Maranatha - Soon(1971 usa west coast)

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Catch - Catch (1969 us rock - west coast)

Here's another unknown late 1960s outfit ... Apparently a California-based quintet, their self-titled 1969 album doesn't even provide performance credits.

Produced by J.R. Shankin, "Catch" has it's moments. With the 11 tracks credited to M. Collings and R. White, most of the set sports a modest country-rock feel. In this case that's meant as a compliment since tracks such as 'Amber' and 'Come Near Me' emphasize the genres' best characteristics - tight harmonies and some catchy melodies. 'Storm' and 'The Dandelion and the Butterfly' offer up more orchestrated pop, but are just as good. Unlike anything else on the album, 'Crash and Burn' is a take no-prisoners slice of fuzz guitar rock. It's easily the stand out track. Also worth hearing is the moody eight minute 'Nine Roses'. Too bad they didn't have more of these in their catalog. Elsewhere Dot tapped the LP for two unsuccessful singles:

- 1969's 'I'm On The Road To Memphis' b/w 'Amber' (Dot catalog number 45-17277)
- 1969's 'Storm' b/w 'City Ditty' (Dot catalog number 45-17304)

"Catch" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Amber (M. Collings - R. White) - 1:45
2.) Come Near Me ( M. Collings - R. White) - 3:00
3.) Storm ( M. Collings - R. White) - 5:05
4.) City Ditty ( M. Collings - R. White) - 2:00
5.) The Dandelion and the Butterfly ( M. Collings - R. White) - 5:05
6.) Live ( M. Collings - R. White) - 4:15

(side 2)
1.) I'm On the Road To Memphis ( M. Collings - R. White) - 2:20
2.) Something Golden ( M. Collings - R. White) - 3:15
3.) Crash and Burn ( M. Collings - R. White) - 2:35
4.) Nine Roses ( M. Collings - R. White) - 8:30
5.) Just a Closer Walk with Thee ( M. Collings - R. White) - 4:20
From RYM (RDTEN1)

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Yellow Hand - Yellow Hand (us 1970 psych west coast)

Only album by the obscure US West Coast Rock group Yellow Hand, which owes its fame to the fact that it includes six songs written by Neil Young and Steven Stills during their Buffalo Springfield days, but never actually recorded by that seminal group. Yellow Hand were a typical late 1960s US band, a sextet fronted by an able lead singer Jerry Tawney, who also wrote the original material that fills the album. Lead guitarist Pat Flynn plays some superb licks throughout the album, and the other band members supply good vocal harmonies. In retrospect the albums is as good as anything recorded at the time and the lack of success that the band met with is totally inexplicable, as it definitely deserves much more recognition, not only as the “extra Buffalo Springfield album” but very much on its own merit. Worth investigating for Classic Rock lovers and a must for Buffalo Springfield fans.
From RYM (Jazzis)

Link

Speed Limit 35 - Speed Limit 35 (usa 1972 west coast psych)

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Hourglass - Southbound (great west coast 1969)

Bellissimo disco che vede tra i partecipanti anche d. e g. allman del Allmann brot. band...il disco non è il classico southern
che sarete sicuramente abituati a sentire dei nostri eroi, piuttosto direi che questo disco è song-oriented (non è un giudizio qualitativo!!!)
e non ha quell'alone jazzprog acido dei abb...il mio voto è un 8--(manca una vera e propria canzone che faccia fare il salto nell'eccellenza!)
a voi!

In the beginning of 1967, Greg and Duane Allman, then with the Allman Joys, gigged at a Pensacola club. The other resident band was the Five Minutes whose members included Sandlin, McKinney and Hornsby. These five musicians shared a love for hard-rocking English acts (mainly 'Stones and Yardbirds) and for R&B. They relocated to Decatur, Alabama and, after trying out different names, settled on the Allman-Act.
Their break came when Bill McEuen, manager of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, caught their show in St. Louis and persuaded them to move to Los Angeles. Producer Dallas Smith signed them to Liberty Records, the label who had also taken two of McEuen's other clients: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and the Sunshine Company. Since they were already several groups with almost similar names, the Allman-Act became the Hourglass.
The five men then realized that the fledgling Liberty label wanted to use session musicians and songwriters songs instead of the relying on the bands talent alone. They tried to fight the process but won only a few concessions. The resulting album is, unsurprisingly, not really convincing and contains mainly pleasant pop/rock, the exceptions being the more electric tracks: Got To Get Away (the only Gregg original, already recorded with the Allman Joys), Jackson Browne's Cast Off All My Fears and Ed Cobb's Heartbeat.
Duane Allman's guitar can be heard from time to time only. The album and the singles were a total commercial failure and McKinley left to be replaced by another former Five Minutes, Jesse Williard (Pete) Carr. The group then demanded artistic freedom from Liberty and Hourglass were allowed to choose its own material, and Dallas Smith remained as their producer. Released in March 1968, Power Of Love, their second album, was a vast improvement on its predecessor, being much bluesier, with seven Gregg Allman songs, a Solomon Burke song, two Eddie Hinton/Marlin Greene tracks (Down in Texas and Home For The Summer), one Penn/Oldham cover (the title track) and a really weird instrumental version of Beatles' Norwegian Wood, beginning with Duane's electric sitar before degenerating into a kind of raga rock. The sales were low once again. Hourglass were then playing live a lot, being booked every month at the Whisky A Go-Go and sometimes at the Fillmore West, including three nights with Buffalo Springfield, indeed Neil Young and Steve Stills wrote the enthusiastic liner notes for Power Of Love. They developed a strong reputation as a solid driving blues rock outfit but they were really unhappy with their records. With $500 from a gig, they finally rented Rick Hall's Studio in Muscle Shoals and cut
some tracks on their own in April 1968 (one of these tunes BB King Medley is included on Duane Allman Anthology). The group returned to California with their tapes but Al Bennett at Liberty vetoed their release. They played some Southern gigs and eventually just drifted apart.
Gregg was then forced to finish out the contract with Liberty and had to record, using session musicians, a pop oriented solo album which was shelved (the recorded tracks are the bonus on the CD reissues).
After this unsuccessful Los Angeles period, all the musicians would return to their Alabama / Georgia / Florida area and would took a central part in the creation of the Southern Rock in the early '70s. Duane would first go to the Fame, Muscle Shoals and Criteria Studios to do sessions with soul and rock acts before forming the Allman Brothers Band with Gregg in 1969. He also was in Derek and the Dominos with Eric Clapton. One of the best slide guitar players ever, he sadly died in 1971 in a motorcycle accident. His brother is still touring with a new version of the Allman Brothers Band.

Link:http://vkwsnc.link-protector.com

WestCoast!!!!!
IVORY-IVORY(1968-Superb US WestCoast Rock)

Ma che bel disco! ottima combinazione di psych/fuzz con una stupenda voce femminile assolutamente da ascoltare!come leggerete dalla recensione aspettatevi un sound molto vicino a quello dei jefferson airplane!da ascoltare!!!

Yes, the great 1968 recording by this virtually unknown band that modeled their music after the sounds of The Jefferson Airplane; in fact, it was produced by the Airplane's great genius himself: Mr. Al Schmitt!! Featuring the beautiful female vocals of Chris Christman, this fuzzed-out, psychedelic gem tells the story of this band by the band member's themselves. Little known but excellent album from 1968 by this LA psychedelic band somewhere between Neighb'rhood Childr'n and The Yankee Dollar. Trippy fuzz guitar and keyboard interplay with male and sultry female vocals. Now very hard to find on vinyl this CD reissue should surprise many who thought they had all of the best US '60's psych. A gem.

Link:http://lix.in/b07299
Maranatha - Soon(1971)

Link1 http://lix.in/e3e551
Link2http://lix.in/cef897

Ill Wind - Flashes (1968 west coast)

In 1988, after buying Vernon Joynson's FLASHBACK, I had the cheek to ask him if he'd do some tapes for me. At that time, there were next to no re-issues and the cost of 2nd hand albums was way beyond me.
ILL WIND's 'FLASHES' was among some of the first batch that he did me.
I grew up in Glasgow, as did my wife and between us we had virtually no West Coast music, mine was all STOOGES, VELVETS, KRAUTROCK & TAMLA MOTOWN.
There was something abourt FLASHES which just got to that peak in us, and it still does. Ignorant people who know little about music would compare them to JEFFERSON AIRPLANE etc. like comparing GAUGUIN to VAN GOGH because they were Post-Impressionists and used bright colours.
My cherished little TDK tape from Vernon has given my wife and I years of delight. They didn't slcken either when listening to them on mushrooms, just got more powerful. I LOVE this album, and I can really relate to Stardancer and how he feels about them. In my opinion, a TRULY Psychedelic album that cuts to the Central Nervous System like a laser, Ill go into the Glaswegian vernacular now - fucking brilliant, Alistair. By the way, in exchange for all the tapes Vernon did me, I did the first cover of FUZZ, ACID & FLOWERS, and the cover for his re-issue of FLASHBACK before he began using a more laid back Artist not possessing the Celtic edge.
(rateyourmusic)
Link:http://lix.in/7a48b8
Link:http://lix.in/76c303

Relatively Clean Rivers - Relatively Clean Rivers(1975)

A tremendous mid-1970's rural psych album that sounds like it was recorded in late 1968, Relatively Clean Rivers has that hippie commune Springfield/Manson Family/Dead vibe down pat. Although most often compared to The Dead, only the record's first cut, "Easy Ride" really sounds much like them, with it's acoustic/electric guitar mix and American Beauty era vocal styles. It's a great song, but the rest of the album is much different and a little bit better, spewing out wasted Topanga Canyon folkpsych with wacked out commune lyrics. Production is great and the musicianship is stellar, so we don't really get much of that 'real people' vibe prevalent in many other records with that 'rural' feel, but this still more than holds up. There really is nothing else quite like this, and the smashed lysergic hippie trip present here is anything but a novelty. You can totally feel the Canyon here, and these folks never did wind up leaving. The original vinyl is long gone, with only two pressings of 500 each supposedly, but my Radioactive Label CD reissue is nice, with a clear reproduction of the lyrics and liner notes and a nice, warm pseudo-analog sound. Great stuff......

Link:http://lix.in/d21c7c

MORLY GREY - THE ONLY TRUTH
(1972-Psych-west coast rock)

Grandissimo ed ispiratissino gruppo!purtroppo hi i tempi un po stretti e vi lascio alle recensioni in inglese!

great album of seventies hard rock. Intense and inspired

Pretty good Ohio hardrawk with psycher tinges ala Closer To Home era Grand Funk. Some of it veers a little too close to prog territory but as a whole this is a stand up LP that is well deserving of it's reissue status. The obvious hit here is the single, "Who Can I Say You Are?" which is the most psych song and the catchiest as well. It mixes side two of Closer To Home with more obscure elements like, uh, maybe Brigg and Bob Smith, in a semi-amateur way that works really well. A fine addition to any psych collection

AM I THE ONLY PSYCHEDELOMANIAC WHO KNOWS THIS BEAUTY?NO.FRISBY IS AWARE OF THIS PSYCH MONSTER(HE KNOWS THE TRUTH-THE ONLY TRUTH)ITS ONE OF THE BEST ALBUMS OF PSYCHEDELIC ROCK.

Link: http://lix.in/bf1c97

CLOVER - CLOVER (west coast rock 1970)

Mi hanno mandato questo album che io non avevo...buon disco e nonostante mi piaccia il "west sound" non avevo mai postato molto del genere...il disco è buono ma non eccezionale ma c'è qualcosa che può essere ascoltata piacevolmente per passare un po di tempo! ciao!

well...One of my friends send me this stuff...i don't find any good review (and i speek english very badly to write something with a little bit of sense!)Btw is a good album with "west coast" sound..it's not excelent but good and (i think) rare...feel free to send your review! ciao!

Link:http://lix.in/9caa0e

Mad River - Paradise Bar & Grill (1969 west coast)

Link:http://lix.in/6b2f7a

Sapphire Thinkers - From Within(w.coast 1969)

Link:http://lix.in/a2ec6d

STILLROVEN - TOO MANY SPACES
(Superb psych-west coast)

bellissimo disco di musica psych-west coast!!ci sono innumerevoli spunti su tutte le canzoni e spesso ci sono dei veri e propri capolavori!CONSIGLIATISSIMO!!!!

Hi folks! Superb psych-west coast-album with great songs!! Raccomanded!

Link:http://link-protector.com/x-41410

IOTA - IOTA (us heavy psych 1969)

Ancora un altro album misconosciuto (soprattutto in Italia!)ma decisamente bello!ci sono molti spunti inteessanti sopratutto in "love come wicked" che è stata frutto di "spunti" da parte dei Queen (sic) e dai Captain Beyond...mi dovrò decidere a mettere qualche "audio sample" degli "spunti" che ci sono nel mondo della musica...ma vedremo!alla prox!

CD issue of perhaps the best Rockadelic release since Cold Sun! Late '60's acid rock band from El Paso who recorded two singles in 1971 (both of which are included here) along with previously unreleased material. Superb late '60's early '70's acid psych with ripping fuzz guitar work, keyboards, orchestration, melodic vocals. Similar to bands such as Mad River, Banchee and Peacepipe this is pure Endless Journey styled US heavy acid psych!

Link: http://link-protector.com/x-41411

H.P.Lovercraft (v.good psych west coast)!!!!

molto tempo fa ho uppato questo dischi ma mi sono scordato di postarli (anche per colpa della fottutissima connessione internet che latitava), beh poco male mi rifaccio del tempo perduto!si parla ancora di musica Psych con un interessante alternanza maschio/femmina alla voce...le prime 2 tracce sono veramente belle...a voi!

H.P. Lovecraft 1967

A fine artyfact from this Chicago psych troupe. Besides all the spindly organs, HPL's biggest guns were George Edwards and Dave Michaels' dueling lead vocals. They hold notes until they turn real ugly. It's something to hear.

It's a one-two punch with Edwards' arrangement of "Wayfaring Stranger" and a cover of "Let's Get Together" that's profoundly more moving than the Youngbloods'. But there's also a few ill fits: namely, the campy cod-ragtime of "The Time Machine" and the botched pastoralisms in the lyrics to "Country Boy & Bleeker Street". Fred Neil's "The Bag I'm In" and the trad "The Drifter" take the full-blooded treatment, and "The White Ship" is an unsettling, spooky near-masterpiece. But they're just the best cuts on an above-average record. The San Fran scene is the big referent, yeah, but so is Revolver-era George Harrison (guitar, that is, not vocals).

Link: http://link-protector.com/703576/

H.P. Lovecraft II 1968

After acquiring a new bassist and acquiescing to the obvious (moving to San Francisco), H.P. Lovecraft sounds fractured and spent. Much rarer are the full-throated hippie-rock cuts; the exception is be the expansion: "At the Mountains of Madness" ventures into progressive realms with its vocal repartee, panning chaos, and keyboard freee-flights. But this is a wounded record, plucked and strung. "Mobius Trip" is a bummer in the summer, coming down on a sidewalk, beautiful people all around.
Just like the last record, the first two cuts are covers. The theme this year is Terry Callier tunes (very cool). Both feature string sections, but except for the show-stealing dramatic orchestral interlude in "It's About Time," only the first track is worth writing home about. The most ambitious cut may be "Ellectrollentando," a pretty, slow burn. Fingerpicking, synth twinkles, and only one vocalist (Edwards?). It's a downer of a drug portrait, and it ends like a dying heartbeat.
Richie Unterberger, who wrote the liners to Two Classic Albums From H.P. Lovecraft, has "Keeper of the Keys" pegged as either "stentorian" parody or the sound of a band falling overboard. I guess I'm easier to please/easier to fool, cos I find it simply awesome. H.P. could rock (just check their live disc), but this is actual bombast, complete with cellos and regal piano.
Any record with a Ken Nordine cameo (the fuckin' awesome "Nothing's Boy") is worth attention, I feel. It's a worthy record, nearly cliche-free. But comparing this record to its predecessor is like vetting the merits of Wow versus Oar.

Link: http://link-protector.com/703577/

J D BLACKFOOT the ultimate prophecy 1970 monster west coast psych

Che bellissimo disco di musica psych con ampi riferimenti west coast (ho tralasciato troppo a lungo questo genere!!!!)ci sono canzoni molto belle che sicuramente affascineranno molti di voi!
a volte si riesce a riconoscere una certa vena hard che rende il tutto ancora più gustoso(almeno sempre secondo i miei gusti!) A voi!

This album would most likely throw people who have only heard "The Ultimate Prophecy" (the song) for a loop, and the first side of the record is all mellow pleasant country rock. Side two is the real deal though featuring the very fine heavy psych side long opus which kind of reminds me of fellow "Prophecy" writer Perry Leopold. Good stuff.

Link:http://link-protector.com/703573/

THE TRAVEL AGENCY - (1968-good folk-west coast rock)

Vi sto dando delle perle!mi piace questo disco (ho trascurato troppo a lungo il west coast sound!)

ci sono anche qua dei momenti psych anche se la "tradizione" presente è più vicina a quella beatles (un po induriti!)non un masterpiece ma ottimo per passare un po' di tempo in compagnia di ottima musica!

This band is totally anonymous other than having Frank Davis as a member. Davis was an associate of the Texas band Fever Tree, and wrote the two-minute blast "Grand Candy Young Sweet" for their second album. Though much less well known, this LP is better than any of the four by Fever Tree. The opening track, "What's A Man" is more relevant today than it was then! A conversation between a father and his hawkish son (wasn't it the other way around back then?), it has Iraq all over it: ("You can't imagine what I'm thinking / We've got to fight them while they're small / Or their disease will soon be spreading / And then we'll never kill them all"). I don't know what Ann Coulter was doing in '68, but if that doesn't sound like something straight out of her lunatic rantings, I don't know what does! There's nothing else here that's quite that powerful here, but the Beatlesque "Sorry You Were Born", and the fuzz-laden "Cadillac George" are terrific on their own terms. The group gets mystical, with mixed results. "Lonely Seabird" is spellbinding, but the extended, raga-like "That's Good" is simply somnolent. The classical guitar framed "So Much Love", and "You Will Be There" sound like renaissance madrigals. If anything, the group was adept at writing and performing an impressive variety of material. There's unrealized hit potential here. Both "She Understands", and "Come To Me" are instantly catchy, if only someone had been around to catch them. The album peters out with the closing track, "Old Man", which lifts the guitar riff from "Peggy Sue", but there's still enough here to make me wish for a follow - up.

Link:http://link-protector.com/703574/