Bang (1971)

"Bang never got big -- although they did share stages with everyone from Alice Cooper to the Allman Brothers to Chuck Berry to Funkadelic to Black Sabbath themselves, apparently had a #1 hit in Hong Kong and at one point owned their own private plane! They released three albums in their career (for a US major label in fact) plus they recorded some singles and made an entire unreleased album as well. Bang, especially on their first self-titled album, bore a remarkable resemblance to the Sabs, which was really unusual for their era, when heavy bands were more likely to copy Zeppelin or Purple or just be stuck in the '60s. Kinda lo-fi, but quite heavy, "Bang" delivers doomy hard rock, with a kinda Comus-y Pagan slant, that also brings to mind the most powerful early King Crimson. Like most heavy bands of the period, Bang weren't cognizant of the "metal" concept, and probably saw themselves as a pop rock group -- a dark and psychedelic pop rock group to be sure -- and so sometimes the hard riffing lets up to allow for some happier or more gentle fare, which is not always a bad thing anyway." (BUY IT @ aquariusrecords.org)

Questions

Black Nasty - Talking to the People (1973)

Black Nasty were a little-known but decent group in the early-'70s Detroit funk scene, following the path of the Parliament/Funkadelic crowd in mixing rock, psychedelic, soul, and funk influences. They recorded a fair album for Stax that was released in 1973, but wasn't a heavy seller. After losing their contract with Stax (which would soon go out of business anyway) in 1975, they changed into different R&B acts that would have a little more commercial success.

Black Nasty's mentor was Johnnie Mae Matthews, a singer who owned several independent Detroit R&B labels, including Northern, Reel, Audrey, Jam, Art, Big Hit, and Tank. Matthews also recorded more than two dozen singles under her own name. Though none were notable successes, she continued her involvement in the artistic side of the music business by encouraging her drummer son, Artwell, when he formed a band in the mid-'60s with his cousin, bassist Mark Patterson, and friends. Originally called Raw Integrated Funk, there were prominent rock elements at the outset (Ted Nugent was an early member), but under the influence of Johnnie Mae Matthews, they broadened their style to include more R&B. After putting out a cover of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hanging' On" on Tank, they were signed to Stax, for which they recorded three singles and an album between 1971 and 1974. The Stax sessions (all of the singles also appeared on the album) were produced by Johnnie Mae Matthews and Sir Mack Rice, the minor but noted Detroit soul singer. Rice had recommended Black Nasty to Stax after starting work at the label as a songwriter. While their records were more promise than payoff, the album did have an interesting mix of funk with hard rock guitar, soul ballads on which Johnnie Mae Matthews' teenage daughter Audrey took lead, and some socially conscious compositions that reflected black urban life of the early '70s. After the album made little impact, Stax dropped Black Nasty, which changed their name to Nazty and recorded a couple of singles for Excello. After some personnel changes, the group became ADC Band, getting an R&B Top Ten hit with "Long Stroke" in 1978 and recording as late as the mid-'80s.

Smash - Todas Sus Grabaciones (Spain 1969-1978)

The complete recordings by this classic Spanish hard psych band including both highly sought after albums "La Glorieta de los Lotos" and "We come to Smash This Time". Heavy rock/pop music with some very nice psychedelic touches, characterized by swathes of wailing guitars. At times the band suddenly go off into totally tripped out acid rock with sitars, backward guitars, phased vocals and all manner of crazy freak-outs. Comparable to a Spanish Led Zep/Rolling Stones/Pretty Things. Very cool.



Fuzz guitars, sitar-psych, blues licks, flamenco influences, anarchic comedy, melancholic pop brilliance: that's Smash! Smash were a psychedelic rock band from Spain that flourished from 1969 to about 1972 or so, and this double cd compiles their complete recorded output as far as we can tell -- all their singles, both their albums Glorieta De Los Lotos and Esta Vez Venimos A Golpear (aka We Come To Smash This Time), and their half of a split LP. Since it's everything they ever did, the music here explores wide territory...from the blues to rustic folk to raga rock to psych pop to hard rock heaviness. Variously, Smash would seem to have been Spain's answer to the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Led Zeppelin, all. We're also reminded a bit of Os Mutantes at times. And we can make a couple of more modern comparisons: the slow n' sad beauty of Smash's "I Left You" totally could be a song off that Elope album we loved from last year, and their dark, drifting "Look At The Rainbow (Flying In The Sky)" is a dead ringer for something by Japanese psych shamans Ghost! They do it all, and really really well. (BUY IT @ AQUARIUS RECORDS)

Little Village (1977)

Sadly, I don't know much about these guys. Little Village (from Connecticut?) put out a self-titled LP in 1977 on Quiet Cannon Records. All originals except for one song by Mose Allison. The line up: John Frisell (guitar, vocals), Mark Maulucci (guitar, vocals), Bernie Palka (drums), Mark Couture (bass, vocals). This is fine hard rock with some funk moves - lotsa great guitar action on here. Enjoy.

The Bob Seger System - Noah (1969)

For reasons never entirely explained, Bob Seger suffered a bit of a breakdown shortly after Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, so he decided to bring Tom Neme, a guitarist/pianist, into the Bob Seger System to help lighten the load and share the burden. Thing is, Neme wound up taking over the band. It's hard to tell whether Seger endorsed his mutiny or if he was just so disinterested that he didn't put up a fight, but all the same, the second Seger album, Noah, is one strange affair. The band makes no secret of the change, stating on the back cover that "Seger will always be Bob Seger, (but) any change must come from the System and Tom Neme." So, the liner notes seem like a way to gloss over a real lack of leadership or a coup, depending on your point of view. This release holds together better than it would seem, but it's still an awkward album that's never sure where it wants to go. Ironically, Neme tries to replicate Seger's hard-driving rock songs several times throughout the album while Seger sounds more comfortable with the folky shuffle of the title track. Of course, he can still tear it up with "Innervenus Eyes," and he delves deeper into darkness than he ever has with the weirdly intense, claustrophobic closer, "Death Row." No matter how good these individual cuts may be -- and they're certainly worth the time of any devoted fan -- they still are isolated moments on the only album where he sounds tentative, confused, and disinterested. In other words, the only album where Seger doesn't seem like he'll always be Seger. (allmusic)

Charlies - Musiikkia Elokuvasta Julisteiden Liimaajat (Finland 1970)

"Excellent hard rock blues prog psych from Finland. First two songs have Finnish lyrics and the rest is English or instrumental.

May be hard to find, especially original vinyls cost a fortune as the pressing was only 300." (Roetoes @ ratyourmusic.com)

"Originally released 1970, with a print run of 300, this is a soundtrack for the film "The Poster Gluers", described by many of the few who have actually seen it as "the worst movie in the history of cinematic art". Among the bonus-tracks on this re-release you can find "We Used to Know". A good effort considering the early date, but apparently it's just a recorded rehearsal; no instrumental passages, the singer just repeats the verses in random order." (previously...)

Gravestone - Doomsday (Germany 1979)

When Gravestone formed in the late seventies the band featured Berti Majdan (v,b), Wolfgang Rittner (g), Rudi Dorner (g), Mike Schmidt (d) and Andy Müller (k). After their debut "Doomsday" (1979) the cast almost completely changed. With Dietmar "Oli" Orlitta (v,b), Taki Gradl (g), Rudi Dorner (g), Dieter Behle (d) and Andy Müller (k) the album "War" followed in 1980. After that, there were some further changes: Berti Majdan (v), Mathias Dieth (g) and Klaus Reinelt (g) now joined the band.



Gravestone came from Illertissen / Germany and played progressive guitar-rock of the harder but also very melodic kind. Its first vinyl was released in 1979 in a number of 1000 copies and consists of real innovative compositions, all created by the guitarist Wolfgang Rittner. They all convince by fine guitar leads, some of them, like the title-song "Doomsday" are real ear candy; psychedelic hard rock with a weird gloomy spacey edge to it and production that almost sounds like late 60s. Lots of long jamming parts and a few instrumentals. The bonus track is a cover version of UFO's godlike "Flying" song from their second album. (BUY IT!)

Jerusalem (1972)... revisited

Paul Dean of Jerusalem just left a comment on the original post back in May of last year announcing a re-mastered reissue soon to be available on Rockadrome Records!

"The first official reissue of the bone-crushing early 70s UK hard rock album produced by Ian Gillan to be released on the Rockadrome/Vintage label in 2008. This release will include several bonus tracks, including demos from before the album, liner notes, lyrics, photos and more!"

Thanks for writing, Paul - any chance of a vinyl reissue?

Montes - Cuando brille el tiempo (Argentina 1974)

"After leaving beat group Séptima Brigada, guitarist Jorge Montes, formed his own band, called Montes Mahatma. Shortening their name to Montes, they released in 1973 their one and only single ("Pájaro nocturno/Un viaje al mar") and in 1974 their classic LP "Cuando brille el tiempo" with songs composed by Jorge and his brother Luis Miguel (author of the drawing from the cover). "Cuando brille el tiempo" stands as one of the best records from 70s argentine rock, but sold poorly and remained a cult classic and Jorge Montes an underground guitar hero. Montes toured South America and soon split, and Jorge Montes played in one of Pappo´s bands. Guest bassist Alex Zucker joined prog rockers Alas." (Montes on MySpace)



"En el camino de Dios hacia el sol" opens this remarkable LP, followed by the crazy wah-wah hard rock "Arde Roma", "El ascensor" and the melodic "Hoy (cuando brille el tiempo)" with a guitar full of effects and skills. Side b opens with "Arco Iris" that switches from the calm to the fury in minutes, followed by "Fuera del sol" (on a Pappo's Blues style). "Epílogo de Crossville" and "Días después" closes the album with lots of effects that remind the glorious Electric Ladyland.



In short: a highly recommended guitar album, with excellent vocal work and solid rhythm section.



Despite the good reviews, the record went unnoticed and sold poorly. The group toured South America (something unusual at that time) and split. Jorge Montes played briefly with Pappo and later disappeared. It is said that he was killed in Ecuador in a drug-related event in the 80s.

(via The Magic Land)

The Bob Seger System - Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (1968)

Reviewed by The Seth Man:

"Long before he was firing blanks with the latter day AOR-friendly Silver Bullet Band, Seger formed the three-man Bob Seger System in Detroit in 1968, and their testimonial of a debut fused Seger’s gritty soul vocalizing held in the balance of unbelievably heavy power trio-ing. Cast aside all notions of Seger’s pre-dated Mellencampian schlock the likes of “Night Moves,” “Hollywood Nights” or his Raspberries rip off: “Rock’n’Roll Never Forgets” (And speaking of that song, that’s just a bunch of fist-pumping malarkey both in the manner of its execution as well as sentiment. And if it never forgets, exactly why the hell am I writing this, anyway?)

Heh, before I rephrase that, let me testify to this immaculate slice of pure Detroit glory: IT ROCKS, and rocks hard. Although extending the Motor City metaphor might be overdoing it, in the case of this album it's justified -- pumping pistons and firing all cylinders at once with rhythms every bit as relentless, straightforward and driving as only the best Detroit rock’n’roll could do. And the locked in snare/heavy bass drum pattern that Iggy borrowed from The Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love” on “Lust For Life” is present on “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man”: along with a variety of equally strong, lumpen and thumpin’ beats. While Bob Seger handles the guitar and vocals, bassist Don Honaker and drummer Pep Perrine complete a trio that thrashes out mightily within the mikings of live-in-the-studio-and-let-the-music-do-the-talkin’ as the thump and crash meshes with Seger’s croakin’ and moanin’ about love, life, women, the draft and just plain getting it on.

On “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man”, Bob’s got the fever in a big way. His gravelly vocals are Stax-Voltaging to the hilt, like the biggest soul holler feller ever and the way he squeezes out his wailings make that last quarter inch of toothpaste seem easily accessible by comparison. Pep Perrine’s drumming style is total class, clash and outrageous bombast. He must have lined not only his double bass drums with multiple layers of tin foil, but his tom-toms and snare to boot because his simple and explosive style busts into areas only John Bonham had reached at this time. And his double bass drums were customised to extend several feet longer in length and as a result looks -- and sounds -- like a pair of cannons. Honaker’s no slouch either, but they’re all so locked in together to create a single torrent of intent that comes raining down in a beautiful, beautiful noise. Noise you wish you could drown out your neighbours for all eternity with. Noise you want to kiss for being so perfect, so THERE and right on." (more...)

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Think - We'll Give You a Buzz (New Zealand 1976)

Couldn't find much info on the web about this New Zealand group. There's a myspace page and this tidbit of info:

"Think were an Auckland rock / heavy metal group who formed in 1976. Phil Whitehead and Don Mills came from the disbanded Beam, with Phil actually having had a short stint with Human Instinct in-between. They produced an album in 1976 called "We'll Give You A Buzz" and a single "Arrived In Time"/"Big Ladies" the following year. One further single came in 1979 with "Good Morning"/"Peanut Joe". Kevin Stanton was also a member at one time. He later went on to play with Mi-Sex."

"We'll Give You a Buzz" is enjoyable hard rock with some proggy moves. Give it a listen and as always: enjoy.

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Ezy Meat - Not For Wimps (1984)

Ezy Meat, one of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal's lesser-known (but more humorously named) Irish contenders, was formed in the northern capital of Belfast, circa 1980, by brothers Paul (vocals, bass) and Ivan Lavery (vocals, guitar) with drummer Ray McKenna. Attuned to both their country's '70s hard rock heritage (Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy, etc.) and the N.W.O.B.H.M.'s new breed of bands, the trio labored in obscurity for a number of years (their legendary "Makin' Noise" demo tape doing just that in the hands of underground traders) before finally getting a chance to record a debut album with the help of fellow Irishman and then Dio guitarist Vivian Campbell. A longtime friend and supporter of Ezy Meat, having first cut his teeth with fellow Belfast N.W.O.B.H.M. group Sweet Savage, Campbell produced the disc over the course of a mere two days, but no matter its abundant energy and some excellent songs, there was little success to be had when it had to be released by the band's own label. Two years later, Ezy Meat still faced this same predicament, and their second self-financed LP, 1986's Rock Your Brains, saw them wavering between a more straightforward hard rock sound (reminiscent of neighborhood pals Mama's Boys) and Rush-inspired prog epics covering entire album sides! The end was drawing near, and after marking 1987 with a positively atrocious new single called "Warrior" (for the Ebony Records Rock Meets Metal II compilation), Ezy Meat quietly wound down their activities. (allmusic)

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Leo - s/t (1997)

Here's a record I know almost nothing about. From what I gathered on the web, Leo is band from Germany on Nasoni records, who play chugging, 70's inspired hard rock. From nasoni-records.com: "Heavy vinyl, paste-on sleeve, 2 inserts, hand-numbered 500 copies ltd. Debut album by another great band from our hometown. SOLD OUT." This is really great shit.

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Freeport (1970)

Record collectors can be a strange lot, especially when you're talking about collectors of any one particular style or sub-genre. If you have a record that's somewhat rare, you're usually glad to find a handful of others who are familiar with it, so that you can compare notes.

At the same time, you don't want to let the secret completely out. After all, you worked a long time, and invested a lot of money, to find a copy. Why should someone else be able to find a lost treasure for a fraction of the effort that you went to? Yeah, that's a pretty heinous attitude, but we've all been guilty of it at some point. Even folks who should know better.

The only review that I've ever read for this album dismissed it as "disappointing and directionless". This was from a source that is usually right on the money. This time, though, someone must have substituted the disc in the jacket marked "Freeport". That's the only way I could reconcile the fact that they thought this absolute gem was substandard.

I mean, I try not to get caught up in hyperbole, but between the dueling guitar leads, pounding keyboards, and intricate harmonies, I can't describe Freeport as anything but a monster!

Want hard-rock, 1970 style? Try "Forty Long Faces" or "It's a Brand New Morning". Power-pop more your style? How about an upbeat cover of Eric Carmen's "I Need Your Lovin'". Ballads? "Lend a Hand" and "Call Yourself the Wind" are both more than worthy. The only thing keeping the album from five stars is the fact that not all the tracks are equally memorable. One senses that the band's best work was still ahead of them, or would have been had they not dissolved soon after this release.

It has to be more than simple difference of opinion that accounts for the negative review mentioned above. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that the reviewer was simply trying to keep the goodies to himself.

I don't have that problem. This album compares favorably with the debuts by Listening and Gypsy, and I hope everybody who might be interested gets to hear this. (review by ochsfan @ rateyourmusic.com)

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Floating Bridge (1969)

Guitarist Rich Dangel had been a member of The Wailers, as well as the lesser known The Rooks and a late incarnation of The Time Machine.

Following The Time Machine's collapse in 1967 Dangel and bass player Joe Johnson decided to form their own band. Recruiting guitarist Joe Johansen and drummer Michael Marinelli the result was The Unknown Factor. Serving as a for-hire backing band, the quartet worked with local acts such as Patti Allen and Ron Holden.

In 1968 they added former Punch singer Pat Gossan to the lineup. They quickly scored a deal becoming the house band at Seattle's Eagle Auditorium and attracted considerable attention as one of the acts performing at the 1968 Sky River Rock Festival. The resulting publicity saw them sign a contract with the L.A. based Vault Records. The group subsequently debuted with a dandy 1968 single 'Brought Up Wrong' b/w 'Watch Your Step' (Vault catalog number V-947). While the single did little commercially, it attracted enough attention for Vault to finance a follow-on album. Released in 1969 the cleverly titled "Floating Bridge" teamed the band with producer Jackie Mills. Musically the set offered up a standard mix of originals and popular covers, but the results were killer throughout. With Dangel, Johnson and Gossan responsible for most of the original material, tracks like 'Brought Up Wrong', the earlier single 'Watch Your Step', and 'Three Minute & Ten Second Blues' sported a distinctively heavy, Hendrix-inspired sound. Propelled by Gossan's likeable voice and Dangel and Johansen's twin leads extended guitar rave-ups like 'Crackpot' and their Byrds/Stones instrumental medley should strike a chord with the two hard rock fans out there reading this. Elsewhere another 'Hey Jude' cover wouldn't have sounded like the year's most imaginative move, but these guys managed to pull it off. Envision the song redone as an instrumental with a heavy edge that would have sounded good on an early Allman Brothers album ... one of the most impressive Beatles covers I've ever heard. In fact the only real disappointment is the routine bluesy closer 'Gonna' Lay Down 'n Die'. Much better than the standard references would have you think (and surprisingly hard to find in decent shape). (via Badcat Records) (BUY IT!)

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Afflicted Man - The Complete Recordings (2007)

"Sloppy UK punk that slowly morphs into even sloppier Hendrix jizz that's laughably, brilliantly dumb. Crude, crude, crude, and did I mention it's kinda crude? Toilet recording style mid-range-only distorted guitar is explored as rock and psych by the one-n-only Steve Hall. Excellent litmus test for open ears. The monster "Get Stoned Ezy" showed up on a small-run lp bootleg several years back under the name High Speed and the Afflicted Man, and bonged heads have bonked themselves over it's falling-down-drunk charm ever since."

"The complete works of The Afflicted Man on one mindboggling double-disc set. Perhaps a bit "grey-area" in terms of production (and crudely mastered from original vinyl -- as if there was any other way), but who knows what bunker Steve lies in today? Play this for your friends and watch them walk off to the other side of the fence. Too freaked out for punks and too punked out for freaks, Steve Hall stalked the nascent British punk/DIY scene under the guise of Afflicted (later Afflicted Man) throughout the early '80s to the interest of almost no one. Hiding in plain sight, Hall unleashed a string of 7"s and LPs that evoked a singular and unique take on the punk sneer made fashionable by the Sex Pistols and their minion. Primitively blending elements of psychedelia and dub over his feral, chainsaw approach, Afflicted Man unleashed a miasma of tripped-out, fuzzy aggro thrashers that would eventually climax into a masterpiece of pedal stomping carnage -- the unimpeachable Get Stoned Ezy LP -- the likes of which are only now being fully digested. Easily one of the UK's strangest and ignored DIY punk bands. This collection includes the entire output; all three mega rare 7"s, plus the hard to find LPs The Afflicted Man's Musical Bag, I'm Off Me 'ead, and the aforementioned Get Stoned Ezy. Essential in every way." (BUY IT!)

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Beck, Bogert & Appice (1973)

A hard rock power trio composed of guitarist Jeff Beck (The Yardbirds, Jeff Beck Group), bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice, both of Vanilla Fudge and Cactus. The three attempted a collaboration project in 1970 but Beck suffered a head injury in a car accident that year which sidelined him for well over a year. Bogert and Appice, who previously were members of Vanilla Fudge, instead formed the group Cactus with guitarist Jim McCarty and singer Rusty Day. After several Cactus releases, the band split and Bogert and Appice were again searching for a new band. Beck, after recovering from the head injury, formed a new Jeff Beck Group and released two more LPs before disbanding in 1972.

With all three members out of work they decided to revive the old idea of a collaboration and started work on their eponymous debut album Beck, Bogert & Appice. The album had solid sales in 1973 and had a hit single "Superstition", which was a cover of Stevie Wonder's composition of the same name. Wonder had originally intended to record "Superstition" with Beck, but the latter's automobile accident shelved the plan. Later that year the band released a live album in Japan (now an extremely sought after rare album), Live in Japan. The group began work on a second studio album, but Beck suddenly left the band in early 1974, forcing a dissolution. (wikipedia)

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Beck, Bogert & Appice - Live (1973) @ CGR!

The Dictators - Go Girl Crazy! (1975)

"In 1975, when punk rock and heavy metal were two opposing camps who barely who acknowledged each other's existence, The Dictators' first album, The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!, found New York's finest trying to bring both sides together in a brave, prescient, and (at least at the time) futile gesture. The band's "smart guys who like dumb stuff" humor, junk-culture reference points, and '60s cheeze rock covers ("California Sun" and "I Got You Babe" on one album) would seem tailor made for the crowd at CBGB digging The Ramones and The Dead Boys, but their sludgy and stripped down hard rock (and Ross "The Boss" Funichello's neo-metal guitar solos) were something else altogether. And at a time when the arena rock audience had not yet embraced the less-than-subtle humor and theatrics of Sparks or Cheap Trick, The Dictators ahead-of-their-time enthusiasm for wrestling, White Castle hamburgers, and television confused more kids than it converted. Heard today, the album is a hoot and a half; if the tempos could often stand to be a bit livelier, Adny Shernoff's songs are still great (especially the absurdly anthemic "Two Tub Man," "I Live For Cars and Girls," and "Weekend"), the jokes still register (while the contemporary Political Correctness brigade might blanch at "Back To Africa" or "Master Race Rock," they're merely absurd in the Mad Magazine tradition), and "secret weapon" Handsome Dick Manitoba was truly a find. Dozens of groups borrowed wholesale from The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! later on down the line, but the original is still the greatest ... and the funniest." (allmusic) (BUY IT, ASSNECK!)

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The Dictators - Blood Brothers (1978)

The original recording lineup consisted of bassist/vocalist Andy (aka "Adny") Shernoff, lead guitarist Ross "The Boss" Friedman (aka Ross Funicello), rhythm guitarist Scott "Top Ten" Kempner, and drummer Stu Boy King (who was, in fact, the band's fourth drummer since forming in 1973). It was this lineup - along with roadie/occasional vocalist and "Secret Weapon" Handsome Dick Manitoba - which recorded the band's 1975 debut album, The Dictators Go Girl Crazy for Epic Records, produced by Sandy Pearlman and Murray Krugman (best known for their work with Blue Öyster Cult). Although the album sold poorly at the time, today it is considered one of the most important albums ever recorded by a New York punk band of the period, and still stands as arguably one of the funniest records ever made.

Frustrated by the lack of sales, the band broke up for a few months in late 1975, but reconvened in early 1976, with bassist Mark "The Animal" Mendoza replacing Shernoff. After a few months Shernoff was persuaded to return to the group as the group's keyboardist. This lineup soon secured a contract with Asylum Records (at least partly due to the notoriety the group had developed following a well-publicized brawl between Manitoba and Wayne County)[1] and released their second album, Manifest Destiny, in 1977. The album - again produced by Pearlman and Krugman - is usually considered the weakest of the group's first three albums, and featured a considerably more mainstream sound. The band resisted playing songs from Manifest Destiny for several years because the album hadn't been re-released on CD.

During this period the band was christened with their nickname, "The 'Taters." This culminated in an incident during a tour with Uriah Heep and Foreigner in which Foreigner's roadies strung a net filled with potatoes above the stage and released it during the Dictators' set.

By 1978 Mendoza had left the band (he soon joined Twisted Sister) and Shernoff had returned to his original position on bass guitar. It was this lineup of Manitoba, Shernoff, Friedman, Kempner, and Rich Teeter which recorded Bloodbrothers (yet again produced by Pearlman and Krugman). At the time it was - and still is - generally considered to be a stronger album than Manifest Destiny. It was the first album to feature Manitoba as the group's vocalist on all the songs, though Bruce Springsteen - a big fan of the group to this day - can be heard counting "1-2-1-2-3-4" during the album's opening track, "Faster and Louder." The album's "Baby, Let's Twist" was a minor hit on a number of east coast radio stations, but the lack of mainstream success caused the band to split the following year. Shortly before the split drummer Mel Anderson had left Twisted Sister and joined The Dictators, replacing Teeter. After the breakup, Manitoba drove a cab, Shernoff worked as a producer, and Friedman became something of a gun-for-hire; working first with the French hard rock band Shakin' Street, then becoming a founding member of Manowar in 1982, and producing the first demo for Anthrax. (wikipedia) (BUY IT, SHITHEAD!)

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Yesterday and Today (1976)

One of the most underrated, yet influential of all hard rock bands. They always had a loyal following, and influenced countless musicians, but never seemed able to break into the mainstream in a big way over their twenty plus years. Formed in San Francisco, California by Dave Meniketti (vocals and guitar), Phil Kennemore (bass) and Leonard Haze (drums) and going by the name of Yesterday & Today. They recruited a second guitarist in Joey Alves, and began playing the bar circuit. Their first two albums were released by London records, but failed commercially, resulting in the band being dropped. The group revamped, shortened thir name to Y&T and signed another major label deal. Earthshaker was an aptly titled cult classic, that was able to capture the intensity of the band's live shows. Many feel that the band was unable to reach the heights of this album again, but they released consistent product throughout the early 80's. With the release of the live album Open Fire, Y&T was dropped again. They signed with Geffen under John Kalodner's supervision. They changed their image to fit in with the 80's glam rock explosion but Haze decided to walk away, being replaced by Jimmy DeGrasso. The move failed to pay off, leading to Alves leaving the band as well (he hooked up with Haze in 1989 to form Black Tiger) with Stef Burns joining the group for the forgotten Ten album. Shortly after the band broke up. The last lineup would reform off and on to tour and release a couple lackluster albums, but it was apparent their best days were behind them. DeGrasso would resurface with Megadeth, Alice Cooper and Suicidal Tendencies to name a few, while Meniketti pursued a solo career. A band that never reached the success they deserved, but whose albums remain very influential. (via sleazeroxx.com) (BUY IT, ASSHAT!)

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