The Witness Four were a Auckland, New Zealand based Gospel group from around 1969-1970. This LP is a private release on their own Damascus label and was recorded at Zodiac Studios in Auckland sometime around 1970. The LP is a mix of gospel, folk, pop and jazz. The members of the group were: Bruce McGrail [...]
Admirable and overlooked xian rural/hard rock lp on the Sonrise label from 1978, favorably reviewed in Ken Scott’s ‘Archivist’. The standout track here is “Suffering Servant”, a stellar piece of moody, heavy rock with psych tendencies and strong, searing guitar tone. “No Sir” carries along in a similar vein, its melodic phrasing evocative of some [...]
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 [...]
Solid 197? local release out of Nashville. Can’t find any info on this album anywhere. Standouts include infectious vocals on a cover of “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”, and a version of Prince Buster’s “Ten Commandments of Man”. [Audio clip: view full post to listen] [Audio clip: view full post to listen]
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. [...]
I don’t have a ton to say about this record, but I wanted to share my favorite track — Plant Your Seed.
“The young approach to music is here. We choose love as our theme. We sing, we write, we play and live it. It’s in our every scheme. Of all that we have experienced, love is the best we’ve found. Now we pass it on to you, so there’s more love around.” If ever there was [...]
There is something that is kind of appealing about this country/gospel LP. Jim Gill runs through a bunch of styles (often within the same song) and the band is pretty tight. There is definitely some cool, smart and humorous songwriting going down here and often that’s a tough thing to find on gospel LPs. From [...]
I guess it’s pretty fair to say that as of 2010 I’ve become a bit jaded when it comes to records. The sense of anything being possible I used to feel when walking into a strange Goodwill has all but left me. There was certainly a time when flipping to a dude in a bow [...]
Warren Kime may be best known to record collectors for his trio of Brass Impact LPs on the Command label released in the mid-to-late 60’s. An excellent overview of his career and how these LPs came to be can be found here: http://www.spaceagepop.com/kime.htm. There’s one LP the Space Age Pop overview missed, though, as his [...]
Imagine if you will, Carlos Santana fronting Pink Floyd circa Wish You Were Here, with a dash of Camel and a little Popol Vuh for flavoring. Add some synth and smooth melodic vocal harmonies chanting devotion to Hare Krishna, and you’ve got the sound of Jagad Guru Chris Butler’s “Mantra Electric” double LP. Released in [...]
With just 2 days to go until Xmas, I almost missed my window of opportunity for 2009. I like to imagine legions of fans depending upon me to post my yearly slice of ridiculous exploito holiday trash. Believe it or not, I hate Xmas music. And yet, somehow it keeps making its way into my [...]
Here is a taste of ‘Family’ by Jim Valley with Steve Schurr. Jim writes some mighty peaceful and solid songs. Good ones come one after another on this folk-rock set from Light Records. “All Is Well” is off the more rocking first side and has a sound that reminds me of Tommy Flanders or Tim [...]
Debbie Friedman leads a group of Minnesota musicians in a set of songs that comprise, in her words, a “musical montage spanning generations of Jewish liturgical and biblical vision”. Debbie’s voice is strong and sometimes the language sounds almost Japanese in nature. And so it kind of reminds me of Happy End in instrumentation and [...]
What an incredible record…fans of The Youngbloods and Poco should check this out. I was looking for good christian records at a St. Vincent De Paul, found this and took a fifty cent chance. He writes most of the songs and they’re all over the map stylistically. They all gel quite well. Check out the [...]
As interest continues to surge in the softer sounds of yesteryear, it is apparent that a Soft Renaissance is upon us. This is no secret to deep diggers around the globe: rival collectors are frantically scouring the earth, scrambling to Out-Soft each other with unheard obscurities of extreme gentleness. Every now and then, the collecting [...]
It’s taken me a good couple years to fully digest this lp, but I think I can now say with some degree of certainty that this is hands down one of the heaviest “non-music” lp’s I’ve heard. I mean, how could a 60′s record of ghetto kids interpreting the bible in jive talk be anything [...]
I am hardly an expert on the subject, but I have seen my fair share of Jewish religious records in the field. More often than not they are Cantor Recitations or Childrens camp songs. Less often I will stumble onto an acoustic folk album. Rarely do I stumble upon Folk-Rock with a bonafide drummer, let [...]
OK folks. I admit it. I am a full fledged record hoarder. I am a good year into full on gluttony. Like daily thrift store visits, hours and hours in stores/dollar bins, weekends of garage/estate sales, ebay, craigslist, you name it. It is not easy with a wife and friends and neighbors. It is embarrassing [...]
Dollar bin find! Blank back cover & a stock front, the only other info besides band & title:”Produced by Sid Kleiner’s House Of Guitars, R.513, Califon NJ”. The People side consists entirely of covers: the Bee Gees (Words, To Love Somebody), Beatles (Birthday), Jefferson Airplane (White Rabbit), Monkees (Shades Of Grey), and The First Edition [...]