Hidden 60’s and 70’s Gems

[stax on the mull]

Although all of the material on this "Lost Album" is available on other Dion compilations, Norton Records reissued this collection of Dion recordings as an LP that should have been in 1965, but for Dion's health issues. Apart from his heroin addiction, the former teen idol was also losing his hair and rumour has it that he took to wearing a toupee.

There are bluesy rockers, Dylan songs and heart-wrenching mid tempo ballads. I particularly like his cover of Tom Paxton's "I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound" but it may be too melancholic for most and I suppose that's because some sentiments and ways of expressing them, for better and worse are specific to a bygone world. Popular, now unpopular 60's music but it's really good stuff, no bum notes vocally or instrumentally.

 

[stax on the mull]

Sacrilege probably, but I sometimes prefer what these guys did at the turn of the 60's/70's with the country/blues/rock mix more than Creedence and the Stones.

 

[rocker_oz33]

Must say the cars debut album was very good.
Prob before it's time... IMO.

 

[stax on the mull]

Love the name of the band, the album cover, the music and the message. Funkified gospel from 1977.

 

[Bostonian]

Slightly underrated Brit Explosion band. Had a few good songs. This one being my fave.

 

[rocker_oz33]

Really like this from LA Woman ...would of been interesting how their music would of been.

 

[stax on the mull]

Very enjoyable summery samba soul from 1977. Only one ballad which is hardly a bummer track, the rest is all light and bouncy brazillian grooves.

 

[Rusty Brookes]

 

[stax on the mull]

There's a few versions of "Hard Times".

This earlier version from fellow Chicago soul legend Gene Chandler goes by the title: "In My Body's House"

 

[stax on the mull]

Very cool clip of 3 Hur-el performing "Sevenler Ağlarmış" ("Lovers Cry") on Turkish Television 1974 with a mix of traditional folk and psychedelic in the 2nd half of the song.



"Üç Hürel was a Turkish rock band, formed in 1970 by siblings Onur, Haldun and Feridun Hürel. Considered as among Turkey's most popular Anatolian rock bands (Anadolu-Pop) the band performed folk-driven pop and rock music and occasionally also paraphrased classic folk songs with considerable ingenuity. Their lyrics generally featured themes such as peace and freedom, written by Feridun Hürel. Turkish psychedelic folk-rock tunes with 18 strings "double stemmed" saz-guitar by Feridun Hürel, heavy drum-bash by Haldun Hürel and bass guitar by Onur Hürel."

Excellent album too, released in 1974, which I think is actually a compilation of singles from '70 to '74. I've always liked this track with the hand drum percussion intro "Döner Dünya" ("World of Rotation"), though the other tracks have more guitars if that's your bent.

 

[CliffMcTainshaw]

Chetarca were a Melbourne band and in 1975 released their only single "Another Day" (taken from their self titled album) it reached No. 75 and was in the charts for 3 weeks. Paul Lever from Langford Lever fame singing and on harmonica. John Rees who went from Chetarca to Men At Work sounds terrific on bass. Really great song and well worth a listen.
The single isn't available by itself. However, this is the album and to listen to "Another Day" go straight to the 7 minute mark. Graphics are pretty good as well.

 

[stax on the mull]

Of the many hundreds of male soul singers who could lay claim to being the greatest of all time Howard Tate is at the very top of the list. I won't even bother trying to pass this off as a fan opinion. It's fact. There's usually some trademark or gimmick that sets singers apart and Howard Tate had a mercurial out of nowhere scream that he could deliver mid verse and slip back to his tenor voice like it was nothing.

First track "Stop" is from the classic "Get It While You Can", the 1967 LP title song sadly better known by the version recorded by Janis Joplin. "Stop" was covered by Jimmi Hendrix, but there other good but lesser soul versions by Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave fame) and Little Bob Camille.



"Night Owl" is a single from the same sessions as "Get It While You Can" but wasn't released on the LP.



3rd track is from Howard Tate's "Reaction", an LP recorded for a company that was a front for mobsters so again he never received royalties due.

 

[CliffMcTainshaw]

Now one from Australia, “The Wild Cherries“ and “That’s Life”. It just got into the Melb. Top 40 and that was it. A really good song from 1967 written by one B. Lyde who was born John Baslington Lyde, who became Barry Lyde and then Lobby Lloyd. Lloyd was one of the greatest of Australian Guitarists. He is regarded as one of the most influential guitarists of his time and really shaped how the guitar became a huge part of the Australian Rock sound. He was also cited by Kurt Cobain as a musical influence. The following year after The Wild Cherries had put out a total 4 singles, Lloyd left the band to join Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs. Lloyd and Thorpe had known each other from their teenage years in Brisbane.

 

[CURVE]

potentially the best band to come out of Brisbane.

 

[stax on the mull]

Jerry Williams Jr aka Swamp Dogg.

His first recording under that name, from 1970, and maybe his best called "Total Destruction To Your Mind"

On the title track I hear bits of Sly & The Family Stone in the "boom boom boom boom" funky guitar breakdown and in some slightly psychedelic lyrics "sitting on a cornflake".

The modest album cover just has Jerry in his underwear on the back of a rubbish truck. "Rat On" is the album that usually sees him featured in music blogs under the theme of strangest record covers, but there are other silly ones too.

 

[Plugger35]

America are underrated.

 

[stax on the mull]

This 1972 album is considered the holy grail of early 70's UK folk but is mired in copyright infringement disputes. It was briefly re-issued in 2017 with a bonus album of demos and track by track interviews in the notes from most of the still alive musicians who contributed to the recordings. It seems the master tapes are not in the possession of copyright holders who blocked the sale a few months after its release. BTW, I think there's one dud song on the LP, and it's the opener "Rubber Band".

Because the Watersons were from a family a cappella vocal group the LP was condemned by the traditional folk crowd due to its departure from the orthodoxy, it's use of electric guitars and original lyrics. Some members of Fairport Convention/ Steeleye Span are featured musicians on most of the tracks, along with others. Martin Carthy and Richard Thompson are the guitarists on the two tracks I've picked. Only about 1,000 copies were sold at the time and some of the vinyl was badly pressed, which makes the original increasingly rare and valuable.

There's a bleak outlook in much of the lyrics, which at times are like an audio equivalent to some of those UK films of the 60's/70's era that feature children fearful of adults eg: "Whistle Down The Wind", "Kes" or "My Ain Folk".

Death is a recurring theme as in these two songs. "Never The Same" written by Lal Waterson and "Scarecrow" co-written with her brother, Mike Waterson.

 

[stax on the mull]

The lyrics tell you that he's perhaps so nervous about meeting the girl that he knocks on the bell instead of ringing it, and it is a historical fact that the Eiffel Tower is falling down. If you wanna skip that go to guitars at approx. 2min 06 seconds .

 

[Partridge]

Here's one from early 1965 when Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Carlo Little, and Cliff Barton arsed about after a session and Page accidentally on purpose kept the tapes rolling. He also had a sickly 21 year old piano player called Nicky Hopkins sit in: