Psychedelia / Prog / Kraut / Space / Psychedelic Folk (60s-70s)

http://www.last.fm/music/Fever+Tree wrote: Although a Texas, USA-based act, Fever Tree made its mark with a tribute to the Summer of Love’s host city with their 1968 anthem “San Francisco Girls (Return Of The Native)”. Comprising Rob Landes (keyboards), Dennis Keller (vocals), E.E. Wolfe (bass), John Tuttle (drums) and Michael Knust (guitar), the psychedelic band formed in Houston, Texas, in the mid-60s as Bostwick Vine. The name change came in 1967 and the band subsequently signed with the Chicago-based Mainstream Records. Two unsuccessful singles were recorded, and the unit then signed to Uni Records, and recorded their self-titled debut album in 1968. “San Francisco Girls (Return Of The Native)” was penned by Vivian Holtzman, one of the band’s producers. Although only a minor chart hit, it received much airplay on the new USA FM rock stations and on John Peel’s Top Gear radio programme in the UK. Fever Tree recorded four albums, three of which charted in the USA, before splitting up in 1970. Interest in the band was renewed in the mid-80s psychedelic revival, and compilation albums were issued in both the USA and UK.

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Search+Party wrote:A rare religious rock album by a from Wisconsin band who relocated to Sacramento, California. Many of the tracks feature lovely female vocals, although part of Side Two is more acoustic and folky with male vocals.
At its best the album is superb. A mystical atmosphere is created by the floating, melodic psychedelia of songs like When He Calls, So Many Things Have Got Me Down and The News Is You. Just listen and drift away.
(“Fuzz, Acid & Flowers” by Vernon Joynson)

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/steel-mill-mn0000530193/biography wrote: A band long lost to the realm of speculation, misinformation, and even outright myth, Steel Mill stumped even expert music collectors for a few decades due to a scarcity of reliable evidence documenting the feats, foibles, and verifiable facts of their very existence. In time, it was learned that the late-‘60s roots of the group lay in the South London neighborhood of Wadsworth, where future Steel Mill vocalist and keyboardist David Morris first teamed up with sax and woodwind player John Challenger (late of short-lived Decca recording artists the Garret Singers), and, soon after, guitarist Terry Williams, bassist Derek Chandler, and drummer Colin Short -- all three of whom originated in yet another band called Roadrunners. The ensuing year was spent in constant rehearsal interrupted only rarely by live performances, but a handful of promising demos cut in April 1970 showed that Steel Mill were ready to break the shackles of the Brit blues scene with a few more pensive and eclectic numbers, resulting in a management and production deal.

Sessions were quickly booked for the fledgling band (temporarily featuring Rumplestiltskin drummer Ricky "Rupert" Baer) to record a single with producer John Schroeder (Status Quo, the Shadows, etc.) at Marquee Studios, situated behind the celebrated London venue, where Steel Mill also secured a six-month residency, followed by a performance at the 1971 Reading Festival. Soon after, the band's debut single, "Green Eyed God," was issued by their new label backers, the prophetically named Penny Farthing Records, and eventually peaked at a respectable number 51 on the British charts and an eye-opening number 17 on the German charts. And so December of 1971 found a slightly reshuffled Steel Mill -- now completed by the rhythm section of bassist Jeff Watts and drummer Chris "The Rat" Martin -- holed up at London's Delane Lea Studios with Schroeder, busily recording their first album, also to be titled Green Eyed God, in order to capitalize on their recent chart success. But the fruits of Steel Mill's labors left their label unconvinced, and despite giving the LP a 1972 release in Germany, where its imaginative brand of heavy progressive rock fit right in with local trends, in the U.K. Penny Farthing decided to bet the band's future on a second, non-album single called "Get on the Line," which ironically took the music industry's shady dealings to task.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=3487 wrote:Galliard is a sextet formed in the summer of 68, and developed a psychedelic type of brass rock, fronted by twin wind players Caswell and Smith and singer Geoff Brown. They recorded two albums on the Deram Nova label (the subsidiary prog label of Decca records) around the turn of the 70's decade, when brass rock was the rage. Their first album Strange Pleasure By Galliard, released in 69, was quite eclectic, ranging from Medieval to Flamenco/Spanish music. For their second album New Dawn, wind player John Smith was gone, but the group adjoined a mega brass section of four player, plus keyboardist Morton. This second album sounds a bit different, but we are still roughly in the same realm even if the spectrum is enlarged to folk and Indian raga.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_Square_%28band%29 wrote:Haymarket Square was a Chicago-based psychedelic rock band in the late 1960s and early 1970s.Their album, Magic Lantern, released in 1968, was a major hit, and is well considered by fans of psychedelic rock music even today.The music of the album was used to accompany the Baron and Bailey Light Circus at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

http://tyme-machine.blogspot.gr/2011/10/october-country-october-country-us-1968.html wrote:October Country was a short lived “band” fronted by West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band leader/virtuoso Michael Lloyd (For another great Lloyd album, see the January 9th, 2010 post of The Smoke).
Lloyd wrote, produced, sang lead and background vocals and played all kinds of instruments on the record. The record itself was engineered by Roy Halee, a legendary west coast engineer who worked on the Millennium’s “Begin” album as well as some historic Simon and Garfunkel cuts. If you’ve heard “Come to the Sunshine”, (the Van Dyke Parks‘ produced track), by the Harpers Bizarre, then this record will ring some familiar bells as you’re playing it. Most of the album resonates on the same frequency as those west coast pop “divas” work; cheery twee-pop that bounces and jingles with light subject matter intended to make it’s listener smileUltimately I have found though, that the lack of a direction that too much “sky-high-airy” music brings catches up with discerning listeners, resulting in every track feeling and sounding very VERY similar.
If the production were on the same par as say, Gary Usher produced Sagittarius, then this album would have been a classic;

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/crystal-circus-mn0000719957/biography wrote:Crystal Circus put out an extremely Strawberry Alarm Clock-sounding single in 1967, "In Relation (To Our Times)"/"Merry-Go-Round," and an entire album of mostly unreleased material credited to the band surfaced on CD in 2001. The Strawberry Alarm Clock connection was not coincidental, since Crystal Circus recorded for the same label, All-American, on which the Strawberry Alarm Clock had first recorded. Also, Crystal Circus were produced by Bill Holmes, who also worked on recordings by the Strawberry Alarm Clock. Certainly "In Relation (To Our Times)" closely approximates the sound of "Incense and Peppermints" without sounding too explicitly derivative. Its B-side "Merry-Go-Round" is a poppier effort, with sunshine pop harmonies and production not much unlike those on Turtles records of the period. The Crystal Circus CD In Relation to Our Times includes these and ten other songs, and was said to be an untitled 1968 album that had gotten to the pressing stage, but was never released. The album's actually decent pop-psychedelia, again in the mold of the Strawberry Alarm Clock. In fact the argument can be made that it's rather more solid than the Strawberry Alarm Clock's own LPs, though it's lacking a classic on the order of "Incense and Peppermints."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Sun wrote:Night Sun were a German heavy prog band consisting of Bruno Schaab (vocals, bass), Walter Kirchgassner (guitar), Knut Rossler (organ, piano, trumpet, bassoon) and Ulrich Staudt (drums).

Their only album, Mournin', was released in 1972 on Polydor's Zebra label. Schaab's vocals recalled the screams of Ian Gillan from Deep Purple. The group played a loud, Deep Purple/Black Sabbath/Led Zeppelin style rock, with a characteristic "heavy progressive" instrumentation of twin guitars, organ, bass and drums. The album was produced by Konrad Plank (whose production credits include Kraftwerk's early output and Ash Ra Tempel) at the Windrose Studio, Hamburg.

With their sudden shifts of rhythm structures, guitar-with-organ riffing style and some studio effects, particularly phasing, Night Sun fortunately never went too close to the ordinary boogie and rock'n'roll trap.

http://psychedelicized.com/playlist/l/lemon-fog-the/ wrote:From: Houston, TX, USA

The Lemon Fog were an obscure quintet out of Texas who are best known for being the first rock act ever to sign with Ray McGinnis’ Orbit Records. The band started out in 1963 as the Bar Eights, formed by Fillmore High School students Danny Ogg and Terry Horde. Timmy Thorpe (bass) and Dale VanDeloo (saxophone, vocals) were then added to the fold. The Bar Eights were a surf-rock band who had a few pop-soul numbers too. The band landed a few gigs in coffee bars before they broke up when VanDeloo reportedly attacked Ogg with a microphone stand during an argument.

Chris Lyons was recruiting musicians at Clem’s Music in Houston for a new band. Ogg showed up and was asked by Lyons to join the band. Ogg agreed to join on the condition that Thorpe be allowed in as the bass player. Lyons agreed to this request, and within days the band, now called the Pla-Boys, played their first gig , at St. Regis College for the Arts. At this show, the band was seen and heard by Ted Eubanks, an avant-garde composer on Houston’s mod scene. Eubanks liked what he saw, liking their technique more than their repertoire. He immediately approached the band after the show and offered them some suggestions. Liking what Eubanks had to say, the Pla-Boys started including original material in their sets. Their image was also changed from clean-cut, matching suits to psychedelic. In only a few weeks in 1965, the Pla-Boys became the Lemon Fog.

Soon after, the lineup of the band changed. Thorpe was dropped and Ogg moved over to bass. Horde came in as the lead guitarist. Winning a local battle of the bands, along with the help of producer-songwriter Jimmy Duncan, the Lemon Fog were approached by Orbit Records with a recording contract. Orbit only ever released three singles by the band, although several hours worth of material had been recorded under the direction of Eubanks. “The Living Eye Theme” (also known as “The Lemon Fog”) was their most successful, reaching #8 on the regional and local charts.

Unfortunately, personality conflicts resulted in the Lemon Fog’s demise. The band had some rather excellent music to their credit, but egos clashed, and the use of drugs prevented one of the member’s talents to not shine through. Also, Eubanks started cutting records as a solo artist in 1970, leading towards the Lemon Fog falling apart.

Artist information sources include: an article by Bruce Eder at Allmusic.com

http://www.last.fm/music/Woody+Kern wrote: The only album of this british group is one of the most interesting and less known items in the progressive rock catalogue. It is hard to believe that such a fantastic piece of music, released at the beggining of 1969, had to wait so long to be transfered onto compact disc. Originally released on Pye, Awful Disclosures is a very colorful album. The sourcesof ispiration clearly stand out: blues, jazz, and psycedelic rock. The result of this blend is an aural feast: tasty guitar work, nice flutes and saxophones, occasional hammond organ and swinging, powerful rhythm section. Woody Kern liked to set on long instrumental trips with many rhytm changes. Their music is a typical example of british underground stuff and can be compared to East Of Eden, Steamhammer, Early Family or Velvet Frog. Sadly, the lack of promotion and management brought an end to one of the most impressive bands of those times. We are left with one LP and a single: Biography/Tell You I’m Gone. To make things worse, the whereabouts of almost all musicians of Woody Kern are unknown. Only the guitarist Rick Kenton appeared for a while in Roxy Music during their embryonic days. This unique LP consisting of 55 minutes of music became a rare collector’s item.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1272 wrote:Cornucopia biography
A fairly large outfit (seven musicians plus contributions from Producer Petersen - ex-IKARUS), their sole album presents a continuously changing jazz-fusion-rock somewhat similar to THIRSTY MOON. The first side presents a long 20-min+ suite that flows everywhere but the second side presents two shorter tracks and another 12 min epic.

: : : Hugues Chantraine, BELGIUM : :

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/moby-grape-mn0000569914/biography wrote:One of the best '60s San Francisco bands, Moby Grape were also one of the most versatile. Although they are most often identified with the psychedelic scene, their specialty was combining all sorts of roots music -- folk, blues, country, and classic rock & roll -- with some Summer of Love vibes and multi-layered, triple-guitar arrangements. All of those elements only truly coalesced, however, for their 1967 debut LP. Although subsequent albums had more good moments than many listeners are aware of, a combination of personal problems and bad management effectively killed off the group by the end of the 1960s.

http://tyme-machine.blogspot.gr/2009/11/federal-duck-federal-duck-us-1968.html wrote:Federal Duck were Ken Stover (piano-organ-tuba), Jack Bowers (guitar-dulcimer-recorders), George Stavis (guitars-vocals), Huck White (guitars-french horn-recorders), Timmy ackerman (drums-conga-percussion), Bob Stern (bass-vocals), and Tony Shaftel (bass-vocal) with Thesha Dow (triangle).
The bizarrely-named Federal Duck made its appearance on the Musicor label in 1968. Formed by banjo exponent George Stavis, Federal Duck (named after the Federal Duck Stamp Program which was enacted by conservationist Jay "Ding" Darling and US President Franklin D Roosevelt in 1934) produced this lone musical effort which, once you get past the absurd cover, is a consistently good album that is mildly jazzy, wtih some fine bass and an ever-present darkish vibe.
~ (Internet Source).

http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1143 wrote:White Noise is the brain child of American born David Vorhaus who studied both classical music and electronics and Brit Delia Derbyshire. Their desire to create a new style by combining music with science lead them to become some of the earliest pioneers of electronic music. An Electric Storm was collaboration between Vorhaus, holding the title “Production Coordinator” (I like the way he is just plain old boring David Vorhaus for this credit yet when he’s in charge of “Special Stereo effects” he becomes David Vorhaus B.Sc, Dip. Elec!! Just so you know he’s qualified for the job) along with Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson responsible for “Electronic Sound Realisation”. Derbyshire was a seriously right on woman who studied maths and music and then in 1959 she approached Decca for a position only to be was told they did not employ women in their recording studios. She then went to Geneva to work for the UN and then later in 1960 became a trainee studio manager for the BBC. The BBC’s new radiophonic workshop came under the same department so Delia asked for an attachment there. This became a permanent “temporary” arrangement. Apparently there were no permanent attachments due to fears that working for too long with electronic sounds could cause brain damage. Delia was in her element and quickly began experimenting with her ideas on the theories and perception of sounds, and ways of communicating moods using only electronic means. Before long she had created a recording which would endure as being one of the most famous pieces of music to sum up the era and genre, the theme to Dr Who.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_Itself_%28band%29 wrote:Fear Itself was a short-lived psychedelic blues-rock band formed by Ellen McIlwaine in the late 1960s in Atlanta, Georgia. The band featured McIlwaine singing lead vocals as well as performing harmonica, rhythm guitar and organ. Chris Zaloom performed lead guitar, Steve Cook played bass guitar, and Bill McCord was on drums. (Steve Cook left Fear Itself after this album was recorded and Paul Album joined the group playing bass guitar.)

Inspired by Jimi Hendrix and Cream, the group's sound was unique due in large part to the McIlwaine's gospel-bluesy voice and lyrics.

The group performed at Woodstock Festival in 1969, and eventually separated after the bass guitarist Paul Album was killed by a drunk driver. McIlwaine later moved to Canada and started a solo career.

The band released one self-titled album in 1969 on vinyl by Dot Records, and it was re-released on CD in 2006 by World IN Sound. Prior entry stated that the CD contains a bonus track, "Born Under a Bad Sign." That song actually appears on the original LP.

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/serpent-power-mn0000504303/biography wrote:Fronted by San Franciscan poet David Meltzer, the Serpent Power was a sunshiny folk-rock group, whose songs were musical translations of Meltzer's poetry. They were first noticed by Ed Denton, manager of Country Joe and the Fish, when he saw them perform at their first-ever gig, a benefit for the Telegraph Neighborhood Center. This was in November of 1966 -- Denton recommended them to Vanguard Records (Country Joe's label) and by 1967 the band was signed and had released their first and only album