PLUNDERERS - Every Monday - Sometimes Thursday [Australia power pop, garage 1988-89] 2019 Half A Cow Records hac221

 

Demo recordings from October 1988/June 1989

When Geoff Milne joined the Plunderers in October 1988 – replacing Peter Velzen on the drums – the band rehearsed every Monday, and most Thursday nights, originally at White Room in Surry Hills and then at the newly-opened Troy Horse in Newtown.

The twelve songs on the aptly named Every Monday, Sometimes Thursday album were recorded during these rehearsals. In the case of the first six songs, they were all recorded on Monday 24th October 1988 at White Room and it was only the fourth time Geoff had played with Stevie and Nic. Three songs (“La La”, “Take A Ride”, and “Take This…)” were old Plunderers songs from 1984-86 and the other three (“Is My Time Up”, “I Didn’t Even See Them At All” and “Peggy”) were new ones.

The version of “Take A Ride” is unique amongst the many versions of one of the first songs that Stevie and Nic wrote together for the band in 1984 because they try out a possible chorus: “What a perfect sail, what a sail, what a sail”. This looks to be the only time the song was given a new arrangement and, after this recording, it went back to the original way.

Plunderers

PAGAN BO - Traditional Bard And The Future Inevitable [UK psychedelic acid folk rock 1978] Planet Records IC.L. 01

 

Private UK - ultra rare 1978 stoned, eccentric and depressed UK acid/folk gem in Barrett/Spence vein … Stoned effects, fuzz outbursts, great guitar work, Tyrannosaurus Rex-like bongo jammers, out-there vocals, Parachute’s era Pretty Things like compositions, stoned vibe … 

This album was only pressed as demo.

Pagan Bo

LYLE & PEAKE - Lyle & Peake [USA xian folk, rock, psychedelic 1978] Rebirth Songs AMP 1003

Jeremy Lyle grew up on the music of the sixties and early seventies and knew he wanted to play guitar and sing. After playing in various secular bands over the years, he decided to dedicate his life to Jesus and started to play in church where he formed a christian music band called Rebirth. Kenny Peake had a similar background when he started attending the same church as Jeremy. Kenny joined Rebirth as their drummer. Jeremy and Kenny would get together to write songs and decided it was time to record their original tunes. The other members from Rebirth couldn't make the sessions so Jeremy and Kenny played all the parts themselves. Recording took place over the course of a few weeks in a small studio in Prunedale, California. Jeremy played acoustic 6 or 12 string guitars and overdubbed the Bass and electric lead guitar parts. Kenny also played 6 or 12 string acoustic guitar and overdubbed the drum parts. Kenny sang lead on "Daniel" and "Jesus Is Savior" while Jeremy sang lead on the other songs. Both musicians overdubbed harmony vocal parts. The only other person to contribute to the record was friend David Powell who happened to stop by a recording session just in time to lend a harmony vocal part to "Daniel" The album was titled "White Dove" and was released to little fanfare but has gone on to become hugely popular in the Christian Rock, XIAN genres. Below is a review of the album from the Standin' At The Crossroads website:

Jeremy Lyle and Kenny Peake's custom lp is an exceptional mix of hard-edged garage rock, jangly hippie folk and dreamy acoustic songs. The electric stuff will blow you away, rugged basement rhythm guitar coupled with stinging electric leads, bringing a rough Jefferson Airplane kind of sound to 'Armageddon Blues', 'Get Your Life In Tune', 'Jesus Is Savior' and 'Open Your Heart', all of which have extensive fuzz guitar soloing. Bass and drums are in there, too (no keyboards). The twosome is equally effective in the unplugged format, their 6 and 12-string acoustic guitars creating soft impressionistic folk/psych moods within titles like 'White Dove'. The delicate acoustic ballads 'Such A Long, Long Time' and 'Jesus Gave Us Life For Free' have a fragile sincerity that is intensely moving. A touch of harmonica on 'Daniel 2:20', soft Byrds-like jingle-jangle on 'Love Still Remains'. More climactic fuzz can be found building up the closing ballad 'We Are The Stillness Of Silence'. An outstanding record and a prime candidate for Christian monsterhood. Nice cover painting of a dove. Recorded in Monterey, California.

Lyle - Peake

 

 

HI HOPES - Ability [USA rock, pop 1972] Band'N Vocal Mobile Recording Service BVRS 1200

Hi Hopes comes from Hope School located in Anaheim, California. Hope School opened in September of 1969 to "serve the trainable mentally retarded of the Anaheim Union High School District" according to the liner notes. The music department of Hope School was headed by Doris Walker, who accompanied the band on piano. She also wrote several original songs for the album ("Label", a song written by Miss Walker, was offered as an MP3 on Show and Tell Music). Other songs on the album are "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head", "Candy Man", and "Everything Is Beautiful". "La Cucaracha" stands out as my favorite as lead singer Paul Kuehn tries to pronounce some of the Spanish lyrics but the real star of the song is Art Medina, the "Spanish solo". Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Hi Hopes

 

EVERYONE INVOLVED - Either - Or [UK psychedelic, rock, folk 1972] 2013 Guerssen GUESS111

 

"Either / Or" is a perfectly played and professionally recorded album (something very unusual for a private pressing). Top–notch psychedelic folk–rock / acid–folk with male–female vocals, flute, electric–acoustic guitars, bass, drums and some freaky / weird arrangements–effects. The album is now also famous for including "A gay song", which is probably the earliest known example of a pro–open gay song.

The original pressing of 1000 copies was never distributed or sold at stores, all the copies were given away for free (even to people passing on the street!). One of the members even buried a large number of them in a time capsule at the Amazonas rainforest!

Needless to say, the original album is a highly sought–after artifact since the early days of obscure psych–prog record collecting.

This reissue reproduces the original embossed cover and includes repros of the two rare inserts, including the giant fold–out poster with new linernotes and info printed in the revers. We’ve also included a repro of the "Save Piccadilly" 7" single released in 1972, featuring a non–album track: "The circus keeps on turning".

Either - Or

TIDE - Almost Live [USA progressive psychedelic rock 1971] Mouth Music 7237

 

First song on side two is a hard blues rock burner with riffing guitars that sounds like a cross between Josefus and Soup, then there’s some prog and some rural rock a la early 70s Grateful Dead. This is an interesting little-known LP. 

Tide

SHILOH - Where Is The Peace [USA xian folk, rock 1976] Sonburst SBR 104

 

Good private press bay area, Christian-folk music from the 70's.

Shiloh

GLI AVVOLTOI - Quando Vuoi Scappare (1991-1995) [Italy garage, rock] 2015 Area Pirata AP049

What may be called the second life of Avvoltoi takes shape at the end of 1991.

Moreno Spirogi together with Sandro Piu, after the Ugly Things, decided to dust off the old initial, Gli Avvoltoi exactly. The line up is completed by Stefano "Pugnaro" Cervellati, also just back from the Ugly Things, bass player and Max Cippo, already active in many of the ‘ugly birds’ lives in the '80s, at the keyboards.

The sound changes in the references and intentions than the 80s, the approach is rocker, harder, with some excursions approaching some kind of popsike. In this collection we find the three official recordings of that period, two singles published by Destination X and the 12" released for Vu Ballè Vu plus many unreleased songs kept for many years in a drawer and some live tracks. Analysing the songs of this collection we find three important Italianised cover, I'm A Man, Get Yourself Together and Hush, cleverly combined to tracks signed by the band characterized by a very personal propensity.

This Gli Avvoltoi’s phase hadn't yet been assembled in a unique collection the less it has gone out on CD. Surely the most interesting part is the one of many unreleased songs, with original recordings most of them recorded on 4-track tape.

Finally, this album contains all the material recorded by the band in the years from 1992 to 1995 and it can be considered a "definitive" collection that resumes that awesome period and photographs it in its true shades and in its essence.

Gli

 

THE PROS - Love Return [USA garage, rock, psychedelic] 1977 Barbarella Records AW 14065 - digital file (2011)

 

"Another Johnny Kitchen-related release, published in 1977, but almost certainly recorded in the 60's. Gloriously, head-scratchingly f'd up, this is a jumble of seemingly unrelated tracks, some of them obviously incomplete, others tinkered with in bizarre, incongruous ways. There are, however, a couple of genuinely great cuts -- god knows where Johnny swiped them from."

Heratius

Pros

NO STRANGE - Universi e Trasparenze [Italy psychedelic rock] 2015 Area Pirata APC40, Psych-Out Records PO33035

"Thirty years ago we did our first LP and that’s how the No Strange (post No-Strani and post tape self production) discographic trip started and we achieved this also thanks to Toast Records , which was born officially at the same time.

On this 10", our first out on this format, we decided to pay tribute to musicians that have been formative to us.

This is the first time we play tracks we didn't write but these aren't just covers... at all! They are personal interpretations of tracks that represents our roots. Tracks that are coming from the most intense period of our existence: the period between 60s and 70s. Distant souls that are always by our side, tinted with dreams. Psychedelic souls in self contemplation... for all their life."

Side A:

- Popol Vuh “Die Sanftmütigen” (Florian Fricke) 2’.40”

- The Nice “Dawn” (Davison, Jackson, Emerson) 4’:05”

- Le Stelle Di Mario Schifano “Susan Song” (Paul Thek) 5’:03”

Side B:

- Terry Riley “Embroidery” (Terry Riley) 10’:14”

- La Monte Young “The Tortoise, His Dreams And Journeys” (La Monte Young) 3’:41”

No Strange

CARLOS FIRE AGUASVIVAS - Eclipse Of The City [USA - Rep. Dom. psychedelic funk 1980] 2021 Anthology Recordigs ARC089

 

Carlos Fire Aguasvivas and a band of buddies recorded Eclipse of the City, the privately pressed, psychedelic funk rock album lost to time, sometime in the blur between 1975 and 1977, and made one master copy. Circumstance being what it was, Aguasvivas was unable to press the album for a handful of years.

Aguasvivas saved enough money to press three hundred copies of Eclipse in 1980. A self-taught artist and comic book fan, he drew the album’s distinctive artwork. Both sides were meant for the back cover, including a mise en scène of the Eclipse band drawn from memory, as they didn’t think to take any group photos around the sessions. Rare and in-demand, the record became a cult favorite among heads as the years passed by.

Aguasvivas

THE FRANTICS - Birth [USA psychedelic rock 1968] 2018 Nor-Va-Jak Music NVJCD11 - digital file

 

In early 1968, THE FRANTICS entered Norman Petty Studios with the first session for a full length album project. No band that recorded at the 7th Street Studio, previously or afterwards, would have a heavier, psychedelic sound than this 6 piece group that originally formed in Montana.

Now basing themselves out of Colorado, they made a name for themselves with performances in the area and returned late in the year to finish their recordings.

It was an entirely new style of music being introduced to Norman Petty. What Norman excelled at was creativity in the studio, and constantly striving for something different. What we are left with is an album that pushed boundaries as much as any other record at the time. 1968 was already an incredible year for music in arguably the most creative decade in rock.

Classic albums from Blue Cheer, The Beatles, Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Rolling Stones, Velvet Underground, Big Brother & The Holding Company, and many others were all released that year.

"Birth" would have fit nicely among the best of the day and would have been worthy company.

As fate would have it, the band moved to California and hooked up with new management and began recording for a local label, abandoning their Clovis recordings that have remained in the Petty audio vault for 50 years.

Birth

THE PETS - The Pets [Venezuela garage, fuzz] 1968 Discomoda DCM 638

 

"Whoa! Here's a real sleeper for you. Overall, my experience with South American releases is that there aren't a whole lot of really good ones; a few, but not many. Most are respectable, though generally not worth the mega-buck price tags attached to many original albums. And most of the best LP's are from the early 70's period. The farther back into the late 60's you go, the weaker they get. Most of the releases from this time period consist largely of US/European hit covers. That's what makes this 1968 album, from Venezuela, so special. Sure it has a few covers: "Jumpin Jack Flash", "Hello I Love You", and "Revolution". And these are the best cuts on the record, done particularly well. But many of the originals are also well worth listening to. Except for "Hello..." and "Revolution", all vocals are in Spanish, backed by some pretty cool fuzz and Farfisa organ too. The end result is a decent (even by US. standards) garage album with mild psych influences. The way cool cover was ripped off for the Love, Peace, and Poetry compilation series. Originals are as rare as hen's teeth, so look for the bootleg; no doubt, your only hope!"

Tymeshifter

Pets

APARTMENT - Live in Bristol 1980 [UK power pop, punk] 2019 Bristol Archive Records ARC338

1977 Bristol & I was playing guitar in my very first band, a college rock band playing my first gig at The Granary, mostly doing covers with a few original songs thrown in. But for quite some time I had been writing lots of songs at home, experimenting and developing ideas on my trusty reel to reel tape recorder. College ended and so did that band.

But punk had just arrived like some gigantic bulldozer. Totally energized with what was happening, I decided this was the time to form my own band featuring these new songs that I had written & recorded.

In early '78 I put up adverts in various local music & record stores for a bass player and drummer.

This led to finding Richard White, who had moved down to Bristol from Ross-On-Wye in search of a band and glory. By a stroke of good luck, he also knew of a great drummer in Bristol intriguingly named Emil. So very quickly, Apartment just fell in to place.

We decided to keep to a three-piece line-up initially, and spent a lot of time rehearsing & learning the songs. We also checked out prospective venues to approach to play, but this was quite tough to break into without being known locally first.

ApartmentSo we ended up hiring a function room that was joined onto the back of The Bunch Of Grapes pub, called The Stonehouse for a fiver (this was down at the end of Newfoundland Road in Bristol-sadly now replaced by an office block & a 21st century mall) and started playing a gig there once every week.

 After a short period of playing there we got more and more people turning up, and as a result developed a bit of a following. The word got out & other bands started to play at the Stonehouse, and by mid 1979 it had become a real thriving scene, like our own mini-CBGB's.

We also sent a demo cassette to Simon Edwards of Bristol's Heartbeat Records. He loved it and kindly offered us the chance to record a track ('The Alternative') for his new Bristol compilation album - Avon Calling.

Following the release of Avon Calling in late Oct '79, Heartbeat were also keen to work on a single.

We recorded 'The Car' and 'Winter' as a double A-sided single at Crescent Studios in Bath in Dec'79 in between a flurry of local gigs. 'The Car' gained a fair amount of national radio play which led to a Radio One Mike Read session. This got us more exposure & through various promoters we managed to get more gigs outside Bristol.

Around about this time we added Steve Street of the Europeans on bass, as Richard really wanted to switch to rhythm guitar. By early 1980 we were now playing quite a few support gigs in London at the Marquee, 100 Club and the Moonlight. We were also opening for bands like the Cure and Gang Of Four locally. But we got to a point where we should of released another single, but it didn't happen. In fact 'Poison' (the demo of which is on the CD release of Avon Calling) was to be the next possible candidate. By mid-summer of 1980 with no new single & no real deal on the horizon, Apartment stalled & we decided to split after not getting to the next level.

Alan Griffiths (guitar)

Apartment - Live in Bristol 1980

Apartment - single 1979