Tom Paxton was already a well-established voice from the American folk-revival by the time he cut 19722s Peace Will Come . His songs "Last Thing On My Mind," "Bottle of Wine," and "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound" had more or less filtered down into the canon of American folksong, having been recorded by everyone from Doc Watson to Dion DiMucci to the obscure New Mexican rock and roll band The Fireballs. By the seventies, however, Paxton's popularity had slid as the great folk scare winded down to its inevitable demise and those who did not follow in [...]
Link Wray, who is considered by many to be one of the greatest and most important rock & roll guitarists of all-time, is a pretty familiar name with rock fans all over the world. The man practically invented distorted, fuzzy, and wild rock guitar sounds. He was one of the first, if not the first, guitarists to use the almighty power-chord. Pete Townshend has famously cited Link's importance, claiming that "he is the king; if it hadn't been for Link Wray and 'Rumble', I would have never picked up a guitar." By the way, "Rumble" has since been added by [...]
Most people are familiar with Tommy James and the Shondells through their impressive string of radio hits, but what few people realize is that, alongside said bubblegum classics, the band was busy laying down some of the weirdest rock and roll of the era. 19692s Cellophane Symphony is a beautiful case in point, and in fact doubles as an excellent gateway into the Shondells' discography. Few rock and roll groups have ever been adventurous enough to open an album of catchy, psychedelic rock and roll with a droning, ten minute space rock instrumental, especially when you [...]
There are numerous passing references to Townes Van Zandt in these pages, but until now the nearest he's come to a dedicated post is the uReview of his 1968 freshman album For The Sake Of A Song which examines its debatably elaborate orchestration and production. But whatever the issues concerning the debut, there's no doubt that by this 1972 offering, the last from his fertile five-year period on Poppy/Tomato, he'd got his recording process exactly right. The accompaniments on this collection display a variety appropriate to the varying nature of the songs, yet the playing is [...]
While Jesse Ed Davis' legacy has finally started to see the light of recognition, there is still a long way to go in establishing his rightful place in the pantheon of rock and roll legends. The Kiowa guitarist's career encompassed work with everyone from Conway Twitty to John Lee Hooker to Bob Dylan, and his time served in the original Taj Mahal band would be highly influential on up-and-coming guitar slingers like Duane Allman (he being the inspiration for the latter's taking up bottleneck-style guitar in the first place). Davis never really managed to establish himself as a [...]
The life history of the woman born Dorothy Veronica Langan reads like an archetypal Hollywood biopic and is well enough documented elsewhere as to need no repetition here; a fine account can be found in Paul Pelletier's booklet notes to the current twofer CD of which Mythical Kings And Iguanas is a part. Suffice to say that her father's abuse and the breakup of her marriage to André Previn were just the two most high-profile of the stream of life experiences that coloured this woman's approach to songwriting. Put these together with her poetic talent, her extensive career [...]
Bill Fay's is a name that has crept back into the underground consciousness in recent years due to some unexpected word-of-mouth publicity which has culminated in a series of commendable reissues of the artist's work. Going into Time of the Last Persecution , however, I was unaware of such recent windfalls and totally unprepared for what I was delving into save for having read a record store tag-line which compared him to Ray Davies and Bob Dylan, or something along those lines. Sounded like hype of the highest order, but I was willing to take a chance; it was [...]
Northeast Texas heads Southwest F.O.B. can't claim the same sort of critical attention lauded on such fellow statesmen as the 13th Floor Elevators or Red Krayola , but their one record, Smell of Incense , remains an indispensable slice of Lone Star psychedelia. Much more commercially-minded than any of the aforementioned collectives, the band nevertheless reveals an exciting instrumental virtuosity and willingness to draw FM gold out of esoteric regions. Thankfully, songwriters Dan Seals and John Colley betray little of the sickening soft-rock aspirations that would later drive them into their roles as England Dan and [...]
Well, obviously folks are going to recognize the title track of this one, the buzzing slice of pseudo-religious boogie that made Norman Greenbaum...well, maybe not a household name, but at least established him as the voice behind one of the most recognizable tunes to come out of the 1970s. It is actually more than a little surprising that, despite having scored such a serious smash single, Greenbaum would be so quick to drop out of the public eye. Few people have given the rest of his recordings their fair shake, despite albums like Spirit In the Sky and [...]
The recent release of The SMiLE Sessions must mark the ebb tide of the steady stream of retrospective issues of mythical "lost" albums from the Sixties. Surely with the debut of The Holy Grail Of Rock these have all now finally appeared in one form or another? But one other such offering that crept out with much less fanfare in the same month as SMiLE is the "lost" solo album by Dave Davies, purveyor of revolutionary guitar licks and falsetto vocal harmonies to the Kinks. Despite its enticing title, as with [...]
It's been another great year for quality reissues from some of our favorite labels dedicated to vintage sounds. Here are our favorite reissued under-the-radar records for 2011, unranked and submitted for your review in the poll below: Can "Tago Mago" Mute 2CD Can's all-time classic gets the deluxe treatment, restores the original UK artwork, and comes with a bonus CD with a live show from around the same time. [...]
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band is one of those remarkable quasi-underground groups from the 1960s which nowadays inspires a sort of obsessive cult interest among certain individuals. As such, there's been more than enough amateur scholarship written on them for me to safely forgo much of an introduction or studied band history (I'd strongly recommend Tim Forster's comprehensive article ). In fact, if it were not for their conspicuous absence on the Rising Storm, I might think that any more ink shed on the band's records would be a waste of time. As it stands, [...]
A well known rarity, The Common People's Of The People/By The People/For The People is one of the more collectable Capitol releases. Prior to this LP, the group released two primitive garage singles which are very good but nearly impossible to find. For many years very little was known about the Common People. Terrascope's interview with lead singer Denny Robinett cleared up many unanswered questions regarding the band's existence and roots. The Common People hailed from Baldwin Park California (LA area) and played the local club circuit. "Lord" Tim Hudson, of Lollipop Shoppe [...]
Mother Earth has to be one of the best American rock and roll bands to have ever been forgotten. A hot act in its day, it seems folks have tended to overlook the group in recent years. Perhaps the band's firm center in hardcore 1960s blues and soul music makes them just a little too straight for today's forward-thinking music listeners more hip to the weird, experimental sounds of bands like Faust or The Incredible String Band than righteous electric combos like the Paul Butterfield Blues Band (now that I mention it, East/West really does beg review on [...]
Most folk who remember "Long" John Baldry at all recall only his chart-topping single of 1967, the maudlin crooner ballad "Let The Heartaches Begin". But if the mettle of a performer is measured by the affection and respect of his fellow professionals and their willingness to participate in his art, then this album is a testament to a musician who'd been an industry favourite from his earliest days as the original vocalist and occasional guitarist with Alexis Korner's pioneering Blues Incorporated. To proffer just two examples, the virtually unknown Baldry was an invited guest on the Fabs' 1964 international TV [...]
During the 1960s it seemed as though every western musician worth their salt was experimenting with Eastern instruments. In most cases this did not extend beyond the sitar, an Indian instrument introduced to the Occident by British bands like the Beatles and the Kinks (god bless colonialism, indeed), but in a number of cases western musicians took this interest one step further and began to explore the Eastern world's abundant wealth of stringed instruments. American players like Sandy Bull and David Lindley were at the vanguard of this new artistic swing, laying instruments like the oud [...]
The 1968 self-titled debut by California based country rock group Southwind is a rather obscure little gem. The unique combination of country, psych, soul, funk, and just good old rock & roll turns this record into a stew of great listening, and really makes this record stand out. The band's origins can be traced back to Norman, Oklahoma, while members were attending the University of Oklahoma. Coming together first as a rockabilly-flavored band known as "The Disciples," the group comprised John "Moon" Martin (guitar, vocals), Jim Pulte (bass, vocals), Phil Hope (organ), and Eric Dalton (drums). Soon after [...]
Marc Bolan was one of the best known musicians of the 1970s and he'd hardly be characterized as a cult figure if it were not for his early, tragic death. But before he hit number one and became a household name with his electric glitter glam persona, an early non-abbreviated Tyrannosaurus Rex released a string of "fantasy folk" records in the late 60s that gradually progressed toward psychedelia and perfection. Tyrannosaurus Rex was comprised of Bolan and percussionist/multi-instrument alist Steve Peregrin Took. Together with producer Tony Visconti (of Bowie fame) they recorded Unicorn very quickly in 1969, [...]
Ticket's Awake is one of the best classic rock/psych albums from a surprisingly fertile late 60s/early 70s New Zealand scene. Ticket's roots trace back to several late 60s blues rock and pop groups: the Challenge, the Blues Revival and the Jamestown Union. Despite hitting the top 20 with the funky rural rocker "Country High" and recording two albums, Ticket's popularity never broke out of the Aussie/New Zealand territories. Awake's contents were made up of several single sides issued in 1971 and some new studio material that date from 1972. Hendrix, Cream and Traffic [...]
Running Time: 59:00 | File Size 81 MB Download: .mp3 To subscribe to this podcast: http://therisingstorm.net/podc ast.xml [ ? ] 1. Yukon Railroad - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - 1970 2. That's Alright By Me (Previously Unreleased) - Gene Clark - 1968 3. Southbound Train - Graham Nash & David Crosby - 1972 4. Just Yesterday - Weird Herald - 1967 5. Rosana (Previously Unreleased) - Hearts And Flowers - 1968 6. Little [...]
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