Mandrake Memorial "3 Part Inventions" 1969(rec) 2016(released)***

I remember reading good things about Mandrake Memorial, although there was never an agreement on which of their albums is the best: the relatively straight psychedelic/proto-progressive debut, or their more electronic and experimental 3rd album Puzzle? The MOJO Collection highly recommends the latter, so I put it in my shopping list, should I find it for a nice price. I haven't yet (meanwhile the CD reissues are already 20 years old and almost just as rare as the original), but I stumbled on this recent release in the bargain bin. According to the liner notes, the music here "anticipates the woozy, dream-like vibe of their 1970 masterpiece Puzzle". It was recorded during an ill-fated trip to London, but subsequently shelved, although many of the songs were used later on Puzzle. Apparently the band travelled to London to record with Kinks/Who producer Shel Talmy, who gave up on them after a few sessions as he couldn't reconcile himself with the band's electronic/experimental tendencies. Keyboardist Michael Kac had quit after the recording of their previous album. With his harpsichord and piano gone, the band's sound relied heavily on Craig Anderton's electronic "modulators" (basically home-made synthesizers of a sort). The approach pans out in the case of the hypnotic "Ocean's Daughter" and "Part Of My Dreams" where Randy Monaco's hushed, melancholic vocals blend well with the other-worldy synths. Longer pieces like "Bucket Of Air" and "Witness The End" are meandering and less successful, although the latter shapes up after the first 7 minutes - to a palatable psychedelia similar to Fifty Foot Hose and West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. With whom I hope you're familiar, otherwise I just told you that an obscure 60's psychedelic band sounds like 2 other unknown 60's psychedelic bands. Traces of the more pop-oriented W.C.P.A.E.B. are also evident on the beautiful mid-tempo "Puzzle" and, especially, the eastern/Indian sounding "Tadpole", while "Wouldn't You Like It" is the exception, a sunnier and relatively poppier song. If they presented him more songs like that maybe Talmy wouldn't have abandoned them, though the album would have been less interesting for it. The London recordings are augmented here with two tracks from an earlier acetate, the acid folk "Cassandra" and harder rocking "The 12th Brigade". These have a more home-made, demo-like, quality, while the rest of the album, fully produced from the original master tapes, sounds much crisper and more professional. "Cassandra" and "Witness The End" were previously available in different form in their 2nd album Medium, while "Puzzle", "Ocean's Daughter", "Tadpole", and "Bucket Of Air" were revived, in more orchestrated versions, for Puzzle. More than an interesting rarity, or a collection of unreleased archive recordings, 3 Part Inventions sounds like a legitimate psychedelic classic. Innovative for its time, if quite antiquated now, but with some charming melodies and good ideas. I'll be sure to dig deeper in this band's discography, but for now I feel like I've made a good start.

**** for The Puzzle, Ocean's Daughter, Tadpole , 

*** for Part Of My Dreams, Wouldn't You Like It, Witness The End, Cassandra

** for Bucket Of Air, The 12th Brigade 

The Unspoken Word "Tuesday April 19th" 1968****

This is one of many reissues of rare psychedelic LP's I have in my collection. Quasi-legal reissue labels (e.g. Fallout, Radioactive, Phoenix, Sunbeam) have recently unearthed and reissued all these albums that collectors had been advertising as "lost masterpieces", which can't possibly be true for all of them. Easier access has had a demystifying effect on most, but as I love music from that era I often take a chance with one of these reissues.  

This is one of the cases that the risk paid off. Some reviewers on blogs etc. have dismissed this album as a bit lightweight or poppy. I get it, on face value it's quite soft and melodic, with elements we've all heard before, but never quite the same way. Dede Puma's enchanted vocals reminds of Vashti Bunyan or Linda Perhacs while the boy/girl harmonies reminiscent of folk pop groups like The Mamas and Papas. The string and horn arrangements are close to orchestral pop (Left Banke, Orpheus) but I find them to be more jazzy and adventurous, as if the arrangers have been listening to Sgt. Peppers and Robert Kirby's arrangements for Nick Drake. And if you doubt their psychedelic credentials, listen to "Moving Day" and, especially, "For The World" and tell me if you don't discern echoes of Barrett-era Pink Floyd. The album opens with "Anniversary Of The Mind" which features lead vocals by guitarist and main lyricist Gene Stashuk and a charming oriental melody, while "Waking Up" is a mid-tempo rocker, and "After The Before" a ballad with gentle harmonies. Among the more psychedelic and beautiful songs here, "Flock Of Birds" and "Distant, Oh So Far" remind me of Jefferson Airplane in the boy/girl vocals and of Love's Forever Changes in the orchestral arrangements. Too bad the original LP ended with the rather silly "We're Growing", a tune only suitable for a kindergarten with a very hippy-dippy teacher. The reissue, though, continues with 4 more songs from pre-album singles. "Boy" is a folk psych ballad with gorgeous singing by Dede, and "Beautiful Day" a pleasant sunshine pop tune a la Mamas and Papas. Nevertheless, there's one thing about this album that still nags me: whatever did happen on Tuesday April 19th, and which year are we talking about, exactly? Not 1968 when this album was released, that's for sure. April 19th fell on a Friday that year - I know such things. I couldn't find any clue to it on the net, so I guess the truth will remain unspoken. 

***** for Flock Of Birds

**** for Anniversary Of The Mind, For The World, Waking Up, After The Before, Distant, Oh So Far, Boy, 

*** for Moving Day, Rossby, Sunday Suit Of Clothes, Nobody's Nothing, On A Beautiful Day, And It's Gone

** for We're Growing

Deep Purple "Infinite" (Gold ed. incl. Live At Hellfest) 2017***

The only time I caught Deep Purple live was in Athens, April 2000. I had to google to confirm the date, and I came across the contemporary reviews in the press, which were great. Not how I remember it. I mean yes the band played well, but the venue was awful, completely unsuited to live concerts. A place, somewhere in the Olympic Complex, which looked like a low-ceilinged aircraft hangar or a huge warehouse. 10,000 fans were cramped inside, slowly boiling in that stuffy place which had almost no air condition. Outside it was around 20°C, but inside it was well over 35°C. At least one in every five spectators smoked, while the sound reverberated all over the place. So that experience is more vivid in my mind than how the band played. I do remember being thrilled with Jon Lord's solos and annoyed that Blackmore wasn't there. I had missed my chance to see Blackmore with Purple a few years before, when the Slave And Masters line-up visited Athens. It was a combination of perennial pennilessness and annoyance that Joe Lynn Turner had replaced Gillan as lead singer. I don't think anyone accepted Turner as a legitimate Purple member, his style was too AOR for classic Purple material. Now, of course, it stands out as a missed opportunity. I would love to listen to a professionally recorded concert from that tour, see what he brought to the game and how his presence affected the songs.

My eagerness to listen how present-day Purple play their classic songs was one of the reasons I picked up the special edition of their latest CD, containing a bonus live disc. Another was the expectation that this was to be their last album (the accompanying tour was named the "Long Goodbye Tour"). Think of it as a once-beloved TV series that has been going on for too long. You may have missed the last few seasons, but aren't you going to watch the last episode and learn how it all ends? This was just a misunderstanding, though. The latest word by Steve Morse is that they are planning to enter studio again in 2019 for a new record. I had stopped following Purple after Perfect Strangers, as I found what I heard from the next few albums unconvincing. Then, when Steve Morse replaced Blackmore on guitar, I gave Purpendicular a chance. It had gotten good reviews, and it wasn't a bad album, but it certainly didn't sound like Deep Purple. Imagine how pleasantly surprised I was when the opening "Time for Bedlam" instantly reminded me of the titular track from Perfect Strangers. Powerful hard rock with guitar and organ fills worthy of the absent Blackmore/Lord. Gillan is in fine voice throughout the album. Different from the 70's, more constrained and less shrieky. On "Hip Boots" he's bluesier, even reminds me of Elvis for the first verse. On "All I Got Is You" Gillan sounds almost nonchalant, but Morse and Airy are on fire. "One Night in Vegas" and "Get Me Outta Here" are O.K. as fillers go, but "The Surprising" provides the highlight of the album, a more complex composition with soft melodic and hard rocking parts, lyrical vocals and epic keyboards. "Johnny's Band" is a fun but comparatively pedestrian straight rocker, and "Birds of Prey" another throwback to the 70's hard rock. The album ends anti-climatically with an unnecessary cover of The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues". The album cover depicts an icebreaker forming the letters d and p on the ice, which are also arranged to resemble the infinity sign to symbolize the band's 50-year history. 

Regarding the bonus CD (also available in standalone 3-LP vinyl form), it's a very decent live recording: excellent sound and tight performances, as can probably be expected for a lineup that has been playing together more than 15 years. It starts off with the bombastic "...Bedlam" and then straight to 3 classic Mark II hits with nice solos by Glover ("Fireball"), Morse and Airy ("Bloodsucker"). "Uncommon Man" from the previous album sits well among the classics, and features some shredding by Morse, whose playing is excellent throughout albeit not as flashy as Blackmore's. Don Airy, on the other hand, fills Jon Lord's boots with aplomb: just listen to him in "Lazy", it's difficult to tell them apart. Which in no way demeaning, he's not a copyist, just someone with a similar all-encompassing style and tremendous chops. Gillan is in remarkably good form for his age, especially if it's really an undoctored performance as stated on the cover. Doesn't hit the high notes like he used to, and his voice may have lost some power but it's still robust and never falters. After "Surprising" and "Birds Of Prey" from the new record, the band continue with the oldies: "Space Truckin'" has always been a live favorite, though it sounds awfully condensed at 5 minutes, as it used to routinely run for 20 minutes in concert. Actually no song surpasses the 8-minute mark, which which is very uncharacteristic of the old Purple who loved to jam and transform their songs onstage. Nowadays they're not so brash, more of a tight rock'n'roll ensemble than the unstoppable juggernaut of the 70's. Lastly, the obligatory crowd pleaser "Smoke On The Water" is followed by a couple groovier numbers with roots in the 60's, "Peter Gunn/Hush" and "Black Night". By seeing the 2000 lineup I had ticked the DP box and, as the experience was not too pleasant, I never again sought to see them in concert. Meanwhile, I had the chance to listen to the DP classics as performed by Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow in Germany, and the best songs by Mark III and IV by Coverdale's Whitesnake in Belgium. Glen Hughes is also currently touring playing DP material. I guess we're now at that point in time that no single band or musician can lay claim to the DP legacy. I've finally made my peace with the fact I'll never see any of the classic DP line-ups, so I can listen to the newest version (officially Mark VIII) with open ears, and I say this album proves them to be worthy successors to the original band. I now look forward to seeing them in concert.

**** for Time For Bedlam, The Surprising, Birds Of Prey

*** for Hip Boots, All I Got Is You, Get Me Outta Here, Johnny's Band, On Top Of The World, 

** for One Night In Vegas, Roadhouse Blues

LIVE AT HELLFEST 2017 **** for Time For Bedlam, Lazy, Perfect Strangers, Smoke On The Water, Black Night

*** for Fireball, Bloodsucker, Strange Kind Of Woman, Uncommon Man, The Surprising, Birds Of Prey, Space Truckin’, Peter Gunn / Hush

Classic Rock's The Real 100 Greatest Albums Of The 60s

Previous month's Classic Rock presented the so-called "Real 100 Greatest Albums Of The 60s", then proceeding to undermine itself by adding some arbitrary rules: "Only ONE album per artist" and, more inexplicably, "Don't Choose The Most Famous Album". Doesn't that defeat the purpose? I mean, of course the most famous record isn't necessarily the best one but if you specifically exclude the most famous LP by every artist, you don't end up with the real greatest albums of the 60's, just a bunch of runner-ups. OK, when it comes to The Beatles and Stones, there are many albums of equal value to choose from. I wouldn't argue with the ones they chose, even if they aren't the most obvious. But to ignore Dylan's Freewheeling, Blonde on Blonde and Bringing It All Back Home in favor of John Wesley Harding? or The Kinks' Kontroversy, Something Else and Village Green in favor of... Live at Kelvin Hall? Make your case, please. I understand the desire to be original and choose an underrated record instead of an undisputed classic but then you either shouldn't call it "the greatest albums" list or you should present the entries like this: "instead of Velvet Underground & Nico, its understudy White Light/White Heat, or "instead of Love's perennial classic Forever Changes, we chose Da Capo, the record no-one ever turns over to side B". Confusingly, they don't always follow their own rules: Jefferson Airplane are represented by Surrealistic Pillow, and The Doors by their debut. Safe choices, even if these groups also have some great and underrated albums in their discography. Nevertheless, here's the list: as always just a good starting point for conversation and reappraisal. At the moment I own 62 of these records, not a great score seeing as it concerns my favorite decade. I'll be posting my reviews of them in this blog. Meanwhile, what is your take on this? Which of these don't belong here and which should be here but are missing?

1. Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold as love

2. The Beatles - White Album

3. The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed

4. Led Zeppelin - s/t

5. Free - Tons of Sobs

6. Jeff Beck - Truth

7. Fleetwood Mac - Then Play On

8. David Bowie - s/t

9. Pink Floyd - Ummagumma

10. The Doors - s/t

11. Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow

12. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks

13. The Who - Tommy

14. MC5 - Kick Out The Jams

15. Jethro Tull - Stand Up

16. The Stooges - The Stooges

17. Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum

18. Small Faces - There are but four Small Faces

19. Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding

20. John Mayall - A Hard Road

21. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country

22. Alice Cooper - Pretties for You

23. Crosby, Stills & Nash - s/t

24. Cream - Wheels of Fire

25. Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat

26. The Pretty Things - s/t

27. Otis Redding - Otis Blue

28. The Yardbirds - Five Live Yardbirds

29. Dr.John, The Night Tripper - Gris-Gris

30. The Zombies - Odessey & Oracle

31. The Kinks - Live at Kelvin Hall

32. The Byrds - Younger Than Yesterday

33. The Moody Blues - On the threshold of a Dream

34. Robert Johnson - King of the Delta Blues Singers

35. The Spencer Davies Group - The Second Album

36. Traffic - Mr.Fantasy

37. The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - s/t

38. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

39. Frank Zappa - Hot Rats

40. Canned Heat - Boogie with Canned Heat

41. Them - The Angry Young Them

42. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

43. Paul Butterfield - The Paul Butterfield Blues Band

44. Steve Miller Band - Sailor

45. Nazz - Nazz

46. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Safe As Milk

47. The Sonics - Here are The Sonics

48. Fairport Convention - Liege & Lief

49. The Mothers of Invention - We're Only in It for the Money

50. Buffalo Springfield - Again

51. Muddy Waters - At Newport 1960

52. Deep Purple - Book of Taliesyn

53. The Animals - Animal Tracks

54. Bert Jansch - Jack Orion

55. Scott Walker - Scott 4

56. Love - Da Capo

57. Blind Faith - s/t

58. The Hollies - Evolution

59. Janis Joplin - I got dem ol' kozmic blues again mama!

60. Donovan - Barabajagal

61. Johnny Winter - The progressive blues experiment

62. Spooky Tooth - Spooky Two

63. Manfred Mann - The five faces of Manfred Mann

64. Mose Allison - Mose Alive!

65. The Beach Boys - Summer Days (& Summer Nights!!)

66. Santana - s/t

67. Can - Monster Movie

68. Family - Family Entertainment

69. Chuck Berry - Rockin' at the Hops

70. The Nice - The thoughts of Emerlist Dajack

71. The Incredible String Band - The 5000 spirits or The layers of the onion

72. Ten Years After - Undead

73. The Shangri-las - Leader of the Pack

74. The Mamas & The Papas - If you can believe your eyes & ears

75. The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Glided Palace of Sin

76. Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense & Peppermints

77. Grateful Dead - Live/Dead

78. Trashmen - Surfin' Bird

79. Mott the Hoople - s/t

80. Yes - s/t

81. The Seeds - s/t

82. Tim Buckley - s/t

83. The Shadows of Knight - Gloria

84. The Electric Prunes - s/t

85. Miles Davis - In a Silent Way

86. Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends

87. The Ronettes - Presenting the fabulous Ronettess featuring Veronica

88. Downliners Sect - The Sect

89. The Fugs - s/t

90. Iron Butterfly - Heavy

91. Harvey Mandel - Cristo Redentor

92. The Sorrows - Take a Heart

93. The Standells - Dirty Water

94. Asylum Choir - Look Inside the Asylum Choir

95. The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - Gorilla

96. The United States Of America - s/t

97. Graham Bond Organisation - The Sound of '65

98. Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels - Take a Ride!

99. Chicago Transit Authority - s/t

100. The Deviants - Ptooff!

B.B. King "King of the Blues:1989" 1988**

A Dutch friend of mine is getting ready to emigrate to sunny Spain, and he's giving away some of his stuff, so I inherited his modest record collection, mostly 80's pop and R&B. Not necessarily my kind of music, but still nice to have.

I'm slowly going through them, starting with this one because hey it's the King of the Blues, it should be among the best of the bunch. Unfortunately, it's plagued by the worst possible case of 80's production: drowned in plastic-sounding synths and drum machines, one wonders how can an album featuring the talents of B.B. King, Mick Fleetwood (drums) and Steve Cropper (rhythm guitar) sound so bad. It's as if, despite having a blues giant in their hands, the producers tried to mimic the faceless pop of the contemporary charts. The first couple of songs are shocking: "...habit to me" and "drowning in the sea of love" are full of disco/new wave beats, cheesy backing vocals, drum machines, and not a whiff of King's trademark guitar sound. There is some rock guitar buried low in the mix, but it doesn't sound like B.B. At least he's in good form vocally - so much is made of his guitar playing that we often forget what a distinctive and soulful voice he had. "Can't Get Enough" is bluesier, the first listenable song here despite being dominated by Marty Grebbs' saxophone. Stevie Nicks provides some nice backing vocals. On "Standing on the Edge" the over-glossed arrangement does not manage to ruin a good vocal performance for a typical electric blues tune. "Go On" has a 50's R&B beat which might sound good if played by a real band instead of synths and drum machines. At least Lucille (B.B.'s guitar, for the uninitiated) is given here some room to play. On Side 2 the guitar is a bit more present, though still buried under artificial synths and fake drums. "Undercover Man" reminds me of the worst musical crimes committed by The Stones during the 80's (i.e. their Dirty Work LP). It's followed by some respite in the form of "Lay Another Log on the Fire", basically the umpteenth copy of "The Thrill is Gone". "Business With My Baby Tonight" is another passable copy, this time of "Paying The Cost To Be The Boss" - which leads us to the conclusion that B.B. King producing second rate copies of himself is still better than B.B. King copying "modern" pop hits. My vinyl LP stops there, but the CD version adds another song ("Take Off Your Shoes") which, according to allmusic.com, is one of the highlights of this relatively poor collection. 

*** for Can't Get Enough, Standing on the Edge, Lay Another Log on the Fire

** for (You've Become a) Habit to Me, Drowning in the Sea of Love, Go On, Let's Straighten It Out, Change in Your Lovin', Undercover Man, Business With My Baby Tonight