Marble Phrogg "Marble Phrogg" 1968****

This is one of the rarest 60's psychedelic albums - apparently only 100 copies were ever pressed to be sold at band gigs in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the O.S.U. campus in Stillwater. But rarity alone isn't enough to explain why this LP, comprised mostly by covers of contemporary rock hits, is a highly valued collectors' item. Thousands of garage bands recorded self-released LP's which, while just as rare, don't sell for hundreds of $. No, the value of this LP lies in the quality of the playing which is more than competent. More importantly, the band does not mimic the originals in everything, resulting in an album with a recognizable style throughout. Their best feature is the fantastic, fuzzed out, lead guitar which is used to great effect on Hendrix's "Fire" and Cream's "I'm So Glad" and "Strange Brew". Two Byrds covers ("I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" and "Ryder") feature the familiar folk-rock harmonies, the overall sound being just a bit rockier than the originals. We also get a very nice hard rock cover of Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" and a garagey lo-fi "Connection", one of the least-covered Stones classics. Other interesting psychedelic covers include Iron Butterfly's "Fields Of Sun", Donovan's "Season Of The Witch" and Eric Burdon's "Sky Pilot". Lastly, there are two songs I wasn't formerly familiar with: acoustic folk ballad "There's A Girl" and great garage-rocker "Love Me Again" - the latter features a scorching guitar solo and seems to be an original: it's attributed to someone called Norvell and, to quote a reviewer on amazon.com who is obviously a Tulsa resident "band member Phil Norvell went on to play in the Honky Dreads" - whoever those Dreads may be, usual databases yield no results. All in all, this album should satisfy all fans of 60's fuzz/acid rock. The covers are interesting, though not radically different from the originals, and the sole original kicks ass! If you can't spare 700+ ‎€'s for the original vinyl, there are some bootleg CD reissues, such as the one I have. The original back cover is a nice piece of 60's comix art which is unfortunately distorted and compressed to fit in the CD inlay. I tried to stretch it to normal dimensions to post here. Hope you like it, as well as the sample videos below.

**** for Love Me Again (Norvell), Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf), I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better (Byrds), Fire (Jimi Hendrix), Strange Brew (Cream), Season Of The Witch (Donovan)

*** for I'm So Glad (Cream), Fields Of Sun (Iron Butterfly), Ryder (Tim Rose), Connection (Rolling Stones), There's A Girl (Dickerson), Sky Pilot (Eric Burdon)