THESE TRAILS - THESE TRAILS (PP 1973) Kor mastering cardboard sleeve

Reissuing a rare, privately pressed Hawaiian LP from 1973, These Trails' self-titled debut documents a singularly exotic strain of acid-folk. Ethereal male/female harmonies soar over rich melodies and traditional island instrumentation to create gorgeously verdant psychedelia that captures the very essence of tropical paradise. In addition to conventional Hawaiian elements like slack guitar and swaying rhythms, These Trails integrate Far Eastern sounds like tabla and sitar into the equation, further expanding the music's otherworldliness. From its effortless evocation of ocean waves to lush arrangements that capture the beauty and mystery of jungles glistening in the morning dew, no other record sounds quite like this one. ~ Jason Ankeny
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These Trails was never really a band; it was an album of music originally birthed upon the world in 1973 made by everyday-people-type inhabitants of Hawaii. Nonetheless, it was a powerful expression that stands with up other recently discovered heroes of the private press world, such as Linda Perhacs & Gary Higgins, whose singular musical endeavors stand with the best of what the hippified 1970s had to offer.
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Liner Note Authors: Rob Sevier; Margaret Morgan.
Recording information: Sinergia, Inc., Honolulu.
Photographer: Joseph Martin.
Arranger: David Choy.
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Personnel: Patrick Cockett (vocals, guitar, slide guitar, tabla); Margaret Morgan (vocals, guitar, dulcimer); Carlos Pardeiro (vocals, guitar, sitar); Eric Kingsbury (guitar); David Choy (recorder, ARP synthesizer).
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COLLAGE - COLLAGE (CREAM 1970) Korean mastering cardboard sleeve

Collage was an obscured outfit released only one album in 1970 on Cream records.
Twelve cool soft rock tracks are backed up by brass,fuzz guitar and chorus which strongly reminds of Free design,Beau Brummels and Beach Boys. Highly recommended for soft rock enthusiasts.[Big Pink Music Review]
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JACKSON HEIGHTS - KING PROGRESS (CHARISMA 1970) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve

Formed by former Nice bassist and vocalist Lee Jackson when The Nice split in 1969. The name was taken from a district of New York. Musically they were more pop-orientated than The Nice, but they built up a good live reputation through relentless touring. Their debut album on Charisma made little impact although it did contain a fine version of an old Nice favourite Cry Of Eugene and another highlight was a similarly gentle, atmospheric song Insomnia.It would be the only album that included Charlie Harcourt (who would later go on to join Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys and Lindisfarne), Tommy Slone, and Mario Enrique Covarrubias Tapia who would leave shortly after the album was released. The group re-emerged a couple of years later on Vertigo with 5th Avenue Bus, an album of melodic, well constructed and somewhat orchestrated pop-orientated material. This format was repeated on Ragamuffin's Fool, which was housed in a poster sleeve. After a final effort, Bump And Grind, they disbanded, but in 1974 Jackson formed Refugee, who cut an album for Charisma. After this he disappeared from the music scene for good.
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JOHNNY WINTER - JOHNNY WINTER (COLUMBIA 1969) Jap DSD mastering cardboard sleeve + 5 bonus

When Johnny Winter emerged on the national scene in 1969, the hope, particularly in the record business, was that he would become a superstar on the scale of Jimi Hendrix, another blues-based rock guitarist and singer who preceded him by a few years. That never quite happened, but Winter did survive the high expectations of his early admirers to become a mature, respected blues musician with a strong sense of tradition.
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Winter's debut album for Columbia was also arguably his bluesiest and best. Straight out of Texas with a hot trio, Winter made blues-rock music for the angels, tearing up a cheap Fender guitar with total abandon on tracks like "I'm Yours and I'm Hers," "Leland Mississippi Blues," and perhaps the slow blues moment to die for on this set, B.B. King's "Be Careful with a Fool." Winter's playing and vocals have yet to become mannered or cliched on this session, and if you've ever wondered what the fuss is all about, here's the best place to check out his true legacy.[allmusic]
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JOHNNY WINTER AND - JOHNNY WINTER AND (COLUMBIA 1970) Jap DSD mastering cardboard sleeve + 2 bonus

After two late-'60s albums on Columbia, Johnny Winter hit his stride in 1970 working with Rick Derringer and the McCoys, now recruited as his sidemen and collaborators (and proving with just about every note here how far they'd gotten past "Hang on Sloopy"). In place of the bluesy focus on his first two albums, Winter extended himself into more of a rock-oriented mode here, in both his singing and his selection of material. This was hard rock with a blues edge, and had a certain commercial smoothness lacking in his earlier work. Derringer's presence on guitar and as a songwriter saw to it that Winter's blues virtuosity was balanced by perfectly placed guitar hooks, and the two guitarists complemented each other perfectly throughout as well. There wasn't a weak moment anywhere on the record, and if Johnny Winter And wasn't a huge commercial success, it was mostly because of the huge amount of competition at the time from other, equally inspired players, that kept numbers like the Winter originals "Prodigal Son" and "Guess I'll Go Away" as well as Derringer co-authored pieces such as "Look Up" from having the impact they should have had on FM radio.[allmusic]
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IAN MATTHEWS - JOURNEYS FROM THE GOSPEL OAK (MOONCREST 1974) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 7 bonus

In 1972, several years after leaving both Fairport Convention and his own group, Matthews Southern Comfort, Iain Matthews was once again struck with a case of musical wanderlust and decided to pack in his solo career and form a new group, Plainsong. At the time, Matthews still owed an album to Vertigo Records, and rather than give them Plainsong's debut, he booked a studio for five days and cut a solo album dominated by covers of songs from American tunesmiths, with only two original songs appearing on the set. By all rights, the album that resulted should have been a tossed-off trifle (especially since Vertigo opted not to release it after all, eventually selling it to the independent Mooncrest label), but Journeys from Gospel Oak turned out to be one of Matthews' most satisfying solo efforts, a lovely fusion of airy country rock and pastoral British folk that captured some of Matthews' most beautiful and heartfelt vocal work. Matthews' two new songs, "Knowing the Game" and "Franklin Avenue," are fine tunes inspired by his experiences in the music business, but the covers he chose for the set are inspired; he manages to bring something fresh and affecting to well-worn numbers like "Do Right Woman" and "Sing Me Back Home," and lesser known compositions like "Bride 1945" and "Things You Gave Me" prove his interpretive instincts were to be reckoned with. The compact band Matthews put together for the sessions is superb: Jerry Donahue's lead guitar is subtle but gently reinforces the country accents of the melodies, and bassist Pat Donaldson and drummer Timi Donald (who played on many of Richard Thompson's early solo sessions) give the tracks a rock-solid foundation. Journeys from Gospel Oak is a simple album, but there's something deeply satisfying in its elegance, and it captures a soulful and touching spirit that's found in Iain Matthews' best music.[allmusic]
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DICK HECKSTALL-SMITH - A STORY ENDED (BRONZE 1972) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 5 bonus

Rather than a story ended, Dick Heckstall-Smith's debut album was in some ways a continuation of the stories written by his previous bands Colosseum and the Graham Bond Organisation, for the record was recorded with the assistance of several of his past associates from those two groundbreaking British blues-rock-jazz groups, including Mark Clarke, Dave Greenslade, Chris Farlowe, and Jon Hiseman (who both played drums and produced) of the just-disbanded Colosseum, as well as Graham Bond. Pete Brown, who'd worked with several of the musicians who sprang from the Graham Bond Organisation crowd, co-wrote most of the songs with Heckstall-Smith; Chris Spedding and famed Elton John sideman Caleb Quaye contributed guitar. As often happens on solo projects stuffed with contributions by famous friends, however, the album was something of a disappointment in comparison to the leader's respectable track record. It sounds like a slightly heavier, slightly jazzier Colosseum, with songs that strain and tumble over themselves where the best Colosseum tracks had a powerful glide. Vocals were never Colosseum's strong suit, but the singing here, particularly on those tracks paced by Farlowe's blustery bellow, really drags the lyrically ambitious (and at times convoluted) material down. It might have been better to have had Pete Brown himself sing on those numbers he co-composed, as he was capable of projecting a real sense of his lyrics in spite of his vocal limitations. Instead, listeners are left with a confused-sounding (and at times grating) set that doesn't add up to the sum of the individual talents, though in the most melodic and laid-back number ("What the Morning Was After"), you get a hint of the kind of moody songs that Brown helped craft for Jack Bruce's early solo recordings. [The 2004 U.K. expanded CD reissue on Castle adds three pretty well-recorded live tracks from the touring band Heckstall-Smith assembled shortly after A Story Ended was recorded, including versions of two of the songs from the album ("Moses in the Bullrushourses" and "The Pirate's Dream"), as well as a cover of a Paul Butterfield song ("No Amount of Loving") not on the LP. The CD also adds a couple of previously unreleased studio recordings (credited to Manchild) laid down by the band in early 1973, although the album for which these were intended was never finished due to an injury to Heckstall-Smith.]
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OPEN ROAD - WINDY DAZE (GREENWICH GRAMOPHONE 1970) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 2 bonus

"Produced by legendary rock producer, Tony Reeves (ex-Colosseum bassist), Open Road were the very first progressive group to be signed to the Greenwich Gramophone Company (a subsidiary of Chapter One Records) in 1971. Their music reflects feelings of anti-establishment prevalent amongst the young at that time, and was quite visionary in its approach.
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The members of the band consist of 'Candy' John Carr - Drums, Percussion and Vocals. Barry Husband - Acoustic and Lead Guitar, Bass and Vocals. Simon Lanzon - Keyboards, Piano, Accordion and Vocals and Mike Thomson - Bass, 12 String Guitar and Vocals. Producers - Tony Reeves and Open Road. Engineers - Robin Black and George Chiantz. Recorded at Olympic Sound Studios and Morgan, April 1971. Cover Design - Scribble, Doug Smith and Open Road.[chapter one records]
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MAGGIE BELL - SUICIDE SAL (POLYDOR 1975) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 2 bonus

Although critically feted in the U.K., Bell, both solo and with her former band Stone the Crows, never quite achieved the commercial breakthrough everyone had so expected. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, Bell's recording career was punctuated by a sole Stone the Crows charting album. With that band's demise in 1973, the soul singer went solo, releasing the (again) critically acclaimed Queen of the Night album, with 1975's Suicide Sal following. A tougher, more energized set than its predecessor, Sal's electrifying live feel reflects the incendiary stage shows Bell and her new backing band had been playing in the intervening time between recordings. The two bonus tracks, recorded at a gig later that year, capture their live ferocity. Intriguingly, the funky, fiery title track, an homage to Bell's Aunt, a music hall star, is one of only two originals on this set. The second, the lavishly bluesy "If You Don't Know" was penned by band keyboardist Pete Wingfield, and boasts a guesting Jimmy Page on guitar. The storming "Coming on Strong" also has a Bell connection, being co-penned by ex-Crow Colin Allen and Zoot Money. The rest of the album comprises astutely chosen covers drawn from an eclectic selection of artists. One of the standouts is "It's Been So Long," a powerful gospel number written by the Pretty Things' Phil May, who not only rewrote some of the lyrics for Bell, but added his backing vocals to the song. Free's classic "Wishing Well" gets a sensational workout, while that band's offshoot Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu & Rabbit's "Hold On" is taken to new emotive heights. From barrelling Beatles pop to the Sutherland Brothers poignant Gaelic ode, from ballads to hefty rock & roll, Bell struts across this set with style and such assurance, that even Aunt Sal must have been impressed. One of Britain's greatest soul singers, showcased at her best, this magnificent album also includes an excellent, expansive biography of this crucial artist.[allmusic]
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MONUMENT - THE FIRST MONUMENT (BEACON 1971) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve

More than an independent band, MONUMENT are an offshoot of British hard rock band ZIOR, who released two albums in the early Seventies. Their only album, "The First Monument", is the result of an all-night, drunken jam session involving the four members of ZIOR. The album features a heavy, distorted, Hammond-drenched sound, and ZIOR's trademark occult lyrical themes.[progarchives]
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By 1971, when this album was first released, it had become somewhat trendy amongst the underground fraternity to actively participate in practises such as ritual magic, occult arts and various other esoteric customs. With music very much to the fore of this scene, a twilight culture unfurled linking mysticism to it in the form of groups inspired by their own self interest and beliefs.
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While special imagery and gimmicks were an all important part of such groups presentation there were those, like Monument, whose fascination for the occult drove them away from seeking to glamourise their image. Vocalist and keyboards man Steven Lowe was a founder member of a witches coven in Essex and this keen interest in the ancient craft served to shape much of the lyrical content of their sole album, which is steeped in sorcery and mysticism. Monument were short-lived, unlike some of the more commercial outfits with similar leanings striving for recognition...
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LITTER - $ 100 FINE (HEXAGON/WARICK 1968) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 19 bonus

Not all of the garage punk spirit was gone from the Litter by the time of their second album, when they were moving in a more hard rock and psychedelic direction. It's not on the level of the debut, however, because the material, about half original and half covers, is often unmemorable, and boring at times. "Mindbreaker" moves along in a pretty crunching garage-pop style with guitar that would have fit in with Distortions, and "Morning Sun" is fair California-type psychedelia with those meltdown sustain guitar riffs. Trendy guitar phasing is all over "Kaleidoscope," and things take a downturn with the blues-rock stomp "Blues One" and a nine-minute cover of "She's Not There."[allmusic]
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LITTER - DISTORTIONS (WARICK 1967) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 9 bonus

One of Minneapolis' most popular '60s bands, the Litter are most well-known for their classic 1967 garage rock single "Action Woman." With its demonic fuzz/feedback guitar riffs and cocky, snarling lead vocal, it was an archetype of the tough '60s garage rock favored by fans of the Pebbles reissue series. In fact, the single, which got some airplay in Minnesota in early 1967 and then was largely forgotten, didn't reach an international audience until it became cut one, Side One on Volume One of Pebbles in the late '70s. It now has a place of honor on the Nuggets box set. The Litter were a little more successful and long-lived than the average regional garage band, recording a few albums, the last one for a major label, and evolving into a more progressive hard rock outfit before disbanding around the end of the '60s.
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The Litter was formed by members of two Minneapolis area mid-'60s groups, the Victors and the Tabs. (A few songs recorded by the Victors in late 1965 can be heard on the compilation The Scotty Story.) Heavily influenced by the fiercest British Invasion bands such as the Yardbirds and the Who, they recorded their debut single, "Action Woman"/"A Legal Matter," with local producer Warren Kendrick in late 1966. "Action Woman," in fact, was not a Litter original, but a Kendrick composition. Bill Strandlof, who had played the searing guitar lead on "Action Woman," was replaced by Tom "Zippy" Caplan in the spring of 1967, just before they recorded most of the tracks that comprised their debut album. Leaning heavily on covers of songs by British bands like the Yardbirds, the Who, and Small Faces, Distortions was nevertheless a prime example of '60s garage rock at its most powerful. With the garage rock revival, this local release became a coveted collector's item, and has since been reissued several times...................
Like many bands in the late '60s, the Litter subsequently went into a more psychedelic/hard rock direction. Their second album, 0 Fine, put more weight on original material, although their sound was growing more generic. Around this time, the Litter missed out on some potentially big opportunities, turning down offers from both Elektra and Columbia. They appear in a 1968 Chicago psychedelic nightclub scene in political filmmaker Haskell Wexler's classic movie Medium Cool, but only super-briefly; although they're shown playing on-stage, the soundtrack includes none of their music, with the Mothers of Invention's "Flower Punk" overdubbed onto the scene. By the time they did get onto a major label for the 1969 album Emerge (on ABC), Caplan and original lead singer Denny Waite had been replaced, and their hard rock sound had become less distinguished. The Litter have reunited and sometimes continued to play and record, with different lineups, into the '90s.[allmusic]
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JOHNNY TILLOTSON - BEST [His First Album] (CADENCE 1962) JVC K2 HD mastering cardboard sleeve + 12 bonus

Tillotson was born April 20, 1939, in Jacksonville, FL, the son of Jack Tillotson, a country music disc jockey, and Doris Tillotson. When Tillotson was nine, he moved 40 miles to the smaller Florida town of Palatka. He got his first exposure as a singer on his father's radio station while he was still a child. His primary interest was country music, although he was inspired when he saw Elvis Presley perform in Jacksonville on May 13, 1955, just after he had turned 14. Meanwhile, his radio work led to a stint on a local TV show and even his own program. But he maintained his studies, and he was attending the University of Florida as a journalism and composition major in 1957 when he entered a national talent contest sponsored by Pet Milk. He was chosen as one of six finalists, resulting in a trip to Nashville, TN, for the final judging. He did not win the contest, but while in Nashville he came to the attention of a song publisher who was impressed by songs he had written and got a tape of them to Archie Bleyer, owner of the independent Cadence Records label, home to the Everly Brothers and Andy Williams. Bleyer signed Tillotson to a three-year contract and, in September 1958, issued his first single, combining two of the singer's own compositions, the ballad "Dreamy Eyes" and the up-tempo "Well I'm Your Man," both of which bore similarities to the sound of Buddy Holly. "Well I'm Your Man" charted first, peaking at number 87 in the Hot 100 in October, but "Dreamy Eyes" followed, topping out at number 63 in January 1959. (The simultaneously released "I'm Never Gonna Kiss You," a duet with Genevieve, a singer on the Jack Parr TV show, did not chart.)
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The relative failure of "Dreamy Eyes" sent Tillotson back to college, where he received his B.A. in 1959; that August 1959 Cadence released his next single, "True True Happiness," a song in the currently popular teen pop style, complete with recitations of romantic devotion; it petered out at number 54 in September. "Why Do I Love You So," which followed in December, suggested that Tillotson had been listening closely to Ricky Nelson's 1958 hit "Poor Little Fool"; it reached number 42 in February 1960. Next, Bleyer tried having Tillotson cover a couple of old R&B hits, combining the Penguins' "Earth Angel" and Johnny Ace's "Pledging My Love." Disc jockeys couldn't seem to decide which side of the single to play, and both peaked in the bottom half of the Hot 100 in May.
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Tillotson broke through to success with his sixth single, the bouncy pop/rock tune "Poetry in Motion," released in September 1960. He and Bleyer had finally found an appropriate forum for his clear tenor voice, recording with a Nashville studio full of country music session stars like saxophonist Boots Randolph and pianist Floyd Cramer. "Poetry in Motion" peaked at number two in November 1960; in the U.K., it hit number one in January 1961. Instead of immediately turning to extensive personal appearances, however, on Bleyer's advice Tillotson focused primarily on his recording career, though he appeared on television and began to be featured in teen magazines. "Jimmy's Girl," his next single, responded to this teen idol image, but it stopped at number 25 in February 1961. Singing another of his own compositions, Tillotson produced "Without You," a dramatic, string-filled production in the manner of Roy Orbison; it reached number seven in September 1961. Cadence then re-released Tillotson's first single, "Dreamy Eyes," and it got to number 35 in January 1962.[allmusic]
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JOHNNY TILLOTSON - IT KEEPS RIGHT ON A-HURTIN' (CADENCE 1962) JVC K2 HD mastering cardboard sleeve + 9 bonus

Tillotson recorded his most successful self-written song, "It Keeps Right on a-Hurtin'," inspired by the terminal illness of his father. The song was given an overtly country arrangement, although Tillotson, as usual, sang it with his unaccented enunciation, without a hint of a country twang. Nevertheless, it became his first country chart hit, peaking at number four, while getting to number three in the pop chart (and even making number six in the R&B chart). And it earned him his first Grammy nomination, for Best Country & Western Recording. It also went on to become a much-covered country-pop standard, recorded by Elvis Presley and by Billy Joe Royal, whose version was a Top 20 country hit in 1988, as well as, by Tillotson's count, over 100 others, among them Bobby Darin, Sonny James, Hank Locklin, Dean Martin, Boots Randolph, Conway Twitty, Slim Whitman, and the Wilburn Brothers. By the time it was peaking in the charts in the spring of 1962, Tillotson was serving a six-month stint of active duty in the Army, having enlisted in the National Guard to satisfy his military obligation. But he was given weekend furloughs to allow him to continue to record, and he used them to cut his first LP of new recordings (following the 1961 hits collection Johnny Tillotson's Best), also called It Keeps Right on a-Hurtin'. Released in June 1962, the disc, a Top Ten hit, found Tillotson covering a series of country standards, and Cadence proceeded to dole many of them out as singles over the rest of the year: a cover of Hank Locklin's "Send Me the Pillow You Dream On" made the pop and country Top 20 and the Top Ten of the easy listening chart, and a cover of Hank Williams' "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)" (backed by another Williams standard, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry") made the pop Top 40 and the easy listening Top Ten.
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When Tillotson returned to recording in early 1963, his new self-written single, "Out of My Mind," was another country-style ballad, although it did not reach the country charts and peaked at number 24 on the Hot 100 in April. "You Can Never Stop Me Loving You," which followed July, was more of a pop song, and it returned Tillotson to the Top 20. (Its B-side, "Judy, Judy, Judy," which Tillotson co-wrote with Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, was featured in the singer's film debut, the B-picture Just for Fun, which opened in June.)
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Although he had renewed his contract with Cadence for an additional three years in April 1961, Tillotson was released from his obligation as the label wound down in 1963; it went out of business in 1964...[allmusic]
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RICK PRICE - TALKING TO THE FLOWERS (GEMINI 1971) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 12 bonus

Rick Price is probably the least famous member of the Move (with whom he had a stint in the late '60s and early '70s), and it comes as a surprise even to some major Move fans to learn that he recorded a solo album shortly after leaving the group. If the equally obscure LP he'd done with Mike Sheridan in 1970 (This Is to Certify That...) sometimes sounded, in a good way, like Move-lite, Talking to the Flowers was yet milder, though not at all bad. Traces of the poppiest sides of the Move and late Beatles are highly audible on this likable if low-key set, sometimes with slight country and orchestral pop tinges to the arrangements. Price doesn't have the greatest voice in the world -- you can hear why he wasn't going to displace Roy Wood, Carl Wayne, or Jeff Lynne as a primary vocalist in the Move, for instance -- but it has an acceptably pleasant tone that's not far afield from those singers' styles. His songs (some written with Mike Sheridan) are nice slices of non-saccharine, occasionally Paul McCartney-esque early-'70s British pop/rock, too, mixed with less impressive but acceptable covers of songs by Tim Hardin and Neil Diamond, as well as a version of an obscure Everly Brothers song in the title track. It all adds up to something worth hearing for Move fans.
The bonus here is an unreleased solo album Price recorded shortly after Talking to the Flowers that's similar, but less impressive and developed; and some other non-LP material from the era.
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THE MAGIC SOUND OF THE "IDLE RACE","MOVE", & "E.L.O." FAMILY.
LISTEN...
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