The Day After The Sabbath 156: Altro Mondo [Italy part 2] Vintage Italian prog & psych discoveries

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Welcome to The Day After The Sabbath 156. It's been an age since I last turned my attentions to Italy. The first time was back in 2011 with v37: Fellas Buona (link), so another collezione italiana is way overdue. That previous volume contained all album cuts, mostly long-form songs from bands that are well-known and highly regarded within Italian prog. Aside from a few exceptions, this volume looks further afield to some more obscure albums, and singles from acts that were very short-lived or didn't make albums.

Italian prog is synonymous with long complex songs, often inspired by classical music to the point of becoming operatic in their tumultuous composition. This volume has some of that sound, but it has turned out to contain more short, punchy hard rock and heavy prog tracks, which should satisfy all the proto-metal fans out there. For the prog fans there is still plenty of the artistry and dynamism that Italy is famed for, keyboard fans in particular will get a kick out of this one, there's lots here, and all done well. I think it strikes a good balance.

Number 156 presents fifteen acts that are new to the series. Some examples of the variety on show here are the hard prog riffs of I Califfi and Le Mandri, the cool cinematic suspense of Mirageman, the psychedelic pop hooks of Riccardo Cocciante's first single, the dramatic theater of Formula 3 and Dalton, and the galloping rock n roll of I Top 4 and Il Segno Dello Zodiaco.

The cover art is from a striking piece of Italian street art called "The Scream Of Vallicaldi" by Diego della Posta, aka Mr Thoms (link). I must thank the long-standing resources at italianprog.com (link) which is where I researched most of the facts included here.

TRACKS

01. I Califfi - Cobra (1971)
                                single
02. Le Madri - Mary Flying (1970)
                                single
03. Il Segno Dello Zodiaco - Mio Padre (1974)
                                from album Il Segno Dello Zodiaco
04. Dalton - Visione Di Una Notte D'Estate (1975)
                                from album Argitari
05. Mirageman - Hallucination (1972)
                                from album Thunder And Lightning
06. Track - How Foolish You (1974)
                                from album Track Rock
07. Richard Cocciante - Rhythm (1971)
                                single
08. Formula 3 - Nessuno Nessuno (1971)
                                 from album Formula 3
09. I Top 4 - Immagine (1971)
                                single
10. Roberto Righini - Non Era Un Sogno (1971)
                                single
11. Theodoro Re Dei Poeti - Preparati Bambina (1974)

                                single
12. Il Balletto Di Bronzo - Un Posto (1970)
                                from album Sirio 2222
13. La Seconda Genesi - Vedo Un Altro Mondo (1972)
                                from album Tutto Deve Finire
14. Ricordi D'Infanzia - L'Eden (1973)
                                from album Io Uomo
15. Latte E Miele - Giuda & Il Re Dei Giudei (1972)
                                from album Passio Secundum Mattheum

The Records

I Califfi - Cobra (1971)

I Califfi - Cobra (1971)

Our opener is a heavy hammond-assisted rocking b-side. Interestingly, the a-side seems to have been the theme tune to a popular TV Quiz show "Chissà Chi Lo Sa?" which pitted teams of students against each other. We had a similar show in the UK called University Challenge. The writing credits for "Cobra" are shared between the same names as for the a-side; Franco Boldrini (band leader and bass player), Moreno Signorini (of Antenati & Extra) and the screen writer duo of Mario Casacci & Alberto Ciambricco.

Franco Boldrini - I Califfi

italianprog.com: "Almost two completely different bands used this name, Florence band I Califfi included in their first line-up the future Area and Electric Frankenstein guitarist Paolo Tofani and Campo di Marte drummer Carlo Felice Marcovecchio and were a very popular band in the 60's, before disbanding at the turn of the 70's. They released an album on RiFi and no less than eleven singles.

The band was reformed in 1972 by bass player Franco Boldrini, the only member from the original line-up, for a new recording deal with Fonit Cetra, that only produced an LP. "Fiore Di Metallo" is a good prog album, based on organ and moog sounds, even if the lyrics are a bit naive and too close to the typical Italian beat themes. Some interesting keyboard passages, as in the instrumental "Varius" or the opening track "Nel Mio Passato", make this album well worth hearing."

Le Madri - Fresco / Mary Flying

Le Madri - Mary Flying (1970)

Here's another hard rocking b-side with great hammond. Interestingly, Franco Falsini was briefly in the band before he became an electronica wizard with Sensation's Fix. Falsini appeared here on TDATS way back on volume 69 (link) with some solo work, and you can read his comments about Le Madri in an interview he did with Psychedelicbaby (link).

italianprog.com: "An interesting group from Florence that only released a single in 1970 with an Italian-sung hard rock sounding B-side. They included the future Perigeo guitarist, American born Tony Sidney. When he left the group, the others, with Flavio Cucchi on guitar, changed name to "Le Madri Superiori" and played at 1971 Festival Pop in Viareggio, but didn't last long." Incidentally another band coming up in this comp played that fest at Viareggio; I Top 4.

Il segno dello zodiaco 1974

Il Segno Dello Zodiaco - Mio Padre (1974)
Here's a piece of straight up galloping rock n roll, one of the less progressive in this set. It does however have a melodic bridge, showing the Italian penchant for mixing things up. 

italianprog.com: "Formed by the four Borra brothers, this group from Vercelli, Piemonte, was initially called I Fratelli, and changed its name to "Il Segno Dello Zodiaco" around 1972, producing some singles and a debut album in 1974. Their style was mostly melodic pop but there are some tracks with rock and progressive influences ("Mio Padre", "Dormi Cara" and "Odio, Amore", an Italian version of Geordie's "Black Cat Woman"). A second album in 1977 was much lighter than their first."

Incidentally, Geordie appeared in TDATS vols 7 (link) and 121 (link). There is a comprehensive post on Verso la Stratosfera blog about all the bands' releases (link).

Dalton

Dalton - Visione Di Una Notte D'Estate (1975)

After a few great rockers, here is the first piece of sweeping hard-edged prog, the type that Italy produced with masterful artistry, using a range of instrumentation to conjure a seamless blend of pastoral folk and hard rock.

italianprog.com: "Three of the musicians, Aronne Cereda, Giancarlo Brambilla (on bass and then keyboards) and Rino Limonta had previously played with the group I Puritani, that also included two future members of Pholas Dactylus; Valentino Galbusera and Giampiero Nava. They released a very good debut album entitled "Riflessioni: Idea D'Infinito". With a great use of flute and good guitar riffs, the album has great moments with Jethro Tull influences. The band had a moderate success and even won the first prize in a Pop Festival in Zurich.

Dalton – Argitari LP

After a good single in 1974, the band had a line-up change with keyboardist Temistocle Reduzzi and flutist Alex Chiesa leaving to be replaced by Giancarlo Brambilla and singer Massimo Moretti, for the second album "Argitari". Mainly built on acoustic guitar, it seems rather a solo album by singer/guitarist Cereda than a group record. Newcomer singer Moretti is only credited on backing vocals.

Also included is an unusual rendition of Bob Dylan's Blowin' In The Wind, called "La Risposta", and one of the best tracks, "Visione Di Una Notte D'Estate" (with old member Alex Chiesa on flute) is in fact a reworking of the single La Donna E Il Bambino with a different mix and lyrics, whose original subject had been considered too irreverent, causing the track to be discarded from Italy's prestigious Sanremo Festival set-lists."

Giovanni Fenati (Mirageman)

Mirageman - Hallucination (1972)

Here's a compulsive instrumental with that cinematic quality that would go perfectly with a car chase in some '70s heist movie. This is precisely the type of library music that I love to encounter, a subject that will probably be my next Italian comp, as they were so good at this type of thing!
italianprog.com: "Pianist and composer Giovanni Fenati (from Romagna) had an intense recording career since the late 50's. Starting with an orchestral repertoire, his style began including contemporary elements around the end of the 60's, and he released some albums under the nickname Mirageman for the Ariston label. Under this name, three were issued between 1970 and 1972.

Mirageman - Thunder And Lightning

Most of this keyboard-led instrumental production has little connection with progressive music, and the albums were more in the easy listening/lounge music style. Only the last one, Thunder and lightning, is in a more progressive vein, with electric guitar and flute over an orchestral background. Described as "Deep Purple jamming on some Henry Mancini-style instrumentals", the ten track album is not far from the style of The Underground Set or Planetarium"

Track Rock 1974

Track - How Foolish You (1974)

Here's another piece of straight up groovy hard rock and little progressive tendency. With the curiously anonymous band name, basic presentation (by Italian rock standards) and cover songs, it has the ring of a library / "rock sound" exploitation record. This may be understandable as it features two members of Nuova Idea, a band who did something similar (and better) as their alter-ego, The Underground Set. Maybe this LP was just practice sessions, or a statement of intent that didn't go any further?

Ricky Belloni

italianprog.com: "Created by the former Nuova Idea members Ricky Belloni and Paolo Siani after their group split, Track was a sort of "divertissement" for the talented and experienced musicians involved. The group also featured a singer nicknamed Cacao (who was not Dario Guidotti from Jumbo, as it was commonly said) and session bass player Guido Guglielminetti, with further help from Giganti's keyboardist Checco Marsella.

Their album was released in 1974 on Ariston and included nine tracks, all sung in English, with covers of the Doobie Brothers' "Long Train Running" and Status Quo's "Caroline". Almost all the album offers boogie-influenced rock'n'roll, the most progressive track is an instrumental called... Track. Belloni released his only solo single after this album in 1974. He joined New Trolls soon after, for their "Concerto Grosso n.2" album, later playing with Nico Di Palo in his group Il Mito Dei New Trolls."

Richard Cocciante - Rhythm

Richard Cocciante - Rhythm (1971)

On first impression this 45 b-side sounds like pure pop, but throughout it has plenty of hard rock moves and excellent playing with addictive hooks. I love finding rocking pop such as this and intend it to be a TDATS theme some time!
italianprog.com: "Absolutely not a progressive artist, this Vietnam born French-Italian keyboardist is a very popular commercial singer in Italy with a long career and many hit singles and albums, some of which also released in foreign countries where he kept the name of Richard Cocciante, soon changed to Riccardo in Italy. According to notes on a youtube video, regarding the film this single was used in, "Roma Bene", the backing band on this single was "Godfather", about which I cannot find further details.

But his debut, a concept album called "Mu", housed in a marvelous cover, is very good symphonic prog, with help from many guest musicians, including Brainticket's leader Joel Vandroogenbroeck and keyboardist Paolo Rustichelli (from the Rustichelli e Bordini duo), and great instrumental parts. This can be a very nice listen for keyboard-driven prog fans, if you like Cocciante's voice (which may be too reminiscent of his later pop successes for many Italian listeners!)."

Formula 3 1971

Formula 3 - Nessuno Nessuno (1971)

I couldn't make this comp without a 10 minute epic. As most will already know, Italian prog bands are experts in dramatic and wildly expressive long-form songs that run the full gamut of emotions. This track winds through many shades of light and dark, with the ominous organ work grinding away at all times. This is the first time that Milan's Formula 3 (F3) has appeared in a TDATS volume, but LibertyCaps (a vintage rock cohort from the old stonerrock.com forum days) included F3's doom-laden opus "Dies Irae" in his popular 10-part "Doom That Time Forgot" series, which I have hosted here on TDATS (link). 

italianprog.com: "One of the most popular bands in Italy at the beginning of the 70's, not only among rock fans, because of their long collaboration with singer Lucio Battisti, who took them to the newly formed Numero Uno label producing their first album. "Dies Irae" (1970), housed in a nice psych-inspired sleeve, introduced the typical Formula 3 sound, based on the guitar/organ interplay (the band used no bass, the bass parts being played by keyboardist Gabriele Lorenzi), with the nice lead voice of founding F3 drummer Tony Cicco.

Formula 3  LP - 1971

They blended pop, prog and hard rock influences, becoming the most important rock band before the Banco/PFM years. Noteworthy debut album tracks include the dark atmosphere of "Dies Irae" (originally a single in 1967 by Samurai, a group that included Gabriele Lorenzi along with Area's Paolo Tofani), a cover of the Left Banke's "Walk Away Renee", and the Italian rock classic, "Questo Folle Sentimento".

Their second album, entitled "Formula 3", was entirely based on songs by Lucio Battisti and contained two more classics, "Eppur Mi Son Scordato Di Te" and the long "Nessuno Nessuno", also released as a short-form single. They continued to be very successful and there is no one in Italy who isn't familiar some of their songs, to this day."

After more albums, reformations and related acts, founding F3 guitarist Alberto Radius passed last year (2023). Drummer Tony Cicco is still touring in 2024 and you can read an interview with him at PsychedelicBaby (link).

I Top 4 - Imaggine 1971

I Top 4 - Immagine (1971)

Similarly to Il Segno Dello Zodiaco, here's a galloping side of rock n roll, but this time using an extra fuzzy guitar tone, with that wavering pitch that gives it a stoned quality I really dig! All the digital versions of this track I could find have a sound quality issue where one of the channels has an overbearing bass tone that ruins the stereo image and muffles the whole song to boot. 

This may be an issue with the original recording of course, I have ordered a CD including this track in the hope it will sound better. In the mean-time I have loaded it up in Audacity, dialed down the bass on the left channel slightly and moved the balance nearer to center. Its still not perfect as the original bitrate wasn't the best to start with, but it's a noticeable improvement and this is now the best-sounding version you'll find online, in my humble opinion.

italianprog.com: "Their singles were halfway between pop and soft prog, but I Top 4 from Parma were also featured in the Ariston label's "Al Festival Pop Di Viareggio 1971" compilation with three good tracks, only one of which, Immagine, had also been released on single. The group formed in 1966, played at Viareggio and Travagliato festivals, and included guitarist Roby Facini, later with Dik Dik and for a short while in Acqua Fragile before the end of that group. In 1973, I Top 4 changed their name to Ozymandias and became the backing band of singer Riccardo Fogli."

Roberto Righini - Non Era Un Sogno (1971)

Here's a very obscure 45 that has two brilliant sides, including "Mondo Malato" (link). Either could have been included here! The single is perfectly produced and composed heavy psych, to the same standard as any of the best Italian bands. There are so many parts and layers to the songs. Most bands would happy to have this much variety in a whole album!

italianprog.com: "This artist, that had previously played with beat group I Girasoli, released a rare and beautiful psych-inspired single in 1971, but it went unnoticed. Righini reappeared with a more commercial mini-LP in 1980, Melinda, a 12-inch 'Q-disc' with four tracks."

Discography:

45 - Mondo Malato/Non Era Un Sogno (Delta ZD 50077 - 1971)

EP - Melinda (RCA PG 33406 - 1980)

Theodoro Re Dei Poeti - Preparati Bambina (1974)
Here's a groovy stomping b-side from a drummer, singer and composer called Rosario Sferrazza. He made various styles of music under different stage names, of which "Theodoro Re Dei Poeti" was one. One of his acts recorded this song again in the later '70s. This new rendition is also very good, after consideration I used the 1974 version here as it's a tad more raw and heavy.

italianprog.com: "Sicily's Rosario Sferrazza was briefly influenced by the progressive style during his long and eclectic career. After some 1960s singles with his beat group I Cavernicoli, he reappeared for a 1974 single under the name Theodoro Re Dei Poeti. It contains a rock'n'roll track on the a-side, while flipside "Preparati Bambina" has a flute part closer to progressive sounds. The same song, with different lyrics and titled "Jump On The Motorcycle" is also included on a single by another name he used, Theodorking Group, circa 1978, containing "Young Amazzonia" on the a-side. Other names he used on record were Theodorking Sax and Diego Pepe. A CD compilation was released in 2007, dedicated to all his groups, entitled 'Theodor King Group Collection 1974-1980'."

Il Balletto Di Bronzo in studio 1970

Il Balletto Di Bronzo - Un Posto (1970)

This track is just fantastic all the way. The propulsive and funky rhythm section gets down to work straight away and never lets up. On top of that, the song is littered with mini breakdowns and small melodic guitar diversions that are always taking it to new places. This is one that contemporary stoner rock fans of Kyuss et al are going to love I think!

I probably use this example too often, but again we have a band that effortlessly packs more creativity in to a three minute song than many bands can summon up for a whole album. This is as good an example of what Italian bands excel at as any other track here, and the production has to be equally praised for enabling these ingredients to hit the ears in a coherent way.

Il Balletto Di Bronzo - Sirio 2222

italianprog.com: "The band formed in Naples in late 60's, with the initial name of Battitori Selvaggi. They changed name to "Il Balletto di Bronzo". With this first line-up, they produced two good singles in 1969 and 1970. Also in 1970 was their first album, "Sirio 2222". The album is now considered one of the most unique of the Italian prog era, halfway between late 60's psych-influenced pop, and [early] prog.

The long suite "Missione Sirio 2222" is one of the best tracks, while most of the others are in the 3-minute length, typical of the time. Some collectors consider it as one of the best LPs in the Italian prog field, others think it's still not a mature group's work. Without doubt it's a very important one.

Il Balletto Di Bronzo - Ys

In 1971 keyboardist Gianni Leone (from the very first Città Frontale) joined the group, which played for a short time as a five piece. Then, when founding members Marco Cecioni (vocals) and Michele Cupaiolo (bass) quit, with the entrance of bassist Vito Manzari (from the Rome band Quelle Strane Cose Che) hailed a new Balletto, in a more symphonic vein and dominated by keyboards. The second album, "Ys" (from the name of a legendary town in Brittany), released in 1972 on Polydor.  It's a masterpiece, giving the group the success they deserved.

Balletto split in 1973 due to artistic differences, the last concerts and a final single, "La Tua Casa Comoda", were played by Leone and founding drummer Giancarlo Stringa, as a duo. Leone had a short solo career under the name of Leo Nero, the others went to live in Sweden and left the Italian scene."

La Seconda Genesi - Tutto Deve Finire

La Seconda Genesi - Vedo Un Altro Mondo (1972)
Here's a track that accompanies the proceeding track from Il Balletto Di Bronzo very well, released a couple of years later in 1972, but also having a sound equally representative of the late '60s. It's another superbly tight 3 minute package, cramming a lot into its short length including a wider range of instrumentation with flute and hammond organ. The rest of the album on the other hand, is quite different to Balletto and more jazz orientated, veering further away from the usual TDATS territory.

Thus far, there are no band photos of La Seconda Genesi publicly available, and there is no singular album cover to show, as every individual copy had it's own unique hand-made paint splatter design.

A band from near Viterbo in the Lazio region of Italy, Seconda Genesi have become famous among prog fans for one of the rarest (and much sought after) Italian albums of the 70's, "Tutto Deve Finire", released in 1972 in just 200 copies, all with different painted covers, that finally achieved a vinyl reissue decades after its initial release.

The group formed in 1971 by musicians coming from various experiences: Paride De Carli (guitar) and Pier Carlo "Sandro" Leoni (drums) had played for a few years on cruise ships in a band called Mhanas. Alberto Rocchetti (keyboards, vocals) and Giambattista Bonavera (sax, flute) had previously played in I Rokketti. La Seconda Genesi made one live appearance, at the 2nd "Festival d'Avanguardia e Nuove Tendenze" held in Rome in June 1972. Then they broke up soon after but all the members continued in musical careers. Keyboardist Alberto Rocchetti has long played with Italian singer Vasco Rossi.

You can read an interview with Pier Carlo "Sandro" Leoni and Paride De Carli conducted c.2005, at canino.info (link). More collectors information can be read at italianprog.com (link).

Ricordi D'Infanzia

Ricordi D'Infanzia - L'Eden (1973)

This comp nears the end with two examples of the classical & operatic influence that is abound in Italian prog. Ricordi D'Infanzia expertly combines the tragedy of opera and fury of hard rock seamlessly into the three minutes of "L'Eden".

italianprog.com: "A five-piece from Brianza, Ricordi D'Infanzia only released an album and a couple of singles in 1973. They had previously played under the name of Gli Aspidi and were also present on the Fonit compilation "Nuovi Complessi D'avanguardia Da Radio Montecarlo". Becoming "Ricordi D'Infanzia" in 1972, they supported bands such as I Pooh and Le Orme.

Ricordi D'Infanzia - Io Uomo LP

The "Io Uomo" LP (1973) has a very good progressive sound, based on mediocre lyrics on the creation of mankind (a recurring theme in many Italian concept albums). Of the eight tracks, its best moments are "Morire E Non Morire" and the opening "Caos", one of the few tracks with keyboards to the fore.

The album went unnoticed due to lack of promotion from the record company. The group had a line-up change, with newcomers Gianni Bari (sax) and Ugo Biondi (keyboards) replacing Franco Cassina and Maurizio Vergani, and they played until 1976."

Passio Secundum Mattheum LP (1972)

Latte E Miele - Giuda & Il Re Dei Giudei (1972)

Our closer starts with caustic, thrashing riffage which transmutes into some gorgeous vintage Moog sounds, and ends in a short but sweet guitar solo that sees out TDATS volume 156 perfectly...

italianprog.com: "A group from Genova, this young three-piece was one of the Italian bands with the strongest classical influences. They were formed in 1971 by guitarist  Marcello Giancarlo Dellacasa, who had previously collaborated with I Giganti on their Terra In Bocca album. Drummer Alfio Vitanza was only 16 years old! A keyboard-orientated trio in the same style as ELP or Le Orme in Italy, their first album was "Passio Secundum Mattheum", with Bach-inspired music and lyrics on the Gospel of Matthew. An ambitious work, which has its moments.

Latte E Miele

A second album, "Papillon", came the following year in a similar style, but the production was much better. The album contains two side-long tracks with the Beethoven-derived "Patetica" on most of side two, being a nice example of their style. An English version of it was also recorded but only saw the light in 1992 on CD.

The band had a good live activity, and even supported Van der Graaf Generator in one of their Italian tours. A good 1974 live recording was made available by Mellow with their Latte e Miele Live CD."

Latte E Miele disbanded in 1974 but reformed in 1976, with only Alfio Vitanza from the original line-up. After the album "Aquile E Scoiattoli", best known for its 23-minutes-suite "Pavana", they gradually abandoned the progressive style and approached pop-rock. After disbanding in the early 1980s, the original line-up reunited in 2008.

That's all for this episode! If you like what I do then please take a look at my social links below and sign-up or support as you please. I upload great music regularly to Youtube (link) and Mixcloud (link), and followers are welcome to share their own obscure heavy favourites in the Facebook group. You can also subscribe to email alerts for new TDATS posts with the box on the right side of this site.

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Further listening:
The Day After The Sabbath 78: I Was Only Dreaming [Flutes in prog special]

The Day After The Sabbath 137: Tierra del Fuego [Argentina part 1]

The Day After The Sabbath 153: Hungary pt 1: Mátyás' Dark Array

[Summary of all previous volumes]



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The Day After The Sabbath 155: Space Machines pt1 [60s-70s Obscure Heavy 45s]

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Firstly, i'd like to promote the hard work of my friend Kev Stevens, who's been making TDATS podcasts for a few years. Hot off the cloud this morning is his brand-new show, based on Volume 81, the Norwegian special. You can hear it right now at mixcloud.com/TDATSRadio, where you can also subscribe to his future shows.

Welcome to Volume 155. This is a collection of 45s from my personal searches over the last year or so. Some are private press rarities, some are quite easily available, but in all cases they are singles that don't seem to have had any exposure, so this is their opportunity, in the same spirit as the "Lovely Jugglies" series of amazing rare singles donated by DJ David Juggles (volumes 150 and 152). I did do an earlier collection of heavy 45s a long time ago, v70 School Daze (link), but that tended to be singles on well-documented labels, by mostly well-known (to rarity fans) acts. I also made a collection of Ohio singles back on v140 (link).

Today's new series will hopefully continue to be very rare private press, or generally unheard and unknown singles, and I think I will call it the Space Machines series, this being Space Machines pt1. If you are wondering why that name, it's pretty simple, after getting enough tracks collected for this volume, I was amazed to see that there were two songs with exactly the same name by pure coincidence; "Space Machine", as you can see below......I like to think of such things as divine inspiration!

So this volume brings us a fresh and pleasingly diverse bunch of acts, from the funk of Fandango and Crazy Horse, through the mind-blowing heavy metal of MFX, the blues and southern swagger of Eastwood Peak and Southern Trust, to the weird and wonderful one-offs of Genghis Khan's Mongol Horde and Meloncolony.

TRACKS

01. Alan Caddy Orchestra and Singers (UK) - Paranoid [Black Sabbath cover] (1970)
02. Fandango (New York USA) - A Message From The Mind To The Universe (1970)
03. MFX (Ohio USA) - Rick's Boogie (1979)
04. Genghis Khan and The Mongol Horde (San Diego USA) - Asian Invasion (1979)
05. Baker Gurvitz Army (UK) - Space Machine (1975)
06. Free Fare (Florida USA) - Birth Of A Soldier (1975)
07. Canyon (Ohio USA) - Boogie Down Broadway (1975)
08. Fear (Ontario Canada) - Bubblefunk (1970)
09. Whiteheet (Ontario Canada) - Devil's Knight (1977)
10. Crazy Horse (Memphis USA) - High On Lovin' (1969)
11. The Ram Rockers (Massachusetts USA) - King Kool (1978)
12. Hughes Blues (Ohio USA) - Land Of Prosperity (1969)
13. Eastwood Peak (Massachusetts USA) - Ain't No Sinner (1977)
14. Southern Trust (Florida USA) - Sing It Along With Me (1979)
15. Universe (USA) - Space Machine (1979)
16. MAX (New York USA) - Tin Soldier [Small Faces cover] (1973)
17. Meloncolony (Iowa USA) - The Wizard [Black Sabbath cover]

(bonus track) 18. Hot Flash - King Kool (1977)

Alan Caddy Orchestra - Paranoico [Black Sabbath cover] (1972)

From the 1972 Campeonas De Inglaterra Vol III E.P. on the Mexican Orfeon label. Played by "Various Artists". Campeonas De Inglaterra seems to be a series of covers of UK hits, released on various latin labels such as Orfeon and Dimsa. After a very useful response to my enquiries on Reddit (link) I have discovered that this was originally recorded by Alan Caddy Orchestra And Singers on the "Six Top Hits" EP in 1970.

At this time Alan Caddy appears to have been a British act that made many cheap cover compilations of pop hits. It's possible that the singer is Scotsman Danny Street, who sung on other Caddy records and also on a single with Jeff Beck (link). Intriguingly, this recording of Paranoid has also surfaced on a single under the name Bob Christian, again licensed by PYE, on Argentinian and Venezuelan labels (link) . I guess that Bob Christian may be a made-up name entirely. According to Discogs there was even a rumour that it's a pseudonym of Billy Bond, mentioned briefly back on Argentinian TDATS vol 137 (link) and Bolivian TDATS vol 151 (link).

Fandango - A Message From The Mind To The Universe (1970)
Promo single. Produced by Bob Bourassa on New York's Big Tree Records label.
This is a great rocking funk side, just the kind I like with heavy guitar riffage, and some interesting lyrics about the state of the planet, just as relevant now as in 1970. Written by James Tatetum (maybe a label printing error of 'Tatum'?). A quick internet search reveals that there was more than one "James Tatum" in he field of jazz / funk / soul at the time, but I cannot discern if any of them are the "James Tatetum" credited on the label. 

MFX - Rick's Boogie (1979)
Here's an absolute bonehead metal monster from Marion, Ohio. This one comes across as a country / southern rock band who decided to try and out-metal Molly Hatchet by playing like Judas Priest. I have never heard anything quite like it before. They beat Blackhorse (link) on heaviness in 1979 and i'd love to have heard an album! "Maschine oF X-tremes" (MFX) is Rick "Big Rig" Spradlin (guitars), George Bjorling (guitars), Scott Jackson (drums), Larry Spradlin (bass) and Tom "Blackjack" Favors (vocals). The band just lets rip for the full 5 minutes, the simple lyrics are only there to get you as amped as the music, and this is an unashamed rug-cutter all the way, "Rick's Boogie" and then some! The flipside is also great, a mid-paced grinder to perfectly counterpoint the boogie. What a perfect single. It was recorded at Suma Studios, Painesville Ohio, by engineer Ken Hamann.

Joe Walsh, James Gang and others have recorded there, up to modern scene bands such as Fistula. According to Rick Spradlin, Molly Hatchet was just setting up there while MFX were recording.

Suma Recording Studio, Painesville Ohio

Genghis Khan and The Mongol Horde - Asian Invasion (1979)
Written by Larry Gatpandan & Pat Shea. Arranged and produced by Tamerlane. Sound mixer: Jeff Mattazaro. Recorded at Natural Sound Studios San Diego. This is a very charming, punkishly-amateurish & DIY in some ways, side of hard-rocking punk, although the guitar is great. I am by no means an expert on punk, would you call this early hardcore punk? Just a great fun ride all the way, and I am certainly reminded of Bad News's "Warriors Of Genghis Khan" as well (link). The full band was Larry Gatpandan (vocals as Genghis Kahn, Attila the Hun & Tamerlane), Patrick Shea (guitar as Leif Erickson), Robert "Bobby The Bass" Heck (bass as Eric the Red) and Jeff Perez (drums as Lapu-Lapu). The band quite rightly give tribute on the back cover to Bruce Lee, "The Greatest Martial Artist Of All Time". I have seen this described as a "novelty" or "comedy" record, but i'm not sure it was intended that way. What do you think?

Genghis Khan and The Mongol Horde rear sleeve 

Baker Gurvitz Army - Space Machine (1975)
Here's a cool slowburner with a touch of T-Rex / Bowie, it also reminds me of something from Neil Merryweather's Space Rangers glam-space rock period. It's from one of the better-known acts in this set by far. These names will probably be familiar to all of you already, with the UK's Gurvitz brothers leading Gun, Three Man Army and other TDATS-appearing acts, all of which I dedicated a very detailed volume to back on #125: Race With The Devil [Gurvitz Brothers special] (link).

Our drummer here Ginger Baker needs no introduction either of course. The band at this time was completed by singer Stephen "Snips" Parsons, who is maybe best known as singer for Sharks on both their albums (link), the band started by bassist Andy Fraser after he left Free. As far as I can tell, this particular recording was never included on a Baker Gurvitz Army studio album, and the 45 was only distributed as a promo, so until I recently bought it, (you may be glad to know you can buy this very cheap), I had never heard it anywhere, except for live versions of the song on various live records.

Free Fare - Birth Of A Soldier (1975)
Written and sung by Mike Putman. This is another funky number, from an unusual act that requires some explanation. Free Fare was not a fixed band, but rather a concept of the Young American Showcase company in Florida, who would enroll an assortment musicians from around the USA every year to play during school terms. Apparently they would visit schools and play during an assembly, and then play again in the evening for a ticket price to any kids that wanted to see a whole show.

They started in 1969 and continued into the 1980s, there is a Reddit post (link) where a lot of people recall their stories of seeing them, and buying posters & singles which they sold at the shows. It was quite an exciting thing for some kids who had never seen a live rock band before i'm sure, and a very welcome diversion from the usual school drudgery. You can find these singles cheaply on Discogs, although this particular one is the only one I have heard, so I cannot vouch for the quality of the others!

Canyon - Boogie Down Broadway (1975)
Here's a catchy side of commercially orientated boogie / glam, still with some satisfyingly heavy moves. The band was Richard Carmichael (drums), Bill Frasier (guitar), Randy Davidson (keys) and Mark Lance (bass / vocals). Most of those names met in Ohio's Black River High School, in a band called The Es Shades, who made a couple of sought-after '60s psychedelic pop singles themselves. It seems Canyon called it a day after a few years of existence and a couple of singles that just about grazed the Billboard 100. There's not much else to find, but keyboard player Randy Davidson played in Hungry Tiger in 1977, with an album I have not had the chance to hear yet.

L-R Richard Carmichael, Bill Frasier (top), Randy Davidson (bottom), Mark Lance

Fear - Bubblefunk (1970)
Here's a mysterious rarity from Ontario Canada. Fear seem to have been a simple head-down, hell-for-leather rock n roll band that drilled riffs home in an addictive fashion like Link Wray. They had two singles out, both produced by Merv Buchanan, who also worked with some well-regarded Canadian bands like Bent Wind and Cargo. Thanks to citizenfreak.com (link) for the info and you can read more there.

Whiteheet - Devil's Knight (1977)
I was delighted to discover today that this single with two good sides is not as mysterious as I had previously thought. A bit of Googling has revealed that the singer went on to acclaim in Canadian jazz, Joe Coughlin (website). Here's an excerpt from vernonmorningstar.com (link) ".....before that I was a rock and roll guy for close to 10 years in the Windsor area,” said Coughlin, the frontman for Whiteheet, a successful Ontario metal band in the late ‘70s. “My parents said we can never hear you with all those loud guitars. They were big fans of Sinatra and we heard all that music growing up, it was just a natural progression.” So Coughlin got a haircut, traded his jeans for a suit and tie, and went from Zeppelin to Sinatra".

The a-side "Deceiver" sounds more like Peter Frampton than heavy metal. Our pick here, Devil's Knight, has an unusual sound, it clearly has some heavy metal influence but it's very melodic and has a great, buzzing psychedelic guitar tone, with a hard rock structure more so than metal. All in all it's got a novel sound which is probably best described simply as, Whiteheet! 

Whiteheet with Joe Coughlin (center)

Crazy Horse - High On Lovin' (1969)
Here's our third funky cut for this volume. I could find no information when searching on the band's name (it doesn't help that I get hundreds of Neil Young results of course), but I did manage to piece together some clues by searching the names printed on the labels in relation to Memphis Tennessee. I believe there's a very good chance that "Sherrill Park" and "R. Yancy" are two members of a Memphis band that made an album a couple of years after this single, Cymarron (discogs, wiki), they are  Sherrill Parks and Rick Yancey. Sherrill was also the frontman of Silver City Band (link), after Cymarron.

Sherrill Parks
(source)

On the back cover of the Cymarron LP there is a bio of the band which states that Sherill and Rick were in bands together in the sixties and Crazy Horse was probably one of them. I'd like to hear some more of these guys' sixties stuff as their later records are mostly light country pop rock. I have not been able to find info on the third name on the Crazy Horse labels, Don F. Gordon. A viewer of my youtube channel (link) has pointed out that this song also appears on an album by Doc Kirby & Co in 1973, who also recorded in Tennessee, with writing credits to S. Park. That version appears to be the identical audio track to Crazy Horse but with a different singer doing the vocals. Yet more mysteries to unravel there...

The Ram Rockers - King Kool (1978)
This is another novel track that mixes different styles. To me it sounds like a mid '70s hard rock band trying to incorporate some late '70s new wave sound, with unusual results that have grown on me the more I listen to it. When I first discovered this single, I thought it would remain a total obscurity, but after a bit of Googling I quickly discovered a connection to another band that I vaguely remembered seeing posted on blogs and even in the TDATS Facebook group (link) many years past, and that band is Hot Flash, from Massachusetts.

To my surprise I noticed that Hot Flash's 1977 private press album "First Attack! They'll Never Take Us Alive" (link) also contains a song called King Kool, and it is indeed the same song but in a different, longer version, which I assume is the original version, before The Ram Rockers recorded it. Ram Rockers does share the frontman from Hot Flash, Fredric "Muff" Schwenk, I don't know if any other Hot Flash guys were in Ram Rockers, but it's very possible as they share the same producer, Pat Costa and writer credits for "S. J. Mongeon", and they are are both on the small Haverhill MA label, Rockwell Records.

So it appears that after the Hot Flash album, which has a definite prog rock / early AOR sound, with very Roger Dean album art, some or all of the band returned as The Ram Rockers, with a different sound more contemporary to the late '70s. For instance, Fred Schwenk played flute on the Hot Flash version, but the Ram Rockers version has a more modern, bare-bones production with prog embellishments like flute removed. I have included the Hot Flash version at the end of this comp, it's interesting to hear the differences! 

Hughes Blues - Land Of Prosperity (1969)
This is a fantastic side of pure blues rock which hits you in the face from the first bar. Another single which initially seemed impossibly obscure, but I have found more than I expected. A resource I have used many times, Ohio's Buckeyebeat (link), has a very small amount of info but you can find substantially more about the guitarist Robert Hughes who was Hughes Blues, along with another guy sur-named Bruggaman, in a Blues Blast magazine interview published in 2023 (link). Robert is currently part of trio "Hughes, Hall and Denny" who seem to work mostly as Teeny Tucker's (wiki) backing group.  There is plenty of recent video on youtube to see Hughes playing with Teeny at blues festivals, and here's Hughes solo (link).

Robert Hughes & Teeny Tucker (2018)

Eastwood Peak - Ain't No Sinner (1977)
Written by Dean Glow. Produced by John Visnaskas.
Here's a great side of hard-rocking boogie with nice fuzzy slide guitar. The band's origins lay in North Middlesex High School, Massachusetts, after going through various phases such as The Confiscated Doorknob and Daybreak. Dean Glow (keyboards, bass, guitar, sax, vocals) and John Visnaskas's brother Kevin Visnaskas (guitar, harmonica, vocals) were members and the band was re-uniting as recently as 2019, at The 5th Annual Johnny Appleseed Craft Beer Festival, which sounds like the perfect event for this good-time boogie! You can read the entire detailed history of the band at their sadly defunct website by the magic of the Wayback Machine (eastwoodpeak.com) and there is a facebook page which has not been updated since the main site went down (link).

Eastwood Peak

Southern Trust - Sing It Along With Me (1979)
Here's a really great, upbeat southern rock side from Florida, with some excellent slide guitar. I can find very little information about Southern Trust, but their 1980 album was re-issued on CD / streaming and is easily available. So their album came out the year after this single, and is good but indicates a move away to a more mainstream sound like a southern version of The Cars with slide guitar still intact, still good music though, and I like The Cars myself just fine. The album had four players, but this single, written by Danny Lynen (guitar, vocals), may have been made when they were a three-piece. The other names on the album are John Allen (guitar, vocals), Matt Anderson (drums, piano, vocals) and Glenn Weinman (bass, vocals).

Universe - Space Machine (1979)
Here's a charming private press single that sounds like Hawkwind's kid brother. It's one of the most obscure things here, which conversely is also one of the few things here that has seen a release on streaming services since I discovered it a while ago. I don't know anything about this single but I get the impression it's from quite a young band, and the names indicated in Discogs are Robert Espodito Terrasi, John Michael Dyer and Michael Peter Rolla. Both sides are now on Spotify. (link)

Max - Tin Soldier [Small Faces cover] (1973)

This is an exotic hard rock cover of a great pop song from The Small Faces, which itself was penned by by Steve Marriott, with vocal assistance from P. P. Arnold. There is a fantastic TV performance with Arnold on youtube (link) and it's a great example of a pop song full of hard rock moves, so I can see why heavy bands would want to cover it. It was a mild hit in the UK, reaching No. 9 here, but has become just as well-known by all the covers that exist, from artists such as TDATS-appearing bands like Sopworth Camel (vol130), to bigger names like The Scorpions and Lou Gramm. The most interesting thing about the 45's label is the production credit for David 'Rock' Feinstein, a name that has come up in TDATS more than once, including the Elf track used in vol 31 (link), and a track of his own band in the American Metal volume (link). Feinstein's longest-running career success has been in The Rods, who had a new album out this year (2024).

Someone kindly posted some info about MAX on my youtube channel, "MAX was: David "Rock" Feinstein (of Elf, The Rods on lead guitar), Mike Ferrante (12 string), George Day (keyboards), Howie Castle (drums), Jack Belle (bass), Dan Elliott (lead vocal), Sandy Bigtree (backing vocal), Ron Wray (producer). Recorded at Dayson Studio in East Syracuse in 1973." This enabled me to find a blog post from 2012 (link) that mentions MAX, explaining it was a studio band made up of the Syracuse-based artists and producers mentioned above.

Fascinatingly, MAX's Tin Soldier appeared on a '70s vinyl compilation called The History Of Syracuse Music VI (link), under the band name of "Sandy Bigtree & Max". This comp also includes no less than two Feinstein/Dio-era ELF songs. Regarding MAX, the blurb on the back says: "The name Ron Wray has long been synonymous with Syracuse music. Ron has been active with many local groups in the past ten years. He produced the Fallen Angels, Livin' Ennd, Headstone II and Sleep E. Hollow records." It goes on the explain that Wray masterminded MAX to fulfill a dream of creating a hit-making Syracusian super-group, he selected the players and chose Tin Soldier as the material for Max's single. He chose Feinstein to play guitar because "....he's one of the finest guitar players i've ever seen in central New York......creating a huge sound that you would normally expect to accompany The Who or Deep Purple". 

Meloncolony - The Wizard [Black Sabbath cover]

Sadly we reach the end of this set. Here's our second Sabbath cover, and it's a really interesting single on an Iowa label. The catalogue number puts it somewhere around 1971 by my estimation. Again we have a band doing an early cover of Black Sabbath, i'm guessing from the sound that this wasn't made too long after the original, with a more fuzzy, psychedelic approach.  In particular, the stripped-down production and keyboards give this a very different feel.

On the flipside, they give the same treatment to Speed King by Deep Purple. I have seen this for sale on auctions and in one case the seller claimed it was from Des Moines. They also said it came out in 1969, a year before the originals were released, which is hard to believe, so you can decide for yourself if you want to take notice of that. Finally, I must give the band a hats-off for their name, which I had read many times as "Melancholy" before suddenly realising it is melon-colony, and laughed my head off as a result. Gotcha! Soon after posting this,  a helpful member of the TDATS facebook group has linked us to a picture of Meloncolony (link), this link also shows the band as a three-piece with names left to right below: Wayne Groff (keyboards), Bob Curtis (drums) and Chuck Vail (vocals).

Meloncolony on stage (source)

Thanks for listening to this episode. It's time to get in my space machine and blast off. If you have any comments to make or information to contribute, please do so on this Blogger post, or one of my social sites listed below. I hope you enjoyed listening as much as I enjoyed making it, until next time, live long and prosper! Rich

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Further listening:
The Day After The Sabbath 70: School Daze [all heavy singles]
The Day After The Sabbath 150: Lovely Jugglies Pt 1 Rare 45s From the DJ Juggles collection

The Day After The Sabbath 35: Windmolen Van Doom [first Dutch special]

The Day After The Sabbath 140: Greetings From Ohio [Obscure Ohio 45s]

[Summary of all previous volumes]

TDATS social links

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