Kitchens of Distinction - Strange Free World (1991)

With the help of noted producer Hugh Jones (Echo and the Bunnymen, R.E.M., among many others), the Kitchens sound more comfortable with the studio and just plain bigger. The amazing opener, "Railwayed," starts with a sweet, echoed guitar riff aiming for the heavens above a brisk rhythm exchange then kicks into a catchy chorus. Following that, the re-recording of their early single "Quick as Rainbows" turns out even better, combining a great lyric melody — and a great lyric, reflecting on a person's inability to find love, delivered with Fitzgerald's trademark dry yet emotional voice — with ripping music, building higher and higher as the song goes until Swales' guitar beautifully explodes over everything down to the final angry lyric. Strange Free World can't top that sublime beginning, but it often gets quite close. Fitzgerald's gay-themed lyrics seem almost more urgent and in many ways more powerful this time around, as on the forceful declaration of "Gorgeous Love" in the face of homophobia and in the sad, angry reflection on the past captured only in "Polaroids." Musically, the tunes sound quite ambitious in many ways, often steering away from conventional verse-chorus-verse formulas; "Aspray" is a fine example, ending with a repeated chant of "Beach/Burned/Nausea!" while guitars crash like waves. World ends excellently, with the band's best tune, "Drive that Fast" (a hymn to escape and self-determination that charges forward and takes no prisoners), leading into the love-drunk "Within the Daze of Passion" and the slower-paced but still big-sounding "Under the Sky, Inside the Sea," with trumpets by Kick Horns member Roddy Lorimar. Quite a fine effort.
Tracks
1. Railwayed
2. Quick as Rainbows
3. Hypnogogic
4. He Holds Her, He Needs Her
5. Polaroids
6. Gorgeous Love
7. Aspray
8. Drive That Fast
9. Within the Daze of Passion
10. Under the Sky, Inside the Sea
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Raven - Raven (1969)

Raven was first discovered internationally by then Beatle, "the late George Harrison." In 1968, Harrison was sent a live tape recording ("Live at the Inferno") of the band by Raven's personal manager, Marty Angelo. Harrison liked the tape and sent a telegram to Angelo expressing his desire to produce Raven for the Beatles newly formed record label, Apple Records. Harrison's interest in Raven is mentioned in a Beatles' tell-all book entitled, The Longest Cocktail Party. Angelo writes more about his experiences with Harrison and Apple Records in his book, Once Life Matters: A New Beginning. More on Raven HERE!!
Tracks
01. Feelin'Good
02. Neighbor, Neighbor
03. Green Mountain Dew
04. No Turning Back
05. Let's Eat
06. Howlin' For my Baby
07. Frumpy
08. None of your Jive
09. Bad News
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Ray Owen´s Moon - Moon (1971)

Ray Owen was the original vocalist in British outfit Juicy Lucy, and he appeared on their first self titled album in 1969. He left the band, his replacement being Paul Williams, and formed his own band, with Dick Stubbs and Les Nicol on guitars, Ian McLean on drums and Sid Gardner on bass. Their first and only album, which is quite rare and collectible, was released on Polydor Records, and it featured a number of really good riff laden tracks, in addition to a stunning version of Hendrix's "Voodoo Child", which Owen would redo in the mid 90's when he reformed his own version of Juicy Lucy. His career after Ray Owen's Moon is much of a mystery, as no record can be found of any other bands he may have featured with afterwards. As was mentioned, he reformed Juicy Lucy in the mid nineties and released an album called "Here she comes again" on HTD Records, with three unknown, but very good, musicians. For the record, Paul Williams also reformed another version of Juicy Lucy in the mid to late nineties, under the name "Blue Thunder".
Tracks
01. Talk to me
02. Try my love
03. Hey sweety
04. Free man
05. Don't matter
06. Voodoo chile
07. Ouiji
08. Mississippi woman
09. 50 years years later
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The Residents - Eskimo (1979)

The most rewarding, the most difficult, and the most accomplished of all the Residents' albums, this was their departure into the field of imaginary ethno-musicography that they had begun on "Six Things to a Cycle" on Fingerprince. Ostensibly a musical documentary on the Eskimo, this is an album of icy atmospheres, poetic electronics, and imaginary landscapes, concocted around a loose narrative told in the liner notes. There's also a subtheme of indigenous populations overrun by western commercialism (is that native chant actually "Coca Cola is Life"?). Ex-Henry Cow member Chris Cutler plays a lot of the percussion on the album, especially on the finale, "Festival of Death," the only real piece of rhythmic music here, which shines out as anything but dark or sinister. In any other group's hands this would have been a pretentious disaster, but the Residents pull it off through spirit, humor, and sheer bravado.
Tracks
1 The Walrus Hunt
2 Birth Residents
3 Arctic Hysteria
4 The Angry Angakok
5 A Spirit Steals a Child
6 The Festival of Death
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Mars Bonfire - Mars Bonfire (1968)

Mars Bonfire has earned himself rock & roll immortality, not to mention lifetime royalty checks, for penning Steppenwolf's inescapable classic "Born to Be Wild," that eternal anthem of would-be bikers and weekend hellraisers worldwide. The power of the song has been blunted over the years, thanks to endless cover versions (including a duet between Ozzy Osbourne and Miss Piggy on the Kermit Unpigged album), and ironic use in sitcoms, films, and TV commercials. A listen to Bonfire's own recording of "Born to Be Wild" on this solo outing can remind one just how powerful the song really is. Bonfire's take is druggier than the balls-out Steppenwolf hit, a slippery psychedelic tone without the dramatic dynamics and steamroller rhythm. It's still an upbeat rocker with twisting fuzz guitar leads, but Bonfire's vocals suggest a college kid dropping acid at a house party, while John Kay makes the same lyric into a threat. Bonfire didn't possess the macho bombast of his ex-bandmates; his self-titled debut is a lost masterpiece of introspective psych-pop full of great tunes. The lead track, "Ride With Me, Baby" lays out everything on his mind with a groovy, dirty, Sunset Strip vibe. Bonfire manages to get out lines like "the beautiful thing has fallen thru with cancer, death, deformity" without sounding clumsy, and he catalogs his worries, woes, and hopes over six minutes of overdriven organ and guitar. "Night Time's for You" is another great rocker, a rather sinister celebration of the dark, while "Sad Eyes" and "Christina's Arms" are sweeter pop numbers. Even at his most sensitive, Bonfire never drifts into the ether, keeping things grounded in hard rock instrumentation, so that even ballads like "Tenderness" and "How Much Older Will We Grow?" are loud, full-band affairs. Bonfire's talent as a songwriter was obvious to Steppenwolf, as they would go on to raid this album for a full four songs over the course of their career ("Tenderness," "Ride With Me, Baby," and "The Night Time's for You" all appeared on For Ladies Only). This debut was repackaged a year later with a different track order as Faster Than the Speed of Life, but Bonfire was unable to net any hits of his own, and he retreated into private life
Tracks
A1 Ride With Me, Baby (6:07)
02 Born To Be Wild (2:58)
03 Sad Eyes (2:25)
04 Lady Moon Walker (2:45)
05 Tenderness (4:30)
06 How Much Older Will We Grow? (5:47)
07 So Alive With Love (2:45)
08 In Christina's Arms (3:15)
09 Little Girl Lost (2:35)
10 Time To Fly (2:30)
11 Night Time's For You (2:12)
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Kaleidoscope - Incredible (1969)

The musicians in this band are all first rate, with chops and groove to spare. Why this band is so obscure is beyond me. Of course, I then set out to find everything they ever recorded! Yes, they are that good!

"Incredible Kaleidoscope" is full of exploration. The first track, "Lie To Me" is a very groovy middle-eastern psychedelic rocker with exceptional rhythm section work from the newest members at that time, the amazing Paul Lagos (Drums) and Stuart Brotman (Bass).

Track 2, "Let the Good Love Flow" is a slightly goofy country rock tune with some nice violin work from Templeton Parcely.

Track 3, is Kaleidoscope's take on Howlin Wolf's"Killing Floor". Once again, the rhythm section is laying it down, clean! Lagos turns in a swinging, jazz tinged solo while Brotman supplies the funk.

Track 4, "Petite Fleur" is straight outta the bayou. How many rock bands will even attempt cajun music, let alone succeed?

Track 5, "Banjo" highlights David Lindley's championship banjo playing.

Track 6, "Cuckoo" is a tough hard rock groove complete with Max Buda's scorching harp riffs.

Track 7, "Seven-Ate Sweet" is possibly the apex of Kaleidoscope's studio recordings, a ferocious fusion of middle-eastern and hard rock, in a fluid 7/8! And all the band members blow amazing solo's! Especially Solomon Feldhouse on Clarinet and Oud! One of the great unknown 60's long tracks!! An all time favorite!!

I am a fan of all of their recordings and recommend them all. A compilation might be a better place to start and most of them feature the stronger tracks on this album.
Tracks
1. Lie to Me
2. Let the Good Love Flow
3. Killing Floor
4. Petite Fleur
5. Banjo
6. Cuckoo
7. Seven-Ate Sweet
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King Adora - Vibrate You (2001)

Albums such as King Adora's Vibrate You come along every couple of years. Albums by bands such as Hanoi Rocks, Manic Street Preachers, Suede, Atari Teenage Riot and Supergrass--brash young glam-sleaze merchants, borrowing heavily from the wannabe supermodel smack addict imagery of the New York Dolls, the full-on subversive pop charm of the Kinks, Pixies and whoever else supplies a vibrant explosion of youth and colour, and with their own set of rules. And thank God for that. Rock needs all the deviant scum it can get. Vibrate You is superior to most of its breed because it never loses sight of the year in which it was made--so there are plenty of electronic samples and squelchtastic dance beats--or that pop music should be brief and glorious, two minute spurts of excitement. The lyrics flirt with controversy, of course--"Big Isn't Beautiful" is written through the eyes of a male anorexic, "The Law" is a depraved tale of debauchery, while a title like "Supermuffdiver" is self-explanatory. For all these reasons, King Adora's debut is addictive, jagged and totally sexy.
Tracks
1. Smoulder
2. Bionic
3. Big Isn't Beautiful
4. Friday Night Explodes
5. Aftertime
6. Law
7. Whether
8. We Are Heroes
9. Super Muff Diver
10. Asthmatic
11. Music Takes You
12. Suffocate
13. Scream And Shout
14. Aceface
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Deep Purple - The Book of Taliesyn (1968)

The Book of Taliesyn is the second album by English rock band Deep Purple, released in 1968 by Tetragrammaton in the US, and by EMI's Harvest Records in the UK, and Polydor in Canada and Japan in 1969.

The album follows the psychedelic/progressive rock sound of Shades of Deep Purple; however, there is a harder edge to several songs, beginning to show the new sound Deep Purple would introduce in 1970 with Deep Purple in Rock.

There are three cover versions on this album - "Kentucky Woman", originally from Neil Diamond, "We Can Work It Out" from the Beatles and "River Deep Mountain High", known from Ike and Tina Turner version. Kentucky Woman was released as a single, though the single version was edited for time.

The album's name is taken from a famous 14th century Welsh manuscript including certain poems attributed to the 6th century poet Taliesin.
Tracks
1. Listen, Learn, Read On (4:03)
2. Hard Road (Wring That Neck) (5:16)
3. Kentucky Woman (4:45)
4. Exposition / We Can Work It Out (7:09)
5. The Shield (6:08)
6. Anthem (6:02)
7. River Deep, Mountain High (6:36)
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Rainman - Rain Man (1971)

Under the name “Rainman” was the solodebut of ex- Q 65 guitarist Frank Nuyens presented in 1971. It was a remarkable good record and was far removed from the music of the notorious Q 65. It was typically early seventies laid-back music. Frank wrote most of the music himself. The LP was recorded in the famous GTB-studio in The Hague and partly in the Bovema Studios in Haarlem. On the record he was assisted by well-known musicians as ex-Cuby drummer Dick Beekman and former Q 65 colleague - drummer Jay Baar
Tracks
01.rainman
02.natural man
03.don't
04.vicious circle
05.don't make promisses
06.you will be free by me
07.money means nothing at all
08.get you to come through
09.she told me so
10.they didn't feel
11.the joy that is inside
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The New Hobbits - Back From Middle Earth (1969)

'Back from Middle Earth', The Hobbit's third & most rare psychedelic recording, appeared in 1969 on Hobbit-supremo Jimmy Curtiss' Perception ... Full Descriptionlabel. 'Back From Middle Earth' is a solid '60s pop album which highlights the vocal talents of Curtiss & session-singer Gini Eastwood & is completely free of any reference to Curtiss' doo-wop past, as indeed are the three heavily psych-influenced 45s Curtiss produced (he also co-wrote two of the tracks) for Decca stable-mates The Bag in 1968.
Tracks
1. You Could Have Made It Easy
2. Growin’ Old
3. I Could Hear The Grass Growin’
4. Comin’ Out
5. The Devil’s Gonna Get Me
6. Underground
7. Love Can Set You Free
8. Flora
9. Woman So Worried
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The Sopwith Camel - Sopwith Camel (1967)

The band formed in late 1965 and their lineup consisted of vocalist and saxophone player Peter Kraemer, guitarists Terry MacNeil and William Sievers, bassist Martin Beard and drummer Norman Mayell. Sopwith Camel is best known for being the second San Francisco band to get a recording contract with a national record label and the first to have a Top 40 hit.
Sopwith Camel released their first album (and only album recording during the 1960s), the eponymous Sopwith Camel, in 1967 on the Kama Sutra Records label. The band's only hit single, "Hello, Hello", became the first hit title to emerge from the San Francisco rock scene and reached #26 on the U.S. pop music charts in January 1967. The band's first album, and the vaudevillian "Hello, Hello" in particular, had more in common soundwise with earlier songs by The Lovin' Spoonful than typical 1960s psychedelic rock; producer Erik Jacobsen produced for both Sopwith Camel and The Lovin' Spoonful. The band was unable to follow up the success of their first album and hit single and disbanded later in 1967. Sopwith Camel's debut album has been re-released twice as Frantic Desolation in 1986 and as Hello Hello Again in 1990
Tracks
01. Hello, Hello
02. Frantic Desolation
03. Saga of the Low Down Let Down
04. Little Orphan Annie
05. You Always Tell Me Baby
06. Maybe in a Dream
07. Cellophane Woman
08. The Things That I Could Do With You
09. Walk in the Park
10. The Great Morpheum
11. Postcard from Jamaica
12. Treadin' [bonus)
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Dave & the Powerhouse Five - Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals (1958)

Dave Harris played tenor sax in Raymond Scott's legendary late 1930s six-man "Quintette." Over a long career as a sought-after session musician in New York and L.A., Harris (1913-2002) released only one record as a bandleader. That was DINNER MUSIC FOR A PACK OF HUNGRY CANNIBALS in 1958, and it was a tribute to his old boss, for whom he held deep respect. Harris and the Powerhouse Five recaptured the manic elegance and rhythmic wit of twelve classic Scott tunes. Nostalgia was the inspiration, but sharp musicianship and a celebratory gusto mark this album as a missing link in the Scott legacy. When Raymond Scott organized his Quintette, he recruited CBS Radio Orchestra compatriot Harris. The group was short-lived--in 1939, Scott expanded the group into a swing orchestra. However, the original RSQ created a sensation during its brief existence, and left a lasting impact on music history. Scott composed "portraits in music," programmatic novelties with eccentric titles like "War Dance for Wooden Indians," "Reckless Night on Board an Ocean Liner," and "In an 18th Century Drawing Room." A dozen tunes from this group's repertoire were later adapted by Warner Bros. music director Carl Stalling in hundreds of classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. Thus was the RSQ's legacy--quite apart from the bandleader's own efforts--preserved for future generations. One title, "Powerhouse," has become a staple of cartoon fare, having been used in The Simpsons, Ren & Stimpy, and Animaniacs, as well as in 40 anarchic WB shorts and several major motion pictures. In addition to leading a succession of orchestras, Scott composed a Broadway musical in 1946, conducted orchestra on TV's Your Hit Parade in the 1950s, and was a pioneer in electronic music development. But in late-life interviews, he professed that his 1937-39 Quintette was his favorite band. That opinion was doubtless shared by Harris, who always spoke fondly of working under Scott. Such was Harris's affection for this band that in 1958 he organized a sextet, called his sidemen the Powerhouse Five, and recorded an album of RSQ favorites in modern high fidelity. After the RSQ, Harris remained with Scott's first swing band, then compiled an impressive resume as a session player on radio and TV, and in the recording studio. In a career that extended into the 1970s, he worked with Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa, Eddie Cantor, Mickey Katz, Stan Webb, Russ Case, Bob Haggart and countless others. As a director with a musical pedigree, Harris, on Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals, maintains the high standards set by his old boss, recapturing the spunk, energy, and humor of the original RSQ. While there's an obvious element of nostalgia at play, don't underestimate the joyfulness and craftsmanship of these performances
Tracks
1. Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals
2. In an Eighteenth Century Drawing Room
3. Siberian Sleighride
4. Reckless Night On Board an Ocean Liner
5. Minuet in Jazz
6. Twilight in Turkey
7. Powerhouse
8. The Toy Trumpet
9. The Penguin
10. Boy Scout in Switzerland
11. The Happy Farmer
12. War Dance for Wooden Indians
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Tritonus - Between the Universes (1976)

Tritonus is another one of those bands that is interesting mostly because of their obscurity, but not really for putting out any groundbreaking music. The band didn't really have a specific, featured vocalist, but their vocal passages do leave an impression, although not always a good one. Former Kin Ping Meh member Geff Harrison is not a member but does some of the singing, while most of the rest of the band consists of Peter Seiler, who would abandon Tritonus shortly after this album in favor of similar music in duo form with Michael Bundt under the band name Sirius. The drummer is Bernhard Schuh, who is otherwise unknown to me and serviceable at best; and bassist/guitarist Ronald Brand, whose bass is nearly absent but who manages several decent passages of brooding, mostly strumming guitar work.
There's quite a bit of electronic wizardry here (or doodling, depending on your perspective), particularly on the spacey (and appropriately titled) "Mars Detection" and the three-part "the Day". This was released at the height of the synthesizer-heavy part of the seventies, especially it seems with German bands, and these guys were no exception. The keyboards are quite varied and prominent throughout, although some of it is plainly obviously in its source, especially several note-for-note lifts from Pink Floyd and ELP. Some of the vocals also sound a bit like early Moody Blues, or maybe the Nice.

So no prizes for originality, or for lyrical skills either, since most of the vocals are of the slightly psychedelic and theatrical style that so many bands tried to adopt shortly after their respective songwriters hit puberty and heard Sgt. Pepper's for the first time. Plenty of slightly hollow two and three part harmonies lumbering on about peace and love, or space aliens, or something. Not really sure and the liner notes aren't much help either.

And speaking of vocals, the opening title track has some really strange ones, with Harrison delivering a moody tenor, while someone else (Seiler, I guess) steps all over him with a slightly off-key vocal track of his own that sounds a bit like a couple of stoners trying to do harmonies but of different songs. It's actually a bit amusing. by ClemofNazereth
Tracks
1. Between the Universes (9:58)
2. Mars Detection (8:08)
3. The Day Awakes 7:55
4. The Day Works 5:53
5. The Day Rests 3:58
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I'm so hollow - Emotion / Sound / Motion (1981)

I'm So Hollow was one of the many Sheffield bands that formed in 1978. The "Hollow" sound came after several months of practice sessions in the cellar at Joe Sawicki's parents house. They played their first gig with ClockDVA in the Penthouse Club in Sheffield. Many gigs followed with bands like Vice Versa and their biggest gig at the Leeds Futurama festival in 1980, of which a clip is shown in 'Made in Sheffield'
They released their first single in 1981 and signed up with llluminated Records soon afterwards. In September, just before the release of their album 'Emotion/Sound/Motion', they decide to split up feeling they had achieved their ambitions with I'm So Hollow.
Subtle variations characterize the most interesting songs. Check "Unbroken Line", (based on a slow-motion piano pattern & horror synth effects), "Touch" (set upon a line of feedback, robotic beat & warm vocal harmonies), "Emotion/Sound/Motion" (whose first part is a moody synthscape, while the second part explodes to a suspenseful rhythm groove).
Tracks
01 Entrance
02 Which Way..?
03 Unbroken Line
04 Touch
05 Collisions
06 Excitement = Change
07 The Triangular Hour
08 Emotion / Sound / Motion
09 Nosferatu
10 Distraction
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Mutual Understanding - In Wonderland (1968)

Masterpiece of Canadian softpop from 1968 that, like Harpers Bizzare's Anything Goes album of the same year, combines music from the 20s, 30s and 40s with the post psychedelic pop of the times. This album was a one of coming together of some of Canada's top composers and arranngers working in television and advertising with top vocal group The Laurie Bower Singers. 40 years on this albums remains a joyous musical treat.
Tracks
01. Wonderland
02. Look Around
03. Everybody loves my baby
04. I'm old fashioned
05. Little girl blue
06. San Jose
07. Pretty people
08. You fascinate me so
09. Rain rain go away
10. Always true to to you, in my fashion
11. When the world was young
12. In wonderland
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