THE HUMAN BEAST - VOLUME ONE (DECCA 1970) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve

REQUEST No 3
Although it was optimistically titled Volume One, this would turn out to be the sole album by this obscure, odd, Edinburgh early heavy rock trio. The tracks are dominated by the Jimi Hendrix/Cream-influenced guitar of Gillies Buchan, which leans heavily on devious wah-wah effects. Indebted to blues-rock and early heavy metal, but not quite in either bag, the sound is somewhat skeletal even as power trios go. The ethos of the hippie era are evident even in the song titles alone: "Appearance Is Everything, Style Is a Way of Living," "Brush with the Midnight Butterfly," "Reality Presented as an Alterative," and "Naked Breakfast."
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This was a short-lived heavy power trio whose album is now quite rare by some collectors. They had earlier been known as Skin. Tracks like Mystic Man, Brush With The Midnight Butterfly and Reality Presented As An Alternative typify the heavy psych genre, but the two outstanding tracks are slow and in the classic psychedelic mould; Appearance Is Everything Style Is A Way Of Living, which brings to mind US Boston band Beacon Street Union and has fine Eastern - influenced guitar work and the more acoustic than electric Maybe Someday, which had a good hypnotic melody and a certain Eastern feeling.
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Sought after, and absolutely excellent heavy UK psychedelic album from 1970, alternately hypnotic and hard-driving, with intense guitar workouts in a classic psych mould; much high-caliber Eastern-influenced guitar work and cracking drums?highly recommended, although those of you who know this album will need no encouragement, historical buffs note that David McNiven from Bread, Love and Dreams contributed the few lyrics (strange as they are) on this mostly instrumental album...
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THE END - INTROSPECTION (DECCA 1969) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 2 bonus

REQUEST No 2
Although never achieving the success they deserved, the End are best remembered for their Bill Wyman-produced psychedelic-pop that was a masterful mixture of swirling, dream-like numbers, and flowery, but never twee, pop. Their Introspection album is now viewed as one of the finest examples of British psychedelia. Dave Brown and Colin Giffin formed the End in 1965 following the demise of beat group the Innocents. Nicky Graham and John Horton were drafted in from Dickie Pride's backing group, the Original Topics, and the line-up was completed with former Tuxedos drummer Roger Groom. After recording at the now legendary R.G. Jones' Morden studio, successful friend Bill Wyman arranged a tour with the Rolling Stones. They also appeared with Spencer Davis on ITV television's Thank Your Lucky Stars playing "Hallelujah I Love Her So." At this time their music was very much in the club-soul/blue-eyed soul style that was sweeping England by storm. Following the tour, Roger Groom quit to be replaced by Hugh Atwooll, a former school friend of Nicky Graham. John Horton also quit, but the split was amicable as he continued to help out on their second single, "Shades of Orange." Cut by Bill Wyman, with the addition of Charlie Watts on tabla, the song was recorded during the sessions for the Rolling Stones' psychedelic foray, Their Satanic Majesties Request. "Shades of Orange" epitomizes British Psychedelia and is one of the genre's most sought after items.
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Following the single's release, Gordon Smith also left and was replaced by former Mode guitarist Terry Taylor. The band then decamped to Spain, where several singles were released domestically, including "Why," a Top Five hit in April 1967. By Christmas 1968, both Colin Giffin and Hugh Attwooll had left after recording the Introspection album, and although a new drummer, Paul Francis, was enlisted, the writing was on the wall. With the arrival of another Mode refugee, Jim Henderson, the End metamorphosed into the more progressive-sounding Tucky Buzzard. Introspection was delayed for over a year due to a fallout from the Rolling Stones' bust-up with Allen Klein and was musically the type of psychedelia that had gone out of fashion by the time of its December 1969 release. The band had changed name and style, leaving this glorious album to sink without a trace.[allmusic]
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FIFTY FOOT HOSE - CAULDRON (LIMELIGHT/MERCURY 1968) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 7 bonus

Fifty Foot Hose were one of the most unusual '60s San Francisco psychedelic bands, in part because they weren't really that psychedelic. Like a few other acts of the time (most notably the United States of America), they were trying to fuse the contemporary sounds of rock with electronic instruments and avant-garde compositional ideas. Only one album resulted from the ambitious enterprise, and that record (Cauldron, 1968) still remains unknown to all but hardcore collectors. Although an erratic work, it was intriguing for its mix of jazzy psychedelic rock tunes with electronic sound effects that anticipated future models of synthesizers, but sounded fiercer and more primitive.
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Fifty Foot Hose were founded by bassist Cork Marcheschi, who had previously been in a conventional rock/R&B band the Ethix. Under Marcheschi's prodding, in 1967, the Ethix released one wildly atonal single, "Bad Trip," whose violent musique concrete foreshadowed the avant-garde postures of his subsequent group (in fact, "Bad Trip" was more avant-garde than anything Fifty Foot Hose would record). (Apparently it was played once on a local underground radio station, and then never again.) Interested in the ideas of experimental composers like Edgar Varese, John Cage, Terry Riley, and George Antheil, Marcheschi constructed his own electronic instrument from a combination of elements like Theremins, fuzz boxes, a cardboard tube, and a speaker from a World War II aircraft bomber.
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Fifty Foot Hose were filled out by guitarist David Blossom and his vocalist wife Nancy, who brought both psychedelic and jazz influences to the band, and a couple of musicians who had played with Marcheschi in other acts. A home demo successfully demonstrated their fusion of electronic effects and songs that were loosely in tune with the San Francisco psychedelic vibe. It led to a deal with Limelight, a subsidiary of Mercury that focused more upon experimental music than conventional rock and pop outings.
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Cauldron was perhaps more interesting for its experimental textures than the sometimes routine compositions -- eerie electronic swoops and jolts swam through the background and foreground of the tracks, enhanced by techniques like putting instruments through an FM transmitter. The jazzier and spookier tunes worked better than the bluesier hard rock items, yet it was an admirably risk-taking effort. But, ultimately, a pretty uncommercial one -- although they got some live work in San Francisco, the album was heard by few at its time of release.[allmusic]
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GLASS PRISM - POE THROUGH THE GLASS PRISM (RCA VICTOR 1969) Kor mastering cardboard sleeve

Glass Prism was a psychedelic group out of Pennsylvania.They released two albums on RCA, 1969's "Poe Through The Glass Prism" and 1970's "On Joy and Sorrow". Their second album has a dark and heavy vibe, really great guitar work sometimes with fuzzy sounds, more on the sorrow side of life than on the joy side. " Your joy is your sorrow unmasked". They were one of the originators of progressive concept-based rock, and have many loyal fans to this day.
This debut release sets the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe to grandiose psychedelic arrangements -- the concept's more than a bit suspect, of course, but there's no denying the album's ambition or its execution. Both Tom Varano and Augie Christiano are imaginative composers skilled at folding classical and jazz precepts into the hard rock idiom, and their nuanced arrangements (dominated by chiaroscuro shades of funereal organ) artfully convey the melancholy and macabre at the heart of Poe's verse. Equally impressive are Glass Prism's four-part harmonies, employed most effectively on songs like "El Dorado."
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GLASS PRISM - ON JOY AND SORROW (RCA VICTOR 1970) Kor mastering cardboard sleeve

For Glass Prism's second album, 1970's On Joy and Sorrow, the band abandoned the Edgar Allan Poe adaptations of their 1969 debut Poe Through the Glass Prism for straightforward songs blending psychedelic hard rock and soul. This gave the Scranton, Pennsylvania band the chance to showcase bassist Augie Christiano's husky soul-rock singing, balanced by songs on which drummer Rick Richards took lead vocals; B3 rock organ in the spirit of bands like the Spencer Davis Group, Procol Harum, and Vanilla Fudge; and Tom Varano's versatile lead guitar, which was equally accomplished at fuzzy hard rock riffs and deft jazz-influenced picking...
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ERIC BURDON & THE ANIMALS - EVERY ONE OF US (MGM 1968) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 1 bonus

Eric Burdon & the Animals were nearing the end of their string, at least in the lineup in which they'd come into the world in late 1966, when they recorded Every One of Us in May of 1968, just after the release of their second album, The Twain Shall Meet. The group had seen some success, especially in America, with the singles "When I Was Young," "San Franciscan Nights" and "Sky Pilot" over the previous 18 months, but had done considerably less well with their albums. Every One of Us lacked a hit single to help drive its sales, but it was still a good psychedelic blues album, filled with excellent musicianship by Burdon (lead vocals), Vic Briggs (guitar, bass), John Weider (guitar, celeste), Danny McCulloch (bass,12-string, vocals), and Barry Jenkins (drums, percussion), with new member Zoot Money (credited, for contractual reasons, as George Bruno) on keyboards and vocals. Opening with the surprisingly lyrical "White Houses" — a piece of piercing social commentary about America in early 1968 — the record slid past the brief bridge "Uppers and Downers" and into the extended, John Weider-authored psychedelic mood piece "Serenade to a Sweet Lady," highlighted by Briggs' superb lead acoustic guitar playing and Weider's subdued electric accompaniment. This is followed by the acoustic folk piece "The Immigrant Lad," a conceptual work that closes with a dialogue, set in a workingman's bar, in which two Cockney workers, voiced by John Weider and Terry McVay, talk about their world and their lives. "Year of the Guru" is another in a string of Jimi Hendrix-influenced pieces by this version of the Animals, showing the entire band at the peak of their musical prowess, and Burdon — taking on virtually the role of a modern rapper — generating some real power on some surprisingly cynical lyrics concerning the search for spiritual fulfillment and leaders. "St. James Infirmary" recalls "House of the Rising Sun," as both a song and an arrangement, and is worthwhile just for the experience of hearing this version of the group going full-tilt as a rock band. And then there is "New York 1963 — America 1968," an 18-minute conceptual track with a center spoken word section featuring not a group member, but a black engineer named Cliff, who recalls his experience as a fighter pilot during World War II, and tells of poverty then and now — although the opening section starts off well enough musically, amid Burdon's sung recollections of coming to America and his fixation on the blues and black music in general, and the closing repetition of the word "freedom" anticipates Richie Havens' famed piece (actually an extension of "Motherless Child") from Woodstock, the track is too long and unwieldy for any but the most fanatical listener to absorb as more than a curiosity of its time...
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THE CEYLEIB PEOPLE - TANYET (VAULT 1967)

...POSTED BY REQUEST
Ry Cooder's Ceyleib People are arguably one of the more innovative groups of the late 60s. Taking the loping blues romp of Captain Beefheart and filtering it through Indian music, the group created a very short album, what would be an EP now, of two 10-11 minute parts. For 1967, this is definitely hippy experimental music, hopping from guitar riffs to sitar drones to mellotron rambling and back without regard for convention. It's almost as if there was an intent to fuse the influences of Ravi Shankar with those of the old blues legends, except that rarely is there any true juxtaposition of both styles, instead one will start out and then give way to another, segment by segment. It's as if someone gave a studio the masters for several Ravi Shankar and Captain Beefheart albums, asked them to splice them together, and then left, only to have the engineer play a joke by adding parts of Days of Future Passed in as well. Overall, it's a pretty successful experiment especially considering its age.
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The reissue of the album gives you two new versions of the two pieces, "Aton" and "Aton II," supposedly processed, but not really sounding all that much different from the first two.
While this might not have been so impressive had it been from a few years later, its presence in 1967 is quite prescient...[Mike McLatchey Gnosis 2000]
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Amazing psych-raga bluesy rock from this underrated "classic" project by Ry Cooder. With a lot of inventions and variations, this music conciliates eastern buzzing ragas to rocking energy and synth progressive orchestrations. The opening track (divided into 5 parts) features a catchy bluesy vibe, nice percussions parts and evocative, dreamy like flute passages. Rapidly, the composition explores in a meditative style sitar / flute combinations...after 3 minutes, we have the return of Ry Cooder's typical guitar sound, communicating with inspired "ethereal" keyboards and buzzing sitar strings. It finishes with violin like strings with some expeditive classical covers...really enigmatic and passionate song. The second composition (for 6 parts) also alternate bluesy rock interludes and raga sonorities...featuring very catchy melodies and rhythms. Impressive bluesy-folky-psych raga fantasias!..[net]
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D.R.HOOKER - THE TRUTH (ON 1972) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 6 bonus

........BY REQUEST!
D.R. Hooker was a man slightly askew with his time: from the robes he wears on the cover to the quasi mystical lyrics, he's very much connected to the hippy era, and given that this album was recorded in 1972, in a time post-Charles Manson, he was brave to associate so strongly with all the imagery pertaining to cults. Musically, Hooker looks beyond the parameters of the hippy movement, dipping into a more ambitiously studio-oriented sound than Hooker's half-troubadour, half-prophet image on the sleeve might suggest. The noisy, fuzzy elements are particularly effective, and surprisingly intricate in their arrangement and recording.
'Forge Your Own Chains' takes this to an extreme, expertly deploying advanced loungey jazz figures with an onslaught of brass. This all sounds far more ambitious and accomplished than the vast majority of private press releases that tend to emerge, and there's certainly a strong case to be made for this record being one of those precious few curiosities from the private press movement to feel like more than a kitsch comic aside. Well worth your investigation.
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One of the rarest US psych LPs, The Truth, recorded in Connecticut in 1972, might very well be the ultimate North American acid rock album ever.
Everything is absolute perfection, the wailing fuzz guitar, the psychy arrangements, his awesome voice, layers of instruments and well-crafted songs. One of those LPs that keeps revealing new depths even when you've played it a hundred times.
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THE FORT MUDGE MEMORIAL DUMP (MERCURY 1969)

Fort Mudge Memorial Dump was a band from Walpole, Massachusetts, that started playing by 1969, gathering a good number of fans. They got filed into the “Boston Sound”, among the Ultimate Spinach, the Beacon Street Union, Orpheus, Tangerine Zoo, ecc.
With good technique and better ideas, they recorded a very sought-after LP for Mercury in which the voice of Caroline Stratton stands out to some Jefferson Airplane affinity.
Guitarist Dean Keady, with his jazzy effects, leads the band.
Despite its east coast origins, the band is firmly rooted in San Francisco acid-soaked psychedelia. The revelation here is Stratton, whose powerhouse vocals are reminiscent of the Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick.
All the material was written by the band. Mr. Man and Crystal Forms both portray Stratton's vocals favourably and include some good guitar work. Others, such as Actions Of A Man and What Good Is Spring? find Caroline and the band in a mellower mood...[net]
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STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK - WAKE UP...... IT'S TOMORROW (UNI 1968) Japan mastering + 2 bonus

For their second album, Wake Up...It's Tomorrow, Strawberry Alarm Clock built upon the solid writing and musicianship that inevitably carried over from the Incense and Peppermints project. In retrospect, it is baffling as to why they were relegated to the "one-hit wonders" file, as their most social and musically relevant statements had yet to be made. Stylistically, the material on this album vacillates between the lighter and pop-oriented sides such as "Tomorrow" and the stunningly agile vocal arrangements on "Pretty Song from Psych-Out" to the exceedingly ominous "Curse of the Witches" and "Nightmare of Percussion." Howard Davis -- whose spoken word narration can be heard during the latter track -- arranged some stunning vocal charts for "Soft Skies, No Lies," "Go Back, You're Going the Wrong Way," and the "future" section of the "Black Butter" trilogy. They are reminiscent of the tight harmonies incorporated by Harpers Bizarre or the retro New Vaudeville Band. Conversely, "Sitting on a Star," "They Saw the Fat One Coming", and the first two movements in the "Black Butter" trilogy reflect the group's mod garage rock roots.[net]
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Japanese reissue of their second album (1968) with two bonus tracks, 'Tomorrow'(45 single) and 'Sit With The Guru' (45 single).14 tracks total...
The original source (covers,rip,e.t.c.) for this post was kindly offered by a dedicated follower & friend out there...thanks a lot!
Rapid Link
Media Link

FIFTH FLIGHT - INTO SMOKE TREE VILLAGE (CENTURY 1970[?])

Century Records was a California custom record label which pressed tens of thousands of small-run records for schools, church groups and obscure local bands and fith flight's into smoke tree village, with its rustic mill whee cover, was a garage psych album consisting mostly of covers, delivered with lashing of fuzz guitar and heavy, spooky organ.The organist is easing in at just the right moment, not too heavy, just right. The vocalist is, well, a bit amatuerish. The stand-out track is surely the band's awesome version of Neil Young's Sugar Mountain which over the years has gained a deseved reputation as a psych masterpiece....
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PERFECTLY TASTEFUL HAMMOND ORGAN!! GREAT COVERS!!
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THE HOLY MACKEREL (REPRISE 1968)

That is quite likely to be your exclamation when you hear how good this record is! The Holy Mackerel was a loosely shifting organization (early Jefferson Airplane bassist Bob Harvey and Buffalo Springfield drummer Dewey Martin were among its members) but at it's heart was Paul Williams song writing in pop, country and psychedelic directions with the help of future platinum producer Richard Perry. The 1968 result was a record that should have sold a lot more copies than it did; the band broke up right after its release and Reprise didn't promote it, but be sure to catch it this time around.
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Though the album bears some of the pop smarts that would characterize Williams's '70s work, it is a product of its time: a psychedelic pop-rock outing with swirling melodies, Eastern influenced modalities, reverb and phaser effects, and high-flown harmonies. It's a fun, pleasurable listen...
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BOW STREET RUNNERS (B.T. PUPPY 1970) Japan mastering cardboard sleeve

One of the headiest albums on the BT Puppy label a really fuzzed-up sound that's underground psyche at its best! The group have a pretty dark feel overall and even when the vocals get a bit sweet, there's an undercurrent of sadness which is followed through even more strongly on other tracks that have the guitars playing at a heavier level, especially on a few tracks that have a slight bluesy undercurrent. The titles do a good job of setting the scene and they include "Steve's Jam", "Eating From A Plastic Hand", "Rock Fish Blues", "Push It Through", "Spunky Monkey", and "Leaving Grit America"...
Issued in ultra-limited quantity in 1970 and now changing hands for sums more familiar to NASDAQ, this is an other worldly blend of sweet acid harmonies, hypnotic Farfisa and high-octane fuzz guitar histrionics...
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THE FREAK SCENE - PSYCHEDELIC PSOUL (COLUMBIA 1967) Japan mastering cardboard sleeve

A great little record of hippie freakout almost like some of the weird bits you'd find in the ESP catalog from some of the sub-Fugs rock groups of the time! The songs have a very trippy nature, mixed with a bit of politics ("draft beer, not students") and the album's produced with lots of cool effects that make the guitars go wild, the voices sound spooky, and which introduce some sound snippets and a small bit of electronics! The whole thing's definitely a "Freak Scene" overall the kind of tripped out album that somehow sounds even better today than it did a few decades back. Titles include "The Subway Ride Thru Inner Space", "My Rainbow Life", "The Center Of My Soul", "Mind Bender", "Grok", "Watered Down Soul", "A Million Grains Of Sand"....
The album is virtually a second Deep LP and almost identical in style...[net]
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COUNTRY JOE & THE FISH - C.J.FISH (VANGUARD 1970) Master edition

Country Joe & The Fish's first two albums "Electric Music For The Mind And Body" & "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die" are packed full of numbers such as "Section 43", "Magoo", "Janis", "Thursday", "Pat's Song", "Bass Strings", "Grace" and "Colors For Susan" that capture the swirling, ethereal essence of Bay area psychedelia. Their third album "Together" failed to deliver any more, with only "Susan" coming near to recreating the "feel" of these early tracks.
By the time of CJ Fish (released in 1970) most of the band had gone, but Country Joe McDonald and lead guitarist Barry Melton manage to rekindle their original, quite unique sound on "She's A Bird", "Mara" and the superb "Return Of Sweet Lorraine" (psychedelia at its best) - intermingled with some enjoyable rock & roll and folk numbers, in particular, "Sing, Sing, Sing"
If you're looking to repeat the experience of their psychedelic masterpieces then here's a couple more....[net]
Everyone who love the end of the 60s soul and rock sound should have this album, especially for the Silver and gold, Rock around the world, The love machine trilogy which is a great moment. Amazing drum solo, classic lead guitar chorus and Country Joe Mc Donald in great form. Forget the often very peace-and-love lyrics and enjoy the music!...[net]
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J.K. & Co - SUDDENLY ONE SUMMER ###### (WHITE WHALE 1968) Japan mastering cardboard sleeve

This album was created by J.K., a 15-yr. old (!) who was used to hanging out with musicians and entertainment types. The kid also took acid (and judging from the lyrics, heroin) and listened to the Beatles, and this album is the result of those experiences, and also trying to create a song cycle that described the think line between life and death, with songs about childhood and innocent love in the beginning, then growing awareness in the middle, and then death at the end, all shot through with a sense of freedom and release.
It is a quite effective effort, and the music is very interesting and sophisticated, particularly for such a young mind. "Fly" is gorgeous and very Beatles-esque, almost worth owning the album alone. "Christine" is a nice simple love song, and "Nobody" and "O.D." introduce the darker side of awareness leading to the many-faceted "Dead" that closes the album. The album is extremely interesting!!
The musicianship is also very good, with psych-tinged guitars bouncing here and there, droning bass pulsing in the background and various other studio effects for good measure. (Backwards Piano, sitar, some mellotron... you name it.) Really, it's all outstanding stuff. Jay's voice also fits the theme of the record perfectly and is often haunting and spooky in it's delivery...
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DAVID AXELROD - PRIDE (WARNER BROS 1970) Remastered reissue

Very rare album by the Electric Prunes arranger who did "Release of an Oath" and "Mass in F Minor". The album has some vocals but is still filled with David's trademark arrangements (guitars / drums /bass /harpsichord /strings etc) and some beautiful psychedelic arrangements throughout.
The Electric Prunes albums are well known, but the Pride album is equally great -- a spare, airy album co-penned with MT Axelrod, and featuring Spanish guitar, vibes, and other sweet instrumental elements amidst the vocals -- all set to gently funky rhythms that echo some of Axelrod's best work at Capitol. Pride titles include "Proud Sorrow", "A Hope", "The Death Of Juan Diaz", "The Truth","In The Wilderness","Worthless Pleasures","Returning Home", and "Song Of The Pirate"...
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SAVAGE RESURRECTION (MERCURY 1968) Remastered reissue

The Savage Resurrection, a West Coast Psychedelic band in the late 1960s, left this album only, full of Jimi Hendrix obsession. The members were from two West Coast local groups, Button Willow and Whatever's Right.
This must be one of the greatest heavy Psyche (and Garage) sounds ever recorded in the 1960s. Based on the R&B manner, brilliant twin guitar sounds spark, while experimental echoes and sound effects runs to and fro.
Guitarists Randy Hammon & John Palmer's performances throughout the recording are highly regarded, and the album as a whole has influenced a generation of psychedelic enthusiasts, not least Bevis Frond.Amazing acid-rock. Excellent!.....
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FEDERAL DUCK (MUSICOR 1968) Remastered reissue

Federal Duck made its appearance on the Musicor label in 1968. Formed by banjo exponent George Stavis, Federal Duck (named after the Federal Duck Stamp Program which was enacted by conserv/nist Jay “Ding” Darling and US President Franklin D Roosevelt in 1934), produced this lone musical effort which, once you get past the absurd cover, contains a consistently good album which is mildly jazzy, has some fine bass and an ever present darkish vibe. There are a few upbeat mold-breaking songs (one even sounds like the Holy Modal Rounders) but generally a soft-psych feel pervades throughout. It is interesting to speculate as to how Federal Duck ended up on the Musicor label, whose other acts included far more illustrious artists such as Gene Pitney, The Platters and George Jones. However, the relationship was destined to last for just the one album, with Stavis departing soon after to form the Californian communal rock band Oganookie and then to record an eponymous album for Vanguard. Although there really isn’t that much information about Federal Duck out there, the general consensus is that this is an album that deserves greater recognition than it has hitherto received....
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