THE BROTHERHOOD - Stavia [USA garage psychedelic 1972] 2017 Out-Sider OSRCD065

In 1972, Ohio based band THE BROTHERHOOD released their only album, “Stavia”. It was a private edition of 200 copies, pressed at the legendary Rite custom plant. This rare album is a good example of US acid-rock / hippie psych with slight soul & funk influences: fantastic playing, swirling organ, powerful vocals, top guitar shredding, flute…
“Stavia” has always been one of those shrouded in mystery albums, so rare that some collectors even doubted about its existence. Bootlegged in the ‘90s in a butchered edition that included two songs from an unrelated band, here’s the first ever legit vinyl reissue. 


Stavia

QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE - Live At The Summer Of Love [USA psychedelic 1967] 2011 Bear Records FLOATD 6115

Quicksilver Messenger Service are widely regarded as one of the 1960's San Francisco acid rock scene’s lost opportunities. Although they were among the first to convene, they were sidetracked by the imprisonment of founder Dino Valente on drug charges and didn’t get around to releasing their self-titled debut album until 1968.

That said, they’ve acquired a dedicated following thanks to the signature work of guitarists John Cippolina (much-admired by such players as Ghost member and Boris associate Michio Kurihara, among others) and Gary Duncan.

Fortunately for their devotees, soundman and acid guru Owsley Stanley recorded many of their shows, allowing fans to check out their sound prior to their official (and some say best) album ‘Happy Trails’ from 1969.
The recordings on ‘Live At The Summer Of Love’ predate their debut’s May 1968 release (in the case of the latest of the three shows, by only a month) and come from the Fillmore Auditorium and the Carousel Ballroom (to be purchased and renamed the Fillmore West by Billy Graham just a few months later).

The two-disc set kicks of with QMS’s trademark workout of Bo Diddley’s ‘Mona’, which gets stretched out past the eight-minute mark, and starts off with an introduction promising a few numbers from their oft-incarcerated leader Dino Valenti and a following set from Jefferson Airplane. Then it jumps ahead in time to a ‘Walkin’ Blues’ taken from a later Carousel show before romping through a varied set of heavily reconfigured and distended blues tunes (such as the Willie Dixon penned Howlin’ Wolf tune ‘Back Door Man’, ‘ Smiley Lewis’ evergreen ‘I Hear You Knocking’ and ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’). They also play several of their own compositions, such as their instrumental mainstay ‘Gold and Silver’, ‘Dino’s Song’ and some folk tunes - the San Francisco staple ‘Codeine’ and Ann Bredon’s ‘I’m Gonna Leave You’, given later life by Joan Baez and later given its most histrionic treatment by Led Zeppelin on their 1969 debut, the trad murder ballad ‘Duncan and Brady’ and folkie Hamilton Camp’s classic ‘Pride Of Man’. There’s also at least one obscurity to tantalize the QMS fan (not that they will need much more encouragement to pick up the set), in ‘Year Of The Outrage’.

There’s more of the same on the second CD, with Cippolina and Duncan’s guitars twining and turning through another Bo Diddley stomper, ‘Who Do You Love?’ Rufus Thomas’ ‘All Night Worker’, Ben E. King’s ‘Stand By Me’ ‘Drivin’ Wheel (It’s Been Too Long)’ and ‘You Don’t Love Me’ among others.

While not the first place to stop for those unfamiliar with Quicksilver Messenger Service, ‘Live At The Summer Love’ is an excellent introduction to the group’s live output and a good window into their early years.

Live At The Summer Of Love

THE PALACE GUARDS - The Palace Guards [USA garage 1966-68] 2008 Gear Fab GF-224

What everyone remembers about this Metarie, Louisiana garage band are their 5 great 45’s released on the White Cliffs, rAe, and U-Doe labels (the first 10 songs listed). What everyone didn’t know was they also recorded 3 alternate versions of these 45s as well as 10 previously unreleased tracks from June, 1966 through April, 1969.

These alternate versions and never before heard tracks reek of fuzzed out garage sounds!!

Guards

RODNEY AND THE BLAZERS - The Complete Recordings 1960-1964 [USA r'n'r garage 1960-64] Gear Fab GF-152

This first-ever Rodney & the Blazers CD collects every surviving recording from the now-obscure Kansas rock & roll combo led by Rodney Lay, Jr.. The band was pure rock & roll mayhem, and their music serves as a great window into the shifting commercial whims of the times, when the hit record meant everything (and when "record" meant the 45 rpm single), and getting a hit record meant trying your hand at any number of styles and novelties. The band dipped its hand into numerous jars over the course of a dozen or so singles, from rock covers and Gershwin adaptations to a plethora of pretty wonderful self-penned originals. Their first single, the prom-dance ballad "Teenage Cinderella," hit number one in numerous major cities around the country, and probably should have been an even bigger national hit, while the jaunty comic-book ode "Little Orphan Annie" is a mixture of the Big Bopper, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Sam the Sham. On the novelty side, "Warpaint," naturally, is a goofy but fun Native American rock instrumental, and "Oriental Nightmare" incorporates gong crashes and dual Asian-like guitar lines. They cover two Larry Williams' classics in "Short Fat Fannie" and "Boney Maroney," but of even more historical importance, the band's take on the old Joe Jones tune, "California Sun," is virtually identical to the Top Five nationwide smash the Rivieras had with the song later in 1964. It is no coincidence. In fact, the Rivieras hit version was a direct copy of the Rodney & the Blazers version down to the exact arrangement. The Blazers also nicked bits from Buddy Holly (the old rockabilly tune, "Tell Me Baby"), Ricky Nelson ("It's All Over but the Cryin'"), the Everly Brothers ("Blue School"), and the Coasters, but there is plenty of individual charisma in their music. As early rock & roll obscurities go, Rodney & the Blazers are very much underappreciated, and as anthologies go, The Complete Recordings, 1960-1964 is a definitive representation worthy of them.

Rodney