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RELATIVELY CLEAN RIVERS - 1976

Former Beat Of The Earth leader Phil Pearlman assembled Relatively Clean Rivers in the early '70s and eventually released this excellent rural rock album in 1975. Although Pearlman's first recorded effort was a surf/hot rod 45 entitled Chrome Reversed Rails which appeared on the Fink label in the mid-'60s, it was with Beat Of The Earth that he began to forge a distinctive musical voice. The band was one of the earliest-known experimental bands with a sound reminiscent of their East Coast counterparts, The Velvet Underground, whose influence is often discernable on Relatively Clean Rivers. That said, RCR is recognized by those fortunate enough to have heard it as one of the very finest albums of the era, with a clearly-defined American sound akin to The Grateful Dead in all their American Beauty pomp or CSNY circa Déjà Vu. An album highly recommended to anyone even remotely interested in '70s West Coast music or simply great music in general.

Tracks :

1. Easy Ride
2. Journey Through the Valley of O
3. Babylon
4. Last Flight to Eden
5. Hello Sunshine
Prelude*
6. They Knew What to Say
7. The Persian Caravan
8. A Thousand Years

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THE C.A QUINTET - TRIP THRU HELL 1968

There's not much to compare this album to, even in the weird musical climate of 1968 -- there are echoes of Country Joe The Fish and the Doors, perhaps, in the mysterioso organ and morbid imagery. Not that Ken Erwin was in the same league as Jim Morrison, or even Country Joe, as a songwriter. But (with the exception of the brassy good-time cut "Underground Music"), psychedelia was very rarely this dementedly gloomy. Occasional pealing bells and curdling screams (to say nothing of the Boschlike cover art) add to the foggy underworld menace. Reissued without authorization in Europe in the 1980s, the 1995 domestic CD is a first-class job: the 12 bonus cuts gather some rare non-LP singles, alternate takes, and previously unreleased songs, and the liner notes feature extensive interviews with Ken Erwin and engineer Steve Longman.

- Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

Tracks :

1.Trip Thru Hell (Part 1)
2.Colorado Mourning
3.Cold Spider
4.Underground Music
5.Sleepy Hollow Lane
6.Smooth as Silk
7.Trip Thru Hell (Part 2)
8.Dr. Of Philosophy
9.Blow to My Soul
10.Ain't No Doubt About It - (previously unreleased)
11.Mickey's Monkey
12.I Put a Spell on You - (previously unreleased)
13.I Shot the King - (previously unreleased)
14.Fortune Teller's Lie - (previously unreleased)
15.Sadie Lavone - (previously unreleased)
16.Bury Me in a Marijuana Field - (previously unreleased)
17.Colorado Mourning - (alternate version)
18.Underground Music - (alternate version)
19.Smooth as Silk - (alternate version)

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OCTOPUS - OCTOPUS 1969

Generic psychedelic rock of the late '60s, with plenty of lengthy meandering jamming and blues-rock guitar licks. The 16-minute "Fruk Juice" (sic) is about the most interesting track, although the excessive length betrays the callow enthusiasm of musicians who listened to the live half of Cream's Wheels of Fire over and over again. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide













Tracks :

Dedication
Harold Knows (Better Than You)
Sleepy Blues
The War
I Think It's Understood
U.S. Blues
Fruk Juice

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[ BY REQUEST] RANDOM HOLD - BURN THE BUILDINGS/THE VIEW FROM HERE/ETCETERAVILLE

The rest of the Random Hold Albums . No covers.










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THE STORM - THE STORM 1974

Practiced a very progressive hard rock influenced by Deep Purple (listening to the group's keyboard is inevitable to think of them). They were formed by brothers Angel and Diego Ruiz and his cousin Luis Genil, which respectively touching the guitar, the drums and keyboard, and Jose Torres on bass and vocals.

Born in 1969, as the stormy, but a developer decided to rename a day that went to Madrid to accompany the singer Blume of the Storm.

Many people know them to dry by Storm, but I've seen many times the name of the band as The Storm, so, as you call them.

This LP is very psychedelic, with rudimentary English and Spanish at the time some titles (in the letters could not, censorship is not ...), forgetting that the instrumental .. A curious fact that suffered and many groups of the era was that they had to sing in English to be free from censorship.Also curious is the anecdote for veáis as was the era, which counts Jose Carlos Molina (nu) had to change the name of one of his first bands Dust, censorship was bad because they are called Dust.The fact is that the disc contains songs like the rabid 'I'm busy,' 'Woman mine', 'It's all right' or the instrumental "One man called Fernandez de Cordoba, 'obviously dedicated to one of the greatest entertainers of the scene at the time, or the impressive displays of virtuosity of 'Crazy machine.Leaving on tour and get a major success, particularly in Madrid and Bilbao which become their adoptive cities, but not to forget his beloved Sevilla, which are in love.It is in this era when sharing cartel with the mythical Queen in Barcelona. It was at a performance at the Palacio de los Deportes, where the band was a major feat. The battery personally congratulated them and told them that "what am I going to do one? After your performance, it goes" and even Freddie Mercury fell to congratulate them, and liked him so much the performance of the band, which they wanted to carry on world tour with them, a view supported their manager.Offered them a juicy contract with EMI, but due to problems with Fernandez de Cordoba, was not carried out eventually.
(Google translate - Spanish > English )

Tracks :

1 I've gotta tell you mama (3:07)
2 I'am busy (3:11)
3 Un señor llamado Fernandez de Cordoba (5:42)
4 Woman mine (4:44)
5 It's all right (2:46)
6 I don't know (3:33)
7 Crazy machine (6:58)
8 Experiencia sin organo (3:43)

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SPRING FEVER - WOODSTOCK 1970

Very rare album from 1970 from a three piece Canadian band on the same label as Christmas. The album features some late '60's styled hippy psych rock with cool guitar work throughout and covers of tracks such as CSN's "A Long time Coming" Morganfield's "I Just Want to Make Love To You" Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" plus other similar period statements.

Tracks :

1. Woodstock
2. A Long Time Coming
3. She Caught My Katie
4. I Just Want To Make Love To You
5. She's Looking Good
6. Oh Baby Hold Me
7. Watch Yourself
8. Gimme Shelter
9. She Moves Me not rated
10. Mama, What About Your Daughter
11. Spring Fever

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EXODUS - THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DAY 1980

Do not get confused this Polish band with san Francisco-based thrash metal band with Metallica’ Kirk Hammet. This one is a symphonic prog band established in 1976. They used to play mainly at the Warsaw student club Riviera-Remont where they had a lot of young fans. In the first half of 80-ies Exodus had a tournee in the USSR and West Germany. They recorded a few TV programs, did many radio recordings and released a few singles that were received very well. But singles don't adequately render the specific character of their music. They had the tendency for creating bigger forms of music and wanted their concerts to become para-theatrical shows.

In 1980 they released the first album “The Most Beautiful Day” where they placed a few shorter lyrical tracks and 20-minute great title suite. So, Exodus came out into picture around the same time with Marillion, IQ, Pallas and pendragon. At that time no one claimed a music like neo-progressive even though this album reminds me so (with more symphonic prog, actually).

The main attraction of this album is its Polish language being used as lyrics. It makes the music much joyful compared with if the music is in English. The first track “Ci wybrani” (4:42) serves like a hard rock music with raw drumming sounds. But the next track changes to a bit like “I Believe in Father Christmas” of ELP, especially on the way acoustic guitar is used nicely here. “Zloty promien slonca” (5:15)with its long sustain multi-layered keyboards makes a nice symphonic prog music. “Widok Z góry najwyzszej” (5:45) explores Hackettian guitar with keyboard solo. The music flows mellow with keyboard and nice melody while guitar fills dominate the rhythm section. The attention is probably on the epic “Ten najpiekniejszy dzien” which consumes 19:20 minutes of duration. This epic makes this album truly an excellent one with its energy, dynamics and multi-structure of the composition. You might find the music in a similar vein with Steve Hackett’s early works like “Please Don’t Touch” or “Voyage of The Acolyte” with some flavors of Genesis. Even though influences from other bands are unavoidable, but the composition is really excellent. There are many music breaks in symphonic style using long sustain keyboard work.

Overall, I conclude that this is an excellent addition to any prog music collection.

Tracks :

1. Ci wybrani (4:42)
2. Stary noe (4:24)
3. Zloty promien slonca (5:15)
4. Widok Z góry najwyzszej (5:45)
5. Ten najpiekniejszy dzien (19:20)
6. Ponury Pejzaz (6:08)
7. Uspokojenie (6:12)
8.W Kalendarzu mojego Zycia (6:08)

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RUMPLE STILTZKEN COMUNE - WRONG FROM THE BEGINNING 1970

I don't hear it very often that a band is compared to Van Der Graaf Generator. In the bio, Rumple Stiltzken Comune (I'll call them RSC from now on...) are described as a combination of VDGG and PFM. It took a while before I knew this description is accurate in some degree at least. But before I was at that point, I was enchanted by the music of this album. Yes, a beautiful album.

What part of VDGG is in their music, is the sound. I can't describe it very well, but it's the way the organ sounds, or some of the melodies or changes therein. If the singer sings very high, it is remotely reminiscent of Hammill's voice. But for the better part, RSC are less heavy, less melancholic. They sound happier. And that's where PFM comes in. The band played a lot of gigs with those Italians, and like the bio says, the band's music is more like Italian Seventies' prog. Where VDGG could be very agressive, RSC are more mysterious. VDGG could sound like you're in Dante's Inferno, RSC make you feel like you're listening to Alice In Wonderland. But please note that you don't have to like VDGG to like this. Let not this comparison scare you away.
In the faster movements, the music also reminds me of American bands Lift and Pentwater. Complex, but not too complex, and still very melodic.

That's the objective part. I couldn't think of any other ways to describe the music, and hope it's enough to make you curious to listen to this wonderful album. I like it very much, because it's not too complex, very melodic, and moody, dark, mysterious. Sad at times, and a bit melancholic at times.

Then there's the production. The letter I received tells me this is the first Black Rills Records re-issue that has been remixed. I don't have the original LP, so I can't compare, but I do know that this is a very good production, easily comparable to the better productions from the Seventies. And the album is definitely worth it! I hope I have made you curious to listen to this album. Especially those who know my musical preferences from my previous reviews, and think we share musical interest, this is highly recommended stuff! It is among the best records in my collection. (Jerry van Kooten)

Tracks :

Flipping (7:19
Wrong From The Beginning (8:17)
To Be Or Not To Be (8:21)
The Closed Boy (9:57)

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STONE THE CROWS - THE BBC SESSIONS VOL.1 1976-1970

Stone the Crows, fronted by the absolutely dynamite Maggie Bell (remember the female voice in Rod Stewart's "Every Picture Tells a Story"?), were a band that never scored an audience in America, though they should have. They were a relatively established act in England, where their heavy brand of psychedelic blues-rock went over big in clubs and with crowds. These nine cuts on the Strange Fruit label represent Stone the Crows doing what they did best -- playing live (albeit in a radio studio). Les Harvey was a monster guitarist who had heard Jimi Hendrix and took in his sense of feeling and time in digging into the blues and rock, rather than trying just to ape his method. The 13-minute version of Bob Dylan's "The Ballad of Hollis Brown" is a testament to that. There is also a fantastic workout of Bell's "Freedom Road" here. James Dewar, who left later to become the Robin Trower Band's vocalist, is represented here by two of his originals, "Friend" and "Raining in Your Heart." This first volume of these recordings is indispensable to anyone looking at the hard rocking British heavy blues of the late '60s and early '70s. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Tracks :

1. Raining in You Heart
2. Touch of Your Love Hang
3. Freedom Road
4. Hollis Brown
5. Raining in Your Heart
6. Friend
7. Mad Dogs &Englishmen
8. Love 74
9. Things Are Getting Better

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