pass: tdats
TDATS 57 is another selection of UK & USA rock and psych weirdities from my searches.
01. Blackhorse - Fox Huntin' (1979)
02. Swampgas - Potato Strut (1972)
03. The Accent - Red Sky At Night (1967)
04. Bullet - Fortunes Told (1970)
05. The Twilighters - Nothing Can Bring Me Down (1968)
06. Patto - Loud Green Song (1972)
07. John Fitch & Associates - Stoned Out Of It (1969)
08. Tyla Gang - Speedball Morning (1977)
09. The Factory - Try a Little Sunshine (1969)
10. The Facedancers - Let The Music Set You Free (1973)
11. The Sons of Adam (feat. Randy Holden) - Feathered Fish (1966)
12. Thunder - King's X (1974)
13. Kingdom - Waiting, Hesitating (1970)
14. The Stereo Shoestring - On The Road South (1968)
15. Brownsville Station - The Martian Boogie (1977)
Blackhorse were a very obscure Florida-based band and open up the compilation with a full frontal assault of gritty southern-tinged hard rock, which takes us nicely on to more southern flavor with the Skynyrdian riffs of Swampgas who made one album, in 1972 according to the sources. "The Accent" were a one-single 60s band that showed some great proto-progressive song-writing for 'Red Sky At Night' and you can read about the guitarist Rick Haywood here (link). Bullet is reputedly one of the founding names of blogger's favourite Hard Stuff (see Vol.2) who's early recordings also came under the name of Daemon. As Hard Stuff they recorded two quirky and heavy rock/prog albums, they were an 'obscure supergroup' as such, including John Du Cann and Paul Hammond formerly of Atomic Rooster, and John Gustafson, formerly of Quatermass. Texas's Twilighters come in with another short sharp 60s psych single, and Patto was a progressive blues-rock band formed in England in 1970 by vocalist Mike Patto with a lineup taken from 60s psych band Timebox, consisting of vocalist Patto, drummer John Halsey, guitarist and vibraphone player Ollie Halsall, and bassist Clive Griffiths.
John Fitch & Associates' 'Stoned Out Of It' offers a great mix of funk and psychedelic soul. Best known for his work with Ducks Deluxe and Tyla Gang, Sean Tyler also played with Help Yourself and Joan Jett. His reputation as an influence on punk is evident with the attitude-filled performance in this comp's namesake 'Speedball Morning'. Surrey, UK's The Factory (aka Souvenir Badge Factory) are next with their mod-pop single 'Try a little sunshine' which has a great juxtaposition between angelic vocals and heavy fuzz guitar in an instantly likable mix, read more about them at nostalgiacentral.com (link). There is very little history on Facedancers, the only clue is the liner notes saying they recorded in NYC, which is a shame as 'Let the music set you free' could well have been an anthem for disaffected youth.
Take a listen to Feathered Fish from The Sons of Adam and you may be very surprised to hear it was recorded in 1966, it's hard rock structure is quite evident, this could be somewhat explained by their very early appearance of the forward-thinking Randy Holden (see Vol.2) who, after playing with Blue Cheer, would later record his solo opus 'Population II' with a bank of 16 (some say more) 200W Sunn Amps. There's a huge amount to read about Sons Of Adam at brunoceriotti.com (link).
Blackhorse were a very obscure Florida-based band and open up the compilation with a full frontal assault of gritty southern-tinged hard rock, which takes us nicely on to more southern flavor with the Skynyrdian riffs of Swampgas who made one album, in 1972 according to the sources. "The Accent" were a one-single 60s band that showed some great proto-progressive song-writing for 'Red Sky At Night' and you can read about the guitarist Rick Haywood here (link). Bullet is reputedly one of the founding names of blogger's favourite Hard Stuff (see Vol.2) who's early recordings also came under the name of Daemon. As Hard Stuff they recorded two quirky and heavy rock/prog albums, they were an 'obscure supergroup' as such, including John Du Cann and Paul Hammond formerly of Atomic Rooster, and John Gustafson, formerly of Quatermass. Texas's Twilighters come in with another short sharp 60s psych single, and Patto was a progressive blues-rock band formed in England in 1970 by vocalist Mike Patto with a lineup taken from 60s psych band Timebox, consisting of vocalist Patto, drummer John Halsey, guitarist and vibraphone player Ollie Halsall, and bassist Clive Griffiths.
John Fitch & Associates' 'Stoned Out Of It' offers a great mix of funk and psychedelic soul. Best known for his work with Ducks Deluxe and Tyla Gang, Sean Tyler also played with Help Yourself and Joan Jett. His reputation as an influence on punk is evident with the attitude-filled performance in this comp's namesake 'Speedball Morning'. Surrey, UK's The Factory (aka Souvenir Badge Factory) are next with their mod-pop single 'Try a little sunshine' which has a great juxtaposition between angelic vocals and heavy fuzz guitar in an instantly likable mix, read more about them at nostalgiacentral.com (link). There is very little history on Facedancers, the only clue is the liner notes saying they recorded in NYC, which is a shame as 'Let the music set you free' could well have been an anthem for disaffected youth.
Take a listen to Feathered Fish from The Sons of Adam and you may be very surprised to hear it was recorded in 1966, it's hard rock structure is quite evident, this could be somewhat explained by their very early appearance of the forward-thinking Randy Holden (see Vol.2) who, after playing with Blue Cheer, would later record his solo opus 'Population II' with a bank of 16 (some say more) 200W Sunn Amps. There's a huge amount to read about Sons Of Adam at brunoceriotti.com (link).
Thunder was a duo, consisting of David Alley and Whitey Thomas. For their only album release, they got a little help from some friends. Like Bloodrock's Randy Reeder (see vol 1), guitarist Bugs Henderson and, John Nitzinger (Nitzinger being a particular favourite of mine - see Vol 3). John playing guitar, bass and writing about half the album. California's Kingdom created a decent garage rock album in 1970 and 'Waiting, Hesitating' demonstrates some insistent catchy riffing. The Stereo Shoestring made a great job of re-constructing The Pretty Thing's 'Defecting Grey', adding even more fuzz, for 'On The Road South'. The compilation ends on a recent find for me while formulating a 'Southern Rock' comp. Ann Arbor, MI's Brownville Station made a lot of hard / southern / boogie rock albums during the 70s and are mostly famous for "Smokin' in the Boys Room" but their lesser-known tracks revealed a keen and quirky sense of humour, like 1977's 'The Martian Boogie'. This song actually has me in physical laughter when I hear it, with their story of a guy out for a burger. He meets Martians who are using their "space map" to find the "boogie capital of the USA", with the help of their "Martian cigarettes".
Thanks for listening! Rich
TDATS social links
Share via:
you should do an all john du cann comp, that guy was great and is pretty unknown.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea howard! thanks
ReplyDeletelooking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteYour blog is legendary!! Thanks so much for all the effort put into these releases. I'm learning a lot about new artists to explore thanks to your mixes.
ReplyDeleteHi there, I'm big fan of 60's and 70's rock music and been searching this kind of stuff for a quite long time, found your excellent blog...I can stop my search at least for a while now.
ReplyDeleteCheers and thanks,
Jakki
Helsinki,Finland