domingo, 26 de outubro de 2014

ROCK RARO (VOLUME 2) - Um mergulho na arqueologia do rock


Já está disponível o novo livro "Rock Raro", do colecionador e admirador de rock dos anos 60 e 70, o paulistano e colecionador Wagner Xavier. O volume 2 traz 343 grupos e discos raros dos anos 60 e 70, sendo todos inéditos em relação ao volume 1 do Rock Raro, que também será reeditado até o final do ano. O Rock Raro volume 2 está muito mais colorido, com diversas fotos dos próprios discos do autor, traz grupos da América do Sul além de 3 bônus raros. Hard rock, progressivo, folk e o blues rock são os principais gêneros abordados.

É um trabalho único no Brasil e similar ao "Record Collector Dreams" do austríaco Hans Pokora , mas certamente o Rock Raro é bem mais legal porque cada álbum tem uma resenha muito bem feita, ficha técnica com a formação da banda, seu país de origem, data de lançamento do LP, gênero e lista de músicas, além de cotação, fotos coloridas de capa e contracapa. Tudo com material de primeira qualidade e feito de forma profissional.

Rock Raro é um livro espetacular e obrigatório, digamos que é biblioteca básica pra fazer parte do acervo de qualquer colecionador ou apreciador do rock obscuro e raro dos anos 60-70, bem como uma descoberta para as novas gerações. É um mergulho na arqueologia do rock. É a bíblia do rock. Os subterrâneos do rock trazidos à superfície.
Eu diria que é um veneno altamente recomendado!!
Não consumam com nenhuma moderação!!
 
O mestre do Rock Raro, Wagner Xavier
 
 Maiores detalhes a respeito do livro e também como comprar pode ser obtido diretamente no site: http://rockraro.com.br/

quinta-feira, 23 de outubro de 2014

DOWN UNDER NUGGETS: Original Australian Artyfacts (1965-1967 Rare Garage Punk Psych Rock)


NUGGETS: ORIGINAL ARTYFACTS, OU SIMPLESMENTE NUGGETS, É SEM DÚVIDA NENHUMA A COMPILAÇÃO MAIS INFLUENTE DA HISTÓRIA DO ROCK!! COMPILADO POR UM JOVEM CRÍTICO DE ROCK CHAMADO "LENNY KAYE", QUE DEPOIS VIRIA A SER CONHECIDO COMO GUITARRISTA DE PATTI SMITH, NUGGETS INFLUENCIOU AS GERAÇÕES SEGUINTES DE GARAGE-ROCKERS E SE TORNOU CLÁSSICO DA OBSCURIDADE SESSENTISTA!! E PARA COMEMORAR O 40º ANIVERSÁRIO DO NUGGETS, A WARNER MUSIC AUSTRALIA LANÇOU ESSA COMPILAÇÃO COM O MELHOR DO ROCK DE GARAGEM AUSTRALIANO DOS ANOS 60!! APRESENTA 29 DAS MAIS SELVAGENS BANDAS QUE GRAVARAM NOS ANOS 60!! A AUSTRALIA CONSEGUE ENTÃO O SEU PRÓPRIO NUGGETS COM MUITO GARAGE PUNK, ENCHARCADO DE PSICODELIA FRENÉTICA E FUZZY!!
 
A ULTIMA FAIXA DA BANDA THE SUNSETS É UMA EXTREMA RARIDADE POIS É UMA VERSÃO DO FILME GENERATION HOT, QUE É MUITO RARO E DIFÍCIL DE ENCONTRAR!! TEM TAMBÉM UMA FAIXA RARÍSSIMA DA BANDA BEE GEES QUE É UMA GRAVAÇÃO ANTES AINDA DA GRAVAÇÃO DE SEU PRIMEIRO ALBUM!! NA VERDADE TUDO QUE ESTÁ NESSA COLETÂNEA É UMA RARIDADE, MAS ESTA EM QUESTÃO SÃO ESCAVAÇÕES AINDA MAIS PROFUNDAS!! VENENO RECOMENDADO PARA QUAQUER FÃ DE GARAGE OU PSYCH ROCK DOS ANOS 60!! A REMSTERIZAÇÃO DAS FAIXAS FICOU EXCELENTE!!
 
The 40th anniversary of the original Nuggets-Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 is very well celebrated with this excellent compilation which proves to be The Ultimate 60's Australian Garage-Rock Collection. The official title of this fine collection is Down Under Nuggets:Original Australian Artyfacts 1965-67. This compilation also follows the 2001 Nuggets II:Original Artyfacts From The British Empire & Beyond, which was an excellent 4-cd collection put out by Rhino. Here, Australia finally gets it's own Nuggets. Fans of 60's Garage-Punk recordings will be very pleased with this 1 cd, unique 29-track set of Aussie Garage-Rock which clocks in at almost 78 minutes of frenzied-fuzz-drenched psychedelia. The collection features swirling primitive organ fills combined with an even cruder sound of adolescent put-downs. As in the other Nugget collections, there is not a bad track here to be heard with a treasure trove of very good to excellent tracks for fans to truly enjoy. There is also a 20 page booklet that covers each group and tune to savor. Some of the groups included here are: The Master's Apprentices, The Missing Links, The Black Diamonds, The Atlantics, The Lost Souls, The Loved Ones, The Throb, The Creatures, The Easybeats, The Wild Cherries, The Blue Beats & The Sunsets. The Sunsets track is especially important because it is the band's 5:29 version of "The Hot Generation", from the motion picture with the same name, which is quite rare & difficult to find. There is also a very rare track by The Bee Gees from an early session named "Like Nobody Else". Actually, if one wanted to try to purchase most of these tracks individually, you would have to pay between $1,000-$3,000, if you could even track them down. All-In-All, fans of this musical genre will be leaping with joy over this excellent collection! VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! this 29 track cd is well worth it for any fan of 60s garage rock or psyche, the remastering sounds awesome so most of these tracks have never sounded better, play this loud if you buy it as that was the only way this was meant to be heard!!!!! 


01. The Masters Apprentices - Buried And Dead
02. The Elois - By My Side
03. The Black Diamonds - I Want, Need, Love You
04. The Atlantics - Come On
05. The Purple Hearts - Early In The Morning
06. The Missing Links - Wild About You
07. The Creatures - Ugly Thing
08. The Lost Souls - This Life of Mine
09. The Moods - Rum Drunk
10. Derek's Accent - Ain't Got No Feeling
11. Bee Gees - Like Nobody Else
12. Barrington Davis - Raining Teardrops
13. The D-Coys - Bad Times
14. The In-Sect - Let This Be A Lesson
15. Steve & The Board - I Want
16. Toni McCann - No
17. Peter & The Silhouettes - Claudette Jones
18. The Five - There's Time
19. Bobby & Laurie - No Next Time
20. MPD Ltd - I Am What I Am
21. The Cherokees - I've Gone Wild
22. The Loved Ones - The Loved One
23. Phil Jones & The Unknown Blues - If I Had A Ticket
24. The Throb - Black
25. The Blue Beats - She's Comin' Home
26. The Easybeats - Sorry
27. Bobby James Syndicate - Hey Hey Hey
28. The Wild Cherries - Krome Played Yabby
29. The Sunsets - The Hot Generation (Unreleased Soundtrack Version)
 
Notes: "Includes the never-before-heard 5:29 version of THE SUNSETS' classic 'THE HOT GENERATION'."
 
 
https://www.mediafire.com/?sehkq78fhxq0ack


ATENTION: 
Pra quem ainda não conhece os VENENOS DO ROCK tem um canal no YOUTUBE onde os envenenados vão encontrar venenos poderosos, raros e obscuros!! 
Não consumam com moderação!!  
Channel VENENOS DO ROCK in Youtube!!

sábado, 18 de outubro de 2014

MASTER'S APPRENTICES - Fully Qualified: The Choicest Cuts (1965-1972 Astralian Garage Rock)


OS BAD BOYS DO ROCK AUSTRALIANO NUMA COLETÂNEA INCRÍVEL DOS SEUS CLÁSSICOS DOS ANOS 60 E INÍCIO DOS 70!! FOI MUITO BEM REMASTERIZADO EM CIMA DAS FITAS ORIGINAIS CATADAS DAS BIBLIOTECAS DO SELO ABBEY ROAD E EMI!! DISCOTECA BÁSICA PARA QUALQUER COLECIONADOR DOS ANOS 60!! VENENO RECOMENDADO PRA QUEM GOSTA DE UM BOM ROCK SESSENTISTA DE QUALIDADE!! TRATA-SE DE UMA DAS MALHORES BANDAS DA AUSTRALIA!!
 
Brand new remastered cd featuring all the classic tracks by australia's own legendary masters apprentices. " They were wild, they were hungry, they were the bad boys of australian rock 'n' roll. They were the legendary masters apprentices, and between 1965 and 1972 they embraced almost every trend in pop music, from raw r&b and psychedelic pop to full blown progressive rock. This is an excellent overview of one of Australias' greatest bands, nicely remastered from the original tapes.


- Colin Burgess / drums
- Doug Ford / guitar, vocals
- Jim Keays / vocals, harmonica
- Glen Wheatley / bass, vocals
 
01. Poor Boy (3:05)
02. Undecided (2:28)
03. War or Hands of Time (2:51)
04. Buried and Dead (2:39)
05. Living In a Child's Dream (2:42)
06. Elevator Driver (2:21)
07. But One Day (2:39)
08. Brigette (2:24)
09. Merry-Go-Round (2:43)
10. 5.10 Man (2:36)
11. A Dog a Siren & Memories (3:11)
12. How I Love You (Instrumental) (3:12)
13. Think About Tomorrow Today (3:22)
14. Turn Up Your Radio (3:34)
15. Because I Love You (4:32)
16. Rio de Camero (3:20)
17. Easy to Lie (4:29)
18. Michael (3:53)
19. Death of a King (3:37)
20. Our Friend Owsley Stanley III (3:25)
21. Song for a Lost Gypsy (2:58)
22. Love Is (4:13)
23. Thyme to Rhyme (2:40)
24. Wild, Wild Party (2:27)
 

quinta-feira, 16 de outubro de 2014

REPOST: HAZE - Hazecolor-Dia (1971 German Hard Psych Rock)


BEAUTIFUL ALBUM!!! GREAT SOUND HARD PSYCH ROCK WHIT FLUTE SOLOS!!!
HIGHLY RECOMENDED!!!

UMA MANEIRA DE ENCONTRAR O PARAÍSO E FUMAR O SEU HAXIXE!! ASSIM ERA DEFINIDO À ÉPOCA O SOM DO HAZE!! GRANDE SOM HARD PSYCH ROCK COM PITADAS DO BLUES, SOLOS DE FLAUTA QUE NÃO SE SABE QUAL INTEGRANTE TOCA, VISTO QUE NÃO HÁ ESTA INFORMAÇÃO NA CAPA E NEM NA HISTÓRIA DA BANDA!!! O CERTO É QUE É UM SONZAÇO ALTAMENTE RECOMENDADO!!!
 
The sole album released by Haze featured another of those extraordinary artwork sleeves designed by Walter Seyffer of Nine Days' Wonder fame. It was made to look exactly like a slide picture, complete with die-cut cover and an attached transparency Picture center of the group Haze on both its front and back covers. What you get here is a photo reproduction of that artwork. Hazecolor-Dia was a Hauke & Dierks production, recorded during April 1971 at the Clerks Studio. All five tracks were written by Dietmar Low. Slow, cleverly-arranged heavy progressive rock numbers, psychedelically fueled with a faint blues tinge, featuring humorous lyrics: A Way To Find Paradise told about a hippy's struggle to get his hashish to smoke! Scherler really had a strange and wild voice (he usually screamed as loudly as he could), adding much to their gutsy freak rock style. Several tracks also featured flute (the flute player is not identified on the cover). Haze, in part, seem to draw inspiration from The Edgar Broughton Band, Arthur Brown, and Captain Beefheart. Their album is recommended for all freak rock fans!


Kurt Frei (drums),
Christian Scherler (vocals)
Hans-Jürg Frei (guitar, organ)
Dietmar Löw (bass)
Heinz Schwab (lead guitar)
 
01. Peaceful nonsense
02. Fast career
03. Be yourself
04. A way to find the paradise
05. Decision
 

terça-feira, 14 de outubro de 2014

REPOST: BIG BROTHER & Ernie Joseph – CONFUSION (1970 US Hard Rock Psych)


ALBUM RARO!!! RARE ALBUM!!NÃO CONFUNDAM ESTA BANDA COM  A BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY, EX-BANDA DA JANIS JOPLIN!! ESTA É OUTRA MENOS POPULAR E FORMADA POR ERNIE JOSEPH, EX-VOCALISTA E GUITARRISTA DA BANDA "GIANT CRAB"!! DISCO RARO E VENENO DO BOM QUE MISTURAVA HARD ROCK COM INFLUÊNCIAS PSICODÉLICAS!! VENENO RARO E RECOMENDADO!!

Ranging from fuzzed out psychedelic influenced hard rock, to straight blues rock, this album covers a few musical spectrums, but doesn't have enough stand out tracks. The vocals sound forced, and the recorded quality isn't anything spectacular.
 
A Californian band (commune/family) who recorded their first album in Hollywood. Produced by Bill Holmes, the album is patchy. Its best tracks are the hard-rocking ESP and the dreamy Wake Me Up In The Morning. The album also includes an interesting long version of Saint James Infirmary. Before Big Brother, Ernie Joseph was known as Ernie Orosco and formed several Santa Barbara outfits including Ernie and The Emperors, Ernie's Funnys and Giant Crab.
 
Big Brother Feat. Ernie Joseph - Confusion
Influenced by the guitar sounds of Hendrix, Cream and Jeff Beck, The Bill Holmes produced Confusion is an incendiary classic of British blues style guitar rock. The band, not to be confused with the similarly named and of course more popular Big Brother and the Holding Company made a name for themselves as a great live performance, often encouraging audience participation. Their on stage energy comes across well on the record, resulting in a loose charismatic album that only slows down long enough to sing a serenade on "Wake Me In The Morning." The rest blisters through with searing guitar virtuosity from Ernie Joseph and an organ sound that shows no signs of prog's impending overindulgence. A rock record from start to finish.


CORY COLT: guitar, bass, organ, vocals
STEVIE DUNWOODIE: drums, percussion, vocals
BRIAN FAITH: drums, bass
ERNIE JOSEPH: vocals, led guitar, bass
RUBEN THE JET: bass, guitar, drums, sax, vocals
 
01 Heart Full of Rain
02 Wake Me Up in the Morning
03 E.S.P
04 Heavy Load
05 We Gotta Live Together
06 L.L. A (Lubricated Love Affair)
07 Saint James Infirmary
08 Gravis Delictum (Unforgiveable Sin)
 

domingo, 12 de outubro de 2014

ROY RUTANEN - Roy Rutanen (1972 New Zealand Prog Folk Psych Acid Rock)



VENENO SUPER RARO!! HIGH RARITY!!
ALBUM MUITO BOM AO ESTILO PSYCH-ACID-PROG-FOLK-ROCK DOS ANO 70!! O CARA É DA NOVA ZELÂNDIA MAS O ALBUM FOI GRAVADO NA AUSTRÁLIA!! MUITO VIOLÃO ACUSTICO, FLAUTA E UMA RARIDADE EXCLUSIVA DO VENENOS DO ROCK AOS ENVENENADOS!! A FAIXA THE TRIP SONG JÁ VALE O ALBUM TODO!!
 
Thoroughly amazing psych-acid-folk from early 70s. Roy Rutanen hailed from New Zealand. This album was recorded in Australia and released on MCA through Astor Records. Lots of acoustic and fuzz guitar and flute. As rare as dodo droppings, copies have sold for AU$610 to AU$1,500.


Side 1:
01. Searchin 2:56
02. Plastic World 5:23
03. The Trip Song 9:24
04. AntiStink Song 0:36
05. The Old Man 5:03
Side 2:
06. The Country Song 4:17
07. Hitchin 6:03
08. Sinful Man 3:43
09. The Last Song 3:58
 

sexta-feira, 10 de outubro de 2014

EAST OF EDEN - Mercator Projected [1969 UK Rock Prog]


REPOSTAGEM COM TODAS CAPAS E REMASTERIZADA!! BOA BANDA FORMADA EM 1967 E QUE MISTURA MUITO BEM O HARD ROCK SETENTISTA COM PROGRESSIVO E O JAZZ! OS CARAS USAM VIOLINO ELÉTRICO, FLAUTA, SAXOFONE E OUTROS INSTRUMENTOS TRADICIONAIS QUE DÃO A ESTE DISCO A ENTRADA NO MUNDO DOS BONS VENENOS!! RECOMENDADO!!!
 
They where formed in 1967 and signed with DECCA RECORDS around the year 1969. Their sound is a mixture of jazz-fusion with many oriental influences.Excellent album where you get an outburst of electric violin, flute and saxes combined with Bela Bartok and other classical, oriental and even gypsie tunes always of course on a heavy rock basis.


Dave Arbus (electric violin, flute, saxophone)
Ron Caines (alto sax)
Geoff Nicholson (guitar, vocals)
Steve York (bass guitar)
Dave Dufont (percussion)
 
01. Northern Hemisphere (5:03)
02. Isadora (4:19)
03. Waterways (7:00)
04. Centaur Woman (7:09)
05. Bathers (4:57)
06. Communion (4:02)
07. Moth (4:03)
08. In The Stable Of The Sphinx (8:20)
 

quinta-feira, 9 de outubro de 2014

TRUE MYTH - True Myth (1979 Canada Progressive Rock)


ALBUM BEM RARO!! RARE ALBUM!!
BANDA CANADENSE QUE FAZIA UM PROGRESSIVO PARECIDO COM YES, MAS COM UMA INFLUÊNCIA DO JAZZ!! UMA BOA PEDIDA PRA QUEM GOSTA DE PROGRESSIVO!! UMA CURIOSIDADE É QUE ESSE ALBUM FOI O SEGUNDO A SER GRAVADO DIGITALMENTE (LEMBRANDO QUE 1979 ESTÁVAMOS ENTRANDO NA ERA DIGITAL)!! O PRIMEIRO ALBUM GRAVADO DIGITALMENTE FOI STEVIE WONDER COM SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS!! VENENO RARO!!!
 
Background
Tom Treumuth is a legend in the Canadian music scene. Producer, arranger, musician, record label owner.. you name it, he's probably done it. His origins as a musician go way back into the late 70's, with this band True Myth (clever name huh?). From London Ontario, the band members came together at a music school, where they reputedly spun this band off from a class music project. The music was described to me as a pomp/prog crossover, though upon hearing this, it definitely has leanings toward the progressive, with jazz/fusion influences heavy in the mix. Interestingly, and from a technical viewpoint, 'True Myth' the album, was unique in that it was the second album ever to be produced digitally (remembering 1979 was in the middle of the analog era). Warner Bros co-opted top producer Jack Richardson to utilise a machine called the Soundstream to record the band playing live into this two track digital system. For trainspotters, apparently the first ever digitally recorded album was Stevie Wonder's 'Secret Life Of Plants'.
 
The Songs
Music wise, True Myth are quite a technical sounding band, time changes galore, and an approach that fuses prog luminaries Yes and U.K and no doubt many others if I sit down and think about it a bit more. The musical chops displayed by this band is remarkable at times. 'Reach For The Heavens' takes us through several different passages, from Treumuth's stabbing piano work to Bollinger's dexterous drum work. 'Light Years Before' is full of piano rolls, clavinet and interesting synth parts. It takes on a Yes like personality, with Tony Cook doing his best Steve Howe rendition. Going down the pomp path is 'It's Got To Be', with strong multi-part harmonies and ever-present rhodes piano. 'Time And Time Again' again moves in a Yes direction, and considering how Messrs Anderson, Wakeman etc were obsessed with 'time' in their lyrics, it's a good fit! The obligatory ballad on the album 'Space Promenade' also happens to be an instrumental. 'In The Mist' features excellent vocals from Cumming, the track a progressive workout with everyone taking a lead. Though mostly restrained, 'Song Of The World' picks up momentum, it's etheric sound reminding us of latterday Stencil Forest and Starcastle.


Malcolm McGuigan (vocals)
Tony Cook (guitar)
Bob Stirajs (guitar)
Steve McKenna (bass)
Tom Treumuth (keyboards)
Kirk Devereaux (drums)
 
01-Reach For The Heavens  6:06 
02-Light Years Before  6:05 
03-It's Got To Be  3:13 
04-Time And Time Again  4:45 
05-Space Promenade (Instrumental)  4:28 
06-In The Mist  4:56 
07-Song Of The World  4:21 
 

quarta-feira, 8 de outubro de 2014

Repost: RIFF RAFF - Original Man (1974 UK Progressive Rock Fusion)


NEW POSTING WITH ALL COVERS!!

ÓTIMA BANDA, EXCELENTE ALBUM!! OS CARAS FAZIAM UM SOM QUE MISTURAVA COM MAESTRIA O PROGRESSIVO COM PITADAS JAZZ, BLUES E HARD ROCK!! TUDO NA MEDIDA CERTA!! NESTA BANDA HÁ UMA CURIOSIDADE, POIS TEMOS UM BRASILEIRO NA PERCUSSÃO CHAMADO AUREO DE SOUZA, UM CARIOCA JÁ RODADO NA INGLATERRA E QUE JÁ GRAVOU COM OUTRAS BOAS BANDAS, COMO POR EXEMPLO, A BANDA NUCLEUS!! "TOMMY EIRE" É UM MULTI-INSTRUMENTISTA E ERA O TECLADISTA ORIGINAL DA GREASE BAND DE JOE COCKER, TAMBÉM FEZ PARTE DA AYNSLEY DUNBAR RETALIATION EM DOIS ALBUNS DA BANDA!! TOCOU AINDA NA BANDA JUICY LUCY!! EXCELENTE VENENO E ÓTIMA RARIDADE!!
Original Liner Notes:
Riff Raff brings together four men of varying musical experiences whose sound spans both rock and modern jazz but cannot be pigeonholed in either camp.
Their music is their own; they write, arrange and produce themselves, and the result is music of today that succeeds in avoiding the self-indulgence of many of their contemporaries. They named themselves Riff Raff with tongues firmly in cheek, although the name serves to emphasize the individuality of each member of the band. All four musicians have known or known of each other for a couple of years or more: that goes double for bassist Roger Sutton and keyboard man Tommy Eyre, who both ended a two-year run with the Mark-Almond band during the Summer of 1972; guitarist Pete Kirtley is a Geordie last seen as an Alan Price sideman; and percussionist Aureo de Souza hails, as all good percussionists should, from Rio de Janeiro.
Tommy Eyre plays Fender Rhodes electric piano, organ, six- and 12-string guitar, concert and bass flute. He was classically trained on the piano from the age of three (an infant prodigy as they say), and should be best known as the keyboardist in Joe Cocker's original Grease Band (indeed he played on and arranged Joe's cover of "With A Little Help From My Friends"). Later joined Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation (with Roger Sutton) with whom he made two albums. When Aynstey left to join Zappa, Tommy had a brief period with Juicy Lucy and then moved on to Mark-Almond. Roger Sutton's bass is a specially-made fretless Fender, to which he adds cello, double bass, and six- and twelve-string guitars. He has been a pro musician since he was 17, and played his first starring part as bassist for Brian Auger's Trinity in the days of Julie Driscoll: several Sutton numbers were recorded by Jools and the band. Next came Aynsley Dunbar's Blue Whale (with Tommy Eyre), Heavy Jelly, and in mid-1970 - Mark-Almond. Roger is one of Riff Raff's main sources of original material.
Pete Kirtley has played self-taught guitar professionally from the age of 16 and his first real band of note was Graham Bell's Griffin, which also included Alan White (now of Yes) and later Bud Beadle who added saxes to Riff Raff's album. Also spent some time as session man with Alan Price and met Roger Sutton during sessions in London. Now plays a Fender Telecaster for preference.
Percussionist Aureo de Souza was born in Rio de Janeiro and left Brazil in March 1971. He has played with Paul Horn and Nucleus, and when Riff Raff were looking for a drummer, they heard of him by reputation and signed him on. Altough completely at home with the conventional drum kit, and able to underpin the band with a solid beat, he has a vast knowledge of Latin American percussion techniques which gives his playing a subtlety, sensitivity, and variety not usually found in the majority of rock drummers.
Bud Beadle, formerly with Ginger Baker's Airforce, and currently with Riff Raff, plays saxes on the album. Riff Raff made a most encouraging if somewhat hasty debut at London's Conway Hall and in something like half an hour manifested a superb show amalgamating moods with exciting melodies, catchy hooks and lots of free blowing. In fact, they exuded too much music, too much energy for the human mind to comprehend - the only way to dig the music was on a visceral level like you would on a night when the Buddy Miles Band or Santana were really cooking or if Shorter, Vitous and Zawinul suddenly walked into your local jazz cellar and took over. About the same time as this concert, I was handed the first pressing of the band's album, recorded in the carefully chosen environment of the Manor Studios in Oxfordshire.
It took some considerable effort to pass onto the second track for having heard Roger singing in unison with himself on his own "Your World", the tendency was always to go back for more.
In as much as it is the only yardstick by which to judge Tommy and Roger's stylistic changes, Riff Raff highlight the inadequacies that existed within Mark-Almond. The group could never sustain itself without a lead guitar and in Riff Raff the emphasis is constantly changing between guitar, horns and keyboards. Pete Kirtley isn't the strident lead player I had expected, in fact, he is entirely cooperative in the true sense of the word.
Composers' credits are shared throughout. Two of Kirtley's songs show the different ways in which Riff Raff choose the handle composition and in each case the result is staggering: "For Every Dog" contains a fairly uniform backing illustrating a strong melodic theme written into the composition, whereas "You Must Be Joking" is total energy and improvisation, the only reconciliation point coming where the musicians join hands for the strong hook. Dig the humour in this one too - it's a wonderful piece of escapism.
It's easy to relate the Riff Raff discography to the many sources of music which Tommy and Roger site as being their sources of inspiration. And yet no album with this vitality can be taken on such a unilateral basis for in their exposition of West Coast jazz and West Coast rock. Riff Raff speak volumes of their own experiences. And if you want to see the claustrophobic climate known as the English rock scene through a musician's eyes, then cop an earful of this album. But superlatives soon become redundant - the validity of the music goes on forever.


- Tommy Eyre / keyboards, string synthesizer, vocals
- Bud Beadle / saxophones
- Steve Gregory / saxophone, flute, clarinet
- Pete Kirtley / guitars, vocals
- Roger Sutton / bass, cello, vocals
- Aureo De Souza / drums, percussion
1. Original Man (7:40)
2. Havakak (6:06)
3. Goddamm the Man (6:09)
4. In The Deep (3:59)
5. The Waster (5:09)
6. Tom's Song (4:22)
7. Speed (9:16)