Leon Russell - Live in Houston (1971)

Among the 4 Leon Russell shows I'll post on this blog, the first (chronologically) in 1970 when he shared the set with Elton John, the third in 1972, the shows that will make the Leon Live content, and the fourth in Japan recorded in 1973, this one is the second, and is, although the weakest on the sound level, my favorite. Less gospel oriented and much rockier (with "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash", you aren't surprised), Leon Russell is just at the top of his art, still not too much in confidence and over-indulgent (although I love all his live recordings of this period, don't misunderstand me). But honestly, the last medley of this recording (released for the first time on the CD issue of Live in Japan as bonus tracks) is simply stunning and shows how Russell could be a sort of screaming guru putting in transe his adepts (in streaming below, put the furnitures off). But enough words, savor this last offer of the bearded master here.

Hung up in a Pennsylvania mining town

Got down to Boston in time for tea
Don't know exactly just what's going down
Better hang around until I see.
She uses beauty like a knife
She cuts me even more, she changes
Right before my eyes into something ugly and sore.
Beauty like a knife
She cuts me even more, she changes
Right before my eyes into something strange and more.
Don't bomb the inn, I'm on a holiday
But Oklahoma's just a jet away
And the blood is on the books in Ohio
So badly stained, what can I say?

Spelljammer - Vol. II (2012)

After KozybunX, here another unmissing LP for all Electric Wizard's Let Us Pray aficionados. This band from Sweden proposes one of the most monstruous and convincing contempory way to make perdure the Wizard heritage (and Sleep's one too, and therefore Black Sabbath's one of course). It's exactly the music you need when you like sounds that create atmospheres of voodoo, black mess and imaginary rituals dedkated to the devil. They do it with a richness of ideas that make them masters of darkness for sure. The stoner dimension of their music (in particular on "Space Reefer") should help to make them quite successful since this always catch more ears than pure sludge doom. Enjoy it here and then go to support them on their bandcamp there and buy in every format you want (except CD or vinyl I fear). A good way to bring back to life this blog after some days off and some thrill about its survival. Not sure it will last unfortunately. Take what you can the quickest you can before definite closing.

Leon Russell - Live in Japan (1973)

One year and a half after his show at Long Beach Arena (August 1972) that will provide the soundtrack for the 3-LP Leon Live album, Leon Russell is in Japan and a concert is recorded in November 1973 at Budokan and will provide a Japan-only release, an habit in these times. This concert shows a Leon Russell tranformed in a sort of preacher leading his flocks to the trance in a sort of cosmic gospel ceremony that never any other would ever create again on this planet. And to drive Japanese to the trance with music is quite a challenge. If the LP takes quite a time to start (the 2 first songs could have been replaced with other ones), then the trance is growing and culminating in an incredible medley after which you wonder if you were still one earth while hearing it. On the CD version there is an earlier show (with a weaker sound but interesting however) that I'll post here on its own. Meanwhile, put yourself in trance here.

Kim Fowley - Back on the road to nowhere / Share the night fake 7"

Sad day. Kim Fowley has posted on facebook he was going back to hospital for a bladder cancer recall surgery!. He added "Please pray for me. I need all the help I can get. To my enemies: Be careful, because only the good die young & Kim Fowley is hard to kill, & slow to die". So, here is a prayer in the form of a fake single containing 2 songs probably recorded during the same session (but when? I would say in the end of the seventies) and that were included on the Hotel Insomnia compilation released in 1992 and on which songs and demos from various sessions captured between 1968 and 1985 were aggregated. I will try to post the songs from this compilation on different fake 7", EPs or LPs since compiled in chronological disorder, they lost a bit of their charm. So here are these 2 gems, with a divine violin, a moody atmosphere, and sad lyrics rather relevant to the today's situation of Kim. I never ever thought that a world without Kim Fowley might exist since I follow him since 1972 (I was 14). But time kills us all. However, I can assure you, if you didn't know these songs, that you'll be sure after them that he was not only the freaky character everyone describes, but also a sensitive songwriter and singer. Enjoy it here and pray for him when listening to them. For the cover sleeve, I used a picture taken by Susan Burnstine (site here). If you look on the left of the image, you can see a ghostly face that seems to be Kim's one. Very haunting.

Golden Earring - As & Bs (1970-76)

I will repost for some bands the singles I posted individually together on As & Bs compilations in the further weeks. First because some of you may find a little tedious to dl it one by one (but you can work a little can't you?), second because rs is often not very kind with those who are not premium users, third because I fear to have rs or mf to face the same problem than mu one day (I must say that I'm quite sure it will occur and it's painful to imagine all my work being suddenly send to oblivion but I must be prepare for this to happen soon), and fourth because it gives me the opportunity to create a fake LP cover sleeve and I love that. So here are the 23 songs that this great band has offered (hum... sold actually) to us during their 6 years of peak period (even if they have done some good things later on). In the whole, I got my faves (see individual posts to know which ones, but you may not give a fuck and I understand that), but listening to it in the continuity shows how this band was to the level, and maybe a little higher, than most of the UK/US big rock bands of the times. Enjoy it here and there (in 2 parts since mf asked me to)

Black Skies - On The Wings Of Time (2012)

When I heard for the first time the Black Skies (thx to Droning Earth, surely my favorite music blog on the net), I would have sworn that it was the come-back band of my hero: Joaquim Breuer from the Bastards and Janitor Joe. But no. They don't even cite them as influences but honestly it would be surprising that they are not fans. I am quite embarassed cos' I've said at least 3 times since the beginning of the year that I had found one album that will be in my top 10 of the year. Embarassed cos' if I think that one will actually still be in at the end of the year, this will be this one. In the last 20 years, I've never heard music fitting more perfectly what I'm waiting of rock. Cos' here it's rock, but as I said before, not this nostalgic shit they want to make us adopt for contempory genius, boring repetitive gimmicks of the seventies. No, based on the best of what rock offered in the nineties (Bastards and Janitor Joe but also Unsane or Liquor Tricks, see the correspondant posts on the right column) with some of the best that Stoner brought (a little psychedelic touch in the guitar solos), there is not a single weak second in this killer record. It's simply a masterpiece from beginning to end. At least for my own tastes. The second voice assured by the bassgirl (Michelle Temple) gives this little bit of female soul that avoid any testosterone overdose. I could write about this album during hours. They are from Chapel Hill (North Carolina), and I hope they'll jump over the Atlantic to play here in old Europe before we'll sink in our bankrupt. Meanwhile, enjoy it here, and then go immediately buy the solid stuff on their bandcamp there (I did it of course). It's not an advice, it's an order.

The Reflections (feat. Mark Perry) - Slugs and Toads (1981)

In 1981, it was becoming difficult to follow Mark Perry. After Alternative TV, ATV, the Good Missionaries and solo stuff, he was associating with Nag from The Door and the Window and Karl Blake from the Lemon Kittens for this LP released on Cherry Red under the name of The Reflections. Actually, maybe it should have been released under the name of ATV since here, finished are the really extreme experimentations and back the song format. Even if Nag often sings, Mark Perry fans will find what they love in their hero's approach of music and vocals. Here, the version of Rocky Erickson' "Interpreter" is great (in streaming below) and Nag sometimes seems to imitate Mark Perry (the wonderful "Clammed Up"). Of course it's lo-fi and DIY record but no matter when the emotion is here. Thanx to the great DIE or D.I.Y ? blog (here) for having uploaded this gem and to the ATVMPdiscography there for the good definition cover sleeve (designed by Danielle Dax). You can listen to the first song of the LP, "Tightrope Walker", here.

the interpreter where is he now
will he burn like the devil, will he eat my scowl
the interpreter does he still steal
will he fill up my shoe like no other can do
the interpreter out of the land of the free
will he hand you his car, will he hand you his keys
the interpreter where is he now
will his word shine like the devil, will he eat my scowl
the interpreter united nations
the possession of minds
least i've mine
the interpreter where is he now
transparency invisibly disguised
the interpreter where is he now
the war is over, the winning hasn't even begun
the interpreter where is he now
will he burn like the devil, will he leave my scowl

Battle Pope - The Holy Trinity: Bitches, Dicks and Gonorrhea (2012)

Sometimes you listen to a new stuff and you instantly know it's for you. This is the case with this band from Australia called Battle Pope, and not only for their anti-chistianity lyrics content, but because they are for me what Captain Beefheart was for the sixties, Third World War for the seventies and Big Black for the eighties (then there was a gap). They are fast, loud and furious. They are the son-of-bitch sound you need to support the fucking ugliness of human condition. They are the blues of today (this mouth-harp surging here and there, a pure delight). They offer us here what's will remain one of the best album of the year, no doubt about that and you should try it as soon as now before missing one of the most efficient way to canalize your hate of everything, yourself included, but religion and bigotery first. And their "Long Tall Sally" version is a must. Enjoy it here. Their bandcamp to buy this gem there. And some videos showing how they assume what they are in any environment below.

Umberto - Final Exit (2011)

Final Exit is the title of a book by Derek Humphry, published in 1992 and consisting in technical advises to die correctly when you are in terminal phase of some incurable illness, but it can be used if you want to kill yourself and want not to miss yourself or stay with sequels instead of leaving life. Umberto, from Kansas, created this soundtrack for your last moments. Their presentation of this piece of music is clear and say it better than I could "The aim of this track, the only one, that compose the record is to accompany the last moments of your life. 15 minutes to reach that peace of mind that you need to abandon the temporal and embrace the great unknown. Every B side is needless: who will turn the record ?". Not the kind of music I use to post here but honestly I like it very much. 15 min is maybe a little short to reach death with the Humphry's technic (actually I don't remember the time it takes, maybe it's 15 min after all, I read it 10 years ago and still have it for eventual use). I can't help to think to the wonderful Paddy McAlloon LP called I Trawl The Megahertz. Or Tangerine Dream's old and best period. All in all, a welcome sonor help for our last moments. Find it here. And then support them in buying (2$ only) it there.

KozybunX - Practice Room EP (2010)

A hell of a piece of doom for lovers of the old Electric Wizard, the one we love (here more specifically Let Us Pray and its psychedelic flavor). This polish band has released this demo 2 years ago (January 2010) but I don't find anything about them since this release. Too bad. Imagine Sleep meeting Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats under the cult of Electric Wizard and you got this splendid sinister and demoniac shit. There's everything I appreciate in doom when it's far from metal and very close to the most tribal noise rock has ever produced. Mostly instrumental, the voices are often samples of films or some screaming vocals that still add to the terror of this music. Hope they'll reactive this patronym with something this good. I forgot to say they're from Germany. Enjoy it here. I promise you won't regret it. Their bandcamp there. No picture from them to provide. So I posted 2 pictures of Theda Bara who provided the illustration of their cover sleeve. Good choice they did.

Blood Red Water - Tales of Addiction and Despair (2012)

At last a sludge band and an album I can say I totally adhere to. It was a long time such a genre did not provide something that match my aural taste and my mental state. More striking, they are from Venice, Italy, a city not associated with this kind of muddy music in everyone's mind, but to have been there once (a wonderful souvenir I must say), I think it's less surprising it could appear. Musically imagine a mix between Buzzov.en, EyeHateGod, Upsidedown Cross and even Drunk with Guns. I feel that some of you (those with the best tastes) must be salivating. But Blood Red Water are absolutely not a retro-band (even if this music is without any time belonging) and they have developped their own style, maybe more noisy (Bastards influenced on several tracks, maybe the band we think the most to when listening this album) than the ones cited above. Slower too. Simpler too. Sometimes this rock is not far to be garage. But who cares all these useless descriptions. Listen to it here and then support the band here. One of the best releases of 2012 and will surely stay on the top 20. For info, the drummer is a lady and she's very good.

Al Kooper - Act Like Nothing's Wrong (1977)

In the destructive (self and others one) state of mood I'm in tonight, all I can imagine listening to is extreme hate sludge or easy listening white soul. This is the latter I chosed with this Al Kooper's LP, released a year I had the head elsewhere (punk time, the Sex Pistols occupied all my attention) and which was the swansong of his career since he did not release anything else over the next 17 years (!!!), except the collaborative album called Championship Wrestling in 1982. It's mainly a soul album, very influenced by the Motown sound (the one of the Temptations, all periods), and it's (sometimes) mellow and naive approach of the genre still spread this little charm that Al Kooper (with Todd Rundgren) have when they do it. But there are various styles in it (even Little Feat-influenced country-rock with "In My Own Sweet Way",and Harrison-influenced "Hollywood Vampire"). There are some great tunes in it that makes it an underrated album. I'm not sure the cover sleeve helped to sell the LP (actually, I'm rather sure it didn't). Add this one to your Al Koollection. Enjoy it here.

Deviniance - Samsara EP (2009)

A little break from the seventies stuff (but stay online, more to come for you oldies diggers). And more atmospheric drony-sludge-post-rock for those among you who don't fear to have a listen to more contemporaries stuff. Don't know anything from this band (disbanded since this EP) from Sweden (some have formed In the Hearts of Emperors it seems) that I had missed 2 years ago. This 3-track EP mixed great atmospheric sludge ("Postponed. End") with pure drone ("Samsara") and post-rock ("Is This Where We Started") but this makes a sort of tryptic that you can drown in when outside it's cold and dark. This kind of music is the most consolating for lonely souls I've ever listened to in my long life, the reason why it surely will be the only one (with Peter Perrett and Schubert) that I'll finish my life with. Sad they did not offer us more. Meanwhile, put this little gem in your musical treasure store. Enjoy it here.