the garage

wilko johnson / joanne shaw taylor

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:38:00 +0000

So, on Saturday I went to London's Kentish Town Forum to see English blues rock guitarist Wilko Johnson. This has been a name that ive heard time and time again when discussions of great, or influential, guitarists has cropped up over the years but I hate to admit that ive never really taken the time to get to know his music.

When the chance to see him perform live cropped up, especially after what was thought to be a terminal battle with cancer a few years back, I jumped at the opportunity to see a man who is a part of English rock history. The few (mainly Dr Feelgood) tracks that I did know did turn up in the set, and I got to see Wilko's interesting playing style of the choppy machine gunning of his guitar first hand, and the strange walking across stage almost as if on roller skates. The whole show was pretty to the point with minimal interaction with the crowd from Wilko, but this seemed almost part of the raw dirty style of the music played by the band. Even so, the whole band seemed happy to be on stage throughout the entire set, which bought a great atmosphere to Bye Bye Johnny playing out the show with the whole crowd singing along.

An unexpected pleasure for me, was also the choice of support. I initially went to see a band I knew little about but they came with a well respected heritage, which is what I went to see. The support came in the form of Joanne Shaw Taylor, who I knew nothing about. Joanne is an English blues guitarist and singer, apparently she's been around for a number of years with a few albums to her name and found at a young age as an aspiring blues player. Well, her performance was nothing short of fantastic. Joanne's set was complete with traditional deep soulful blues, all the way to the hard blues rock, familiar territory with the likes of SRV, full with ripping blues solos which kept both her and the crowd smiling throughout. Not that I want to compare, but Joanne's set was probably the highlight of the night for me.

Go to www.joanneshawtaylor.com for more info and check out her great live performance of Watch Em' Burn

mechina - progenitor

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 17:44:00 +0000

So, at the start of the year I had every good intention to get back into writing some stuff online, playing guitar, recording etc, but as life would have it ive already been bogged down with the daily grind of work and other not so entertaining stuff.

Anyway, at least the listening and enjoying music part never gets taken away. So to start the year the first album I was looking forward to was the new years day release of American industrial metallers Mechina. I ordered my copy of the album Progenitor on cd, and my understanding being that they are still an unsigned independent band, eagerly awaited my copy of the album to arrive from the US which it did earlier this month.

Ive been a massive fan of heavy industrial music since I first heard Fear Factory's Demanufature album, and im also one of those people who has grown up fascinated by science and technology. So, I probably fall into the core fanbase for this type of music. But this album... well it delivers on a huge scale. Ive been a fan of this band for a few years now and have a most of their albums as cds ive bought just to get my hands on everything they do. To be able to write, play and produce something of this level as an independent band is impressive. And the fact that it is a conceptual story spanning over the albums makes it even more interesting. That being said, id be quite happy with a video to this, the whole thing... it could be a musical. No, not in the old sense of a musical, and not just a music video. This is the future, there should be CGI video to go along with each track playing out the whole story.

If you like your industrial music heavy, or if you just wanna load up Commander Shepard or the Master Chief and save the Universe, this might just be something you need to take a listen to.

Mechina - Planetfall

Mechina - Progenitor

david bowie RIP

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 19:58:00 +0000

Only a couple of weeks into the new year and the world has lost yet another of its iconic musicians. David Bowie passed away today only a couple of days after his 69th birthday and also the release of what is now his final album.

Sadly he is yet another cancer victim and passed away after battling with the condition for the last 18 months.

Bowie, who's career pushed the boundaries of music, art and the imagination has influenced so much in the way of music over the decades.The general opinion is that if you like music, Bowie has influenced you whether you know it or not! Bowie was truly an original artist in every sense of the word, and for generations has been a leading figure in British popular music culture, the like of which we will probably never see again.

Famous for such songs as the Man Who Sold the World, Heroes and Ziggy Stardust, as a small boy in the 80's with an older sister I will always remember David Bowie's first influence on me. Here he is as the Goblin King...

2016

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 14:39:00 +0000

So here we are in 2016, its a new year and as the old cliche goes, a new start.

2015 was a difficult year and a busy year. The music world has lost some all time greats, most noticeably BB King and the recent passing of Motorheads Lemmy, which will leave a huge hole in the rock world.

On a positive note, some great music has been released and performed, including a new Motorhead album. Steven Wilson has gone from strength to strength with a great new album at the start of the year and more astonishing performances at the Royal Albert Hall and Devin Townsend also performing his crazy Z2 album at the UK's iconic Venue. Iron Maiden released a fantastic double album, and a personal favourite, 80's hair metallers W.A.S.P returning with a fantastic album, Golgotha.

Things at the Garage have also been on hold for a while after our own loss, but music has still had a prominent part to play even though things have been on hold. Discovering bands new and old continues to be a large part of everyday events, and hopefully there will be more to discover and share this coming year.

To get things started, heres the first track released from the Garage for 2016.

Happy new year, have a listen to Chapter Two...

the (original) iron maiden

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 14:39:00 +0000

So.... its been a while, a strange few months with not much done or said and time has flown on by. What better time to start getting back into the swing of things than on the day of the release of Iron Maiden's eagerly awaited new album. Now anyone who's into the band or following the rock/metal world lately is likely to have already picked up their copy, or will find a way to listen to it over the weekend.

So, the obvious thing to do would be to put up the video for the new single which is already all over the internet and been seen a gazillion times by those who are interested. So we wont do that.

However, I will point you in the direction of this gem. Found by chance while trawling through the vast amounts of Iron Maiden material online, I came across this interesting album by a lesser known band that went by a familiar name. For those who didnt know, it turns out the Iron Maiden name had been used before Steve Harris and co. made one of the biggest heavy metal bands of all time.

The original Iron Maiden is another English band, coming from Essex in the late 1960's. Their only album, Maiden Voyage, released in 1969 is a great example of musicianship and influences of that time. After seeing Cream and Led Zeppelin the band adopted a heavy rock style mixing the sound of traditional rock of the time with psychadellic and what would become doom influences, even though the style hadnt been developed yet, something that would become the familiar sound of Black Sabbath later on.

The album is full of great guitar work and lyrical subjects, just a shame its a little let down by the poor production of the time.

Listen to the full album, Maiden Voyage...

the jets

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 07:50:00 +0000

Luton band the Jets perform live. Originally filmed on one Super 8 mm camera (with no sound) over one night in 1978 by a friend of the band, who given the difficulty of a typical punk gig and the medium itself actually managed to capture the events.

For the best information on the band check out the Jets part 1 and part 2 on the Punk77 site.

farewell phil

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 May 2015 18:26:00 +0000

Its with great sadness I write this post, earlier this week my good friend Phil and founder of the Garage passed away. Phil last posted on the site last month explaining the point of the Garage, the music and the site, and 'where he was'. There will be more to say in future, but I just wanted to let those who have taken an interest or involvement in Phil's work here at the Garage know the sad news.

Phil took me under his wing about 4 years ago, originally just to show me a bit about recording, but this turned into writing our own tracks, turning into projects and then albums. Phil opened new doors and provided me with an abundance of new (or old) music, different styles from around the world and different ways of interpreting or creating music. But mainly Phil and I just enjoyed our passion for music, spanning from his generation and before to my generation and beyond. Hopefully I taught him a thing or two as well!

Phil wanted the idea of the Garage to be more than just the sum of its parts. The idea that that he could stick something online and just leave it as a piece of archived history for all to see, and come and go as they please, is a large part of the way the site is run. Phil, and I, wanted the site to keep going for as long as there is interesting music to be found and people interested in finding it, so I aim to keep the site going (as best as my writing ability allows me to) as a platform to tell about any interesting sights and sounds, same as before.

Its already been posted but here's a track we knocked up in a few hours just for a bit of fun last year. Phil told me this is the first track he had sung on since his punk days...

Farewell Phil, rest in peace my friend. Thanks for all the great times and everything you taught me, ill make sure I keep rockin!

Si

The Garage and where are we now?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 17:29:00 +0000

(..and what have we been doing here anyway?)

So what the fuzz pedal have we been doing here at The Garage in the first place.
First I should explain that for the first 25 years of my life I've been involved in music as a gigging and recording musician. Starting out after Art School in early 1972, which was fairly much an independent but well trodden path for a young man that ended up in rock and roll over the last half of the 20th Century and can be seen looking as far back as Lennon and Sutcliffe's early Art School days in the late 50's. It still does for some leaving art school today but is less common now.

I decided then to swing these garage doors open on all those collected records and moments that could be celebrated and remembered throughout those decades in our lives then. Especially as so many were now leaving us and that old world behind.
Also with any luck along the way, find new young bands that were keeping a spirit and artistic freedom alive in the rock and roll tradition at a time when it's most needed. The new psychedelic movement is rising wonderfully well to meet that challenge.
And so being a true product of the last half of the 20th Century I was witness to some of the most dynamic and creatively free music ever made. It's as the 21st Century rolled into view and through it's first decade that it became more than obvious the rise of corporate business was going to dictate much of this future of the "post rock and roll" era as some have termed it.
At the time I started this blog the son of an old mate of mine questioned how I was recording my stuff to the computer hard drive. What was I using? Where did it come from? How did you figure it?
Well as I'd been programming and running music websites for the latter 25 years I asked Simon if he'd like to come along to my studio (nicknamed 'The Garage' at the time) and we'd set something up.
And the best way to learn anything is on a need to know basis.
That was the beginning of The Garage proper. Simon Costello and his lead guitar joined me in creating rock and roll for the shear joy of making it.
No fame or fortune here. No ego or puffing up names. Just rock and Roll for the hell of it. And created in the traditional method made pretty much in one take and as raw analogue as we could. It all gets mashed to digital eventually but at least it starts out with the right intent. Rock is raw music. It got tricky later.
My biggest challenge was then to contain Simon's natural Metal instinct to shred any lead solo into oblivion just long enough for him to be influenced and capture the feel and nuance of how lead players have worked over the last 60 years. He rolled back the years and played a blinder.

Finally the added bonus was when our musical influence needed to go a little wider with some vocals and we were joined by a girl in a million, Sylvia Rae Tracey. The wife of a good friend and top jazz musician who made her young start in music with her sisters in a band from Edinburgh in the mid 80's. A formidable group of uncompromising Scottish gals who made music for their era.
Sylvia would have seen through any bullshit if our reasons hadn't been true.
She took up our challenge of singing rock and roll on tunes she'd never even heard of and just let it roll out. It was just the greatest fun. We had 3 generations of musicians born in the last half of the 20th Century making music for all the right reasons.

And now our tribute to 20th Century rock and roll is on Soundcloud which you can access on The Garage Soundcloud page. All tracks are free to stream and download of course.
We recorded some original tracks and some covers especially for Sylvia to work on in 2012. These are only available on YouTube. We call these videos 'Installations'.
Then in 2012 we worked out on a few Metal tracks with an early style of 70's heavy rock influence for Simon's lead fingers to shred before he marches on into the 21st Century trying to hold back something that's now been coined as "post metal". Whatever that is going to turn out to be.
Lastly but not least we released 'Game Of Dreams'. An album of progressive psychedelic tracks we produced in 2013. Which, Valis at KDHX radio played and supported on his superb radio show - 'Trip Around The House' and which he later included a track from us on his 2013 compilation sampler. Valis is a rare and genuine supporter of the true psychedelic underground and deserves all the support he gets.

So that's it. If we can keep The Garage doors open longer we will. That's mainly down to me being able to stand up right, but I'm pretty sure I'll be leaving the computer archive in good hands with Simon and he'll hopefully put a new blog that comes from this 21st century (as well as his favourite metal bands) and a few sounds of his own creative freedom.
Over the last 4 years we paid tribute and homage to some of the great music of the last half of the 20th Century and made it in the way rock and roll was meant to be made. No BS. Not for money. Not for the ego. Just for fun. This was a good band and just like many others over the decades it "never even made it out of The Garage". This time it didn't need to. In the 21st Century we had the internet.

Many, many thanks to the thousands that have dropped into The Garage over the past 3 or so years. It's about the right amount of time for any garage band to exist.

So long guys.
A.P.Smith Imber

ziltoid... at the royal albert hall

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 17:01:00 +0000

Knowing the history and cultural significance of the Royal Albert Hall, the last thing you would expect to see there would be green aliens, grown adults playing with puppets and a collection of the most bizarre videos the internet has to offer. But yes, it happened last night when Devin Townsend took Ziltoid's second musical outing to the Royal Albert Hall.

The almost 3 hour set was split into to halves, the first continuing the bizarre story of Ziltoid helping to save the world and searching for coffee in a sort of metal theatre somewhere between War of the Worlds crossed with Monty Python. Both the music and Townsend's bizarre form of entertainment, with Ziltoid, the War Princess and big pink 'Poozers' running around the stage, was superb and every bit as crazy as expected.

The second half of the show seemed a lot less bizarre, a by request set by the fans. This was no less entertaining, however, with 20 years worth of music to choose from this was a masterpiece selection showing both Townsend's and the entire bands talent and enjoyment on stage. The performance of The Death of Music was a personal, and unexpected, favourite to see with Townsend leaving the guitar alone for an incredible and haunting vocal performance.

The concert ended with a load of VIPs and Townsend's young son joining him onstage for his last bit of musical fun, with Townsend thanking as many people he seemed to be able to remember through his musical career, and giving hope to anyone in a band, or musicians, that they could do this too and to just keep going!

Devin Townsend at the Royal Albert Hall provided one of the most bizarre and incredible live music experiences ive ever witnessed!

andy fraser RIP

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 11:40:00 +0000

At just the age of 17 Andy Fraser had co-written with Paul Rodgers one of the most recognised songs of the 70's and what became one of rock's ever lasting anthems in Free's "All Right Now". A hit throughout the world and has to this day been used almost relentlessly in films, television and adverts. The song had somehow captured not only the zeitgeist of a generation but also the free spirit that rock and roll represented with it's catchy blues riff and simple lyrics. It was a rock song just waiting to happen in 1970.
Andy Fraser and Free had a successful album alongside that single but by 1971 things were most certainly not all right now with Fraser and Rodgers falling out and their prodigious and much admired lead guitarist Paul Kossoff going the way of many a young gun of the time and failing to get to grips with an ever mounting drug problem.
Free even briefly reformed in 1972 and released an album 'Free At Last' in an attempt to rehabilitate the ailing Kossoff but all amounted to little when he couldn't maintain his health to be able to tour with the group. Kossoff's sad demise came 3 years later with a heart attack for obvious reasons.
Andy Fraser did go on to attempt his own freedom with Sharks and The Andy Fraser Band to little effect so by 1975 had packed his bass for California where his song writing muse returned and in later years had success with songs covered by Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, Robert Palmer and Chaka Khan.
He toured and recorded occasionally with his last recording made in 2005, but it'll always be the unforgettable hook of a song he co-wrote as a teenager that will always link him to rock and roll. "All right now, baby it's all right now".
So long Andy. (July 3rd 1952 - March 16 2015)

Here is Free at their peak at The Isle Wight Festival in 1970

the constant state of malka

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 19:49:00 +0000

We don't get many of the new psychedelic bands coming out of New York sent this way. Guess it's hard to feel the wide open spaces with all that high rise and high tension. But Malka have nailed a beautiful wide landscape of dreams and visions with a high level production so nothing is lost in the New Jersey haze.
They've been described as Shoe-Gaze and Dream Pop but that's a bit of a disservice as you ain't going to be making this stuff looking at your feet and Dream Pop tends to suggest as a less than intensive experience. The sounds are far too good to be marginalised. It's just good psychedelic coming from 4 guys who know what they're doing with the instruments. The vocalist EJ DeCoste is actually doubling on guitar and synth so knows exactly how to make the song blend into a wall of multi textures produced by David Ciauro - bass and vocals, Michael Dawson - Drums, Darko Saric - guitars, synths and vocals.
The first track a 'Flock Of Crows' (ha, very good, we see what you did there) spells out exactly how it all works. 'The Constant State' is a very cool blend of psyches past and present.
But definitely a more New York style video also taken from the bandcamp mini-album (below the widget) so it's not all trees and sunlight after all. (Thanks for the white noise guys it's restored our faith in New York).

The Constant State by Malka

the last of the dead

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 20:05:00 +0000

Some 20 years after the death of Jerry Garcia that institution of counter culture The Grateful Dead have announced the gathering of the remaining core members Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir and Mickey Hart for the final time. They will reunite for three shows at the Soldier Field in Chicago over the Fourth Of July Weekend this year.
Ex member Bruce Hornsby, Furthur/RatDog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio will all make appearances on this 50th anniversary of the group.
Weir told Billboard. "These will be the last shows from the four of us together,"

And here's the thing, with the passing of their guiding light all those years ago and in a world where you'd maybe think the The Dead were very much part of the 20th Century, the online booking agents Ticketmaster broke all sales records when the Chicago dates were announced and sold out in seconds with half a million queueing up for sales. "Requests for tickets are believed to be in the millions.".

No doubt the whole extravaganza will be captured for posterity in every known medium and in true Dead tradition every type of bootleg going. Failing that call into the Internet Archive after July where, apart from being the only group to have an entire category to themselves, you'll probably find some genius has uploaded the entire concert including the sound check! For as we all know, The Dead Heads are a law entirely to themselves.
So after all this time these Dead Heads were just lying dormant waiting for the final calling. Surely the like of this pop culture phenomena will not be seen again.

Here's 'So Many Roads' from their last concert together and their last performance with Garcia in 1995.

steven wilson's hand cannot erase

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 12:03:00 +0000

Earlier this week Steven Wilson's latest album 'Hand. Cannot. Erase' was released. Always much anticipated, the Wilson catalogue grows into a formidable piece of modern sound production and 'progressive' music exploration. That's progressive with no hint of 1970's over indulgence by the way. And just like his previous albums there lies a theme of almost Gothic story telling arranged with the usual Wilson lightness of touch that belies the subject matter.
This time he enters an urban world not of fantasy but stark reality that most of us have either read a similar story or heard of one.
It is the grim tale of how the death of a young woman went unnoticed, and despite having friends and a career, lay undiscovered in her her flat for 3 years, with even her own family assuming she'd moved away. A very modern story then, of isolation and neglect.
You have to hand it to SW, the man does not take an easy route with his subject matter. Yet from the grimness of the tale the music and words never sink into maudlin morbidness. It is reflective and thoughtful with an empathy to how this nightmare of an urban nightmare could exist.
In a recent interview with Record Collector Wilson remarked how he "thought of an album in the same way as creating a film or a novel".
And with that comment the entire Wilson approach to recording is more than clear.
It does have one drawback in the contemporary world of downloads and random play-lists, he's asking the listener to hear the entire album in one go.
"I'm fighting against the prevailing trend.. bottom line is music I make is still outside of the mainstream.. it's still underground"
Wilson is more than aware of the difficulty his music has in wider acceptance but his "war of attrition" continues. Where and what this modern composer eventually ends up producing will be a fascinating story in itself.
This track, "A Perfect Life", from the album is unusually more in the Wilson 'pop' mode. The clip below is a teaser for the album. Available in all sorts of exotic media from Burning Shed

st anger sounds good... when not done by metallica

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 10:36:00 +0000

With undeniably Metallica's worst guitar tones, and Lars' drumkit sounding like Victorian kitchen equipment, the release of Metallica's 2003 album St Anger divided listeners with its so called 'raw production'. Even now the album has not stood the test of time well and remains unfavoured by fans and possibly Metallica in an effort that would best be left forgotten.... until now

Members from Birmingham band Grace the Skies obviously felt the album deserved another chance and re-recorded the album in its entirety. And it sounds great!

The St Anger 2015 Project, as its known, said
"Recorded during a turbulent time in the bands career, St. Anger has always divided opinion. Some longtime fans were turned off by the drop tuned riffs and raw production, whilst some listeners embraced it, myself included. #STANGER2015 is for the listeners who weren't so fond on the record back when it was released in 2003.

Recorded from the ground up, the album has been shortened by 15 minutes, yet every riff and lyric is intact, resulting in a more concise and focused record."

Metallica could learn a thing or two from this!

Go check out Grace the Skies own stuff at gracetheskies.bandcamp.com

edgar froese RIP

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 19:49:00 +0000

The sad news of Edgar Froese's death in January seemed to slip by quite unnoticed, sorry to say by us anyway. The founder, supremo and only constant member of Tangerine Dream died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism in Vienna on the 20th.
Froese was one of the renowned names of the late 60's and early 70's. Tangerine Dreams 1973 album 'Atem' was named as Album of the Year by British DJ John Peel and heard regularly on his night shows in the UK and which consequently led to them being one of Virgins Records early signings. Under Froese's direction the Tangerine Dream career path eventually produced an eye watering 100 plus albums, a number few artists can ever have reached in their lives.

'Phaedra', the second album and first for Virgin Records was a UK top 20 album hit and one of the first commercial albums to feature sequencers which came to define not only the band's own sound but a new era in music, not only for the record company, but what could be heard as the beginnings of Krautrock, also helped define the Berlin School of electronic music, and in later years what was to become new-age and electronic dance.
They were one of the first real world recognised names pioneering the use of the Moog synth and various electronic instruments, and Froese one of the few people who've have had such an influence on one particular genre of music and the many musicians who followed. (Steven Wilson, stated that Tangerine Dream was one of his influences to make his music, and often cites Zeit as his all-time favourite album).
"Since the 90s, Tangerine Dream have also recorded cover versions of Jimi Hendrix' Purple Haze (first on 220 Volt Live) and The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby, Back in the U.S.S.R., Tomorrow Never Knows, and Norwegian Wood. (The band name inspired by the line "tangerine trees and marmalade skies" from The Beatles' track "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
WIKI ARTICLE).
All being prominent influences on the young Edgar Froese at the very start of his life in music and of which his legacy goes on to this day.
Here is "Zeit" (1972 ) and 16 minutes of another world.
So long Edgar.

blown out by jet black hallucinations

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 10:38:00 +0000

The psychedelic space drone of Blown Out. And then some. This UK Newcastle trio are about to release a vinyl album that will melt more than few ears. Judging by the title track they're streaming the sound is a monster of an ever evolving guitar thread set against a drone backdrop.
It takes a minute and half for them to warm up the lift off and then hear it burn into the night sky for the next 15 minutes. This is psychedelic space rock drunk in hell. And that's their description and we won't disagreeing with that.

'Jet Black Hallucinations' is available on 180 gram vinyl (it'll need to be with this sound) from March at a very reasonable price of 14 quid via their bandcamp page.
Warning though, such is the thunder on this album you might well need a coin on the stylus arm to stop it jumping off the vinyl. Alternatively have no such problem and get the downloads for 5 dollars also via the widget.

Jet Black Hallucinations by Blown Out

the strange trip of beaulieu porch

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 20:14:00 +0000

10 out of 10 to Beaulieu Porch for creating by far the most tripped out album of songs in 2015. Yes it's only February but 'The Carmelite Divine (Original Soundtrack)', and presumably some wild imaginary film in the head of creator Simon Berry, will likely not be beaten this year when it comes to an outright psychedelic pop trip album.
This bunch of album tracks has had Lennon Strawberry Field like comparisons in it's song and vocal delivery which can either be a great compliment or an unnecessary burden given it's nearly 50 years ago that song came into being. But it will also be more than obvious on the first listen there are most definitely some Beatle 67 era motifs going on with the Beaulieu Porch dynamic.
Lennon vocal like, yes if that is running them back at twice the speed, is not so much in the tone but in the phrasing used. The song content is certainly as outrageous though. Dig the editing and mixing of a considerable amount of instrument overlays, which is no easy task, and you'll here a kaleidoscope of symphony with added parts cacophony as a backdrop to the song. This album is not about soloing. Each song creates it's own landscape, hence it being called a soundtrack is the guess.
Although good luck reproducing this at gigs Simon!... of course he's unlikely to be doing that. This UK musician is likely to hold his ideas in his head until another session in the Tillsammans Records Studio's where he recorded this. And some marathon session that must have been. Nah.. he must have layed this out in his own studios and mixed it in the Tillsammans place otherwise the cost of this would have been as tripped out as his album.
The Carmelite Divine is available on CD from March or now as a digital download from the bandcamp site. Use the widget below or click here.

The Carmelite Divine (Original Soundtrack) by BEAULIEU PORCH

a super trip psychedelic vintage cucumber

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 20:20:00 +0000

We've been waiting all week for something fun to show up and right from the name 'Vintage Cucumber' it's a good bet this was going to be it or just nuts in the extreme (it's a bit of both come to think of it).
'Vintage Cucumber' is actually the working name for Johannes Schulz who is a law unto himself as can be seen from the above photo of a Vintage Cucumber, he's also from Templin, Germany. And Johannes does a neat line in something he calls Super Trip Love Kraut Psychedelic. And who are we to argue. His back catalogue of albums is monstrous, just check them out at his bandcamp site and for his latest sampler album he's done a split release with a new Mexican space rock band called The Holy Cosmos. What's more he's letting you name your own price for any of his stuff. This guy is making music for the love of it.
This is the first track from the album and is just one load of brilliant space rock lasting 8 minutes called "Mutterherz" which to you and me means "Mother's Heart" part of which the lyrics are -

I want to know
Where to go
Where to find the sunlight...

Don´t you know
Where to go
Find the light in the sun night....

I want to know
Where to go
Where to find the sunlight...

Don´t you know
Where to go
White the light in the sun night...

But it's fairy unlikely you'll be able to make any of them out during the track such is the super drenched psychedelic groove of it all.
It's a piece of a classic space rock that feels like it should have existed way before now.

Vintage Cucumber/The Holy Cosmos Split (2015) by Vintage Cucumber

winds of change and the scotch of st james

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 20:32:00 +0000

In spring 1965 a new club opened in what looked like a fairly typical West End public house. "The Scotch Of St James" was to become the centre of London for the next year or so, where rock stars and anyone who was anyone gravitated to the place as a matter of course.
Some of the northern groups had made the pilgrimage south to the city during the Beat Boom of 64 and like the other London bands, hanging out in between gigs in the West End (or Soho) where "The Scotch" was located (13 Masons Yard to be precise) was part of the off duty schedule. Just yards away from the unassuming exterior of "The Scotch" was the art gallery John Lennon first met Yoko. In very short time Masons Yard had become the bohemian hotspot of the West End. A couple of hundred yards away Soho begins proper where properties at the time were easy to get and affordable to rent. Hendrix on first arriving in the UK is said to have had his first flat near the market in Berwick St.
Jimi had first arrived in London at the beginning of September 1966 and took little time in making straight for the in-crowd and first played at "The Scotch" on 24 September. As someone once said the Swinging 60's was really just about 400 trendy people with everyone else looking on. It's a dead certainty that those 400 had ended up in "The Scotch" at one time or another during 1966.
Chris Welch, journalist with Melody Maker at the time -

"Many groups shared apartments and flats for a while, including The Animals. But not for long. You can imagine the fights and rows after a hard days' night revelling and jamming. But to make sure he didn't miss any of the action, Eric Burdon got his own flat above the Scotch of St James, one of the West End's trendiest night clubs, where he could literally drop in and catch Jimi Hendrix jamming and share a brandy or three with The Rolling Stones and The Beatles". By December 1966 the original Animals had split, with now Burdon entranced by Hendrix and the ever evolving London scene he mixed with at the club, had changed his musical ideas away from driving r&b beat and by 1967 formed the New Animals and his version of the new psychedelia in California, moving there that year. By June 1967, Hendrix, Burdon and many of the musicians and bands that had hung out at the "The Scotch" less than 12 months earlier were now lining up at The Monterey Pop Festival along with the American bands of Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Mammas and Pappas etc and marking the first real sign of the Summer Of Love and that Love Generation.
Monterey was to be Hendrix's debut in America with the Experience, who along with The Who, had been recommended to the organisers by McCartney when the Beatles declined an offer to play the festival. Which was hardly surprising given The Beatles were by now a studio concept only.
That year Hendrix released - Are You Experienced and Axis Bold AS Love, The Beatles - Sgt Pepper, The Rolling Stones - Her Satanic Majesties Request, Eric Burdon and the New Animals - Winds Of Change.
Burdon's barmy take on psychedelia and probably the lesser known of the bunch had him reciting poems and beat like pros against sitars, guitars and all manner of stuff on one side with a heavier psyche blues rock on the other. The idea of it was crazy. The idea of it also being born in it's embryonic form in some small West End bar 10 months earlier was completely crazy.

Eric Burdon & the Animals - Winds of Change has just been re-released on 180 Gram Vinyl (and CD) as a mono edition. We're also reliably informed by the Audiophile LP Round-Up in Record Collector that hearing it on a record deck with a specialist mono cartridge makes all the difference.
Oh yeah and where the dickens do you get one of those from? Anyway the album is available from Sundazed

The photograph at the top of The Scotch Of St James was purloined from Kathy Etchingham's website who was Jimi Hendrix's girlfriend at the time and also has some rather fun stories taken from her book.

the snake box

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 20:52:00 +0000

It's always a bit baffling as well as saddening when a legendary name in music falls on tough times and needs to go to the public to ask for some help. Such was the way for Harvey Mandel this time last year when he needed to appeal for funds to pay for his medical bills following a cancer diagnosis.
It sure illustrates, apart from how unfair the US medical system seems to us in the UK, but also how doubly unjust it is this pioneer of the guitar hasn't been rewarded sufficiently in his career to be able to deal with an unexpected health issue.
As it says on his website "A professional at twenty, he played with Charlie Musselwhite, Canned Heat, The Rolling Stones, and John Mayall before starting a solo career. Mandel is one of the first rock guitarists to use two-handed fretboard tapping.."
Maybe this latest box set of his first 5 albums will go some way to recovering the bank balance along with the well deserved retrospective on his work. His guitar playing certainly set new standards in an era when blues was being rewritten by many new musicians in the mid 60's with Mandel's style pioneering sustained notes and controlled feedback to the form.

As these early solo albums prove Mandel wasn't just content with repeating blues riffs but exploring his ideas beyond the guitar and into orchestration which is perfectly illustrated by the track "Cristo Redentor" from his first album of the same name in 1968.
It was a daring and for some controversial exploration for a blues man to take as the sublime string arrangement and vocal choir took the sound into completely different expression with the haunting and beguiling theme having far more in common with an Ennio Morricone film soundtrack than any axe wielding psychedelic blues. If you wanted that then you could turn to his work with Canned Heat which he was doing in the same late 60's period.
The follow up solo albums in the 'Snake Box' to 'Cristo Redentor' are 'Righteous', 'Games Guitars Play', 'Baby Batter' and 'The Snake' and what's more his YouTube Channel is good enought to provide lots of tracks from the boxset. Go and have a root around the selection and order from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
The 'Snake Box' is a fitting tribute to the man which will no doubt be fully recognised when he tours Europe in March having successfully recovered from last years diagnosis. See HarvelMandel.com for further details.

the stones' psychedelic elephant in the room

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 20:54:00 +0000

Here's a piece of classic 1967 psychedelia in the form of the promo clip for "2000 Light Years From Home" taken from probably the most argued over Stones album ever, 'Their Satanic Majesties Request'.
Seen by many as the worst record the Stones ever made, for others a moment of Stones magic never to be reproduced again. Richard Metzger at Dangerous Minds made the album his favourite Stones recording and frankly we're with him on this. Despite all the criticism of how the Stones had abandoned their rhythm and blues roots in a trendy move of the era to counter the seminal psychedelia of The Beatles' Sgt Pepper album, 'On Their Satanic Majesties' not only out psyched The Beatles with probably a better representation of just what an acid soaked year it had become but had intriguingly found the group abandoning up until then, a pretty slavish resistance to anything outside of rhythm and blues influenced rock and roll.
The studio sessions were also notoriously shambolic with hangers on and wannabe's flocking round their chosen ones. Even producer Andrew Loog Oldham walked out when the chaos had become too much.
Bill Wyman at the time

Jagger was quoted as saying

"There's a lot of rubbish on Satanic Majesties. Just too much time on our hands, too many drugs, no producer to tell us, "Enough already, thank you very much, now can we just get on with this song?" Anyone let loose in the studio will produce stuff like that. There was simply too much hanging around. It's like believing everything you do is great and not having any editing" Even Brian Jones chipped in at the time

BAND QUOTES FROM WIKI ARTICLE

Down the years Keith Richards has also agreed with his band mates criticism calling the album "a load of crap" but also added he did like some of the songs "2000 Light Years from Home", "Citadel" and "She's a Rainbow".

Which is actually a good lump of the album. And yes, and there's the rub Keith, like it or not those songs have stood up remarkably well over the decades. Even to the extent that you were playing one at a recent Knebworth gig, remember? (er well probably not)
In fact the tracks sound brighter and more inventive today than in 67 when groups were experimenting far more broadly with music than they do in recordings now. Remember also this experimentation was done with real instruments and much manual handling of recording techniques.
The band had also, in keeping with the general chaos of the event, invited some willing helpers with backing vocals and other duties from Nicky Hopkins (piano, organ, mellotron, harpsichord) - John Paul Jones (string arrangement on "She's a Rainbow") - Lennon and McCartney (backing vocals and percussion on "Sing This All Together") - Ronnie Lane (backing vocals and acoustic guitar on "In Another Land") - and Steve Marriott (backing vocals on "In Another Land")
Who, it might be said , were all willing night trippers and sky pilots in 1967. And you don't have those guys hanging around without some magic floating about those sessions. No, it's obvious that for the first time in those chaotic sessions The Rolling Stones were flying without a wire and they didn't much care for it especially on reflection. Not being in control that is and as we all know Messrs Jagger and Richards have always preferred it down nice and tight.

The Stones never did make another album in the same way. The diversity and chances taken in making this astounding piece of audio were never dared attempted again, mores the pity. And the opportunity to have Brian Jones playing Mellotron, keyboards, guitars, flute, brass, soprano saxophone, electric dulcimer, recorder and percussion was soon gone forever.
The original album cover was suitably audacious to suit the recording, it came with a 3D panel on the front, and to go with the album a psychedelic video promotion of course, rare enough in itself for the time, of "2000 Light Years From Home" which was also released as a single in the UK.
With it's fabulous mellotron arrangement either by Nicky Hopkins or Brian Jones, a downright wicked bass riff from Bill Wyman and general eeriness of the track this surely has to be a sound that groups like the Moody Blues went on to explore further. There is a disembodied unearthly sound about the whole album and "2000 Light Years From Home" embodies it perfectly.

the pretty things bouquets of barbed wire

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 20:50:00 +0000

Not being ones to have got our grubby hands on the boxset of the complete works of The Pretty Things here's the opening from Phil Alexander's review at Mojo mag who actually has opened the limited edition package.

And that might as well be the symbolic story of the The Pretty Things. The ingredients of which were "bad luck, self destruction and record company shafting". It's unbelievable these guys are still playing today and this boxset marks the tumultuous journey from the raw garage r&b of the early 60's, through the bleary haze of psychedelia in the late 60's and on into the 70's. The 11 studio albums are all here, plus all this other stuff. 2 DVD's, 2 Rarities CD's, a 10″ replica acetate, 100 page hardback book, family tree with posters.
And the Pretty Things story is as much a part of rock and roll history as the Stones, only without the empire of wealth at the end of it. At last this box-set puts it all into context.

A full break down of the contents of 'Bouquets Of Barbed Wire' and pre-odering are here at Burning Shed

mondo drag in a world of their own

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 16:47:00 +0000

If it's rare enough to find a modern prog rock band sounding like they've just stepped out of the early 70's the fact that they are based in California is even more unlikely. Prog rock never did have it's natural roots in the States and it wasn't until the 1980's and the likes of Genesis and Yes redesigned their sound for the MTV market prog rock, if that's what it could still be called by then, had any impact on the wider US audience. But here we are in 2015 and Mondo Drag have just released their second album creating as near a perfect set of prog tracks you'd think they'd formed in Europe at the height of rocks progressive evolution between 1970 and 72 and well before punk rock set the rock and roll clock to zero again. There's not an inkling here there ever was such a thing as new wave. Mondo Drag's analogue sound has all the instruments and themes associated with an era when audiences sat on the floor of a venue and just spaced out to the music.
"The band caravanned across the country last year, settling in Oakland, CA." hints at the back story to the album, and an experience any UK rock band would be highly envious of in this gig strapped land. But it's served as the perfect way for Mondo Drag to to shape their sound. although they say the three core members of John Gamino, Nolan Girard, and Jake Sheley grew up together which is why the cohesion of the sound is so good, but we'd still love to know the influences that drew them to this music. They've also played headlining shows at the Chicago Pysch Fest and the Cincy Psych Fest so surely a Europen tour would be the logical next move for them. Germany for one would surely embrace this sound given some of their summer festival line-ups.

Here's their bandcamp stream of the album and you can either download it via the widget below or better still go and buy the whole thing on vinyl from their website. which surely must be the medium of choice for Mondo Drag. Mind you how on earth they came up with that band name is another matter and probably a lot less to do with analogue prog chat and a lot more to do with how long they could inhale a blunt. Just look at their picture above for your best guess.

S/T by Mondo Drag

peter hamill and all that might have been

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 19:59:00 +0000

Ever since his first solo LP's back in the early 70's Peter Hamill albums have always thrown down the guantlet to the listener. He makes no compromise to popular trends in rock or easy toe tapping sing-a-long. Peter Hamill demands your attention or you just pass by without a clue and a bitter taste in the mouth. Ever since the first albums with Van Der Graaf Generator Hammill told stories that on first listening were utterly baffling yet compelling. By the time you'd heard them a few times you sort of new what he was saying but still couldn't explain it clearly. But the story felt important just the same. None of these have lost their impact as the years have passed.
And so it's gone on through the decades. Peter Hammill never fails to mystify yet thrill the listener. There is absolutely no one like him in rock music and probably never will be again. His tales are too personal to ever be copied, covering a Peter Hammill song is virtually a no go because nothing can be added to them and it's as sure as eggs you aint gonna improve them. Yet his influence on other name musicians has been unexpected and influential. Bowie to name one, John Lydon to name another. But once you hear they've name checked Hammill it sort of makes sense.

And so in November a new set of Hammill's solo recordings were added to that ever demanding body of work. No fuss. No fanfare. A Hammill album seems to just materialise from nowhere. And this is as ambitious a project as he's done. It's a single album which also comes as 3CD boxset with 14 full length songs and an instrumental CD. The group is guitar, keyboards and drum machine and Hammill plays the lot. The unmistakeable vocals are all over the place, double tracking his lead vocal, multi tracking the backing ones, the prog rock vocal no one else has dared to sing. It's difficult and demanding and about as dynamic piece of contemporary rock as can be heard today.
Here is the thrilling drama he calls "Inklings, darling" from the album '…all that might have been'. Give it a few listens and you'll understand what it's all about. Maybe.

P.S. The video has been put in place by uploader PolSet2 who likes to put his name over everything but we'll forgive him that as he's got more Peter Hammill and some Van Der Graaf on his channel.

columbia and paramount come alive again

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 19:42:00 +0000

Here's two releases that we need on this page for not only just the music but the outstanding packaging that wraps it.
First is the November release of David Bowie's 'Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)'. It's no surprise Bowie takes great care to get his presentation in top order whether it's past albums or videos but this special edition vinyl 10inch released for Record Store Day is way up there with his best. A replica of one of Columbia's earliest sleeves which would have originally held a 78rpm record.
The sounds therein go as much to defy the antiquity as could be imagined. Side 1. "Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)" is Bowie in an outrageous jazz setting of what sounds like one of Carla Bley's avant garde 'Foyer' bands of the early 1970's only now with Bowie placed in the middle of an imminent storm of simmering brass. The B side 'Tis A Pity She Was A Whore' (which is the clip below) he adopts a frail vocal delivery (notice how he does that these days) set against a grimey band of really nasty intent set to a 'Station to Station' like beat.
This is really daring stuff. As Spencer Grady in Record Collector said "when you hear what passes for rock by most established artists it's just a joke compared to this".
Pity this video doesn't reflect the artwork.

The second of the presentations is not so much a facsimile of something from the past but the past accelerated from the early 20th century into the 21st.
It is the mammoth release of 'The Rise And Fall Of Paramount Records Volume Two; 1928-1932" which is as described by Third Man records as "A stunning omnibus of words, music, art and design". This is not just hype from the record company
You want deluxe packaging then try "Six LPs, 800 digital tracks, two definitive large-format books. All housed in a polished aluminium case evoking the era's high art deco styling's and America's own Machine Age take on modernist design."
An unbelievable piece of music history and it will also set you back a cool $400 from Thirdman Records.
Here's a short video of the unboxing. Breathtaking in it's attention to detail it will probably take a lifetime to absorb.