The New Colony Six - Attacking a Straw Man. 1969 Mercury (LP). More from the 25 cent grab at Independent (Nov). This is the 4th album from The New Colony Six, a Chicago area garage band that moved into the Baroque pop psych area at the end of their career. I tend to enjoy Popsike as it is, though this has some of the usual novelty styled sounds that require skip over. There's extensive use of horns (good) and strings (not so good), along with some lovely flute. Nice album, but inessential.
*Eric Burdon & The Animals - The Twain Shall Meet. 1968 MGM mono promo (LP). From RT (Oct). I finally found the Animals album I was looking for. I've loved 'Monterey' since I was a kid, and most of this album matches that quality. I love that part in 'Monterey' where the band's rhythm is driving wildly, and Burdon is doing his usual declarative vocals, and at one point he just says "fly" with spacing before and after. Seems like one of those recording mistakes that they left in. It's so perfect. This promo version is actually very rare, as it's the only US mono pressing they did.
*The Bee Gees - Holiday / Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You. 1967 ATCO (SP). From RT (Sep). I've already forgotten the a) side, but the b) side is really trippy - not a sound one usually associates with The Bee Gees. Loaded with mellotron and medieval chanting. What? How this ended up on a single, even for a B side, is craziness.
*The Yardbirds - I'm Not Talking / Shapes of Things. 1966 Epic (SP). From RT (Sep). The b) side is one of The Yardbirds iconic tracks, and I believe it was only released as a single originally. The a) side comes from the album For Your Love, and has a very nice guitar riff.
Don & The Goodtimes - Sweets For My Sweet / Hey There Mary Mae. 1966 Dunhill (SP). Thrift shop find (Sep). Don & The Goodtimes were a garage band from Portland, Oregon. Big fat beats, and each side has a nice jangly electric guitar solo. A bit like the Stones from this era. Good, but inessential.
*The Spencer Davis Group - I'm a Man / Can't Get Enough Of It. 1967 United Artists (SP). After throwing Davis under the bus below, this 45 came up from RT as well (Sep). But as mentioned, I love 'I'm a Man', just one of those great energetic funky tracks that you always want to hear when in a public setting. The b) side is probably my second favorite Davis tune. Great, both on one 45.
Spencer Davis Group - I'm a Man. 1967 United Artists stereo (LP). From RT (Aug). Love the cover. Musically it's a bummer - put this in the same category as The Animals. Back then, it does seem the A&R guys really did know the best tracks. 'I'm a Man' is super, and groundbreaking for its day (though I still prefer Chicago's version). The rest is pretty boring British r'n'b pop. Comes in as a disappointment.
*Cream - Live Cream Volume II. 1972 ATCO (LP). From RT (Aug). Cream was always better in a live situation, and this album is one more example of that. First place to feature the almost 14 minute jam 'Steppin Out' (I think). The whole album is excellent of course. At some point in my life, this album swept through, but this is my first time to own it.
The Numbers - Anthology '64-'67. 1983 Voxx. An odd one from the RT collection (Aug). For some unknown reason in the 1980s, bands felt compelled to make up a 60s past and claim their recordings are archival. The Numbers, on the back cover, has the most detail of any band trying to do this back then. Of course it's easy to disprove, and they weren't trying that hard to deceive. As for the music, it sounds all the world like an indie 1980s band. There's nothing 60's garage or psych about this. So we're a long way from Plasticland here. This is a waste of time, really.
Nazz - Nazz Nazz. 1969 SGC (LP) red vinyl. From RT (Aug). Too bad I didn't get much out of this listen. Fairly ordinary psych garage, especially for 1969. There's a long track here, but it doesn't really gel as a cohesive whole. It's been stitched together. Nothing radical and no memorable songs. It has a pleasant sound like most psych albums do, but nothing that transcends the good.
The Blues Project - Live at Town Hall. 1967 Verve (LP). From RT (Aug). Similar in many ways to the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Blues Project is taking traditional blues out for a psychedelic run. Nowhere is this more apparent than the proto Krautrock 'Electric Flute Thing'. Still, it's mostly blues rock, and some of the improvisations go nowhere. This is their second live album, and it's the first album for me to hear, having once owned a copy of Projections but unfortunately it wasn't in playable condition.
Traffic. 199? Island (CD) (1968). Been looking for this one in the wilds on LP, but no such luck. I found this CD last week at a thrift shop (Jul), and it's NM, so why not try it via this medium instead? I believe this is the first time for me to hear Traffic's second album all the way through. This appears to be another album that I'm supposed to like, but I'm not feeling it. On that topic of feeling, the one song I recognize from this set is 'Feelin' Alright', which seems to receive unanimous approval as a great song. I never liked it and I still don't. Sometimes I wonder if I'm even part of the human race... Other than the hard rocking 'Pearly Queen', I can live without the first six tracks. It does get better from B2 to B4, before going to back to their folk and blues rock ways on the final track. Albums like this have to survive on the quality of the composition. And this one doesn't make the cut for my tastes. Good only.
Moby Grape. 1967 Columbia stereo (LP). Another one from RT (Jul). Yet another one of those classic psychedelic era albums that the majority (i.e. those from that era) insists is brilliant, and we all must agree on that right? (shrug). I just don't hear anything that warrants gaga-isms. Moby Grape is another album that you can tell came out of the folk music movement of the mid 60s. Really not that far from The Byrds here, minus their truly psych numbers like 'Eight Miles High'. As for the songs, I didn't recognize a one of them, which is usually a good thing. But in this case, the album kind of blows by without notice. I would still categorize it overall as good, but like with many of these 60s San Francisco groups, the legend is questionable. It's a 2 eye Columbia original with a beautifully preserved poster. But alas, it's still a second press, as the "middle finger" has been airbrushed out. Bummer.
The Who - Happy Jack. 1967 Decca mono (LP). From the RT collection (Jul). I had never heard the album proper, but was familiar with a couple of the tracks, especially the title song. I find The Who at this stage more charming than dangerous. For 1966 (original release date), they were definitely beginning to branch into different directions. Very good for its vintage, though not something I need to hold onto. This seems to be the theme with me and The Who at this stage of my life. Happy Jack is the US release, and the track itself is not on the original UK edition (known as A Quick One). By the time the album hit these shores, 'Happy Jack' was a successful single so they appended it onto the album and changed the name (no way in 1967 were the censors going to allow "A Quick One"). It replaced a track called 'Heatwave' which I'm not sure I've heard before.
* - Keeping for the collection
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