THE DRUIDS - BURNT OFFERING 1970

The Druids were Derby based and ran the Druids Folk Club at the Chestnut pub in Normanton. Other folk clubs at the time were the legendary Peasmouldia, which in its hey day entertained 300 audience every Thursday night. It was at Peasmouldia that John and Keith, along with Bob Fairbrother formed the Springhill Singers, the band that morphed into the Druids with the temporary help of John Squires, who later played with John Leonard, the radio producer responsible for many BBC Radio 2 folk programmes.

It was at the Druids folk club that Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger recruited the band to the Argo label (a sub division of Decca Records) and the next few years included extensive semi pro touring, concerts, radio concerts and folk dances. The first album, Burnt Offering is a collector’s item and copies change hands at fairly inflated prices. The collaboration with the Band of The Scots Guards, Martin Wyndham Reed and several others produced an album, Songs and Music of the Redcoats, which had a very long shelf life and became the song ‘bible’ of the battle re-enactment societies until superceded by Strawhead and the Sharp soundtracks by John Tams. The final album was ‘Pastime With Good Company’, the title coming from a track which didn’t feature on the album. Instead it had been recorded as a ‘folk-pop’ single with a Druids harmony vocal backed by medieval band ‘St George’s Canzona’ and some session musicians who normally played with people like Julie Driscoll: Jeff Clyne on bass, Trevor Tompkins on drums and an American keyboard player called Dave MacRae. It was released and died a death but appeared later on the legendary album by Giles Farnaby’s Dream Band led by Trevor Crozier.

The Druids separated in the early 1970s. Mick Hennessy joined Roaring Jelly, Keith Kendrick went on to a varied career as a full time folkie, Judi Longden disappeared into media land and Dave Broughton went up to the northern tip of Scotland, Caithness, where he continued practising to be a fine fiddler. JA went on to join Muckram Wakes.

Tracks :

thursday night +brian borouhme +frost is all over
the trooper and his horse
sailor's life
general taylor
salvation band
hunting the hare +exile's jig
our captain cried all hands
fare thee well enniskillen
the cuckoo's nest
the boar's head carol
the christmas hare
brisk young widow
the prickly bush
madam bonaparte +roxburgh castle
the farmer's three sons
gabriel john
the butcher and the parson

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DEN ZA DEN - DEN ZA DEN 1977

The 11 tracks on this Yugoslavian obscurity could easily have been outtakes from the second or third Iceberg album, the pulling together of extreme virtuosos on keys, guitar, drums, and bass to perform a pyrotechnic jazz rock of great vigor. Like Iceberg, Den Za Den were influenced by the fusion greats of the 70s like Return To Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Weather Report although the presence of Spanish melodies seem a bit unusual for a Yugoslavian group. As the album progresses, one can't help but be awestruck by the technical prowess here, particularly the drummer who literally rips and tears through the pieces as if possessed by the spirit of Billy Cobham. If you're a fan of synth and guitar solos over fluid fusion rhythms, this odd obscurity is surely worth the trouble finding.

Tracks :

1. Svadba (Dragia Soldatovic - Dena za den) 4:08

2. Galeb (Dragia Soldatovic - Dena za den) 3:56

3. Ciganka (Arian Dema - Den za den) 3:03

4. Zedj (Vladimir Jankulovski - Den za den) 3:30

5. Fatamorgana (Arian Dema - Den za den) 4:02

6. Cocor ritam (Dimitar Cocorovski) 0:59

B

1. A bila je tako draga (Arian Dema - Den za den) 4:06

2. Letnja ljubav (Dragia Soldatovic - Dena za den) 3:25

3. Vodopad (Dragia Soldatovic - Dena za den) 2:41

4. Jutro i noc (Dragia Soldatovic - Dena za den) 3:55

5. Tako treba (Dragia Soldatovic - Dena za den) 5:50

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HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

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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