Exploring unheralded rock songs from many genres including classic rock, hard rock, psych, garage, metal, proto-punk, punk, post-punk, and the occasional blues tune...
Cibo Matto made some delightfully weird music in the 90's. Cibo Matto is a duo consisting of two Japanese woman who formed their band in New York and named it after an Italian phrase for crazy food. They released a couple of albums in the 90's before taking a decade off. Here is a track off of their first album, 1996's Viva! La Woman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOL8fDISewA
By 1996, Phish had been together for 13 years and were approaching one of the their career peaks. Add to that, the recent end of the Grateful Dead following Jerry Garcia's death and Phish was then(and arguably still is) the biggest jam band on the planet. They memorialized this mid 90's peak with a live release from Las Vegas. Here is Suzy Greenberg from that run. This song is indicative of the Phish sound without being to Phishy and scaring away newcomers.
Paris punk band, Stinky Toys, once shared a 1976 bill with the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, The Buzzcocks, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. The Toys were definitely the most forgettable of that bunch, but they made some really good punk music before it was fashionable. Here they are from 1977.
Jackie Wilson was a legendary live performer, whose reputation should be closer to Otis Redding or James Brown. He left it all on the stage. In fact, he suffered a massive heart attack at a concert in 1975 at the age of forty. He would slip into a coma for eight months. He managed to recover and live another nine years, but he would never be the same. Thankfully, we have the recordings. Here is Jackie from 1966.
Egg Hunt was a one-off project of former Minor Threat lead singer, Ian Mackaye and Jeff Nelson. They only released one single(two songs). They described it as post hardcore. I'm not so sure about that, but it is interesting.
Abacus were productive German prog rockers, releasing four albums in the space of their three year existence. Here is the second track off of their self-titled debut long player.
I'm pretty bad at matching holidays with thematic song selections. It's Thanksgiving in the U.S. and I've selected an obscure pop psych song from a Scottish beat group. Oh well, if you're sick of the holiday themes, you might enjoy something different.
Hmmm, how to classify The Flock...Maybe a psych rock fusion prog band out of Chicago. They changed a lot over their years of existence, but here they are in rockin raw form from their self titled debut album.
By the early 80's, young 20 something guitarist Adrian Belew had already played with Frank Zappa, David Bowie, the Talking Heads. He was also just tapped to play guitar for prog rock legends, King Crimson. Still, Adrian found time to record his first solo album, 1982's Lone Rhino. Here is the lead track from that LP.
John Charles Edward Adler, aka Twink, is an English drummer who spent time with the Pink Faeries and the Pretty Things. In between those engagements, he recorded a funky little solo album in 1970. Here is a largely instrumental number.
The band Salem Mass was from, you guessed it, Sun Valley, Idaho. This psych/hard rock/prog band that was heavy on the Moog really only one album during their early 70's experience, but it was a good one. If you come across it in the wild, pick it up!
I like my jazz without vocals in almost every situation, with one glaring exception: Mose Allison. He's the only one I'll listen to on a regular basis. This guy, who just passed away at the age of 89, was not only one of the smoothest vocalist's of his era, but he was also a phenomenal songwriter. Like many people of my generation, I first heard Mose' name while listening to Pete Townshend's introduction of Young Man's Blues on the Who's Live at Leeds LP, a song that Pete pointed out that Mose wrote at the age of forty. He also wrote songs that were covered by Van Morrison, Blue Cheer, Cactus, The Yardbirds, Hot Tuna, Leon Russell, Bonnie Raitt, John Mayall, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Paul Butterfield, and Johnny Winter among countless others. Here is one of his loungy tunes showcasing his voice and clever lyrics.
Seems to me that this first single from a Dutch hard rock band could have benefited from some better production/revision. However, there was enough here to suggest that this band could have produced some quality music. But, they only lasted about three singles worth of tunes. Thanks to the internet, I am able to enjoy them.
Silver Apples were way ahead of their time. Listen to this song, and it seems hard to believe it was from 1968. They seemed to be a forerunner of the electronic music movement that wouldn't get started in earnest for another ten years. Well, maybe then, Silver Apples were just an anomaly. In any case, it is some quality intense music.
It's not often that I dip into reggae music on this blog. That is probably an oversight I should correct, starting now. So, here is one of the masters of the craft with a politically charged song during challenging times.
Jazz/Blues pianist had a long career in the industry. He performed for over fifty years based in New Orleans. Here he is with a rather novel track from 1961.
Man, do I love Holly Golightly's voice. I first heard her sing during her guest appearance on the White Stripes' It's True That We Love One Another, the final song on their epic 2003 Elephant LP. Listening to that song, I was like "who is this?!". So, I dug through some of her solo stuff and her Headcoatees catalog. Here she is from her 2000 release, God Don't Like It
Today's song is one of those tunes that I would play over and over again when it first came out, because that's what you do when you are in your mid-twenties and like a song. There was just something about this Boston area native singing in French over fuzztone guitars that just worked for me. See if you agree.
Most musicians slow down when they get older. Their music tends to fade as the light of inspiration dims. Well, that was not the case with virtuoso jazz drummer, Buddy Rich. Buddy was 56 years young when this 1973 album was released. It's a real gem. Check it out!
I did not intend to feature performers named "Leon" on two consecutive days. That was just a coincidence. This Leon, Leon Paul-Phillips, I don't know much about. I found his 1972 album, London Underground, on the internet. Most music-bot websites describe this as prog rock, but as usual, these sites are wrong. This is a funky instrumental track. The whole album is worth checking out.
Leon Russell has such a distinctive voice. You instantly know it's him singing even if you've never heard the song before. The Tulsa native has been out there performing for sixty years. So, if you get a chance to see him, do it. Here he is from a live performance back in 1970.
Today we have another entry from the newly released I'm a Freak, Baby compilation featuring the works of underserved British freakbeat/heavy psych bands. Like Fusion Farm and Barnabus, The Kult never achieved much commercial success. They did seem to borrow a bit from Hendrix, but it is a good song nonetheless.
Today, a psych band covering a Buddy Guy blues composition is being featured here on Deep Rock Mining. I just love this tune. If I'm being honest, the Creedence Clearwater Revival version is better, but I've already featured the Fogerty brothers, et al in a previous post.
How about some funk for your Friday? Well, not many could do it better than James Brown's backing band. Here they are with one of their first instrumental releases.
The Soundtrack of Our Lives was a Swedish band that had a nice run of 15+ years releasing six long players along the way. They called it quits in 2012. Here is the band from their fourth LP, Origin Vol. 1, released in 2004.
There was a lot more to the D.C. Punk/Hardcore scene than Bad Brains and Minor Threat. Here is an example of a band from a slightly later wave of DC hardcore. There are quite a bit of styles crammed into this short tune.
Curtiss Maldoon was a British folk rock duo consisting of Dave Curtiss and Clive Maldoon. I had not heard of them until yesterday! So after aurally perusing their debut album, there are about three tunes that lean to the rock side of "folk rock". This is one of them. Good stuff. The band would make one more album in 1973, but split shortly thereafter.
