Saturday, August 27, 2022

The Day After The Sabbath 141: Le Démon du Rythme [France #2] French Heavy Psych, Prog and Rock 69-79



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Bienvenue à volume 141 of TDATS: the second comp of all things French, heavy, riffing and fuzzy, 1969-1979. The first one was way back in 2011 with volume 45: La Folle Entreprise (link), so it's about time! I thank TDATS facebook group member Claude Harvey, a French-speaking resident of Alma, Quebec, for bringing to my attention how long it has been since any French themes, and for some pointers to get the rusty old digging machine going again! Since posting this I have asked him to add some comments for each track, which he has now done.

In a similar situation to The Netherlands, it seems that around the '68-'74 period, a large proportion of heavy French bands with the sounds we like at TDATS, never made full albums, and there are many excellent singles to return to one day. I originally intended this to be a selection of album tracks only, but one single has crept in. The previous French volume was largely a thick lysergic soup of fuzz, and  there's still some of that here, but this one also represents mid & late '70s hard rock, and even some of France's early metal sounds. I've decided to do another french comp later on: France really came into its own in the late '70s during the punk years, so I'm considering making a comp of that period. 

This brings together 13 acts that are totally new to the blog, and two that I have already used, Alice and Zoo. We have a varied mix of styles from the heavy prog of Alice & Visitors, to the proto-metal sounds of Hybride, Silvertrain & Volcania, on to the extreme fuzz of Rob Jo Star Band, while encountering various nuggets of unexpected heaviness from pop stars, private-press records and celtic folk. So, another adventure into the weighty, weird and wonderful, as usual...

TRACKS

01. Alice - Le Roseau (1972)
            from album "Arrêtez le Monde"
02. Joël Daydé - Can I Live My Life? (1971)
            from album "Daydé"
03. Peinture Fraiche - Urbains Matins (1979)
            from album "125 Grammes de 33 1/3 Tours"
04. Visitors - Visitors (1974)
            from album "Visitors"
05. Hybride - Mon Pegaze (1977)
            from album "Ça n'a Pas d'Importance"
06. Johnny Hallyday - Réclamation (1969)
            from album "Rivière... Ouvre Ton Lit"
07. Volcania - Les Cris de la Nuit (1977)
            from album "l'Agression"
08. Sorry - Boogie With the Law (1978)
            from album "Sorry"
09. Jacky Chalard - Coupe d'Europe À G. Guichard (1977)
            from album "Avec un Pied Dans le Rock 'n Roll"
10. Rob Jo Star Band - Le Démon du Rythme (1975)
            from album "Rob Jo Star Band"
11. Silvertrain - Disappointment Time (1979)
            from album "Which Platform Please?"
12. Michel Maillard + Grandes Vacances - Le Satyre Du Métro (1979)
            from album "Enfla Grand Délire"
13. Alan Stivell - Brezhoneg' Raok (1973)
            from album "Chemins de Terre"
14. Trust - Prends Pas Ton Flingue (1978)
            single
15. Zoo - Hard Times, Good Times (1972)
            from album "Hard Times, Good Times"


Alice -
"Arrêtez le Monde" LP
Alice - Le Roseau (1972)
We open the set with a great guitar riff, which to me sounds like it could be from a band much more recent than 1972. The album this is from has expansive production and is mostly made up of accessible melodic progressive rock, so 'Le Roseau' isn't indicative of the whole album, but I had to use it as I really dig the juxtaposition of the intro riff, which surfaces a few more times in the song, with the other instrumentation of piano, hammond and even some horns. Alice was certainly one of the country's premiere progressive acts in 1972, which was early days for scene there.

Claude Harvey says: Thanks Rich for this amazing French compilation, Part Deux! Alice "Le Roseau" is one of the only heavy tracks on their second album Arrêtez le Monde (which have also been published in English under the name 'All Ice'). The rest of the album is more brass-rock/prog-rock oriented. For more Alice heavy tunes, please check their first album Alice (1970)

"Daydé" LP
(Joël) Daydé - Can I Live My Life? (1971)
Here's a slice of heavy blues with Hendrixy guitar. Joël Daydé was in the early lineup of Zoo, who have appeared in the blog before and will again in this comp. He made a series of solo albums in the '70s and this track is taken from 1971's "Daydé". His albums traverse many styles of electric & acoustic blues. with progressive and hard rock touches. According to FR wikipedia (link) he had his biggest early success with a single called Mamy Blue (yt) and his singing has been compared to other gravel-voiced front men like Joe Cocker and Roger Chapman of Family.

Claude Harvey says: Joël Daydé's first solo album is an honest blues/psychedelic rock album with lots of soul! If you liked "Can I live my life?", be sure to check his amazing cover of Paperback Writer on his "Only a Man" single (1971)

125 Grammes de 33 1/3 Tours
Punk rock sampler
Peinture Fraiche - Urbains Matins (1979)
This is a track that doesn't sound anything like punk, I found on a punk rock sampler. It's a great blues riff all the way. The 12" sampler of bands on the Paris "Ile De France" region record label 'Oxygène', was possibly the first French example of such a thing, and has some good tracks which I have filed away for more potential TDATS volumes. 

Unfortunately I cannot tell you anything about the band 'Peinture Fraiche' {eng: 'Fresh Paint'} as this seems to be the only time they ever had any music published, so far I have been unable to find any web presence for them at all, I can't even find a good enough back cover scan to read the band member's names.

Incidentally, the Oxygène label, which existed from 1977 to '81, has a good catalogue to find some heavy French singles of the period, and certainly punk bands too. 

Claude Harvey says: Peinture Fraiche "Urbains Matins" is a hard-rock oriented song by a punk band in the same vein than Cible, which great single "L'homme a la moto" can be found on the same label "Oxygene". Also on this label, you can find amazing heavy rock singles by Olaf (Rue du Désespoir) and Zeugma (Témoignage)

Visitors - Visitors (1974)
Visitors - Visitors (1974)
Visitors - Visitors (1974)
I saw this album mentioned frequently while looking up French prog, and how could you not want to hear a "heavy" 1974 space rock prog album called Visitors, with that cover?! Well, the LP didn't quite match my expectations, but don't let my opinion put you off checking it out, as many people like this record, and good condition Decca originals sell for hefty prices. It does indeed have plenty of theatrical, ominous space rock pomp, and some heavy parts, but for me it never quite manages to reach escape velocity. I still elected to include a cut from this for the fun of it, and this mainly instrumental track makes a fitting segue in a collection of '70s rock.

Visitors was the creation of prolific musician and producer Jean-Pierre Massiera, who masterminded countless one-off albums ranging from symphonic prog to electronica & disco funk. He has been called "the French Joe Meek". The Guardian news paper called his work "a fetid miasma of sick humour, sound effects and unexpectedly first-rate musicianship", and reviewer William Rauscher described him as "a freewheeling auteur whose outrageous forays in trashy pop culture mix low-brow sensuality with oddball experimentation".

Claude Harvey says: Visitors is a great Space-Rock album which can be considered as France's answer to Hawkwind. Other heavy rock songs on this album are "Dies Irae" and the amazing "Le Retour Des Dieux"

Hybride - "Ça n'a Pas d'Importance" LP
Hybride -
"Ça n'a Pas d'Importance" LP
Hybride - Mon Pegaze (1977)

Aside from a few exceptions like Les Variations and Chico's Magnetic Band (neither of which were started by French natives), it's not easy finding full albums of  '70s French hard rock which had evolved beyond standard boogie RnR.

Those who have looked will have encountered many Zeuhl, fusion, experimental and symphonic prog acts, but when it comes to decent, meat & potatoes hard rock, it was rare in France until the end of the decade. Those more knowledgeable than me will have opinions on why this is (or may even disagree with me entirely), but I can say with certainty that it's much easier to find early hard rock in other major European countries like Germany, and even in more exotic places like South America.

That elevates finds like this record in importance. If this was a private-press EP by some midwest US band in the late '70s, it would be one of many similar things, but the fact this is French makes it stand out.

Hybride
The music itself is good, hard jam-rock with hints of prog, metal, even punk, and the music is enjoyable all the way through. The downside is the song-writing, which definitely takes a back seat to the technical ability, and I genuinely think Hybride could have come up with something exceptional, with a bit more sculpting.

When I first listened to the LP, I made the mistake of judging it on the quality and variety of each individual track, and I thought it didn't quite meet the grade to be included in this comp. I have now reconsidered, and the way to look at this record is as one long jam of heavy rock. In that respect it works a lot better, and as I mentioned before, this is still quite a unique record to come from France at the time, so for that reason alone it's worth checking out.

Claude Harvey says: "Hybride LP "Ca n'a pas d'importance" was released as an independent LP in 1977 and re-released officially a few years later in 1980 by the FLVM label..."

Jacky Chalard - Coupe d'Europe À G. Guichard (1977)
Johnny Hallyday -
"Rivière... Ouvre Ton Lit" 1969
Johnny Hallyday - Réclamation (1969)
He's a well-known rock'n'roll and pop star in France. As is the case with these pop stars who made a ton of singles, jumping on many styles and using a lot of different backing musicians, Johnny appears to have sung on the occasional heavy nugget. In this case, his 1969 album "Rivière... Ouvre Ton Lit" offers four rocking tracks, the best of which is this absolute belter, 'Réclamation'.

Who knows if Johnny himself actually wanted to make a hard rocker that's about as heavy as anything you can expect to hear from 1969? Often in these cases I think the contracted session musicians may have just felt like injecting some of what they were listening to at the time, and I don't know about this particular album, but it's mentioned on Discogs that Jimmy Page was one of those session players on some of Johnny's records....

Claude Harvey says: Johnny Hallyday is THE French rock legend and "Riviere Ouvre Ton Lit" is his first incursion on heavy rock territories, my favorite album which has been released on a 4 CD box set in 2020 under the title "Johnny 69".

Volcania - l'Agression LP
Volcania - "l'Agression" LP
Volcania - Les Cris de la Nuit (1977)
This track has a crunchy, grinding, head-nodding groove going on, which is something I always like straight away. Like Hybride, we have another rough 'n ready album of early French hard rock from a short-lived band, this time it's less prog and more blues. Export copies of this LP had a punxploitation sticker saying "The Leading French Punk Group", but punk this most certainly is not. Bluesy hard rock with a soupçon of metal is the order of the day, and that's fine with TDATS!

Volcania was a starting point for guys that would go on to be in better-known bands including Shakin' Street (a favourite of Lemmy no less), Trash, and one of France's best-known heavy bands, Trust, so they were a small but important part in the country's evolution of hard rock. l'Agression is a consistent album so if you like what you hear, it's certainly worth checking this one out.

Claude Harvey says: Volcania is a great French Hard Rock band labeled as "The Leading French Punk Group" by their label company... sure it didn't help if people were expecting a punk band on their shows! 😉

Sorry - back cover
Sorry - Boogie With the Law (1978)
This track is carried by the dexterous guitar of Dominique Ruiz. Ruiz is French and previously played in Mammouth, and Stratagème. Paul Ives is credited as singer, keys-man, producer and other main guy of Sorry. He was born in London UK, and after performing in bands and musicals like Hair (according to Discogs), relocated to France where he worked as a writer and producer, and recorded three solo albums. He wrote film scores and lyrics for bands like Century, who had a french number 1 hit in 1985. Other players on the LP included names from Alice (in this comp) and fusion band, Surya.

Sorry's self-titled LP is a well-produced FM rock affair, the sound is at odds with the new-wave / post-punk stylings of the album cover, with at least three heavy tracks which are all worth hearing, the others being "Too Fast To Know" and "One Eyed Can". Track A3 "Moonshine" is missing from my album files, so I'd like to see if that's a rocker too, if I can find it! [EDIT 2023: I found Moonshine! It's now on my youtube channel (link)] More on Sorry can be read at rockmadeinfrance.com (link).

Claude Harvey says: Sorry "Boogie With the Law" is a fantastic song I was supposed to post on the facebook group next week haha, I really love this song which is a great well produced boogie-rock song with a really catchy chorus!

Jacky Chalard -
Avec Un Pied Dans Le Rock 'N Roll
Jacky Chalard - Coupe d'Europe À G. Guichard (1977)
Here we have a bass player who was at one time in Dynastie Crisis (used in previous french volume) and other bands such as Trust (the '60s prog band, not the hard rock band) and Magnum, both of which I have checked out. He was a producer and session player for a scattering of bands and singles also, but in 1977 he made a solo album, which is mostly some solid if unremarkable boogie / RnR type stuff, except for one mystifying track, which is included here. 

'Coupe d'Europe À G. Guichard' does not sound like anything else on the record, and it has fantastic drumming from Jean-Pierre Prévotat, who was in Triangle and Magnum. Maybe it just came out of the band during some studio down-time, when they had just sparked-up a fat one and turned on the television, as it's a groovy stoner jam which bizarrely has what sounds like TV football commentary over the top.  

The clue is in the name of the track of course, so maybe Jacky and friends were celebrating the '77 European Cup 1-0 victory for Saint-Etienne over the UK's Liverpool, at the Geoffroy Guichard stadium (link), with a doobie? Probably, and who can blame them?

Claude Harvey says: Jacky Chalard's Coupe D'Europe is a really groovy song, the only heavy inclusion on the pop-rock oriented album Avec Un Pied Dans Le Rock'n Roll...

Rob Jo Star Band
Rob Jo Star Band - Le Démon du Rythme (1975)
Here's another rare find, a french record which sounds like nothing else from the country in 1975. Now i'll be honest and admit that the majority of this album is not in TDATS territory. Even though there's quite a lot of fuzz employed, it's got more in common with a private-press loner-psych record you might read about in the Acid Archives. The random, unconnected encounters with electronic knob-twiddling also make it sound like some very lost, very early demo that Dave Brock might have made after coming home from high school.

The track I used here wasn't even included on the original album, and was added as a bonus track when Frenchies "Born Bad Records" (link) re-issued the record in 2013, with help from the band themselves. 

So, "Le Démon du Rythme" starts inauspiciously, but when it gets going, it's a wild trip which just about manages to keep itself together. Just be careful with your speakers, as this baby comes complete with some cone-shredding distortion / clipping.

Claude Harvey says: Rob Jo Star Band "Le Démon du Rythme" is a great song with lots of fuzz, and is also one of their only songs recorded in French (the other being "La Cigale" both released on a single)

Silvertrain -
"Which Platform Please?" album
Silvertrain - Disappointment Time (1979)
This is a mid-paced grinder that has elements of hard rock and metal. Strasbourg's Silvertrain made an album and a unique single in 1979 and they were one of France's earliest bands to make records aimed at the metal scene, although their sound is equal parts melodic hard rock, Sabbath, and later-'70s metal, which fits in well to any set of '70s rock. This actually makes for a good album that's worth hearing in entirety! 

According to some useful info over at france.metal.museum.free.fr (link) they even opened for acts like Motörhead and Rose Tattoo at the time. I first discovered this band a few years ago when there was very scant information but i'm pleased to see at least one original member is playing again and has made at least three new Silvertrain CDs.

Claude Harvey says: Silvertrain is a fantastic Hard Rock band, their first album Which Platform Please? is highly recommended!

Michel Maillard + Grandes Vacances
Michel Maillard +
 Grandes Vacances
Michel Maillard + Grandes Vacances - Le Satyre Du Métro (1979)
Here's an excellent slab of hard rock from an obscure album. The production is top notch and you would never guess it's a privately-pressed LP from the sounds.

I have taken some information from the excellent French rock resource francerock70.centerblog.net (link). "Originally from the Paris region, Michel Maillard studied in Rennes where he met the future members of Grandes Vacances, and recorded this unique self-produced album in 1979: "Enfla Grand Délire". With Michel Maillard (Vocals, Acoustic Guitar), Hervé Brault and Jean Pol Colin (Electric Guitars), Robert Le Gall (Bass), Gilbert Sonna (Drums) and guest Daniel Paboeuf (Saxophone)." 

I have only been able to source two tracks from the record so far but on the strength of  'Le Satyre Du Métro' i'd certainly like to hear more, although I don't know how much more hard rock is contained as the album is described as a mixture of rock, reggae and spoken-word humour. 

Claude Harvey says: Le satyre du Métro by Michel Maillaire et Grandes Vacances is a really fun heavy rock song, I would really like to hear the rest of the album... hope some songs are as good as that one! I heard "HLM Rock" is pretty good too...

Alan Stivell - Brezhoneg' Raok (1973)
Here's a unique track which mixes traditional Celtic music sung in the Breton language, with psych guitars, and it works because the musicianship is superb. Since discovering Alan Stivell for this comp, i've found his music to be very refreshing, especially this track's album 'Chemins de Terre', and the track 'Pop Plinn' from his live at Olympia 1972 LP (yt). 

Stivell's father built a Celtic harp, something which had not been seen or used for so long that he had to research history books to work out how to make it. Then Alan (Stivell jr) grew up learning to play it, and many other medieval instruments into the bargain. Stivell has for a long time since been a famous name in Celtic folk music.

Claude Harvey says: Alan Stivell's "Brezhoneg' Raok" is a nice heavy rock song, and also the only heavy rock inclusion on the celtic-folk oriented album Chemins de Terre.

Trust -
Prends Pas Ton Flingue 45
Trust - Prends Pas Ton Flingue (1978)
To a French person, using Trust in an obscure rock compilation probably makes about as much sense as including AC/DC.

Also, Iron Maiden fans will probably be aware of them as they counted Nicko McBrain and Clive Burr briefly in their ranks, and thrash fans too, as Anthrax covered Trust's "Anti-social" on their State Of Euphoria album, but I think there's probably a lot of listeners who won't know them.

Here's a great track from their their first ever single, which also wasn't on an original studio album, so maybe even a few French people have never heard this one. The quality of this single shows that they were a fully fledged heavy band right out of the gate, and the album that came a year after this contains some tracks which are still live standards, as they reform from time to time to play live and make new records.

Claude Harvey says: Trust's first single "Prends Pas Ton Flingue" (1978) also contains a French cover of an AC/DC song "Love at First Feel", renamed "Paris by Night" for the occasion...


Zoo - Hard Times, Good Times (1972)
Zoo have appeared before in volume 99, the violin special (link). They were a quirky band that had elements of psych, soul, prog and jazz but are not easy to describe, having a unique sound over all. They mixed violins and a brass section in with some-times hard rock, but at all times there was a sense of fun and unpredictability. Original vocalist Joël Daydé (also in this volume) had left to start a solo career by the time of the album from which I have taken the track here, the title track from their 1972 album. By now they had taken on English singer Ian Bellamy, to compete in a scene where they were sharing stages with the likes of Pink Floyd and The Nice.

By 1975, due to a lack of the success they had worked hard for, Zoo were finished. Brothers André Hervé (keyboards) and Michel Hervé (bass) started Z.O.U. with two further brothers Joel Hervé, Stephan Hervé, along with singer Maria Popkiewicz. After this André, Michel and Maria all had a spell in Magma.

Claude Harvey says: Zoo "Hard Times Good Times" is one of their best and heaviest albums. If you liked the eponymous track, check out the explosive opening heavy track "Captain"!

---------------------------------------------------------

Merci pour l'écoute!
Rich

Further listening:
The Day After The Sabbath 61:   Belgium special
The Day After The Sabbath 45:   First French special



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Friday, August 12, 2022

The Day After The Sabbath 140: Greetings From Ohio [With added Heaviness!]




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Password:  tdats



Welcome back to TDATS and a new volume! 

It's been a while, but the blog is back in action. I must thank (in no particular order) Martin, Thomas, Olatz, Mark and Kevin for continuing to moderate the TDATS facebook group while the blog has been quiet, and i'd also like to thank all the followers who have continued to discuss the best music there. It's a great place to see updates regarding all things TDATS, plus tons of top tunes posted on a daily basis!

See the top right of this blog for other social links, including my associated Mixcloud and Youtube channels. One last thing to mention before we get rocking, is the online TDATS Radio show that Kevin is currently presenting live on a weekly basis, where he and co-host Ian Wagner review individual volumes of TDATS. Read all about it >>HERE<<.


On to the music!


In 2015, I was asked to make a compilation of rare Ohio singles, on the proviso that I could post it here as a volume on my blog at a later date. Well that time has come so I figured it would be a great way to revive TDATS, as Volume 140. I have also revised the track line-up with some new and alternative cuts. So, as the cover says, Now With Added Heaviness!!

The 140th volume of TDATS is a collection of singles produced in Ohio. All these tracks are from local and private press 45s from the 1970s. On quite a few of these records the names Peppermint Productions and Starshine Records are involved.

Starshine was a record label started in the late 1960s by Floyd Phillips of Warren, Ohio. He managed and recorded many local bands in the N.E. Ohio area including Freeman Sound, Stars And Stripes, Travis, Biggy Rat and Southwind. Biggy Rat was the first serious band for TDATS personality Jim Gustafson, who many of you will know as the leader of hard rockers Poobah, featured on TDATS Volume 51 (link). Floyd Phillips also discovered the bloggers' favourite, Morly Grey and their album "The Only Truth", who have appeared here on Vol 45 (link).

Many of the Starshine bands, and others in this comp, recorded at Peppermint Productions, a custom studio in Youngstown, Ohio, which was established in the summer of 1971 by Gary Rhamy and Norm Taylor. It is still operating now and Gary Rhamy is still involved. 

Along with investigating Starshine and Peppermint's catalogues, another extremely useful resource was Buckeye Beat (link), with loads of info on old Ohio bands. On a side note, I was interested to read that Ohio is known as the "Buckeye State" because buckeye trees were prevalent when the territory was settled in the 18th century. Buckeye trees are very similar to horse chestnut trees here in the UK, which produced the 'conkers' that we used to have "conker fights" with each other as kids, after using various highly-secret methods of hardening them up to inflict extra damage.


TRACKS

01. Big Blue  - Ridin' High (1974)

02. Zachariah - Out Of The Rut (1976)

03. Myth Band - Cold Wind Blows (1976)

04. Purgatory - Polar Expedition (1970)

05. Stars & Stripes - Your Love No More (1970)

06. Dartanyun - Hot To Trot (1978)

07. Travis - Lovin' You (1970)

08. Swithold - Slow Burner (1975)

09. Salt - Old Comedy (1970)

10. Cincinnati Joe - Get It Together (1970)

11. Sundown - Woman (1970)

12. Erving Forbush - The Train (1972)

13. Tailwind - Shake In The Wind (1977)

14. The Load - She Calls My Name (1974)


Big Blue - Ridin' High (1974)
Recorded at Peppermint Productions, Youngstown, Ohio.
A great way to kick off proceedings, a quick adrenaline boost of chunky riffin' hard rock. According to Buckeye Beat, 'Big Blue' and 'Drift' are incarnations of the same band, with the name change from Drift to Big Blue occurring when front man Dave Coleman was replaced by Randy Strader (the R. Strader shown on the record label).


Zachariah - Out Of The Rut (1976)

Another great short, sharp, shock of fast-riffing rock! This time with extra country flavour thanks to some slide and harmonica. Front-man James 'Mike' Murphy mentioned on the label, appears to have been quite a big local music personality, and is credited for writing a song on Billy Ray Cyrus's first album. The a-side to this single was reportedly a local hit, and I found some video of Mike performing in 1993, here

Zachariah
Zachariah appear to have had different members during their existence but the lineup that was touring to promote this single was: Mike Murphy (gtr, lead vox), Bill Hughes (bass) and Jamie Haney (drums), which I discovered from this WKEE radio interview c.1976 (link). Here the band explains how they used to play covers of ZZ Top, Bad Company and Aerosmith, slipping-in a few originals. It seems although this song was popular on many regional radio stations, it never got picked up by a major, which is what the band had hoped when financing their own recording of Appalachian Lady / Out Of The Rut with AMG in Cincinnati.


James 'Mike' Murphy of Zachariah in 1993



Myth Band - Cold Wind Blows (1976)
A more layered production and a later-'70s sound is welcomed in this excellent track. There's still plenty of energetic riffing to enjoy, along with atmospheric keys and studio effects. I can find no further information on Myth Band, beyond what's mentioned on Discogs etc. A shame, as this is a highlight of the set and worthy of any famous band's repertoire. The flipside to this has a cool name, "Satan's Sorrows", but is a country affair of less interest here...

Purgatory - Polar Expedition (1970)
Written by Mike Parker and Rick Fannin. Vox: Rick Fannin, Gtr: Robert Davis, Bass: Mike Parker, Drums: Bruce Carper, Organ: Mark Carlton. This is a bluesy belter, with a hint of The Doors' LA Woman. I found some info on credited writer/singer Rick Fannin. He was a working musician his whole life, and become involved with folk music later, but was clearly into some heavy stuff in 1970, and was in other local bands such as Gandalf and Indian Summer.

Stars & Stripes - Your Love No More (1970)
Another hip-shaking garage psych blast, from Steve Domer (gtr), Jim Coulter (keys), Mike Domer (bass), and Kim Van Kleek (dms). Buckeye Beat says: "Stars & Stripes competed in the 1970 Battle of the Bands held at Loews Theatre in Eastwood Mall, where Starshine Productions owner Floyd Phillips invited them to make a 45 at United Audio studio. It was released in Nov. '70 (simultaneous with Freeman Sound, Biggy Ratt, and Travis 45s) and got airplay on stations like WNIO. The 45 is a good representation of the melodic hard rock sound of their label contemporaries like Freeman Sound and Morly Grey."

Dartanyun 45

Dartanyun - Hot To Trot (1978)
Here's another record I discovered by perusing ebay listings, a fine slab of metallic hard rock from Pemberville OH. This track has that country-fried revving 'n rolling momentum of something like the amazing Blackhorse, who featured in TDATS in their own profile (link) and on Vol 57 (link). Dartunyun didn't make an album but it seems they evolved into the band 'Rasberry Jam' in the '80s, named after leader/guitarist Ron Rasberry, with a self-released album called "Spreadin' It On Thick". 

Travis - Lovin' You (1970)
One of those tracks with a spiky, funky riff that drills into your head and makes it bang for the entire song, a trait I always look for with TDATS picks! Travis included Steve Dietrick (bass) , John Lally, Dave Potter, and Gary Helms. One of the bands who competed in the 1970 Battle of the Bands at Loews Theater in the Eastwood Mall. Freeman Sound won the competition, but Travis was invited to record a 45 for Starshine records along with Biggy Ratt, and the Stars and Stripes (also in this comp). The songs that were on the 45 included a cover of the Steve Miller Band classic "Livin' In the USA" (youtube) and the original "Lovin' You". The songs were recorded at United Audio.

Swithold - Slow Burner (1975)
Another later-'70s effort, like Myth Band, also with some studio trickery involved. It's still a simple, short song, based on a funky break with guitar to match, and it works. Always leave them wanting more! said Julius Caesar, or someone. I first downloaded this a few years ago while looking for songs from bands mentioned at Buckeye Beat. Since then, Numero Group have recently comped it, and also spoke to the main Swithold man, Mike Lamb. You can read more here. The strange band name, which I kept reading as 'Swifthold', is actually named after a character from King Lear.

Salt - Old Comedy (1970)
I first discovered this while looking at singles on Ebay. The demo sample sounded great and I eventually managed to find a download of the whole song. It's another track with an infectious bluesy funk break that starts as it means to go on, adding a few tasteful solos and segues, some deep anti-war lyrics actually worth listing to, and a nice mellow ending that drifts away. Excellent stuff! While looking them up I found that Gear Fab had comped the flipside years ago, a nice song, but sadly not in TDATS territory.

Cincinnati Joe & Mad Lydia
Cincinnati Joe - Get It Together (1970)
Yet another ass-shaking funky single. Ohio would seem to have been a funking awesome place in the early '70s! Lots of great guitar and breaks in this one too.

Cincinnati Joe and partner "Mad" Lydia Wood owned a club at one time, called Cincinnati Joe's Hideaway, in the Netherland Hilton Hotel. They also made an LP on their own River Witch label. I listened to the LP, it is unfortunately a much more pedestrian affair than 'Get It Together', made up mostly of Soul ballads. 

Sundown - Woman (1970)
We take a breather for this one. This is another 45 I happened upon while looking on Ebay, recorded at Peppermint Productions. This b-side is heavy in a brooding way like House Of The Rising Sun. Wisely it maintains this moody feel for the whole song with tasteful guitar, keeping it just within the bounds of TDATS territory. The a-side is a funky affair with very good playing and pretty lush production plus horns, but in a decidedly disco, non-TDATS way. Incidentally, I think the Discogs entry for this single is attached to the wrong "Sundown". The personnel pictures do not match up at all.

Erving Forbush - The Train (1972)
This is a heavy single that a lot of you may already know. It's been knocking around on youtube etc for years and has since been comped by Ultimate Bonehead and Brown Acid among others, and I'm glad to find a good reason to use it here, as it's damn good. This is another Peppermint recording, that hurtles along like the titular train, ignoring all bum notes and accelerating toward oblivion, by the end it's thrashing faster than a locomotive's steam pump. 

I've been looking for info on this band/single ever since the blog started and while looking, yet again, for this particular volume, I was extremely glad to finally get somewhere by running into a new-ish website. The site, run by Dakota Brown, is called Primitive Man Soundz (link) and has a page of exclusive information regarding the band, supplied by Ed Koran, original band member. I don't want to steal Primitive Man Soundz' thunder, so you can read it all here at Dakota's site, suffice to say that Erving Forbush were a high school band (hence the youthful exuberance of the song) that lasted less than a year. I guess you could say they achieved more in those few months than some TDATS bands achieved in a lot longer, they got a single out that heavy-heads still adore to this day, me included! 

Guy Corl (son of band member Mike Corl) uploaded the b-side to The Train to youtube in 2012: "Sally Funky Monday" shows that Erving Forbush were equally excellent at the old Ohio funk.

Erving Forbush - "Sally Funky Monday"



Tailwind - Shake In The Wind (1977)
Here's a great track, that reminds me a little of Rory Gallagher.
Eric Loy is the guitarist, and has a website here. The track rocks in a tight melodic way, displaying excellent musicianship from this Dayton Ohio band. Buckeye Beat says: "Tailwind was a progressive rock quartet active during 1977-1978.  Drummer Tim Shoemaker (from the stentorian power trio Underband) and bassist Carl Couch (of Indiana group, Crossfire) invited guitarist Eric Loy to form the group.
 
Shortly thereafter, vocalist Dave Marsh of Richmond, Indiana appeared as lead vocalist. Tailwind’s repertoire was comprised of material by Jeff Beck, Led Zeppelin, The Who, etc. as well as lots of original material composed by guitarist Loy and bassist Couch and vocalist Marsh. Tailwind played the Dayton, Ohio area and recorded two self-produced 45s of original material."

The Load - She Calls My Name (1974)
We end the set in the finest of TDATS traditions, with some heavy hammond. The Load were a progressive rock act. They played mainly in a symphonic style, there's no doubt they were excellent musicians (more on that coming up) and their first recorded output was a single in 1974, the b-side of which has some great stabbing hammond, which most definitely is TDATS-approved!

The Load
They were foremost a keyboard-led band, but guitarist Dave Hessler was very talented and played the guitar and bass parts with a double-necked axe of his own construction. By all reports they were popular & excellent live performers, with potential to break into the big time. During two LP recordings, 1976 "Praise The Load" (released on local Ohio label 'Owl') and 1977 "Load Have Mercy" (unreleased until 1995), they re-located to Los Angles. Here they attracted the attention of Meatloaf, who proposed using them as backing band for his forthcoming Bat Out Of Hell shows. That album had just been recorded and Meatloaf liked The Load's try-outs with him so much he even suggested re-recording some of the album tracks with them. The corporate side of this deal took so long to arrange that by the time Meatloaf was ready, The Load had other commitments, so it never happened.

Dave Hessler - The Load
They recorded with Beach Boy Dennis Wilson on his 'Bambu' album, and Sterling Smith (Load keyboards) toured with The Beach Boys, Dave Hessler (gtr, bass) also toured with Dennis Wilson. Dave and Tom Smith (drums) were also busy sessioning in Los Angeles. Sterling Smith stayed in LA in a long career playing with names like Bob Dylan, Bonnie Tyler, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Kris Kristofferson, while also directing stage show, movie and TV music. A bit of Googling revealed that Stirling is currently in a for-hire party band called The Hodads (link) which appears to be great fun, i'd hire them for my gran's birthday!


That about wraps things up for volume 140. I hope you enjoyed it, So long from Ohio!
Rich


Related listening:
The Day After The Sabbath 128: Sweet Home Birmingham, Alabama
The Day After The Sabbath 139: Busted In Georgia [Southern Rock #2]
The Day After The Sabbath 126: Into The Pit [US Metal 1976 - 79]





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