Acid Alice - The Road

Band bio:

"Like a laboratory where multiple substances are mixed 

and the boiling points are reached, Acid Alice is the authentic sublimity 

of the stoner rock rhythms, the psychedelic riffs of the 60's and 70's 

and the aguardentious voices of classic rock"

This is fucked up acid pysch rock of the first order.

Stoner rock blended with fuzz blues give this a massive sound

and you will never want this trip to end.

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Heavy Glow - Mine All Mine/Headhunter 7"

Heavy Glow are working on their new album and as a taster

are releasing this single on March 12th.

This 7" is chock full of their trademarks - warm, vintage sounding

guitars, soulful vocals, tight as fuck song arrangements and a

feeling of blissed out grooving.

Classic blues riffs vie with a stoner vibe that instantly lodges into

your brain - heavy but tuneful at the same time, I cannot wait

for the album to be finished. 

In the meantime - buy from Bandcamp

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Overlord - S/T

Band request from Oxford via Chris Alchin (hi dude!)

Overlord play an infectious mix of classic rock/stoner and

have really impressed me with these 4 tracks.

With bucket loads of fuck-off riffs, these guys show a real understanding

and more importantly, a real love for the genre they are playing.

There is a gritty, heavy blues feel that combines Sabbath with 

Graveyard or Witchcraft. Warm toned solos that hit all the right notes

are overlayed on top off the songs that are barrelling down the highway

of righteous rock straight into the brain paths that make your head bang

up and down while stomping out the beat with your foot!

The recording has a raw, unpolished feel to things which actually

suits this EP perfectly. If Overlord were based in Sweden and had

Jens Bogren producing, they would be on their way to critical acclaim.

I think this is fucking great and cannot wait to hear some more.

Free download from Bandcamp

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Yes - Close To The Edge (1972)

Possibly one of the greatest prog- rock albums ever created.

Black Sabbath - S/T (1970)

This album changed the face of music.

Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come (1971)

Proto-metal and raw classic rock from this Brooklyn

Trio.

Primitive blues that put me in mind of Free or Purple

but the thing that stands out is the thick, fuzzed

out guitar sound.

If you have ever blissed out to the 1st Stooges album

(and if you read this blog, you must have!) and wondered

if you would ever hear such distortion abuse on another

record in your lifetime, although never quite scaling the sonic

heights of Ron Ashton, this may whet your appetite.

Band Info

Kiss - Destroyer (1976)

How is a "Classic" album defined?

My blog - my rules, so:

Every track should be fantastic, no fillers and

certainly no points at which the flow begins to

meander or lose impetus.

Everything is perfect from the artwork

to the order the tracks are in.

The album will never lose its place in your

musical heart - you may not play it for a year

or so but when you do, it is like a friend who

will never let you down ..... how unlike life!

And most importantly, it should be able to transport

your emotions to a different place - as soon as the 1st

track starts, it will calm you down, get you ready to go

out, prepare you for a fight, make you drive like a lunatic,

help you to take off the electronic tag and go stalking again -

whatever you need to do, the classic album is there in times

of need.

In the mid seventies, Bob Erzin produced three albums, that

for me, I consider to be classics.

They are:

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies

Lou Reed - Berlin

and todays offering - "Destroyer" by Kiss.

Cream - Blues Addict (1967)

Recorded live at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit on

Oct 15th 1967, this captures the band raw and sweaty

at their best, giving the psychedelic blues sound a

new and rockier workout.

I have always felt that in the studio, Cream came across

as too polished and in some cases, almost tame but on

this album - full of the classic tracks you would want to

hear - the legend of the band becomes fully justified.

I should post more of this stuff more often than I do but

would recommend Trippy Jam for the blog to visit if you

need more.

MC5 - Saginaw Civic Centre 1st Jan 1970

History according to the book of Maim.

1st album "Kick Out The Jams" was one of the

greatest live albums ever.

3rd album "High Times" was a sonic masterpiece,

a stab of proto-punk and psychedelia.

The 2nd album "Back in The USA" was a limp,

tired, thin sounding piece of shit, that with the

exception of a couple of songs, sucked hugely.

For those of you who agree with me, here is a live

recording of the Motor City Boys performing most

of "Back in The USA" as it should of been played

the first time - with power and passion and an urgency,

NOW these songs sound good.

If any one actually reads these reviews, this CD is

from the boxed set "Purity Accuracy" and is CD 3.

If you prefer "Back in The USA" over the other albums - get the fuck off my blog!

The Strolling Bones - Love In Vain (1972)

Live from Fort Worth, Philadelphia 1972, this is

the Stones at their very best.

The quality is not quite as good as "Get Yer Ya Ya's

Out" but still a very good soundboard recording.

Showcasing songs from the new "Exile on Main Street",

there is also all the other classics you would want to hear.

This album showcases Mick Taylor as never before.

Mixed right up, the interaction with Richards has a

ferocious edge that was sometimes missing from studio

releases.

Jagger is on top form as well, never reverting to his vocal

pastiche that would creep in, many years later - here, his

voice has a desperate quality that shows how long their

USA tours lasted.

If you ever wondered how the Stones got the tag of

"Greatest Rock'n'Roll Band in The World" - listen.

Sladest

This was the best cover I could find!

Anyway, this collection from 1973 has a good

cross section of hits, b-sides and album tracks.

Take away the outlandish clothes and the Dave

Hill fetish for over-the-top hair styles and guitars

and you are left with classic hard rock songs that

are tuneful, never overstay their welcome, with

short bursts of economical Berry/Richards soloing,

a pounding rhythm section and one of the best raw

British vocalists since Lennon.

Perfect driving music.

Chrome - The Visitation (1976)

The 1st Chrome album is a blend of psych-punk,

art-rock space weirdness.

Later albums would see them become part of

the "No Wave" New York scene but this is a bit

of a schizo beast!

Vocal delivery is yelped out - very much like

David Thomas from Pere Ubu.

Kraut rhythms start songs only for Carlos

Santana solos to be played over the top of

them, making them evolve in space rock

epics.

70's classic rock structures are on show,

reminding me of Be Bop Deluxe songs,

including Bill Nelson solos but then it

takes another turn and sounds live very

early Devo.

Post-punk almost(before the term ever existed)

with a healthy nod to funk - as the Gang of Four

would so skillfully use.

Sorry to compare to so many bands but this a

very hard one to describe. Why not just - Listen

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Pink Fairies - Kings of Oblivion (1973)

While not being a stone cold classic album, this

mix of hard rock, proto-punk and early metal still

can deliver a satisfying listening experience.

Recorded in 1973, this sounds like a 1977 album

that slipped under the radar.

Sneery, deadpan singing sits alongside speedy and

lengthy soloing, while the song compositions could

of been used for Eddie & The Hot Rods 2nd album.

With a big two fingers aimed at the excess of prog,

this stripped down rock release was a ripple that would

spread out to '76/'77.

Listen

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Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (1971)

George Clinton lets loose with this slab of funk.

Mixing soul and heavy rock with funky grooves

that drop in bits of jarring psychedelia, this is

rightly hailed as a classic release by Funkadelic.

It starts off with a Hendrix style, 10 minute burst

of slow wah-wah soloing before launching into

the rest of the tracks.

Playing this mish-mash of styles with hard rock

elements creeping in and out, you can hear future

echoes of Prince and Primal Scream.

Listen

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David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World (1970)

This was the first album to use the backing band

who would become the "Spiders from Mars".

All songs were written by Bowie but the music

was largely arranged by Ronson and Visconti.

Mick Ronson flexed his guitar hero muscle and

made this album the heaviest of Bowie's career.

Heavy rock riffs and screaming solos combined

with Bowie's lyrics about insanity, war, sex and

religion make this a fantastic classic rock listen.

There are at least 3 different covers for this but

I have used the one I grew up with.

...... a fact that no one really cares about is:

this is one of the 1st albums I ever brought and

the music it contained made me search out other

heavy guitar music, so for me, I can say it

changed my musical life!

Listen

Crosby, Stills & Nash - S/T (1969)

Imagine that summer is here, chill-out and

check out some timeless songs - Listen

James Marshall Hendrix - Monterey (1967)

In 1967, Hendrix played his first major American concert

after getting his shit together in the UK.

Coming on stage, The Experience were a unknown quantity

stateside.

With only a nine song set, Jimi tore through "Foxy Lady,

Hey Joe, Purple Haze" + more, turned "Wild Thing" into

a blazing, destructive sonic prayer and walked off the

stage as the most famous guitar player in the world.

Essential - Listen

Don't know how long this will stay up - I have heard the

Hendrix Estate are shit hot about takedowns but to quote

The Bard - "I come to praise Jimi, not bury him."

Hawkwind - Warrior on the Edge of Time (1975)

This is the last album with Lemmy on. Following

on from "Hall of the Mountain Grille", this has

a more clean cut rock sound than earlier stuff.

Hey, it still has the space psych vibe but with

a much heavier and driving feel which seemed

to fade away in the next couple of releases -

which I have always put down to the lack of

Mr L.

Fantastic songs with a lot of lyrics from Michael

Moorcock - mostly from his Eternal Champion books -

but most of all a great listen all the way through.

As this is from my CD, it also has the bonus tracks:

Kings of Speed and a very slow version of "Motorhead"

........ oh yeah, this would surface in a years time sounding

very different indeed!

Listen

Public Image - Album (1986)

Lydon, Ginger Baker and Steve Vai. Even in black and

white in front of you, it seems an impossible band to

ever come together.

Well, it happened and guess what - it was great.

Huge sounding drums, a fluid shifting bass line + Vai

guitar work - not too widdly in the solo department

and harsh sounding chords which blended with the

vocals ....... Lydon employed all his vocals trademarks -

the "warble", shouting, sneering and even a bit of singing!

This is a very solid record with no filler tracks - classic

song writing is in evidence here.

Some PIL fans thought it "too rock" but I liked it.

I have stuck with Mr Lydon through some absolute

crap as well as some tracks of genius and I just wish

that he would get together with a heavy guitar sound

for a whole album.

Anger is an Energy!

Buy

Atomic Rooster - Death Walks Behind You (1970)

First and best album from Atomic Rooster. This

is full of aggressive rock from the brooding opening

track onwards.

Fantastic interplay between keyboards and guitar -

very Jon Lord and Blackmore - prog rock & metal/

acid guitar tunes crash through the album - I am always

surprised that this release does not get mentioned more!

Listen

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