Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come & Sir Lord Baltimore
Heavy! Sir Lord Baltimore is a hard rock/heavy psyche rock band. Kingdom Come has one of my favorite songs, "Kingdom Come". Another great mention would be "Hard Rain Fallin'" from the same album. Lead guitar work alone is a good reason to try out this band if you have not already.
Some would call this Krautrock, but I prefer not to. Second life is a hard rock/psyche rock band from Germany. Found this band through the song "Hate", which uses the main riff from Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4".
Reality is regarded as the first progressive rock album, and is very underrated, as far as I've come to notice. You will notice how ahead of their time this band was. "Mainliner" is the first song I've listened by Second Hand, since then this album has been in the archive. Another track "Reality" must also be noted. Enjoy.
Album information:
01 - A Fairy Tale
02 - Rhubarb
03 - Denis James the Clown
04 - Steam Tugs
05 - Good Old '59 (We Are Slowly Gettin' Older)
06 - The World Will End Yesterday
07 - Denis James (Ode to D.J.)
08 - Mainliner
09 - Reality
10 - The Bath Song
11 - A Fairy Tale [Alternative Mix]
12 - Steam Tugs [Alternative Mix]
13 - James in the Basement [Bonus]
14 - I Am Nearly There [Bonus]
Band information:
Second Hand were a British progressive rock band, established by teenagers Ken Elliott, Kieran O'Connor and Bob Gibbons in 1965. They recorded three studio albums (the firstwas released in 1968) until their breakup in 1972. The band is considered to be one of the first and most underestimated progressive rock bands in history.
Ken Elliott was 15 in 1965, when his schoolmate Kieran O'Connor, a drummer, suggested that they set up a band. Ken quickly learned to play the harmonica and the piano. Kieran also asked his friends Bob Gibbons, who played the guitar, and Grant Ramsay (bass) to join the group. The band's title was The Next Collection, the group was based in Streatham,South London. Ramsay was replaced by Arthur Kitchener soon afterwards. With him on board, the band won the Streatham ice rink battle of the bands and were awarded the privilege to make a demo recording at Maximum Sound Studios. The Next Collection recorded two songs during this session, "A Fairy Tale" and "Steam Tugs". These demo recordings were later released as bonus tracks to the 2007 reissue of the album Reality. Vic Keary, the owner of the studio, liked the band and decided to become their producer.
With Keary's support, the band signed to a prestigious Polydor label under the title The Moving Finger (a reference to one of the Omar Khayyám poems). The band started working on their first studio album, Reality with Arthur Kitchener on bass, but he quit the band during the sessions, and the bassist Nick South was found through an ad in Melody Maker. As a result, half of the songs on the album were recorded with Kitchener on the bass, and the other half with South. The album was to be released in September, but Polydor found out that the band called The Moving Finger had already released a single on Mercury Records, and so the band had to change its name. They called themselves Second Hand, as all their instruments had been bought used. The album was released at the end of 1968 and failed because of complete lack of promotional support by Polydor.
Samuel Prody is a heavy psychedelic rock band, that I wish had found earlier. There's a lot of lead guitar work on this album. Songs "Woman" and "Hallucination" are great and should be heard.
I think I found Salem Mass a little too late. Mostly because Psyche always came before Prog for me. I absolutely love this single album the band has released. Salem Mass is a keyboard-heavy prog rock band with psychedelic influence. 10 minute long song "Witch Burning" can keep me awake all night. "You're Just a Dream" and "My Sweet Jane" are both great songs I will note.
And here is my favorite female singer of all time. Members of Parliament-Funkadelic contributed to both of these albums. These albums would not be the same if not for Eddie Hazel's guitar work. Her cover of "Gimme Shelter" is the best I've heard to this day. Strong female vocals, psychedelic funk. "The Medal" is also a song that is a favorite of mine.
Album(s) information:
(1970) - Self Portrait
01. Prologue- Child Of The North
02. Thanks for the Birthday Card
03. Your Love Been So Good To Me
04. The Music Box
05. The Silent Boatman
06. To William In The Night
07. No Commitment
08. I Got A Thing For You Daddy
09. A Gift Of Me
(1971) - I Am What I Am
01 - The Medal
02 - Crying Has Made Me Stronger
03 - Hare Krishna
04 - Suburban Family Lament
05 - Play With Fire
06 - Don't You Wish You Had (What You Had When You Had It)
Not so much a discography, but the only two albums the band has released. First one being selftitled, the second "Black Magician". 19 tracks (two albums combined): hard rock and heavy prog. "Evil Woman" is my favorite song by this band, it is not a cover of the song we all know though.
Mellow. I guess we can say this is a great psychedelic-folk rock album. If you need something to cool down your mind, this album will do fine. Love the vocals and keyboards. Songs "Oh Gosh", "David & Sally" and "All These Ties" are a favorite of mine.
Album information:
01 - Oh Gosh (Running Through the Forest)
02 - Two Blind Sisters
03 - David & Sally
04 - Love
05 - Endless Trip
06 - Better Dead Than Red
07 - All These Ties
08 - What Do You Think of the War
09 - Ma-Ma
10 - Ghost
Band information:
Rebecca and the Sunnybrook Farmers were a psychedelic-influenced band from Pittsburgh, PN, whose music was an interesting blend of country rock, folk rock, and sunshine pop. Featuring Ilene Rappaport on vocals, guitar, harmonica, and recorder, Ilene Novog on vocals, viola, and harpsichord, Mickey Kapner on guitar, sitar, organ, and backing vocals, Ernie Eremita on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Clifford Mandell on percussion and backing vocals, the group was a popular live act in Pittsburgh and was signed to Musicor Records, an outfit that specialized in country artists but was dabbling in rock sounds in the late '60s. Rebecca and the Sunnybrook Farmers released one album, Birth, for Musicor in 1969, recorded in New York City in either a week or a weekend, depending on who is telling the tale. While the album sold poorly, it became a cult favorite among collectors of rare psychedelia and was reissued by the British Fallout label in 2007.
I wanted to have this legendary band on the blog and here it is. Quicksilver is dear to me. Here is all of their albums, with the exception of Solid Silver released in '75. There isn't much I can say about them as we all probably know the band. However they are still very underrated, I'd have never heard of them if I was never interested in psyche rock. Should have been on a hall of fame of some sort. John Cipollina, is also a favorite guitarist of mine, rest in peace tall man.
Album(s) information:
(1968) - Quicksilver Messenger Service
(1969) - Happy Trails
(1969) - Shady Grove
(1970) - Just for Love
(1971) - Quicksilver
(1972) - Comin' Thru
Band information:
Quicksilver Messenger Service gained wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, and several of their albums ranked in the Top 30 of the Billboard Pop charts. Though not as commercially successful as contemporaries Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead, Quicksilver was integral to the beginnings of their genre. With their jazz and classical influences and a strong folk background, the band attempted to create an individual, innovative sound. Member Dino Valenti drew heavily on musical influences he picked up during the folk revival of his formative musical years. The style he developed from these sources is evident in Quicksilver Messenger Service's swung rhythms and twanging guitar sounds.
After many years, the band has attempted to reform despite the deaths of several members. Recently, original members Gary Duncan and David Freiberg have been touring as the Quicksilver Messenger Service, using various backing musicians.
This album has 20 songs, hard rock, heavy psychedelia, prog, everything you'd want. They surprised me by how heavy and mellow they were on different tracks. So many songs to really list here, but "Fragments", "Black Lily", "Get a Life", "Canyon Woman", "Flowing Robes", all left a surprising impression on me.
A great hard rock band Pulse, with psychedelic influence. Expect clean vocals and lots of lead guitar work. As almost all others, Pulse only has a single album released. "Another Woman", "Too Much Lovin'", "Hypnotized", "Lo-Down" all great songs.
A progressive rock band from Netherlands. These guys are heavy! Their cover of "Drive My Car" is very well done. I enjoy the song "The Prisoner" so much, especially the intro. Give Pugh's Place a chance.
Psycheground (previously Nuova Idea), a band from Italy. This album has my favorite prog song of all time, "Traffic". A mixture between psyche and prog rock. Back then band members had to hide their names, so there isn't much information about the band. Enjoy.
Power of Zeus will always have a special place in my.. ears, and archive. Unfortunately this is the only album they have released. I still remember discovering "In the Night", I could not recover for days and listen to the song over and over again. This album is a mixture between hard rock, funk and psychedelic rock. "The Death Trip" is also a song I'll note here.
Album information:
01. It Couldn't Be Me
02. In The Night
03. Green Grass & Clover
04. I Lost My Love
05. The Death Trip
06. No Time
07. Uncertain Destination
08. Realization
09. Hard Working Man
10. The Sorcerer of Isis (The Ritualof the Mole)
Band information:
Power of Zeus was formed in 1968 by Detroit vocalist / guitarist Joe Periano shortly after his release from the Marine Corps. Joe was joined by bassist/vocalist Bill Jones, drummer Bob Michalski & Hammond organist Dennie Webber. Initially going by the name of Gangrene, the Cream/Zeppelin/Sabbath inspired heavy rock quartet became the unofficial house band at the Wooden Nickel club, where they were eventually spotted by a local manager. Motown psyche-oriented subsidiary Rare Earth signed the band on the condition they find a new name.
Having decided upon Power of Zeus they began work on what would become their sole release, 1970's The Gospel According to Zeus LP. The relationship between band and label was strained, with the former claiming that the latter had no experience of recording a heavy rock act, and that the Motown producers had failed to nail their crunchier live sound on tape. Certainly the LP is pretty far removed from the distorto-trash rock of fellow Detroit rockers The MC5 and The Stooges, but what it lacks in grime it makes up for in Super Heavy Funkiness - hammond, bass & drums are to the fore, with production as fat & full as you would expect from the Motown studios. The LP was pretty much a flop at the time, but has since become a highly sought after item, attaining genuine legendary status amongst record collectors - especially those of a hip-hop / breaks orientation, for whom the incredible 'The Sorcerer of Isis (Ritual Of The Mole)' drum & bass break is like manna from Zeus himself. The definition of The Super Heavy Psychedelic Funk Rock Sound.
