RPS - s/t 1975

Bar band from Topeka, Kansas who raised enough money via donations to release this album in 1975. Limited to 500 copies.
 Chuck Higgins - vocals/guitar/rhythm guitar, Rob Carins - bass/synthesizer/backing vocals, Todd Kroeker - drums/percussion/backing vocals.

Electric Sandwich - s/t 1972

From Prog Archives; "Electric Sandwich were formed in late 1969 by a group of German students from Bonn. The band initially consisted of four musicians, all of whom had already played with other bands; Bass player Klaus Lormann had been playing with "Chaotic Trust"; lead guitarist Jorg Olhert used to play with "Slaves of Fire"; drummer Wolf Fabian, the founder of the band, had been touring with a band called "Muli and the Misfits", and singer Jochen "Archie" Carthaus sang with the "Flashbacks."
Their own material had been recorded at the legendary Dieter Dirk's studio in Stommlen (1973 Brain catalog). The music is typical spaced out, freak & roll improvisations with many jazzy rock ingredients, folkish accents, and Mellotron excursions"
I myself am quite partial to the Mellotron, and the high volume guitar work of "Nervous Creek" is a particular favourite of mine.
The bands out put consists of this L.P., and two 7" 45's.

Three Man Army - 1970 / 1975

Formed by Adrian and Paul Gurvitz, formerly of GUN, following the bands demise. Adrian played with Buddy Miles, and Paul played with Parish & Gurvitz, then reunited as Three Man Army. Their debut album: A Third of a Lifetime featured several drummers, including Miles, Carmine Appice of Vanilla Fudge, and Mike Kellie of Spooky Tooth.

Tony Newman, who had previously played with Sounds Incorporated and Rod Stewart, joined for the groups next two albums, and a fourth album that was planned but never recorded. Newman then went to play with David Bowie, and the Gurvits teamed up with Ginger Baker as the Gurvitz Baker Army.

After Gun had run out of ammunition, the brothers took time out in America where Adrian hooked up with Miles and  Paul with former band mate Brian Morris, who had changed his name to Brian Parrish. They recorded the album "Parrish & Gurvitz" and toured the U.S. in support of it. The brothers had only returned to the U.K in the early 70's when they teamed up to write the debut Three Man Army album. It was released via Pegasus Records in 1971.






The band's second album "Mahesha", came out on Warner Brothers' Reprise in 1971, with the addition of Newman (May Blitz, Boxer, Rod Stewart) who had made a name for himself as a sought after session man who could be heard on many of the hit singles of the time (Jeff Beck's "Beck'ola," Bowie's "David Live", "You Shook Me", "Shapes of Things" among many others). Newman became a pemanent member of the Army, allowing them to tour, and promote "Mahesha" in the U.S. The first tour was with the Doobie Brothers, and the second was with the Beach Boys. Not necessarily acts that they had much in common with.

 A year later saw the band recording their third album "Two", which was a lot heavier than the previous two, and what's title caused some confusion, but it was their second album for Warner Brothers, but perhaps it could be because this was the second album to feature the lineup of Gurvitz, Gurvitz, and Newman. This, would explain why the next album was titled "Three."

The band had toyed with the idea of doing a rock opera (working title: "Three Days to Go") and got as far as recording a few demos for it. It was from these sessions 9 tracks are featured on "Three Man Army Three", a collection of previously unreleased materials, but was recorded with exceptional sound quality, which features drummer Lee Baxter Hays, and old drum tech that they had sit in just for kicks.

After this final phaze of the band, The Gurvtz's went on to record three more albums with Ginger Baker on drums. Never the less, keeping wit their tradition of utilizing exceptional drummers at their every turn. A personal favorite is "Polecat Woman" from the album "TWO". Perfect blend of Led Zeppelin and Rose Tattoo. Enjoy!

Peacepipe - "Sea of Nightmares" 1995 (recorded late 60's)

From Allmusic: "Peacepipe were the brainchild of John Uzonyi. A power trio the played southern California and Arizona in the late 60's. They released one single during their existence, and also cut this album which wasn't released until 1995.
Originally released on vinyl on Rockadelic only, Shadocks records, which issued the first single, has released the album on CD remastered from the original master tapes. Heavy psych at it's finest, monster tones, not unlike that of Hendrix, but with a much different playing style. Uzonyi is aided by drummer Gary Tsuruda and keyboard player Rick Abts. There at least two guitars present at all times, and in addition to singing, Uzonyi most likely does the bass tracks as well. The material ranges from superheavy guitar insanity to more poppy material. The album sounds "of the day", but a lot of the guitar still sounds inventive.

Dark - "Artefacts From the Black Museum" 1996

From Prog Archives: "Crafting a musical skeleton that has as much in common with British folk bands as it does with California jam bands, Dark wouldn't be unlike a lot of other psychedelic bands of the late 60's/early 70's. What made them different was one thing: a solid understanding of fuzzy guitar. Rather than use a fuzzbox to show off, Dark incorporated it into the build of their songs, laying it across moody, heavy tracks that approached sprawling."
With Round the Edges their sole release, this album is comprised of demo tracks and outtakes that had come to light in the early 90's to coincide with the rejuvenated interest in the genre. This album from 1996 remains one of my personal favorites of the lot (others include: Teenage Angst (The Early Sessios) (1994), Dark & Tarsus - A Min-Album (1994) Anonymous Days (2001), and The Jam (2007).
Pretty good stuff, and will satisfy the hunger of those who want to go deeper.

The Haunted - s/t 1967

In 1965, Jurgen Peter joined up with Bob Burgess (vocals) , Al Birmingham (guitar), Glen Holmes (bass), and Peter Symes (drums) to form The Haunted. Besides Peter, the other band member who was constant through most of the bands six year history was Birmingham. The band membership that recorded the bands best known song, "1-2-5" was composed of Birmingham (lead guitar), Peter (rhythm guitar), Burgess (vocals), Mason Shea (bass), and Dave Wynn (drums).
The bands first big break came after winning a "Battle of the Bands" at the Montreal Forum in 1965, beating such competitors as David Clayton-Thomas and the Shays. The first prize was studio time, bankrolled by Quality records. They used it to record the two songs on their first single, "1-2-5" with "Eight O'Clock this Morning" as the B-side. The execs at Quality records were enthusiastic about "1-2-5", but objected to the original lyrics, so an alternative "clean" version was also produced, and the single (with "clean" lyrics) was released in 1966. The first pressing of this single had the bands name mis-printed as "The Hunted."  Ironically, the latter pressings with the band's name spelled correctly are more difficult to locate.
The single achieved substantial local success, then broke nationally making the Canadian version of the national charts (RPM Weekly Magazine). The song gained enough attention in the U.S. to attract a U.S. version of the single on Amy records, who released the original "uncensored" version. Several more singles as well as a self titled album over the next two years, served to increase their popularity.
Their final single, "Vapeur Mauve" is a French language version of Jim Hendrix's Purple Haze.
The band grew to be one of the most 'in-demand' bands in Canada for the balance of the 1960's, and into the 1970's. Peter decided to fold the band in 1971, saying: "We were the most sought after and highest paid band in Canada for many years. When I folded the band in 1971, I had to cancel a whole years worth of bookings and it cost me a fortune in lawyers fees to get out of some of them. At the time of the breakup, the band had a loyal fan club with thousands of members."
Subsequent to the breakup of the band, control of the band's name seems to have been lost. As of 1996, the name is most closely related to a Swedish Heavy Metal band.

Highway Robbery - "For Love or Money" 1972

From Rockesteria: 'After a stint with the Boston Tea Party, lead guitarist Michael Stevens began looking for another project. Perhaps inspired by Capitol Record's success with a power trio (e.g. Grand Funk), Stevens decided to build a hard rock trio. He eventually ended up with a lineup consisting of singer/drummer Don Francisco who had previously been a member of the California based Altee and Crowfoot and bassist John Livingston Tunison IV had been in an outfit called Manitoba Hugger.

Stevens and company attracted the attention of producers Robert Cavallo and Joseph Rufallo who'd turned acts like Little Feet and The Weather Report into big names. The two signed Highway Robbery to their management roster and quickly approached Bill Halverson about producing the band's debut album. Signed by RCA Victor and teamed with Halverson in the production role, all hyperbole aside, these guy managed to write and record one of the great and overlooked albums of the 1970's."

Supa Chief - "Red Brained Woman" b/w "Animal Woman" 1969

Supa Chief was an Orange County band with Bob DelMalignon on vocals, the Shattuck brothers, Dan and James, (guitar and drums respectively), along with Mike Carousel (guitar), and Dennis Crocker on bass. Heavy lead guitars, ans plenty of cowbell baby! Not too much more is known about this outfit, although it's been speculated that the Shattuck brothers are somehow distantly related to The Muffs' Kim Shattuck. The world may never know.

Arzachel (Uriel) - s/t 1969

Uriel were an English psychedelic/blues band formed in 1968, consisting of Steve Hillage (guitar/vocals), Dave Stewart (organ), Clive Brooks (drums), and Mont Campbell (bass/vocals). The band produced their sole album under the assumed name Arzachel in June, 1969.

Formed while Hillage, Campbell, and Stewart were at City of London School, the band played covers of Cream, Jimi Hendrix, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, & The Nice. After Hillage left in mid-1968 to attend university, the remaining trio began playing original materiel written by Campbell & Stewart. Bowing to pressure of their managers, the band changed their name to Egg in early 1969. Shortly after Egg signed to Decca, a tiny company named Zackaria Enterprises gave the musicians an opportunity to record a psychedelic session for the burgeoning market. Since this was not "Egg" material (and besides, they were now under contract from Decca), Uriel re-united to produce their sole album in June of 1969, a one-off psychedelic project under the assumed name Arzachel (named after a crater on the moon, itself, named after a medieval Spanish astronomer). The musicians also used pseudonyms on the album, although their biographies contained some measure of truth.

Simon Sasparella (Steve Hillage) -  guitar/vocals, Njerogi Gategaga (Mont Campbell) - bass guitar and vocals, Basil Dowling (Clive Brooks) - drums, and Sam Lee-Uff (Dave Stewart) - Organ.
The album Arzachel was recorded and mixed in a single session in London. The A-side has 4 songs, while the B-side consists of only two mind-bending psychedelic tracks, the longer of which is 17 minute long jam entitled "Metempsychosis." It was issued on the short-lived Evolution label (also home to the debut by Raw Material) and quickly became a collectors item. A pirated version is thought to have circulated in the late 1970's, and it has been heavily bootlegged in recent years. It was eventually re-released on Demon records in 1994.