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Friday, July 22, 2016

Mount Rushmore - '69 & High On (Heavy-Blues-Rock US 1969)


Size: 145 MB
Bitrate:256
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Ripped By: ChrisGoesRock
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Mount Rushmore was a rock band in the late 1960s from San Francisco, California that played a heavy blues rock style with psychedelic elements.

The band formed in late 1966 at 1915 Oak Street, a large Victorian rooming house in the Haight-Ashbury district. In June and July 1967 they were featured on posters for shows at the Avalon Ballroom with other bands including the Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother and the Holding Company. After some members including Phillips left for the band Phoenix in 1968, new members were added and the group made two albums.


Also-rans of the San Francisco psychedelic era, Mount Rushmore gigged frequently with fellow travelers Big Brother and the Holding Company, Canned Heat and Quicksilver Messenger Service, but this debut LP is evidence enough of why they aren't held in the same esteem. Mount Rushmore pumped out competent electric boogie with a boozy edge, but they coast on distortion and attitude rather than song craft or instrumental prowess, placing them firmly in the garage band tradition but not among the trendsetters that shared their bills. 

The brief liner notes introduce the band as self-proclaimed "country boys" who "dig to take their funky grey truck on the road," and they sound like hicks too, full of confidence and bluster but possessing only the simplest of skills. Opening a debut LP with Jimi Hendrix's "Stone Free" is a bold move and a curious choice, establishing the territory that the band will mine and exactly how they measure up to the gold standard (in Mount Rushmore's case, nowhere near). 


However, High On Mount Rushmore contains some tracks of interest to the dedicated psych-rock historian. "I Don't Believe In Statues" closes out side one and functions as a manifesto of sorts, an indignant outsider cry set to charging riffs that sound like an Amboy Dukes record warped by the sun. The ten-minute epic "Looking Back" scores highest in rock action, plus it features a crude but convincing space jam breakdown that boasts disoriented feedback, thunderstorm sound effects and random hippie banter floating through the atmosphere. The LP concludes with a taste of Mount Rushmore's live act, as a small but enthusiastic audience joins the band in the studio to encourage their hammier tendencies. The resultant medley includes "Dope Song," a jokey jug band-style marijuana anthem, a boneheaded, boisterous sing-along complete with kazoo and sure to irritate any hippie hater. 

High On suffers from tinny sonics that sap volume and tone and much of it sounds more like a demo than a finished album, but the low budget suits Mount Rushmore. In 2002, a European label called Lizard released a CD containing all of High On Mount Rushmore plus the sole follow up LP Mount Rushmore '69, but otherwise all of this obscure psych band's material has been difficult to find and not often sought out. Fans of The Up, Blue Cheer and other Aquarius Age punks might hear music in Mount Rushmore's clumsy jams, but a full-fledged renaissance is unlikely beyond a minority of collectors. FRED BELDIN

'69 Album
01.It's Just the Way I Feel (Glenn Smith) 4:35 
02.10:09 Blues (Glenn Smith) 5:53 
03.Toe Jam (Kimball, Fullerton, Bolan) 5:45 
04.V-8 Ford Blues (Willie Lowe) 2:35 
05.Love is the Reason (Dotzler, Phillips, Bolan, Levin, Esterlie) 3:55 
06.I'm Comin' Home (Glen Smith, Mike Bolan) 7:35 
07.King of Earrings (Warren B. Phillips) 4:00 
08.Somebody's Else's Games (Glenn Smith) 4:35

High On Album
09.Stone Free (Jimi Hendrix) 3:57 
10.Without No Smog (G. Smith, M. Bolan) 5:27 
11.Ocean (Warren B. Phillips) 4:07 
12.I Don't Believe in Statues (Warren B. Phillips) 4:08 
13.Looking Back (G. Smith, M. Bolan, T. Fullerton, T. Kimball) 9:40 
14.('Cause) She's So Good to Me (Bobby Womack) 3:35 
15.Medley: 7:23 
   Fannie Mae (B. Brown, M. Robinson) 
   Dope Song (G. Smith)

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Accolade - Accolade II (Rare Folk-Progressive Rock UK 1971)


Size: 79.8 MB
Bitrate: 256
mp3
Ripped By: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included

This is great! A flute and folk guitar together, similar to a well sung Jethro Tull. Don Partridge, the vocalist appears by himself later in his career. includes Brian Cresswell, Malcolm Poole, and Ian Hoyle. Wizz Jones plays acoustic guitar on four songs, and one of the songs is a Gordon Giltrap cover tune. My favorite song is 'transworld blues' on the first three listens, but I'm sure with repeated turns, this one will offer up many layers of beauty. The front cover artwork is an original painting by David Steele and attracted me to this UK prog/psych record immediately.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for flute - I don't know - but to me this is yet another excellent slice of early 70's UK psych folk. Originally released on the Regal Zonophone label in 1971. Crisp and clear male vocals, prominent flute, dreamy acoustic guitar, and occasional doses of piano, harmonica, vibraphone make for a truly enjoyable listening experience. The 11+ minute "Cross Continental Pandemonium Theatre Company" is one of the higlights of this gem. If you like flute-dominated acoustic progressive psych/folk, you can't go wrong with this.

Accolade were a light acoustic band, formed in 1969 who completely eschewed electric instruments, as they developed a folk / jazz fusion. Notable, perhaps only for the inclusion of Partridge and fellow singer Gordon Giltrap, although the latter remained for only one album. The group recorded two albums and one single, before going their separate ways in 1971.

As musical tastes changed, and the novelty value of a folk music singing, one man band, paled, Partridge retreated to his well-worn path of busking for a living. He had made a big impression in Scandinavia, and moved to live in Sweden in the early 1970s. He made two unsuccessful albums there, before ultimately returning to his homeland. 2nd album by UK band from early 70's. A well mix up of verious styles like folk, jazz, and rock, but psych folk dominated. Wizz Jones was featured on several tracks and the album also a cool return of Made In Sweden's 'Snakes In A Hole' Originally released in 1971 on Regal Zonophone. (Reviews from different sources)

Don Partridge - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Vibraphone
♦ Malcolm Poole - Contrabass, Fiddle
♦ Ian Hoyle - Drums
♦ Brian Cresswell - Flute, Alto Saxophone
♦ Wizz Jones - Vocals

♦ Mike Moran - Piano

01.Transworld Blues 3:22
02.The Spider to The Spy 2:33
03.Baby, Take Your Rags Off 3:17
04.Cross Continental Pandemonium Theatre Company 11:02
05.Snakes In a Hole 3:25
06.The Time I've Wasted 2:37
07.Sector Five Nine 2:20
08.If Only I'd Known 2:08
09.William Taplin 4:55
10.Long Way to Go 5:07

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Night Sun - Mournin´ (Very Good German Hardrock 1972)


Size: 78.1 MB
Bitrate: 256
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Ripped By: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included

Night Sun were a German heavy prog/metal band consisting of Bruno Schaab (vocals, bass), Walter Kirchgassner (guitar), Knut Rossler (organ, piano, trumpet, bassoon) and Ulrich Staudt (drums).

Their only album, Mournin', was released in 1972 on Polydor's Zebra label. Schaab's vocals recalled the screams of Ian Gillan from Deep Purple. The group played a loud, Deep Purple/Black Sabbath/Led Zeppelin style rock, with a characteristic "heavy progressive" instrumentation of twin guitars, organ, bass and drums. The album was produced by Konrad Plank at the Windrose Studio, Hamburg.

With their sudden shifts of rhythm structures, guitar-with-organ riffing style and some studio effects, particularly phasing, Night Sun fortunately never went too close to the ordinary boogie and rock'n'roll trap.

Their sound consisted of many elements, all of which will be of interest to fans of Thrash, Stoner, Doom, Power and Prog Metal, and their 1970's roots.

Night Sun's origins lay in the late-60's jazz band Take Five who were popular in the Rhine Neckar Area of Germany.

Take Five consisted of Werner "Steff" Stephan (vocals), Edmund Seiboth (trumpet), Knut Rössler (saxes/trombone/flute/keyboards), Freddie Münster (saxes), Frieder Schmitt (keyboards/voc), Hans Brandeis (guitar/vocals), Torsten duke (bass/vocals) and Karl-Heinz weber (drums).


Various members from this band went on to be part of Night Sun Mournin' and Kin Ping Meh.

Kin Ping Meh had a reasonably successful career through the seventies with 5 studio and 2 live LPs.

Night Sun Mournin' soon shortened their name to just Night Sun, during which time they went through various line-up changes until their 1972 recording of the Mournin' LP.

Night Sun had only moderate local success and after the leaving of Schaab and Kirchgassner in 1972, the band split in 1973.

After the demise of the group, Bruno Schaab briefly joined Guru Guru, where his contribution was notable on the track, "The Story Of Life".

01. Plastic shotgun (2:34)
02. Crazy woman (4:22)
03. Got a bone of my own (7:45)
04. Slush pan man (4:25)
05. Living with the dying (5:31)
06. Come down (5:48)
07. Blind (4:24)
08. Nightmare (3:16)
09. Don't start flying (3:07) 

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