Electric Eel Shock - Go America! (Japan 2002)

Whilst still at school in Osaka, Akihito Morimoto, also known as 'Aki' (guitar and vocals) and Kazuto Maekawa (bass) were brought together by a mutual love of Black Sabbath. They learned English from the bands they read about in Burrn Magazine, and played together in several bands that often played the songs of their Western idols, including Black Sabbath, Twisted Sister, Van Halen, Rainbow, MSG, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Queensrÿche, W.A.S.P., Ratt, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Motörhead, Guns N' Roses and Mötley Crüe.

Morimoto and Maekawa first tasted commercial success after moving to Tokyo and playing as guitarist and bassist in a five-piece pop rock band. Morimoto later said that one of the main reasons for this band's demise was that they acted on everything that they were told and as a result soon became directionless. It was this lesson that helped form the attitude of Electric Eel Shock – that musicians should listen to the views of others, but that learn from their own mistakes.

After the demise of this band, Morimoto and Maekawa stayed in Tokyo. Morimoto followed his passion of fishing and became a competition angler (he still writes for Japan's largest fishing magazine, Basser Magazine) and Maekawa joined The Apollos (a well-known Japanese funk band) as session bassist. Maekawa's low-slung bass and unkempt appearance was at odds with The Apollos' suited and polished image, and meant that his time in this role was short lived. However, Maekawa left a lasting impression on their drummer, Tomoharu Ito (known as Gian, due to his similar appearance to a well-known Japanese comedian of that name). Gian, who had a day job making false teeth, was soon introduced to Morimoto and the three started practicing together shortly afterwards.
The first incarnation of Electric Eel Shock was not quite as they are known today. In fact, the band's first public performances were actually as an 11-piece group with keyboards, female vocals and horns. It was not until the logistics of getting all of these members together on the same day to practise became unworkable that the band stripped down to a three-piece. Gian took up playing with four drumsticks, and also gained a reputation for playing naked.

Electric Eel Shock decided against making demos and sending them to record companies. Instead, they quickly set up the Micro Music label with their friends, releasing their first full-length album, Maybe I Think We Can Beat Nirvana. They followed this with Live Punctured and set about making a major impact on the independent rock scene of Tokyo.

Around this time they befriended a character on the Tokyo underground rock scene: Bob Slayer who was an Englishman in Japan. A veteran of the music industry in the West – having toured with many bands such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix - Bob Slayer had become the first Westerner to be crowned Karaoke Champion of Japan. He was to become Electric Eel Shock's tour manager, manager, video producer, set up their record label and a bunch of other things - none of which he has ever done properly. According to the band's website Bob Slayer has been fired as the Tour manager but has stayed on as the official tour drunk.

Sex, Drugs and Email! (BUY EES STUFF!!!)

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The Up - Killer Up! (1969-72)

Ann Arbor, Michigan-based proto-punks the Up were formed in the spring of 1967 by vocalist Franklin Bach, then the stage manager and announcer at Detroit's famed Grande Ballroom. Rounded out by guitarist Bob Rasmussen, bassist Gary Rasmussen and drummer Vic Peraino (soon replaced by Scott Bailey), the group was managed by David Sinclair, the brother of local White Panther Party leader John Sinclair, and as such their history became inextricably linked with that of local revolutionary rockers the MC5, with the two bands even living together at the same Ann Arbor commune. The Up regularly opened for the MC5 as well, and were the opening act at the legendary September 1968 show at the Union Ballroom that so impressed Elektra Records president Jac Holzman that he offered a contract not only to the Five but also the second act on the bill, the Stooges; as both groups went on to national notoriety, the Up remained mired on the regional circuit, becoming the primary musical outlet for the White Panthers' propaganda after the MC5 broke away from the party. Finally, in 1970 the Up recorded their debut single "Just Like an Aborigine," a blistering cut similar in sound and spirit to the punk records which emerged from Britain at the end of the decade; a second single, "Free John Now!" -- a rallying cry in honor of the imprisoned Sinclair -- followed a year later. Although the group disbanded in 1973 -- Gary Rasmussen later resurfaced in Sonic's Rendezvous Band -- they left behind enough material for a 1995 retrospective LP, Killer Up!

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White Flame - American Rudeness (1978)

White Flame, formed by Mark St. John and Rich Ricciuti (with Dave Perry and Dan Cronin), came about while both members were attending Sacred Heart University. "We both grew up in Waterbury and met in the 9th grade," says St. John. "We hooked up again in the 1970s in Fairfield at SHU. We started writing songs together at this time and wrote together steadily for about three-and-a-half years. At the time we had every intention of making many albums but that was not to be."

One release, alas, but American Rudeness is a solid one. It channels the oeuvre of the Stooges, throwing in touches of everything from Mott the Hoople, bluesy Captain Beefheart, and even dabs of John Carpenter. It's a sound that is perhaps more relevant today than it was upon its release. At the very least, the sound is certainly more appreciated.

"We listened to blues and rock in those days—Son House, Lightnin' Hopkins, Mississippi Fred McDowell and others," says St. John. Sanchez notes, "I was very happy to find out that Mark's musical influences in the '70s were the same artists that I have been listening to for years—the Velvets, the Stooges, MC5—artists that are the bread-and-butter of the current crop of rock & roll legends, but which were pretty far out in the early '70s. It probably took a lot of insight to appreciate this stuff back in the Eagles-and-Zep era."

It's the combination and the right working of the influences that makes American Rudeness compelling today. Some bands try to achieve some success in sound, and lots of success with the kids, who eat up pop emptiness as background to solving another video game (hint: I'm thinking of another band with "White" in their name). American Rudeness dredges up dirty corners that stick to your fingers long after you have tried to lick them clean. And maybe that's the deal. It is dirty, imperfect, rasping at points with desperation. You can sense the characters in the songs walking down a Williams Burroughs Junky-esque landscape.

To St. John, the record "is both a reaction to the times we lived in as well as the rock & roll of the day. The songs sound okay to me now, not dated but definitely a part of the times." These details—urban cowboys, job hunting, questioning authority, sitting around checking out women —are a key to the appeal. There's a certain hazy, lost, early Scorsese feel to it. That anachronistic feel is an attraction to Sanchez: "I really like the idea that I am listening to the same music that other people in the community were spinning 20 or 40 years ago. I believe that there is importance to this kind of continuity, kinda like drinking at the same bar that everyone's gone to for 50 years rather than throwing one back at some slick new joint with puffy furniture." (BUY IT!!!)

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Ranmadou - 1971 Summer (Japan 1971)

Here's another one I wish I knew more about. Absolutely MENTAL fuzzed-out blues rock, just the way I likes it. Ranmadou apparently released a self-titled full-length the following year. Song titles and lyrics are in Japanese. More pics can be found at Julian Cope's Japrocksampler website. 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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Lee Michaels - Live (1972)

One of the most interesting second-division California psychedelic musicians, keyboardist Lee Michaels was one of the most soulful white vocalists of the late '60s and early '70s. Between 1968 and 1972, he released half a dozen accomplished albums on A&M that encompassed Baroque psychedelic pop and gritty white, sometimes gospel-ish R&B with equal facility. A capable songwriter, Michaels was blessed with an astonishing upper range, occasionally letting loose some thrilling funky wails. In 1971, he landed a surprise Top Ten single with "Do You Know What I Mean," one of the best and funkiest AM hits of the early '70s.

But Michaels was really much more of an album-oriented artist, from the time he began recording in the late '60s. Michaels started playing music in Southern California, where he was in a band with future members of Moby Grape, the Turtles, and Canned Heat. By the time he signed to A&M, however, he'd moved to San Francisco, joining the management stable of Matthew Katz (which also included, at various times, Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, and It's a Beautiful Day). Michaels was unusual for a San Francisco act in that he relied mostly on an organ-based sound, especially after the first pair of albums, when for a time he played, live and in the studio, with the mammoth drummer "Frosty" as his only accompanist.

"Do You Know What I Mean," ironically, was a throwaway tune that Michaels wrote hurriedly. Though Lee himself didn't think much of it, the song was a first-rate blast of white boy soul; around this time, the gospel influence that had often informed his sound come to the fore. His albums in the mid-'70s for Columbia, however, were both critical and commercial disappointments. Michaels moved to Hawaii for an extended retirement from the music business; aside from a self-released album in the early '80s, little's been heard from him since. (allmusic)

Lee Michaels - Live (1972)

Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs - More Arse than Class (Australia 1973)

Fronted by one of the most powerful voices in Australian history, Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs were a musical force to be reckoned with. Few Australian bands since have matched the fury or volume of Billy & his Aztecs during the 1970's. The conundrum of playing in a fearsome live band is that it is often difficult to record a studio album that translates that same level of quality. More Arse Than Class undoes this theory. It was the most favoured studio album by all band members, and also provides a slice of Australian musical history being the last album recorded with the Sunbury Aztecs alongside Billy Thorpe. More Arse Than Class was released in June 1974 and featured an inner-gate fold sleeve photograph of the band members' bare backsides. Filled with blues boogie rock tunes, More Arse Than Class reached #12 on the national charts and stayed in the Top 20 for three months.
With their landmark LPs The Hoax is Over and More Arse Than Class and a breakthrough gig at Melbourne Town Hall in 1970, supporting Daddy Cool, the 'new' Aztecs accrued a considerable reputation in the southern states and became known as one of the loudest acts on on the local concert circuit.

In 1972, the Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs played two of their most famous gigs. A show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl during the Moomba Festival resulted in 250,000 people filling the park to catch the Aztecs' set, and forcing police to close the roads around the venue. Later in the year, The Aztecs released a live recording of their show at the Sunbury Music Festival, which featured the debut of one of Thorpe's most famous anthems "Most People I Know Think That I’m Crazy", which took him back into national prominence.

In 1975, the third version of the Aztecs broke up, and in 1976, Thorpe relocated to Los Angeles in the United States. (previously...)

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Various - Songs from Dracula's Dulcimer (2007)

(from the back cover)
Welcome to your new Haunt!

A place where the spitirs flow freely and the freaks hang out at night. This complementary CD commemorates the October opening of 'Dulcimer' bar and is brought to you courtsey of resident Sonic Spooks 'B-Music' - and what better excuse to have a party than Halloween! Our weekly night of far flung freakish folk, spooked out psych and global ghoulish glam sits comfortably amongst a veritable monthly calendar of other devilish disk-jockeys and regular live music events.

1) Intro (U.K.)
2) Evol (Chile)
3) The Exorcist (Peru)
4) Dracula (Hungary)
5) The Witch (Hungary)
6) The Swamp Man (U.S.)
7) The Loch Ness Monster (U.K.)
8) The Witch (Italy)
9) Halloween (Wales)
10) Howlin' at the Moon (U.S.)
11) Frankenstein (France)
12) The Mummy (U.S.)
13) Dr. Sex (Germany)
14) The Devil (Persia)
15) The Vampire (Sweden)
16) The Wizards Laboratory (U.K.)
17) The Sorcerer (Canada)
18) Monster Planet (Australia)
19) The Space Invaders (U.S.)
20) Spooks in Space (U.S.)

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Various - A Visit to the Spaceship Factory (2007)

Some killer late sixties, early seventies psych rock from the USA, garage bands gettin' "heavy". Well this disc, on the same Nick Saloman-affiliated label Psychic Circle, is in some ways a sequel, featuring similar bands of the era from the UK (and one Israeli band that recorded in London, to be perfectly accurate). With the subtitle "20 Gems From The Early Years Of Prog", it's billed as a collection of obscure "progressive rock" tracks... but the stress is on the rock. After all, Black Sabbath was once considered a "prog" band too. Sure, there might be some keyboards, but there's lots of raw, raucous energy here, both singers and guitarists wailing away in full fuzzed-out psychedelic proto-metal glory, when they didn't know from headbanging but knew how to boogie! Being a comp, of course some of this is better 'n the rest, but quality control is pretty high. Some faves include the punkish Helter Skelter (ex-Crushed Butler), the powerful axe-action of Israel's Jericho, and the heavy blues thud of early UFO, among other treats here to be heard from these bands (some we already knew, some new to us): Treetops, Mousetrap, Deadwood, Fuzzy Duck, Incredible Hog, Mouse, Beggars Opera, Kingdom Come, Little Big Horn, Strange Fox, Onyx, Spontaneous Combustion, Sheephouse, Pussy, Axe, Sunchariot, and Kansas Hook.
(buy it @ aquarius records)

This one is another trip into early prog-psych or prog per se and comes up with some really cool tracks. Treetops' 'Why Not Tonight' from 1972 is a classic case of the late '60s pop act gone heavy. Not dissimilar to The Symbols and other over sugary harmony pop acts of that decade in all their previous singles, 'Why' could have been a statement of intent or a last hurrah before the cabaret circuit beckoned, who knows. In any event it is an excellent guitar and keys driven slab of wax with a thick harmonised vocal chorus that makes you want more. Mouse's 'It's Happening To Me And You' like a number of the cuts here, was a fabulous psychy B side to a more conventional and chart aimed top side. Mouse was the vehicle for guitarist and ex John Barry Seven man Ray Russell. The guitar work here is spacey, decorative, and highly effective. Great light touches on the wah-wah rather than overdriven. Fab record, great controlled guitar work, I must find an original! Little Big Horn were a Brit band with a German only released album (on Polydor) in 1970 from which 'Just A Game' is taken. It's a fab example of the psych prog crossover. A strong rhythm with earnest vocals a good tune that uses chord changes to good effect. I'd love to hear the whole album! One of my faves on this comp is the totally unknown Sheephouse. Yet another B side, 'Ladder' is a frenetically played acoustic and tabla led rhythm with a thick layer of harmony vocals and weaving electric guitar throughout. It's definitely the most tuneful number on the disc and now another top want of mine. If Sheephouse have the most melodic tune on the disc then Sunchariot have the best riff in 'Do You Wanna Know', yet another B side to a Decca 45 from 1972. Essentially a rather dated lyric about the singer ditching his woman and "leaving on the midnight train" is more than compensated for by the sheer infectious riffiness of the backbeat on the verses and middle eight, it sticks in your head. Jesse Hector (of Hammersmith Gorillas fame) features in a short lived venture form '79 called Helter Skelter, but it sounds as primo-garage r'n'r as it does freak rock or indeed post punk madness! All in all another winner of a comp, great stuff! (buy it @ dustygroove)

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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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