20071024

Puzzle (1969)

Showcasing the talents of bassist Curt Jonnie, the late guitarist Tony Grasso and drummer Mike Zack, the short-lived Puzzle may be one of Washington D.C.'s best (if least known) late-1960s rock outfits.

Signed by ABC Records, the trio's self-titled 1969 debut teamed them with producers Ed Kramer and Jay Senter. Written by Grasso and Jonnie, tracks such as the leadoff rocker 'Hey Medusa' (which for some reason isn't shown on the liner notes track listing), 'Make the Children Happy' and 'No Complaints' offered up a first rate set of hard-rock. Complete with strong melodies, some excellent harmony vocals and occasional shots of fuzz guitar (courtesy of Grasso), "Puzzle" put lots of better known names to shame. To be honest, the only disappointments were the seemingly endless blues-rock workout 'Working for the Rich Man' and a clumsy foray into psych 'Got My Head Right Yesterday'. Elsewhere, ABC tapped 'Hey Medusa' b/w 'Make The Children Happy' (ABC catalog number 11181) as a single. Neither the single, nor the parent LP did anything commercially and within a couple of months the band was history. (via Bad Cat Records)

link


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

HI
THANKS.
A.L
SWEDEN

psychfan said...

Oh Yeahhh, This is a good one. I have the vinyl of this, definitely a great listen for fans of hardrock/psych. Nice share!

Anonymous said...

I can't thank you enough for this. I have the original on vinyl and never thought I would ever see this brought to CD. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Anonymous said...

Hello
Not a bad album,never hear of this.Many Thanks
Andre

Anonymous said...

Hello,

Is it absolutely necessary to have a ZIP file ? I can't read any of your rips.

A very very frustrated music fan.

crotchbat said...

Sorry your having trouble, thierry (I saw you made the same request on Lost-in-Tyme) - but I don't have any plans to use RAR files anytime soon. So far, you're the first person who has contacted me about not being able to read ZIP files. Perhaps you aren't extracting them properly? I use the classic Stuffit to create and extract ZIP archives: right click > expand. Can anyone else offer any ideas for thierry? Thanks in advance...

M said...

Crotch dude judging by this track you've put on, this is a keeper.

Winzip files works on Winrar etc, French dude has some computer problem me thinks. Dude download a free trial of both Winzip & Winrar... It takes a while to learn this computer stuff.

Rock On

troyka said...

Excellent additon! Nice Lp

ddt said...

Hi Crotchbat,
could you revive the link for Horse from Sept. 2006, please?
Thank you very much

Anonymous said...

Excellent. I like it! Thanks!

crotchbat said...

@ddt: Horse link updated... Enjoy.

ddt said...

thank you again for the 'horse', crotchbat, really appreciated :-)

Howl Din said...

I grew up in the DC suburbs and "Hey Medusa" got considerable airplay for a month or so when it came out. I think for a while they were not quite as obscure as we in the future believe they were. I'm quite glad to have stumbled on this - thanks.