pOoTer's pSycheDelic shAcK Bands

Jump to other Bands

Bands (D)

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Comps

Please see Here to submit stuff

** We will happily publish more than one review of each album.....don’t let that stop you **

Dantalions Chariot - Madman Running Through The Fields

1967

Columbia DB 8260

Track List:

Madman Running Through The Fields, The sun came bursting through my cloud

****Submit a review?****

Dantalions Chariot - Chariot Rising

1995

Tenth Planet TP 015

Track List:

Madman Running Through The Fields, World War Three, This Island, Fourpenny Bus Ride, Four Fireman, Sun Came Bursting Through My Cloud, Recapture The Thrill, Soma, Coffee Song, High Flying Bird.

Review:

This CD contains the collected works of one of the most promising British psychedelic bands, whose output in 1967 consisted of one single. They recorded tracks for an album that was not released at the time, as the band broke up before its scheduled release. They finally became available on this 1996 CD issue, though the single, ‘Madman Running Through The Fields’ has been available on compilations. The creative nucleus of the band was Zoot Money, an established keyboard player and vocalist, and Andy Summers (or is it Somers?) later of numerous bands, the most successful of which was of course Police.

The collection opens with ‘Madman Running Through The Fields.’ It’s a mind-blower with superb effects embellishing a beautifully crafted song. Feedback, reverse drumming and organ whines lead into a verse underpinned by typical Summers echoey riffing, there’s a complete change of ambience for the chorus, with flute and soaring vocals from Money, and the fade-out has a spacey tremolo effect from Summers and panting of the madman himself. ‘World War Three’ is a predicable lament on the horrors of war filtered through an acid haze, but it has superb guitar playing that’s heavily distorted and Summers must have stomped the wah-wah pedal to pieces by the end! ‘This Island,’ an instrumental, has sea, sitars, and operatic soprano. Quite relaxing, I suppose, but a bit inconsequential. ‘Fourpenny Bus Ride’ is a bouncy pop ditty, typical of the times and nothing remarkable. ‘Four Firemen’ is a sub-Syd Barrett, tuneless dirge about four firemen involved in a demarcation dispute. You’ll either laugh your pants off, or fast-forward after about thirty seconds. ‘Sun Came Bursting Through My Cloud’ is a whimsical, likeable ballad, the B-side of the single. You’ll be humming this one until they come to take you away (haha!). ‘Recapture The Thrill’ in similar vein, has more cynical lyrics and a lopsided ¾ rhythm. ‘Soma’ is more sitar, flute and acoustic guitar noodling that works better than ‘This Island’ by virtue of more variation and generally much niftier playing. ‘Coffee Song’ was done by Cream, but gets a lighter, more wistful feel here. The greater instrumental variety and more leisurely pace work well. ‘High Flying Bird’ (not the Airplane song) is pure dippiness with a bossa-nova feel, though Andy Summers does lift it with a Santana-like solo. It’s a sad anticlimax to a patchy album.

Sure, it’s unfair to judge the band’s potential on the music presented here. However, the packaging shows great shots of their legendary lightshow, gives a comprehensive history of the band, and reproduces rare photos of them, a picture of the single sleeve, and other memorabilia of a Golden Age. It’s worth getting for a glimpse of those wonderful times, and the better moments on the album.

Reviewed by DoctorDark

Daevid Allen - N` Existe ` Pas !

1979

Charly

Track List :

Professor Sharpstrings Says, The Freedom Of The City In A Suitable Box, They Say They Say, Something Tells Me, It’s A Fine Air For Fliss, But It’s Really Not Real, Because Bar Room Philosophers, 333, No Other Than The Mother Is My Song, Theme From Hashish To Ashes, The Turkeybirds Breakfast, Raineesh With Thanks, Noh God Will Not Go On Or The Wrong Way To Be Right, O Man You.

****Submit a review?****

Dark - Round The Edges

1972

Akarma Records 007

Track List:

Darkside, Maypole, Live for Today, R.C. 8, The Cat, Zero Time

Review:

In a recent issue of “Time Out” magazine (a London listings guide) there is a short interview with Robert Plant.
In the interview Plant is asked what he thinks about Ozzy’s new found fame and if back in the “old days” there was ever any rivalry between Zeppelin and Sabbath. Plant replies that back then Bonham used to refer to many of the other bands as “Deep Sabbath”. You may be asking yourself, what is my point…well, to me, the point is Dark’s “Round The Edges” LP sounds like John Bonham’s’ description. Deep Sabbath.
During the early 70’s there were loads of heavy rock bands strutting their stuff around England. May Blitz, Pink Fairies, Atomic Rooster, Foghat, Toe Fat, Trapeze, Budgie etc. Dark also emerged out of this scene and perhaps when put into the context of say, May Blitz or Foghat, Dark were possibly one of the better and more respected of the less known heavy rock acts.
According to Vernon Joynson, their “Round the Edges” LP is apparently one of the UK’s most expensive albums. The LP is a high collectors item for sure and one would need to take out a second mortgage just to afford an original issue, but is the music contained within any good?
Yes and no. The album is basically bog standard heavy blues-rock that is saturated with guitar effects. At times it sounds to me like heavy handed pub rock (“R.C.8”) whilst other times it delves into pedestrian blues rock category (“Live For Today” & “The Cat”) but the album is nowhere near as good nor as memorable as The Groundhogs “Split” LP. This is mainly down to substandard song writing, which all the guitar effects in the world cannot mask. What makes “Split” such a great album is not only McPhee’s superb guitar playing, but also the song writing on that record is first class. The same however cannot be said for “Round The Edges”.
In my opinion “Round the Edges” greatest track is its opener, “Darkside”. Three minutes in and we are offered the best guitar playing on the whole album. Maniacal strumming that is so completely laden with “raucous” guitar effects it could power a small city in the English midlands. To put it mildly: the song rocks. However, to this reviewer it is mostly downhill from there. “Maypole” and closing track “Zero Time” (whose opening guitar notes are reminiscent of Rusty Evans’ “1983”) are also notable for some decent musicianship that just about rescues the album. However, a strong opener and closer do not make a classic album.
Like I said, give me “Split” or “Thank Christ For The Bomb” anyway over this obscure, overpriced slab of wax.

Rating: 3 Sugar Cubes

Reviewed by BlueMagoo - November 2002

Datura - Visions For The Celestial ** Download Samples HERE **

1999

Brainticket BTR-008

Track List:

Magnetise, Sunshine in purple, Reaching out, Euphoria, Voyage, Mantra.

Review:

Currently causing a big stir on the Stoner Rock scene, New Zealand's Datura are now taking the
world by storm with this, their second album following in the wake of the now legendary Allisone. Approaching the Hard Rock/Stoner sound from a slightly different angle to many of the more 'metal' sounding Stoner bands, Datura apply much more of an Acid feel to their music.
There are many, many bands jumping on the Stoner bandwagon, with most just churning out bland, lumbering sludge. In our opinion, Datura are up there with the the 'big boys' such as Kyuss and Monster Magnet and deserve all the credit they get because this album is packed full of acid soaked monster riffs, awesomeley relentless drumming and spaced out vocals. Sure this is Stoner Rock but it's roots are firmly in the heavy psychedelia of Blue Cheer, Jimi Hendrix and the MC5. The distorted wah wah of 'Magnetise' delivered in a powered up Hendrix style opens the album and is a fine opening track setting the pace for what is an awesome album. 'Sunshine in purple' is big, heavy psych guitar, backed up by Craig Williamson's pulsing bass and powerful vocals. 'Reaching out' is a lot harder, faster and heavier. 'Euphoria', perhaps the stongest track, is full of heavy swirling guitar and spaced out effects. 'Voyage' changes down a gear in a powerful Kyuss sounding style. All too soon this excellent album is over, but not before the awesome psychedelic epic that is 'Mantra' takes you on one last trip, slowly building up layers of trippy effects, carried along by a meandering guitar jam.
Strapped on the front of this stonking album is one of the best covers we've seen for a while (by Franz Landl) click on the pic below to check it out.

We strongly recommend scoring one of these if you are a fan of Heavy Psych/Stoner.
This can be done in the USA by checking out Brainticket Records
and in the UK by visiting Delerium Records/Freak Emporium.
Reviewed by pOoTer.

The David - Another Day, Another Lifetime
1967
VMC
Track List:
Another Day, Another Lifetime, I Would Like To Know, I’m not Alone, Sweet December, Tell Me More, Now To You, Professor Crawford, Time M, So Much More, Mirrors of Wood, Of Our Other Days BONUS: I Don’t Care, Mister, You’re A Better Man Than I.
****Submit a review?****

Deep Purple - Shades of Deep Purple

1968

Parlophone PMC 7055 Mono

Track List:

And The Address, Hush, One More Rainy Day, Prelude: Happiness /I'm So Glad, Mandrake Root, Help, Love Help Me, Hey Joe.

Review:

Most people have heard of Deep Purple's Machine Head and Deep Purple In Rock_ albums, but not everyone has heard of their first three albums that feature a different vocalist, Rod Evans (later to join Captain Beyond), and a different bassist, Nic Simper.
These first three barely sound like the later albums and I consider them much more interesting and experimental. Cream's sound is somewhat mimicked here, even though Jon Lord's organ plays as big a role as Ritchie Blackmore's guitar. This first album is not as developed as the other two, and borrows a lot from Cream, The Beatles, and Hendrix, but I wouldn't advise getting the rest without buying this one, as well.
The album starts off with the thundering instrumental somewhat-psychedelic rocker "In The Address" (of whom?) and then goes into Deep Purple's breakthrough hit, "Hush." I like Deep Purple's version of "I'm So Glad" even better than Cream's because it's more psychedelic, less
bluesy, and a lot longer, if you count the intro. "Mandrake Root" is one of my favorite songs...it has basically the riff of "Foxy Lady" but it has better chord selection and a much better vocal part...and then everything turns into a huge organ solo. The Beatles cover, "Help" is probably better than the original...very psychedelic and moody. Finishing off, the version of "Hey Joe" on here is simply superb. There is now a remastered CD by Rhino records which sounds A LOT better and also includes some bonus tracks, among them "Shadows" which is a pretty typical (but great) late 60's pop/rock song in the vein of "Hush."

Reviewed by LedMunkee http://majiknet.50megs.com

The Deep - Psychedelic Moods
1966
Cicadelic Records 977
Track List:
Color Dreams, Pink Ether, When Rain Is Black, It's All A Part Of Me, Turned On, Psychedelic Moon, Your Chance To Choose, Crystal Night, Trip No. 76, Wake Up & Find Me, Shadows On The Wall, On Off - Off On
****Submit a review?****

Dementia 13 - Flat Earth Society

1991

Midnight

Track List :

Can This Be True Love, Arabesque, You Tickle Me Pink, Flat Earth Society, Whisperer, God Part III, Helpless Feeling, People Get Old, Pleasant Shoes, Heaven and Hell, Plastic Contraption, Eyes Outta Nowhere, Four Faces of the Clock, Buddha Was A Good Ol' Boy.

****Submit a review?****

Deviants - Ptooff!

1967

Impressarios IMP1

Track List:

I’m Coming Home, Nothing Man, Child Of The Sky, Deviation Street, Bun,.....

****Submit a review?****

Deviants - Disposable

1968

Stable SLP 7001

Track List:

Slum Lord, Jamies Song, Youve Got To Hold On, Fire In The City, Guaranteed......tbc

****Submit a review?****

Dino Valente - Dino Valente

1967

CBS

Track List:

Time, Something New, My Friend, Listen to Me, Me and My Uncle, Tomorrow, Children of the Sun, New Wind Blowing, Everything Is Gonna Be Ok, Test, Shame on You Babe, Now and Now Only.

Review:

I'm not sure if this album is readily available as a reissue. I used to own it on LP years ago, but my current copy is a dodgy download from the late lamented Audiogalaxy. Search it out wherever you can, it's a treasure.
The 12-string guitar is the psychedelic musical instrument par excellence. Roger McGuinn, Paul Kantner, Tim Buckley, Leo Kottke and countless others tampered with this weapon of destruction with varying degrees of success, but the most psychedelic sounding artist to pick up a 12 was Dino.
By the time he joined up with Quicksilver Messenger Service he had had a long career as a solo artist and a short spell in jail as a draft dodger.
This album is an example of what he was up to before those days. "Children Of The Sun" is a weird stream-of-consciousness style lyric which contains most of the profundities which encapsulated the hippie ideal. What's more, the guy sounds as though he's sampling the latest batch of Owsley's finest, right there in the studio. At several points he sings the word 'Mind' and stretches it over about 12 syllables and a whole octave. Some people will find his tendency to glide up to the right note from a distance of about 1500 metres a little off-putting, but this is the essence of the psychedelic troubadour.
If the guy had the same reputation as, say, Roky Erickson, for being truly 'out there'
then this would be considered one of his most endearing traits.
Get Together is the first ever hippie anthem (well it was before the Dave Clark 5 got their hands on it):
"Love is but the song we sing, and fear's the way we die You can make make the mountains ring or make the angels cry..." Jefferson Airplane also covered it, so all is not lost. Another fine pearl:
"You hold the key to love and fear all in your tiny hand, One Key unlocks them both."
Dino is also notorious for passing off "Hey Joe" (not on this album) as his own composition, though he didn't in fact write it. Trivia question of the week is, "Who did?" Read Richie Unterberger's book "Wayfaring Strangers..." to find the answer. "Me And My Uncle" later became a staple of the Grateful Dead's repertoire. It's a cowboy movie, a song of hard riding on the trail, gambling, gunfights, card games and desperadoes.
Occasionally songs like 'My Friend" and "Tomorrow" will disturb the flow with their
orchestral backing, but even there you will hear beautiful trills on strings, flute,
piano and guitar which punctuate the flow and show that even old session men can be
cosmic when in the right company. "Something New" is so close to what Tim Buckley was doing at pretty much the same time, a gentle jazzy groove in which Dino speaks so intimately to his lover you almost feel embarassed to listen in.
I'm sure this singer was a major influence on many people, right up to the Verve's Richard Ashcroft, so catch up with this psychedelic minstrel as soon as you can. Like any trip, there's the odd awkward moment, but they're worth it for the sake of the overall uplifting experience.

Addendum:
A few days after the review, I received a mail from Kate Powers O'Gara - the late Dino's sister, no less! She thanked me for the review and pointed out that Dino was NOT in jail for draft dodging - this misreporting was completely my mistake and I apologise for this. He actually served his country, joining the Air Force when he was 17 (though he was soon discharged for 'non-conformity to the rules' - Kate's phrase). He was actually busted for drug possession and this is what he served time for.
There is a Dino website, and what's more you can check out the entire solo album at http://www.power-pro.com/DinoValentiMusic.htm and there's rumours of various Quicksilver tracks coming soon.
The site is still under development and not all links are fully working, so please be patient."

Reviewed by DoctorDark - 20th September 2002

Dipsomaniacs - Stethoscopic Notion

2001

CD - Camera Obscura Records
LP - Apartment Records

Track List:

Don't Mourn, Turn Summersaults, Feet Of Clay, Stethoscopic Notion, Of Reaching Out, Me For One, Dulcimer's Dream, At Granny Moon's, Bring Flowers To The Courthouse, Fair-weather Friend, Show Me Every Corner, Gum-machine Gamble.

Review:

In 1997, in Norway,The Dipsomaniacs were created by "Øyvind Holm" who plays guitar and vocals and good egg 'cause he digs Syd Barrett, nuff said. He was joined by Robert Skjærvik on bass, Thomas Henriksenon keyboards and harmony vocals and Arve Gulbrandsen on drums.
"Stethoscopic notion" encapsulates the paisley pop side of psychedelic sounds with obvious Beatles influences not only because of Øyvind's Lennon-esque vocals but the swirling, floaty trippiness of the Beatles sound. Personally I never got into that whole Beatles ethos apart from the White album and the odd track here and there.
I have to confess that on first listen this album sounded like it was just more pop nonsense and it did not reach out and shake me up, exept for the opening track "Don't mourn" a fast paced classic psych vibe complete with thundering bass lines, acidic guitar licks and fade out with tablas, however, sometimes you have to look inwards to appreciate what is coming outwards to accept that this is one of those albums that the more you hear the more you appreciate the complexity of its structure and orchestration and the passion that its founder member evokes by throwing you gently back to the sounds of the 60's and now I find aside from a couple of tracks (Hey ! nobody's perfect) this is a very nice album to be uplifted by.
Recommended, unless of course you only like your psych to snarl at you.
Hey! that's me though!, but we all need a little mellowness sometimes don't we?

Reviewed by Sir Eel - November 2002

Visit the Dipsos here http://www.dipsomaniacs.com/

Dipsomaniacs-In The Tremolo of Her Mind, The Strings of Her Soul
2002
Free City Media
Track List:
Miles Away, Before Painting Your Murals, Dipso Raga #1 (For George), Hear Me-Take Me, In Syd’s Garden.
Review:
Proudly stated in the liner notes of The Dipsomaniacs improvisational album, “The Tremolo of Her Mind” says: ” Climb on board, this is no ordinary Dipsomaniacs album, in the sense that you’ve bought a record of three-minute pop songs. This is our trip to Mars”.

This is in fact an album of five improvised jams and mind tapestries by one of Norway’s finest bands. Vocalist and guitarist Oyvind Holm describes the record as:

“We could have hammered through four extremely boring blues jams or
something, instead we have ended up with an emotional album that in many
was has cultivated new ground for us as musicians. I've been listening to
the sixteen minutes long Indian influenced dipso raga over and over again,
and it gets me every time."

“Tremolo…” is an interesting album, and there is much that I admire about it. It starts off with the pulsating, swirling pump organ of “Miles Away”. This is an eerie composition that spins and vibrates. Eventually a heavy trombone comes in like a foghorn carving its way through a thick sea haze. This eventually merges into the campfire sing-along of “Before Painting Your Murals”, a lazy, drunken country tune complete with stoned, weedy vocals. As the name suggests “Dipso Raga #1” is a jazzy eastern number, which brings to mind the great David Lindley and Kaleidoscope. For me this is the tune where the band truly takes off. It is virtually airless as it floats through 15 minutes of a gorgeous guitar raga before spiralling to a manic climax. “Hear Me Take Me” is a calming come down tune. This is a soothing guitar ditty with gentle murmurs being cooed over the mix. The album concludes with the 20-minute psych fest, “In Syd’s Garden”. In theory this should be the stand out track and for many it most definitely will be as it comes complete with cheesy farfisa, weird guitar effects and it’s heavily laden with aural “soundscapes”. However, in my opinion this translates to psychedelia-by-numbers. Yes, it is a total freak-out and they push all the right buttons, but unlike “Dipso Raga” which is light, airy, intricate and revealing, “Syd’s Garden” is fairly clumsy and heavy handed and in my opinion several minutes too long.

Overall, “The Tremolo of Her Mind” is an ambitious album by a young band. Perhaps it doesn’t quite reach Mars, but in places it certainly soars high into the atmosphere.

Reviewed by BlueMagoo - March 2003

Discolour - III

2001

Mizmaze/Lizard

Track List:

Psychedelic Rain, Glass Keys To Open, As Light As A Feather, When I See You, And Wonder, Garden Fair, What Remains Of Her, Sparkle Plenty, Solar Bird Fly, Sirius, El Strings.

Review:

Released by the Italian label’s Mizmaze and Lizard, III is essentially a solo album by this prolific musician, who for the last 15 years has been producing Psych, Folk, Electro, Dub, Space, Krautrock in the Shiny Gnomes and other projects like Weltraumservice and Fit & Limo.
On this disc he sings, plays guitars, bass, sitar, keyboards and drums, and with the assistance of Harald Streckor (Micromoog), Lotsi Lapislazuli (additional vocals) and The Nereide Neith Trio (strings), he has created a great new work in the already impressive Limo discography. Highlights include the opening Psychedelic Rain, the gentle and hypnotic neo-folk of Sparkle Plenty and the elegiac Solar Bird Fly, which combines haunting piano with the stings of The Nereide Neith Trio. Different parts of the album evoke Yeti-era Amon Duul II, Nick Drake, Sonic Boom and Melodic Energy Commission.
Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Dr. Sandoz - December 2001

Doctor and The Medics - The Druids Are Here (7”)

1985

Whaam!

Track List :

The Druids Are Here, The Goats Are Trying To Kill Me

Review:

This, the bands first single on Ed Ball and Dan Treacy’s then fledgling Whaam! label was released during the early 80’s Psychedelic revival in London. Not Doctor and The Medics as most people know them, this is more subtle but still very good, classic Medics foolery. The cover shows an extremely young looking Clive with an awseome cape and bassist Richard looking very cool (and young). It would be several years before this band achieved cult underground status and then found themselves on Top of The Pops!!!.............more of that elsewhere....
pOoTer.

Doctor and The Medics - Live At Alice In Wonderland

1984

Private Pressing

Track List :

****Submit a review?****

Doctor and The Medics - Happy But Twisted (12”)

1985

Illegal

Track List :

****Submit a review?****

Doctor and The Medics - Miracle of The Age (7”)

1985

IRS

Track List :

Miracle Of The Age

****Submit a review?****

Doctor and The Medics - I Keep Thinking Its Tuesday

1987

IRS

Track List :

****Submit a review?****

Doctor and The Medics - Two Pieces Of Cloth Carefully Stitched Together (12”)

1987

Illegal

Track List :

****Submit a review?****

Doctor and The Medics - Spirit In The Sky (12”)

1986

IRS

Track List :

Spirit In The Sky,

****Submit a review?****

Doctor and The Medics - Waterloo (12”)

1986

IRS

Track List :

Waterloo,

****Submit a review?****

Doctor and The Medics - More (12”)

1987

Illegal

Track List :

More,

****Submit a review?****

The Doors - Strange Days

1967

Elektra EKS 74014

Track List:

Strange days, Your’e lost little girl, Love me two times, Unhappy girl, Horse latitudes, Moonlight drive, People are strange, My eyes have seen you, I can’t see your face in my mind, When the music’s over.

Review:

I think that The Doors were/are still phenomenal!! Jim was an outstanding lyricist, as well as an amazing poet. I love the frantic way that Ray Manzarek pounds on the keyboard, as well as the snaky, trance-inducing way that Robby Kreiger plucks his strings. John Densmore's drumming is superb and sets the melodic tone that the doors followed.
Jim Morrison's voice has so much feeling and so much emotion, you can tell he was living and experiencing everything he sang about.
The Doors are fantastic...........any and all albums!

...Jessica...
"I see myself as a huge fiery comet,a shooting star. Everyone stops, points up and gasps: "Oh Look At That!" then -whoosh-, and I'm gone... and they'll never see anything like it ever again... and they wont be able to forget me- ever".
(James Douglas Morrison 12/8/43-7/3/71)
..he will never be forgotten..

The Doors - Waiting For The Sun

1968

Elektra EKS 74024

Track List:

Hello I Love You, Love Street, Not to touch the Earth, Summers Almost Gone, Wintertime Love, The Unknown Soldier, Spanish Caravan, My wild love, We could be so good Together, Yes the river flows, Five to one..

Review:

To make your first album you could compose songs during ten years, to make the second some songs that couldn't appear in the first have its appearance in this, but when you have the success as The Doors in their two albums and you are busy playing gigs around the world , things were not so easy as in the times you was hungry and full of energy to make a success This happened with The Doors, they don't have the time to make an album full of hits as people was wating, but not all was lost, here they made an album that reached the top of the charts, only one great hit was Hello I Love You, (a Kinks cover ??) and a couple of good songs as Robbie's Spanish Caravan , Love Street , Five To One and one song of the unfinished Suite of the Lizard, Not To Touch The Earth with its psychedelia and great lyrics makes only a good album.

Reviewed by Alejandro Casado - July 2002
Buenos Aires, Argentina
alesscasado@yahoo.com.ar

The Doors - The Soft Parade

1969

Elektra EKS 75005

Track List:

Tell all the people, Touch me, Sharman’s blues, Do it, Easy ride, Wild child, Runnin’ blue, Wishful sinful, The soft parade.

****Submit a review?****

The Doors - Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock Cafe

1970

Elektra EKS 75007

Track List:

Land ho!, The spy, Queen of the highway, Indian summer, Maggie McGill, Roadhouse blues, Waiting for the sun, You make me real, Peace frog, Blue sunday, Ship of fools.

Review:

The return to blues roots with an album of excellent songs, the great Roadhouse Blues and psychedelia in Indian Summer. The band rocking as ever in You Make Me Real and something that tells you that the next album will better than this one.

Excellent, impresionante!!!

Reviewed by Alejandro Casado, Argentina - June 2002
alesscasado@yahoo.com.ar

The Doors - LA Woman

1971

Elektra

Track List:

The Changeling. Love Her Madly. Been Down For So Long. Cars Hiss By My Window. L.A woman. L`America. Hyacinth House. Crawling King Snake. The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat). Riders On The Storm.

Review:

Here the band is at their peak!!!, it has great rocking moments as Love Her Madly, Been Down So Long or The Changeling, but the band was really ""high" in their two ""epic" songs, the first was the end of vinyl side one L.A.Woman, a great rock song with excellent instrumental moments of Robbie and Ray on piano and Riders On The Storm the end of the album, a great unclassifiable song, were the Rhodes electric piano of Ray conducts the music through psychedelic ways with a storm sound and a message from Jim that only hearing it you know what was coming next in his life.....really the best Doors album and a great classic of rock'n'roll of all times.

Reviewed by Alejandro Casado, Buenos Aires, Argentina - June 2002
alesscasado@yahoo.com.ar

Dragonfly
1970
Megaphone
Track List:
Blue Monday, Enjoy Yourself, Hootchie Kootchie Mean,
I Feel It, Trombodo, Portrait Of Youth, Crazy Woman, She Don’t Care, Time Has Slipped Away, To Be Free, Darlin’, Miles Away.
****Submit a review?****

Dr Strangely Strange - Kip Of The Serenes

1969

Island 9106

Track List:

Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal, Dr. Dim & Dr. Strange, Roy Rogers, Dark Haired Lady, On The West Cork Hack, A Tale Of Two Orphaneges, Strings In The Earth and Air, Ship Of Fools, Frosty Mornings, Donnybroom Fair.

****Submit a review?****

Dr Strangely Strange - Heavy Petting

1970

Vertigo 6360 009

Track List:

Ballad Of The Wasps, Summer Breeze, Kilmanoyadd Stomp, I Will Lift Up My Eyes, Sign Of The Mind, Gave My Love An Apple, Jove Was At Home, When Adam Delved, Ashling, Mary Malone Of Moscow, Friends.

****Submit a review?****

Droogs - Kingdom Day

1987

PVC PVC 8956

Track List:

Stranger In The Rain, Quarry Street, Call Off Your Dogs, Jack Of Trades, Kingdom Day, Webster Field, Collector's Item, When Angels Fall, Countdown To Zero.

Review:

This LP is the crowning achievement of a band that is considered the 'grandaddys of the garage revival'. They started off way back in 1973 with a single of covers of The Sonics' "He's Waitin'" and Chocoalte Watchband/Kinks "I'm Not Like Everybody Else".
After several singles, an EP. and a great debut album, "Stone Cold World", they evolved their influences into a wider channel, really branching out into heavier psych/hard rock territory. Great full production, too..."Stranger in the Rain" starts things off with acoustic guitar, then the paranoia begins. A heavy bass line and steady drum beat is joined by a great heavy, thick sounding Robin Trower-esque guitar lead adds the perfect background for the vocalist's (think Eric Burdon, circa "Every One Of Us" or "Sun Secrets") tormented tale of taking the road less travelled. "Quarry Street" picks up the pace, but maintains the dark, disillusioned feel, this time warning of the dangers of the big city.
The title track is a stunner with its apocalyptic vision (and explosive drum rolls), "My sisters played with fire and friends liked to do them harm and me I was so cool with needle in my arm." "Webster Field" is a cool change of pace (which works better here than the two Blues numbers (though "Call Off Your Dogs" rocks), reminiscent of Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper".
"Collector's Item" is a great story of a woman who witnesses a crime and is hiding from the
mob(?) a slower, sombre one at the end tells a great poem where in one eye the whole story of what she saw, including a sort of scavenger bird circling a lifeless body: and in the other eye, simply 'the silhouette of a man walking away'. "When Angels Fall" and "Countdown to Zero" continue in the conspiracy theory mode/concept of the album, though a little more upbeat, some say not unlike Stiv Bator's Lords of the New Church.
Great group, huge in Europe. For more info:
Read 'Do the Pop' zine and check out earlier album "Stone Cold World" and their newest one, "Atomic Garage".

Reviewed by Sir Kevin May

Droogs - Stone Cold World

1984

Making Waves SPIN 11

Track List:

Change Is Gonna Come, Set My Love On You, For These Remaining Days, Stone Cold World, Mr. Right, From Another Side, He's Waitin (Live Nyc), Only Game In Town, I'm Waiting For The Man.

****Submit a review?****

Dukes Of Stratosphear - 25 O'Clock

1985

Virgin

Track List:

25 o' Clock, Bike ride to the moon, My love Explodes, Your Gold Dress, The Mole From the Ministry

****Submit a review?****

Dukes Of Stratosphear - Psonic Psunspot

1987

Virgin

Track List:

Vanishing Girl, Have You Seen Jackie?, Little Lighthouse, You’re A Good Man Albert Brown (curse you red barrel), Collideascope, You’re My Drug, Shiny Cage, Braniac’s Daughter, The Affiliated, Pale And Precious.

****Submit a review?****

Dukes Of Stratosphear - Chips From the Chocolate Fireball

2001

Virgin

Track List:

25 O'clock, Bike Ride to The Moon, My Love Explodes, What in The World?? , Your Gold Dress, The Mole from The Ministry, Vanishing Girl, Have You Seen Jackie?, Little Lighthouse, You're A Good Man Albert Brown (Vurse You Red Barrel), Collideascope, You're My Drug, Shiny Cage, Brainiac's Daughter, The Affiliated, Pale and Precious

Review:

15 years before the Elephant 6 collective, 80’s new-wavers XTC were beatifying the Beatles, Byrds and Beach Boys as the Dukes of Stratosphear.
Their first release, 1985’s 25 O’Clock is a dead-on psychedelic pastiche filled with songs about translunar bicycle rides, luminous ladies’ wear, and governmental rodents bent on undermining your sanity. The front cover both honors Cream’s Disraeli Gears, and improves on it, much as the music borrows from such groups as Tomorrow, The Yardbirds, Piper-era Floyd, etc. The hummable, intelligent pop songs are laced with wordplay, wry wit and genuine affection for the Spirit of ’67, making them much more than nostalgic parody. Drenched in studio effects, phasing and mellotron riffs, this record is like a dream from the subconscious of a Marmalade Skies reader.

25 O’Clock was meant as a lark. When it sold better than the last few XTC albums, Virgin Records pushed Andy Partridge and Co. back in the studio for their follow-up, Psionic Psunspot. PP displays a broader range of influences, with thefts from the Hollies, Beach Boys, The Move, and other not-quite psychedelic late-60s groups. Songs are now more about people and less about hallucinating. Tunes such “Vanishing Girl” and “Shiny Cage” could be mistaken for official XTC tracks. If the lysergic lunacy is turned down a hair from the previous album, heavily tremeloed guitars, Spanish trumpets, and faux-Carrollian narration still fill the air.

The CD release, Chips From the Chocolate Fireball collects both albums. It’s a tidy package, but you miss the 25 O’Clock cover art. Garage rockers may find their teeth rotting on Partridge’s pop confections. Anyone who ever dreamed of John Lennon and Syd Barrett collaborating in their happiest and haziest days will be delighted.

Reviewed by McGannahan Skjellyfetti - March 2002

Home	Bands List	Discogs	Linkz	Wanted
News	Charts	Chronikles	Contact	Literature
Art	Lightshows	What’s New	About	SETI
Submissions	Turntables	Archivez	Who’s On Tour	ICQ
Shack Chat	Looking Glass		Review FAQ	Awards

comments, suggestions webmaster

Last modified

Sunday, April 27, 2003 9:59 PM