I met Colin. He was a friend of the bass player, who was a friend of mine. Originally, I was supposed to be lead singer, and not play piano at all. We had a little jam, and thought it was all going pretty well. Then we had a coffee break. I wandered over to an old, beaten-up piano, and started playing some Stingers records I'd heard. Colin came running over and said, "That sounds fantastic. You've got a great playing ability. Why don't you sing AND play piano?" I thought that would be too much, to sing lead vocals and play piano, so I said, "No." Twenty minutes later, we had another break. Colin sat down and started strumming a guitar, because he was going to play second guitar, rhythm. He started singing a Ricky Nelson song. It sounded absolutely lovely! I said, "My God, I had no idea you could sing like that. I'll tell you what. - you be lead singer, and I'll play piano." And that's how we started. It was Easter of 1961.

From: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2020/06/08/how-did-the-1960s-band-the-zombies-come-up-with-their-strange-name/?sh=4af7dfa63d4e