The Day After The Sabbath 56: Freedom Of Yore [Wales pt.1]

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TDATS 56: Freedom of Yore [Welsh hard rock of the '70s] by Rich Aftersabbath on Mixcloud

TDATS 56 is a collection of bands from Wales, "the land of song". Expecting this to be hard, I was prepared for it take a long time to finish, like the Greek comp did for example. To my surprise it was not a hard task and I was able to wrap up the whole thing in a couple of days, I am very happy with the results! What I have found is that, although the relative number of old Welsh rock bands is low, the quality of them all is consistently great and I did not have the usual arduous task of running through & rejecting tens or hundreds of albums, as each one I discovered had at least one excellent track, in this respect I think it was the easiest regional comp to make so far...

Track List:
01. Man - Spunk Box (1969)
02. Ancient Grease - Eagle Song (1970)
03. Eyes Of Blue - 7 + 7 Is & Inspiration for a New Day (1968)
04. Love Sculpture - Nobody's Talking (1969)
05. Alkatraz - Nobody Like You (1976)
06. Fair Weather - I Hear You Knockin' (1970)
07. Brân - Y Gwylwyr (1975)
08. Quicksand - Overcome the Pattern / Flying (1973)
09. Kimla Taz - Tomorrow (1968)
10. Lone Star - The Ballad Of Crafty Jack (1977)
11. Blonde On Blonde - Ride With Captain Max (1969)
12. Sassafras - Electric Chair [Live @ The BBC] (1977)
13. The Neutrons - Snow Covered Eyes (1974)

We kick off with one of the more well-known bands on here, "Man", from South Wales' Merthyr Tydfil. Man evolved out of The Bystanders, a successful close harmony pop group. Many of their members went on to other important Welsh bands and this track is so good, sludgy and heavy with unique character. Ancient Grease (aka 'Strawberry Dust') were one of the bands here to share members with Man, including Phil Ryan and John Weathers. Their sole album 'Women And Children First' is one of my all-time favourites and they really do concoct a heavy swirling fug of groove through the whole album, along with awesome gritty vocals. I have made the entire album available (link) as I think it's one of the essentials, nuff said.

Eyes Of Blue evolved during the mid-sixties from covers and R&B band The Mustangs, based in Neath, and are one of the earliest and most important bands here. They also had later connections to Man and Ancient Grease. A good history (including many of the bands on this comp) can be found at the Man Band Archive (link) and their last recorded album was made under the alternative moniker "Big Sleep". Here they have two songs including an interesting version of Love's '7 + 7 Is', and they show their diverse mix of sounds, including 60s psych and bluesy riffs. Cardiff's Love Sculpture (1966-70) formed from the remnants of local band "The Human Beans", they played mainly straight-forward blues and released two albums, this track "Nobody's Talking" has a dragging doomy feeling that I love.

After his stint in The Neutrons (who also feature on this comp), Will Youatt joined up with his ex-Quicksand partner James Davies to found Alkatraz and I have used their blues-swaggering track "Nobody Like You". Fair Weather evolved from a split within Amen Corner, they recorded a couple of great albums, with a mix of big band/brass and hard rock, they briefly achieved success with a UK singles chart #6 hit, "Natural Sinner". Brân hailed from Bethesda in North Wales and are the only band here to record in the Welsh language (Cymraeg), their talents included ethereal vocals from Nest Howells, which lent a beautiful folky ambiance to tracks like "Y Gwylwyr". Quicksand created one album in 1973, a curious mix of heavy prog, folk and hard rock. I have joined two consecutive tracks here "Overcome the Pattern" & "Flying" to form a sprawling atmospheric trip.

Cardiff's Kimla Taz was noticed as one of the best local bands tipped by their home town heroes Love Sculpture. They later included guitarist Paul Chapman who also features on this comp in Lone Star. They play some catchy 60 style pop psych and never made an album, but have had an archival CD release in recent times. Lone Star (aka 'Iona') are up next and they undoubtedly had plenty of talent, with members who were or would be in Uriah Heep, (the Irish) Skid Row and Budgie to name a few, their vision of a hard rocking southern-tinged sci-fi based sound was a unique one! Newport's Blonde On Blonde moved to London to find their fortune and had some success with performances at festivals like the Isle Of Wight. On a side-note, guitarist Ralph Denyer went on to write the widely-selling 'The Guitar Handbook' which I have a copy of myself!

Cardiff's Sassafras, who featured one-time Love Sculpture drummer Congo Jones, were a hard working band who once held a world record of 332 live performances in one year, and they still occasionally ply their hard bluesrock to this day. The compilation ends with The Neutrons, another branch off from Man, they played early keyboard-heavy proto-prog and the track here 'Snow Covered Eyes' is backed by urgent acoustic guitar, slowly subduing into Rick Wright-style ad-libbing, as a fine lead out...

Thanks for listening! Rich

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The Day After The Sabbath 55: Barking At The Ants

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Number 55 is another random collection, with plenty of heavy psych, and also hard rock to keep you satisfied, the most commercial sounding (but still little-known) being Chicago's Mariah who seem to have come out of nowhere with a single album and disappeared just as fast, though the six piece group's second guitarist Frank Sullivan found fame several years later with AOR kings Survivor.

Track List:

01. Rubber Memory - All Together (1970)
02. The Running Man - Running Man (1972)
03. The Omens - Searching (1966)
04. Leviathan - Angel Of Death (1974)
05. Headstone - I Love You (1974)
06. Mariah - Reunion (1975)
07. The Purple Sun - Doomsday (1970)
08. JPT Scare Band - All Lit Up (1979)
09. The Dickens - Don't Talk About My Music (1969)
10. Goodthunder - Barking At The Ants (1972)
11. White Clover - (Keep Your People) Dancin' (1968)
12. Spirit - When I Touch You (1970)

Rubber Memory recorded their album on basic equipment in 1970, and the first track here "All Together" is an absolute stormer, quirky, unique, and very heavy in places. The Running Man recorded one album in 1972, most of which is jazz orientated but the eponymous track here is lurching stoner-riff perfection. The Omens are the first of our 60s psych bands here and 'Searching' has a rock-solid insistence to it, with some crazy keyboard improv. Leviathan were a heavy prog band from Memphis who had up to three keyboards playing together and Angel Of Death one of their Uriah Heep-ish heavies. There is an in-depth interview with Brit Warner and Wain Bradley of Leviathan at theselfportraitgospel.com (link).

Headstone made one private album "Still Looking" in 1974, with some great heavy psych that was probably a little behind the times even then, with its growling 60s fuzz guitar sound. The Purple Sun are a bit of an enigma, with unfortunately only this single in existence, but awesome it is with a great theatrical vocal performance backed by big fuzz guitar lines. JPT Scare Band may be known to many of you and "All Lit Up" is from a late (1979) recording that has been re-released by Ripple Music recently, it finds them in a more straight-forward radio friendly mood than their earlier stuff. There is an interesting story that The Dickens were actually the road crew of a band called NRBQ (The New Rhythm and Blues Quartet) who were sent out to play after NRBQ shows holding instruments  they were not familiar with, turned up as loudly as possible, to see what might happen...'Don't Talk About My Music' is one of the results! Read more here.

Goodthunder created one album in 1972, at first listen it did not reveal too much but I found on repeated listens that it's actually very good, subtleties in the music become apparent and the comp's title track 'Barking At The Ants' has an involving progressive structure with nice heavy hammond. We return to some more pounding heavy psych with White Clover's '(Keep Your People) Dancin', which is taken from a demo tape of this early incarnation of Kansas no less. The compilation ends on an awesome track from the not so obscure Spirit, which I found to have some great heavy transitions along with some spacey keyboard work.

Thanks for listening! Rich

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The Day After The Sabbath 54: Late Night Woman Blues [blues pt.1]

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Number 54 is a collection of heavy blues and blues-inspired tunes, which now makes for four so far; Vol54, Vol79, Vol108 and Vol147. Being the root of what we know as rock music, I figured it was quite an important subject to tackle. This volume has a great age range, featuring one of the oldest tracks I have used so far (1965).

01. Booker T. & The MG's - Plum Nellie (1965)
02. Elias Hulk - Yesterday's Trip (1970)
03. Moloch - Cocaine Katy / Maverick Woman Blues (1970)
04. Band Of Light - The Cat [B side] (1973)
05. Bliss - Visions (1969)
06. Capability Brown - Keep Death Off The Road (Drive On The Pavement) (1973)
07. The Blues Goes On - Rimmler Blues (1971)
08. Moirana - Late Night Woman Blues (1974)
09. Olhssons Grova - One Bourbon One Scotch And One Beer (1971)
10. Arzachel - Leg (1969)
11. The New Cactus Band - Blue Gypsy Woman (1973)
12. Felt - Weepin' Mama Blues (1971)
13. Three Souls In My Mind - Lennon Blues (1970)

14. Stone Axe - Snakebite (1971)

We kick off with a short and brooding instrumental from Booker T. & The MG's. Jones was a child prodigy, playing the oboe, saxophone, trombone, and piano at school and serving as church organist. The band also features Steve Cropper, who was voted in at 36 on Rolling Stone's 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Next up is Elias Hulk, a one album band who made some great hard blues and are back in the studio this year for a 2nd album! Better late than never, they follow Iron Claw and Incredible Hog as some great heavy 70s obscurities who have also become active again recently. 

I used a short Moloch track back on Vol11. As a good example of how making these comps has developed my own personal taste, back then I thought there was only one worthy track but on a second look in my recent searches for blues I have realised how great their sole self titled- album from 1970 really is in it's entirety! Band of Light were based in Australia, Phil Key was the founding member, bringing with him Peter Roberts, both being kiwis who were previously in The La De Da's, who I used back on the New Zealand volume.

Arizona's Bliss produced one decent album of bluesy psych in 1969 and Capability Brown from the UK included Roger Flavell, who was later in Christie, a band I used back on Vol12. They excelled in 6-part harmonies and each of the 6 members sung with a different range, as well as all being talented musicians. Not much is known about The Blues Goes On, but they are thought to be one and the same as the "Live Experience Band", a group of West Germans who could imitate The Jimi Hendrix Experience like nobody else, doing covers, and originals like the track here, "Rimmler Blues". 

Moirana were a Danish super group including Ken Gudman from Culpeper's Orchard, who Zischkale used on his Cumulonimbic Rock comp  and they do a great job with the monumental performance of the comp's title track, "Late Night Woman Blues". Olhssons Grova were an obscure Swedish band that did this excellent raw cover of a track written by Rudy Toombs, a productive lyricist and composer of doo-wop songs and rhythm and blues standards during the 1950s and 1960s, which later became more famous when John Lee Hooker covered it in 1966. Arzachel (aka "Uriel") were a band that formed when the core members were all at school together, and eventually included names you may know, Steve Hillage and Dave Stewart who were also later in Gong, and Clive Brooks who went on to drum in Groundhogs. Their track here 'Leg' is an amazing psych-blues monster.

"The New Cactus Band", named in honour of Cactus but strangely containing no members of Cactus, did feature notable musicians such as Captain Beyond's Bobby Caldwell on drums and Iron Butterfly's Mike Pinera. Alabama's Felt made one album in 1969 that skillfully blended hard rock, blues and jazz and Three Souls In My Mind (later "El Tri") are an active Mexican band who were regarded as influential in the development of Mexican rock music. The comp ends with the A-side of a single I used already on Vol50  (my 'dubious' comp), I have since established that the single genuinely is from 1971 and Stone Axe featured two members of Josefus. I must thank Lectriclady for many suggestions on this one including Felt, Elias Hulk, The New Cactus Band and Olhssons Grova.

Thanks for listening! Rich

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Exclusive TDATS interview with Jim Ronnie from Iron Claw.

Scotland's Iron Claw will be well-known to many of you. Their seminal 70's recordings languished in boot leg limbo for many decades until the first rays of light appeared when Rockadrome Records presented Iron Claw's first ever official release, a lovingly remastered collection of 1970-74 recordings.

This release showed how much fan interest there was bubbling away, hungrily waiting for a properly presented document of the ahead-of-their time band and later Ripple Music snapped them up, signing them for an album of all-new material. 'A Different Game' was released at the beginning of October 2011 to critical approval and as an avid consumer of all that was obscure in the hard rock world, I have contacted Jim Ronnie, guitarist with Iron Claw, for an exclusive TDATS interview.

I love that some of these bands, such as Iron Claw, who really showed their skills were comparative to the commercial greats of the time but just never got the breaks they deserved, are getting the belated chance to show what they are made of, playing live again and releasing new material! After recruiting a new singer in the form of Gordon Brown for 'A Different Game', they have played a number of shows this year already.

Unfortunately Gordon his since parted ways with the band, but his awesome performance is there for all the hear on the new disk, along with the rest of the original members' storming performances.

So, take it away Jim....

Q1. I read some comments once by Alex Wilson (Iron Claw's founding member and bass player) regarding a demo tape that you guys handed to Black Sabbath in your early years and how the end result wasn't so great for Iron Claw. Can you elaborate on the story and tell us your thoughts on it?

Jim: The Black Sabbath / Iron Claw story is already well documented and there isn't really much to add to it. We first met Sabbath at Dumfries Youth Club in 1969 and it was that night that Alex made what I believe is the first live recording of the band. (Black Sabbath now have sole rights to this recording). They were pretty bluesy and heavy as hell but I guess that's no surprise! Over the following months we saw and met up with them a few times and eventually went to see them at Newcastle City Hall and handed them a copy of our recently recorded album. This was the Iron Claw album that we recorded in London with Mike Waller on vocals. Songs that have recently been remastered and released by Rockadrome Records such as Crossrocker, Sabotage, Skullcrusher. We got to hear that Sabbath's management were not to happy with us upstarts producing this style of heavy rock and that was that. No big deal really.

Q2. The confident new album 'A Different Game' is now out, and it sounds like you guys have never been away! What are your thoughts on how it's been received in the short time since it's release?
Jim: The reaction to the new album has been amazing. Lots of critics have taken the time to review the album and I'm pleased to say the great majority have been 100% behind us. There have been a couple of blogs disappointed at not getting the proto-doom Iron Claw of 1970 but hey, things move on. Interesting that you should say that it sounds like we have never been away because that's exactly how it felt as soon as the recording process started. This was not a difficult album to make. This is Iron Claw really getting back to our roots with blues-based heavy guitar rock and just laying it down with the minimum of production.

Q3. Gordon Brown puts in a great performance on the new album. How did you get together with him, and were there ever plans for Willie Davidson to sing again?
Jim: I agree. Gordon has done a fine job on the album. He was recommended to us by a friend. It was originally intended that Willie Davidson take the vocalist job but it didn't happen as planned. As you know, Gordon and the band parted company shortly after the album launch so we are now in the process of finding his replacement. Hopefully this shouldn't take too long as we're keen to get back on the road. There have been a few great singers offering their services already and we're confident that we'll be back very soon.

Q4. Apart from the new vocals, did Gordon inspire or contribute any other new elements to Iron Claw's sound on 'A Different Game'.
Jim: Gordon wrote lyrics for 10 of the 13 songs on the album.

Q5. Where abouts did you record 'A Different Game'?
Jim: The album was recorded in Alex's place in Dumfries, "Sair Heid Studios". The name being a reference to the height of the cellar door frame and nothing to do with a hangover!

Q6. Can you tell us a little about how the new material developed and how the recording sessions were?
Jim: There are three of the songs on the album that are brand new and written during the recording sessions. The rest of them have their beginnings in 1970's Iron Claw or are songs previously written by Alex or myself. For example "What Love Left" and "Love Is Blind" started life as songs played live in 1973 but were never recorded then. In all cases though songs were stripped bare and reworked to give them a contemporary feel.

Q7. Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to see Iron Claw live yet, how did the recent show in Gretna go and how were the new and old songs received?
Jim: Gretna went really well as did the previous and first outing at Comlongon Rocks the week before. I've got to say though that the official album launch at Barlinnie Prison was something very special. This is one gig that I will never forget. It was a very frosty reception that we got from a few hundred sober prisoners when we took to the stage that night. We were obviously facing a huge task in winning these guys round. But we did win them round and witnessing the audience warm to us was immensely satisfying. The resulting shared experience was pure magic. Governor Derek McGill reported that the buzz lasted for days!

Q8. How was it playing the old material for the first time since Iron Claw's brief reformation for the Jock McBain tribute show in 1993?

Jim: We never got to play any of the old stuff at the live shows so far. All the material played was from "A Different Game".

Q9. What became of Jock's old band 'Smart As The Devil', that you continued to play with for a few years?
Jim: Willie Davidson was at the heart of "Smart as the Devil" and when he retired and left the band we carried on for a short time but it wasn't to last. I enjoyed my time with them. We played mostly covers of other rock bands but always put our own stamp on the songs and made them our own. Stuff like James Gang, ZZ Top, Bob Segar, Led Zep, Small Faces, Taste etc.

Q10. Iron Claw continues to inspire modern rock bands and fans, especially in the scenes that I am personally interested in. Do you listen to much new music, or recent releases from established bands, and if so could you name some?
Jim: My personal listening is quite varied although I've got to admit to being somewhat consumed by my own music when I'm in the middle of creating it. Recently I've got into the new Chickenfoot album (I do like Mr Satriani).

Q11. Finally, can you give us any scoops regarding the future for Iron Claw, like upcoming shows or ideas for more new music?
Jim: The plan right now is a simple one. Get the new singer worked into the band and get out there and blast out songs from "A Different Game" and some of the earlier songs too. Ripple Music have already said they would be keen to release another album as long as its as "kick ass" as this one. That's for a few months down the line but something we're already looking forward to.

Jim: Huge thanks to you for taking an interest in Iron Claw and for the support you continue to give us. Rock on!

Thanks a lot Jim, and good luck with what 2012 brings for Iron Claw!

The new album can be bought from Ripple on CD, or from CDbaby for a digital download.

Further references: Iron Claw on Facebook.

© Richard Sheppard / aftersabbath.blogspot.com

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Thanks for reading!! Rich.