12 de mar. de 2015

Snakeye - Canada Rock

Formed under the leadership of Barkhouse ( Langley Beach Crowd) in 1971 with White ( Pepper Tree), Argent (Pepper Tree) and Umphrie (Melody Fair).This line-up recorded Keith Jollimore produced "Blue Feelin'" album which was recorded at Toronto's Thunder Sound but not released until 1975. Barkhouse co-wrote all songs with various members and wrote all the lyrics himself. In 1973 "Choked Up" single was released on United Artists with horn section added to it where the album version had not. Over the next few years several personnel changes occurred . Umphrie was replaced by Gordon Tucker (Double Blind) for a time but later returned. In June of 1974 Brown (Juckatar) and Upshaw (Dogrib) replaced White and Argent. When Umphrie left for a second time in 1975 he was replaced by Russell (Shawnasae, Melody Fair). MacKinnon (Sun Machine) joined in 1976 on keyboards replacing Brown. In July 1976 Upshaw left and joined the Halifax Police Department. He was replaced by John Lake (Sandy Road). Lake had to leave the band because of personal commitments and was replaced by Torreson (Taboo) until his return. When MacKinnon returned to Sun Machine, Amherst guitarist Moore (McCreek) was brought in as his replacement. 


The Barkhouse produced "Shape Up Or Ship Out" was recorded at Solar Audio between March and September of 1979 and released the following year. Lake, Torreson and Moore all played on the album. Two songs "Believe Me Lady" and "See The Sun" that were on the first album were re-recorded for this album. Again, all songs were band originals. The band toured Quebec, Ontario and the Atlantic Provinces several times before they broke up in 1982.  Barkhouse relocated to Toronto for several years before returning to Halifax in the mid 90's and reunited with Lake to form Barkhouse, Lake and Cook. In 1999 he brought back the name Snakeye when Cook was replaced by former Minglewood Band bassist Donnie Hann. Upshaw was one of the founding members of the police rock and roll band "Blue Thunder" which has recorded an album and made several videos urging young people not to use drugs, to stay in school and not to drink and drive. 

Written from conversations with: Jim Rice, Richard Bonner and Cedric Upshaw.

palhinha:





01. See The Sun
02. Blue Feelin’
03. Choked Up
04. Something To Believe In
05. I’m Coming Home
06. Woman in Love Is A Woman Insane
07. Someone
08. Believe Me Lady
09. I Can Stand
10. Boogaty Shoot



6 de mar. de 2015

Caesar Frazier - Fusion Jazz


Hailing from Indianapolis, Ceasar Frazier was a funky soul-jazz organist who recorded several albums for the Eastbound/Westbound label family during the '70s. First making his mark in 1972 with one of saxman Lou Donaldson's funkier bands, Frazier cut his first album Hail Ceasar! later that year, which featured musicians commonly associated with the Prestige label's jazz-funk outings -- Melvin Sparks (guitar), Houston Person (tenor), and Idris Muhammad (drums). The follow-up, Ceasar Frazier '75, featured the likes of guitarist Cornell Dupree and drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie; the album's key track, "Funk It Down," was later sampled by jazz-obsessed hip-hoppers Gang Starr for their "Ex-Girl to the Next Girl." In 1978, Frazier resurfaced as a smooth soul/disco vocalist with the LP Another Life, and while he showed some affinity for the idiom, it failed to reinvent him as a commercial force outside the jazz-funk marketplace. In addition to recording on his own, Frazier also played keyboards in Marvin Gaye's backing band. Thanks to the rare-groove revival, his rare original LPs now fetch generous sums on the collectors' market. ~ Steve Huey,

Palhinha..




3 de mar. de 2015

Fabiano Orchestra - Jazz Fusion from French West Indies,


Coming out of the French West Indies, a jazz fusion group known to the world as Fibiano Orchestra and their magnum opus, Butterfly Island (also known as their “Holy Grail” album). This record carries within its grooves, an exploritory journey into the world. The Orchestra masterfully displayes their instrumental control that is matched with moments of beautiful vocal chants, that are equally as powerful. “Pointe Des Châteaux,” “Fo Ca Change,” and “Creole” are just a few of the gems on this record, pressed into a 180 gram vinyl. The good people at Superfly Records are masters of jazz reissues and the addition of Fabiano Orchestra to their list is a good one. This is a very limited run of only 1,000 and will become instantly collectible since the original copies of this record are extremely difficult to track down. Order your copy here! http://soundcolourvibration.com/2013/08/04/fabiano-orchestra-butterfly-island/ )


Palhinha?






Splendid Superfly reissue of one of the rarest and most amazing Jazz Fusion records to have been produced in the French West Indies, includes the Spiritual/fusion masterpiece 'pointe des chateaux', the spacy classic 'west indian meditation' and the hipnotic gwo ka tune 'creole', a truly unique LP, one of those that you always pull out when you feel like listening to something different, features world class musicians like Clifford Jordan, Hannibal Peterson or West Indian legend Velo - 180grs quality pressing with beautiful hard cardboard gatefold cover, set to become collectible as the original is impossible to find, strictly limited to 1000 copies, http://label.superflyrecords.com/release/fabiano-orchestra-butterfly-island/116967796/ )


28 de fev. de 2015

The Spirit of John Morgan


Spirit of John Morgan was an English progressive rock band which played crossover prog blended with folk, blues, sould r'n'b & pop influences. 

Line-up:
John Morgan (organ, piano, vocals), 
Mick Walter (drums, percussion, vocals), 
Don "Fagin" Whitaker (lead guitar, vocals), 
Phil Shutt [Phil Curtis] (bass), 
Trevor Thoms [Trevor Thomas, Trevor James] (guitar)
(Phil Shutt later played bass in Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come band)


Palhinha...





Spirit of John Morgan (1969) - good mix of psycedelic rock, heavy blues, some folk and early british progressive rock (especially great John Morgan's organ). surely their best album. Very consistent. (Grham Bond's song "I Want You" from this album later was again covered by retro prog Italian band called "Standarte" in their s/t album. Also includes "Honky Tonk Train Blues".


25 de fev. de 2015

ADITUS!!!!! (Fusion Jazz)


Formed in early 70s with a heavy Symphonic-rock influence very popular in those years. Later in the 80s the band moved to a Jazz-rock fusion sound that drove them to the Pop-rock style that is until today their trademark sound. The band has released 14 albums and a first single in 1976. The band is still very popular in the Venezuelan musical scene. Jazz-funk fans will enjoy this loungey Venezuelan LP from Aditus.




23 de fev. de 2015

CAIN - Hard rock


Cain was a hard rocking Twin Cities band that tried to take on the music industry in the mid-seventies. Their two small label albums were serious hard rock guitar extravaganzas, but with great fun original tunes, raucous lead vocals, and sweet backing vocals. Their influences ranged from the guitar of Deep Purple and Robin Trower, the majesty of Queen, and the vocal harmonies of Styx
Cain's roots went back a number of years. In 1969, the Twin Cities band The Bananas went through some personnel changes. Guitarist Lloyd Forsberg, bassist Dave Elmeer, and keyboardist Al Dworsky brought in Jiggs Lee on vocals and Mike Mlazgar on drums. Jiggs (from the Grasshoppers) and Mike (from Crow!) replaced Jim Offerman and Joe Soucheray. A name change was desired and Lloyd came up with "Cain." Like many local bands, Cain performed at teen clubs and school dances. Eventually, they worked their way up to college shows and started to gain a "heavy" reputation outside of the Twin Cities. Along the way, Mike Mlazgar was replaced by Tom Osfar and Al Dworsky was replaced by Jerry Magee. 



Of course, Cain started writing their own material. The popular ballad "Katy" was written by their next keyboardist, Chas Carlson. Their tours took them to neighboring states with gigs in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Carbondale. They worked clubs with other Midwest bands like Styx, Kansas, and Cheap Trick. More personnel changes occurred before they went in to the studio to record their first album in 1975: Tom Osfar was replaced by Kevin DeRemer (from the Everett James Band) and keyboards were dropped from the line-up entirely.  Their first hard rocking album was titled "A Pound of Flesh" (a reference to Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice"). It's not known what the band thought of the cover image that ASI Records' marketing department created. 
The album's guitar sound brings to mind Richie Blackmore; the main riff of the album's opener "Queen of the Night" is in the same vein as Deep Purple's "Burn." Lloyd's Stratocaster sound ventures into Robin-Trower-land on "Badside." The album features an ode to girlie magazines on "If the Right Don't Get You the Left One Will," a big power ballad with "Katy," and an epic rocker with "All My Life." 



They supported the album with tours that took them as far as Texas. 
In 1977, the second (and last) album in their ASI contract, "Stinger," was released. This album was just as hard rocking as the first, but the song writing really advanced. The Queen influences come out strong on "Welcome to the Dance" and the title track "Stinger" (which was a big live favorite when Jiggs broke out the burning book!). The album's Big Power Ballad was "The Minstrel Song." 
A third album was only half completed in 1978 when disco and other pressures took its toll on the group. Dave and Jiggs left the group, while Lloyd and Kevin continued on as Cain for another year before calling it quits. 





Line-up:
Jiggs Lee - vocals, percussion
Dave Elmeer - bass, acoustic, keyboards
Lloyd Forsberg - electric guitar
Kevin DeRemer - drums


20 de fev. de 2015

Chaplin Harness


Chaplin Harness album shows how the band have a feeling for a good balance between longer jams with blues and rock in it ; also within some improvisations they kept the same structural melodic-rhythmical fundament as what makes blues-rock songs so groovy, so that their sound succeeds and remains strong from start to finish. The drum part thus continues its interesting rhythmic fundaments within the improvisations and also the electric guitar as well as the organ keeps this tension intact. There’s an East Coast feeling involved with a hippie and blues touch but occasionally this is performed as if this also breaks out of its stylistic smoothness. The rhythmic guitar for instance plays in a way that it recalls nearly funky elements without ever using this style element and the piano plays more often as if being late night jazz bar improvisations. And also, it is as if they have something of the biker road music smoothness within their use of rhythms and drives. 


The lead singer sings either with a more screaming force, in the late 60s American tradition of trying to add extra power in the voice to create a different white blues alternative by singing more in a black way, elsewhere he’s a more hippie voice while there are added occasional backing vocals arrangements. The organ is great when leading and improvising, and when it is not, it takes over the part like a rhythm guitar (like on the great “3/4 Plaything”, also interesting for its great rhythmic fundament). Less guitar solos are featured, but there are some, mostly in a bluesy fashion. I also need to mention a few other extraordinary ideas, like more strange contemporary almost avant-garde (-for a band with a rather bluesy rock fundament especially-) jazzy chords on piano on an interesting smooth rhythm, still within the east coast context, on “Stitch”.  The bass lines are mostly mixed in a bit softly, but “3/4 Plaything” also featured a bass lead solo (each one of the instruments also had one). Despite some vinyl distortion in the high notes in beginning of the recording, the label managed to deliver an acceptable sound quality of this rather unknown band’s only acetate copy, after a limited vinyl reissue of the same recordings on Void records some four years ago. The band wasn’t entirely unknown at the time. They have played with the Nazz as well as with many other big names on the road. Guitarist Rick Lannaconne became more know within jazz circles. 








18 de fev. de 2015

Zoppo Trump - Prog Rock


German early 1970's progressive band from Dortmund. 
The key players were Nicky Gebhard (born in Berlin) a self-taught drummer, who started in jazz-rock with the Günther Boas Band, and one Reimund Eberth, a blues guitarist and singer.








16 de fev. de 2015

Principal Edwards Magic Theater


Principal Edwards Magic Theatre was a 14-member communal performance art collective in the United Kingdom made up of musicians, poets, dancers, and sound and lighting technicians.The collective was originally formed at the University of Exeter in the late 1960s, and then was later based at farmhouse in Kettering, Northamptonshire as a commune after educational studies were causing conflict with their musical activities. The core of the group was Belinda Borquin, David Jones, and Root Cartwright backed by several musicians and dancers.


The group was signed to John Peel's Dandelion Records after he witnessed their first gig, and their single, "The Ballad of a Big Girl Now", was released in 1969. Following the single was the release (under the same label) of two albums - Soundtrack and The Asmoto Running Band - the second of which was produced by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd. During this time, the group opened for several acts including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Fleetwood Mac. The sometimes whimsical, sometimes epic (verging on progressive rock) writing style of guitarist Root Cartwright, was paired with the eclectic lyrical contributions of David Jones, Gillian Hadley and Monica Nettles, and was performed by vocalist Vivienne McAuliffe. The violin and recorders of Bindy Bourquin were another key element of the group's trademark sound. Lyn Edwards, originally on bongos, took over on the drumkit. The group disbanded in December 1971, but a new band with a smaller nucleus (including new bassist Richard Jones from Climax Blues Band) and a name-change to, simply, Principal Edwards, they recorded a few new singles and a third album called Round One for Deram Records. Most of the Deram recordings were also produced by Nick Mason

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12 de fev. de 2015

Central Nervous System


Band was originally known as "Five Sounds" and included keyboardist Joe Sealy. They released two singles in 1965 and 1966 on Epic which charted on Halifax radio station CHNS. In 1968 the "Five Sounds" were the house band on CBC television's "Where It's At" (the local segment of the national series) which was hosted by Frank Cameron and produced in Halifax. In 1968 the band went to New York to record "I Could Have Danced All Night" album and changed name to "Central Nervous System" at the suggestion of Mark Joseph who worked at the Record Plant where the album was recorded. Album consisted of Billard and Jollimore penned originals and cover of Lonnie Mack's "Why" which was not listed on the album cover. Album was produced by Tom Wilson (Zappa, Dylan) and Eddie Kramer (Hendrix, Stones) was one of the engineers. Band split up in 1969 just before the album had a chance to try itself in the marketplace and dates were lined up to tour in the United States. Billard and White both went on to play in "Pepper Tree" at different times. Oakley switched to lead guitar and was a founding member of "Soma". Jollimore and Cassidy both went to Lighthouse. 
Written from info from: Ritchie Oakley, Jim Rice and Richard Bonner.


8 de fev. de 2015

After Tea - Blues Rock


After Tea was a Dutch flower power band formed in the Hague in 1967 by Hans van Eijck (keyboards, guitar, vocals), U.K. native Ray Fenwick (guitar, vocals), Rob "Polle" Edward (bass, organ, vocals), and Martin Hage (drums). Their first hit was "Not Just a Flower in Your Hair," and they carried on, despite personnel changes, until the early '70s.










3 de fev. de 2015

Long John Baldry

John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English blues singer and a voice actor. He sang with many British musicians, with Rod Stewart and Elton John appearing in bands led by Baldry in the 1960s. He enjoyed pop success in the UK where Let the Heartaches Begin reached No. 1 in 1967 and in Australia where his duet with Kathi McDonald You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' reached number two in 1980. Baldry lived in Canada from the late 1970s until his death; there he continued to make records and do voiceover work. One of his best known roles in voice acting was as Dr. Robotnik in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.







30 de jan. de 2015

Mojo - Brain Damage (Psychedelic Rock)


The latest free CD from the December, 2014 issue of MOJO is subtitled “A Compendium Of Mind-Blowing Heavy Psych, Space Jams & Astral Chants.” Do you really need a hard sell? If The Coffin Daggers’ cool version of Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” (below) doesn’t seal the deal, nothing will. This one’s a keeper. Find all 152 of MOJO‘s freebie CDs, HERE.



THE COFFIN DAGGERS Interstellar Overdrive (8:33)
PONTIAK Ghosts (3:18)
ANTHROPROPHH Crow With Sore Throat (2:50)
FOXYGEN Star Power II: Star Power Nite (2:14)
THE WYTCHES Digsaw (3:19)
GOAT Gathering Of Ancient Tribes (6:13)
DEAD SKELETONS Dead Mantra (4:27)
GNOD Visions Of Load (8:25)
HOOKWORMS On Leaving (6:00)
HILLS Master Sleeps (8:54)
LAY LLAMAS We Are You (7:18)
WHITE MANNA Acid Head (7:21)
THEE OH SEES (Featuring Chris Woodhouse) Penetrating Eye (3:17)
ELECTRIC WIZARD Sadiowitch (4:08)



28 de jan. de 2015

Uncut - Eclipsed


15 tracks of the best new music, including Caribou, Mark Lanegan, Philip Selway, Vashti Bunyan, The Durutti Column, Lucinda Williams and Foxygen



01 Jesse Winchester - Ghosts 4:42
02 Steve Gunn - Milly's Garden 5:34
03 Ex Hex - Waterfall 2:06
04 Chris Forsyth and The Solar Motel Band - I Ain't Waiting 5:14
05 Philip Selway - Coming Up for Air 3:41
06 Lucinda Williams - Burning Bridges 4:49
07 Vashti Bunyan - Across the Water 3:48
08 Foxygen - How Can You Really 3:36
09 Mark Lanegan Band - Floor of the Ocean 4:53
10 Martin Duffy - Snowbound 3:13
11 Mark Olson - Poison Oleander 3:52
12 Frazey Ford - September Fields 3:28
13 The Durutti Column - Free From All the Chaos 5:36
14 Caribou - Can't Do Without You 3:57
15 Weyes Blood - Some Winters 6:12



25 de jan. de 2015

Texas Harmonica Rumble


Para quem gosta da gaitinha bem chorosa...