From the Black Mountain Hills of Dakota: Rocky's Log

[RockyRaccoon]

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Gandalf by Gandalf (US)

As I sort of alluded to in my post about Bohemian Vendetta, one of my favorite sort of subgenres of music is psychedelic bands that got overlooked between 1967 and 1970, and this album is a prime example of that.

I'm already primed to like this with the band name, given how much I adore Lord of the Rings, but it helps that this is some pretty sick psychedelic rock too. I recently went on a trip to just outside Hershey, PA and found a record store in Middletown where the owner had a copy of this and turned me on to it (as well as some other obscure psych bands like Moonstone and Fever Tree, and I was able to snag Captain Beyond's debut there, so all in all a great trip).

I love this, it's everything I love about late-60s psychedelic rock. Spacey, reverby vocals, thick, fuzzy guitar with big solos, it's awesome. Definitely an unsung classic.
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Early Psychedelic Rock

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[RockyRaccoon]

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Gentle On My Mind by Glen Campbell

So I'm fortunate enough (or unfortunate, if you ask my wife) to have a record store literally at the entrance of my neighborhood, which means naturally, I'm in there a lot. And one of my favorite things to do is comb through the $3 bargain bin and find little gems here and there.

I came across this album earlier this week - I was already familiar with the song Gentle On My Mind, which I think is absolutely brilliant. Frankly, I think Jim Hartford is one of the more underrated songwriters around, but that's a different topic.

But I figured, hey, I like the title track, Glen Campbell's pretty cool, I've spent $3 on dumber things, I'll give this a shot. And MAN this album is excellent.

It's all covers (save for one song), which makes sense for an album like this in 1967 (which, sidebar, I thought this would be a country album given it's Glen Campbell but this is definitely more of a folk/pop album than anything), but the song selection is nearly perfect. Gentle On My Mind is an awesome song and suits Campbell so well, but he also does a nice rendition of Donovan's "Catch the Wind" and a good version of "It's Over."

We've also got really nicely done versions of Harry Nilsson's "Without Her" and Roy Orbison's "Cryin'" but the real highlight (aside from the title track) is Campbell absolutely killing it on "You're My World." The song on its own is an amazing, beautiful song, so Campbell's already got that going for him, but the vocals on this are awesome. Campbell is absolutely belting it and I personally think this is better than Cilla Black's version.

Anyways, this was such a pleasant surprise and it's exactly the reason I love digging through the bargain bin at record stores - I'm willing to take a swing on an album I know very little about if it's $3, and oftentimes that leads to discovering some albums I might not have otherwise heard.
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[RockyRaccoon]

So for whatever reason, I decided I'd go through a whole bunch of albums with covers designed by Roger Dean, one of the greatest to ever do it.

Here are the albums, I'll write about them all at the bottom, but just take a moment to appreciate this amazing album art:

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One Fine Morning by Lighthouse

That's not the Roger Dean cover, that'd be this one:

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Gun by The Gun (1960s)

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Earth And Fire by Earth And Fire

also not the Roger Dean cover, that'd be this:

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I know our database has to have the original cover but the original cover is LAME compared to that kickass cover, but oh well

anyways, more albums

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Elastic Rock by Nucleus (UK)

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Woyaya by Osibisa

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Squawk by Budgie

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Hold Your Fire by Patto

Lord Of The Ages by Magna Carta

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Charge! by Paladin

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Greenslade by Greenslade

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The Magician's Birthday by Uriah Heep

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This Is... Gracious!! by Gracious

I don't know what it is about his art style, but I adore it. And what's been really cool about going through these is I've found a bunch of obscure prog rock albums from the 70s that I didn't know about.

All of these ranged from really solid to excellent (except for the Nucleus album - it was enjoyable jazz fusion, but didn't blow me away).

Some of these knocked me out though - The Gun album was incredible. Not prog rock but some awesome early proto-metal, the first track kicks off with an absolutely killer riff (that for some reason reminded me of Flirtin' With Disaster? But I could be wrong. It reminded me of something).

Hold Your Fire was pretty awesome too, I'd never listened to Ollie Halsall's guitar playing before but I can immediately tell he's going to be a favorite of mine. The man's incredible, I've never heard someone play guitar with such fluidity, it's almost like he's playing piano or something, it's amazing.

Lord of the Ages was a super fun prog album too, kind of a Moody Blues feel to it, loved it. Similarly, This Is...Gracious!! was pretty awesome, it kicks off with a killer 25-minute track and honestly doesn't stop from there.

I'm gonna be going through more of these Roger Dean album cover records, especially since it's leading to me discovering lots of cool stuff. Only problem is, I wanna add so many of these to my record collection but looks like a lot of these are pretty hard to find
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Early Psychedelic Rock

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[RockyRaccoon]

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Malibu Nights by Lany

I love when an album conjures up a time and place in my head. Like when I hear Tom Waits' "Closing Time," all I can see in my head is a smoke-filled bar, late at night, that's about to close with a guy up on a piano, half-drunk, pouring his heart out.

This album isn't that, but what Malibu Nights captures so perfectly is driving around a city late at night, the roads empty, the windows are down, and you're heartbroken as the street lights pass over your head. It's the synth pads, the reverby vocals, the thick but clean guitar, it just conjures the image of driving through empty city streets far too late at night because you just don't know where else to go.

And lyrically, the album isn't far off from that. The title track describes almost exactly that (and is the best song on the album), but this whole album is the soundtrack of someone managing a difficult, likely toxic relationship. A relationship they seem to feel they can't really get out of, something they're resigned to deal with. Sure, it's miserable at times, but it is what it is, we'll get through it.

It definitely sounds like the soundtrack of someone in their 20s going through their first difficult adult relationship, but you know what? We all feel like that sometimes, and this album sorta captures that moment pretty well.
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Early Psychedelic Rock

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[Fischman]

[Repo]

[RockyRaccoon]

[RockyRaccoon]

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Roadwork by Edgar Winter's White Trash

Another bargain bin find at the record store near my house - I was combing through the bargain bin records and came across this. I knew literally nothing about it aside from knowing Edgar and Johnny Winter and some of their work (I've got They Only Come Out At Night in my collection). I looked at the track list, saw some cool tracks I like, and figured, hey, I've spent $3 on dumber things.

And man, I'm impressed. It's a rock solid live album with some incredible performances. Edgar Winter absolutely crushes it not only vocally but on saxophone and keys. The real highlight of the album is a 17-minute rendition of Tobacco Road in which Winter shows off some of the best vocals I've ever heard from him and Rick Derringer absolutely SHREDS.

I love when I take a swing on an album I've never heard of before and it turns out to be good, and that's exactly what this was. Definitely worth a listen if you get a chance.
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Early Psychedelic Rock

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[RockyRaccoon]

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The World Is A Ghetto by WAR

Another bargain bin find at the record store (if you can believe it). I haven't listened to this album in forever and man I forgot how good it is. The whole thing just has a killer vibe, a similar feel to some of Curtis Mayfield or Isaac Hayes' stuff, in that the tracks are long, many of them mostly instrumental, but never once to the instrumentals get boring. They just create this feel where you can just close your eyes and drift off. It's this great mix of psychedelia, blues, and soul all in one thing.

Also, instrumentally this album is great across the board but Howard Scott's guitar work is really excellent
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[RockyRaccoon]

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Wheatfield Soul by The Guess Who

This was another bargain bin find at my local record store and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this. It's a fascinating snapshot of where The Guess Who were at in 1969.

It's a little uneven stylistically - you've got some songs that really lean into psychedelic rock, with the 10-minute-long "Friends of Mine" straight up sounding like a Doors song (and Burton Cummings does quite an interesting Jim Morrison impression). And you've got other, more pop-oriented songs, like "These Eyes," which is one of the best songs The Guess Who ever did.

Like I said, it's super interesting hearing where the band was at this point in their career. It was only their second album with Burton Cummings and their first album that actually had any success, thanks to These Eyes. But the album is clearly a product of its time - Cummings has always been a Morrison fan and even drove him around L.A. one night in 1969, so it's no surprise to hear sort of a Doors influence here and there.

Anyways, super interesting record. Not incredible, but a really fun find.
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Early Psychedelic Rock

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