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Volume 53 is another general collection of great tracks from my travels through the vaults. It does so happen that all these are from the US though....
Liquid Smoke were a Long Island, New York group that made one great album in 1970, one highlight of which is this hard rock/psych crossover track "Lookin' For Tomorrow". Another NY band, "Elephants Memory", had a long and interesting career, at one time backing John Lennon and Yoko Ono on "Some Time In New York City" and "Approximately Infinite Universe". They recorded the crazy track "Mongoose" during their hard rockin' phase and actually had quite a hit with it.
Bohemian Vendetta were yet another NY group, they had a difficult start, going through three different names, "Like Stoned" was their first ever demo and immediately showcased their peculiarly heavy psych with pounding drums. Zerfas were an Indianapolis, Indiana outfit who created some unusual music laden with sound effects, and they hit on their best formula with the stark lyrics of "You Never Win". Macabre were no less than an early incarnation of Pentagram, but Bobby Liebling's usual vagueness regarding the beginnings of the band make it hard to know exactly when or by whom this great track "Be Forewarned" was recorded. It does show a markedly different "heavy psych" sound compared to the Stone Bunny or Pentagram recordings.
Sandston, Virginia's Short Cross made one 1971 album, "Arising", showing some surprisingly accomplished and well structured hard rock/blues with frantic horns, and Dallas's The Exotics made some stabbingly heavy psych in 1968 with this volume's title track, "I Was Alone". In 1971 Texan psych band the Playboys of Edinburg changed their name to Poe and created a very cool concept album called "Up Thru The Spiral", the album chronicles the life and thoughts of Edgar Cayce, a man who could put himself into some kind of self-induced sleep state to traverse space and time. Sundance were a West Coast Rock band that put one rocker "Chico Woman" on their sole s/t album from 1971.
Three Dog Night may be familiar to you with a fair few hits under their belt, mostly cover versions (I found them originally via their Hoyt Axton "The Pusher" cover) but this little hard-rocking groovy instrumental is by far my favourite track of theirs, and following them we have none other than James Gang/Deep Purple Guitarist Tommy Bolin, with his 2nd apperance since #49 and a heavy number from his 1976 album "Private Eyes". Leo & The Prophets take us on one final heavy 60's psych trip with "Tilt-A-Whirl" before a very early and, you'll find, surprising harder-rocking closer "Dead At Last".
Track List:
01. Liquid Smoke - Lookin' For Tomorrow (1970)
02. Elephant's Memory - Mongoose (1970)
03. Bohemian Vendetta - Like Stoned (1966)
04. Zerfas - You Never Win (1973)
05. Macabre - Be Forewarned (1971)
06. Short Cross - Wastin' Time (1972)
07. The Exotics - I Was Alone (1968)
08. Poe - Automatic Writing / Sons Of Belial (1971)
09. American Eagle - On The Rack (1970)
10. Sundance - Chico Woman (1971)
11. Three Dog Night - Fire Eater (1971)
12. Tommy Bolin - Shake The Devil (1976)
13. Leo & The Prophets - Tilt-A-Whirl (1967)
14. Dead At Last (1971)
Thanks for listening! Rich
