Culpeper's Orchard - Culpeper's Orchard (1971)

Culpeper's Orchard is the debut album by the Danish Hard Rock/Blues Band Culpeper's Orchard.
The album can be described as a 42 minutes Guitar jam. The Guitar, which draws huge influences from Clapton, keeps soloing like there's no tomorrow. The album didn't get almost any recognition internationally unfortunately. Although the album is Danish the lyrics are all in English and you don't even notice that English is not their language.
"Banjocul" is quite funny. A very short song composed of a Banjo and some vocals. From what i knew about this record, Country Folk was quite different from the sound of the band so I thought the download was wrong. It wasn't wrong, this song was probably made to scare people. "Mountain Music Part 1" is an incredible jam. It starts with a quiet Guitar line, only to develop into an insane Solo. "Hey You People" is quite similar to "Banjocul", but this time with a Simon & Garfunkel sonority. My favourite part of "Teaparty For An Orchard" are the vocals. The lyrics are also awesome, very surreal. 'Marie Antoinette has lost her head' is epic. "Ode To Resistance" has a very good Flute work on it, the music is very calm and groovy until it enters an heavier zone, full of Guitars soloing and screaming Vocals. The Riff sounds like a Southern Rock one, sounding like a Lynyrd Skynyrd song. "Your Song & Mine" apart from the Guitar (obvious) has a fantastic rhythm. Great Guitar Solo. The Vocals in "Gideon's Trap" have a very cool effect, this song is very good. "Mountain Music Part 2" is the last song. The continuation of the second song. This song has a much Bluesier sound than the ones before.
The Cover-Art is very weird. It was the reason for me to download it nonetheless.

Culpeper's Orchard:
- Cy Nicklin - Lead vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Percussion.
- Neils Hendrikson - Lead Guitar, Piano, Lead Vocals, Harpsichord.
- Michael Friss - Bass, Organ, Flute, Two Finger Piano, Percussion.
- Rodger Barker - Drums, Percussion.

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Spirit - Spirit (1968)

Spirit is the debut album by the American Psychedelic Rock Band Spirit.
Spirit played a lot of different music styles. From Jazz to Garage Rock or Hard Rock. This first album became an underground hit. It reached number 31 in the Billboards chart and stayed there for 8 months. They went on a big tour with a supporting band that would later become world famous. Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin drank a lot of their inspiration from them.
"Fresh-Garbage" is the opener. The vocals are extremely enjoyable and the most important part of the song. When he's singing 'Fresh Garbage', he's voice just seems to appear form nowhere, it is a very nice effect. "Uncle Jack" has a very good Guitar line and solo, and the most entertaining Back-Vocals. "Mechanical World" sounds very depressing and melancholic. The Rhythm and lyrics don't help though. 'Death falls so heavy on my soul/Death falls so heavy makes me moan' sounds a bit sad doesn't it? in the 5 minutes of the song we get two Guitar solos, which I think was very kind of them. One of the best songs in this album. "Taurus" is an instrumental piece consisting mostly of an acoustic guitar. This song has became famous because Jimmy Page kind of stole Stairway to Heaven's Guitar line from here. It's quite easy to see where the inspiration came from even if you didn't knew this. In the 60's the Eastern sounds arrived everywhere, including this album, "Girl In Your Eye", it has a massive use of the Sitar. Apart from the vocals there's only the Sitar and a drum beat. "Straight Arrow"sounds a bit lost and confused to me, it's nice to hear nonetheless. In "Gramophone Man" the vocals follow the music as an instrument which is quite cool. "Water Woman", I already posted a great cover of this song in the Blog, by the Amazingly Friendly Apple. Again the Rhythm of the song is the best thing. In "The Great Canyon Fire In General" the Back-Vocals create a very groovy sound, and the Guitar is pretty amazing. The last music is the 10 minute epic "Elijah". In it all the instruments play a solo (Keyboards, Drums, Guitar and Bass).
They never truly dominated any Genre, they were very good at them all, but never were truly masters of any.

Spirit:
- Mark Andes – Bass, Vocals
- Randy California – Bass, Guitar, Vocals
- Ed Cassidy – Percussion, Drums
- Jay Ferguson – Percussion, Keyboards, Vocals
- John Locke – Keyboards

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Love - Forever Changes (1967)

Forever Changes is the third album by the American Rock Band Love.
In the beginning of the recording sessions only Bryan MacLean and Arthur Lee participated. The rest of the original Line-Up was replaced by session musicians, due to their 'Inability to function'. Two songs were recorded by the session musicians, "Andmoreagain" and "The Daily Planet". The rest of the band saw that their behaviour was wrong and recorded the remaining 9 tracks and overdubbed the 2 tracks already made. This would be the last album for most Love musicians, in 1968 all the members would quit due to their heroin-addictions, leaving Lee as the bearer of the band. Neil Young started to produce the album but quit soon-afterwards.
"Alone Again Or" opens the album, it has a nice Spanish sound, given to it by the guitar and the Mariachi who helped them. The music sounds very positive but the lyrics are very sad. "A House Is Not A Motel" has a great Guitar solo, extremely groovy. Apart from the solo there's the strong Drums line, which adds a great deal of power to the song. Lee's voice in "Andmoreagain" is one of the best I've heard in awhile, this song is truly a gem. "The Daily Planet" loses some of the qualities of the previous songs. It has a good Guitar line nonetheless. "Old Man" grows in intensity and beauty throughout the song. Lee thought he was going to die around that time (he's still alive) and he wrote this "The Red Telephone", the orchestra is very good. "Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale" has a very nice rhythm, quite repetitive but enjoyable. "Live And Let Live", regains the Spanish sounds, Lee's voice is awesome on this one, resembling an Hard-Rock singer. In the next one he sounds more like a Folk singer (which he was in some way) "The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This". "Bummer In The Summer" sounds quite superior, the voice is very quick almost rapping. "You Set The Scene" is the last song. It's a very good end with a fantastic riff, the part of the orchestra may be a bit to exaggerated here I think, but the rest is excellent.
Only after the complete break-up of the band, the album was regarded as a true master-piece os 60's music.

Love:
- Arthur Lee - Lead-Vocals, Guitar
- Johnny Echols - Lead Guitar
- Bryan MacLean - Rhythm-Guitar, Vocals
- Ken Forssi - Bass
- Michael Stuart - Drums, Percussion, Vocals

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The Kinks - Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire) (1969)

Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire) is the seventh album by the English Rock band The Kinks.
Originally, it was written as the soundtrack to a television play that Frontman Ray Davies wrote. The show was cancelled leaving him with the songs he had already composed. Like many of the other records, the excellent critical reviews didn't match the number of sales. Still it managed to reach number 105 in the billboards table, in the USA, failing to get there in the UK, the first time it reached the table since 1965. Most of the reviews were 5-stars (or 10-stars depending on the reviewer). The album tells the story of Arthur Morgan (based on Ray's Brother-In-Law), who travels to Australia, and starts to remember his house and country.
"Victoria" is the opening song. It as a quite nice riff, but it gets annoying after a while. The best part of "Yes Sir No Sir" is the vocals, amazing. the lyrics are simply a man talking to his military superior, asking him ridiculous things like 'permission to breathe sir'. "Some Mother's Son" is a quite sad story, about soldiers who fought in the trenches to death and their parents. "Drivin'" has a major problem, the refrain is unbearable, the rest of the song is good with a nice Bass line though. "Brainwashed" could have been created by a Punk band, it has everything to be one. Fuzzy guitars and quick vocals, with no worries to sound good. it's one of the best songs without a doubt with an huge power. "Australia" apart from the solo, there isnt that many good things to say about this one. "Shangri-La" the song starts very calm, and just grows in intensity, this one is really good. "Mr Churchill Says" is very groovy, with a good Drums and Guitar line, many Winston Churchill quotes were used in the lyrics of this song. "Arthur" is the last song on the album, the style is the same of the last songs, a good guitar riff in this one.
The singles were more successful than the album itself, in the UK the single "Victoria" managed to get number 30.

The Kinks:
- Ray Davies – Lead-Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Keyboards.
- Dave Davies – Lead-Guitar, Back-Vocals.
- John Dalton – Bass, Back-Vocals.
- Mick Avory – Drums, Percussion.

Mountain - Climbing! (1970)

Climbing! (also known as Mountain Climbing!) is the debut album by the American Hard-Rock Blues band Mountain.
Mountain gathered an huge influence from Cream. Felix Pappalardi, produced and played in all the 3 last Cream albums, and Leslie West was amazed by Clapton's capacity of playing since he saw him live. In fact, Leslie was so amazed by Clapton's guitar skills that he asked Felix to tune the guitar in the same tone as he used in Disraeli Gears.
There couldn't be a better opening song than "Mississippi Queen", which is now considered to be one of the great Hard-Rock classics. The powerful Guitar riff and the screaming Vocals of Leslie are fantastic. The lyrics were made by the drummer Corky Laing in a drug-influenced moment. "Theme from an Imaginary Western" is a cover from Jack Bruce (who else?), it has a great Guitar solo on it. "Never in My Life" has a very good Blues rhythm and drum line. "Silver Paper" solo entrance is great. It is a bit different from the previous songs, the song has two breaks with a small Clean Guitar line on them. "For Yasgur's Farm" Mountain actually played in Woodstock, before releasing this debut, all of them already had a great curriculum. "To My Friend" is an amazing guitar instrumental piece, a 3 and a half minute solo, the end is specially great and just serves to show the virtuosity of Leslie. In "The Laird" the fuzzy Guitars disappear, now everything is much calmer but with a melancholic taste on it. The drums line in "Sittin' on a Rainbow" is bad-ass, you gotta love the cowbells. "Boys in the Band" is not much different from the first songs, its pretty nice to hear, sounds a bit like Black Sabbath sometimes.
A great album from the primordials of Hard-Rock.

Mountain:
- Leslie West – Guitar, Lead-Vocals
- Felix Pappalardi – Bass, Piano, Rhythm-Guitar
- Corky Laing – Drums, Percussion
- Steve Knight – Organ, Mellotron, Cowbells

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Grateful Dead - American Beauty (1970)

American Beauty is the fifth album by the American Folk-Rock band Grateful Dead.
American Beauty is a follow-up to the previous album Workingman’s Dead. This time, though, the vocals are more worked, and all the members of the band sing. Jerry Garcia's famous Lead-Guitar work has also disappeared in here. Loads of famous 60's musicians hanged around the studio at the time of the recording (August–September 1970). Paul Kantner and Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were all there, turning the studio into a sort of jammer's paradise.
"Box of Rain" is the opening song. Phil Lesh (Bassist) composed the song and had already decided the vocal harmony, but he didn't have the lyrics. He asked Robert Hunter to write them for him. Lesh wanted to sing this song to his dying father, who had a terminal cancer. When the crowd wanted to hear this song, they would shout 'Let Phil Sing!'. "Friend of the Devil" is one of their most covered songs, the riff is a really good descending G major scale. "Sugar Magnolia" is Grateful Dead's second most played live song, with an estimated 596 performances. The song has some very good CSNY-like Back Vocals. "Operator" is the last studio recording of Ronald "Pigpen" McKernan, who would die in 1973 after several alcohol related health problems (he was 27 when he died, his grave as this words written on it. PIGPEN WAS AND IS NOW FOREVER ONE OF THE GRATEFUL DEAD). It was covered by several Blues bands and musicians. "Candyman" has a very good guitar work on it. "Ripple" is the B-side single. It is one of the most-famous songs by them. Mandolin player David Grisman appears in this song. "Till the Morning Comes" has a fantastic guitar line, for the first time there's a solo guitar. The music is also very close to CSNY again. "Truckin'" is another of their most famous songs. It was recognized by the United States Library of Congress in 1997 as a national treasure. it's the A-side single.
I'm not really a big fan of Grateful Dead, but this album is amazing.

Grateful Dead:
- Jerry Garcia – Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar, Lead-Vocals, Piano
- Mickey Hart – Percussion
- Robert Hunter – Lyricist
- Phil Lesh – Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Vocals
- Bill Kreutzmann – Drums
- Ron "Pigpen" McKernan – Harmonica, Vocals
- Bob Weir – Guitar, Vocals
- David Grisman – Mandolin

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The Moody Blues - A Question Of Balance (1970)

A Question Of Balance is the fifth album by the Psychedelic Rock band The Moody Blues (they changed their style numerous times, this one is from the Psychedelic era).
They decided to make an album in which the songs were good to play in a concert. Unlike their previous albums that used orchestras and heavy overdubbing, that prevented them from playing most of the songs live. For the first time they used political lyrics on their songs. Most of them are anti-Vietnam pacifist songs.
"Question" opens the album. It was recorded in a single take, as in this album they didn't overdub. The song talks about the Vietnam war, and how they thought it was wrong and evil. The use of an Acoustic Guitar instead of an Electric one was well chosen, it gives a great power to the song. The guitarist Hayward wrote and sung the song. "How Is It (We Are Here)" has a great fuzzy guitar solo on the middle, the rest of the song is nice too. "And The Tide Rushes In" is the prettiest song in the album, the vocals here are superb. It was written after a fight between the Thomas couple. the end ties very well with the beginning of the following song, "Don't You Feel Small", which has a great flute work and some weird whispered lyrics. "Tortoise And The Hare" is a bit different from the previous songs, it's not a calm folk song, its a quick psych song with guitar solos. "It's Up To You" sounds a lot like Southern Rock to me. The riff is very good as it always is. "Dawning Is The Day" style is very close to Gandalf's. Its one of my favourite songs from this album, if not my favourite. "Melancholy Man" is as the title says very melancholic, it sounds very sad, it was a really good work by them. "The Balance" the final song of the album is the antithesis of the first. While the first is pessimistic the last is about accepting your enemies and loving them, that way you achieve the balance. the lyrics are spoken rather then sung.
Bought this album for 5$ in a fair, good deal, it's first edition with no scratches.

The Moody Blues:
- Justin Hayward - Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin
- John Lodge - Vocals, Bass
- Ray Thomas - Vocals, Flute, Tambourine
- Graeme Edge - Drums, Percussion, Whispered-Vocal
- Mike Pinder - Vocals, Mellotron

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Portuguese Political News - José Saramago Dies At The Age Of 87

The first and only Portuguese writer to win the Literature Nobel Prize died, at the age of 87, in his house in Lanzarote.
Born in 1922, in a poor family, he was faced since the beginning, with the awful conditions of the working class. His Nobel Prize speech talked about his grandparents, who raised him in a small village, they woke up at 5 am every day to feed the pigs, who slept in the same bead as them, so that they would keep warm. It was in this horrible existence that he grew a great feeling of hatred for the society and religion.
He never recieved a proper education in his youth, at the age of 12 he left grammar school to join the technical school. He would work first as a mechanic and later as a journalis and a translator (he translated more than 300 book, giving him a vast knowledge of literature). "Baltasar and Blimunda" gained him internacional recognition, a late start as his first book was released in 1947 and he only recieved his recognition with this book in 1982.
In 1969 he joined the Portuguese Communist Party (the same party in which i participate also), in which he participated actively. He never left the party and was known for his extremist view points, he had no problem saying what he tought, including writing "God is a Son of a Bitch" and "Berlusconi is not a Human Beign, he is a Thing". Alvaro Cunhal (Ex-Communist Party secretary-general) once wrote that he would never leave the party, and he never did. He was accused of being a anti-semitist because of his thought about Israel, a country that opressed the Palestinians as the Nazis opressed the Jews. Harold Bloom considered him one of the best novelists in the world only surpassed by Phillip Roth.
He was awarded the Literature Nobel Prize in 1998, the first in Portugal. His book "Blindness" was adapted to cinema by Fernando Meirelles.
Até Amanhã Camarada José Saramago!

The Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (1970)

Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! is the second live album by the English Rock band The Rolling Stones.
The songs were recorded in both New York and Maryland. The Rolling Stones consider this to be their first live album, as the one released as Got Live If You Want It! was US-only and a mere contractual obligation. This album was also released to counter-charge a bootleg from the same tour that was even reviewed by the Rolling Stone (the magazine). It was released right before the release of the studio album Let It Bleed. The Rolling Stone are known for their power on concert, anyone who has watched any of their performances (if you are lucky to watch one live, or just a performance on the TV) knows that.
The album starts with the powerful "Jumpin' Jack Flash" with it's amazing power and fantastic guitar riff. It is definitively a good song to start a concert. Next, a Chuck Berry (he joined them for some dates) song, "Carol", I originally thought they had stolen his riff, when I understood it was a cover I sort of got ashamed of myself for not realising it, don't know why. "Stray Cat Blues" based on Velvet Underground's "Heroin", is the story of a man who has sex with a 13-year old groupie, the song is much calmer than the original, with a good guitar work. "Love in Vain", by Robert Johnson, is of course very bluesy, Jagger's voice is the most important part of the song I think. A good guitar solo by the way. Keith Richards described "Midnight Rambler" as a Blues Opera, the song runs around the same theme as the previous one, a Rapist/Murderer. The sound of the vocals seems quite low, at the end we can barely hear Jagger. "Sympathy for the Devil" an all-time hit, this is one of The Rolling Stones song that everyone knows, the intensity grows until the end. "Live with Me" wasn't released as a single but as grew to be one of their most used live songs. "Little Queenie", another Chuck Berry cover, Jagger adds a lot to this song. "Honky Tonk Women" was originally supposed to be a country song with acoustic guitars, they changed that and turned it into a sort of Heavy Blues. "Street Fighting Man" is usually considered as The Rolling Stones most political work, it was written after Jagger attended an Anti-War rally in London where the police tried to take control of the people using violence.
The cover photo is great, a donkey carrying the drums and a guitar and Watt's jumping like if he was on something (probably was). It was inspired on Dylan's "Visions of Johanna".

The Rolling Stone:
- Mick Jagger – Lead-Vocals, Harmonica
- Keith Richards – Guitar, Back-Vocals
- Mick Taylor – Guitar
- Charlie Watts – Drums, Percussion
- Bill Wyman – Bass
- Ian Stewart – Piano
- J. P. Hawkes – Tambourine

Pacific Ocean – Purgatory (1968)

Purgatory is the first and only album by the American West-Coast Psychedelic band Pacific Ocean.
The album was released by the VMC label, known for releasing great Psychedelic albums. There isn't much information about them. I know their names but what they played is a mystery to me. Actor Edward James Olmos plays on the album. Most of the songs are covers except for two of them.
"16 Tons" is the first of the covers, originally by Merle Travis. Pacific Ocean gives a power to the song that it originally missed, that was the objective of this album probably, to give the power of rock music to old country tracks. "Road To Hell" and "My Shrink" are the only original songs, in "Road To Hell" the vocals sound just like Iggy Pop and the accelerated pace of "My Shrink" is really nice, and it has a great Guitar solo in the middle. unlike the previous songs where they sped up everything "Subterranean Homesick Blues", his much slower than the original, it has a much groovier sound. The Miracles where the first recorders of the hit-song "Tracks Of My Tears" by the big label Motown. The beginning of the sound is great. "I Can't Stand It" best part are the vocals, principally the Back-Vocals, the growling Lead-Vocals is really cool too. "99 1/2" has an intensive use of the Organ. If i said that he screamed in the last songs this one is extravaganza, screaming all the time.

Pacific Ocean:
- Toney Carrubba
- Tony Harris
- Eddie James

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Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die (1970)

John Barleycorn Must Die is the fourth album by the English Rock Band Traffic.
Originally intended to be a Steve Winwood's Solo album, where he would play all the instruments, one by one the members of Traffic joined him. So they decided to make another Traffic album. The band had disbanded when Winwood went to play with his friend Eric Clapton in his new band Blind Faith. This album has a mix of Folk and Jazz influences.
"Glad", the opening song, it's a 7 minutes Jazz instrumental. It is the only instrumental song on the album, but most of the other songs have big instrumental parts, the vocals were only added so they could play more. The vocals in "Freedom Rider" are really great, I really enjoy the Flute work too. The Organ and the Electric Piano take a major role in "Empty Pages", the best part of the music is the great solo in the middle. "Stranger To Himself" is a really groovy song with a fantastic refrain and a very good Electric Guitar line. Then comes the folky Title Track "John Barleycorn (Must Die)" Barley is given a personal identity and its turned into John. He is attacked by three man and his torture are the phases of Barley cultivation, but his death makes bread possible to make, and so his death gives life to humanity. A pure Folk song, whose most important instruments are the Acoustic Guitar and the Flute. "Every Mothers Son" is much closer to Blues, it's a nice song but doesn't had much to the Album. It's good but it is only another song.
The cover is a drawing of Barley of course.

Traffic:

- Jim Capaldi - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
- Steve Winwood - Guitar, Organ, Piano, Percussion, Vocals
- Chris Wood - Saxophone, Flute, Organ, Electric Saxophone, Percussion

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Fraternity of Man - Fraternity of Man (1968)

Fraternity Of Man is the debut album by the American Psychedelic band Fraternity Of Man.
They are best known by their song, "Don't Bogart Me", the pro-pot anthem, appeared in the 1960's counterculture classic film "Easy Rider" (R.I.P. Dennis Hopper, we'll miss you). I discovered this band through that film, and I guess that many others found them the same way. Many of the musicians here, were connected to Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention, they did a cover of his song "Oh No".
"In the Morning", the opener, starts slowly and develops to a quick insane dementia. All is fantastic in this song, the mumbling, the lyrics he's singing, the fuzzy guitar making a bad ass solo and the psych organ. "Plastic Rat" is calmer but still a great psychedelic song, with a strange guitar solo full of effects. "Don't Bogart Me" is a pro-pot anthem as I said before, the music hasnt got much to say about it, the important is the friendship this music wants us to have. Share your things. The ending when everyone is singing is quite beautiful. "Stop Me Citate Me" Back-Vocals reminds me of the band The Hobbits, The singer seems to be enjoying himself a lot. "Bikini Baby" is very Bluesy, I don't like it, sounds to much like a Zappa song. But the next one is truly a song by Zappa "Oh No I Don't Believe It" a really good cover better than the original. "Blue Guitar" has a fantastic Guitar solo, it's a fantastic jam. "Last Call for Alcohol" sounds quite like "Don't Bogart Me", it talks about alcohol and focuses more on the music itself. "Candy Striped Lion's Tails" returns to the style of the first songs, long jams and solos for every instrument.
They still deserve much more attention has they clearly havent got much here on the Music Blog's community.

Fraternity Of Man:
- Martin Kibbee - Bass
- Warren Klein - Guitar, Sitar, Tamboura
- Ritchie Heyward - Drums, Vocals
- Elliot Ingber - Guitar
- Lawrence "Stash" Wagner - Vocals, Guitar

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John Renbourn - Faro Annie (1971)

Faro Annie is the fifth Solo album by the Folk Guitarist John Renbourn.
This is considered by many to be a bad Renbourn album, mainly because he runs away from his usual sounds. He gives an heavy use to the Sitar and of course the Guitar. He is backed by fellow Pentangle members Terry Cox and Danny Thompson, as well as other musicians from the Folk Revival.
The album opens with "White House Blues" it is a really good song, a fantastic Acoustic-Guitar solo and a great vocal work by Renbourn. "Buffalo Skinners" in this song appears the Sitar. Its about 2 men who are hunting Buffalo's in 1873. Dorris Henderson does the female Backing-Vocals in "Kokomo Blues", now this one really is a Blues song, there's no way to deny it, in the end we're presented with a solo from a Guitar full of effects. "Little Sadie" a men kills her wife and his arrested, nice violin work on this one. "Shake Shake Mama" I didn't quite like this song, the guitar work is amazing of course but I don't really enjoy it. "Willy O' Winsbury" would later be covered by The Pentangle, an hero impregnate the princess and his threatened with death (hanging) but when the King sees his beauty gives him the Princess for him to marry. The lyrics are the most important thing on this music. "Come On In My Kitchen" is the first non-traditional song on the album. It's by Robert Johnson, and of course it's completely Bluesy. "Faro Annie" is the only original song, it's an instrumental featuring a Guitar solo throughout it. "Back On The Road Again" sounds a lot like Country to me. i like very much when he says the title of the song.
Unlike his previous Solo albums the reviews for this one were mediocre, this is not Renbourn's best album, but it surely is good.

John Renbourn (Faro Annie Personnel):
- John Renbourn - Guitar, Sitar, Harmonica, Lead-Vocals
- Danny Thompson - Bass
- Sue Draheim - Fiddle, Back-Vocals
- Pete Dyer - Harmonica
- Terry Cox - Drums
- Dorris Henderson - Back-Vocals

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The Young Rascals - Groovin' (1967)

Groovin' is the third album by the American Soul band The Young Rascals.
The album sold extremely well, probably thanks to the song that shares the name of the album. It reached number 5 in the Billboard chart. Their next album would simply be credited to The Rascals, The Young was removed. They were the first rock band to be signed by the record label Atlantic as they were very close to the new revelation in Soul music, it seemed that after all white people could play and understand that style.
The opener "A Girl Like You" sounds a lot like the Zombies. The lyrics haven't got much to say, the mainstream babbling about love, but the music is very strong and the howling voice of Felix Cavaliere. "Find Somebody" is far-out, it opens with a riff played in stereo, and that riff is one of the craziest things I've heard in awhile. Listening in an MP3 is extremely advised. "I'm So Happy Now" is a bit weaker than the two before, it draws much of its strength from the stong drum beat, otherwise it would be a very boring song. "Sueño" i wasn't expecting this to come out of this album, suddenly appears a song with a great Latin beat, and a great guitar work by Gene Cornish. There is only one thing i like in "How Can I Be Sure", when he says 'Whenever I', the rest I think is quite mediocre. "Groovin'" is as the title says groovy and as a fantastic relaxed mood. "You Better Run" has some nice female Back-Vocals, this song returns to the Howling vocals by Felix. "A Place In The Sun" has a really great refrain but I'm afraid there's nothing more to say other than that. And now, for something completely different, Flute! yes a Jethro Tull like Flute, for a big Jethro Tull fan this track is really good and Hubert Laws plays just as Ian does.
They even opened for The Beatles, just so that you can see that they're good. They were accused many times of being a mainstream act, but who cares if the music is good?

The Young Rascals:
- Eddie Brigati - Vocals, Rhythm-Guitar
- Felix Cavaliere - Keyboards, Vocals
- Gene Cornish - Guitar
- Dino Danelli - Drums
- Hubert Laws - Flute

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Bill Plummer And The Cosmic Brotherhood - Bill Plummer And The Cosmic Brotherhood (1967)

Bill Plummer And The Cosmic Brotherhood is the third album by the American Bassist Bill Plummer.
Plummer gained interest in the Sitar and eastern sounds when he was 20, after studying with Sitar master, Ravi Shankar, he joined some musicians (a lot of them) and recorded this album, a fusion between Jazz and Eastern music, full of Sitar. One of the first mixes of Sitar with the normal Western sounds, Drums, Guitars, Basses and a Flute.
"Journey to the East" starts the album, it is a really good song. It is the only one who features vocals, even though they aren't sang but spoken. The song is about his trip to the East, to find his peace of mind. I didn't know if he really did that trip, but i guess it is a way of expressing his sudden interest in the Eastern music culture. The next are all Instrumental, the first one of them is "Pars Fortuna" shows the Jazzy side of Plummer, the song features a Saxophone, Piano and a clean Guitar solo. In "The Look of Love" the Sitar is again the main instrument of the song, the musicians are very good all of them by the way. "Song Plum" sounds a bit progressive to me, reminded me of Robert Wyatt a little. It i definitively a relaxing song. "Arc 294°" is a 10 minute Sitar solo, it starts slowly and ends in a chaotic net of sounds, a truly psych experience. "Lady Friend" is a stretched, instrumental cover of the Byrds song with the same name.
There ain't much information on Bill Plummer that I could find, unfortunately. I'm not totally sure that this is his third album, he recorded a lot of them, and participated in many others (Exile on Main Street by the Rolling Stones for example), so from what I've gathered this is the third. The list of musicians who played here is HUGE.

Bill Plummer And The Cosmic Brotherhood:
- Bill Plummer - Sitar, String Bass
- Hersh Hamel - Sitar, Tambura, Vocals
- Milt Holland - Tabla
- Ray Neapolitan - Sitar
- Jan Steward - Sarode, Tambura
- Ray Anthony - Guitar
- Lynn Blessing - Vibes, Bells
- Dennis Budimir - Guitar
- Mike Craden - Transceleste
- Bill Goodwin - Drums
- Carol Kaye - Bass
- Mike Lang - Piano, Harpsichord
- Maurice Miller - Drums
- Tom Scott - Saxophone, Flute

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Chrysalis - Definition (1967)

Definition is the one and only album by the American Psychedelic-Folk band Chrysalis.
The album had many producers, including the great Frank Zappa. It wasn't because of the musicians that the producers went away, but because of the band's manager. Some of the songs tend to have a naturalistic theme, the Songwriter/Frontman Spider Barbour (Played in Mothers Of Invention - We're Only in It for the Money) is a bug Biologist, who currently dedicates his life to it's research.
"What Will Become Of The Morning" is close to Zappa's sound, it's the same style. It has a nice riff, i dont quite enjoy the vocals in this particular song. This changes in "Cynthia Gerome", the vocals here are fer better, very beautiful. As a matter of fact, they even sound like CSNY in the refrain."April Grove" is the gem of the album, the voice of Nancy Nairn is amazing, the song is very groovy and it doesn't even lack the 'Getting Stoned' line in the lyrics. "Father's Getting Old" is a bit different from the previous songs, this one doesn't have an acoustic guitar, it has a fuzzy electric guitar in it's place. "30 Poplar" is a really weird song, quite enjoyable but i seem to be incapable of describing it. "Baby, Let Me Show You Where I Live" is a very strong song, it doesnt lack anything its good as it his, enjoyed the Flute a lot. "Fitzpatrick Swanson" could easily appear in the opening of any 007 film, its the same style. "Piece Of Sun" has a very cool bass line and a far-out guitar solo. "Dr. Root's Garden", nice riff, nice piano, nice vocals, nice everything its a great song, again in the humoristic style of Zappa.
This is another Technicolor Web Of Sound discovery. Found the artists in this link

Chrysalis:
- James Spider Barbour - Vocals, Guitar
- Nancy Nairn - Vocals
- Paul Album - Bass
- Dahaud Shaar - Percussion
- Jon Sabin - Lead Guitar

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