Doreen bears it all on this solo journey. While there are some standard (original) folk and bluegrass songs, the real interesting parts are on the spoken-word tracks. On these songs she opens up on a personal level which at first made me feel uncomfortable, but over time became bearable owing to the poetic nature of [...]
Yes! The New Colonials from North Battleford, Saskatchewan. You mean you’ve never been to North Battleford?! Well, I don’t even know where North Battleford is either and I’m Canadian. In any case, this local bar-band brings some great rock and roll to the table in what was their first and only album. There are a [...]
I grew up near Anaheim, CA, which is where Hope High the school for developmentally disable kids that spawned the Hi Hopes is. So, I’m sorta partial to them even though their records are not very good. Well, I mean they are “good” for records of music made by, to use the liner notes’ not [...]
Writing about these largely unknown, home-made records can be tough. Take this private press hipster bluegrass lp here… which is particularly a head scratcher. If the cover (which as always is scant on vital info) is to be believed, these kids were from TN, and this record was released in “AD 1972″.
Extraordinary, unusual, original …
Beautifully sparse and poetic album by this mysterious Ohio native, Marr’Del. The songs blend between spoken word poetry and singing with only the company of her guitar, harp, and sometimes the rain. Amazingly Marr’Del had no formal musical training, which really enhances the personal element of the album. There is so much more I want [...]
For the most part this is an average to below average youth choir/band lp. However, there is a flash of brilliance in their version of “Summer Breeze” – which is absolutely delightful! Reminds me of something off one of those Langley School lp’s. I’d like to tell you more about this record, but liner notes [...]
9.7 out of 10 people would probably find it completely unlistenable, but in 10 years of collecting records this is perhaps the most fascinating lp I’ve found.
Private press pipe organ/sythnesizer instrumental lp with a subtle PNP vibe. Tracks include “The Man I Love,” “I’ve Got My Eyes On You,” and “Marijuana.”
I was finding this record all over the place when I first moved to the bay area. I like it, but I once enthusiastically sent a copy to my friend Daniel and he told me he was unable to listen to it because the cover frightened him. I guess it’s not for everyone. Swami guy [...]
Nicodemus is an outsider biker folk fella from Michigan. This album was recorded “live” in 1977, complete with fake applause track. Total “smoking a jay around the campfire” jams. Amazingly the guy actually has a pretty good voice. He repressed 500 copies of the LP a few years ago, it can still be found for [...]
A German named Hans Kary moves to Berkeley, experiences a vision, and becomes a devotee of Krishna. He then changes his name to Hansadutta Swami, starts wearing aviator shades, and becomes a traveling monk playing bad folk.
I originally bought this to trade/sell but it eventually grew on me after playing it during a late-night discussion with a special lady. Bobby Brown is a multi-instrumentalist and the ultimate in DIY. This album, whilst saying “Live” on the front, was actually recorded in his van to an audience consisting soley of his dog. [...]
Elven harp lady who, according to the back cover of this LP, was given “a harp and the courage to make her music her way” by Bobby Brown (the hippie of private press fame, not the crackhead of Whitney Houston fame). I suppose a woman of lesser stuff might not take advice from a one-man-band [...]
Total homemade one here. Chris put this out in the mid eighties on the Playfull label. The track that gets me everytime is “Nirvana”. Sounds like The Beach Boys with a total real person vibe to it, it’s really catchy. This is definitely one of those records that straddles the line between being cheesy with [...]
“Emmett Frisbee used to travel the country entering Hoagy Carmichael look-alike contests. He was never a winner, though once he was one of the ten finalists.
Cool private press lp out of PA. Has a pretty unique and darn funky cover of “Proud Mary”. The music backing is great, but Rick’s voice sounds out of place, but it kind of adds to the charm of the song. Cool record that’s worth checking for.
A very personal musique concrete tour-de-force subtitled “Creative Nihilism – Studies in musique concrete 1979-1983″ (Iridescence 1984), Gary Kail’s magnum opus brings to mind the recordings of the LAFMS and other bedroom tape-splicers of the pre-digital era. The first record consists of Gary’s solo explorations, while the second one contains collaborations of his with other [...]
I like this record more every time I listen to it, and I listen to it a lot. And I really, really liked it the first time I heard it! Bay area soul/funk with a “real people” edge that really takes it one step beyond. When I first heard about this record I remember thinking, [...]
Yet another record that Will Louviere’s Show And Tell site put me up on. This is a hard one to classify. It’s definitely raw enough to appeal to garage or rockabilly enthusiasts, yet it lacks the naive quality of most records of that genre. The mix of crooner vocals with charging overdrive at times reminds [...]