Estes Brothers - Transitions 1971

Similar to Bubble Puppy, Truth and Janey, or other U.S. bands featuring melodic vocals, and fluid jamming/wawa guitar solos. The Estes Brothers came from a musical family of 7 brothers and 5 sisters. This album was recorded in Ohio in 1971 and is near impossible to find, as there were only 100 pressed. The music is outstanding blues/hard rock with that lysergic blend of late '60's S.F. bands like Quicksilver Messenger Service & Mad River. A solid underground stoner blowout with relentless guitar jamming and a great "basement" sound. Not slick or overpowering, but the sound of a bunch of nocounts letting it rip. From 1966 until present, there have been 38 different members, and many styles of music, but always ending up back to blues/rock. The band still states to this day: "If you keep showing up, we'll keep playing."

1971 original w/glue on cover art

CD re-issue

Groundshaker - S/T 1971

Never before released heavy/hard psych/rock west coast MONSTER of an album. Eight long tracks with furious lead guitar assaults and jams, fantastic loud bass and drum interplay, one reviewer described it "as if MC5 and Pentagram got in a bar fight." Recorded in 1971-72 in Hollywood at Paramount studios and the satellite studios owned by Wolfman Jack. The band spent a lot of time in San Francisco working on their sound. During this period, Groundshaker played gigs at the Filmore as well as many other venues of the bay area. They decided to hock their amps and head to L.A. and quickly landed several gigs on the L.A. circuit. The Whiskey A-Go-Go said they were too loud. Imagine that in the day of massive Marshall stacks! Groundshaker blew audiences away! Finally released in 2002.

Fire - "Could You Understand Me" 1973

Maybe one of the best heavy fuzz albums ever from Europe. A true power trio that came from Yugoslavia but recorded their one and only album in Holland back in 1973. Lyrics in Yugoslavian and English, and so much fuzz it would be enough for ten albums. This is an extremely rare record as it was only released on the private label Killroy in Holland. "Explosive fuzz, riffs, solos which growl like mad dogs, maniacal drumming." Enjoy!

Irish Coffee - S/T (+7) 1971

Irish Coffee's origin can be traced back to a band called The VooDoo which was formed in 1970, in Alast, East Flanders, Belgium. The band played only covers by bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, The Who, and The Kinks. They met up with Lois De Vries, manager of The Pebbles and changed their name to Irish Coffee. They went to Antwerp to record their first single "Masterpiece" b/w "The Show" in an 8-track studio. "Masterpiece achieved chart success reaching #5 on HUMO Magazines single national list and was played at concerts and on television across Belgium and France. They scored support slots for such bands as Colosseum, Dr. Feelgood, Uriah Heep, and Focus among others.
In 1971 the bands self titled album was released on Triangle Records. In 1971, a single coupling the songs "Carry On" and "Child" was released, again on Triangle. (these songs were later added as bonus tracks on the 1992 re-issue of the album on VooDoo Records.) In June '74 "Witchy Lady" b/w "I'm Hers" was released on the Barklay label and garnered a lot of airplay, but never charted.
While returning from a gig in November, 1974, they had a bad car accident, leaving one member dead, and another severely wounded, resulting in the end of Irish Coffee. In 1975 the band changed it's name to Joystick and never released an album. However, some of the material was included on the Irish Coffee reunion album which was released on the Fuzzy Label in 2004.
The band eventually reformed and began playing clubs in 2002 and had new songs by 2003. "Brand new Day" was released as a promotional single in 2004.

Argus - S/T 1973-1977

Argus was formed in the U.K. in 1972 by bass player Mick Pearl and drummer Dave Wagstaffe. They recruited guitarist Del Watkins who used to play in the band "Julian's Treatment" who had some success with an album, "A Time Before This." Del had also been in the ska band The Skatalites, as well as Polydor band Rare Amber and a back up musician for Ben E. King. A singer was eventually found in Bill McRae from Scotland and the band put together a set of original material, with influences from Deep Purple, Wishbone Ash (who's third album inspired the band's name) They developed a good reputation around and Appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test to good reviews.
After about a year, they replaced their singer with Ken Lewis, who was a more experienced performer and had a much stronger voice. The band continued getting some good support slots for the likes of Thin Lizzy, Pink Fairies, Brinsley Schwartz (with Nick Lowe), and The Equals among others. A demo was recorded at the band's flat and the newly formed Rocket Records were slated to release the band, but Del's sudden departure brought things to a grinding halt. They got a few replacement guitar players, but the band ultimately timed out after the bass player left. The recordings were not released until 28 years later on the 'Audio Archives' label.

Hellhound - s/t 1970

Demos recorded by future members of Leaf Hound and Daemon, recorded in 1970 but not released until 1994. Pretty rough sound quality, but it totally fits the material. Features John DuCann of Daemon and Hard Stuff. The album was never released in 1970, but released on vinyl by the U.K. obscurities label Kissing Spell. According to Pete French, the name "Hellhound, was an attempt by DuCann at capitalizing on the name of Leafhound.  Not much more info available on this one.

Rockressio - First 45 1972-73

Prog rock/hard rock band from Helinski, Finland. Founded in 1971 by Tappio Matlar (Bass), and Kalervo Kaarre (guitar) who were soon joined by Hans Dahman (vocals) and Matti Everhall (drums). Rockressio were active until 1973 when the members had to start the military service and the band split up. The band played 73 gigs in it's career and released this sole 7" E.P. privately on Thor Records which was recorded in 1972, but wasn't released until '73 when the band had already split up.

Mops - "Iijanaika" 1971

Another kick-ass Japanese heavy rock band, The Mops were formed in 1966 by a bunch of high schoolers Mikiharu Suzuki (drums), Taro Miuki (guitar), Katu Hoshi (guitar), and Kaoru Murakami, (bass). They began as a instrumental group similar to the Ventures, but soon after forming Mikiharu Suzuki's brother, Hiromitsu joined on lead vocals. The group started playing psychedelic rock at the suggestion of their manager who had brought home recordings of American "hippi" groups such as Jefferson Airplane after his trip to San Francisco. The group signed to JVC records, the Japanese wing of Victor and released a single in November if 1967 titled "Asamade Mateni", which hit #38 on the Japanese charts. In April 1968 the full length debut: Psychedelic Sound in Japan followed; the album included covers of "White Rabbit", and "Somebody to Love" by Jefferson Airplane as well as "Light my Fire" by the Doors, and two Animals songs. They got a lot of press as being the first psychedelic band in Japan and performed with extravagant light shows. In '69 they made the move to more blues/hard rock and signed with Liberty/Toshiba/EMI and followed with the hits "Gekko Kamen" (Moonlight Mask), and Goiken Muyo (No Excuse) both of which charted in 1971. Several albums followed before their break up in 1974. Extensive Bio by Julian Cope

Glory - "On The Air" 1970

Glory was probably San Diego's longest lived underground rock band. Formed in the late '60's, Glory played their own brand of straight ahead, kick-ass rock n roll up until the '80's at which time guitarist Jerry Raney formed the prolific Beat Farmers. "On the Air" was recorded live in 1970 during a broadcast from the studios of San Diego's underground rock station KPRI. The result was an "in your face" performance built around their amazing rhythm section and led by wailing guitars and powerful vocals. The recording shows that these guys were street-wise and nail tough. Overall the L.P. is dark, but energetic and shows why Glory earned their well deserved reputation as rock n roll mercenaries. Glory was an offshoot of Iron Butterfly, Sa Diego's Most famouse usical export until the 1990' brought Blink 182 to the nations attention.

Tin House - s/t 1971

From Rockasteria: "Tin House was formed in 1969 by original members Floyd Radford - guitar, Mike Logan - drums, and Jeff Cole - lead vocal/bass. They were one of the first progressive rock bands to be signed to a major label out of the central Florida area."
Their eponymous debut was released in 19 70 on Epic and was produced by Rick Derringer. This was their only release as the players went on to form other musical acts. The album even has a cameo by Edgar Winter who plays a one finger keyboard solo. Heavy, blues fueled hard rock with great melodies and fine guitar work. Would've been nice to get another release out of them.

Light of Darkness - S/T 1971

Another fucked up opportunity from shitty record label support, or lack thereof. Light of Darkness was three Scots, and one German, the band was based out of Germany. They played around Europe, and frequently in the Hamburg scene, and in 1970, got a deal to record in a pro studio for Phillips. Unfortunately, Phillips "wasn't able to give the band necessary support" (whatever THAT means), the artwork was missing liner notes and other important information, instead of writing about the bands musical talent and the characteristic of their songs, the promoters gave a false picture of the group: "...No musical scheme.. a bit progressive, a little psychedelic... blues influences...also hard rock....some folk...three Scots and a German who broke into laughter by listening to Scot's jokes....no style.." Does that in any way sound like promotion to you? You'd figure if you were the label, and trying to sell a product, you would avoid saying things like "no style!" The band ended up playing krautrock festivals for the remainder of their time together and eventually quit when the scene died out. This album was eventually re-issued on CD on a label called Second Battle.

Original cover

Mutzie - "Light of Your Shadow" 1970

Mutzie was formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1970. This review and history taken from "The I-Own-Every-Record-You'd-Never-Buy CD Consumers Guide:
"Mutzie was the nickname given to Eric Levenberg, guitarist, lead singer, and elder brother of three for whom this Michigan based quartet is named. It's a strange moniker, of course, but I suppose it's better than calling your band Levenberg. Mutzie's lone album Light of Your Shadow, first released on the Sussex label is hard rock of the blue collar variety, a raw, stripped down combination of heavy guitar riffs, pounding organ fills, punchy horn breals and not always in tune vocals. The end result is an uneven platter of slightly blues based acid rock"
This is much better a review than I could have given. As I stated on the home page of this blog, I am no good at reviews, nor do I consider myself a writer of any sort. So why I chose to start a blog, besides my obvious love for music, is beyond me. Enjoy! And check out the link provided, it's an awesome blog authored by someone with skills.

Orange Wedge - "Wedge" 1972 / "No One Left But Me" 1974

Originally released only in the bands hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, "Wedge", Orange Wedge's debut album was a great display of raw blues driven hard rock. Released only on the "Contraband" imprint in a run of about 500 copies for friends/girls/reviews/ airplay, etc. Not really interested in widespread recognition, the band became very popular on college campuses and youth clubs. And the younger crown was all about their energy.
The second album was released in 1974 at double the production numbers (a whopping 1,000 copies!) which was another great album from this little known band. It was shipped to various labels in search of a deal, as was the first L.P., however, no one bit. The record was sold pretty much the same way the first one was, at their shows. Becoming un-enthused with the whole project, the band called it quits in 1975. The albums were re-released on CD in the '00's, and as a double L.P. pressed in Germany by Little Wing.

Pulse - S/T 1969

Not to be confused with the Pulse project of Stephen Reich of the same year, Pulse (U.S.) hailed from New Haven Connecticut, and was originally named "The Pulse of Buritt Bradley." The band was made up of members of "The Bram Riggs Set", and "The Shags." This album is Heavy Blues driven rock which is highly sought after by collectors. In the beginning, the band jammed in the studio exclusively for nearly a year, improving their talents (and it shows, from musicianship, to songwriting). But , by the time of the release of their first album (this one), original members began disappearing and the band just sort of truged along playing Cream type material until they finally disbanded in 1972. Which I believe, is too bad. Would've loved to hear more from them.

Sabattis - "Warning in the Sky" 1970

American Rock band Sabattis, were active for about 3 years. They were never really a club band and did no touring, so they mostly played college parties. "Warning in the Sky" was recorded in March of 1970 in a basement in Rochester, N.Y. and was produced by the band. It stayed UNRELEASED for 41 years until it was digitized from the original master tapes and released on CD by Jargon Records in 2011. It's a pretty excellent specimen of hard rock/prog with really good musicianship. Who knows where this band may have gone. A rarity to say the least! HERE is a pretty detailed history and a review. Well worth the price of admission. If you can find it.

The Underground Set - S/T 1970 - "War in the Night Before" 1971

Italian Heavy Prog-Rock formed in the late 1960's by Gian Piero, known as the producer of the well known RPI band Le Orme, as well as members of the band Nuova Idea. The band released two albums in the early 1970's the eponymous debut in 1970, and "War in the Night Before" in 1971. The bands early style was typical of late 60's early 70's organ driven hard rock, with plenty of psychedelic and space rock elements throughout. Their sound was so typical in fact, that their music was often used for T.V. shows.
The second album however, is much heavier. With a more fuzz guitar lead sound than on their first album. Many believed the band was of English origin, although this is also due to the fact that their albums were released all over Europe EXCEPT for Italy. Both albums are extremely rare and highly sought after by obscure and Italian music collectors alike. HERE is a more detailed history of the band, as well as documentation of all musical projects involved with who and how the band came to be.