A fine recording of their 1974 "Electric Adventure" tour. I only wish there was more!! This LP is very well recorded, especially Jerry Mercer's drums! This LP features 2 tracks that are not on any other AW album ("Mama' It's True" and "Druthers") "I'm On Fire For You Baby" was the latest single at the time so it is wonderfully performed here. This has always been one of my fave AW albums as a kid. A powerful testament to a band that could rock it hard, then turn around and play a sweet rock ballad. Note that the Unidisc CD remaster is edited slightly to remove some amp feedback squeals. But after hearing it for over 40 years in its original form, it's hard to NOT hear them!..

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I wrote this about "Confectionary" around a week after finally getting hold of a copy and hearing it. While it's a decent write up having now lived with this record for 10 months now I can see I was a little nervous about being too over the top about it.

With more time I can see that it's a bloody great album. If only the kids in 1994 had taken to Rick Corcoran's band Orange and their majestic single "Judy Over The Rainbow" (a re-recorded version of which appears here, I'd urge you to search out Orange's single), and subsequently the Orgone Box, as opposed to another band beginning with O around then...oh what could have been.

If you want psyche-touched pop that sounds like it should have come from Liverpool but didn't, this might just be what you're looking for.

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It's better than his last album "Soulsun" (although truthfully, that really wouldn't have been difficult) but this is another crushingly disappointing effort from Damo.

It's now been 12 years since his last truly great album, 2012's "Almighty Love". "Soulsun", from 2017, sounded like a record made by someone who was struggling to write (bad covers, what felt like outtakes from previous records and re-recordings of old songs) but needed to put an album out.

"Hold Your Joy" feels like a record made by someone who has forgotten what made him great. It's weak, where's the warrior abusing his guitar with that boxers right arm, beating his chest in righteous ire. When he does get pumped up it's on the worst song I've ever heard of his (the awful "James McLean") and the less said about "Let It Go" (aka I've got a title and I'm gonna sing it, never mind the lyric) the better. I'll give him "Love Is The Bomb", a beautiful song about his Dad, but it's the last song on an album that runs for over an hour, by the time I got there I was bored.

I'll always go see Damo live, it's a life affirming experience, but his records seem to be getting further apart (6 between 2000-2102, 3 in the ensuing 12 years and one of those was duets of his own previously released songs with other artists !) and less and less good.

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Found a super-tatty copy of this in the charity shop, with misprinted labels (matrix - A1 / B1), and while I didn't want to look to close at what was going on on the cover art (yikes!), I assumed it was going to be some kind of Black Sabbath-y proto metal affair...

...Actually, consistent with the date of release, this has more of a bleed-over into the seventies-sixties psychedelia, proto-prog / folk thing happening instead.

Only the themes (the whole cult / occult / devilry) of the songs and the surprisingly excellent vocal style really have anything to do with any kind of heavy metal. Rather, this has more in common, to my ears, to Gabriel era Genesis, underscored by a more sedate, even tender at times folk feel, as far as the overall sound is concerned... as one of the two most prominent elements in this is the extensive use of various organs... which gives it that psychedelic going into prog style....

...The other most prominent element, which is actually a point of distinction for this, is the drumming - very jazzy, lots of fills and punctuation, as opposed to flat rhythms.

That said. the opening track of side two does wrong foot you, with a more gentle, sweeping affair, with strings, that sounds like it's about to go all "Moody Blues" of a sudden, before it settles back down into it's established style.

Quite a good album actually... except maybe the organ and drums, being so prominent do largely overwhelm anything else in the music, even the vocal at times. And although this does, at the same time, give the sound a sense of scale, it is mostly an artificial one, as I think this is more intimately recorded, arranged and produced than would otherwise have been the case without those two instruments.

So you could probably get a later remaster on a CD which might have attempted to "pull the sound elements apart" a little, in order to give the vocal and other instruments a more separated sound, I'm not sure there's enough here the the music could bare it, and the sound, as it is here, has a character of it's time, and consistent with the subject matter, that may be somewhat lost through such an exercise.

It's a CBS disc, so as always, and excellent pressing, and any issues you may have sound wise, are as mentioned, before the getting to press stage... not a pressing issue.

If you can find a copy in good condition (unlike my scratched, and snowy sounding one!) and appreciate an album of this kind with this kind of audio aesthetic and character, it's well worth getting this issue.

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Excellent renditions by Petula Clark. I find the dramatic "Coming Back To You" (Colombier/Gimbel) one of the best songs of the album, arranged by French musician Michel Colombier. "I've Got To Know" (A. David) is an outstanding sad ballad in which the lyric talks about her lover being attracted by another woman - arrangements by Johney Arthey. Petula sings the melancholic "After You" (Trent/Hatch) living it and the song has nice instrumental arrangements. "City Lights" (Trent/Hatch) is another favorite along with the energyc and uptempo title track "Today" (Clark/Harris), arranged and written by the prestigious musician Johnny Harris, his wife Kim co-wrote it. The soulful "After The Hill" (Holding/Trent) is very catchy, like "Marie de Vere" (Trent/Hatch) set in the music hall style. "Spring In September" (Trent/Hatch) goes between a slow ballad rhythm and a happy soulful one making it an interesting selection. The Trent/Hatch ballad "Close To You" which Petula performs elegantly has beautiful backing vocals and nice orchestra arrangements by Tony Hatch in a moderate tempo. Two hits were included on the album, opening and closing it, probably to make it sell since the album wasn't promoted and no single was released with any other song from the LP.

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"How do you do" is great uptempo song where Jackie and Tony blend their voices harmonically. In "Jerusalem" Jackie does a great lead vocal with a soulful rhythm. "Reason to believe" is a sunshiny pop jewel by both voices. On "Last night I didn't get to sleep at all" we find Jackie's solo voice doing an elegant performance. "Betcha by golly, wow" has solos by both Tony and Jackie doing a melodical song that has a sense of melancholy. "So deep is the night" is sung by Jackie, an excellent ballad with nice arrangements. "Gotta get away" is another uptempo song featuring the duo in a pop style, this was featured on the 1st episode of "The persuaders" series. Jackie does a great performance on "Didn't we?" written by Jim Webb. The catchy "Love is life" has a bossa nova rhythm and it's a relaxing song. Jackie sings a great version of "Jesus-Christ Superstar" "I don't know how to love him" with her powerful outstanding voice. "You're so good for me" is a tender positive pop song. The song closing the album is "The world is a circle" from the film "Lost Horizon" where Jackie is accompanied by children which leads to a very innocent and excellent song. I recommend this album.

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Late to the party...

I never really got into Suede at the time, although of course, they were a presence in popular culture, with singles pervading the airwaves and all, which I was aware of... especially those from this album, which actually caused me to deliberately avoid them on the principle that it sounded like a band who had sold out, and "gone commercial"...

(For all their protestations at the time that they should not be categorized under the same banner as other bands who the popular media dubbed: "Britpop", it is strange that they should have produced this... perhaps one of the most Britpop / commercial albums of them all!)

...These sounding like overtly pop, punchy, commercial tunes you can 'um.

And even the cover reflects greatly the character of the album as a whole... Gone the dark, dingy photography of more serious artists, in it's place a lurid, energy drink fuelled neon-ette "buy me!" cover enclosing a slab of brief, high energy pop stabs and jabs.

But it was during the interims between lockdowns in the pandemic that I was on a "buy it and rip it" spree of all those old albums on CD that I'd missed first time around, that I had a tune pop up on my MP3 player form this, that acted as the better gateway track for the album:

By The Sea, is a different flavour altogether... an absolutely stunning masterpiece in fact, of scale, and sweep, with an incredible melancholic tone that really grabbed me by the pretzels and has since become one of the signature tunes of lockdown for me...

...And also Picnic By The Motorway, which has a woozy, destitute, hallucinogenic quality (especially in the vocal effect) made me listen to the other single tracks again, before giving the whole album a thorough listen through - a couple of times in fact.

I've now come to appreciate the album as a whole, and find, quite to my astonishment, that I really love it - it's quite a short album, wisely, as too much of that hyper energetic feel would have been wearing, especially without those two deeper cuts as interludes. And so, it's a well judged, well balanced album too.

And so, happening on Amazon a couple of weeks ago, to find this on sale for £14, I grabbed it up, and found this lovely 180g Clear vinyl plays with even greater scale and sweep on a proper system (through big boy speakers) than an MP3 can of course deliver, which unlocks the full audio potential.

The only minor gripe with this pressing - And the Bluetones: Expecting To Fly album I also got on this label: Demon, is how quiet the music is pressed on them - you have to turn the volume way up with this label's pressings it seems... but that's Ok I suppose, as the vinyl itself is silent, and clean sounding, so no amplified pops and crackles etc.

[As stated on both albums - Demon is a BBC company! - who knew!?!]

I may have to delve into other Suede albums now, especially in search of anything that can match By The Sea, for sheer wow factor.

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Came across 3 copies of this in a collection I bought for my shop. I've known and liked the single "I Don't Wanna Cry" for years so decided to have a listen to the whole album.

It's produced by Joe Jackson but sadly the overall sound is a bit weak and thin and very reminiscent of Mr Jackson's first two albums.

If you like British Power Pop of this era you may very well enjoy it but as much as I like the single I found listening to the album a bit like trying to eat an entire selection box on Xmas Day...it's a bit too much.

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The Decemberists (arguably my favourite band of the past 20 years) 9th studio album enters my personal Decemberists chart at position…#9. Sorry guys, for all the online reviews I’ve seen claiming it to be a “return to form” and a “triumph” and Colin Meloy himself claiming it is their best album (!) this is a regression.

Of the 13 songs inside 12 of them should have been reserved for the post album outtakes EP the band regularly release. “Long White Veil” nearly made it but something is very missing from it; “William Fitzwilliam” lifts the verse melody note for note from the Drive-By Truckers song “The Deeper In”; “Burial Ground” is a badly disguised re-write of the Beach Boys “Sloop John B”; “Born To The Morning” steals its intro from “Hey Joe”. Only “Never Satisfied” gets close to former glories and the closing “Joan In The Garden” is a self indulgent abomination. It all feels lazy and like enough attention wasn’t paid to most of it.

A non music related whinge…I ordered this in the UK from a UK seller (Rough Trade who delivered it 2 days before release day to their credit) but it arrived in one of those horrid American “board” sleeves. This means once I’ve removed the records from said sleeve, put them in archival anti-stat inners (as I do with all my records), the records ain’t ever going back in the sleeve.

Overall, a huge disappointment…

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They remind me of Motörhead quite alot, but with a female vocalist, she also made the cover drawing. I like Motörhead, and Marias voice, so this record will remain in my collection.

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A very good 77 punk product, Sounds like early Black Flag alot, High energy on all tracks. this is about as raw as 77 punk gets.

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A rarity in The Astronauts' catalog is this mostly original set of Beatles-meets-Beach Boys pop and rock songs with two of their signature instrumentals as part of the shindig. These guys have a terrific sound and their efforts to write in the vein of Lennon & McCartney or Jagger & Richards are solid--even if their influences do show in spots. Dig how "You Gotta Let Me Go" uh, um, "borrows" from the melody of The Beatles' "I'll Be Back." Yet they're so good they get away with this wholesale plagiarism and make it riveting.
Their shoulda-been-a-hit version of "I'm A Fool" and its Stones-flavored original flip "Can't You See I Do" are highlights, but every track has something of value. Their surf-guitar take on Les Baxter's exotica anthem "Quiet Village" is clever and compelling, and on vocal sides like "Little Lover," the almost-psychedelic title track and the smartly written "My Sin is My Pride," their skill in harmony singing is impressive, as is their sharp instrumentation.
With a clean, clear sound common to RCA Victor LPs of the mid-1960s, this is 26 minutes and change of first-rate pop-rock, with some touches of folk-rock and a reminder of their capability as surf instrumentalists. This is all-round entertainment at its best. I wouldn't lose a track on this album--a claim I cannot make about many of their other 12-inchers. Sounds powerful and compelling in mono!

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If the Beach Boys previous LP "Sunflower" has been described by some as Dennis Wilson's LP, this one should be called Carl's album. I thought this was the record where Carl really came into his own. But that's not all that's happening on this very fine record, one of their best of the 1970's.

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One of those bands that if you like one thing they do, you'll like everything they do...

...And I do like what it is they do, I do!

Wasn't sure what to expect when I found this, but one of those occasional nuggets you find, which is great throughout:

...Erm... New wave punk-ish semi goth type of high energy frenetic rock, which put in me in mind of Devo, The Clash on occasions, The Jam, and with occasional vocals reminiscent of Public Image Ltd. era John Lydon vocals when he hits the higher end of things. (Even the odd note of foreshadowing of Radiohead hues in the beats and use of instrumentation).

Lots of riffs with big crunchy guitars, undercut with squealy repetitive rhythm guitar stabs nice bass lines and solid thumpy drums- quite melodic in places too.

A side is only slightly more tending toward the "pop" end of this this spectrum. in terms of song duration and feel, and b side is a little more open, languid, and experimental sounding - one of the songs opens in such a way (a clearly sampled and looped vocal synth "chant thing") as to place it squarely dated in the eighties, so as you suddenly think it's going into Howard Jones type territory, before the crunchy guitar comes in and normal service is resumed, thankfully.

The recording is very good, with nice spacious and separated sound, albeit quite skinny and floppy piece of vinyl, and only a suggestion of the typical, signature "eighties echo" effect around the vocals, but not so much as to scare off the true new wavy punkoids among you :)

A nice find for this new year, and already thinking I'm not likely to find better this year.

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Probably the most perfectly realised Captain Beefheart LP, and the one that is the most accessible. Definitely the starting point that I recommend for anyone interested in discovering the great man.
The LP pretty much covers his wide range of styles incorporating elements of blues, rock, ballad, and of course his signature Beefheartian style. Every track is a winner and the LP includes the fabulous Big-Eyed Beans From Venus which is just about everyone's favourite song, and the difficult Golden Birdies which will help you decide if you really do want to venture onto Trout Mask Replica.

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Having played this album—and this particular release of it—I must note that I found the record to be a real surprise. Although the album contains Starksy & Hutch actor's only hit ("Don't Give Up on Us"), it doesn't make much use of the AM radio-style adult contemporary sound that the hit had. Most of it is instead geared toward other styles of music, such as Cat Stevens-style folk rock, blues of the Bessie Smith variety and even a touch of Dixieland. He does it all so well, you somehow wonder how David Soul got to be known, musically, as just a soft-rock one hit wonder when he sounded capable of being so much more than that.

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This first album was a sign of things to come. They had only formed in October 1969 about 14 months before the release of the album which was recorded in September 1970, less than a year of forming the band. Albums were known as L/Ps back in the day. There were not many groups who used twin lead guitars at that time. – Peter Greens Fleetwood Mac and The Allman Brothers Band being the only ones of note that I remember. I bought this album on it’s release in December 1970 after reading reviews. Sadly, my original copy was damaged and I bought another (this copy) a few years later.
The album opens up with a real boogie tune in Blind Eye plenty of stop/start guitar work from Ted & Andy. Lady Whiskey follows this with some nifty guitar & bass playing. Queen of Torture again has some great guitar work in this rocker. On side two Handy opens up with some excellent bass work from Martin followed by some atmospheric guitar work from Ted & Andy. Phoenix remains a concert favourite. It starts out as a slow eerie ballad type song and soon evolves into a guitar storm from Ted & Andy. Absolutely brilliant guitar playing with excellent vocals to boot. I still play this now and then on CD. I don’t play any of my L/Ps, as I have all my favourites on CD.

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A mishmash of tracks but some gems here. The soul covers are uniformly blah but “Suddenly Winter” is a psych gem and several more of the band originals are quite good. Avoid the stereo version; it is electronically rechannelled to simulate stereo and sounds tinny compared to the preferred mono version.

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If you thought that was bad, check out the weird cover Art for their 2nd LP.

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Horrible cover Art aside, this is a hodge-podge of mostly lame cover tunes, three group originals, plus their recent single Helule Helule. As with every Tremeloes album, one must be at-the-ready to lift the tonearm when an offending track comes along.

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This type of western music is always interesting. It must have been recorded using the Wrecking Crew studio band in Los Angeles. It is not a large orchestra like Don Costa used with Al Caiola and some songs suffer for it. Mostly it's enjoyable.
Each song is preceded by sound effects, like a cattle drive or Indians whooping it up.
They call western music lusty, and created a cover to match.

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In the groove, with The Slits!

(Sorry about that)

I don't on the whole, buy into the whole "punk" thing, in that it seems more than half is awful ear- horror, and the rest, sound musicians posing as being worse than they actually are:

Punk= mostly Bulls*&t.

Fortunately, these are of the later variety...

...Actually great musicians greatly performing well constructed, even musical songs.

I did wonder what a "Punk" band was doing on Island records of this time, when I found this, and it turns out they do a very fine line in the reggae end of the P$%k spectrum.

...And very well they do it too!

Going by my presumptions based on the cover and band name, I was expecting an unmusical, caterwaul of "attitude" and grim-ness... but thankfully not.

This is, instead, a more lo-fi, up-front, noodly, intricate affair of very innovative and inventive music.

The real star if the show here is the rhythm(s) and in particular, the truly stellar drumming that underpins the whole thing.

This is actually further emphasised by the lack of production (Studio effects) in the recording, as other than a guitar pedal, distortion or two, it's absolutely bare recording, to showcase how good these players are.

The vinyl, of course, is reliably good, as you'd expect from Island, but the music too is a very pleasant surprise!

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Although this collection is not the expression of the best Italian prog, it contains songs by minor groups but now very rare to find in other collections as they were published on 45 singles and alternative versions.
"Officina Meccanica" was a band from Rome with some singles published by the Picci record company in 1973/1974 which are now rare to find.
"Invisible Force" released a 45 rpm single in 1971 for UniFunk (Milan) Antonio Bartoccetti [guitar] (with Antonius Rex, Dietro noi Deserto, Jacula, Musik Reserch), Peter McDonald [bass, drums], Charles Tiring [keyboards] ( Antonius Rex, Jacula), Elisabeth D'Esperance [vocals]
"Maya" from Genoa born in 1970 as "Il Gruppo di Maya", they shortened that name for their one and only single Salomon. The song was chosen as the signature tune for the 1972 Palermo Pop Festival. The two songs contained here were written by Vittorio De Scalzi (Funky) and Giorgio D'Adamo both of New Trolls.
"Il Balletto Di Bronzo" here with two Spanish versions of "Neve Calda" from 1969 and "Si, Mama Mama" from 1970.
“J.E.T.” from Genoa released an album in 1972 for Durium "Fede Speranza Carità" which contained the song "Sinfonia Per Un Re" also the Bside of the single "Gloria, Gloria".
Three members, Aldo Stellita, Carlo Marrale, Piero Cassano later formed "Matia Bazar".
"III Classe" from Bergamo released a single in 1971 "Animal Love" (cover of The Kinks) / "Jimmy" - Dischi Produzioni Ventotto – PRV 28003 while the song on this collection "Bring A Tear" (cover of Audience (Charisma) ) was released as a promo and on the B side it contained "Sold Out" by Yoice (alias Analogy, Earthbound, Eternity) - Dischi Produzioni Ventotto – PRV 28008

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I see! So, if you record any random noises you want, stamp them into a sheet of plastic and label it as "psychedelic", people will clamour for it! I'll have to try that, sometime! I really need the cash, right now!
I'm more than half way into it and it sounds almost exactly like anything Acid Mother Temple ever put out.
OOO! Something resembling a song!! Pink Stainless Tail. Wow! There's 3 of them!

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Excellent album. Several years before Robert Gordon and The Stray Cats.

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Bob Lind is a name that is probably not familiar to anyone except hard core 60’s music fans. However, his one big hit, the self-penned “Elusive Butterfly” is one of the most outstanding singles of that decade. In late 1965, the pop world was captivated by the opening strains of “You might wake up some morning to the sound of something moving past your window in the wind.” The song is filled with one evocative phrase after another, and still sounds as fresh today as it did back then.

Generally speaking, one hit wonders do not usually release albums with any particular merit. “Don’t Be Concerned” is a complete exception to that rule. Mr. Lind not only has the soul of a poet, but also a strong melodic sense that serves each of the selections well. Aside from the throwaway “The World Is Just a B-Movie”, there’s not a weak cut among the other eleven.

Excellent production and arrangement by Jack Nitzsche.

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Fake stereo :(

looks like I gotta improvise and make DES mixes out of these tracks.

wait a minute ..... thats exactly what I've been doing


I've already done reviews for at least four of the songs on the track list, and I'll be doing reviews of the other tracks in detail on 45cat in the near future.

As an LP, as much as I enjoy the music in this, it's lacking compared to Ross Sr.'s first two LPs "The Music Of David Seville" from 1957, and 1958's "The Witch Doctor". No LP exclusive tracks unfortunately and combine that with the fake stereo, this LP kinda sucks the more I look at it with critical lenses.

"Navel Maneuver" and "Come On-A My House" are the top 2 best tracks on this LP however.

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This looks like a straightforward cheapo compilation of Animals tunes, however it turns out to be a strange collection of rerecorded tracks by Eric B, circa early 1980's? There is no information on the sleeve whatsoever.

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A killer compilation of Lavern Baker's Brunswick sides--seven from singles with three exclusive-to-this-LP tracks, "Love is Ending," "Baby Don't You Do It" and "Play it Fair." This survey of a soul diva in the latter half of the 1960s has stunning interpretations of some country and r&b classics with new material, all recorded in the stereophonic glory of Chicago's soul-centric studios, with a powerhouse cast of producers and arrangers. There are no dated soul-funk tropes nor overdone, shouting vocals. Lavern is her fine self and sings with passion amidst sympathetic arrangements.

"Call Me Darling," the flip of "Batman to the Rescue," is a classic piece of after-hours blues with terrific choral and orchestral support. Tracks two and three on Side 2, from mid-1969, stand out because they sound more like early '70s soul. The variety of approaches is appealing; three and half singles and three unique to this LP cover four eventful years in Black music with style and grace.

It's well-sequenced and is a rousing listen. If only they'd put the balance of her Brunswick work--both sides of the '67 single "Wrapped, Tied and Tangled" would've been nice. It's an inexpensive way to acquire Ms. Baker's hot Northern Soul 45 "I'm the One to Do It" for a tenth of the current going price--and you get eight other fine tracks in the balance. A must-have LP for Chicago soul fans and r&b lovers in general.

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A really excellent album, if you like talented female vocalists & indiepop you should hunt down this record. As far as I can find out Alexandra made this one record and then vanished completely? Practically all the copies of this for sell online are a] really cheap b] mint condition unsold stock. Well worth tracking down.

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