Solatge - La Papallona

“Solatge“ is a poetic catalan word that describes what is left after something has gone and could be translated with “sediment”. The catalan saying “als solatges hi ha la flor“ (on the sediment grows the flower) expresses even better the poetry behind this word. "Solatge“ is the flower that has grown after the definite end of L´Ham de Foc, but it is much more than a delicate plant. The first album "Dèria“ is a strong statement of Mara Aranda who was the voice and, together with her companion Efrén López, also leader of the internationally acclaimed band L´Ham de Foc from Valencia. Her latest projects were the sephardic music band Aman Aman and the Al Andaluz Project that was founded together with the German medieval band Estampie.
The musicians of Solatge come mainly from Mara´s musical past: Eduard Navarro (dolzaine, nyckelharpa, hurdy-gurdy) who was member of L´Ham de Foc from the beginning to the end. Josep-Maria Ribelles (celtic harp) can be heard as guest on L´Ham de Foc´s last album “Cor de Porc” and joined the band in several concerts. Manolo López (double bass) played some gigs with Aman Aman and only Jota Martinez (bouzouki, hurdy gurdy, tambourin mallorqui, renaissance guitar) came in as a member until then unknown in the L´Ham de Foc universe.
The title “Dèria” is also a catalan word and means the idea or obsession that serves us as stimulation and motivation. The conceptual idea behind “Dèria” were the traditional tunes of the times of the Crown of Aragon (Aragón, Catalunya, València, Balears, Serdegna, etc.) as a basis for new and contemporary compositions. Mara´s voice sounds more “in front of the band” than on recordings of L´Ham de Foc and achieves to tinge the music with her very special emotional, spirited and Mediterranean character. The experienced band chooses for every song the right colours to accompany her voice and understands perfectly in which moments to enrich the music with instrumental accents. The edition contains an extensive booklet (52 pages) with poetic landscapes and explanations of the songs, written by Josep Vicent Frechina (in Catalan, Spanish and translated into English). If you take your time and are ready to spent 46 minutes exclusively on this album, switching between reading and listening, you might find yourself immersed in a Mediterranean journey, crossing imagined countries and ages, finishing with Mara Aranda singing close to your ear the beautiful Dansa del Vetlatori.  From: https://www.galileomusic.de/artikel/3407/Mara_Aranda___Solatge_Deria  

Green Lung - Free the Witch

Green Lung, a five-piece from London, seem to be making a something of a splash among the riff-loving cognoscenti. Their excellent debut album Woodland Rites was released on Kozmik Artifacktz back In March and is now all sorts of sold-out, and they were one of the first nine bands confirmed for the London leg of Desertfest in 2020. It’s all been going so well that Kozmik Artifacktz have taken the welcome step of giving Green Lung’s debut EP (originally released on cassette by Deckhead Records in February 2018) a re-release on vinyl. Vinyl is definitely a good plan here, giving the excellent artwork more space to breathe and fitting well with the slightly retro feel of the music.
For me, a good EP is about as close as you can get to musical perfection and I’ve never understood why they often seem to be the preserve of bands just starting out. At twenty-odd minutes an EP is long enough to fit in a range of tunes and give listeners a decent idea of what your band can do, while at four or five tracks long it’s short enough to be all good stuff with no padding. You can see why that would appeal to new bands, but why not to more established bands as well? The two EPs Scissorfight released mid-career were, to my mind, the best things they ever did.
Anyway, digression over. I like EPs and Green Lung are re-releasing one. What does it sound like?  Well, for starters I’m not sure that I agree with the press release description of Free The Witch “mixing traditional heavy doom with folk-horror infused psychedelia”. I can hear the “folk-horror”, primarily in the vocals and lyrical matter, and I suppose the Malleus Maleficarum chant that closes the title track is distinctly doomy, but… For me this is a straight-up stoner rock record, and an excellent one at that. Do people shy away from the stoner rock label because of the deluge of astonishingly generic and forgettable stoner bands that plagued us in the early 2000s? Who knows, but it can still sound awesome when bands play with conviction and inject a bit of their own personality to it as Green Lung do.  From: https://thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/review-green-lung-free-the-witch/

 

Nina Simone - Feeling Good

With a positive response to her sociopolitical album Nina Simone in Concert in 1964 (which features the seminal track “Mississippi Goddam”), as well as civil rights activism now being attributed to her personal life, it was clear that Nina Simone was headed in a new thematic direction in 1965 – one that primarily focused on her experience as a Black woman living in a racially-charged and divided country.
Nonetheless, the North Carolina-bred, Juilliard-educated musician’s opus I Put A Spell On You was an unexpected turn. The album found her highlighting Black happiness and optimism in the face of the tumult and turmoil happening outside her window. (There had been race riots, nationwide, in both 1963 and 1964)
Simone’s influential project practically veered her into full-blown pop territory, thanks to the high-energy implementation of her classically-trained jazz and blues upbringing. On the album’s title track, her distinct, velvety vocals took Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ maniacal signature song to new heights, and on the quirky “Marriage Is for Old Folks,” she coos over a tenderly-plucked piano and fluttery woodwinds. Her lighthearted musical turn, however, is best personified in the standout, big band-accompanied “Feeling Good.”
Nina Simone recorded “Feeling Good” in New York City, working with arranger and composer Hal Mooney to bring forth the jazzy horns frequently associated with the song today. Near its tail end, she showcases her vocal improvisation skills by scatting and ad-libbing, adding another layer of emotion to the already musically and thematically-weighted track.
Written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the 1964 musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, “Feeling Good” was first performed by a character simply called “The Negro.” He sings the show tune after winning a ruleless “game” against two white characters – symbolizing the struggles of racial and socioeconomic inequality in 1960s Britain, the musical’s setting. The “game” was not designed for Black or poor people to win, and the mildly operatic number serves as a point of emancipation born out of anguish and frustration, bringing a new level of intention to Simone’s rendition. While the original version focuses on conveying the triumph “The Negro” was experiencing, Simone’s natural jazziness, from her vocality to the arrangement, was at the core of her take, making it a show-stopper in its own right.
Nina Simone never officially released “Feeling Good” as a single during the I Put A Spell On You era. However, it grew in popularity decades later after being used in a British Volkswagen commercial in 1994; it peaked at No. 40 on the UK Singles Chart that July. Her version can be heard in many television programs, films, and commercials, and was also covered and sampled by artists from Michael Buble to Muse to Avicii to The Throne. “Feeling Good” carries an eternal shelf life across mediums and genres, much like Simone’s influential career and catalog.
The praise Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” continues to receive decades after its release displays just how timeless and far-reaching her work is. Depending on the messenger, “Feeling Good” could hold a different meaning of euphoria. However, the initial intention of the lyrics brought Black resilience and hope to the forefront. Given the parallels of 1965 and present-day America, Simone’s bold declaration of looking forward to “a new dawn, a new day, [and] a new life” ring with just as much as intention and impact as it did when it was first recorded.  From: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/nina-simone-feeling-good-song-feature/

 

Dada - I Get High

Dada's inaugural Puzzle (1992) was a highly promising release from a young, creative band -- pop without pandering, musicianship without pretense or formula. The group's 1994 follow-up American Highway Flower played to several favorable reviews, but I can only think these came from scribes who had completely missed out on Puzzle. Other than more incisive production, the group had a disconcerting tendency to sound like the Police on this one, with comparatively few engaging songs. While there's little particularly subliminal or dada-esque about dada's muscular yet adventurous El Subliminoso, the group plays with far more horsepower and complexity than it's three-man lineup would suggest. Joie Calio and Michael Gurley make an accomplished bass/guitar tag-team, their interaction, along with precision stickman Phil Leavitt, almost always ringing much larger and intricate than power-trio life. Clean-up track "Bob the Drummer" almost makes this disc worth seeking out all on its lonesome. Also most notable are "A Trip with My Dad," an un-maudlin parental bonding gig driven by pulsing bass and backbeat, and the rolling thunder riff of "Rise." On a lighter note, "Star You Are" reminds me of an early Raspberries ballad, craftsmanship and emotion overcoming the saccharine sub-samba wrapper.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/album/el-subliminoso-mw0000180745#review 

Fulano - Late Cerebro

Fulano was a Chilean rock band. They were one of the most important bands in the development of jazz-rock in Chile or, as described by musicologist Juan Pablo González, of "anti-hegemonic eclecticism". With an oeuvre consisting of six high quality and virtuosic albums, they have been widely recognised as pillars of jazz-rock and experimental music in Latin America. Fulano was founded in 1984 in Santiago de Chile by members of Santiago del Nuevo Extremo: Jorge Campos (bass), Cristián Crisosto, (saxophones and flute), Jaime Vivanco (keyboards), and Willy Valenzuela (drums); joined by Arlette Jequier (voice and clarinet), and Jaime Vásquez (saxophones and flute). 
Their first era lasted from 1984 till 2003, releasing four studio albums Fulano (1987), En el Bunker (In the Bunker, 1989), El infierno de los payasos (Hell of the clowns, 1993), and Trabajos Inútiles (Useless works, 1997). These albums were particular in their creative complexity and the very original fusion of varied stylistic and musical elements. They also stood out for their instrumental and vocal virtuosity and the ironic, humorous and, especially, antiestablishment lyrics against the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and later the Chilean transition to democracy. The group positioned itself from the start as one of the most influential fusion bands of Latin America, although always keeping an uneasy relationship with mass media. They decided to dissolve after the tragic death of Jaime Vivanco in 2003, releasing the live album Vivo (Alive) (2004), which contained Vivanco's last performances. 
The second era began in 2009 when they decided to reform, with Raúl Aliaga on drums, who had been playing since 1996, and Felipe Muñoz on keyboards. They released a live DVD entitled La Farsa Continúa (The Farce Continues, 2011), and after multiple changes in the line up, a fifth and final studio album entitled Animal en Extinción (Endangered animal, 2015), that counted only with Crisosto and Campos from the original members, with Paquita Rivera in charge of vocals, after which the dissolution of the band is announced at the end of 2015. Since then, three posthumous live albums have been released: La Batuta 1993, En vivo en Los Ángeles 2002 (Live in Los Angeles), and En directo FestivAlterNativo México 2010. A tribute album from MediaBanda entitled ''Maquinarias'' was released in 2021.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulano_(band)

BoDeans - The Understanding

It may have been eight years since their last studio album, but The BoDeans haven't gone anywhere. They certainly didn't break up, says Sam Llanas, half of the classic Americana duo whose soaring harmonies and earthy, roots-rock melodies made them the modern-day Everly Brothers.
"We never stopped playing together," Llanas said. "That's how we've made our living. We continued to play clusters of shows here and there. It wasn't as if we broke up."
Llanas, however, sounded a little skittish discussing their absence from the studio, talking from his Milwaukee home where he spends his off-tour time "just lying around, catching up on sleep." These days the duo's other voice, Kurt Neumann, lives down in Austin, putting a crimp on any collaborative songwriting when they're not on the road.
But their geographic separation had nothing to do with their lack of record productivity. The band's heyday began in the mid-'80s with a string of critically lauded records starting with their 1986 debut Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams, produced by twang legend T Bone Burnett. That was followed a year later by Outside Looking In, produced by Talking Heads member and fellow Wisconsonian Jerry Harrison. The BoDeans were quickly touted as the "Best New American Band" by Rolling Stone magazine as they headed out on tour with the likes of U2. Record collectors who organized their albums by genre placed their BoDeans discs right next to stuff by other roots hitmakers of the day like The Long Ryders, The Del Fuegos, Los Lobos and Spanic Boys.
The duo kept the ball rolling in the '90s, releasing four albums on Slash/Reprise, concluding with 1996's Blend. "After that, Reprise didn't renew our contract," Llanas said. "It was a good time to do our solo records. By '99 we had recorded the demos that would become Resolution. That's when we had trouble with our management. They didn't like our idea of recording the CD ourselves and shopping it around to labels. That's when we split with them."
Though they had been with Reprise since their debut, Llanas said shopping the CD around was a painless process. They sent it to 30 or 40 labels. Rounder/Zoe had a track record that the duo were looking for, Llanas said, and ended up releasing Resolution in June.
"When you're on a major label, there's a lot of pressure to have a big hit and make a slick record," he said. "We tried that a couple times and it didn't work for us. We said, 'Let's do what we do, and people who like it will like it; and those who don't, never will.'"  From: https://www.timmcmahan.com/bodeans.htm

Red Molly - Live Prescott, Arizona 2018

 Red Molly - Live Prescott, Arizona 2018 - Part 1

 

 Red Molly - Live Prescott, Arizona 2018 - Part 2

 

Red Molly - Live Prescott, Arizona 2018 - Part 3

 

You’ve had a big year of touring — what was your reaction to the music audiences in Australia and in Denmark?

Abbie: It’s been such a joy to bring our music to such completely new audiences. Knowing that absolutely nobody would know us ahead of time was exciting for us because we knew we were starting from scratch. We didn’t know quite what to expect, but we weren’t disappointed. . . . Our first festival set in Australia had over 3,000 people in attendance! In Denmark we had the honor of both opening and closing the festival, as well as experiencing our first smoke machine! All in all, both tours were great experiences. We’re working on a tour of Ireland next year and really looking forward to it.

When you travel, do you ever have the time and energy to be tourists? Seems a shame to travel and not to get to see much of anything besides the insides of venues or festival grounds.

Molly: Certain tours we have more time than others to visit towns and take in landscapes. We go to the West Coast a few times a year; sometimes it’s hotel room to venue to hotel room but other times we’ve gotten to swim in the ocean and ride horses on the beach! What’s really special is to spend time getting to know people a bit. We’ve been welcomed into many homes and special occasions, and being invited into people’s lives has been more rewarding than getting to visit tourist attractions.

I notice that Laurie has been playing bass with the band recently. Were you looking for a slightly new sound after Molly joined the band?

Laurie: From 2004–2010, Carolann played rhythm guitar on about half the songs, and bass on the other half. I started learning bass while Carolann was still in the band, and it was exciting and fun for me! Then when Carolann stepped down, the band decided that having bass on every song would be ideal, giving Red Molly a consistent sound; and so I play it on almost every song now.

Abbie, how did you first get into playing the dobro? It’s not your typical instrument for a woman (which makes it way cool, in my opinion). . . 

Abbie: Ha, well yeah it’s not as common as guitar for sure. I went to bluegrass festivals as a kid and was always drawn to the sounds of Mike Auldridge, Jerry Douglas, Bonnie Raitt and Ry Cooder. After developing tendinitis from playing guitar, I was seeking a way to keep playing but in a more ergonomic way. Since it’s played “lap style” and incorporates a little wrist flexion it’s a lot easier on your fingers. That was in 2004 and I’ve been hooked ever since.

One of the Red Molly trademarks is your interesting takes on cover tunes. Are you working on anything new these days?

Laurie: We’re always working on new tunes, both originals and covers! We just finished recording our new CD in Nashville, and there will be five cover songs on it — two really well-known songs that RedHeads are going to love — we’re keeping those songs secret for now. We’ve also recorded another Mark Erelli tune (he’s one of our favorites), a great rootsy song by AJ Roach, and a gorgeous song about a father’s love for his son, by Darrell Scott.

You recently recorded your most recent CD down in Nashville. What can we look forward to hearing on it? And how was the experience of recording in Nashville different than your previous recording sessions?

Molly: You can look forward to hearing many more original tunes on this album! 8 out of the 13. We also explored electric sounds- I played the electric guitar on a few songs, Abbie ran her Dobro through a distortion pedal for a tune, Abbie and I both played a little piano. It was great to have another creative person challenge us to experiment with different sounds and arrangements. Some of it was well rehearsed, and some of it was discovered right there in the studio! In the past we have been very methodical and self-directed. Hiring a producer definitely stretched us creatively. It was exhilarating and also a relief not to be doing it all ourselves!

From: https://meandthee.org/interviews/red-molly/ 

 

Buffalo Springfield - Expecting To Fly

Before he launched onto a career of fifty-odd (some very odd!) albums in fifty years, Neil Young was one fifth of a West Coast band of the kind they don’t seem to make any more. Three-fifths of that band became prominent figures in the music of the Seventies, Steven Stills as part of Crosby, Stills and Nash, sometimes incorporating his Canadian ex-partner and Richie Furay as leader and driver of the underrated Poco. I mean neither of them any disrespect if I suggest that, in longevity terms, Neil Young is the one who really counts.
The band they all graced was Buffalo Springfield, noted for such Stills songs as the protest-heavy ‘For What It’s Worth’ and the bright and buoyant ‘Rock’n’Roll Woman’. It’s songs like that, upfront and fitted to their times, that stand out, and the band contributed heavily to the development of folk-rock, as well as incorporating a mixture of genres into their acclaimed style.
It’s not just Young’s work with the band that attracts me to Buffalo Springfield but it’s fair to say that it is his songs that attract me the most, and in particular, the extraordinarily beautiful ‘Expecting to Fly’ from the band’s second album, Buffalo Springfield Again.
The song is a haunting, delicate experience, with Young’s cracked-falsetto vocals at their sweetest and most plaintive, and the song is a fragile ballad of loss, of regret for someone leaving, and for all the things remaining unsaid. It is, in practical terms, a Neil Young solo, for his is the only voice heard on the song, and the instrumentation is a deep, slow, aching orchestration put together by Jack Nitzche over Young’s strummed acoustic guitar and delicate electric guitar figures.
The track introduces itself by means of a low drone, growing in intensity until the first taste of strings intrudes upon the sound. Young uses the acoustic guitar to create, not a rhythm but a sense of momentum whilst leaving his electric contributions to be complemented by Nitzche’s strings. But it is the picture he paints, the story he outlines, that goes to the heart.  From: https://mbc1955.wordpress.com/2021/12/06/the-infinite-jukebox-buffalo-springfields-expecting-to-fly/ 

Carina Round - The Last Time

I’m not entirely sure what constitutes a “cool” female artist versus a “weepy” female artist. There must be some clear definition in some music reviewer’s mind which gets flagged the moment a word or turn of phrase is used in a female artist’s song indicating that, yes, this artist is indeed “weepy” and “uncool”. I would like to know precisely what this seemingly arbitrary definition is, because at some point Carina Round became lumped into this group and I’m calling bullshit. Fans of these supposed “uncool” female artists may claim that such a delineation does not exist, but to them I say: you don’t see Ingrid Michealson reviewed or promoted on any cool indie sites.
Carina Round has been consistently (save for her misguided attempt to break into the pop scene with her full-length sophomore release Slow Motion Addict) producing solid tracks that traverse such dark subject matter that would make even PJ Harvey blush. Now, with her third full-length Tigermending it has become clear that Carina Round will never be a “big deal”, which is a travesty. A profound songwriter, Round never relies on easy tropes or predictable lyrical content. She instead prefers to beat her own drum and create music that is simultaneously influenced by those that have come before her whilst paving a path forward. She is as simple and astute as Aimee Mann, tortured and dramatic as PJ Harvey, sporadic and impulsive erratic as Bjork, and yet she cannot be a clear descendent of any of those hugely talented women. She is her own beast, and with her failed attempt to capture the heart of the mainstream behind her, she’s gone back to a more authentic sound.
Tigermending is a thoroughly satisfying full-length from an artist whose enrapturing debut was left far too short, and whose sophomore felt like it was voiced by someone else. Beginning with the simple “Pick Up the Phone” where Round sings “Pick up the phone / I’m pregnant with your baby / I wanted you to know / The dreams I’ve been having lately”, meandering in a beautiful and seemingly aimless direction, but handled with such magnificent care, there is every indication that Round is a pro in complete control of her message and medium. Nothing is as completely straightforward on Tigermending as “Pick Up the Phone”, but most of it feels like you’ve thought it once before, but you can’t remember ever being as eloquent. Take, for instance, “Girl and the Ghost”, where Carina sings about the self-delusions we believe about ourselves. She sings:
"What’s that coming down? / Shattering sky / Your whole world exploding with flashes of fire / Shards of broken dreams / Stuck in your hand / Pick the pieces out / Put them back together as best as you can / Through the imperfections and the crass / You will see the difference between / What you think you know and what you know”
Although it sounds like righteous indignation, Round manages to relay this concern with ease, concern and empathy. It’s heady stuff. The structure of the song is also, itself, an amalgamation of so many disparate pieces melded together with rough tape and presented in such a way to make you believe like every transition is completely natural. Once the second chorus erupts after the line, “What you think you’ve given / Is not what the world has received / Can you feel the distance between / What you think you know / and what you know?”, the rest of the song flutters from one bridge to the next, to the next until its fragile denouement—literally. The last two minutes consist of three separate bridges ending with Round singing in her highest soprano.
These seemingly effortless musical transitions are rampant throughout Tigermending, and they pretty much characterize her practically uncharacterizable sound. It’s beguiling and it can take your breath away. Parallel to her weirdly dark sound is the brightness and poeticism of her lyrics throughout Tigermending. She, much like Harvey, manages to create different spaces through which predominantly positive messages are relayed. There is soul searching here, guided by care and sympathy, but you’ll find yourself doing three or four takes to discern if this is really her intent. Once again, it’s perplexing in such a way that you become completely enthralled. It’s the sign of masterful craftsmanship.
Round is a superbly talented songwriter born far too late to truly be revered as such. The music-buying public will never come to their senses, pull their heads out from their factory-made, spoon-fed crap and grant her the adulation she deserves. It’s not going to happen and that is truly a shame, because Tigermending has everything that a superb record requires: heart, soul, mysticism, unpredictability, and complexity, which is never sacrificed for accessibility. Round isn’t making music only for herself. She wants there to be an entry point, and she knows precisely where to put it.  From: https://www.popmatters.com/158706-carina-round-tigermending-2495850834.html

 

The Jayhawks - Blue

Despite the fact that some of its songs are pretty sad, all of Tomorrow the Green Grass reminds me of sunshine. Maybe it’s the harmonies, or the warm production, or that album cover which features the Jayhawks hanging out in a forest. Or maybe it’s the fact that I first heard it after borrowing it from my friend Lindsay at summer camp. Whatever the reason, the album reminds me of warm (but not uncomfortably hot) weather. It just feels like comfort.
“Blue” is probably the Jayhawks’ most popular song, and for a good reason: it’s gorgeous. It’s also expertly written. This is another one that I didn’t notice had no rhymes, but now that I know it, I think that choice gives the song the disjointed aspect it needs. The parts seem to be in place–Mark Olson and Gary Louris, as always, sound beautiful together, and that acoustic guitar practically shimmers–but if everything truly was in place, how could this song ever convey the sadness within? Not everything matches or fits, just like the characters in this song. It’s so close to perfect, but not quite.
The thing I like most about “Blue” is the chord that happens when they sing the title word. It’s a G#, a “III” chord for the key of E (that is, G# is three whole steps away from E), and it appears nowhere else in the song. It’s not dissonant or discordant, but it’s certainly unexpected. It gives the song’s pivotal moment (and word) a point on which to pivot, a turning point that stops everything, if only for a second, on a dime. It also makes “Blue,” like “Nothing Left to Borrow,” “I’d Run Away,” and a handful of other songs on Tomorrow the Green Grass, a thing of beauty.  From: https://365songsblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/song-143-the-jayhawks-blue-1995/

Haight-Ashbury - 3 Little Birds

With debut album Here in the Golden Rays released this month, Glaswegian trio Haight-Ashbury are finally finding prominence on the Scottish circuit. Yet despite being in the early stages of their career, they already carry the weight of a rich musical heritage on their shoulders.
Having taken their name from the San Franciscan neighbourhood famous as being the epicentre of the city’s music scene during the Summer of Love in 1967, they follow in the footsteps of some timeless greats, but was the name choice based on a fascination with that era, or was it just a catchy name for a band? “A fascination is about the right word for it,” asserts guitarist Scott. “I love the bands from that period like Grateful Dead, and in particular early Jefferson Airplane. I visited the Haight-Ashbury district just before we got together so it was in my head at the time. We like the name because it tells you what we’re about in a word or two.”
And it is very much what they’re about. Taking their lead from the psychedelic-folk origins of those forebears, they produce sprawling songs that hark of that era’s indulgence and experimentation. Although Scott insists that much of their signature style was a happy accident. “The psychedelic aspect wasn't what we set out for but we stumbled into it. We tried to avoid the classic song structures to begin with and it just evolved from there."
Enamoured as they are with the sound of the sixties, the defining sound of Here in the Golden Rays is rather less specific. With vocalists Kirsty and Jen dropping their regional accents for a lilt that owes more to a collage of nineties U.S. indie bands, there’s little evidence of the Glaswegians’ origins – so was the Americanisation of the band an intentional one? “Yes and no,” says Scott. “Kirsty and I grew up listening to Déjà Vu, Blue and America religiously. My favourite artists are Chris Whitley and Stephen Stills so there is an intense American influence.”
Despite the heavy influence, Scott still feels that Haight-Ashbury are a more complex beast. “Scottish groups like Stealers Wheel and the Jesus and Mary Chain have had just as much of a say in the sound of the album. Tracks like Sympathetic Strings ended up with quite a Celtic sound, as well as a heavy eastern influence with the sitar. Nothing was intentional, we're happy with however it’s interpreted.”
Regardless of the band’s intentions, or the listeners’ interpretation, the end product is garnering some fine attention, not least of all from Radio 6’s Lauren Laverne. It’s a platform which has proven pivotal in their rise. “The support from all of the BBC6 DJs for our single Freeman Town in the summer was brilliant,” Scott enthuses. “We gained a lot from it. We didn’t know how radio friendly our songs were, but it’s great that people will still take chances with relatively unheard of new bands.”
Perhaps the most exciting outcome of their airtime was a gigging slot with one of Scotland’s indie royalty. “The Vaselines offered us the support for their whole tour just from hearing the song on the radio,” says Scott. “We'd love it if there was more of that to come.”
For the time being, however, Haight-Ashbury are taking to the stage as headliners on their November tour of the U.K., with the promise of delivering something special. “We pride ourselves on the way we set up live,” Scott offers. “Without using any backline we still create a lot of sound. What you hear on the record should pretty much be what you hear at the gigs… we hope.”  From: https://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/interviews/new-blood-haight-ashbury 

Snowy Dunes - Let's Save Dreams

Let's maybe start with the beginning, what's the story of the band, where are you guys from?

We're from Stockholm, Sweden. Actually it was two bands from the beginning, it was Christoffer the guitar player, then it was me and Carl from another band, we met together one night, we just jammed for a show, and that's pretty much how we began doing music together. Then a while down the road we found Niklas, who was like an old blues singer. So we added his touch to the music. We then went to California to record our debut album in the desert, in Joshua Tree. -Stefan, Drums 

It started out like with Stefan the drummer and Christoffer the guitar player, they wanted to do a lot of shows and play live a lot, because both of our bands didn't really play live that much. So they started a band just to play a lot of gigs. And then they didn't have a bass player and I joined. Me and Stefan played together earlier. Snowy Dunes had one singer before Niklas joined, he was along for like maybe six months or something, played maybe five gigs with him or something and then he quit. -Carl, Bass 

He couldn't handle the pressure. -Stefan, Drums 

Haha crazy..!

Well, he was a great guy, but Niklas really formed the sound. -Stefan, Drums 

Thank you man. I think what Snowy Dunes needed before was its own type of personality. I think we, as a group now, have more of a group personality and more of a vibe than you had with the other guy. I write a lot of lyrics, so I bring a lot of the... Well, we all discuss the theme, but I sort of take it in some direction lyrically, and I've always kinda done that, but I think that comes from writing a lot of blues songs and a lot of delta blues guitar. I'm kinda fast at just improvising in that sense. -Niklas, Vocals 

We know each other very well on a musical level if you say so, that really helps out a lot. -Stefan, Drums 

How do you guys compose your music, do you just jam and find a good riff?

It usually starts off with Christoffer the guitar player, he usually brings like a riff he's been working on for a while and doing something. He just starts off playing and then we start jamming around it. When he comes up with a riff we like to jam for like 20, 30 minutes on the same song and do variations on the riff and then come up with new stuff with that and then we try to use... yeah, like a lot of bands do, we try to use all those small things you find during the jam. -Carl, Bass 

Yeah, for the first album it was mostly stuff from Christoffer's old band that we sort of jammed together into new songs, recorded in the desert in Joshua Tree, that definitely puts a feeling on it as well. It was like this big process of taking those songs, building into new songs and giving it a certain sound. -Stefan, Drums 

Sometimes we'll work on a song, but like before I came in, they had lots of riffs, but they had no ear exposed to it. So I would just sit and write, write, write, write lyrics you know. Then I would come up with a good line and then we would tweak that a little bit and then... and then... it's often jamming. For our song "Atlantis Part 1", I had one line of lyrics written before we started to record it. -Niklas, Vocals 

Yeah that song was some kind of an experiment. The funny thing was actually it was not decided what it was going to be, it was just like a jam, a long jam, basically. -Stefan, Drums 

Exactly. Just a big jam, the lyrics are improvised, NIklas had like one line, then Christoffer came in with another thing he had on guitar around. The song just worked itself out by itself, we didn't do anything, more or less; we just played the song, which is pretty cool. -Carl, Bass 

And you guys, about influences, what are yours, personally?

Well, I play bass and my influences are Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath because has a really fluent style and lot of fills, a lot of jazzy stuff. I also like John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin, because he has a lot of melody. Those are the bands I listen to the most: Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin. I also love Captain Beyond, which is terrific band from the 70s and also another band, more or less modern, from the 90's, called Bigelf. They're a really cool LA band, it's heavy, it's like a mix between Black Sabbath, The Beatles and Pink Floyd. I like that, heavy but also melodic. -Carl, Bass

I have a variety of influences. I play a lot of different instruments as well. I think a lot of my fascination is with old blues men, I like a lot of that kind of stuff. I definitely... Captain Beefheart I could list as an influence, because just the rawness of it and the surrealness and I kinda try and incorporate a little of that craziness into my stage show, but also in the way I sing and stuff like that. Also of course Jim Morrison, The Doors. About newer bands: I like Mondo Drag a lot, yeah. But then, I mean, I can get down with a lot of different shit, I mean James Brown was a fucking awesome singer, man. -Niklas, Vocals

Do you listen to Gospel, Niklas? Because this morning during your concert I saw you were like giving the power of god on somebody's head with your hands haha it was funny. 

Haha yeah I always was just fascinated with that whole evangelist thing, like a "wake meeting". Like that old soul singer, that kinda like just give everything man, until the voice fucking just like, was just destroyed completely, that whole thing, just singing with your entire body, that was really cool to me. -Niklas, Vocals

Yeah, well the same thing for me, you know, as a drummer, I'd say Keith Moon, John Bonham and Mitch Mitchell and drummers like that, you know. I guess those are my primary influences, but of course newer bands like Graveyard, you know, the bands at this festival, Dead Meadow and Orange Goblin. Awesome bands as well like Sleep and stuff like that. I listen to that a lot. Black Sabbath of course. -Stefan, Drums

From: https://morefuzz.net/fuzzy-interviews/snowy-dunes/ 

Gaupa - Mjölksyra

Having a unique sound is something every band and artist strives for, sadly this is somewhat of a rarity in rock music and this is mainly because a lot of bands and artists are, intentionally or unintentionally, a sum of their influences. Every now and then though a band comes along that buck this trend and arrives with a sound that is completely and utterly original. Sweden's Gaupa are one such band, the Falun quintet of Emma Näslund (vocals), David Rosberg (guitar), Daniel Nygren (guitar), Erik Jerka Sävström (bass) and Jimmy Hurtig (drums), jam an unconventional groove that takes in aspects of psych, prog, folk and hard rock and presents them in such a way that you would be hard pressed to mistake them for any other band, something you will no doubt come to realise when giving their second full length album "Feberdröm" a spin.
If your going to try to catch your listeners attention from the outset then you need to grab their interest with something that hits hard and leaves an impression and you could not come up with a better song to do that than opener "Vakuum" a crunching rocker packed with rotating guitar motifs and driven by a tight but fluid rhythm section. It also helps if your a vocalist has a voice that is powerful and unique and can give your songs a whole extra dimension and dynamic. Gaupa have such a vocalist in Emma Näslund. her vocals possessing an endearing crackle and pop that will inevitably draw comparisons with the alt/pop princess Bjork, however where the elfin Icelandic chanteuse tends to get a little shouty and screamy at times Näslund soars, roars and even whispers with confidence, power and supreme control. Musically Gaupa are a revelation a band able to shift up and down the gears with consummate ease ,a band able to switch from crunching and heavy to serene and lilting in an instant, Sävström and Hurtig supplying a diverse array of rhythmic groove for guitarists Rosberg and Nygren to decorate with a mix of growling refrains, soaring lead work and gently swept arpeggios. As well as having the vocals and the musicianship Gaupa also have the songs, heavy rockers that crunch and growl ("Where The Emperor's Grows"), folkish psychedelic laments with proggish undertones ("Grycksbo Gånglåt"), heavy blues workouts ("Alfahonan {Shooting Blanks"}) plus many more that will dazzle, delight and leave you wanting to hit replay again and again.  From: http://stonerking1.blogspot.com/2020/04/gaupa-feberdrom-review.html

Soundgarden - My Wave

Soundgarden’s Superunknown is filled with tracks with odd time signatures, which makes its popular appeal all the more impressive, and the music has a momentum to it that’s akin to music produced by bands such as Led Zeppelin (admittedly, the band is very much like Zeppelin). The single ‘The Day I Tried to Live’ alternates between the 7/8 and 4/4 time signatures wonderfully. The hook has a real unrelenting groove. Songs such as ‘Limo Wreck’ don a 15/8 time signature, which you almost never come across on a pop album. Well, it’s a hard rock, hard metal, psychedelic grunge album that became very popular. These song structures really give Superunknown a distinct character that’s charming, there is the sense that the album wasn’t created with the intention of being a mainstream sensation.  
I have to talk about the psychedelia too because it really elevates the tracks here. The second song, ‘My Wave’, has a beautiful groove and it’s topped off brilliantly by a collage of cymbals, wah-wah guitar, and vocal harmonies. The iconic single ‘Black Hole Sun’ is a neo-psychedelic classic, a real exhibition of grunge balladry whose melodicism owes more to The Beatles than Zeppelin. The Beatles influence comes through again in bassist Ben Shepherd’s effort ‘Head Down’ that has a real hypnotism that’s addictive –   again Cameron’s drumming is so instrumental in setting up the psychedelic wall of sound.
To be honest, the music and soundscapes are so great that the album’s lyrics, though good, don’t catch the ear as much. Cornell was reading a lot of Sylvia Plath at the time and it shows in some of the titles of the songs (‘Let Me Drown’, ‘Fell on Black Days’). He’s quoted to have said that such tracks are about “crawling back to the womb to die” and “realising you’re happy in the extreme”. Yeah, Plath is the apt poet to consult when experiencing such feelings. That being said, the lyrics on ‘Fell on Black Days’ for instance, aren’t bad at all, but they’re nothing compared to Thayill’s fiery guitar lines, or Cameron’s rolling drum fills, or Cornell’s catchy vocal riffs. The extent to which the sounds on the LP are so great is encapsulated on singles such as ‘Spoonman’: the integration of utensils in such a manner is inventive and executed very, very well.  From: https://www.indiependent.co.uk/album-review-superunknown-soundgarden/ 

Fiona Apple - Criminal - Live 1997

Fiona Apple wrote the biggest hit of her career in 45 minutes. In 1996, Apple was 18 years old and finishing up her debut album, Tidal. Much of it was written by the time she was 16 — songs filled with the sort of lyrical and musical depth typical of artists who've lived hard and have many years of professional songwriting behind them. Apple offered an irresistible combination to the pop music industry, including a deep alto voice and jazz-with-a-rock-edge style of songwriting. While she was polishing off the final lineup of songs for that first album in the recording studio, Apple’s label, Sony Music, asked for a “more obvious” first single. So she sat down at the piano, pounded out some C-minor chords in what we can imagine was a defiant, I’ll-show-them-a-goddamned-obvious-single huff and began: "I’ve been a bad, bad girl..." “Criminal” is the most successful single of Apple’s career. It spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, propelled sales of Tidal to more than 3 million copies, and got her music noticed by the kinds of people who give out Grammy and MTV awards. She won one of each for the song alone.
“Criminal” showcased her brooding, brilliant style. It had a killer hook. It placed Apple in a sweet spot among the Lilith Fair-ready artists of the time, somewhere between Tracy Chapman and Alanis Morissette. It made her a star, possibly a bigger star than she was ready to be. In the two years following Tidal’s initial release in July 1996, Apple went from being an unknown child of divorce to posing for the cover of Rolling Stone and performing on Saturday Night Live. She was a survivor of rape (who said she was sometimes so afraid of men that she refused to sit down next to them) suddenly thrust into the spotlight and subjected to carnivorous media scrutiny. She was a girl becoming a woman, finding her voice, and forming an opinion about it all at the same time. Apple has described “Criminal” as a song about using her sexuality to get what she wants — sex, power, attention. Her lyrics imply that these actions are involuntary, but regrettable. She’s telling herself, either with conviction or as a warning (we can’t be sure): You don’t need sexual game play. You have talent. You’re smarter than that. But she’s also feeling guilty for giving into what she knows she doesn’t need to do. Many among us can relate. Apple has said that she writes her songs for herself; they are merely extensions of her journal set to music. And when a female pop star rejects the use of her sexuality as the primary bartering chip for stardom — a temptation plenty of women on the verge of fame have a hard time passing up — it’s a powerful statement against the status quo. Alas, the video for “Criminal” seemed to tell another story altogether: A gaunt-looking Apple slinks around in various stages of undress: naked in the bathtub; furiously disrobing in the kitchen; lounging underneath, on top of, and in between semi-naked, listless men. Watching it, you’d be forgiven for feeling the urge to cry, “Hypocrite!” What is she here if not a sexual nymph embodying the very thin/glam/false image she purports to reject? In interviews following the video’s release, Apple admitted to feeling uncomfortable about it, but not because of the perceived lascivious imagery. The sexual deviance on display accurately captured the guilt she felt for using sex to get her way; but it was also a source of pleasure for her. It was her body image that gave her pause.
In an interview with Rolling Stone in January 1998, Apple admitted that she had developed an eating disorder following her rape at age 12. “It wasn’t about getting thin, it was about getting rid of the bait that was attached to my body,” she said. Getting naked in a strange, 1970s-style basement filled with languid, overnight male guests looked, to a lot of people, like she was just another girl allowing herself to be manipulated by the machine. The media pounced, reacting with what we’d now call skinny-shaming and slut-shaming. The New York Times dubbed her “a Lolita-ish suburban party girl.” Referring back to the video in 2005, the New Yorker said she looked like an “underfed Calvin Klein model.” The importance placed on how she looked in that video haunted Apple throughout her career. She reflected on the “Criminal” video in Interview magazine in 1997: “I’ve gone through stages where I hate my body so much that if I pass a mirror that’s the end of my day,” she said. “So it was a personal mission to do that video. To convince myself, you’ve got something else going on here.” Apple was trying to say that perfect isn’t the only way to be beautiful, even in a music video which, on its surface, looked to be saying the exact opposite. She wanted to convey a message of body positivity and she wanted girls to see that message. It’s what she meant when she took the stage at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards to accept her Best New Artist statue and told everyone watching: “This world is bullshit.” Not a lot of people got it. She was labeled a bratty, ungrateful weirdo. Every young artist is tested, and the female ones are tested even more brutally. Apple knew that if she chose to remain in the music business, she’d be in for a long tenure under the microscope. And she knew she’d evolve, prove her critics wrong — or maybe prove them right sometimes — but it didn’t matter either way. Her music. Her message. Her rules. The fact that Apple releases albums whenever she wants further proves that she’s the one in control. Her second studio album came three years after Tidal, the third six years later, and her fourth and most recent another seven years after that. She even titles them with long-winded verses that don’t fit neatly into headlines. “Criminal” gave us all the reasons in the world to misunderstand Apple. Her lyrics imply that she’s begging for help to even understand herself. "Heaven help me for the way I am/ Save me from these evil deeds before I get them done..." But perhaps, instead, it’s a declaration of self-assuredness; another pep talk to be who she is — the good, the bad, the sullen, the happy, the outspoken, the shy — and to be perfectly happy with whatever may come of living life with such authenticity. "I know tomorrow brings the consequence at hand/ But I keep livin’ this day like the next will never come..." There was a much more subtle (and overlooked) line in that infamous VMA speech that sums up Apple’s music and her message: “Go with yourself.” It’s the feminist anthem perhaps she never even realized she wrote for herself — and for the rest of us.  From: https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2015/07/90367/fiona-apple-criminal-feminist-anthem

 

Mandrill – Live on Soul! 1971

Mandrill may have been too good for their own good. The heart of the band were the Wilson brothers - Louis "Sweet Lou", Richard "Dr. Ric" and Carlos "Mad Dog" – who created a tasty blend of soul, blues, rock, Afro-Latin elements and jazz. It was a strongly danceable sound, but the band's often complex rhythms and lengthy solos didn't lend themselves to easily cutting a piece down to a shorter version for radio exposure. Nonetheless. 
Mandrill created some great music during their decade or so of playing and writing. While the Wilsons were the clear creative force, they were ably assisted by Omar Mesa, Claude "Coffee" Cave. Charlie Padro and Bundie Cenac. Between them, they played more than 20 instruments. The Wilsons were in high school in Brooklyn. New York, when they joined the school band. After they got more proficient on their instruments, the three brothers began to play in small clubs around their neighborhood until they were drafted into the military in the '60s. One Wilson, Ric also attended medical school and v/as one of the few physicians to divide his time between medicine and music. 
After meeting their military obligations, the Wilsons got more serious about their music. Placing an ad for other players in New York's "Village Voice", they got more than 200 responses. They included guitarist Mesa and the other members of the original 1968 line-up. Most of the players were experienced musicians with diverse backgrounds and musical interests that helped define the varied sound of what the Wilsons decided to call Mandrill. By 1971. Mandrill was signed to Polydor Records. Their debut album, "Mandrill" (Polydor 4050), was released in early 71. 
While the album was a Top 50 seller, singles taken from it didn't sell. Things looked up with "Mandrill Is", which came out in the spring of 1972. It sold well and so did the single "Get It AH". which moved into the Billboard rhythm and blues Top 40 in the fall of 72. Mandrill had their biggest hit in the spring of 1973 with "Fencewalk", a Top 30 R&B single that just missed the pop Top 50. "Composite Truth", which spawned "Fencewalk", was a Top 30 album and would be their biggest-selling release. It also contained another hit in the Top 30 "Hang Loose". 
Their record sales resulted in a busy touring schedule, which was fine with the guys in the band. In a 1973 interview Ric Wilson said they wanted to stay as busy as possible. Added Carlos, "Our music is for the people. If we don't keep playing we lose touch." Mandrill proved they were still in touch with a fourth best-selling album - "Just Outside Of Town" - in the fall of 73. It contained two popular singles: "Mango Meat" and "Love Song". In 1974 they did better on the singles charts, especially with "Positive Thing", which went Top 30 on the R&B charts. While times had changed for Mandrill, when they were at their peak the band produced a tasty melange of styles that may have been a challenge for radio programmers. But anyone who saw them live or heard their albums got the message to their music.  From: http://therockasteria.blogspot.com/2013/02/mandrill-mandrill-1971-us-groovy-latin.html

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - You've Really Got a Hold on Me

You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me was originally the B-side of a largely-forgotten record, the upbeat Happy Landing. Both songs were taken from the forthcoming Miracles LP The Fabulous Miracles, and despite one being an uptempo rocker and the other a ballad deep enough to drown an elephant, the two share plenty of similarities. They were both recorded on the same day, during the same session. They were both heavily inspired by Sam Cooke records: the A-side by Having A Party, and this B-side by Bring It On Home To Me. They’re both based around the same musical gimmick, Marv Tarplin providing two unforgettable, but almost interchangeable, twangy guitar riffs.
Of course, it’s now known that Motown had backed the wrong horse. Upon release, Happy Landing went nowhere, but once DJs started flipping the record over, You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me pushed this single to rack up sales of more than a million copies and sailed effortlessly to the top of the R&B charts, the Miracles’ second such R&B #1 hit. So it goes in the music business; you never can tell.
Well, alright, sometimes you can, obviously. But despite this song’s subsequent success, it’s still easy to understand why Happy Landing, a fine uptempo rocker of a record, was the more promising of the two sides, and thus a wholly understandable choice of single. Many accounts written after the fact make it out to be almost unfathomable that You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me wasn’t originally thought of that way, but it makes sense enough without the benefit of hindsight.
You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me – “You’ve” is correct, incidentally, rather than “You”; it seems to have been the Beatles who retitled the song after the line Smokey actually sings on the record – was famously written by a bored and frustrated Smokey Robinson in his hotel room while on a business trip to New York in his capacity as Motown vice-president, and seems to have started out as little more than a freely-admitted attempt to write a ballad in the style of the aforementioned Sam Cooke record. In interviews, it almost comes across as though this were an experiment, a diverting little project that wasn’t meant to come to anything. Instead, it’s become a monument, one of Smokey’s most famous songs.  From: https://motownjunkies.co.uk/2010/10/14/242/

Myracle Brah - Goodbye World

It could be suggested that the musical equivalent of the classic admonition never to judge a book by its cover is to never judge a band’s music by the band’s silly name. Rock and roll’s history is full of seriously talented bands with less-than-serious-sounding names. Many a review of Baltimore’s Myracle Brah has spent time dissecting the band’s moniker; surely, by this, their seventh album frontman Andy Bopp and the rest of the band would prefer we all grow up a bit, stifle our snickers, and focus on their music.
It’s certainly music worth focusing on. On Can You Hear the Myracle Brah? , the group turns out a collection of fifteen highly engaging power pop songs. From jangly guitar licks to big hooks, forward moving tempos to short but sweet structures, each element of the band’s sound is pitch perfect in recalling the glory of the types of artists listed by the band’s label as influences: The Byrds, Badfinger, and The Raspberries.
The album starts in brilliant fashion with the one-two punch of “No More Words” and “First Kiss.” The former features a timeless sounding vocal from Bopp set against the tuneful passages he plays on guitar; the latter is buoyed by steady, effervescent rhythms being played by each instrument while Bopp apologizes to someone for wasting her first kiss.
As the record progresses, other definite highlights emerge. “Angeleen” gives Bopp a chance to walk a mile in McCartney’s shoes; his vocal turn and melodic sensibilities here are reminiscent of the songwriter’s post-Beatles work. “Run to the Voices” is marked by a chord progression that, though fairly simple, nicely compliments Bopp’s melody while “A Traveling Song” is a great, straight-ahead rocker driven by the insistent drumming of Greg Schroeder. Arguably the album’s highlight, “Hurry Now” takes its shape and being from a soulful Motown piano groove and a sweetly cooed chorus.  From: https://www.popmatters.com/myracle-brah-can-you-hear-the-myracle-brah-2496190932.html

Pepper Rabbit - Lake House

Los Angeles based Pepper Rabbit was practically born in New Orleans. In fact, the NOLA sessions for their debut LP (Beauregard) left such a lasting impression on the young duo that it continues to haunt their sophomore album, Red Velvet Snow Ball, from the surreal art on its sleeve to the cake-flavored snow cone that gave the mind-expanding record its name.
“At the root of each song is something simple,” explains Xander, “whether it be the chord progression, the instrumentation, or the lyrics. But the most important aspect of this record is the freedom we gave ourselves to experiment and construct something that’s easy to get lost in.”
Stepping outside a standard guitar, bass, drums setup certainly didn’t hurt. While Luc’s main focus is the rhythm section, Xander’s interest in varying instruments came from working at a vintage music store on credit. Taking different instruments home every week, he would then watch clips on YouTube and teach himself to play. “I don’t like to be limited to only a handful of tools,” he says. “Having a lot of options lying around makes it hard to get stuck.”
Incorporating around 11 instruments—including ukuleles, clarinet, horns and a striking array of dusty analog synths—the Pepper Rabbit sound can be described as a loose brand of psychedelic pop music, rounded out by Xander’s deftly-layered loops and a third touring member on bass and synths (currently NOLA native Jonathan Allen).
“Unlike the last album,” Xander says, “we didn’t try and pull from any generation in particular. We’d just sit down and take the songs in whatever direction felt natural without deviating too far from a core pop song structure. And in the end I think it comes across exactly as we hoped.”  From: https://www.kaninerecords.com/pepper-rabbit/

Poco - Calico Lady

Poco dealt with a lot during the recording of their debut album -- the sudden departure of bassist Randy Meisner, the frustration of working with an engineer who didn't quite get what they were trying for, and a lot of pressure to deliver a solid collection of country-rock songs -- and came up with this startlingly great record, as accomplished as any of Buffalo Springfield's releases, and also reminiscent of the Beatles and the Byrds. Pickin' Up the Pieces is all the more amazing when one considers that Jim Messina and George Grantham were both covering for the departed Meisner in hastily learned capacities on bass and vocals, respectively. The title track is practically an anthem for the virtues of country-rock, with the kind of sweet harmonizing and tight interplay between the guitars that the Byrds, the Burritos, and others had to work awhile to achieve. The mix of good-time songs ("Consequently So Long," "Calico Lady"), fast-paced instrumentals ("Grand Junction"), and overall rosy feelings makes this a great introduction to the band, as well as a landmark in country-rock only slightly less important (but arguably more enjoyable than) Sweetheart of the Rodeo.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/album/pickin-up-the-pieces-mw0000175992#review