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...
Mendoza was a short-lived prog/jazz fusion band out of Sweden. Their self-titled album has a mix of styles that weave together very well. I could have selected a longer more-fusion type track for today's post, but I just couldn't resist playing this short scorcher.
If there was such a thing as "proto-doom metal", Chicago's Trouble would qualify as one of those bands. At least that is the sound that developed over time. Here they are from their second album, 1984's Psalm 9. Here the sound is still distinctly metal, not quite yet doom. Enjoy.
Egor was a London-based hard rock band that was only around for a short while in the early 70's. While most of the band were in their twenties, the lead guitarist, Eric Taylor, was only sixteen when this track was recorded. It was never released, though, until it showed up on a 2000 compilation called Downer-Rock Genocide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8sqLc0Q5DQ&feature=youtu.be
You know you have to be a pretty good musician/artist if you've inspired David Bowie. And what a good artist/musician Brian Eno is. Over his career, he's played with Roxy Music, Robert Fripp of King Crimson fame, the aforementioned David Bowie, and David Byrne of Talking Heads, among many others. The funny thing is, according to Brian himself, none of this would have happened had he not randomly met Roxy Music saxophonist Andy Mackay on a subway platform one day in the early 70's. Brian reckons that he would have become an art teacher had that not happened(although he probably would have been a very good one). As it happens, he did meet Andy Mackay and the rest is history. Here he is off of his second solo LP, Taking Tiger Mountain. The first twenty seconds or so of today's track seem to have been inspired by Pink Floyd, no? You decide.
At the age of 90, Chicago-born jazz guitarist George Freeman is still a working musician. His life in music can be celebrated with recent release, 90 Going on Amazing. However, today I'm reaching back to his fusion fueled release, Franticdiagnosis, for a song named after himself.
It's been a while since some doom metal was featured here in this space. So, I'll rectify that by playing a new band from Poland, Spaceslug. Here is the closing title track to their first full length release, Lemanis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSwodVGEy8E&feature=youtu.be
Today's song of the day was the first single from the Mo-Dettes, a short-lived UK new wave band making interesting music between 1979 and 1982. By the time that their one and only album would be released, the band changed the name of this song to White Mouse Disco. In any case, it's got great bass line that had that distinctive early 80's sound. In addition to the song, enjoy the "poor quality" VHS video that was also typical of the time.
