Before giving in completely to my soft side a couple years ago I often felt seriously conflicted about records like this. I’d sit listening with an odd mixture of emotions; somewhere between “Well this is nice” & “Jesus Christ where the fuck have my balls gone?!?”. I just hadn’t quite fully ascended to the higher [...]
After finding two Rizzo acetates in some random box at WFMU, a certain psych mafioso told me he believed Rizzo had access to a lathe and was cutting custom oddities throughout the 70s. Whatever the case, Rizzo captures the perfect basemental weirdness permeating the American underground (think Vyto B, Higney, Stone Harbour, Heitkotter et al.) [...]
The Hamilton County Bluegrass Band were actually pretty popular in New Zealand in the late 60s/early 70s. It kind of blows my mind that these guys (and gal) achieved pretty strong mainstream success with such a traditionally bluegrass sound. Confusingly, I think Fifth Season is actually their sixth LP and was notable for a slicker [...]
Excellent and relatively obscure rural tinged folk/rock out of Cleveland, OH. from 1979. Windwords was a duo of multi-instrumentalists Doug McWilliams and David W. Arberman. This record has a great vibe throughout and is a really cohesive listen from start to finish. It was limited to 1000 copies as a private press upon release and [...]
Way back in 1912 when the St. Rita’s Parish started talking about a Jew named Jesus, they probably didn’t anticipate the 1973 folk-rock album that was to come. August of ’73 saw the congregation throw together a little slab of choral-folk that was highlighted by a few choice tunes. Loose arrangements, some choral harmonies and [...]
The Huntington Beach, California-based Outstanding Records label may be better known to Waxidermists for releasing the “It’s Broken” LP by Bob Chance, but they’ve been responsible for numerous other interesting releases since 1968, including this little gem of a single. Both sides feature a keyboard-dominated soft folk pop sound, with a bit of a jazzy [...]
From what I can Google, Graciela Susana is an Argentinian singer who had a fair bit of success singing in Japanese for the Japan market in the 70s. This LP mixes more traditional pop fare with sparse latin/folk stylings. It’s a mixture of traditional songs and tracks written by Japanese writers which is pretty listenable [...]
This one has really grown on me. From the Edgartown Massachusetts address of the label and publishing company I would say that it is a safe bet that this was recorded on Martha’s Vineyard. It has all of the heartfelt singer folk writer intentions that an image of 1972 island living conjures. As the liner [...]
This an LP showcasing the then music program at the College where I am now a music teacher. This was recorded a fair bit before my time, unfortunately we don’t do showcase LPs anymore. This features the usual suspects of Pipes & Drums (the College is proud of it’s Scottish heritage), Orchestral & Choral offerings. [...]
Ken Lindsey put out a handful of unremarkable rockabilly sides on the Prince label. This sleepy instrumental b-side was reissued on 51 West’s Long Gone compilation in 1976. It feels odd to post a review of a label comp, but I got tired of waiting for the single to turn up. If anyone has heard [...]
According to Ken Scott’s Archivist book, Ron Ellis and Michael Lynch recorded no less than six LPs of Xian melodic folk music with their families between 1974 and 1979, all released on their Seattle-based Ra-O or Raven Records labels. “Songs For Our Children” is their fifth release (from 1977), and the title is pretty self-explanatory. [...]
Private folk/ssw/light rock from Illinois 1975. Released on the small Friendship Store label, there is a pretty wide range of stuff on here. On the folk stuff Cohen wears his Dylan influences on his sleeve while the more pop/rock offerings head into a more typical mid-70s style and direction. Interesting hype sticker on the shrink [...]
I don’t have a ton to say about this record, but I wanted to share my favorite track — Plant Your Seed.
Charmingly disjointed Uni-Bomber looking dude who had me from the very first listen. Half the tracks have vocals and should appeal to anyone with a soft spot for oddball sincerity. There is an off-kilter feeling that, combined with his sunny themes, I just find super pleasant and refreshing. The rest is instrumental guitar improvisations which [...]
I just don’t quite understand dudes dropping a G plus on motherfuckers like BIXBY while records like Terry Telson are still out there getting little to no shine. He’s lonely, too broke to afford a full-color sleeve, and yours for a mere fraction of the price. What more do you need? Seriously though, this is [...]
This is a really solid set of mid-late 70s folk/country/blues. Everything is well played & Rucker has a great singing voice. Variations in instrumentation keep things fresh throughout (harmonica, banjo, fiddle etc) & Rucker is adept & convincing over all the material. Of the thirteen tracks here four of them are from the Robert Johnson [...]
Probably the most unique and unassuming record I purchased at the 2008 WFMU record fair. Housed in a plain sleeve with a screen printed bird and real feathers waxed-on to the cover, Carole Caroompas’ only record from 1981 is a sure winner for fans of minimal pop. Carole is/was an established L.A. visual artist who [...]
Featuring the Jef Gilson Big Band recorded at the Salle Gaveau concert hall (Hence the title) The track Modalite Pour Mimi is a swinging, piece that features some great blowing over a lovely rhythm. The whole band seem absorbed in this groove which sounds unmistakably French. There is also a vocal version of this on [...]
I bought this LP in Lissabon some eight years ago. I’d never seen it before or since. Rock is not my expertise, but it seems to me this is a record that should be better known. I’m afraid it’s really rare though. They play folk-funk with some latin-rock influences, cool percussion in the mix. It [...]
Featuring the cream of Brit experimentalists this LP highlights some of the creativeness going on in the UK scene towards the end of the 60′s. The track included here is “Shepherd Oak”. Featuring: John Surman, Alan Skidmore, Mike Osbourne, Harry Beckett, John Taylor and others. Surprisingly restrained for these particular players who are / were [...]