Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The Day After The Sabbath 67: The New Order [NWOBHM inspired pt.1]

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During my searches I occasionally come across bands that have that metallic sound that is ahead of it's time; early 70's bands that have elements of what was later termed the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal). For some time I have been thinking about collecting them together, so here it is. [Edit: Since making this I have done another, volume 121, and an American equivalent, volume 126] If you have never heard of NWOBHM then I guess I have two words that in my opinion describe it best, Judas Priest. The Birmingham, UK band that started out in the early 70's as a fairly typical hard rock band and had a clear, unique progression from the stylings of Sabbath, Zeppelin et al to the sharper, faster late 70's metal sound, influencing Iron Maiden along the way and kick starting all the 'extreme metal' scenes by being a huge favourite of early thrashers like Metallica and the more 'evil' blackened bands like Venom. In some attempt to show a progression, this is the first comp I have arranged in chronological order.

Track List:

01. The Flying Hat Band - Seventh Plain (1973)
       from bootleg 'buried together'
02. Fable - Lady Of The Night (1975)
       from album 'get the "L" outta here!'
03. Cool Feet - In the City (1976)
       from album 'burning desire'
04. Ultra - Mutants (1977)
       from album 'ultra'
05. Rockicks - Reach For The Sky (1977)
       from album 'inside'
06. Quartz - Mainline Riders (1977)
       from album 'quartz'
07. Rhapsody - I've Done All I Can (1978)
       from album 'rhapsody (strange vibrations)'
08. White - Hit The Sky (1979)
       from album 'i denna samling'
09. Tygers of Pan Tang - Don't Touch Me There (1979)
       single
10. Horsepower - Highway Robbery (1980)
       single
11. Legend - The Confrontation (1979)
       from album 'fröm the fjörds'
12. Survivor - The New Order  (1979)
       from album 'all your pretty moves'
13. Sledgehammer - Sledgehammer (1979)
       single
14. Trespass - One Of These Days (1979)
       single
15. White Boy & the Average Rat Band - Leaving Tonight On Vacation (1980)
       from album 'white boy and the average rat band'
16. Warrior - Still On The Outside (1980)
       from compilation 'new electric warriors'

Fable
I have combined a few of these early-mid 70's finds with a few late 70's bands (and a couple from '80), some of which are recognised as bona-fide NWOBHM originators like Tygers of Pan Tang and Quartz (produced by Tony Iommi) and some which are not but seem to me to fit in with the sound. The Flying Hat Band were a pretty obvious opening choice here, seeing as they were a direct fore-runner of Judas Priest, having Priest's Glenn Tipton on guitar.  Fable were a Canadian band who's long lost 1975 album was recently issued by the Recordplex label and Cool Feet are a band I have used before way back on vol22, recorded by four guys from Luxembourg and the UK in the Cologne studio of Scopions Producer Dieter Dierks.

Along the way we find bands from Sweden (vol28's Rhapsody, White) and The US (Ultra, interview here - Texas, Legend - Connecticut, Survivor - Philadelphia). Ohio's White Boy And The Average Rat Band made a very obscure and very cool fuzz-drenched hard rocker that is said to be the work of just one talented guy, although he borrowed some mates to pose as a fake 'band' for the album cover. Trespass, Sledgehammer and Warrior are three great UK bands that I have come across when trawling through some obscure NWOBHM comps, who only made one or two singles. Warrior being a curio that I found on a 1980 comp called New Electric Warriors, a great track that has more in common with the early 70s' fuzzed-up wah grooves.

For the more metal-minded listeners out there, this comp will be a real treat, and for those who are not so, this is also just a wicked collection of hard rock so.....enjoy, and more importantly.......\m/ ROCK OUT \m/.





Thanks for listening! Rich


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Friday, April 6, 2012

The Day After The Sabbath 66: Music's Gotta Stay

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TDATS 66 (on the 6th...) is a good old un-themed selection of the best stuff I have come across recently. As it turns out, all from the classic years 1969 to 1975 and all US or UK artists.

Track List:

01. Seompi - Almost in the Whole (1970)
       from album 'AWOL'
02. Joe Prichard & Gibraltar - Reason To Be (1974)
       from album 'Joe Prichard & Gibraltar'
03. Archibald - Passing Thoughts (1969)
       single
04. Horse - See The People Creeping Round (1970)
       from album 'horse'
05. Sweet Toothe - Music's Gotta Stay (1975)
       from album 'testing'
06. Peter Kaukonen - Dynamo Snackbar (1972)
       from album 'black kangaroo'
07. The Illusion - Did You See Her Eyes? (1969)
       from album 'the illusion'
08. Joy - Hasufel (1972)
       from album 'thunderfoot'
09. Majic Ship - Too Much (1969)
       from album 'majic ship'
10. Hackensack - River Boat (1972)
       from album 'up the hard way'
11. Stepson - Suffer (1974)
       from album 'stepson'
12. Tin House - Silver Star (1971)
       from album 'tin house'
13. Hunter - Some Time For Thinking (1970)
       single
14. Taiconderoga - Speakin' My Mind (1969)
       single

We kick off with Texas's doomy Seompi who's collected tapes were retrospectively released in 1999 by the Gear Fab label, and then on vinyl by Akarma. 

Missouri's Joe Pritchard pressed only 300 copies of his album in 1974, which was first re-issued by the band themselves in 1996, Radioactive (UK) in 2004 and more recently, Riding Easy Records (2023). It's a real curio this one, each track has its own individual flavour and sound, from 12-bar blues to folk to Jazz and then up-beat rockers like "Reason To Be".

In 1977 a group with almost the exact same lineup called "Harmon, Pelot, Prichard & Bear" made a single: "Loneliness" b/w "Advantage, Miss Evert" on the Missouri Caddie label. You can hear it on Joe Pritchard's youtube channel (link).

Piano, Organ, Saxophone, Vocals, Keyboards [Moog] – Joe Prichard
Bass, Vocals, Backing Vocals – David Harmon
Drums, Backing Vocals – Norman Pelot
Lead Guitar – Vincent West
Vocals, Backing Vocals – Steve Armstrong


Archibald was Scottish artist Archie Legget, he recorded in France where he made two great glam-stomping singles. Horse were a very short-lived act that produced one great hard rock album in 1970, they featured members of such excellent bands as Andromeda (guitarist Rod Roach), Atomic Rooster (drummer Ric Parnell) and Saturnalia (Rod Roach and vocalist Adrian Hawkins).

Bluefield, West Virginia's Sweet Toothe made one private-pressing in 1975 called 'Testing'. It has some excellent fuzzy hard rock and there's a very informative review here and more at Scott Blackerby's Badcat Records (link). San Franciscan Peter Kaukonen is the brother of Jorma Kaukonen, guitarist for various acts such as Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and Hot Tuna. Peter himself was bassist in Jefferson Starship in 1974, and in 1972 he made a solo album called Black Kangaroo which this fine Hendrixian cut, 'Dynamo Snackbar' is taken from. There is an interview with Peter over at Psychedelic Baby (link).

Long Island NY's The Illusion were a jouneyman heavy psych band who made some good stuff across three albums between 1969 and 1970 but achieved little noteriety for their efforts. The sound was equal parts psych and proto-hard rock and 'Did You See Her Eyes?' shows the transition well. After Splitting, members went to various acts such as Network, Wiggy Bits, Barnaby Bye and Aviator. Youngstown Ohio's Joy made a single album called 'Thunderfoot' in 1972 that had some good southern-style hard rock, embellished with a few prog turns that raise it above the standard fair, good vocalist too, although 'Hasufel' is an instrumental. Expect to hear some more from this album later...

Brooklyn's Majic Ship offer us some fine blusey fuzz from their rare s/t 1969 album and the UK's Hackensack are up next, they featured guitarist Ray Majors who was in a few other notable bands including "Mott" (post-Hoople), and Opal Butterfly (along with a very young Lemmy). They also had singer Nicky Moore who went on to Tiger, then Samson, to replace Bruce Dickinson after he left for Iron Maiden. Oregon's Stepson come in next with 'Suffer', I really like the slow-grinding heaviness of this, and it picks up for a wicked funky bridge too. There is a great Stepson interview here at Psychedelic Baby webzine. Florida's Tin House had two great guitarists, as you can tell from the cool harmonies in 'Silver Star'. One of them, the excellently-named Floyd Radford, also played on the 1971 'Edgar Winter's White Trash' album along with Rick Derringer. There is a interview with Tin House drummer Mike Logan here at Psychedelic Bay webzine.

This installment ends on two singles from bands that I have found little info on so far, though I think they are both British. Hunter (formed 'of D. Hunter' & 'J. Spear') made a fun brass-reinforced single in 1970 and Taiconderoga's track is especially excellent, that stabbing fuzz guitar is unforgettable and hints at great un-tapped potential...


Thanks for listening! Rich

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