DIVE INTO YESTERDAY

Go ask Alice...

2011-05-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

Before Alice Cooper the solo artist there was Alice Cooper the group...
A little bit earlier and with an almost identical line-up they were called the Nazz (pictured above) and before then the Spiders, complete with spider web and all!
The Spiders second 45 issued in 1966 is a fantastic slab of Garage-Punk with snotty vocals and crunching guitars. The Yardbirds were a great influence as witnessed also by a version of "I'm a man" that was never issued. I believe there's a whole lot of covers from this time that appeared on at least one bootleg...but I never heard it.

Back in 1964 in Phoenix Arizona, Vince Furnier on vocals, Glenn Buxton on lead guitar and Dennis Dunaway on bass, all three future Alice Cooper, formed the Earwigs that also included John Tatum on guitar and John Speer on drums.
It was this line-up that in Sept 1965, now known as The Spiders released their first 45:
Why don't you love me / Hitch Hike

The following Summer John Tatum left and the new Spiders would release the aforementioned second single, the fantastic "Don't blow your mind" / "No price tag".

Apparently the only guy that turned up for the vacant left by Tatum was Michael Bruce, previously of the Trolls and recently departed from the brilliant Wildflowers.
Here included are the Wildflowers two singles plus a great track that appeared about 10 years ago on the fantastic comp Legend City that focuses on Phoenix bands.
The Wildflowers almost sound British being influenced by the Beatles circa "Rain", especially on the cool "More than me".
I'm not entirely sure but I reckon both singles are from 1966, albeit the B-side of the first sounds like it could be earlier...it is also, for me, the weakest track, the rest though is outstanding and the previously unissued "One more chance" a real find!
In 1967 the band became The Nazz, taking their name from the Yardbirds song "The Nazz are blue" and by the end of the year Neal Smith will replace John Speer on drums.
They will release only one single, whose fantastic B-side "Lay down and die" shows the band in full psychedelic mode with piercing eastern-like guitar.
They will also start working in the months to come at songs that eventually will appear on "Pretties for you", Alice Cooper debut album released in 1969.
Since somebody else in Philadelphia had the same idea about naming his band after the Yardbirds tune, early in 1968 the band will become Alice Cooper.

The Spiders
01 Why Don't You Love Me
02 Hitch hike
03 I'm Cryin (Live)
04 I'm A Man
05 Don't Blow Your Mind
06 No Price Tag
07 Don't Blow Your Mind (alternate)
The Wildflowers
08 A Man Like Myself
09 On A Day Like Today
10 More Than Me
11 Moving Along With The Sun
12 One More Chance
The Nazz
13 I Wonder Who's Loving Her Now
14 Lay Down Die Goodbye
15 Changing Arranging (Acetate)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/t89zm9is2tr6mmb/Spiders%20Nazz.rar

I Messaggeri: Folk-Rock Messengers from Northern Italy, 1966-1967

2011-01-11T11:31:00.000-08:00

I discovered this totally obscure band about 15 years ago and had been thinking of posting for too long, so here they are!
Even as an Italian and a 60s fanatic they were certainly unknown to me but thanks to the great Beat archeology work of the label Destination X such gems were uncovered after years of gathering dust, misunderstood and often scorned upon by the same Italians, "the good bands came from England or the United States" way of thinking...
Not that the recording industry helped much either, in fact the band only managed to release a single in 1966 for Bluebell a label from Milan and a second projected one never materialized.
A real shame considering that after their great debut, a cool two-sider in typical Italian Beat style with Folk-Rock leanings, the band went a step further, flying eight miles high as demonstrated by "Qui" (Here) with its 4:30 mins and its excellent flip (or was it the other way round?)

The Byrds were without a doubt a prime influence, also dig those McGuinn glasses.
Brilliant stuff!
Younger than yesterday!

Torna da me / Piú dolcemente tu vivrai (Bluebell, 1966)
Qui / Non sai molto di me (previously unreleased, recorded 1967)

http://www.mediafire.com/?3o93rj1dnd62hnf

CALEIDOSCOPIO: Psychedelic Sounds from Italy

2010-11-24T04:32:00.000-08:00

"Io vedo nei muri sbocciare fiori tropicali dai mille splendidi colori che mi esplodono di dentro come mai..." (Equipe 84)
I almost posted this comp about a couple of years ago, when the blog was running on a fairly regular basis.
In fact it did end 2 years ago, without being dead as such...most links still work and I've just re-upped the Planets LP that somehow had disappeared from my files (see original post).

The centrepiece of this collection of Psychedelic sounds from my native country is what I consider a little jewel and a real oddity in the Italian Pop music landscape.
Chetro & Co. sole 45 is a work of Art that begins with the sleeve that folds several times revealing a collage of different images.

I'm pretty sure there weren't that many singles around clocking at over 5 mins. as "Evening Dances (Suite in Psychedelic mode)" does.
Do not worry if you don't understand the lyrics based on a poem by famous film director Pasolini, it's the music that captivated me in the first place, drawing influences from the Middle-Ages, the East and everything in between!
The B-side translates as "Milestones"...Mr Davis being the prime inspiration there.
They even invented their own instrument, a "violaccia", described as a 6 to 10 string instrument that uses a bow...

Another interesting rarity is the only 45 by Le Mani Pesanti (The Heavy Hands)whose A-side is a protest against capitalist society, with lines like "...do not thanks for those golden chains, it's so you can produce more...( "A Neon God").I love the dreamy B-side, both sides are great and I would buy it for the great sleeve alone!

Also included and from the opposite spectrum of popularity is my favourite track from "Stereoequipe" the 1968 masterpiece by Equipe 84 and the first album to be released only in stereo in Italy. The song starts with lyrics about tropical flowers blossoming from the walls,exploding in all their colours inside me, like never before!
Also better known without ever reaching the fame of the Equipe 84, were I Quelli, whose 5th single is featured here. They evolved into PFM the most popular and internationally successful Italian Progressive band of the 70s.

Gli Astrali and Le Stelle are to be found on previous posts but are also included since they fit perfectly and chances are you actually never heard them!
While two tracks from Le Stelle are from their 1967 LP, also included here is the A-side of their only 45 released the following year.

Some of the tracks included are not full blown psychedelic, like for example the G-Men from my hometown Rimini, but they do hint at what was coming or happening.
I Fantom's were quite ahead of most other bands in Italy, just listen to the astounding tracks taken from their 1966 three track EP.

One of the aims of this blog has always been to offer music from non-English speaking countries but providing some background in the English language in order to reach a wider audience.
While understanding some of the lyrics might highten your enjoinment I think the music speaks louder and it would be nice to hear some comments about it.

ANIME Non mi sembra vero (Milano 1969)
ASTRALI Vado su in alto (Torino 1967)
G-MEN Il canto dei ragazzi (Rimini 1967)
FANTOM'S Le insegne pubblicitarie (Torino 1966)
FANTOM'S Il treno (Torino 1966)
LE STELLE DI MARIO SCHIFANO Molto alto (Roma 1967)
CHETRO & CO. Danze della sera (Suite in modo psichedelico) (Roma 1968)
CHETRO & CO. Pietre numerate (Roma 1968)
EQUIPE 84 Per un'attimo di tempo (Modena 1968)
MANI PESANTI A proposito dell'amore (1968)
MANI PESANTI Un Dio al neon (1968)
QUELLI Dettato al cappello (Milano 1968)
QUELLI Mi sentivo strano (Milano 1968)
LE STELLE DI MARIO SCHIFANO Il mondo va (Roma 1968)
LE STELLE DI MARIO SCHIFANO Susan's song (Roma 1967)

http://www.mediafire.com/?el2p4gqyumlruiv

MUSIC BLOGS: What's the point...?

2010-11-15T04:54:00.000-08:00

I suppose it's safe to say that in most cases the point of having a Music blog is that of sharing music you like with others...now, that's obviously done in different ways, some people put passwords, codes even registration to their blogs.
Fair enough, everyone does it the way they prefer, but sometimes you come to wonder if they really want to share the music they're posting...
I remember reading comments in blogs about people that could not unzip their files...why?
the password was not there and never appeared...the password was totally wrong and seemingly never corrected...uh?
Yeah, I read comments, I love comments and love leaving them.
Since I started investigating the different blogs I have come across people complaining and moaning about comments. Totally understandable, I can certainly relate to that but then again...what motivated you in the first place I ask?
Personally I don't mind if all you say is "Thanks" but when I leave comments I try to write something about the record in question and look for comments that shine a light on what's been posted....there are a lot of blogs with great music but with no info at all, or wrong information or a simple copy and paste job that often doesn't even match the title (i.e. year of the record or nationality of the band...).

I'm writing this because lately there's been a bit of a fuss over a very popular blog when people suddenly were disabled from downloading for not leaving comments.
I totally respect that decision but I certainly don't agree with it.
Many complained that they left comments all the time etc etc so it didn't make sense to them....I understand everyone was disabled to start with, so that will explain it.
As I stated earlier I always look for comments that have something to say, and personally I'd rather have a couple of interesting comments or none in fact, that say, 325 comments of just "Thank you" and especially if it turns out that is like blackmail.
Yes! You better watch pal, make sure you say "Thanks" or you'll be kicked out!
Let's imagine for a second that all comments are longer than just "Thank you" and do have something to say, but as a rule every single person that downloads must say something, do you really want 300-500 comments on each post?

There are some great blogs that don't even share music but you see the passion behind it, like FLOWER BOMB SONGS.
One that does a fantastic job and does share music is RECORD FIEND. Or you may want to check the great DAN'S GARAGE.
I love blogs like that, where you can almost hear the guy's voice, there's a certain warmth to it, it's that passion that moves them, that's the point!

Five Travellers French EP, The Olympic in disguise...

2010-10-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

This is a request...to Jean Bernard in France, hope you enjoy it!
For more on the Czech band the Olympic search through my archives...
When I started this blog I began using shareonall that soon disappeared...and all my files too!
Most was reposted and all mediafire links are working, just copy and paste them on your browser, that's the trick, ok?

So here is this great EP that Olympic released under a pseudonym to coincide with their visit to France in 1968, a very eventful year particularly in France (remember May 1968) and Czechoslovakia (Russian tanks ending the "Prague Spring").

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ih1nmctuxu3mukc/FiveTravellersEP.rar

a separate link for the other tracks from the original post from May 2008(check it out for details)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dd5cc7tzjcj3jl3/Olympic196768.rar
Also you may want to check the astonishingly fabulous European Discography Page (see cool links)

Kaleidoscope incredible footage, French TV, October 1967.

2010-09-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

I'm still in a dreamlike state since I've watched the Kaleidoscope footage that only few days ago turned up on youtube.
As a huge fan of Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd I've always been drawn towards British Psychedelic bands of the late 60s but it was Kaleidoscope that really blew my mind when I first discovered them thanks to Rubble vol.4 "The 49 Minute Technicolour Dream" around 1986 or so...

I regularly had a look to see if any Kaleidoscope clip would turn up...and why not?
After all they did appear on TV in Europe and lots of great stuff has turned up on youtube, especially from French TV, including early Soft Machine in colour and black and white, The Pink Floyd with Gilmour "being" Syd, obviously early on...even Tomorrow and the Poets to name some of my favourites.

I'm amazed by the amount of truly spectacular bands that were on TV in France, Belgium, Germany or Holland by 1967 or so...it seems incredible even more so when compared to what's being broadcast today, 40 years later...

Peter Daltrey remembers appearing on German and Swiss TV but it's about this show in particular that he has something to say, the band had just released their debut single "Flight from Ashiya" b/w "Holidaymaker" on 15th September 1967, both of which are performed on the French TV show "Le Petit Dimanche Illustré" a month later (16th October):
"One of our first outings under the new banner was to Paris to appear on a live TV show. Those frogs. We entered the studio to find ourselves in the midst of unorganised chaos. They complained about our frilly white shirts; too white for colour transmission. Suddenly we were dragged on set and we realised the show was on air. A group of guests sat on a sofa smirking at a tasty young girl; someone threw their arm in our direction and we grinned. Then everyone began wandering around; we were off air. In fact we had to wait for hours for the real show. Ed fell over a cello and then we mimed expertly to the single and then we were in the street, in a taxi, in a plane and off home before you could say, `J`taime.`"

What I found interesting in that comment is the bit about colour transmission...WOW!
Would this be in kaleidoscopic colours???
As mentioned there are clips in colour from French TV from the same time...I wonder though, who in 1967 France would see it in colour?
Growing up in Italy I can tell you it was a good 10 years later that some (but not all) people had a colour tv set...

Kaleidoscope story in the words of Peter Daltrey:
http://www.chelsearecords.co.uk/

The Key, 1966
http://www.mediafire.com/file/nde7ad1srxo2tyd/The%20Key%201966.rar

MERRY PSYCHEDELIC CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-05T10:29:00.000-08:00

This could easily be my last post, at least for a good while.
Thank you all for the support, it's been particularly nice meeting some of you even though in this funny virtual way, I would certainly prefer a more traditional one...that might happen too, who knows?!
Those of you that have written about just discovering the blog I can only invite you to go through the archives and let me know about the music you find there...I'm not entirely disappearing...and of course there are plenty of blogs around very busy in posting loads of stuff.

Here's just a wee Xmas present that was originally issued as a 45 back in 1967.
Dig it!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/lnyurmwknnw/Blues Magoos Xmas 45.rar

RE-UPLOAD: Viaggio Allucinogeno, PsYchEdeLiC Italian Trilogy!

2008-11-20T04:44:00.000-08:00

Here are the three parts of VIAGGIO ALLUCINOGENO my Lost Psychedelic Italian Trilogy, posted back in June.
Previously unreleased recordings by Gli ASTRALI (Garage/Psych 1967)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ynijhnmjy4m/ASTRALI.rar
Le STELLE di MARIO SCHIFANO (Experimental/Psych 1967)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/vzjjmzmjmtz/STELLE.rar
ARMANDO PIAZZA Suan (Folk/Psych 1972)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/tjjze1y2z25/SUAN.rar
This last one has been posted following perhaps the original running order...I'm still not sure...
Check the original posts and comments for more information.

It would be nice to receive more comments.
ENJOY IT!!!

A Taste of Dutch part 2: DRAGONFLY Special!

2008-11-14T09:57:00.000-08:00

This is an amazing band that released only a couple of singles 40 years ago, possibly the first one came out late 1967 but in most places the date shown is 1968.
Nevermind because all sides are fantastic!
I loved these tracks since the first time I heard them and they have appeared in compilations during the last 25 years or so.
Few years ago the Op-Art label reissued several Dutch 60s singles and in the case of Dragonfly an EP that gathered their 4 tracks...

Apparently they rarely played live but when they did people were left with their mouths open because of the music and the striking visual appearance.

The first single reached no.33 in the charts but the second was a flop and the band split up after it in 1968, it all seemed so quick but actually they started as Beat Five in 1965 and eventually changed their name to Dragonfly in 1967.
Check this footage of the band, watch it all because at the end there's a snippet of Dragonfly live!

http://www.mediafire.com/file/thmyymkz50z/dragonfly.rar

A Taste of Dutch!

2008-11-13T09:58:00.000-08:00

Continuing with our 1968 anniversary...just a quick reminder of how Holland kept releasing great records all through the 60s.
This is my favourite single by the strangely named RO-D-YS.
During 1968 they also released their second and final album "Earnest Vocation" full of quirky and interesting songs, a very different band...

In 1968 The Outsiders switched label and their first record on Polydor was this great single, I particularly like its B-side, later that year they would release the fabulous CQ album.

The Tower only released a couple of singles and this one, their first, is a stunning two-sider, so much so that both sides have appeared in different comps over the years.
The band featured singer songwriter Boudewijn De Groot, a kind of Dutch Donovan, Jay Baar of Q65 on drums (not on their second 45) and Eelco Gelling of Cuby & The Blizzards on guitar!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/332dnjhmxzj/dutch 68.rar

1968, Dive into Yesterday!

2008-11-09T10:49:00.000-08:00

When i think of 1968, Kaleidoscope, July and Jason Crest come to mind, also it was then, early that year that Syd left the Floyds…and by the end of it The Pretty Things’ masterpiece “S.F. Sorrow” was finally released. Yes, it was 40 years ago.

Several of the early bands of the 60s were about to end, change or transform altogether, others were just about to start, some disappeared just as quickly as they appeared not before leaving us with some brilliant music.
About the latter I’m thinking of July’s self-titled album (guess when that was released), Rainbow Ffolly “Sallies Fforth” or Skip Bifferty.
While if we talk about some of the bands that had been around for a while most if not all, had already reached their peak the previous year, with the exception of The Kinks that would release “Village Green…”. By the time The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle" was out almost a year had passed since its recording and the band had effectively split up.In a similar fashion when the belated Tomorrow debut album hit the shops the group was history...
It was finally the year The Move made their debut LP too, it had been a long wait and there had been announcements about their first album already in late 1966.
The brilliant debut albums by The Soft Machine and their pals Caravan also saw the light of day in 1968, the former only being issued in the US…WHY???!

It was also the year that British Folk-Rock was making its debut, albeit with a distinctive American flavour...see Fairport Convention debut or the lone album by Eclection, that to be fair,while based in England, only one of the five members was English.

Definitely and unmistakably English was the debut album by Pentagle that nevertheless blended the British Folk idiom with the American Jazz and Blues, fantastic stuff!

The most magical Folk adventurers though were without a doubt The Incredible String Band that in 1968 reached their peak and released two astonishing albums (or 3 if you count “Wee Tam and the Big Huge” as separate albums).

Very prolific and somebody that anticipated certain sounds was Donovan, unfortunately its releases were often postponed or simply not issued in the UK.
Two of his best albums came out in the US only in 1968, "Mellow Yellow" and "Hurdy Gurdy Man".Still, there was enough for the British market too with a wonderful "In Concert" album and some singles that hit the charts.

There were many “Rubble” favourites that issued 45s during 1968, going by the wonderful names of Wild Silk, Bamboo Shoot or The Mirror ….better known bands like Kaleidoscope, Fire, The Koobas or Fleur-De-Lys all released great singles too.
Blossom Toes managed two 45s between their two very different albums, “Postcard”, their second, being a favourite of mine.

Scottish bands like The Stoics and My Dear Watson among others had singles issued and Marmalade were the most succesful but by far the best from Scotland was One in a Million brilliant two-sider “Fredereek Hernando / Double sight”.

And of course there were more and while I still think of 1967 as my favourite year, we could put together other similar comps from 1968 with a completely different tracklists…and of course there were more from other places besides the UK and I don’t even mean America…

The Outsiders from Holland followed the Pretties example in releasing their masterpiece, titled “CQ”. In Italy for the first time an album was released only in stereo, it was “Stereoequipe” by the Italian Beat favorites Equipe 84. Their close competitors The Rokes released a great English version of an Italian song called “Il vento”, for the English market only and one of their rarest and better sides, a great favourite of mine!
Talking of which, it was during 1968 that my personal favourite from Eastern Europe, Illes from Hungary, released their best album “Nehez az ut” and a bunch of marvellous 45s.
Many of the above have shown up in this blog, and I strongly recommend if you don’t know them, to check the albums above mentioned through other blogs too starting for example with the Peppermint Store!

1968:DIVE INTO YESTERDAY!
A Collection of UK Psychedelights and Other Oddities
01 JASON CREST Turquoise tandem cycle (Jan debut single)
02 KALEIDOSCOPE A dream for Julie (Jan single)
03 ONE IN A MILLION Double sight (Jan B-side single)
04 JULY Dandelion seeds (Jun B-side debut single)
05 FACTORY Path through the forest (Oct debut single)
06 SKIP BIFFERTY Man in Black (Jul single)
07 PRETTY THINGS Talkin' About the Good Times (Feb single)
08 KOOBAS Walking Out (May single)
09 MOVE Kilroy Was Here (Mar album track)
10 KALEIDOSCOPE Jenny Artichoke (Sep single)
11 MIRROR Gingerbread Man (May first & only single)
12 TURQUOISE Tales of Flossie Fillett (Mar B-side)
13 MIKE STUART SPAN Concerto of thoughts (Feb B-side)
14 ECLECTION Another time another place (Sept single)
15 RAINBOW FFOLLY Montgolfier (May album track)
16 INCREDIBLE STRING BAND Witches hat (Apr album track)
17 FAIRPORT CONVENTION If i had a ribbon bow (Feb debut single)
18 PENTANGLE Let no man steal your thyme (May album track)
19 CARAVAN Ride (Oct album track)
20 BLOSSOM TOES Everyone's Leaving Me Now (Oct B-side)
21 SOFT MACHINE Why Are We Sleeping (Dec album track)
22 YARDBIRDS Think About It (Mar B-side)
23 TOMORROW Hallucinations (Feb album track)
24 PRETTY THINGS I See You (early version from "More Electric Banana")
25 PINK FLOYD Point me at the sky (Dec single)
26 ROKES When the wind arises (May B-side single)
27 ONE IN A MILLION Fredereek Hernando (Jan single)
28 FLEUR-DE-LYS Gong with the luminous nose (May single)
29 TIMEBOX Gone Is The Sad Man (Nov B-side)
30 JASON CREST Patricia's dream (Jul B-side)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/v4n2jz2wmjj/1968 DIVE INTO YESTERDAY.rar
http://www.mediafire.com/file/tloddwmtiny/1968 DIVE INTO YESTERDAY part2.rar

PS
Sorry if you had been looking for white albums or beggars banquets...

The KOOBAS Complete Singles Collection & LIVE 1966!

2008-11-03T10:05:00.000-08:00

Isn't it amazing that The Koobas singles have not been the subject of a proper reissue?
Yes, some were added as bonus tracks to their album but as my friend Tulloch said "One of the interesting things about listening to the singles in order is the way they progress from Merseybeat through blue eyed soul (reminding me of the Action) and on to psych-pop, with an unfortunate detour into old-timey stuff with Sally/Champagne And Caviar"...yeah, I wonder what was the idea behind the "Sally" 45.
Still, this is a strong collection that would deserve a nice packaging, the kind of stuff Circle records have been doing for example, maybe one day!
UPDATE 19 May 2011: over a thousand downloads so far...

After I re-posted my almost complete Koobas 45s comp just over a month ago, my call to fill those gaps was answered...check the comments and you'll find another link to a similar but different comp, still incomplete!
So, here it is, thanks to Tulloch from England, the definitive Complete Singles Collection, that apart from ALL their UK sides it includes a rare B-side from a Denmark single only, a cool cover of a tune originally recorded by folk-guitar-hero Bert Jansch, and also two tracks from their album issued as a French 45 only.
Finally,nine LIVE tracks from their two 1966 appearances (Jan & Sept) at the German TV Show BEAT BEAT BEAT, most but not all of these have shown up on youtube (check my first post on Koobas).
COMPLETE SINGLES COLLECTION:
01 I Love Her
02 Magic Potion
03 Take Me For A Little While
04 Somewhere In The Night
05 You'd Better Make Up Your Mind
06 A Place I Know
07 Sweet Music
08 Face 1
09 Woe is love my dear
10 Sally
11 Champagne And Caviar
12 Gypsy Fred
13 City Girl
14 The First Cut Is The Deepest
15 Walking Out
16 Where are my friends?
17 Royston Rose
http://www.mediafire.com/file/0mrzmyzdyjj/Koobas Complete Singles.rar

LIVE AT BEAT BEAT BEAT, GERMANY 1966:
01 Daddy Rollin' Stone
02 Somewhere In The Night
03 Take me for a little while
04 You'd better make up your mind
05 Stubborn Kind Of Fellow
06 Shake
07 Take Me For A Little While (2)
08 You'd Better Make Up Your Mind (2)
09 You Don't Love Me
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dzdyt2eoyzu/Koobas Live 1966.rar

Kenny & The Kasuals: Teen Dreams

2008-11-01T06:07:00.000-07:00

Texas had without any doubt a great number of fine and very original bands during the 60s,with The 13th Floor Elevators at the very top of the list of course, followed by almost forgotten groups that recorded whole albums like the great Golden Dawn, Lost & Found or the positively weird Red Crayola. There were also many garage bands that have appeared in countless comps since the early 80s.

Kenny & The Kasuals started early and until they split up in 1968 recorded 7 singles and a rare album supposedly live but actually made up of studio recordings, basically all covers, with crowd noises added and released as "Impact - Live at the Studio Club" in 1967.
I found it odd that there isn't yet a proper definitive collection of their work as they would deserve. French label Eva released a couple of albums gathering all their recordings including outtakes around 1983-'84, then reissued in one CD and I just read that there's a brand new authorized comp on vinyl only, certainly a must buy!
Kenny & The Kasuals reformed in 1977 and back then "Teen Dreams" was released...a kind of unreleased second album but in fact a brilliant collection of 1966-1967 original recordings (1 cover) that plays really well as an album, including among others the fantastic "Journey to Tyme", fuzz bass and all.There are many great garage-psych tunes from beginning to end.
Had it been released 10 years earlier it would be considered an all-time classic!
Judge it by yourself.

TEEN DREAMS,
01 See Saw Ride
02 Strings Of Time
03 Things Gettin Better
04 As I Know
05 Everything seems fine
06 Come tomorrow
07 Revelations
08 Raindrops to teardrops
09 I'm gonna make it
10 And there you were
11 Come on kid
12 Can't keep from crying
13 Who stole my house
14 Journey to Tyme

http://www.mediafire.com/file/wmntdiyn15g/kenny & the kasuals - teen dreams.rar

Tages! Tages! Tages!

2008-10-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

I first posted Tages in May, then Shareonall died and with it that link.
Here are those songs plus 12 more, adding a bunch of earlier tracks, like both sides of their 2nd single, a personal favourite and one that I got cheap in a shop in Gothenburg about 15 years ago together with a couple more...

As mentioned in the previous post, this very prolific band also recorded several R&B and Soul covers and even a couple of Small Faces numbers among others, but their real genius is found in their own compositions.
This one is for Delinquent.
Enjoy it!

Thirty of the very best by Tages:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/mzhtnjimmiw/Tages!Tages!Tages!.rar

Venezuela A-Gó-Gó !!! Beat & Psych 1966-1969

2008-10-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

This is another 30 track homemade comp dedicated to South American groups of the 60s (also check my previous posts on Chile and Colombia).
Venezuela is probably one of the least known countries in South America when it comes to 60s Beat music and not for lack of groups…in fact there were several bands already recording in the early 60s,like Los Supersonicos, Los Dangers, Los 007 and many more!
Far from being the final word on the subject, what you find is a collection of some of the best tracks from albums released mostly between 1966 and 1968.
Here you get several tracks by the Impala (yes, without a final “s”) one of the most popular and a very prolific band, showing a strong Beatles influence in a couple of their earliest tracks and a more Soul and even Psychedelic one in some of the later recordings.It is arguably the best band to have come out of Venezuela in the 60s with many albums spanning the whole decade; they also spent some time in Spain where some of the tracks here included were recorded.
Their “Impala Syndrome” LP from 1969 was reissued on vinyl few years ago and shows them updating their sound, though their peak was during 1966-67.

Another band that issued several LPs were Los Darts, here with tracks from 1967-68...
The Memphis self-titled album from 1967 is one of the best of those I heard, here are few songs plus one from later on.

Even earlier it's an album by Homer & The Don'ts, released in 1966 but recorded in late Summer 1965. They were mostly Americans and their Lp, titled "Shindig" has some Stones covers and few slow originals, the exception being "Wasting my time".
Los Claners tracks are from their 1966 album, a very Turtle-ish, folk-rock affair with a very typical "youngsters against the old world" theme...

Also included are The Six that had an enjoyable Soul-ish album in 1968, here represented with a couple of more garagey numbers. One of my favourite track is "I've had my dose" by Los Holidays that also recorded few albums. The two great tracks here are from their 3rd album, by then they added a Dutchman on guitar to their already international line-up that included 1 Italian and 1 Hungarian besides two Venezuelans.
There were lots more bands and perhaps one day, somebody will decide to properly issue a decent compilation, there's enough for a double CD!
By the end of the decade some of those early groups were more and more out of step, sometimes due to lack of vision and pressure from record labels…and new groups were forming.
In recent years albums by Love Depression and Ladies W.C. were reissued.
The latter in particular is a great record worth investigating, blues based but very psychedelic, while the former is almost entirely made up of covers with Hendrix being the main influence but also with a great deal of Soul numbers.

This post is dedicated to the people at Sesentosos a forum from where most of the tracks here were taken.

Tracklist
01 Homer and The Dont's Wasting My Time
02 Los Claners Abrázame para amarme
03 Los Impala Una Terrible Enfermedad
04 Los Supersónicos No me niegues tu amor
05 Los Holiday's Don't tell me
06 Los Memphis Llora por mi
07 Los Darts Situación Peculiar
09 Los Holiday's I've had my Dose
08 LosDarts Sonrie otra Vez
10 Los Impala I don't care
11 Los Memphis You make me happy all the time
12 The Pets Hello, I Love You
13 Los Impala No hago mas que llorar
14 The Six Fuego y Humo
15 Junior Squad Conoceme
16 Los Impala En la playa
17 Los Memphis Mujer olvidada
18 Los Claners Gente joven
19 Homer & The Don'ts Homer Don't
20 Los Impala Yo te ví
21 Los Claners Gitana
22 Los Memphis Por una razon
23 The Six No juego
24 Los Impala Taxi
25 Los Memphis Como la puedo dejar
26 Los Impala Las nubes
27 Los Darts De qué me sirve
28 Los Impala Flores
29 Los Claners No debí decir
30 Los Memphis Cielo

http://www.mediafire.com/file/oemcnrjhxdj/VENEZUELA A-GÓ-GÓ.rar
or
http://sharebee.com/d11adb28 (NEW LINK!)

The KINGS of Italian Beat!

2008-10-08T06:55:00.000-07:00

Their greatest song, the crunching, very Kinks-like "Trovane un altro" is rightly recognized by many as one of the best examples of Eurobeat...you know what I mean.
It's also pretty much all that is known by this group from the northern city of Verona. Often foreigners and Italians alike have wondered about the rest of their recorded output...well, here it is!
The band had started really early on and as Dino e I Kings released a couple of singles before they went their separate ways, Dino as a successful and more commercial singer while I Kings found in Renato Bernuzzi a singer that would stir them towards more Beat and R&B stuff and would look very different with his long hair and beard, giving the band that garage look too!

It was 1965 and the new line-up also included American Andy De Bruyn on bass, by then they had moved from RCA to a smaller label Durium.

Their only album, I KINGS (1966) features a couple of numbers by the Zombies and the Stones and no less than 3 Dylan covers. There is also a cover of We Five's "You were on my mind", that the band recorded before the most famous version by the EQUIPE 84, but were not allowed to release it as their next single..."Io ho in mente te" as done by the EQUIPE 84 would become a major hit.
The LP included all of their four 45s up to then apart from the B-side of the last one.
That one plus the last two singles are included here.
True, there is nothing as wild as "Trovane un altro" but there are some great tunes to be found, more in a folk-rock vein.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/wxmzggmjwqt/Kings Beat Italiano.rar
Tracklist:
1 Bambina non sono io
2 La bussola
3 Trovane un altro
4 Fai quello che vuoi
5 Sei stata tu
6 If you gotta go, go now
7 La risposta
8 1-2-3
9 Sei solo tu
10 Tu non puoi
11 Io ho in mente te
12 Ma non é giusto
Bonus tracks,
13 L'uomo di ieri
14 Cerca
15 Dedicato alla mia ragazza
16 Lasciati portare via
17 Caffé amaro

Singles Discography (all 1966, except the first one from 1965):
1 Fai quello che vuoi/ Ma non é giusto
2 Bambina non sono io / Trovane un altro
3 1-2-3 / La risposta
4 Tu non puoi / L’uomo di ieri
5 Cerca / Dedicato alla mia ragazza
6 Lasciati portare via / Caffé amaro

Enjoy it and do leave comments!

Wonderful Hungarian 60s Sounds:ILLES RE-UPLOADED!

2008-10-02T05:22:00.000-07:00

Here are ILLES best records,"NEHEZ AZ UT" and "ILLESEK ES POFONOK", their second and third album plus a bunch of bonus tracks originally released as singles during 1968-1969. Plenty of great and very original tunes on both LPs, still many of my favourites were only issued as 45s.
One of their greatest track and I imagine being a hit in Hungary is "Igen" from 1966.
I included that and 9 more songs from 1965-1967 in a new link.
You can hear the band finding their own sound and really coming together by the time they recorded "Igen" and the following ones.
Check it out and do leave comments.
See the original posts for more info.
Also still available their first album posted back in March...
http://www.mediafire.com/file/gmt2m50atbb/ILLES '68.rar
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ydwdaimhynm/ILLES '69.rar

NEW LINK!!!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/negwyd2alvo/illes singles 65 67.rar
Tracklist SINGLES Comp 1965-1967:
01 Az Utcan
02 Uzenet Eddynek
03 Kulonos Lany
04 Itt allok egymagam
05 Mindig veled
06 Igen
07 Nyari mese
08 Nem volt soha senkim
09 Kis virag
10 Nem erdekel, amit mondsz

Hope Hungarians will forgive me for not putting the various accents on the above titles...

KOOBAS RE-CHARGED AND RE-UPLOADED!

2008-10-01T07:05:00.000-07:00

Here are KOOBAS once again...somebody was asking for "Magic potion" but as mentioned in the original post, that and a couple more I don't have...anybody wishing to fill the gaps?
This time, though, I also included their album from 1969.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/lzyolm1zmo2/Koobas 1964-1968.rar
CHECK NEW POST AND NEW LINK !!!(Nov. 2008)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/myyyzndmjt5/Koobas LP 1969.rar

One more re-post, my homemade comp "FLOWERS ARE FLOWERING".
http://www.mediafire.com/file/zz1kjnjml2q/UK Beat Sike.rar

Enjoy it!

AFRICAN FILES RE-UPLOADED !

2008-09-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

Make sure to check the original posts for info & tracklists.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ty5ylnmmxd1/AFRIKA 1.rar
http://www.mediafire.com/file/mdmwmby3nw3/AFRIKA 2.rar
http://www.mediafire.com/file/hdmdmjmj1qd/AFRIKA 3.rar

FILES RE-UPLOADED!!!

2008-08-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

Just before I go on holiday...here are a couple of things that have been requested since shareonall disappeared...and most of the files I uploaded.
It will be nice to receive some comments either than just "link's dead, please post it again".

CHILEAN 60s
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?d8sq1dmxfr4

COLOMBIA A-GO-GO part1 & 2
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mjdhklkueaf
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?skwf6whzaad

SOFT MACHINE Love Makes Sweet Music!
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?0trsquzm0k6

As soon as I can I will re-post the African files and more, but not before the end of September, sorry!

ENJOY IT!

This is...the End!

2008-08-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't had too much time lately and I won't post anymore at least for a month or so, but what's really annoying is that Shareonall appears to have close down therefore most of what I uploaded is no longer available and I can't do anything about it.
I might re-upload some in the future.
I thought Shareonall was a good way of sharing files giving users more than one option...they certainly never said they were about to close down...
Anyway, considering this was going to be just a one-off post on Chilean Beat groups...ah! on that note do not miss the latest issue of UGLY THINGS with tons of stuff as usual and including a piece on Los Vidrios Quebrados and others Beat combos from 1960s Chile.
http://www.ugly-things.com/

This is possibly the end...or maybe not, we'll see.
All the best to everyone,
Until next time

Colombia A-Gó-Gó!!! Garage Beat 1966-1967

2008-07-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

My very first post was about the Chilean 60s and I had been thinking of following it with more South American Garage Beat for some time.
Over the years we discovered more and more things from this huge and diverse continent and in some cases we are talking about true gems (Los Vidrios Quebrados for me!).
It is also true though that too many albums were packed with covers and often badly done or simply bad choices due to record companies pressure or other reasons...
Colombia had some fine bands, plenty of covers but generally well executed and with some original or different arrangements.

One of the most prolific bands were The Speakers, pictured above, with 5 albums between 1966 and 1968, their third being my favourite.
Los Yetis also recorded a lot, with 4 albums under their belt.
They didn't come from the capital, Bogotá, like all the rest but came from Medellín and did some cool originals. The first picture of this post shows them as a bunch of cool, don't-mess-with-us, garage band.

Los Ampex, above, did mainly covers and some very interesting ones, here you can hear them doing The Byrds "Why" and amazingly, "Russian spy and I" by Dutch band The Hunters .
The strangely named Walflower Complextion were actually Yankees that lived in Colombia and released a couple of cool albums full of covers by the Stones and the likes and a few original tracks, I love their "Sapphire".
One of my very favourite albums is "Psicodelicias" by The Flippers that I discovered thanks to a European vinyl reissue of some years ago. I couldn't believe my ears when I first played it, a great collection of cool covers played with lots of energy and how many bands in South America (or the world!) were so hip to cover the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band?

So here it is, a 30 track collection of some of very the best, there are several blogs where you can find some of the original albums (fillers and all!)and I would particularly recommend "En busca del tiempo perdido" for all things South American, see my cool links.

01 AMPEX Me tienes
02 WALFLOWER COMPLEXTION Sapphire
03 SPEAKERS Glendora
04 YETIS Ya no te aguanto mas
05 FLIPPERS Don't Mince Matter
06 AMPEX Russian spy & I
06 YOUNG BEATS Not fade away
07 FLIPPERS Los Cuervos Estan De Luto
08 YETIS Me siento loco
09 WALFLOWER COMPLEXTION Open up your door
10 FLIPPERS Shifting sands
11 AMPEX Por qué te vas (Why)
12 YETIS Sabes cuanto te quiero
13 SPEAKERS Tu eres gente que no encuentra nunca quien te quiera
14 AMPEX Mala reputación
15 FLIPPERS Flipprotesta
16 YETIS Llegaron los peluqueros
17 AMPEX El melenudo
18 YETIS Despierta Lorenzo
19 WALFLOWER COMPLEXTION All it is
20 YETIS Amor sideral
21 FLIPPERS Mickey's Monkey
22 AMPEX Perro lanudo
23 YETIS Es lupe
24 WALFLOWER COMPLEXTION Empty heart
25 YOUNG BEATS Gloria
26 AMPEX Paint it black
27 SPEAKERS Vete ya
28 FLIPPERS Demuestramelo Baby
29 YOUNG BEATS Baby please don't go
30 FLIPPERS Last night
http://www.shareonall.com/COLOMBIA_A-GO-GO_uxwa_rar.htm

Stop! Stop! Stop! The Hollies live on German TV!

2008-07-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

Without a doubt a very successful band at home they didn't enjoy the same success in the USA but were among the top groups in some European countries like Sweden and Germany.
The Hollies on Beat Club 1966

Here are a couple of great live appearances from two different German shows.
The first one is from "Beat Club" 1966 and the band performs "Look through any window", "Very last day" and "I can't let go".
The Hollies on Beat Beat Beat 1967

The second is from "Beat Beat Beat" 1967 and they start with "On a carousel" followed by "Bus Stop" and "Stop stop stop".
This is The Hollies at their very best a band that's not always given the right recognition by some but they were absolutely magical with a knack for very catchy melodies and able to reproduce their vocal harmonies on the live stage just as well as on the records.
They put several albums and singles out, and of course with so much stuff being released not everything is great but almost!
Despite the odd weak track here and there I strongly recommend their self-titled 1965 LP and those released in the following two years: "Would you believe" and "For Certain Because" from 1966, "Evolution" and "Butterfly" from 1967.
Meanwhile here are as a taster those 10 UK 45s between 1965-1967 with some great B-sides that never made it onto the official UK LPs, "King Midas in reverse" being a personal fave of mine among those.

http://www.shareonall.com/HOLLIES_45s_xibr_rar.htm
Hope you enjoy it!

Those Kinks...Live and Wild on TV!

2008-07-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

While we often look for undiscovered or forgotten bands, lost masterpieces and so forth, a lot of the times after the initial excitement we are left with some records that we won't go back to in a hurry...what am I going to listen to now?
But of course: The Kinks!

I don't need to be in any particular mood, give me The Kinks ANYTIME!
I wanted to post a couple of clips a while ago and since I've noticed The Kinks in few blogs lately here they are!
My little tribute to one of the greatest bands ever!
There are many great clips, like their "Beat Beat Beat" appearance in Germany, several ones from US and UK TV and many more that were shown at the time in the different European countries.
The Kinks Live & Wild, 1964!!!

Here are The Kinks going mental in 1964 on "The Beat Room", it must be one of their wildest TV appearances ever, also a nice live take of "Milkcow Blues" from US TV show "Shindig" with Dave Davies on lead vocals.
The Kinks Live on Shindig 1965!

ENJOY IT!

More African Soundz!

2008-06-25T14:45:00.001-07:00

This time we start with a sort of Continental anthem all the way from Kenya, then you get more from Ghana and Nigeria, the unmistakable Ethiopian sounds of Mulatu Astaqé (also found with different spelling...) and others and one I'm not too sure where they came from.
One of the most entertaining tracks here comes from Zaire (that's how The Democratic Republic of the Congo was called at the time of this recording) and it's perhaps one of the most African sounding...clocking at over 12 mins I love the way it changes around the middle to then go back to its initial groove.
Dig it!

01 Steele Beautttah Africa KENYA
02 Orlando Julius & His Afro Sounders New Apala Afro NIGERIA
03 The Ogyatanaa Show Band Ageisheka GHANA
04 Christy Azuma and Uppers International Naam GHANA
05.Dionisio Rocha Lemba ANGOLA
06. Bahta Gebre Heywet Gizie ETHIOPIA
08.The Uhuru Dance Band Agbadza GHANA
09.Uppers Chapter 2 Samarin Bolga GHANA
10.Dackin Dackino Yuda ZAIRE
11.Sorry Mamba Porry
12.Mulatu Astaqé Yègellé Tezeta ETHIOPIA

http://www.shareonall.com/AFRIKA_1_poae_rar.htm

Africa...Oh Africa!

2008-06-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

Lately I noticed few bloggers complaining about not receiving enough comments...
Back in February I posted one of three African comps I had made for my sister, promising more if people enjoyed it...I never received any comments whatsoever (hold on! One positive comment but under a different post...) but do you know what?
It's probably the other way round...the less comments you find the more people liked the music!
I'm only kidding, but after a quick look I noticed how the number of people who downloaded my African comp was almost double when compared to most of my other posts.
Conclusions: I'd love to hear from somebody who liked it but I couldn't care less if you can't be bothered...meanwhile here is another African comp with artists coming from NIGERIA, GHANA, ANGOLA, ETHIOPIA and others also featuring early stuff by Fela Kuti, once again this is for "beginners" if you're a fan of this stuff you'll know all or most of it...

01.Fela Kuti Laise Lairo
02.Fela Kuti Omuti Tide
03.The Black Star Sound Nite Safari
04.Ngoma Jazz Belita Kiri-kiri
05.Alemayehu Eshete Honey Baby
06.Fela Kuti Highlife Time
07.Ayalew Mesfin Hasabe
08.Fela Kuti Ololufe Mi
09.Kalle & L'Africa Team De Paris Africa Boogaloo
10.Kale with Orchestre OK Jazz Tika Nedeka No Te
11.Jimi Solanke Eje Kajo
12.Fela Kuti Wadele Wa Rohin
13.Orlando Julius & His Afro Sounders Home sweet home
14.Alemayehu Eshete Ayalqem Tedengo
15.Pedrito Ngalenga Kubata
16.Gambuzinos Kalumba
Hope you dig it as much as the first one!

http://www.shareonall.com/AFRIKA_2_vfdv_rar.htm

Love Makes Sweet Music!

2008-06-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

A Trip on the Dear Old Soft Machine...
One of my very favourite bands here Live at the BBC in December 1967 (tracks 3-7).
It is a wonderful performance with the first couple of songs by Kevin Ayers, both great and both never issued on the Softs records.
Their first single (tracks 1 & 2) was released in February 1967 by the four piece band, with the great Robert Wyatt on spectacular drums and unique vocals, Mike Ratledge on keyboards, Kevin on bass and vocals and Australian Daevid Allen later of Gong on guitar. Both songs were written by Kevin Ayers. I always loved his stuff with The Soft Machine and obviously once he was gone it was a different story, I love their second album and even "Third" but from then on it's not really my cup of tea...Kevin Ayers would re-record several songs from this period for his solo albums but they will never sound as good!

Also recorded when they were still four are tracks 9-17, those have appeared several times over the years, they were demos recorded in April 1967 soon after their debut single . Over the next few months they recorded a bunch of songs for projected new singles like the different take of "She's gone" from a July 1967 session (track 08).
The last song on this post is the 45 version of another great Kevin Ayers composition that was on their debut album "Why are we sleeping".
Kevin left after the Softs first fantastic album and was replaced by Hugh Hopper that together with Wyatt and Ratledge went on to record a lot more stuff and appear in the bonus tracks...but what exactly is a dream and what exactly is a joke?

01 Love makes sweet music
02 Feelin reelin squeelin
03 Clarence in Wonderland
04 We know what you mean
05 A certain kind
06 Hope for happiness
07 Strangest scene (AKA Lullaby letter)
08 She's gone (45 version)
09 That's how much i need you now
10 Save yourself
11 I should've known
12 I'm so low (Jet propelled Photographs)
13 When i don't wan't you
14 Memories
15 You don't remenber
16 She's gone
17 I'd rather be with you
18 Why Are We Sleeping
Bonus tracks!

http://www.shareonall.com/SOFT_MACHINE_Love_Makes_Sweet_Music_mkwn_rar.htm

Viaggio Allucinogeno Nº 3: Armando Piazza "Suan"

2008-06-09T14:08:00.000-07:00

This is the final part of this Psychedelic Italian Tryptich...another very rare and obscure record by a bit of a mysterious character, at least for me!
"Suan" is a very different record and came out in 1972 but apparently even then it wasn't easy to find since it was either sold at concerts or by mail.
Armando Piazza was a songwriter from Naples and he's joined here by Shawn Phillips who was living around there at the time.
Shawn, that among other things played in Donovan's best records from 1966-67, is playing bass and some guitar in this album.
It is mainly acoustic with bursts of fuzz guitar, check the spooky "The House on the hill"...it reminds me a little bit of Jake Holmes.
A second album with the backwards title of "Nuas" came out, it's not bad, more people are involved in it and it has some good tracks but overall I think it is inferior to "Suan".
Tracklist
01 Going into the sunset
02 Birds
03 In the station
04 The house on the hill
05 I met a woman
06 My friend
07 Harmony
http://www.shareonall.com/SUAN_iscl_rar.htm
UPDATE! (June 03)
Please note that thanks to some vital information I just received, I now discovered that the above tracklist is the one "put together" by Akarma that reissued both albums on one CD, the actual REAL running order is found in the comments!

Viaggio Allucinogeno Nº 2: Le Stelle di Mario Schifano

2008-06-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

Here we are most definitely flying higher, a lot higher, reaching for the stars!

This was and still is a work of Art, starting with Mario Schifano himself,a Pop Artist that designed the beautiful cover/artwork.

In fact this record has been "translated" as a kind of Velvet Underground (Le Stelle) and Andy Warhol (Mario Schifano) of Italy.
Considering where it came from it is an astonishing record.
It is without any doubt one of the most wanted and expensive records to come out of the Italian 60s and for once rare means good!
While several bands started recording very long tracks and placed them on side two of their albums, like Love's "Da Capo" or the Seeds "A Web of Sound" here a bold decision was made. “The Last Words of Brandimarte, as taken from Orlando Furioso, with guest Peter Hartman and end; to be listened to with the TV on, but the sound off” is the opening track that will blow your mind, with around 17 minutes of improvisation, you can just imagine the band playing it live with psychedelic lightshow and art by Schifano...

It starts with the guys talking in the studio, then a girl begins what sounds like a Medieval melody, there is chaos until around 6-7 minutes in when a cool psychedelic guitar enters the frame and that's when the band seems to find some kind of path for the next 10 minutes or so.
Side two in contrast has five short and more accesible songs, having said that they don't really sound like anything else around in Italy at that time.
They were obviously not aiming at the charts...
People that witnessed their performance at the mythical "Piper Club" in Rome were certainly left with their mouths open.
The band also released a final 45 in 1968.

Their only album was called "Dedicato a..." and was released in 1967.
Here is the tracklist:
01 Le Ultime Parole di Brandimante, dall’Orlando Furioso, ospite Peter Hartman e fine (da ascoltarsi con TV accesa, senza volume
02 Molto alto
03 Susan song
04 E dopo
05 Intervallo
06 Molto lontano (a colori)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/vzjjmzmjmtz/STELLE.rar

Viaggio Allucinogeno Nº 1: Gli Astrali

2008-06-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

This is the first instalment of very obscure recordings from Italy with a clearly Psychedelic sound and vision.
This band is so obscure that they actually never had any records released at the time. Gli Astrali came from the Northern city of Turin and their work was finally released in 1995 by Destination X, a label that did a great job unhearthing many lost bands from the Italian 60s.
The quality here is a bit rough but I think the performances are great and even more so in the context of the Italian musical landscape.
This posthumous album opens with a great version of the Yardbirds'"Evil hearted you" followed by "Viaggio Allucinogeno" (Hallucinogenic Voyage...or is it Trip?!) actually a short groovy instrumental. More experimental it's the next one as you can guess by its title, shame it is only 1:30 long.
Next there are a couple of interesting covers, especially The Byrds'"Eight Miles High" followed by the Standells'"Rari" .
The last track on this record is the aptly titled "Un'altro viaggio allucinogeno" , "Another Hallucinogenic Trip"....and this time we're sailing into psychedelic waters for nearly 9 minutes.
I love this record, at times reminds me of some of those more Psychedelic inclined US Garage bands.

Tracklist:
01 Non siamo come voi
02 Viaggio Allucinogeno
03 Improvvisazione
04 Credi
05 Vado su in alto
06 Una notte al bar
07 La libertá
08 Un'altro viaggio allucinogeno
http://www.shareonall.com/ASTRALI_cbpg_rar.htm

HEY!BO DIDDLEY!!!

2008-06-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

I never hesitated when asked, for me BO DIDDLEY was the Man!
No Elvis, Chuck Berry or whoever else you might prefer from the early days of Rock'n'Roll.
Besides, many if not all of our favourite bands would have not existed, as simple as that! The Pretty Things, The Downliners Sect, The Animals, The Yardbirds...it's a very long list!
I was lucky enough to see him once in a Blues Festival in Pistoia, Italy, about 20 years ago and at that time he was touring with Ronnie Wood (check my previous post on the Birds...just in case you were thinking Rolling Stones, of course Bo's fanatics too in the early days...).
Here is Bo at his best, from the TNT Show, 1966.
HEY!!!BO DIDDLEY!!!

Bo Diddley (December 30, 1928- June 02, 2008)

The Rationals: The Album that never was...

2008-06-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

They were one of the earliest band from Detroit/Ann Arbor, releasing some fantastic singles in 1965-1966 and by the end of 1966 there was a scheduled LP to be released on their Fan Club label...that never happened and apparently only a couple of copies were pressed (literally! not even one for each member!).

Tapes of that have been circulating, as well as continuous rumours of it being finally released...well, this post apart from being a tribute to the Rationals' beginnings is trying to piece together that album.
Sound quality is not the best on most tracks but the performances are just great.
There is at least one song("I Want To Walk With You") I don't have that is mentioned here:
http://www.scottmorganmusic.com/scott_rationals.html
an excellent place to get the full story of the band, and you can also find an interview to Scott Morgan by Richie Unterberger here:
http://www.richieunterberger.com/morgan1.html

Please note, this is NOT the Fan Club LP exactly as it was, I don't know the exact running order (perhaps someone can tell us that!)and while there are alternate versions of their first singles, the fabulous "Feelin' Lost" (with Iggy on drums!) is from the 45.
The opening track is pure garage, you also get an excellent cover of "Gloria", some instrumentals, perhaps among the earliest recordings of the band and a version of "Smokestack Lightning" that shows them at their wildest...the song turning into the Animals' "Inside looking out" but unfortunately (for me!) instead of being an example of things to come the band would prefer to go down the Soul path...
They released a bunch of singles between 1967-1969 including two versions of "Leavin' here" one backed by "Respect" (before Aretha Franklin's version...) and finally a whole album in 1970.
I used to have that LP but never really got into it even though I liked "Guitar Army" and especially "Glowin"...this is a taste of what this band was like in the early days and hopefully there will be a proper issue of this material soon!
I expect some comments!
Singles Discography:
Look What You're Doing to Me Baby/Gave My Love
A-Square Records, 1965
Feelin' Lost/Little Girls Cry A-Square Records, 1966
Leavin' Here/Respect A-Square Records/Cameo Records, 1966
Hold On Baby/Sing Cameo Records, 1967
Leavin' Here/Not Like It Is Cameo Records, 1967
I Need You/Out In The Streets A-Square Records/Capital Records, 1968
Guitar Army/Sunset Genesis Records, 1969

Tracklist:
01 Look What You're Doing to Me
02 Gave My Love
03 Blues Jam
04 Little Girls Cry
05 Someday
06 Be My Girl
07 Wayfairing Stranger
08 Irrational
09 Turn on (Danby's)
10 Feelin' lost
11 I need you
12 Gloria
13 Smokestack Lightning
http://www.shareonall.com/RATIONALS_1966_ufux_rar.htm

The Syndicats: Howling Wolves!

2008-05-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

If there ever was a Freakbeat anthem that must be "Crawdaddy Simone" a song that's been appearing in several comps over the last twenty years or so.
The Syndicats are usually mentioned by the mainstream, if at all, because they were Steve Howe's first band, he later achieved greater fame with Yes but for me and a whole lot of other people he reached his peak with Tomorrow.
In fact as far as I'm concerned Yes were better in the beginning with original guitarist and former Syn, Pete Banks.
(The Syndicats did NOT become The Syn...)
Actually "Crawdaddy Simone" is the only recording that does not feature Mr.Howe, he was replaced by Ray Fenwick.
That is the band in the above picture with Fenwick second from the left.

There is an absolutely wild, must see appearance at the UK TV show "The Beat Room", that you can not miss!
Syndicats Live & Wild at the Beat Room, 1964

They were formed in 1964 and saw several line-up changes.
Their three singles on Columbia (EMI) were produced by the legendary Joe Meek, with the first one not particularly brilliant and posted here for completeness's sake.
The second 45 is fantastic with a great B-side too featuring a kind of haunted house organ.
Syndicats Live & Wild at the Beat Room, 1964 (part 2)

Discography:
Maybellene / True To Me, April 1964
Howling For My Baby / What To Do, January 1965
On the Horizon / Crawdaddy Simone, September 1965

Tracklist:
01 Bo Diddley Medley (Live at The Beat Room, 1964)
02 Howling For My Baby" (Dixon)
03 What To Do" (Howe/Truelove/K. Driscoll/T. Driscoll)
04 Crawdaddy Simone" (Fenwick/Williams)
05 On the Horizon" (Leiber/Stoller)
06 Leave My Kitten Alone" (John/Titus Turner/James McDougal)
07 Don't Know What To Do" (Howe)
08 Maybellene" (Berry)
09 True To Me" (Ladd/Howe)
tracks 6 & 7 previously unreleased

NEW LINK (16 Jan 2009)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/axytykznydj/SYNDICATS.rar

The Wheels: Belfast R&B Heroes!

2008-05-23T06:04:00.000-07:00

The Wheels were led by Brian Rossi one of the main movers in the Belfast scene of the mid-60s.
There are strong links with Van Morrison's Them: not only they came from the same place and shared a stage together in the early days but they had a very similar repertoire and their first single was none other than "Gloria" backed by "Don't you know" written by Them's producer Tommy Scott and also recorded by Van & Co.
Fair enough The Wheels lacked in original material but they did great versions of numbers by John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley and the likes, also the staple of many other great acts from England at the time such as the Animals for example.

And to England they went, moving to Blackpool in the Summer of 1964 and a year later signed with Columbia. After releasing the above mentioned 45 to little acclaim they went back to the studio to record five more songs including their crowning achievement and following single: "Bad Little Woman"/"Road Block".
That is one of the most powerful R&B single ever released and both tracks were composed by the band. It was released in February 1966 after which Brian Rossi left the band to be replaced by former Them member Erick Wrickson.
The new line-up issued what was going to be their last single, a version of "Kicks" backed by another Scott's number already recorded by Them.
Before their final split in 1967, Brian Rossi rejoined the band for a farewell tour in Belfast playing the venues that saw them starting.
There was also a single released in the US as The Wheel-A-Ways (to avoid confusion with Mitch Ryder's Wheels). It was the original demo of "Bad Little Woman" (backed by "Don't you know") that curiously was picked up by Chicago's The Shadows of Knight who already scored a hit with their cover of "Gloria", if you only know their version be ready for a treat...The Wheels original recording is amazing!

01 Gloria
02 Don't You Know
03 Mona
04 Bad Little Woman
05 Road Block
06 I'm Leaving
07 Send Me Your Pillow
08 You Got My Dizzy
09 Kicks
10 Call My Name
11 Tell Me (I'm Gonna Love Again)
12 Bad Little Woman [US Version]
all tracks recorded in 1966 except 1-3, 1965
tracks 3,6-8 & 11 previously unreleased.
NEW LINK!!!:
http://www.shareonall.com/WHEELS_qlxk_rar.htm

The Birds: London's Most "Dynamic" Group!

2008-05-22T06:05:00.000-07:00

When I first heard The Birds thanks to the Edsel comp that gathered their first 3 singles I couldn't believe my ears. That was about 20 years ago and I still listen to the Birds and I still think that crunching guitar sound is amazing. Especially when we think it was 1964-1965.
The band included a very young Ronnie Wood on guitar, vocals and harmonica,Tony Munroe on guitar/vocals, Kim Gardner on bass, Ali McKenzie on vocals and Pete McDaniel on drums.

Their first single written by Wood came out on Decca in November 1964 and for the next two 45s they recorded a couple of Soul numbers but transformed them totally into powerful tunes with the inimitable Birds' aggression!
The B-sides were great too, both written by Ronnie Wood.
By the end of 1965 they were changing label and manager and their fourth final single was released on Reaction in 1966 actually as the Birds Birds after a suggestion by their new manager Robert Stigwood following their failed legal battle over the band's name when The Byrds toured England the year before...

They also appeared on the film "The Deadly Bees" in 1966 with the great unreleased track "That's all I need you for" and while they recorded few more songs nothing came out and eventually by 1967 it was all over.
Both Kim Gardner and Ron Wood joined The Creation in 1968.

01 You're on my Mind
02 You Don't Love Me
03 Leaving Here
04 Next in Line
05 No Good Without You
06 How Can It Be
07 Say Those Magic Words
08 Daddy Daddy
09 Run Run Run
10 Good Times
11 La Poupee Qui Fait Non
12 Granny Rides Again
13 You're on my Mind (Demo)
14 You Don't Love Me (Demo)
Tracks 1-2, 13-14 from 1964, 3-6 1965, 7-8 1966, 9-12 previously unreleased 1967.
http://www.shareonall.com/Birds_auxz_rar.htm

Tages: Pop-Sike Dreams from Sweden

2008-05-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

Tages were one of the most popular band in their country, hailing from Gothenburg they released several singles and a total of five LPs.
As you can imagine their sound changed and evolved as the Sixties went on and in my opinion they reached their best in the years 1966-1968.

I love some of their very early singles, especially their second "I should be glad" / "Cry", but as a whole I can live without a lot of the covers that they also recorded.

Here is a selection of some of my favourite tracks from the last couple of years of the band:
01 In my dreams
02 I still remember
03 Guess who
04 Jealous girl
05 Go
06 Gone too far
07 Extra
08 Fuzzy Patterns
09 Hear my lamentation
10 You're too incomprehensible
11 Wanting
12 Prisoner 763
13 It's my life
14 Like a woman
15 She is a man
16 It's in a dream
17 Fantasy island
18 To be free
Tracks 1-7:1966, 8-16:1967, 17-18:1968
http://www.shareonall.com/TAGES_66-68_qqlz_rar.htm

The Koobas singles 1965-1968...most of it!

2008-05-21T05:16:00.000-07:00

I first came across The Koobas about 20 years ago when their 1969 self-titled LP was reissued by Bam Caruso. I loved that record, I even liked the strange name of the band...In the liner notes it said something like "too Pop for the Underground, too weird for the Pop fans".

They were from Liverpool and like The Beatles played the Star-Club in Hamburg in December 1963 and were even signed by Brian Epstein the following year. Initially called The Kubas, they started in 1962 with Stuart Leathwood and Roy Morris both on guitar and vocals, John Morris on drums (replaced by Tony O'Reilly), and Keith Ellis on bass.
They released several singles prior to that album and this post tries to collect them all... Their debut single, "I Love Her" b/w "Magic Potion," failed to chart, as did its follow-up, despite the exposure the group received opening for the Beatles on their final British tour.That first B-side is in fact missing, as well as "Sally" and "Take me for a while" perhaps somebody can fill the gaps...

They switched from Pye Records to EMI-Columbia in 1966, and continued playing live both in England, including a January 1967 appearance with the Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Savile Theatre (owned by Brian Epstein), and Continental Europe with a tour of Switzerland with Hendrix and appearing on TV shows in Germany.

The Koobas had several singles released in various European countries, like the above Danish 45 with a B-side unique to it, a song originally written and recorded by Bert Jansch. That one is included in the link below.
They did a great version of "The first cut is a deepest" a minor hit in Europe...or maybe not! Nevertheless it's a great single and I particularly like its B-side.

Here's their UK single releases:
I Love Her / Magic Potion 1965
Take Me For A Little While / Somewhere In The Night 1965
You'd Better Make Up Your Mind / A Place I Know 1966
Sweet Music / Face 1966
Sally / Champagne And Caviar 1967
Gypsy Fred / City Girl 1967
The First Cut Is The Deepest / Walking Out 1968

http://www.shareonall.com/koobas_-_singles_1965-67_jzgd_rar.htm

Olympic: Big Beat from Prague (1967-1968)

2008-05-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

Olympic were the most important group during the 60s in what used to be Czechoslovakia, a country that spawned many great groups like The Matadors or the Slovakian Prudy to name just a couple. The Matadors are probably better known amongst foreigners since most of their stuff was recorded in English.
That was not the case with Olympic since, even though they started playing rock'n'roll covers, when they begun writing their own material they were the first to do it in their native tongue.
OLYMPIC: Czech Beat Greats! (FULL CLIP)

They released several singles, EPs and recorded the first album in Czech Rock's history in 1968 "Zelva" (The Tortoise). That year the band was touring France were an EP was issued with 3 songs in English, "Midsummer night" being one of my favourites showing the band going crazy, totally freaking-out, a must hear!
OLYMPIC "I'm stupid" (Ptak Rosomak)

"I'm stupid" is the English version of "Ptak Rosomak" (The Wolverine Bird!) which is also the title of their second LP released in 1969. The band had gone back home despite the events of 1968 when Russian tanks rolled into the country to put a stop to the so-called Prague Spring that had started earlier that year...

You can find "Zelva" the album thanks to http://faintlyblowing.blogspot.com or most recently http://onwingsdream.blogspot.com/.
Here is that French EP that was released under the name The Five Travellers!
The rest was released as singles in 1967-'68, also included two more English versions of their songs that were featured on the compilation LP "Night Club '67".
http://www.shareonall.com/OLYMPIC_jkes_rar.htm
Tracklist:
01. Please don't leave me
02. Thoughts of a foolish boy
03. Story of a wonder
04. I'm stupid
05. Midsummer night
06. Pohreb sue vlastni duse (My funeral march)
07. Zelva
08. Snad jsem to zavinil ja
09. Dej mi na klin oci unaveny
10. Nejim a nespim
11. Krasna neznama
12. Ptak Rosomak
tracks 1 & 2 from "Night Club '67" LP, 3-6 "Five Travellers" French EP 1968, 7/8 single 1967, 9/10 single 1967, 11 single 1968, 12 single 1968.

Flowers are Flowering (14 Blossoms from the UK 1965-'69)

2008-04-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

A collection of UK bands from the second half of the 60s.
Included are some of the very best and famous like The Kinks and The Move both with tracks that were never released at the time and some very obscure ones...all very well known by the fanatics of course!

The Kirkbys had some great singles out that were collected in the great retrospective dedicated to 23RD Turnoff of the magical "Michaelangelo" fame together with some demos, here are a couple of my favourites, they probably had alredy changed name by then...
Around that time Kaleidoscope were recording some of the most wonderful examples of UK Psychedelia and here is a demo of an unreleased song possibly from late 1966, maybe early 1967 when the band had just adopted their new moniker.
Same with The Syn that famously played "The 14th Hour Technicolour Dream" event headlined by The Pink Floyd and recorded a song of the same title, but here is an early garagey demo from their beginnings.
The Brood? They changed their name to Turquoise and went on telling us tales of Flossie Fillet, while the trio that called themselves Friday's Chyld changed their name to Fire and released the great "Father's name was Dad".
Some of the rest was properly issued, like my favourite song on the great Bee Gees first album,the often comped but never tired of "I don't want you" by the brilliantly named Anteeeks all the way from Kilmarnock,Scotland and a cool one from Status Quo's second LP otherwise a much inferior effort to their debut.
Tracklist:
01.The Anteeeks I don't want you (1966)
02.The Bee Gees In my own time (1967)
03.The Brood Wrong way (demo 1966)
04.The Syn Merry-go-round (acetate 1965)
05.The Kinks Time will tell (prev.unreleased 1965)
06.Friday's Chyld I didn't know you (demo 1967)
07.The Move Vote for me (prev.unreleased 1967)
08.The Kirkbys/23rd Turnoff You sing your own song (demo 1967)
09.Majority One Depths of my mind (1969)
10.Friday's Chyld I just can't wait (demo 1967)
11.The Kirkbys/23rd Turnoff Flowers are flowering (demo 1967)
12.Status Quo You're just what I was looking for (1969)
13.Kaleidoscope You're not mine (prev. unreleased 1967)
14.Giles Giles and Fripp Under the sky (prev.unreleased 1968)
http://www.shareonall.com/UK_Beat_Sike_knmm.rar

THE MOVE: They were something else...LIVE !!!

2008-04-24T05:46:00.000-07:00

Here is some great live footage by the original five piece MOVE.
Thanks to the great German TV shows "Beat Club" and "Beat Beat Beat" (from where this footage is taken) we can enjoy some spectacular performances like this one and often by obscure and forgotten bands.

The Move was a great act live as you can tell by watching these live versions of "Night of Fear", "Walk upon the water" and the brilliant "I can hear the grass grow" (always loved that title!)... even though there are no explosions or smashing TV sets!
The MOVE!

One person that was really impressed by them was producer Joe Boyd that saw them first in 1966 and says in his book "White Bicycles" how he fantasized about what would have happened had The Move made the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. He thinks Americans would have been astonished by them as they were by The Who and The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Joe Boyd wanted the Move to sign for Elektra but it did not work out...
On 27th February 1968 The Move recorded a live set at the famous Marquee and in September they released an EP "Something Else from The Move" that included live tracks by the Byrds and Love.

http://www.shareonall.com/Something_Else_from_the_Move_hqpz.rar

The Scorpions: Brits in Holland, 1965 -1966!

2008-04-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

While at times it’s been assumed The Scorpions were a Dutch band they actually came from Manchester. They formed in 1961 and moved to Holland in July 1964. They released several singles in different European countries with Holland and Germany being the main ones.
In Holland they had 3 albums released (4 if you count the two versions of the second LP).
Their first LP “Hello Josephine” was named after their biggest hit, released as a single at the end of 1964. The album is made up of their first 5 singles released between August 1964 and January 1965 and a couple of extra numbers. While lacking in original material there’s a lot of energy and excitement in the performances, with a great original song “Baby back now” saved until the end of the record.

On their second album “ Climbing the Charts” (also released as “Sweet & Lovely”) there is one of their very best song, “Hey Honey” that has been covered many times since the eighties by bands like The Tell-Tale Hearts and The Thanes among others.
It was first released as the B-side of “Greensleeves” a big hit for the band and recorded by the original line-up.
By the time of this second album though, only a couple of the original members were left.
Due to problems with working permits the line-up kept changing and in 1966 they released a final album “Keep in touch with…” together with 3 singles. It’s my least favourite album showing like many other groups of the time a “new” Soul direction but also including a Fab original, “Too many lovers” also the B-side of their final single.

German picture sleeve

Here are those three Dutch albums which is virtually everything they recorded including all their singles sides.

http://www.shareonall.com/Scorpions_Hello_Josephine_LP_Holland_1965_qdqq.rar

http://www.shareonall.com/Scorpions_Sweet__Lovely_LP_Holland_1965_sdjd.rar

http://www.shareonall.com/Keep_in_Touch_with_The_Scorpions_LP_Holland_1966_osal.rar

More Wonderful Eastern (European!) Sounds from ILLES!

2008-04-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

This is the first album I heard by ILLES, thanks to a tape that my dear friend Lenny Helsing made for me.
It's the second and the most consistent of their 60s albums. I love this band especially their unique Eastern flavoured sound that you can hear on several of their songs.
I've added no less than 5 bonus tracks, all from singles and all from 1968, the best year in the recorded output of ILLES.
This post too would have been impossible without my friend Gyula Dudas, owner of the original LPs.

With so much stuff around the web these days it's easy to just pass by something like this and infact I've found next to nothing by them...don't be put off by being all in Hungarian: do yourself a favour hear ILLES, hear them now!!!

Tracklist:
1.Oh, mondd
2.Nehéz az út
3.Amikor én még kis srác voltam
4.Sárga rózsa
5.Átkozott féltékenység
6.Little Richard
7.Eltávozott a nap - az azonos című filmből
8.Nézz rám
9.Ne gondold
10.Szerelem
11.Az ész a fontos, nem a haj
12.Mondd, hogy nem hiszed el
Bonus tracks:
13.Nem érti más csak én
14.Teli alom
15.Régi dal
16.Holdfény ’69
17.Alig volt zöld

link:
http://www.shareonall.com/ILLES_68_skyu.rar

The Druids Of Stonehenge LIVE FOOTAGE!!!

2008-04-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

I decided to put these two clips up since I read some recent comments from original Druids here http://peppermintstore.blogspot.com/2008/01/druids-of-stonehenge-creation.html
Druids of Stonehenge LIVE!!!

The band is having a reunion concert "in NYC (at a club called Havana Central) -- some time on the weekend of April 26/27." according to Tom Paine Workman.
About these performances Carl J. Hauser says "The experience on the Joe Franklin show was just another Spinal-Tap-like Druidic cut-up. we did that after we came back from our soujourn in San Francisco...
At that point I moved over to rhythm guitar and we were *really* good. David and I were writing great songs (most were never recorded) and Elliott was a GREAT soloist..."
Druids Of Stonehenge LIVE!!! (Part 2)

"Then some bright-eyed assistant producer got the 'old meets new' idea (..OF COURSE!) and they told us we could do one of our songs (Mumsey) if we'd also do "God bless the child". Now we all loved Billie Holiday, but that's no song for a rock and roll band (as later proved by BS&T's BUTCHERY of it.) So we decided to "Paint it Black" in protest. It was all live TV in those days, so we just DID IT. I can remember the look on Joe Franklin's face to this day. I think if there'd been a couple of peanuts on his desk his wig would have jumped off and ate 'em"

Sundazed has recently released a 10" with some great versions of "Who do you love", "Baby please don't go", "I put a pell on you" and "Pretty Thing" recorded in November 1965 when they were still simply the Druids.
There are also 3 tracks recorded later that did not show up on their lone album.
Meanwhile here are those performances, I'm sure you'll all agree that's GREAT stuff that makes you wishing there was more but then again...I never thought I would see this!
ENJOY IT!

The Wonderful Unique Sounds Of ILLES: Illesek Es Pofonok!

2008-04-07T08:35:00.001-07:00

As promised here is more from Hungary's ILLES.
This post was possible thanks to my friend Gyula Dudas,who also provided the artwork, all the way...you guessed it...from Hungary!
This album like "Ezek A Fiatalok" doesn't really start with their strongest cut, but be patient and you'll be rewarded!
I reproduce below a review from few years ago, I couldn't agree more with it!

SWEET FLORAL ALBION
The Journal of British Psychedelia
Issue No.: 13 * Date: Xmas 2002 *

ILLES - 'Illesek Es Pofonok' (Hungary: Qualiton LP, '69)
Hey come back here! So it's from Hungary and sung in Hungarian? Give it a chance! This is the Hungarian Sgt. Pepper. Really! Put through a indigenous folk pop mincer of course, but certainly with enough skewed psychedelic surprises to satisfy the psyche. There are some songs that sound like bouncy ska/ pop adaptations of hoary old Hungarian folk tunes that I have to say, go way over my head. Mostly though, the cultural collision is at least interesting and sometimes pretty mind boggling. Two tracks in particular go for a trance like mystical far eastern vibe that sounds great, and not quite like anything else I've heard, shot through with a vaguely sitar-like instrument of presumably Hungarian origin. There's a fair bit of studio trickery, especially between the tracks and some spoken snippets that could be highly subversive acid humour digs at their communist oppressors. At least that's what I like to think, though of course because I don't understand a word, the lyrics are a blank canvas on which any meaning can be gleefully imposed. My favorite songs here are those that combine equal measures of "Hungarian-ness" with Beatlesque pop to produce music that is both interesting and pretty damn catchy. When you find yourself singing Hungarian in the shower you know something's got under your skin. The sleeve must have caused the Art Dept. at Qualiton to mutter and grumble under their breath about decadent capitalistic excesses, being a multi-coloured pop-art gatefold pop-up job. There was even an insert featuring a 'Yellow Submarine'-style rendering of the band in the same garish colours as the sleeve. As far as I can work out this should be cut out, folded origami style, made into a tube and then placed upright on the label of the record as it spins on the turntable thereby creating a low budget psychedelic movie show to accompany the music.

Tracklist
1.Újra itt van
2.Lehetett volna
3.A kugli
4.Emlékszem, esténként
5.Történet M.-ről
6.A beérkezett levelekre válaszolva
7.Keresem a szót
8.Igérd meg
9.Téged vár
10.Reklám úr
11.Oh, kisleány
12.Meleghengersor
13.Lusta vagyok
14.Két év nem sok
15.Sárika
16.Nem akarok allni
BONUS TRACKS:
17.Rockandroll Rezi
18.Makosretes

Link:
http://www.shareonall.com/ILLES_69_sqys.rar

ILLES Cool Sounds from 1960s Hungary!

2008-03-28T04:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a band that deserves a lot more recognition, well...if you ask me!
I came across them for the first time over 10 years ago, when one of their songs ended the vinyl comp EXPLODING PLASTIC INEVITABLE #2 quite a wonderful collection of obscure groups from far away corners of the planet. On that one I also got to hear Los Vidrios Quebrados another big fave of mine. Volume One was even better...perhaps somebody has been putting these comps up, with so many blogs around!
A couple of years ago I found what I thought was the first album by ILLES and in way it is, but it turns out it's a soundtrack to a film "Ezek a fiatalok"(These Young People)that also included other artists. Some of the songs are sung by Zsuzsa Koncz but she's backed by ILLES.
Amazingly, you can now watch most of the tracks on Youtube!

I was disappointed when I first played the album, by the opening track (much better watching the clip!)and especially the second one...now I know that the second song is NOT by ILLES at all!
The album and the film came out in 1967 but it's quite possible it was all done in 1966...ILLES have the most wonderful sound, coming up with very original melodies and certainly delving into their Hungarian folklore for inspiration.
This record gets better and better,the last few tracks are great and it's certainly one that grows on you and after watching those clips I like it even more!
LISTEN TO THIS, WATCH THOSE CLIPS...and you can also get a glimpse of their best stuff that came right afterwards by watching a live appearance at a 1968 festival:

Perhaps in the future with a little help from Hungary we can post some of that.
It would be lovely to hear from somebody that knows more about this great band.

EZEK A FIATALOK
Ta-tarada-dam
Gyémánt és arany (Metro)
Szőke Anni balladája ( Zsuzsa Koncz)
Mostanában ( Sarolta Zalatnay & Metro)
Láss, ne csak nézz
Ez az a ház ( Zsuzsa Koncz & Omega)
Miszter Alkohol ( Zsuzsa Koncz)
Eljöttél
Sárga Rózsa
Fáradt vagyok (with Zsuzsa K.)
Néma szerelem (with Zsuzsa K.)
A bolond lány

Download album here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zmzbrjbnjjj

LINK for Garage Beat In Florence...at last!

2008-03-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

Wow...I made it!
It's so difficult to upload things with a poor connection but I think it's finally done now. Things are not always that easy down near the world's arse in Chilean Patagonia. Find it in the original post. Do leave comments! Enjoy it!!!

PSYCHEDELIC AFROBEAT!

2008-02-27T09:12:00.000-08:00

Here's something different, a post dedicated to the mighty continent of Africa.
Mostly recorded in the late 60s and early 70s, this is MINDBENDING stuff!
A melting pot of Jazz, Soul, Funk, Psychedelia and whatever else you think is there!

Groovy sounds from Orlando Julius...while Ofo The Black Company is totally wild!

Check their "Allah Wakbarr".
A real favourite of mine is Ethiopian composer Girma Beyene...magical, unique, mesmerizing sounds!

This is another homemade comp, most of it comes from NIGERIA (by far the African country with the largest population) and there are a couple of tracks I don't really know where they're from, perhaps somebody could tell me.
If you enjoy it I might post more!
Let me know...
http://www.shareonall.com/AFRIKA_3_yofw_rar.htm

Tracklist:
1.Gasper Lawal – Awon ojise oluwa (6:23) NIGERIA
2. Bala Miller & The Great Music Pyrameeds Of Afrika – Ikon Allah(5:48) NIGERIA
3. Orlando Julius & His Afro Sounders - Alo Mi Alo (8:07) NIGERIA
4. Blo - Chant To Mother Earth (6:10) NIGERIA
5. Girma Beyene- Ene Negn Bay Manesh (4:04) ETHIOPIA
6. Ofo The Black Company - Allah Wakbarr (Love is you) (3:32) NIGERIA
7. Moussa Dombia -Keleya (10:48) ?
8. Girma Beyene - Set Alamenem (5:30) ETHIOPIA
9. Orlando Julius & His Afro Sounders - Psychedelic Afro Shop (6:11) NIGERIA
10. Honny & The Bees Band - Psychedelic Woman (4:33) GHANA
11. Ofo The Black Company - Beautiful Daddy (3:40) NIGERIA
12. Vum Vum - Muzangola (2:09) ANGOLA
13. Girma Beyene - Yebeqagnal (3:33) ETHIOPIA
14. Orchestra Regional De Kayes- Sanjna (6:01)MALI
15. Girma Beyene - Enken Yelelebesh (3:22) ETHIOPIA

The Rokes Wonderful Sike Sides

2008-02-27T05:47:00.000-08:00

The Rokes really need no introduction (check their official site http://www.therokes.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/therokes for more info).

Well, if you are new to them...These four Brits settled in Italy as early as 1963 and lasted until 1970, releasing four albums and several 45s among the most successful and better remembered there.
Most songs were recorded in Italian (all the hits) and some were re-recorded and released for the UK and US market.

Perhaps my very favourite since I discovered it years ago on one of those great Incredible Sound Show Stories comps is "When the wind arises" originally released in Italian by I Dik-Dik.
The Rokes version is far superior adding a real psychedelic touch to it.

The aim of this post is to collect just a handful of similar psych pop gems (or call them what you like!) that are probably among the least known of the band and some of my favourites.

LEAVE COMMENTS!
1. Passing Thru Grey (unreleased 1966)
2. Hold my hand (1967)
3. I'll change my papers (1967)
4. Watch the children play (1967)
5. Ripe Apples (1968)
6. Telegram for Miss Marygold (1968)
7. When the wind arises (1968)

Download link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?wopxjlszw9w

Garage Beat in Florence (NET Recordings 1966 )

2008-02-16T13:56:00.000-08:00

This wonderful comp came out few years ago on CD only (Beat.It, 2003) Most of these tracks might be familiar to those who like me bought the great vinyl comps "60s Italian Beat Resurrection" on Destination X in the 1990s. Check them out , together with lots more on Italian Beat on the great Caveman Beat blog.
Mind you, sound quality is greatly improved here.

All 28 of these recordings were issued as freebie seven-inchers with the Nuova Enigmistica Tascabile (NET) in order to boost sales of the crossword puzzle magazine in Florence during 1966. It proved a smart move, sales went up and bands lined up to record.

Needless to say those involved never received any royalties, but were glad for the opportunity to record. Those recordings took place at Giuliano Giunti and Roberto Gramigni's Studio Due that opened in early 1966, using an innovative two-track recorder. In order to keep the costs of production lower cheap plastic was used with just a little vinyl added therefore quality was not exactly the best ! Throughout 1966 records were made successfully until November 4th that year when the great Florentine flood destroyed Studio Due and the equipment and instruments of most of the bands and artists featured on the disc.

This is then a very important document, it's almost certain than most of this stuff would have never seen the light of day.
Giuseppe Pini (formally drummer with Noi Tre, featured here) spent ten years searching out the original 45s and infos about the bands. This is a real labour of love, really worthing picking up if you can still find copies since it comes with a glossy CD sized 40pages booklet in which the story of Net and the Florence scene is documented in detail along with the groups involved.
The booklet is in both English and Italian and has several b/w and colour pics of the groups.

The music? It 's mostly Beat, at times very basic...in a real garagey, do-it-yourself kind of way, you might even wonder what's going on with the first few tracks...
A personal favourite is 'Danny' (aka Paolo Tofani), who was an experimental recorder and multi-instrumentalist that played everything on these tracks and later became a member of I Califfi and went on to much greater fame with Area but is featured here with his earliest recordings.
To these ears he sounds ahead of the game especially on track 23 one of the six unreleased cuts on the CD.

NEW!!
Download link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ywd41zmgz1m

Tracklist
1.Telstars - She Waits The Happiness
2. Telstars - With My Girl
3. Danny - Everything
4. Telstars - Solo Me
5. Danny - Somebody Else
6. Billy E I Cani Fedeli - Lei Ama Me
7. Danny - In The Morning
8. Spettri - Non Mi Lascerai
9. Telstars - I'm Feeling In Love
10. Spettri - Non eri per me
11. Facce Di Bronzo - È Inutile
12. Facce Di Bronzo - All Right
13. Tremendi - Where's My Baby
14. Tremendi - Together We're Strong
15. Telstars - Tu Sei Lontana
16. Spettri - Come Farei
17. Tremendi - I knew i'd get you
18. Tremendi - If you don't come around
19. Danny - We could be happy
20. Danny - That's alright
21. Noi Tre - Distruggimi
22. Noi Tre - Se tu non ci sei
23. Danny - Il tempo sopra noi
24. Fellows - Per chi non conosce la libertà
25. Fellows - La mia strada
26. Noi Tre - Un posto dove
27. Noi Tre - Non piangete io son contento
28. Noi Tre - Outside (live 1966)

tracks 1-18 originally released on NET
tracks 19-23, 28 previously unreleased
tracks 24-27 originally released on Ginco (Studio Due label)

The Planets (1967) Beat Italiano's best album?

2008-02-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a wonderful album by a very obscure band that rather than recording a single or two actually released a full album for ARC Italy in 1967: I love it!

I first came across them thanks to the great comp of few years ago "Come I Ragazzi della Via Paal" (vinyl only, 1994) an excellent sampler of great stuff from 1960s Italy, the kind of stuff you want to hear, very hard to find and most importantly of a different kind from most other bands that were/are better known.

I know now that the guys pictured on the back sleeve of that comp are the Planets, the band moved to Rome but was originally from Taranto in the Southern region of Puglia (the heel of the boot...).

There's a great site in Italian, http://www.musicaememoria.com/ about 60s Italian Beat with lots of info but had nothing on the Planets until my inquiry about a year ago, then they managed to collect some info and it turned out that the band had a certain exposure, appearing in films....

The album start with 3 covers and tipycally with completely different lyrics in Italian often about those misunderstood long-haired youth..see if you recognise them, the rest is mostly original stuff though and there's a further cover that was included on the above mentioned comp (perhaps Mr Gibbs could do an alternative version of this last one).

The source of this post is an original vinyl, you can hear the crackles and there's even a wee jump near the end of track 7.

NEW LINK! (23 Nov 2010)
http://www.mediafire.com/?rx7ufu3sneuf6pc

Beat Groups and early Psychedelic steps in 1960s Chile

2008-01-16T05:24:00.000-08:00

A homemade compilation of some of the best efforts from the dawn of Chile`s Beat & Psychedelic scene....

Including rare tracks by Los Vidrios Quebrados and Los Mac's apart from a couple of songs from their mighty albums "Fictions" and "Kaleidoscope Men" rightly recognised as the best from 1960s Chile.
Also featured are The Apparition, Beat 4, some of the punkiest stuff from Los Jockers plus other curiosities...

In my opinion many of those that managed to record whole albums very often had left us with inconsistent records but not without some nice surprises. At times you wonder what could have been achieved given the right conditions, too often bands had to follow what the label/producer told them...silly covers...too little time to record etc

Los Vidrios Quebrados totally uncompromising attitude means that are virtually unknown in Chile but on the other hand their recorded legacy stands well above everyone else's.

Others like Apparition that only recorded a bunch of 45s if they're mentioned at all it's because of their guitarist Eduardo Gatti, later of Los Blops and a very well known musician in Chile to this day. Their two best sides are included.To those of you who read Spanish and wish to learn more about all these groups and others I strongly recommend a wonderful book "Se oyen los pasos" by Gonzalo Planet, a second edition was launched in December 2007 and for the occasion, Matorral, for whom Gonzalo plays bass, played the whole of "Fictions" with none other than original Vidrios Quebrados' vocalist Juan Mateo O'Brien!
"Fictions" had originally been released 40 years earlier...
(http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=88844415)

Also thanks to the many great blogs on the net these days you can actually find a lot of the original albums that are not available on the market by Beat 4, Sicodelicos etc and you might agree or not with me about the whole result. Many of the best blogs will offer info, pics etc it's not simply a way of getting free music and in some cases you can talk about real music libraries!

The aim of this post is to offer you the very best of Chilean 60s Beat and I feel you could actually get a very different picture if you were to judge it by this comp only!
This is NOT what was popular back in the 60s, Chilean airwaves being dominated by the "Nueva Ola" usually very tame and innofensive Pop ballads sung in Spanish.
http://www.shareonall.com/se_oyen_los_pasos_zfcf_rar.htm
I hope you'll enjoy it and comment on it!

Tracklist:
01 Mac's Tension extrema
02 Jockers Psychotic reaction
03 Apparition Before I met her
04 Beatniks So mystifing
05 Jockers Little girl
06 Picapiedras Amor salvaje
07 Mac's what kind of feeling
08 Beat 4 Pobre gato
09 VidriosQuebrados She'll never Know I'm Blue
10 Apparition That girl
11 Mac's Guide me to your life
12 Beatniks The world keeps going round
13 Mac's You better make up your mind
14 Jockers Yo te quiero
15 Mac's Connection
16 VidriosQuebrados Miss L.O'B Spring
17 Sicodelicos Solo tu nombre puede cortar las flores
18 Beat 4 Esta, mi primera
19 Beat 4 Lo que sera
20 Mac's Degrees
21 Beat 4 Abandonado igual que tu
22 VidriosQuebrados Inside your eyes
23 Sicodelicos Cual es el nombre de esto
24 Picapiedras Luvin
25 Masters Junto al martirio
26 Mac's El amor depues de los 20 años
27 Picapiedras Presentimiento
28 VidriosQuebrados Friend
29 Beatniks Ring the bells
30 Beat 4 Todo termina

All tracks were released in 1967 except 9 & 28 in 1966, 3, 10, 13, 15, 17, 23 & 25 in 1968.