The Greatest Records You Never Heard (but need to before you die) Part One

 As I said last time, it's a strange time to be alive. I think the last two years have been an intelligence test for the human race and guess what: we failed. What should have been a chance for everyone to mobilise against a common enemy and develop a shared understanding of the important things in life, was hijacked by self-serving narcissistic politicians whose re-election hopes trumped everything (geddit). Stand up Trump, but also a few others, like that bearded git in India and that gonzo dickhead in Brazil whose names aren’t even worth remembering.

And just when the world starts to emerge from the other side of Covid what happens. Some other self-serving narcissistic politician decides to start a war that could potentially engulf the whole of Europe, if not the world. Way to go Homo Stupiens.

Village Idiots Convention, New Zealand 2022

With all of this going on it is hard to stay adjusted to the ‘new normal’. The new normal being the same old shit with added lies and madness courtesy of fringe individuals that once upon a time would have been referred to as village idiots. Now they have access to social media they are instead referred to as ‘influencers’. Yep, they’re influential alright. Just ask the kids in New Zealand that had eggs thrown at them by tin foil hat wearing Nazis because they were wearing masks on their way to school (I kid you not). That was the new low reached during the far-too-long occupation of New Zealand parliament grounds in March. Actually the Nazis weren’t wearing the tin foil hats, they were sitting around in tents waiting to execute any politicians they could capture. The eggs were probably chucked by bubble blowing hippies in between pilates sessions. What with the mud and their own shit (literally) they were wallowing in, it was like Woodstock without any decent music and with the KKK as house guests. Surreal? Nope, it’s the ‘new normal’. Oh yeah, and the world is flat as well (apparently).

So what to do? Well folks, this is still a music blog so maybe we should get back on topic. The segue from the above being, that what reaches the mainstream isn’t always what you need to hear. For my sins I have a day job that requires me to get up about 6:30am every day. To gently rouse myself I have the radio set to a nice tame classic shits station. There is the risk of being woken by something hideous like “True” by Spandau Ballet, so it’s a bit like Russian roulette at times. That said, they drag out a lot of obvious fodder from the ‘classic’ period of rock (ie the 70’s and 80’s), some okay, others not so much.

Which got me thinking about the hidden gems from those Halcion days that most people are blissfully unaware of, but should know more about and really hear before Putin nukes us. Hence the theme of this post.

So in no particular order as usual I present to you a purely personal and very subjective list of the greatest recordings you have, most likely, never heard.

Manassas

In 1971, Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young fame was looking for a bunch of guys to play with that didn’t come with massive egos and unchecked baggage. He decided to team up with Chris Hillman of the Byrds, and more lately the Flying Burrito Brothers, to play some old timey country as a break from the treadmill. He enjoyed it so much that he brought in some friends from the LA music scene that could also play latin and rock, and decanted to Florida where they all moved into a massive house and started jamming together (as you did). The result was the short lived, but utterly awesome Manassas.

Stills booked studio time and started recording pretty much everything they came up with during an intense period of creativity that led to their self titled debut double album, released in 1972. “Manassas” stands up with some of the other landmark recordings of that year, partcicularly the Rolling Stones double platter “Exile on Mainstreet”, for which it is a creative and sonic cousin. As it was a double album, it was split into four, with each side dedicated to a different style of music. The side with the country and blugrass tracks aren’t my bag, but they are still good songs, mainly written by Hillman. The other three sides contain latin, folk and blues rock. Stills' song writing is at its peak and he hits each style with a consistent quality. In a way it’s an extension of his two previous solo albums, but with a band that is able to switch between styles at the drop of a hat, often within songs. Every track could be named as a highlight, but the massive “Treasure” that sort of closes the album is a tour de force that has to be heard. Stills guitar and vocal tracks are also a highlight, ironic for a band-centred album. His solo acoustic guitar playing always sends a chill through me.

A European and American tour followed, then it was pretty much over as the members moved on to other projects. One follow up album was released but it counts as just okay, not outstanding.

As far as one-off projects go, Manasssas was a huge achievement. The fact that there were no singles and no flashy promotion meant it was largely forgotten in the rush of the decade that followed, making this a crucial artefact for people with an ear for classic rock.

Todd Rundgren

“Hey, I know him”, I hear you say. But do you? Todd is best known as a producer, lending his skills to such significant albums as Meat Loaf’s “Bat out of Hell”, the debut from the New York Dolls and XTC’s commercial breakthrough “Skylarking”. How many of you are familiar with his own albums though?

Todd had a prog rock outfit called Utopia during the 70s that managed to out-bombast the usual supects, but that isn’t what I’m talking about here. He also produced a couple of eccentric songwriter records in the early 70s that are again out of scope. The topic is ‘The Greatest’. If you think about classic 70’s rock you will have a sound in your head that you’ll refer to. Maybe a bit of acoustic guitar, guitar solos definitely, horns perhaps, backing vocals maybe, a dash of piano, nice verse-chorus structure. Yeah that’s it. But who made the most quintessential 70’s rock sounds? That’s right – Todd did on his 1972 double album “Something/Anything”. This is an album that is immediately familiar but one you have most likely never heard. Recorded partially live in the studio it is also a bit meta in that it shows a record being made while you listen to it. Not every track is a winner, but as with “Manassas” (released the same year), the bits that stand out are high water marks of classic rock. It’s also funny as hell at times!

Latin Rock – Malo and Pirana

Latin rock – that’s Santana right?

For most of us that’s about as far as it goes, but with a whole continent of people potentially making it there is going to be a bit more to it than that. I’m targetting latin rock here, not latin funk, samba and other styles, and perversely I’m not even focussing on bands from South America. That’s how obscure this is.

Malo might be known by some due to the fact that they were led by Carlos Santana’s younger brother Jorge. Being a younger sibling myself I know what it’s like to see your big brother get all the attention, and that’s kind of what we are looking at here. Carlos’s band is multi-platinum selling for a reason, but that doesn’t diminish the quality of Malo. Listen to their first two albums and sweat to the heat of the jamming.

Pirana are from Australia, of all places. Not known for its huge latin poulation, Pirana were in fact a bunch of Aussie blokes that were smitten by Santana and liked to jam live. Great musicians all of them, but their first album lacked a lot in the song writing department and is probably best forgotten. Their second album though, imaginatively title “Pirana 2”, is a quantum leap up. Featuring a cover that even looks like a Santana LP, this one really fries the shrimps. Wisely it is mainly instrumental, so you don’t have to endure the endless “love your brother” lyrics of the first one, and the production and arrangements are all top drawer, so it stacks up with anything released by the bros Santana. Pretty much unavailable from the moment it came out it has recently been unearthed for all to enjoy. Go get it.

Kiwi Rock – Ticket and Sneaky Feelings

Let’s jump the Tasman and come home (for me anyway). New Zealand is home to a lot of great musicians, and most of them are reasonably obscure internationally, so it would take a whole website to do this entry justice. As a little entrée I’m going to focus on two of my favourites that produced music that would stand up anywhere.

Ticket were New Zealand’s primo acid rock band. Featuring the uniquely fluid tones of guitarist Eddie Hansen, these guys were best appreciated live where they would sometimes play an entire set without stopping, allowing the songs to float into each other and leaving the audience either entranced or bored witless, depending on whether their chemical of choice was brewed or synthesised in a lab. A bit hard to capture in the studio, their two albums don’t really do them justice, however their second one “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie” is still brilliant in its own way. An aging hippie guy I met through e-Bay dubbed me a tape of his copy back in the 1990’s, but it has since been re-issued on CD so it can now be enjoyed by all relatively easily.

“Let Sleeping Dogs Lie” has a great set of songs that are surprisingly tight given their live reputation. There is even a tongue in cheek track taking the piss out of themselves in a mock live setting with the audience booing for them to get off. Ticket were booked to tour Australia supporting Black Sabbath when Eddie suddenly decided to quit the band and become a hare krishna (as you did). The rest is, as they say, history, but the “Eddie Hansen is God” graffiti hung around on city walls for a few more years until the weather eventually washed the last traces away.

Sneaky Feelings were one of the original ‘Dunedin Sound’ bands that released their songs on the legendary Flying Nun label. A four piece guitar band featuring two main song writers, these guys approached their music from a more subtle space than a lot of their label mates did. Most of the original Flying Nun bands were heavy on the “White Light/White Heat” vibe with added post-punk fumes, and liked to crank things up live and in the studio. Sneaky Feelings were more influenced by West Coast 60s sounds, with the guitar jangle of the Byrds an obvious starting point. They had the talent to translate those influences into their own sound though and produced a sublime album in 1984, “Send You” that gently beat the crap out of anything released anywhere in the world. Featuring only eight tracks, and barely over half an hour long, it is a thing of rare beauty that seems to exist somehow out of time. It could be a lost 60s gem, but is too loud, or it could be a power pop classic a la Big Star, but is too simply arranged. It could even be an electric folk record, but is too upbeat. There is one dud song on it that tries to get a bit Leonard Cohen on it, but apart from that, this is essential listening for anyone.

Little Feat and Black Crowes

Okay these guys are a lot better known, but while people know the names, they haven’t necessarily heard their music. Little Feat came from LA and were initially associated with Frank Zappa’s gaggle of freaks. As usual their first album was patchy, but they hit their stride on the subsequent “Sailing Shoes” and “Dixie Chicken” platters. Leader Lowell George had an earthy but surreal approach to lyrics and a great sense of humour. He was also an incredibly expressive guitar player. He sadly died in 1979 after the band had passed its peak, making their later reunions completely irrelevant.

The Black Crowes are good old boys from down South that sometimes get unfairly lumped in with LA hair metal bands. That sucks. Their first three albums were big sellers so why are they here? Well their fourth one “Three Snakes and One Charm” didn’t connect with the punters and critics the same way and has been a bit neglected. Which is wrong, because it has some of their best songs, genuine psychedelic overtones and guest appearances by members of Funkadelic. Still not obscure enough? Well, this post is talking about recordings, not just albums, and the best way to appreciate these two bands was to hear them live.

There are two essential radio recordings of Little Feat recorded at Ultrasonic Studios in upstate New York in 1973 and 1974 that have been widely bootlegged and are now available to all via Youtube and other sources. These give the best representation of their unique swampy rock’n’roll feel and feature songs they didn’t release on any albums. Lowell’s between song comments and introductions also add to the gumbo with their unique flavour.

The Black Crowes also jam live in ways only hinted at on their albums and have likewise been widely bootlegged. Their peak came during the aforementioned “Three Snakes” tours, where their live act developed an epic and organic ebb and flow that is completely unrivalled, even by supposed masters like the Allman Brothers and Led Zeppelin. Those who attended those shows experienced rock and roll at its most transcendent. The rest of us can only get a taste through some high quality soundboard bootlegs, but hey, it’s better than nothing.

Kraut Rock

Now there’s a horrid bit of branding. The word ‘kraut’ is to Germans what the ‘N’ word is to African Americans, so how people have got away with using the term kraut rock for about half a century is beyond me. So I’m going to use the term euro-rock instead if you will indulge me.

As far as cult genres go euro-rock can’t be beat. Largely ignored outside of Europe at the time, it would have stayed unknown but for a few notable British hipsters that recognised its unique flavour and approach. It was progressive in a way that British and American prog rock wasn’t, basically a lot less self indulgent, and focused more on funk and jazz roots than on the classical and theoretical takes on rawk favoured by dinosaurs like ELP, Yes, et al.

Euro-rock needs a post of its own, which I promise to get onto later, but at a high level you need to hear albums by Embryo, Atlantis, AR & Machines, Gila and Frumpy. Embryo in particular are incredible and have been going for about four decades, although they have been more involved in ethic sounds for about three of those. You should track down their 1973 albums “Rock Session”and “Steig Aus” immediately and marvel at how such high quality music could be so unknown by the world for so long.

Julian Cope was the highest profile British hipster to embrace euro-rock and he wrote a book on it (literally). The blogs “Old Rock News” and “Krautrock Maniac” are where to source the sounds these days. Get busy.

The Soft Boys

Starting around the same time as punk but related to it only by an aggressive approach, Cambridge’s Soft Boys are unique in the history of rock’n’roll and largely unknown, but for a devoted cult that followed leader Robyn Hitchcock into an equally obscure solo career. Their initial EP was a spiky affair with jarring rhythms and fever dream lyrics that is what they call ‘an acquired taste’. Their first album, “A Can of Bees” toned things down a bit, but only a little. If you imagine DEVO doing Bowie’s “Aladdin Sane” with added Who harmonies over the top it will give you an idea of what you’re in for, but the reality is the Soft Boys were even weirder than that. Musically it is reasonably accessible, but lyrically Robyn Hitchock was still reveling in his love of nightmare imagery and surreal story lines. The result is like finding a sweet looking meringue only to bite into it and find it tastes like fish. This album inspired an oblique reference in “Nought” on our first album.

What you really need to hear is their second album “Underwater Moonlight”. This is classic powerpop with the bonus of Robyn’s best (and funniest) lyrics setting it apart. The range of material is gobsmacking, from the deliberately arthythmic “Old Pervert” and the intense paranoia of “Insanely Jealous”, to the should-have-been-a-hit “Queen of Eyes” and the epic title track, it doesn’t miss a step. The Rykodisc CD re-issue expands it with outtakes, covers and B-sides and is essential listening. Released in 1980 when ‘new wave’ was what was hip, this disappeared without a trace. A crime.

And, of course, us.

Yes indeed – hit the release list in the sidebar while you’re here.

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