Viaggio Allucinogeno Nº 1: Gli Astrali

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!!!

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...

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!

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!

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!

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

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