The Baroques - Purple Day 1967/68 @320 (CD)

A minor psychedelic band with a mixture of interesting and generic material, the Baroques recorded one LP for Chess in 1967, when the blues/R&B/soul-oriented label was considering breaking into the rock market. Popular only on a regional level, the Milwaukee group (originally called "The Complete Unknowns," until someone probably realized how dangerously self-fulfilling it could be) was dominated by the morose compositions and low, odd vocal range of singer-lead guitarist Jay Berkenhagen who also played keyboards; the other members were Rick Bieniewski on bass, Jacques Hutchinson on guitar and vocals, and Dean Nimmer on drums. With a slight garage feel, their unusual, occasionally oddball material was built around electric (sometimes "baroque") keyboards and fuzz guitar riffs, which occasional detours into uplifting folk-rock and freak-out jamming. They lucked out in 1966 with the Berkenhagen-authored single "Mary Jane," which engendered considerable local controversy over whether it was or wasn't a drug song: it wasn't, but the dispute over the lyrics got them labeled as a psychedelic act, and boosted their live popularity. The album never sold, however, and the group disbanded in 1968. They won't appeal to many listeners besides psychedelic specialists, but they recorded some idiosyncratically worthwhile stuff, most of which has been reissued on small collector labels.(R. Unterberger allmusic.com)

Fine psychedelic garage pop. It's a pity that the band don't got more attention then in the sixties.
But like a famous man once said: ..at the right time at the right place...or forget it.

Enjoy
         Frank

@320

The Liverpool Echo - The Liverpool Echo 1973(2005)CD Flac

Power pop has never sounded so powerful! When former Mandrake Paddlesteamer mainstays Brian Engel and Martin Briley convened as Liverpool Echo in 1973, the Beatles had been in the grave for just three years, and the world still desperately wanted them back -- so desperately that, with a band name borrowed bodily from an old Merseybeat-era newspaper, what could any record company do, but lift a "Fabs"-headlined copy of the paper for an album cover? But "Beatles Come Home So Quietly" really wasn't the most appropriate banner for an LP jacket, all the more so since, once you hit the vinyl, the spirit of the "Moptops" hung so heavily over the music that it screamed out for attention. Of course, it was true that any early-'70s band that was capable of melding melody with studio-borne creativity would inevitably be tarred "the new Beatles" (as Badfinger and 10cc would readily testify); it is also true that all such comparisons were then hopelessly devalued by the arrival of the Rutles.

But still Liverpool Echo have an uncanny grasp of the Merseybeat sound circa 1963 and 64, spliced with a healthy hint of the Hollies, and that was more than enough to raise high hopes for the album. Unfortunately, hope was all that the record label (Spark) could do. They certainly had no promotion or distribution muscle to speak of, and both band and LP sank within seconds, to lie forgotten until Revola revived it (with excellent Mark A Johnston liner notes) in 2005.

This is the remastered CD of 2005 published from Rev-Ola. I hope you give it a try because it's an album full of fine pop songs.
Cheers
           Frank

ps: i try this for the first time and want to see if it works...
Flac