***Highly anticipated—and first ever—official vinyl reissue of all-time classic private press hard rock guitar album featuring JORDAN MACARUS. It overflows with a powerful Rush meets Blackfoot hard rock sound featuring the unmatched soaring vocals of bassist DOUG BROWN, tight, powerful hard hitting drumming from SCOTT BENES and the incomparable guitar wizardry of Macarus, who will leave you wondering why he isn't featured in every guitar magazine around. If you love hard rock lead guitar action then do yourself a huge favor and grab this album immediately! As a classic hard progressive rock band. WINTERHAWK, thrived in Chicago’s late 1970s rock scene that included groups like The Hounds, Cheap Trick, Pentwater, M&R Rush, Sorcery, Medusa and many more. You could find them opening shows for acts like Budgie, Black Oak Arkansas, Steppenwolf and others. The band went through a few incarnations with different second guitarists, but was pared down to a three-piece for the Revival album, which finally came to fruition in 1982. The album was originally released in a limited edition on the band's own Lambda records and is now very collectable. The reissue on CD of Revival nearly 20 years ago has helped garner the band a large worldwide following, which has led to reunion concerts at festivals here in the USA and Europe, including an upcoming show in Germany at Keep It True Festival XXI. Comes with full size insert with lyrics, liner notes, interview and vintage photos + an 11" x 17" poster featuring Doug Brown and...
LP $24.50
06/09/2017
***Unreleased underground Texas hard rock from 1975! First release anywhere, anytime! Heavy grooves with dense, layered guitars and Deep Purple / Black Sabbath style vocals from bassist T.J. SANDERS. HONEST JOHN was a band that meant business at a time when most bands were softening their sound for radio. Not these guys! Honest John did release an extremely rare 7" on the Baron label (BRN45006): slinky track 'Brighter Day' b/w the chunky and hard driving 'Face the Crowd;" but that was all that ever emerged from the sessions until now. It was in fact all the world knew of Honest John, aside from folks blown away by hearing them on tour in Texas playing frat parties, bars, military bases, and sleazy rock clubs in the early 1970s. Honest John's Sailor is a living, breathing tribute to OTTIS COLEMAN, who should have long ago been celebrated as a true Texas guitar great. Features Coleman's stellar guitar and engineered by future Mojave Audio honcho and key figure in 1970 rock in Houston, DUSTY WAKEMAN. Coleman and Wakeman both later joined Houston blues rockers BUZZ BONE, which featured Dan Mitchell and Tom Moore post-Moving Sidewalks. But it has always been the Honest John sessions that they longed to have released. We at Lion Productions are proud to present the album Honest John wanted to release, at long long last. A definitive statement of heaviness. Edition of 500 copies housed in gatefold jackets.
LP $22.75
04/07/2017
***Amazing sessions by the cream of underground French prog and psych bands, first released in 1971 on Thélème, a boutique label owned by MAGMA bassist and Barclay Records manager LAURENT THIBAULT. When Thibault founded Thélème, he wanted to set up a prestige outfit. He had this in mind when he set out to fulfill his ambition of presenting a panorama of the French rock scene by gathering the best groups in France together on one double-album, to be recorded at the legendary Chateau d'Hérouville studio, live in the courtyard with no overdubs. Thibault had hoped that labels would allow their best acts to appear. Philips offered Magma (the version of ‘Mekanik Kommando’ appearing on Puissance is the first ever conceived or recorded by the band) and CATHERINE RIBEIRO; Barclay allowed ALAIN MARKUSFELD to participate; LE CHANTDU MONDE LET VOYAGE appear. The band CATHARSIS said yes; so did CONTREPOINT, discovered by Magma’s René Garber. Thélème artists included ERGO SUM, MOR, ZABU and SOLITUDE. Two guests from America were recommended by Le Chant du Monde: folk-singers ROGER MASON and STEVE WARING. And happily SPECTRE, a band featuring legendary Hérouville engineer DOMINQUE BLANC-FRANCART brought the monster prog jazz funk synth madness of 'Arkham'. Brilliant! One-time pressing of 500 copies housed in a special textured linen finish gatefold jacket. Includes a lush, 4-page booklet of notes, band info and rare photos.
2XLP $36.95
10/07/2016
***REISSUED ON VINYL!!! To set the scene: it’s 1974, it’s Paris, two young guys in their bed-sit (one of whom is French music maven/famous producer JAY ALANSKI) are dreaming of counter-culture, and their internal versions of California and New York. The result is this album, a child begotten of Marc Bolan, Baudelaire, and Lautréamont; a fascinating record, subtle and engaging as it is scarce; the re-creation of a parallel pop universe which one Michael Moorcock wouldn’t have renounced. Somehow, the duo get their record out into the world on Monde Melody’s one-off “Silk” imprint (a tribute to Marc Bolan). And what twisted songs (in English) they managed to squeeze into a fifty-minute slab of vinyl. The music drips with deep nostalgia for the decadent “beautiful people” who lived and breathed and then found a home in the songs of Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen, pervaded throughout with a kind of psychedelic sadness. All of this is expressed by means of long jagged acid guitar runs (or in acoustic strums) supported by Moroccan percussion and heavy bass lines from CHRISTOPHE J. A post-quaalude album, as band leader Jay Alanski has said. If the LP had been released in 1971, everyone would point to T-Rex as an influence, and call it “glam folk”; fast forward to today and it’s hard not to think “loner,” and draw comparisons with the music of Devendra Banhart, albeit recorded 35 years ago. We’re now several decades further on in the world’s slow self-destruction, but this sole...
LP $31.25
09/02/2016
CD $15.50
02/16/2010
***A record that sounds like a summertime sunset, if ever there was one. Lilting melodies, infused with an undercurrent of bossa nova and the drowsy, faded memory of sun-drenched islands. All of this melodic loveliness is made ever-so-groovy in an Afro-Cuban sort of way thanks to a mighty contribution from world famous percussionist JORGE TRASANTE, TOTEM drummer ROBERTO GALLETTI, and LIMONADA drummer JOSE LUIS SOSA. PIPPO SPERA came into the orbit of Uruguayan iconoclast Eduardo Mateo back during the days of El Kinto (one of that band’s finest songs is about a visit by Mateo to Pippo’s house). From 1967 to 1970, Pippo concentrated on studying classical guitar at the Conservatorio Nacional of Uruguay, until the military dictatorship closed the school. So, Pippo started his songwriter career, which culminated in 1975/1976 with the recording of A Buen Puerto. As Pippo says, "It was a beautiful experience to me. I had the help of the best musicians in town, they were like brothers. At that time in Uruguay, nobody used to get money to perform in a recording studio; for the musicians it was a pleasure, it was just love of art..." After the release of this LP, Pippo decided to leave a Uruguay oppressed by a brutal dictatorship. He sailed to Brazil in a ship much like the one hovering behind him on the A Buen Puerto album. Brazil was indeed "a good port" for Pippo—he became friends with many of the best Brazilian musicians of those years: Milton Nascimento,...
LP $22.65
02/26/2016
CD $15.50
08/10/2010
***NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! Following the international release of Evening Colours in 1976, JACQUELINE THIBAULT (LAURENCE VANAY) continued to compose songs that she recorded on her multi-track Revox. But she had little time for her own music, working day and night at legendary international recording studio, the Château d’Hérouville. Still, Jacqueline managed to bring together the compositions for Les Soleils de la Vie (The Suns of Life), with the help of her perpetual musical accomplices—SERGE DERRIEN (guitar, flute, wordless vocals) and JOHN CHEVALIER, aka POPOV (drums and percussion). There was also the timely intervention of other friends, MICHEL SANTANGELLI (drums), JEAN CLAUDE GUZELLI (bass) and FRANCIS MOZE. Decca Records was interested in producing the album back in 1977, but asked for a remix of the music. Only several years later was that finally possible—too late for Decca. The recordings therefore found themselves asleep on Parisian shelves, pending potential better days. Shimmering, mysterious, sometimes funky, deeply emotional examples of musical beguilement. CD edition comes with six bonus tracks plus a 24-page booklet.
LP $22.65
02/05/2016
CD $15.50
07/29/2016
***JARVIS STREET REVUE's only album (1970), Mr.Oil Man, is an absolute heavy psychedelic monster that leaves no one who hears it untouched by it's sheer avalanche of psychedelic heaviness, wasted acid leads and great vocals. After recording it, Jarvis Street Revue toured for three months. “We were treated like gods,” Jarvis leader and Neil Young running mate TOM HORRICKS said. The band did a cross-Canada tour to promote the album but unfortunately for them, as was often the case in those days, the album was not released until after the tour. So much for stardom. The band soon broke up. But tucked somewhere in the band’s murky history were recording sessions that produced three stupendous psychedelic singles, plus tracks for an unreleased second album, Strands of Time. Sure, those singles and strays appeared on our Jarvis Street Revue CD, but most tracks make their vinyl debut here; as for the incredible, rare singles, they've never been compiled until this very moment! Insert includes band history, photos, and images of sheet music for several songs. Limited to 500 copies with insert. “Back in 1970, up in the cold North of Ontario, Canada hailed a group that had already had prophetic visions of the corporate, strictly-business, profit-driven, polluting, oil addicted, don’t let the environment-get-in-the-way-of-a-buck bullshit world that we currently live in." —Helios Chrome
LP $22.75
01/08/2016
***NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! JACQUELINE THIBAULT (LAURENCE VANAY) often worked for other artists at the legendary Château d’Hérouville studio as arranger, keyboardist, co-composer, and assistant sound engineer. Between sessions she sometimes managed to record her own music. Several years after her two acknowledged masterpieces, Galaxies and Evening Colours, she was able to bring together the tracks for La Petite Fenêtre (The Little Window). As the 1970s ended, trouble with the Château finances meant that again it was impossible for her to present her work to interested record labels. Instead, "I worked in another recording studio in Paris for fashionable artists," she said, "and I managed after a time to resume and complete my unfinished songs." By that time, the French record companies were not interested in instrumental music anymore. The recordings therefore found themselves asleep on Parisian shelves, pending potential better days. Sublime compositions: unique, melancholic and very powerful. CD edition features eight bonus tracks plus a 24-page booklet.
LP $22.65
11/24/2015
CD $15.50
07/29/2016
***NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! Following on from the superb first volume, here is the second volume of electronics, synth pop, cold wave and minimal tracks culled from the archives of the legendary Color Tapes UK cassette label from the 1980s. These tracks originally came out as micro editions on cassette back then some of which are also unreleased too. It includes rare tracks by the likes of: Lives of Angels, Disintegrators, The Lord, WeR7, Mystery Plane and Berserk in a Hayfield. 180 gram vinyl edition with full colour poster plus a rare reprint of issue one of Color Tapes' own "Purple Twilight" fanzine from 1985, that features articles on such bands as Lives of Angels, Modern Art, Legendary Pink Dots, and Cleaners From Venus. A superb document from the 80's UK cassette underground scene. Remastered from the original source tapes by Denis Blackham, this is a must-have for synth and cold wave collectors! CD includes the unreleased bonus track "Fatal Crash Immersed the Start (Bass Mix), by MODERN ART, along with a 36-page fanzine. "There's some real gold inside, not least in The Lord's kosmic electro-garage-punk mission, 'Transvision', or the wiry EBM of Beserk In A Hayfield's 'Pulse', but also the swirling noise blow-out of WeR7's 'Masterful of Ceremonies (Edit)', and the flanging garage-punk strut of 'Elixir Vapor' by Disintegrators, plus a handful of icy, cold and crisp 808 workouts Lives of Angels and Body Electric." —Boomkat.
LP $27.85
10/13/2015
CD $10.50
01/08/2016
***Expanded deluxe edition of THE DEEP's one and only album, originally released in 1966 and now well-established as a psychedelic classic. One night in a darkened Philadelphia studio, the Deep (RUSTY EVANS, songwriting partner and producer MARK BARKAN, the legendary DAVD BROMBERG, whose credits include playing with Bob Dylan and many others, plus a bevy of talented musicians) laid down tempestuous garage punkers, sweetly-twisted ballads and ambiguous weirdness, all rife with hyper-psychedelic lyrical flashes of a rolling midnight expressway through the subconscious mind. A perfect representation of the psychedelic sound: free-form poetry, infectious drum beats, fuzzed out guitar, and playfully plucked bass (and vibes and tympani and so on), swirl together, coalescing into some of the most impressive psychedelic rock you'll hear. Remastered from the original four-track tapes, including three sides of alternates. "The best Nuggets-era garage album ever."—www.lysergia.com
3XLP $44.95
10/13/2015
***WAREHOUSE FIND!!! With beginnings firmly in the secular realm and a strong following in the Northwest, WILSON MCKINLEY signed to Alshire Records (home of 101 Strings) and recorded one album under the label's 'acid-rock' moniker, THE CALIFORNIA POPPY PICKERS. With the proceeds from those sessions, they self-released a 7" EP in 1970. But then they met street minister Carl Parks, gave up the rock 'n' roll lifestyle and effectively ended the first incarnation of the group. Parks encouraged the remaining band members to pick up their instruments again to create music for a street meeting, and thus the first 'Jesus Rock' group was born. Buoyed by the confidence developed during the Spirit Of Elijah sessions, Wilson McKinley's third LP from 1971 maintains the quality songwriting but adds even better production values. It was housed in a suitable-for-black-light jacket printed with neon inks. Sadly, after this there would be no more Wilson McKinley LPs, with their next release being the cassette-only Country In The Sky. Good news is that they made this dayglo-adorned proof of their rapidly-developing skills and musical interests before abandoning wax—Wilson McKinley's most adventurous effort, boasting entirely original tunes.
LP $24.50
07/21/2015
***NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL!!! Lest we startle you with excited pronouncements of how good this album is, we'll force ourselves to be matter of fact. With their first album, legendary French art-rock band WAPASSOU found a distinctive musical voice: long and well-developed melodies, rhythmic support from organ—no bass and drums! (more on that later)—prominent violin parts, and guitar doubling-up as a rhythm instrument. They often conjure up something akin to what it might have sounded like had John Cale and Stereolab formed a band in 1974, when this album was released. The five tracks (actually seven, as the singles tracks are equally intriguing) are highly original, always varied and inventive; spacey and ethereal, but steeped in post-psychedelic rock. Although Wapassou are noted for playing without a rhythm section, two of the most striking songs on this album have bass and drums. Includes two bonus tracks from their rare single, recorded in October 1974. A colorful 16-page booklet has the detailed history of the making of the album, plus photos and other marvels. Remastered and sounding better than it ever has. Limited edition of 500 copies. Includes a color insert.
LP $22.75
06/16/2015
CD $15.50
04/21/2015
***The one and only album by MONTEVIDEO BLUES (1972) is a serious contender as one of the most important, and as it happens, most grooving records released in Uruguay. It's also incredibly rare, fetching big prices when it appears, which is almost never. But there is another reason that the album has attained exalted status: Montevideo Blues was founded by Uruguayan song-writing legend GASTON “DINO” CIARLO as a way to fuse the rawness of rock music with obscure native Uruguayan rhythms like malambo, milonga and chamarrita. Montevideo Blues demonstrated an unyielding and combative attitude. During live shows in 1971, Dino criticized the government—a dangerous level of political commitment, reflected in the lyrics of the songs, some of the most radical ever set to music. The album opens with one of Dino’s most famous songs ‘Milonga de Pelo Largo’ (‘Milonga of the Long Hair’), a sinuous groove transformed by the arrival of the dictatorship into a hymn of Uruguayan popular resistance. The rest of the album tracks—the fantastic 'Para Hacer Mùsica, Para Hacer' and 'Un Color' are standouts—have an edgy quality, with terrific unconventional angular guitar and a kind of ragged glory, driven along by insistent grooving rhythms. Insert is packed with photos, detailed band history, and bi-lingual lyrics for this important Uruguayan band. Limited edition of 500 copies.
LP $22.75
06/02/2015
***All of 49TH PARALLEL’s singles and B-sides, plus rare alternates, on vinyl for the first time since their initial pressings back in 1966-68! The band’s first single, ‘All Your Love.’ was recorded in 1966 as the SHADES OF BLOND; it was previously only available on a staggeringly rare EP featuring Calgary bands. Their debut as 49th Parallel came with ‘Laborer’/’You Do Things’ in mid 1967, followed by ‘She Says’ b/w ‘Citizen Freak in early 1968: four hard-edged garage punk tracks—tough, and thick with fuzz guitar and a defiant sneer. The next single, ‘Blue Bonnie Blue’ b/w ’Missouri’ appeared in late spring of 1968. In the spring of 1969, the beautiful ‘Twilight Woman’ b/w ‘Close the Barn Door’ zoomed up the charts across Canada and parts of the USA. Both ‘Twilight Woman’ and the hit follow-up, ‘Now That I'm A Man’ b/w (Come On Little Child &) Talk To Me are melodic pop/psych of the purest and finest kind. One more post-LP single and a couple of rare tracks round out the story. Fifteen tracks all told on this, the ultimate 49th Parallel vinyl collection. Limited to 500 copies. Includes an insert.
LP $20.95
12/23/2014
***BACK IN STOCK!!! New Lower Price! Collection of rare UK cold wave tracks taken from Color Tapes label cassettes released in micro editions between 1981-1985. Color Tapes was the brainchild of future SUN DIAL leader GARY RAMON: "Living in East London, it was a very grey and bleak time. Huge imposing tower blocks, gasworks and concrete just about everywhere. You couldn't walk through some areas without the risk of being shot at by an air rifle, or worse. Luckily, salvation was in the music. The musical landscape was changing. I saw a very early gig by an unknown all-synth band called Depeche Mode at a dingy pub under a flyover called The Bridge House in Canning Town, London. Following this I saw Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five and started buying records by the likes of Afrika Bambaataa. At the other end of the musical spectrum, we were picking up records by Stockhausen, John Cage, Pierre Henry and Moondog, and combing junk shops for anything else that looked interesting!" The UK cassette scene and DIY ethos were thriving. Color Tapes was born. Home multi-track recorders were luxury items. They had to make do with sound on sound recorders, bouncing between reel-to-reel and cassette machines if they wanted stereo. What you're about to hear for the first time since those days is a snapshot of Color Tapes: released material and other unissued tracks too. This compilation is the first of a series of Color Tapes/Lion Productions releases of material from the...
LP $20.95
09/11/2015
CD $10.50
12/23/2014
***Raw-edged heavy rock, fronted by LINO AJELLO’s powerful electric guitars, channeling the dark, jagged energy of Jimmy Page, Adrian Gurvitz, and Jeff Beck. IL BALLETTO DI BRONZO absorbed their influences (Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Yardbirds), but moved from there into an inspired, hard-edged musical space; the band's overwhelming power and great melodies make them irresistible. ‘Un posto’ and ‘Neve Calda’ are centered around simple but effective guitar riffs. ‘Eh eh ah ah’ starts like a nice mellow ballad, but gets into a hard blues rock groove. On side two, there's the seven-minute mammoth heavy grind of ‘Incantesimo’ and the colossal ‘Missione Sirio 2222,’ almost ten minutes of droning acid rock with whirling guitars and heavy pounding drums, sandwiched between an acoustic intro and outro. No surprise then that Nurse With Wound cited Il Balletto di Bronzo as an influence. CD in digipaks with 12-page color booklet.
LP $22.35
07/22/2014
CD $15.50
06/10/2014
***LAURENCE VANAY is the pseudonym for JACQUELINE THIBAULT, wife of music producer and musician LAURENT THIBAULT (MAGMA). The first ever reissue of her second album, originally released twice in 1975: a version on Galloway credited to fictitious English band GATEWAY, and once as a CAM label library LP—and incredibly rare in both incarnations. Pure genius: almost all instrumental, with gorgeous keyboards of many types (Hammond, Fender Rhodes, etc.), acoustic/electric guitar, even a little Zeuhl bass. Shimmering, dewy, mysterious, deeply emotional examples of melancholic musical beguilement; anyone with an affinity for golden age 4AD bands like the Cocteau Twins or Dead Can Dance will find much to love here. A devastating high-fashion follow-up to the legendary Galaxies. First ever reissue, remastered from the original master tapes. CD edition comes with 24-page booklet and ten bonus tracks. LP edition on 180 gram vinyl, with full color, four-panel insert. Both formats limited to 500 copies. "Since childhood, I improvised and composed songs and instrumental music... it seemed to me that music was the true language of emotions. It was with great difficulty that I managed to record the albums Galaxies and Evening Colours in very limited time with the means at hand, and with the help of faithful musician friends."—Jacqueline Thibault
LP $20.65
03/18/2014
CD $15.50
12/24/2013
BACK IN PRINT WITH A NEW BONUS LP OF EXTRA MATERIAL!!! LAURENCE VANAY is the pseudonym for JACQUELINE THIBAULT, wife of music producer and musician LAURENT THIBAULT (MAGMA). Her debut album Galaxies (1974) is pure genius: almost all instrumental, with gorgeous keyboards of many types, acoustic/electric guitar, even a little Zeuhl bass. There are wordless vocals on many of the tracks, although she occasionally sings in a soft, seductive manner. Incredible, spacey “avant-garde progressive chanson,” a Holy Grail for most collectors of ‘70s underground French music. Rivaled only by the early work of Brigitte Fontaine for pure inventiveness. An album of inconspicuous, sincere beauty and a masterwork of the french progressive folk scene. Sublime compositions: unique, melancholic and very powerful. First ever reissue, remastered from the original master tapes. Exact replica LP reissue of the mega rare 1974 original issue. Packaged in gatefold jackets with full-color four-panel inserts. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl in an edition of 500 copies. "Since childhood, I improvised and composed songs and instrumental music... it seemed to me that music was the true language of emotions. It was with great difficulty that I managed to record the albums “Galaxies” and “Evening Colours” in very limited time with the means at hand, and with the help of faithful musician friends." —Jacqueline Thibault
LP $23.95
01/28/2014
CD $15.50
12/24/2013
2XLP $25.95
01/26/2016
***A record that requires many superlatives in order to do it justice: from it’s first moments, the music is lilting, poetic, intimate, in turns life-affirming and melancholic, with pulsating percussion backed by unheard-of guitar chords and tunings (perhaps the reason for the frequent Caetano Veloso comparisons); it is an album that sounds—simply put—honest. Released at the end of 1972 in both Argentina and Uruguay, it was received from that first moment as a classic. When iconoclastic maniac EDUARDO MATEO traveled to Buenos Aires in October of 1971 to record what came to be Mateo Solo Bien Se Lame, his situation was unusual. Mateo had become a living legend of Uruguayan music: the public had a clear notion of the odd behavior that by the end of his brief life made him a part-time panhandler and apparent acid casualty. But they still wanted a Mateo record. Making this happen was not easy, as Mateo tried to erase everything he recorded as soon as it was put onto tape—and that only on the rare occasions when he showed up ready to play. In the end, engineers CARLOS PIRIZ and EDUARDO ROZAS selected material for the album from hours of free improvisations, and formed the album as it appears today.180-gram vinyl plus 11" x 34" six-panel foldout insert with the fascinating story of the legendary Mateo, his “madness,” and the making of this classic album. "The most modern-sounding thing on the planet... almost like a new type of folk, like the acoustic...
LP $20.65
09/24/2013
***About forty years in the making, and finally the world has the second STEPSON album! Utilizing tapes preserved by drummer LEN FAGAN then transferred to digital and mastered by bassist BRUCE HAUSER, this fine collection of twelve songs is as close as the world will ever get to a real second Stepson album. Some is raw, some is embryonic, but it’s all prime stuff for fans to savor, reflecting the band’s "devil may care" attitude and rock ’n’ roll lifestyle. And just in case you don’t believe that the band liked to party, consider that the exact recording dates (and even some locations) have long been forgotten. To borrow an old adage: If you can remember Stepson, you weren’t there. Kicking off with a crunching riff by guitarist JOEY NEWMAN, ‘Danger Zone’ is the heaviest track Stepson ever cut, replete with an ominous atmosphere reflecting the seedy side of their native Los Angeles; ‘Streets of Alameda’ (1974) is an ode to vocalist JEFF HAWKS’ hometown, featuring a liquor store holdup and a stolen Lincoln used as the getaway car. ‘Flesh & Blood’ is the only track on here that got an official release, albeit by ex-Smith belter Gayle McCormick as the title track to her second solo album, released by Decca in 1972. This version showcases the riff in full glory. And if you don’t believe that this riff is strong, consider that The Tonight Show band played it for approximately two weeks in 1976, prompting Fagan to confront "author"...
LP $22.35
08/06/2013
***Keeping a band together was difficult in the late 1960’s. Tough too, because Michael Oosten was writing songs that veered away from pop-song structures. There was also the relative ease and lack of responsibility required for hauling around a guitar. So, Oosten took off, with a Martin guitar in tow, playing coffeehouses and clubs across the country. By the end of 1973, he was ready to record an LP—five psychedelic folk/rock tracks, ranging from the brightly smiling ‘Sunny Day’ to the epic ‘Hungry Horse Montana,’ where Oost switched seamlessly from Celtic picking to Middle Eastern chord progressions. Oosten filled out his folk/rock/psych sound with the help of a few friends: piano from Tom Hennick on ‘Hey Babe,’ vocals from Jan Reek on ‘Garden,’ and bass from Al Byla on ‘Sunny Day.’ Oosten's wayward vocals puts us in mind of other meandering faves from various eras (Incredible String Band, Perry Leopold, or the Meatpuppets, to name but three), and Oost proves himself a stellar guitarist in an eccentric and percussive mode. Considering the individualistic nature of the album's genesis, no surprise that marketing and publicity for the album was limited. Columbia Records expressed interest in Oosten's music; but after a single meeting with the label, it was clear that the album would be too difficult for the mainstream honchos to market. Oost and friend Lester D'ore (editor of Chicago countercultural paper Seed and designer of the Yippie flag) holed up at D'ore's Wisconsin commune farm to silkscreen each LP jacket by...
LP $23.95
07/30/2013
Search Party / St. Pius X Seminary Choir
The News Is You: The Sacred & Secular Music Of Nick Fruend
Lion Productions
***Recorded at the San Francisco Theological Seminary’s own Montgomery Chapel, acid-folk-rock psychedelic gem SEARCH PARTY Montgomery Chapel was the brainchild of (then Reverend) NICHOLAS FREUND. Having left Wisconsin in the late 1960s to join a burgeoning West Coast religious scene, Freund spent considerable time in Sacramento before making his way to San Francisco in 1968 to lay down this one-off with some students of his. The result is a spooky, metaphysical trip that’s equal parts God and acid-dripped mind expansion. Laced with haunting vocals and dreamlike passages, Montgomery Chapel is psychedelic music at its most evocative, and most spiritual. Original copies (only 600 were pressed on the custom Century label) carry substantial price tags. The recordings released by the ST. PIUS X SEMINARY CHOIR were made in the year or two which led up to the recording of the Search Party album. Not only did the three St. Pius X Seminary Choir records showcase the first work by Nick Freund, but they also were the first recordings of Search Party guitarist and vocalist PETER APPS. As one of the press clips regarding the Choir stated, “The choral treatment was electrified by a few phrases sung solo by Peter Apps, who is also the lead guitar. If Apps has not already formed a folk-rock group around that voice, he should. It is rich, deep, and ringing.” Luckily, Freund and Apps heeded their advice, and the Search Party was the result. But nothing could have prepared listeners for the bizarre avant-garde (in...
2XCD $17.50
03/05/2013
***Fabrice, 17 years old, is a minet, or to say it better, a mod from one of the posh neighbourhoods, the 16th district in Paris and such “golden ghettoes” as Auteuil, Neuilly and Passy. Fab’ likes to have his “ronron at the Dugstore”, as Dutronc sang it (an untranslatable wordplay on ronron, “cat food”, and a minet—“a kitten”—purring). Fabrice attends Henri IV prestigious high-school; his father, a businessman who made a fortune selling plastic flowers, and his mother, a former model from Jacques Fath, are never home – a cosy home indeed! With his Weston shoes, a slim-fitting suit by Renoma and his haircut modelled on those of Anglo-Saxons musicians appearing on French Eps, Fabrice dreams of Carnaby Street and the Sunset Strip. He is not alone: there’s his sister Stéphanie, 16, who wears a fringe, a mock Courrèges dress, a pink Shetland pullover and white boots. Stéphanie reads Salut Les Copains and Mademoiselle Age Tendre, which both fuel her passion for Françoise Hardy, Zouzou, Twiggy and the Beatles. The Groove Club is happy to present twenty-two records that we dug out as a tribute to Fabrice’s kinky faves. We imagine those magic years 1966-71 (with two inclusions from 1976 & 77) to have been as you can hear it here — truly decadent pop-sike, as beautiful as the cathedral of Evry... whether it's the arch-hippie Lolita taking us beyond the limits of pop music, singing songs which make one dream of Anicée Alvina riding her bicycle in a red...
CD $15.50
08/16/2011
2XLP $20.60
08/30/2011