Delivery - Fools Meeting 1970

Delivery was formed during the British blues boom of the late ’60s. However, its sound is jazzier and more progressive than most of the music that emanated from that era. Rhythm & blues serves as a springboard for forward-looking tracks like “Blind to Your Light” and “Harry Lucky.” Singer Carol Grimes is frequently compared to Janis Joplin. While Grimes has a powerful voice, she does not reach the level of histrionics that were a showcase of Joplin‘s. It should come as no surprise that Delivery members joined Canterbury related bands upon Delivery’s demise. The reissue CD of Fools Meeting features several live bonus tracks, as well as a post-breakup demo recording featuring Caravan bassist Richard Sinclair. That demo session, one of the highlights of the collection, spurred the musicians to form Hatfield and the North. Fools Meeting is an essential part of any Canterbury collection, and should also appeal to progressive jazz fans. AllMusic.

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Blonde on Blonde - Reflections On A Life 1971

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Giant Crab - A Giant Crab Comes Forth 1968

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Blonde on Blonde - Contrasts 1969


Blonde on Blonde's 1969 album is from the period when progressive rock, or more so pop, was new and fresh. Years before the likes of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes, and Genesis made the genre a dirty word and punk evolved in order to destroy it, Blonde on Blonde were taking their pop and psychedelic roots that little bit further. Progressive, in the sense that the term was originally conceived: a new catchall name to describe the emerging form of music that arose from Sgt. Pepper, filled the Middle Earth Club, and by 1969, was increasingly getting more diverse than the quaint psychedelic form from which it was spurned. Blonde on Blonde had the then contemporary match of folky vocals (which could easily turn it up a gear into rock territory), fuzz guitar leads galore, and some interesting material, which veered from an almost cinematic version of "Eleanor Rigby" to the post-mod (think U.S. garage meets the Small Faces) snotty strut of "Conversationally Making the Grade," the archetypal heavy rock jam "Ride With Captain Max," and the slightly old-styled ballad "Goodbye." Of course, more dynamic musical interplay crept into the fold: classical-intoned aspirations, acoustic folk, ornate pop, and full-on rock. Contrasts is indeed an album that is characteristic of the music that was being bandied around the music press in 1969 as progressive, not the preposterous entity that it became.

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Robert Palmer - Clues 1980

After recording a series of albums that established him as a pop-minded interpreter of soul styles, Robert Palmer surprised fans in 1980 with the stylistic about-face of Clues. On this album, he brought his sound into the new wave era by playing up the rock edge to his music, stripping the high-production gloss from his sound, and incorporating synthesizers into the arrangements. The end result became a big hit in the U.K. and paved the way for later international successes like Riptide and Heavy Nova. Clues also produced two notable singles in "Looking for Clues," a clever slice of new wave pop that surprises the listener with an unexpected xylophone solo, and "Johnny and Mary," a moody synth-driven ballad with perceptive lyrics about a doomed romantic relationship. There is also an impressive cover of Gary Numan's "I Dream of Wires" that retains the chilly electronic grandeur of the original while successfully working in an earthier rhythm arrangement that makes the song dance-friendly. Elsewhere, Palmer shows he hasn't abandoned his penchant for soul and ethnic music: "Woke Up Laughing" filters an African-style, chant-like vocal melody through a minimalist electronic production style, and "Found You Now" effectively combines a reggae groove with a deadpan sense of cool that is very "new wave." The end result is a bit short (it clocks in at barely over a half hour), but it remains one of Robert Palmer's strongest and most consistent albums. In short, Clues is a must for Robert Palmer fans and worth a spin for anyone into new wave.

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Yes - Yes 1969

Yes' debut album is surprisingly strong, given the inexperience of all those involved at the time. In an era when psychedelic meanderings were the order of the day, Yes delivered a surprisingly focused and exciting record that covered lots of bases (perhaps too many) in presenting their sound. The album opens boldly, with the fervor of a metal band of the era playing full tilt on "Beyond and Before," but it is with the second number, a cover of the Byrds' "I See You," that they show some of their real range. The song is highlighted by an extraordinary jazz workout from lead guitarist Peter Banks and drummer Bill Bruford that runs circles around the original by Roger McGuinn and company. "Harold Land" was the first song on which Chris Squire's bass playing could be heard in anything resembling the prominence it would eventually assume in their sound and anticipates in its structure the multi-part suites the group would later record, with its extended introduction and its myriad shifts in texture, timbre, and volume. And then there is "Every Little Thing," the most daring Beatles cover ever to appear on an English record, with an apocalyptic introduction and extraordinary shifts in tempo and dynamics, Banks' guitar and Bruford's drums so animated that they seem to be playing several songs at once. This song also hosts an astonishingly charismatic performance by Jon Anderson. There were numerous problems in recording this album, owing to the inexperience of the group, the producer, and the engineer, in addition to the unusual nature of their sound. Many of the numbers give unusual prominence to the guitar and drums, thus making it the most uncharacteristic of all the group's albums. [Its first decent-sounding edition anywhere came with the 1997 remastering by Atlantic.] AllMusic.

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Dennis Coffey - Hair and Thangs 1969

Dennis Coffey’s solo debut offers a primer in psychedelic funk, marshaling fuzz-laden guitar wizardry, deeply soulful organ fills, and rubber-band rhythms to forge one of the most sample-ready records of the late ’60s. As its title suggests, Hair & Thangs draws much of its inspiration from the flower-power musical Hair, covering the soundtrack’s “Let the Sunshine In,” “Aquarius,” and “Sodomy.” Coffey’s trademark guitar distortion suffuses the songs with a grit and edge that effectively undercuts the saccharine flavor of the originals, but also he retains the instincts and humility of a sideman, avoiding pyrotechnics to allow organist Lyman Woodard and drummer Andrew Davis to shine on each cut. The disc’s flip side is even more effective, with ingeniously funky readings of the Isley Brothers‘ “It’s Your Thing,” Charles Wright‘s “Do Your Thang,” and the Beatles‘ “Hey Jude.” DJs and beat-freaks will find much to sample and savor here. AllMusic.

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The Grateful Dead - Dead Set 1987

The Grateful Dead mined two separate double-album sets from their 15th anniversary shows at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco and Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Because of the special nature of these shows — which included the first acoustic sets that the band had played in almost a decade — Reckoning was taken from the unplugged performances, and this title was culled from the electric ones. These were the first live albums that the band had issued since the Steal Your Face debacle four years prior, as well as the earliest to feature Brent Mydland (keyboards). More so than any previous live Grateful Dead album, Dead Set attempts to simulate a typical Dead concert — including a somewhat abbreviated percussion solo (“drums”) and free-form instrumental (“space”) section. However, because the album is compiled from a number of different concerts, there is not the firmly established continuity that a single performance provides. This was further compounded on domestic U.S. compact disc pressings — as the (“space”) section was judiciously edited to enable the contents to fit onto a single CD. In 2000, a remastered edition was issued in Japan, and the original running order was restored and once again spread over two discs. The set list mixes older and more established favorites such as “Loser,” “Candyman,” and “Deal” with newer ones (“Fire on the Mountain,” “Feel Like a Stranger,” and the rarely performed Phil Lesh [bass] composition “Passenger.”) Unfortunately, the time limitations inherent in vinyl prohibited the use of any extended improvisation or song couplings. The band also documented their October 31st show — at Radio City Music Hall — as a live closed-circuit television special. From that performance, the band’s very first home video — also called Dead Set — was compiled, which includes a few of the acoustic performances as well. AllMusic.

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Ginger Baker - Coward of the county 1999

During the early ’90s, Ginger Baker gradually established his reputation as a genuine jazz musician, proving that he was no rocker who was merely dabbling. Of course, anyone familiar with Cream will realize that he was among rock’s jazziest drummers, but his series of records with Bill Frisell convinced many doubters of his musical merit. On one of his tours, he happened to hear trumpeter Ron Miles and bassist Artie Moore play in Denver. Impressed with the two musicians, he relocated to Colorado and assembled the Denver Jazz Quintet-to-Octet. The DJQ20 is a shifting group of musicians that has Baker, Miles, and Moore at its core and, as it turns out, their elasticity is what gives them strength. For their first effort, Coward of the County, they’re joined by a saxophonist, along with a variety of local Denver musicians, and the results are startlingly fresh. Using hard bop as a foundation, they’re unafraid to venture into challenging territory, where they pull together free, funk, and rock into unpredictable combinations. Baker wrote two of the songs, including the opening tribute, “Cyril Davies,” but the remainder of the record is devoted to originals by Miles, who proves himself to be an inventive composer, capable of lovely lyrical ballads (“Megan Showers”) and experimental jazz. Often, Coward of the County veers into unpredictable territory — witness how the funky fusion on “Ginger Spice” moves into dissonant improvs, how the title track is colored by pedal steel and organ, or how “Daylight” is a series of surprises, as its gentle beginnings are submerged by waves of distorted guitar that fade back, revealing darkly beautiful textures. Not only are the compositions challenging, they’re delivered with ease by the group, which are remarkably empathetic and graceful. In fact, it’s a testimony to Baker’s skills as a leader that he never dominates, preferring to let all the parts weave together to create a full, rich sound. And by doing so, he has made Coward of the County, in a way, a showcase for Miles, since his compositions become the focal point. They signal a young writer of considerable skill, ambition, and talent — and he’s not a bad trumpeter, either. AllMusic.

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The Bob Seger System - Ramblin' Gamblin' Man 1968

The Bob Seger System throw everything into Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man, dabbling in folk, blues-rock, psychedelia, and piledriving rock & roll synonymous with Detroit. Typical of such a wide-ranging debut, not everything works. The System stumbles when they take psychedelic San Franciscan bands on their own turf. Trippy soundscapes like “Gone” drift into the ether, and the longer jams, “White Wall” and “Black Eyed Girl,” meander. But the songs that do work are absolute monsters, highlighted by the title track, a thunderous bit of self-mythology driven by a relentless rhythm, wailing organ riff, and gospel chorus. It’s a stunningly great record, and while nothing here quite equals it, the songs that come close (with the exception of “Train Man,” the first inkling of Seger’s knack for reflective, intimate ballads) are sterling examples of spare, bluesy, angry Michigan rock & roll. “Tales of Lucy Blue” has a spooky, menacing edge, “Ivory” is a great Motown-styled raver, and “Down Home” rides a manic riff and a simple blues harp to be one of the best rockers on the record. Then there’s “2 +2 = ?,” a ferocious antiwar song in the vein of Creedence Clearwater Revival‘s “Fortunate Son,” but here Seger can’t imagine why the nice guy in high school is now buried in the mud. It’s a frightening, visceral song that stands among the best anti-Vietnam protests. Finally, the album closes with “The Last Song (Love Needs to Be Loved),” an unabashed peace, love, ‘n’ understanding anthem styled in the manner of West Coast hippie pop, particularly Love. It’s atypical of anything on the album or anything Seger would ever do again, but in many ways, it’s the perfect way to close an exciting, flawed debut that winds up being a symbol of its times by its very diversity. AllMusic.

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Taj Mahal - Happy Just To Be Like I Am 1971

Taj Mahal had mapped out a unique vision of country blues and its ethnographic sources on his first three albums, and his fourth LP, Happy Just to Be Like I Am, continued in a similar vein while broadening his scope at the same time. Anyone who delivers an arrangement of “Oh Susanna” that marries a hard-boogeying rhythm section with a fife as lead instrument is clearly not aiming for a purist’s approach to the blues, and Mahal was willing to bring a bit more contemporary rhythm & blues into his formula here, with the title track boasting the kind of groove and melodic lift that should have earned it a place on the radio (through the fact a tuba accompanies an electric bass in the bottom end might have puzzled a few programmers), and “Chevrolet” bubbling with potent, organic funk. But Mahal was (and is) far too enamored of eclecticism to make an entire album that follows a single direction, and the steel drum reverie of “West Indian Revelation,” the mixture of African percussion and steel guitar on “Black Spirit Boogie,” and the acoustic blues with tuned cowbells on “Eighteen Hammers” are all the work of a man eager to twist his music into a variety of different forms. While Mahal’s vision grew broader on Happy Just to Be Like I Am, the album didn’t have quite the same focus as his previous sets, and the parts don’t cohere into a whole that’s as satisfying as his earlier work. But the best songs are impressive, Mahal’s collaborators are stellar (including Jesse Ed Davis, John Simon, and Kwasi “Rocky” DziDzornu), and every track is filled with a palpable joy; it’s a fine collection from one the most cheerful iconoclasts of the blues. AllMusic.

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Procol Harum – Exotic Birds And Fruit 1974

After two albums that combined progressive rock with orchestral grandeur, Procol Harum returned to the basics on this 1974 outing. This time, the accent was returned to the thick electric guitar and swirling guitar on a batch of lushly textured but driving songs that covered everything from hard rock to moody prog and even a bit of music hall comedy. In the rock category, the most memorable numbers are the opener, “Nothing but the Truth,” a punchy tune that displays the group’s thorough grasp of rock dynamics as it veers between metallic riffing and rollicking keyboard flourishes over a stomping beat, and “Monsieur R. Monde,” a bracing mid-tempo track that punctuates its guitar-heavy attack with some infectious cowbell accents from drummer B.J. Wilson. In the progressive arena, the most interesting tunes are “The Idol,” a sumptuous epic that adds layer after layer of keyboard and guitar as it tells the story of a hero’s fall from grace, and “The Thin End of the Wedge,” an avant-garde tune that highlights Mick Grabham‘s guitar work as it creates a surreal, gothic atmosphere. Other memorable tunes include “Beyond the Pale,” a tune about the search for the Holy Grail that mixes pop hooks with a Germanic folk song feel, and “Exotic Fruit,” an amusing song that extols the virtues of its titular subject over a bouncy English music hall melody. It’s a diverse group of songs and styles, but the group delivers them with aplomb and energy, and the album is further bolstered by a sumptuous, consistent Chris Thomas production that makes sure everything blends together smoothly. As a result, Exotic Birds and Fruit is one of Procol Harum’s finest efforts of the ’70s. [Trivia note: The 2000 reissue of this album on Repertoire Records added a single version of "As Strong as Samson" and "Drunk Again," a non-album B-side that was one of Procol Harum's finest and heaviest rockers.]. AllMusic.

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Alice Cooper - School's Out 1972

+ info AllMusic

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Grace Slick - Manhole 1974

anhole was the last of the experimental Jefferson Airplane, and Grace Slick’s first official solo album. While Bark and Long John Silver, the final stages of the original Airplane, displayed the excessive psychedelic nature of the musicians within the confines of their group format, Blows Against the Empire, Sunfighter, and Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun allowed for total artistic expression. Manhole concluded this phase with 1974′s other release, the Jefferson Starship‘s Dragonfly. By taking the name from Paul Kantner‘s Blows Against the Empire solo project, Dragonfly began the renewed focus on commercial FM which would turn into Top 40 airplay. Manhole is the antithesis of that aim, but is itself a striking picture of Grace Slick as the debutante turned hippy being as musically radical as possible. To the kids who think she’s the cool singer on the mechanical Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now, Manhole is an alien concoction, but it works on many levels as great head music. The title track itself is almost 15-and-a-half minutes of orchestrated underground rock with Craig Chaquico on lead guitar; Jack Casady on bass, along with Ron Carter; voices from David Crosby, David Freiberg, Slick and Paul Kantner; mandolin by Peter Kaukonen; and a 42-piece orchestra (51, if you include the fragments of the Airplane/Starship onboard). It’s fun stuff, but looking back one wonders how they maintained a distribution deal for Grunt records with R.C.A., the material being so far from commercial. The title track has a left-hand piano part which “was stolen from an improvisation by Ivan Wing,” Slick’s father, and the epic is rife with Spanish/English by the singer, translated in the booklet with Slick’s “phonetic Spanish spelling.” Again, this is total underground excess, but it is actually more than listenable than it looks on paper, and for fans, it has the serious/eccentric nature of this woman who emerged as a big, big star due to her quirky personality having the talent to back it up. Attacks on the government and Clive Davis in the elaborate booklet only prove all involved were not out to make friends, but songs like “Come Again? Toucan” are compelling and intriguing, more so than some of what would constitute 1981′s Welcome to the Wrecking Ball, which contained more elements of guitarist Scott Zito than the star. On Manhole, the music is wonderfully dense, macabre, exhilarating, and totally out there. This is a great portion of music from the lead singer of one of America’s great music groups. Maybe David Freiberg‘s “It’s Only Music” deserved to be on an Airplane project or solo LP of his own, but it sounds great and works. “Better Lying Down” is Grace Slick and Pete Sears re-writing Janis Joplin‘s “Turtle Blues,” a nice change of pace from the heavy instrumental backing of the other tracks. Slick is in great voice, and reflecting on the album years after it was recorded, the conclusion is that Manhole has much to offer fans. Compare this to Deep Space — recorded live at the Hollywood House of Blues in the 1990s to see the difference between capturing the time and trying to recapture the magic. Despite the eye toward success and the more serious nature of that later project, it just doesn’t have the charm of this artifact from the glory days. It’s also a far cry from the 1980s, when Slick returned with three more solo outings: Dreams, Welcome to the Wrecking Ball, and Software, projects which differ vastly from Manhole. The hard rock of Wrecking Ball and the synths and post-Kantner Starship feel of producer Peter Wolf‘s collaborations on Software show a woman dabbling with other rock formats. Put those three discs in a boxed set with Manhole, and you have true culture shock from a major counterculture figure. Manhole is orchestrated psychedelia at its finest with the voice from “White Rabbit” stretching that concept across two sides. AllMusic.

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Atomic Rooster - In Hearing Of Atomic Rooster 1971

Much less bombastic than the band’s earlier releases, In Hearing Of is almost funky at times, with “The Devil’s Answer” sounding like a meeting between Memphis soul and British rock. The lyrics are doom-laden in the spirit of much of this genre of British hard rock at the time, and pseudo-classical references crop up from time to time, but Vincent Crane’s keyboards are generally tasty, and the melodies are often downright memorable. AllMusic.

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David Bowie – David Bowie 1967

Rebound’s David Bowie is essentially a straight-up reissue of the endlessly reissued David Bowie (Love You Till Tuesday) album. There are no bonus tracks, since Mercury had just issued the extensive 27-track The Deram Anthology in 1997, which contained all of Bowie’s recordings for the label. This is just the album itself, containing such cult classics as “Uncle Arthur,” “Rubber Band,” “Sell Me a Coat,” “Love You Till Tuesday,” “Come and Buy My Toys,” “Join the Gang,” and “Please Mr. Gravedigger.” Curious fans looking for a taste of these Anthony Newley-esque music hall shenanigans may be tempted by the budget price on this disc, but any fan truly interested in this material should spring for the full Deram Anthology, since it not only contains his best song of this era (“London Boys”), it also contains the notorious “Laughing Gnome,” plus such unsung vaudevillian novelties as “The Gospel According to Tony Day” and an early take of “Space Oddity.” If you’re gonna dip your toe in water this cold, you’d be better off diving headfirst into the deep end. AllMusic.

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Van Morrison - Blowin' your mind 1967

Although Van Morrison’s first solo album is remembered for containing the immortal pop hit “Brown Eyed Girl,” Blowin’ Your Mind! is actually a dry run for his masterpiece, Astral Weeks. Songs like “Who Drove the Red Sports Car” look to that song cycle, even as “Midnight Special” nods to Morrison’s R&B past. But it’s the agonizing “T.B. Sheets” — all nine-plus minutes of it — that dominates this record and belies its trendy title and pop association. “T.B. Sheets” takes the blues and reinvents it as noble tragedy and humiliating mortality. It’s where Van Morrison emerges as an artist. [Blowin' Your Mind! was superseded in 1991 by Bang Masters, which contains all of its tracks except "He Ain't Give You None," presented in an alternate take, plus Morrison's other recordings for Bang.] AllMusic.

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