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