In the days before punk rock, Kursaal Flyers straddled the line separating pub rock and power pop. The line was so thin it would seem to disappear in the rearview mirror, but when Kursaal Flyers were active in the mid-'70s, they were subtly pulled in two different directions. They'd tour on the same circuit as their friends Dr. Feelgood, but they also signed to Jonathan King's company in 1975, then worked with pop impresario Mike Batt after singing to CBS for The Golden Mile in 1976. Batt gave "Little Does She Know" a grandiose arrangement designed to conjure memories of Phil Spector, and it was enough for the single to crack the U.K. Top 20; however, instead of being their breakthrough, it was their only hit.

Jardine’s album was recorded in three glorious weeks in June 1969, at Sounds Aquarian Studios, a stone’s throw from that justifiably famous fashion hub, Carnaby Street. The sessions were fun. Polydor was supposed to release the album. Musicians dropped in to say "hello" and ended up on the record (uncredited) - among them Peter Frampton, Andrew "Andy" Bown (Herd and Status Quo), and Brian Appleyard (drummer from East of Eden). Singer Mickey Cox had been in Robert Plant’s pre-Led Zeppelin group The Band of Joy - it was Cox, in fact, who became their singer when Plant left the band. But suddenly, thanks to band management problems, the LP was shelved. Keith Law, who had written all of the songs, joined Velvett Fogg for their only album, and Jardine was forgotten…

The sheer toughness – and overall derivative – nature of Killing Floor's debut album, issued six months after Led Zeppelin's debut in 1969 on the Spark label, is a wondrous contrast to the overly slick treatment American blues were given by British artists. All of these tunes, with the exception of one, are revamped versions of songs from the blues canon with different words. The lone "cover" in the set was written by Willie Dixon titled "Woman You Need Love," the tune Zep ripped for "Whole Lotta Love." Despite the fact that this set was issued before by Repertoire, the Akarma version is definitive in that it features the original cover artwork in a heavy cardboard gatefold sleeve, and killer sound.

Growers of Mushroom is the first album by British hard rock band Leaf Hound. The album reportedly took only 11 hours to record in Mayfair's Spot Studios. It has become a much-sought-after LP by collectors (a mint condition copy sold for $4329.00 USD in March 2016). Growers of Mushroom became a collectors item in the years to come and was voted the number one most collectible rock album in Q magazine. This is the only album by the classic Leaf Hound line-up. A few months after recording it, the group disbanded, but re-united in 2004, thirty-three years later.

This is the 1993 edition of the Trademark Of Quality promotional sampler made by Warner Bros/Reprise. The title and cover art is in honor of the bootleg record label Trademark Of Quality (TMOQ) and itfeatures artists from their alternative and hip-hop departments, including a few things that hadn't been publicly released or was in limited edition. Warner Bros./Reprise released a new Trademark Of Quality disc once a year for a few years, this one is the second.

Lunedì 30 novembre, in cd, vinile e nei migliori store on line, esce “Confini” il quinto album della band salentina Muffx. Prodotto da Riccardo Rinaldi snc e pubblicato su Black Widow Records con il sostegno di Puglia Sounds Record 2020/2021 della Regione Puglia (FSC 2014/2020 – Patto per la Puglia – Investiamo nel vostro futuro), il disco è quasi interamente registrato live durante un concerto tenuto il 21 agosto, nella strana estate 2020, nell’atrio del Palazzo Belmonte Pignatelli di Galatone, in provincia di Lecce (in collaborazione con l’amministrazione comunale).

Dutch experimentalists The New Earth Group are streaming the title track from their forthcoming new album Hurts Really Happy. It is a blend of prog rock guitar having a chat with a bit of jazz and some electronic dance to spice things up. Would have a perfect fit for a early Seventies sci-fi B-movie.

Who could ever have thought, going back to the Pretty Things' first recording session in 1965 – which started out so disastrously that their original producer quit in frustration – that it would come to this? The Pretty Things' early history in the studio featured the band with its amps seemingly turned up to 11, but for much of S.F. Sorrow the band is turned down to seven or four, or even two, or not amplified at all (except for Wally Allen's bass – natch), and they're doing all kinds of folkish things here that are still bluesy enough so you never forget who they are, amid weird little digressions on percussion and chorus; harmony vocals that are spooky, trippy, strange, and delightful; sitars included in the array of stringed instruments; and an organ trying hard to sound like a Mellotron…

In his 2000 debut album, Craig David merges smooth-soul crooning with a cascade of glistening keyboards, circling guitars, and sophisticated rhythms. Displaying a healthy marriage of current R&B vocal stylings and U.K. club/dance fused beats, David's music skillfully evades feeling robotic and cold, while still sounding pristine and immaculate. As an artist who is in his late teens, he conjures up a personal and revealing work that delves into both his mature sound and youthful attitude. Co-writing and co-producing with Mark Hill of the British garage act the Artful Dodger, David wraps his scorching-cool vocals around a mellow attack of keyboards and drums, while distinctly focusing on romance, relationships, and clubbing.

First time on CD for this 1968 release. Jeremy & The Satyrs was a collaboration between Jazz flautist Jeremy Steig, bassist Eddie Gomez and keyboardist Warren Bernhardt. The band were a unique fusion of Jazz, Blues and Psychedelic Rock. They issued just one album on Reprise Records before going their separate ways, making names for themselves in the world of Jazz. These are all brilliant instrumentalist of course and hearing their early efforts brings on a lot of nostalgia. This album is definitely worth further investigation, both by people familiar with these players as well as fans of the wonderfully weird 1960s music.

Goose has announced the coming release of their first official live album, Alive and Well. The album is comprised of recordings from various 2019 performances.

For whatever reason, Pretty Things failed to make significant inroads in the U.S. when the window of opportunity was open widest. Perhaps the Rolling Stones, the Who, and the Animals more than fulfilled the quota for invading bad boys. Maybe their sophomoric (and less than artistic) obsession with drugs played a role, though that's doubtful, given the preponderance of mind-altering substance cheerleading by '60s bands. Like the Stones, Pretty Things incorporated garage, R&B, and psychedelia into their aggressive style of rock & roll…

At the start of the 1980s, it dawned on somebody in charge of Jimi Hendrix's musical legacy that a whole generation of new listeners had come of age since the guitarist's demise. That meant it was time for a fresh raid on the vaults and a fresh, authorized album release to fly the flag of the Hendrix estate, amid the steady stream of bootleg, gray market, and other unauthorized collections of his early work starting to fill up record store bins and browsers…

Controversial at the time, delayed because of fights with the record company over lyrical content and the original title (Volunteers of America), Volunteers was a powerful release that neatly closed out and wrapped up the '60s. Here, the Jefferson Airplane presents itself in full revolutionary rhetoric, issuing a call to "tear down the walls" and "get it on together." "We Can Be Together" and "Volunteers" bookend the album, offering musical variations on the same chord progression and lyrical variations on the same theme…

Faded old-world flowers adorn both sides of the cover with a big strip of black grease disturbing the lovely imagery on the back. Beginning with Arthur Crudup's "My Baby Left Me," like that other band of famous backup players, the Section, how can this be anything but very musical? Guitarist/vocalist Henry McCullough's "Mistake No Doubt" has eerie backing vocals and is suitably well done, as is his "Let It Be Gone," and though this is far from commercial, it is important to have this document of the guys who made magic behind Joe Cocker in 1969 and Marianne Faithfull in the mid-'70s. This came right in the middle, and the Grease Band's collaborative effort, "Jesse James," could be mistaken for Doug Yule singing Lou Reed's "Train Comin' Round the Bend." It's got that chug-a-lug subdued rock sound. With Henry McCullough's Wings connection, The Grease Band gets a touch of the Beatles' guilt-by-association mystique. As intriguing and wonderful as this album is, had Joe Cocker guested on bassist Alan Spenner's "Down Home Mama" or had Marianne Faithfull taken on the traditional "To the Lord," there would have been that something extra, that intangible that makes records so very special.