Victoria. 1969; 1971 USA-New Jersey

Victoria were yet another obscure band from the US who self-released an album for potential signing, only to be completely forgotten until 20 years later. They're a large ensemble with female vocals, and occasional stinging fuzz guitar. Also some creative keyboard work. Features a 12 and a half minute track 'Village of Etaf' that most certainly predicts the oncoming progressive rock movement. Despite this, the best songs are the hard driving 'Gevaro' and the mesmerizing Group 1850 styled 'Core of the Apple', especially considering the vintage organ sounds. There's also just some OK tracks interspersed that presumably were more geared toward radio play, but haven't really aged that well.

Ownership: LP: 1997 Little Indians; CD: 1998 Little Indians. Similar to the Jungle album, this LP was reissued in a beautiful velvet cover, this time in the color red. But otherwise it's a brick. The CD is exactly the same as far the velvet goes. This time though, we are treated to 7 bonus tracks, mostly from their more pop focused material. It also includes some photos of the band. I don't think Discogs have the dates right here. I bought this LP at the same time as the Jungle, and I'm mostly sure it was in 1997 (they have it as 1998). The Jungle album is dated as 1997 as well. Also, I'm pretty sure the CD came a bit later than the LP, though it's something I picked up about 10 years ago, so I can't claim more than that.