The Millennium - Begin (1968)

Begin is the First and Only Album by the American Sunshine Pop/Psychedelic Band The Millennium.
Curt Boettcher, one of the most influential characters in the beginning of the Psychedelic movement, influencing Brian Wilson before he recorded Pet Sounds, and participating in recordings and in such Bands as The Association or Sagittarius. Curt at the time was jumping from Band to Band, but they all kept disbanding after releasing their first Single, even though one of them managed to have a Top 20 hit. He finally decided to go once again into studio with a group of musicians and record an Album exploring the new sonorities of the Late 60's. He recruited most of them from his last gig, playing with the now non-existent Sagittarius. The cost of Begin was at the time the costliest Album ever produced by Columbia Records, and even though it didn't sell very well when it was released it became quite famous and it has been re-edited many times now, with many compilation Albums containing their Singles being also released. It is definitively one of the best Sunshine Pop Albums ever and it is truly a shame they only released one Album.
Best Tracks - "Prelude", "I Just Want To Be Your Friend", "The Island", "It's You", "The Know It All" and "Karmic Dream Sequence #1". The Album Cover is simple and beautiful, a black-and-white painting with basic draws of a tree, two birds and a small village in the distance.

The Millennium:
- Curt Boettcher – Vocals, Guitar.
- Ron Edgar – Drums, Vocals.
- Michael Fennelly – Guitar, Vocals.
- Lee Mallory – Vocals.
- Doug Rhodes – Horn, Keyboards, Vocals.
- Sandy Salisbury – Guitar, Vocals.
- Patrick Shanahan – Drums.
- Joey Stec – Guitar.
- Red Rhodes - Pedal Steel Guitar.
- Doug Dillard – Banjo.

Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera - Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera (1968)

Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera is the Debut Album by the British Psychedelic Rock Band Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera.
Originally a Soul/Blues Rock Band called The Five Proud Walkers, they changed their musical direction after opening for Pink Floyd, opting for a more Psychedelic Sound, over their past musical ideas. They changed their name to Velvet Opera, and started playing in clubs in London, around that time Vocalist Dave Terry started using a cape and a preacher's hat, imitating the character of the film Elmer Gantry (a 1960 film adaptation of a Sinclair Lewis book, the first American to win the Nobel Prize and a great Socialist thinker, writing a fantastic book against Capitalism and how it turns people greedy and false called Babbitt, which earned him the above mentioned Nobel), and thus appeared the name Elmer Gantry's before the Velvet Opera. Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera managed to quickly land a record contract with the Label Direction a subsidiary of CBS Records. Their first Single 'Flames' reached the bottom of the Charts in 1968, but it managed to get quite some attention, including managing to be the only cover song played the Led Zeppelin on their early Tours. The same year they release this Debut, which was almost completely ignored, making the band disband and force the remaining members to reform the band for their Second and Last Album. Nonetheless this Albums features some awesome musicianship and some very quite enjoyable tunes.
Best Tracks - "Intro", "Mother Writes", "Mary Jane", "I Was Cool", "Air", "Flames" and "Dream Starts". The Cover is quite weird, a background is a sort of purplish blue, with a mirror and an unidentified object (unidentified by me), the mirror featuring the whole band on it.

Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera:
- Dave Terry – Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica.
- Colin Forster - Guitar.
- Jimmy Horrocks (Horovitz) – Organ, Flute.
- John Ford – Vocals, Bass.
- Richard Hudson – Vocals, Drums, Sitar.

Download in comments.

Jefferson Airplane - Bless Its Pointed Little Head (1969)

Bless Its Pointed Little Head is the First Live Album by American Psychedelic Rock Band Jefferson Airplane.
From what I’ve heard, and I am not completely sure about the veracity of this, the Jefferson Airplane’s manager around the time, either Bill Thompson or Bill Graham, didn’t want any recordings to be made of the Band’s Live performances. This may well explain the lack of recordings from around the time of biggest expression of the Summer Of Love. This concert was recorded in both Fillmore West and East in late 1968. All the songs that had already been recorded were expanded and turned heavier, and there are also some covers from the likes of Fred Neil and Donovan, whose song mentions Jefferson Airplane and helped them get some of the attention they needed to start off their career. Balin and Kaukonen are more active on this Album than they usually were. Kaukonen and Casady were starting, or at least thinking seriously about starting their own Band, called Hot Tuna, which Debut I have already posted on this Blog. It is a great concert and a must to anyone who is into Jefferson Airplane, as it really shows the power of their performances.
Best Tracks - "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds", "Somebody to Love", "Fat Angel", "The Other Side Of This Life", "It's No Secret", "Plastic Fantastic Lover" and "Bear Melt". The Cover-Photo is quite funny. A Photo of Bassist Jack Casady with a bottle of wine in his hand and a long row of other bottles in a table where he seems to lie down unconscious.

Jefferson Airplane:
- Marty Balin – Vocals, Bass.
- Jack Casady – Bass, Rhythm Guitar.
- Spencer Dryden – Drums, Percussion.
- Paul Kantner – Vocals, Rhythm Guitar.
- Jorma Kaukonen – Lead Guitar, Vocals.
- Grace Slick – Vocals.

Download in comments.

Steeleye Span - Live At Last! (1978)

Live At Last! Is the First Live Album by the English Electric Folk-Rock Band Steeleye Span.
At last a Live Album, after about 10 years of existence and 10 Albums issued, Steeleye Span finally decided to release an Album with them playing live for an audience. John Kirkpatrick played in only two Albums and this is one of them, therefore being one of the only Albums in their career where the Accordion is a primary instrument. Of all the songs played on the Album only two were recorded in studio before it, all the others went on to feature in later Albums. The Sound is closer to the Early Albums like Hark! The Village Wait or Please To See The King, than the more Rock centred Albums of the mid-70’s. Martin Carthy had been an early member of the Band and he had tried to get Kirkpatrick on back in the day, but the Band had chosen Peter Knight’s Fiddle over Kirkpatrick’s Accordion. However before 1977 Knight and Bob Johnson quit the Band enabling them both to return, even though Carthy and Kirkpatrick would quit after a few months. Live At Last! Was recorded live at the Winter Gardens, Bournemouth, March 7, 1978 and it was released by the Chrysalis Label.
Best Tracks – “The Atholl Highlanders/Walter Bulwer's Polka”, “Saucy Sailor/Black Freighter”, “Bonnets So Blue” and “The False Knight On The Road”. I quite enjoy this kind of Cover. It consists of a Photo of the Band playing, probably during the concert where it was recorded, all in a line with spotlights aiming at each one of them. Really nice.

Steeleye Span:
- Maddy Prior - Vocals
- Tim Hart - Vocals, Guitar.
- Martin Carthy - Vocals, Guitar.
- Rick Kemp - Bass, Vocals.
- John Kirkpatrick - Vocals, Accordion.
- Nigel Pegrum - Drums.

Download in comments.

Josefus - Josefus (1970)

Josefus is the Second Album by the American Hard-Rock Band Josefus.
Both their Albums were recorded and released in 1970, the Debut called “Dead Man” was recorded in one single day and had a pressing of 3,000 copies, and they were only released on their home-state Texas. After this Album they made an extensive tour of Texas both opening for Big Acts and playing as the Lead Act. This many work made it impossible for the Band to work on their own material and when the Records Label Mainstream asked for another Album, they went to Miami to do so but the result was not what they expected, They wanted a lot more and that much pression on them, cracked their resistance and they played their last show on December 1970. Josefus had its origins in a High School Band that changed their name to Josefus after recording their first Demos. In December 1969 they recorded a Full Album, and refused the Idea that their managed tried to impose on them to change their name to Come, but the Album remained unreleased, and remained so until many years later when they were released as an Album called Get Off My Case. Josefus is regarded today as one of the first bridges between Hard-Rock and Heavy Metal. Although the Members of the Band didn’t like their Self-Titled Album, it is a very good and interesting one. One of the links, that bind 60’s and 70’s music.
Best Tracks – “Bald Peach”, “B.S. Creek”, “America” and “I Saw a Killing”. The Cover-Art is pretty awful, something that looks like some Red Shadows moving in the middle of what looks like some big giant towers. The colors are horrible and it definitively isn’t a welcoming cover at all.

Josefus:
- Ray Turner – Bass.
- Pete Bailey – Vocals, Harmonica.
- Dave Mitchell – Guitar.
- Doug Tull – Drums.

Download in comments.

Eden’s Children – Eden’s Children (1968)

Eden’s Children is the Debut Album by the American Psychedelic Rock Band Eden’s Children.
Another one of the biggie's of the Bosstown Sound scene. Together with Ultimate Spinach, Orpheus and Beacon Street Union, they formed the structure of what was called the Bosstown Sound. The sonority of the city of Boston. They had almost nothing to do with one another apart from having being formed in the same city. Formed on the Spring of 1967, they took their name from a Rolling Stones Song called “December’s Children (And Everybody’s)”. Scarce is the information about them other than the fact that the recorded two Albums, and had a contract with the ABC Label. Their Self-Titled Debut was released a year after their formation, on the Spring of 1968. It is a well regarded Psychedelic Album and many consider it a classic even though it is not very famous, and their Second Album is considered to be awful and completely uninteresting much to what happened to Ultimate Spinach, their follow-up killed them. I haven’t listened to it so I’m just spouting other people’s opinions and I am talking about their first Album that is actually very good.
Best Tracks - "Knocked Out", "Goodbye Girl", "If She's Right", "I Wonder Why", "Stone Fox", "Out Where The Light Fish Live" and "Don't Tell Me". A pretty normal Psychedelic Cover full of colors and big weird letters, quite attractive but nothing extraordinary.

Eden’s Children:
- Larry Kiley – Bass.
- Richard Schamach – Guitar.
- Jimmy Sturman – Drums.

Download in comments.

Cartoone - Cartoone (1969)

Cartoone is the Debut Album by the Scottish Pop-Rock Band Cartoone.
Cartoone was formed in Scotland in 1967, from the reminiscent of a Band called The Chevlons. They Toured all over Scotland supporting such acts as The Tremeloes, The Merseybeats and The Hollies. In 1968 they moved to London, England, in hopes of landing a Record Contract, and in their search they ended up contacting songwriter Mark London, and after showing them their songs they managed to create a bridge between them and the Atlantic Records Label. Ahmet Ertegün and Jerry Wexler members of the Atlantic Records, decided to sign Cartoone to a two Album deal, even though their Second Album was refused and never released, Cartoone was the First Band to be signed by Atlantic pre-dating Led Zeppelin by some months. And so in January 1969 they released their only Album with the participation of the great Led Zeppelin Guitarist Jimmy Page. Because of this connection and the fact that they were signed to the same Label enabled them to open for some of the shows on the American Led Zeppelin Tour. Re-releases of the Album have some of the songs of their unreleased Second Album.
Best Tracks – “Knick Knack Man”, “Withering Wood”, “The Sadness Of Toby Jugg”, “Let Me Reassure You”, “Ice Cream Dreams” and “See Me”. The Cover-Photo consist basically of a Photo of the Band Members and some nice looking letters with the name of the Band. Nothing special.

Cartoone:
- Derek Creigan - Bass, Vocals
- Mike Allison - Lead Guitar
- Mo Trowers - Rhythm Guitar
- Charlie (Chick E.) Coffils - Drums
- Jimmy Page – Guitar.

Download in comments.