Psychedelic Garage Paisley Pop...The Marshmallow Overcoat - The Very Best Of (2014) Flac

The Marshmallow Overcoat (more recently known as The Overcoat) is a quartet formed at the height of the boom in the "paisley underground." Based in Tucscon, Arizona, the group made a convincing enough case for itself, with its Kinks and Yardbirds-influenced originals and covers, that it made it as far as stages across the United States, Canada, and western Europe, charting high on some college radio listings in the process. They recorded a series singles, EPs, and LPs for Dionysus Records in Los Angeles. (almusic.com)


Fronted by the charismatic energy of Timothy Gassen, Marshmallow Overcoat has been keeping the spirit of psychedelic garage rock alive and kicking since 1986. A brace of critically praised albums, scads of smashing singles, numerous compilation contributions, DVDs, and worldwide tours have allowed these paisley-hearted crusaders consistent visibility.
The latest gift from the hard-working Tucson, Arizona band is The Very Best Of (Garage Nation Records), which is available as either a digital download or a double gatefold vinyl album. As always, it’s the music that commands attention, but the package provides even more ground for the pound, with its inclusion of rare photographs and extensive liner notes, while the cyberspace edition adds a trio of videos to the party.
Play The Very Best Of to a someone not aware of Marshmallow Overcoat, and there is no doubt they would think they were hearing a long lost act from the 60s. From the scraggly fuzz guitars to the bell-toned riffs to the rumbling keyboards to the thrashing tub-thumping to the snagging hooks, the band revises all the applications of the genre they mine with remarkable perfection. Timothy’s growling snarl teases, taunts, and thrills the listener in the same manner howlers and hipsters such as Gerry Roslie of the Sonics, Sky Saxon from the Seeds, and the Music Machine’s Sean Bonniwell were known for doing. Churning out songs with animated determination, Marshmallow Overcoat has their fingers, toes, and ears on the pulse each beat of the way.

Accurately titled, The Very Best Of definitely does teem with ace pickings, and far too many to go into much detail about. But I will state I’m personally partial to the twinkling twelve-string action of “Suddenly Sunday,” with its breathtaking blend of wistful moodiness and blinding blue sky beauty, the spooky lure of “When It’s Dark,” the inspired moves and matter of “Beverly Pepper,” a cover of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s acid-drenched “Tomorrow Never Knows” that offers a slower but no less freaky approach than the original version, and the romping wildness of “Santa Fuzz” and “The Knights Of Fuzz,” which needless to say both surge forth with bursts of buzzing fuzz.
Other tracks I dare not omit are “13 Ghosts,” “The Light Show,” “Spell I’m Under,” “Thee Hands Of Tyme,” “Psilocybin Explosion,” “The Beyond,” and a piping hot rendition of Tommy Jett’s “Groovy Little Trip,” that screams and stomps with insanity.
Kudos to Marshmallow Overcoat for never compromising their position. Sticking to sounds they believe in, the band is a ray of sunshine in a scene dominated by trends, fashion, and profit. Marshmallow Overcoat are the ultimate role models, having not only influenced a legion of fuzz heads and tambourine bashers, but Timothy has also been a staunch supporter of the garage rock community on a variety of levels.
Those with a taste for the raw and rousing, but hopelessly catchy missives of groups like the Wailers, the Shadows Of Knight, the Haunted, the Unrelated Segments, Zakary Thaks, and Blues Magoos, as well as the shimmery folk rock of the Byrds and the surrealistic aroma of the Doors and Love, are for  certain to adore the prizes contained within The Very Best Of and will applaud Marshmallow Overcoat for carrying the torch.

Dear friends, i post this only for limited two days. It will be gone Tuesday evening at Berlin/Germany time 23:00. If you like it please buy the vinyl record here  or as digital download you can buy it here
Grab it and try it!
                           Frank    (link expired)

The Strawberry Alarm Clock - Good Morning Starshine 1969 (2005) Flac

This is the fourth and final long-player of new material from Strawberry Alarm Clock (SAC). As with their previous discs, Good Morning Starshine is a mixed affair. Prior to recording the album, the band underwent a somewhat drastic personnel change -- replacing longtime members George Bunnell (bass/vocals) and Randy Seol (drums/vocals) with Jimmy Pitman (guitar/vocals) and Gene Gunnels (drums), respectively. Also of note is the fact that all of Bunnell's songwriting credits for material on this album actually belong to Gunnels. The music has shifted away from the mix of punky psychedelia such as "Love Me Again" and "The World Is on Fire," inheriting a much more aggressive, bluesy approach à la Grand Funk Railroad or even (gasp) MC5. Although there are sonic vestiges and remnants of the band's former self -- such as the disc's pseudo-hippie title track -- by all accounts this was the antithesis of what the band had been up until this point. The dichotomy in the material on Good Morning Starshine is indicative that SAC had pretty much run their course. With managerial and other behind-the-scenes issues continuing to plague them, there are no signs of cohesion within the grooves. The disc is certainly full of strong material, despite the decidedly aimless direction. "Small Package" is reminiscent of the band's sound, circa Wake Up...It's Tomorrow. Likewise, the song is a minor chord masterpiece in the same vein as their previous hit, "Tomorrow." The "California Girls" vocal tag is a nod to the Beach Boys, with whom SAC shared many a late-'60s performance stage. Additionally, either of the two versions of the mid-tempo rocker "Miss Attraction" would have been a welcome addition to their earlier releases.

The free-form jamming and lead guitar lines are definitely reminiscent of early Spirit and the highly underrated Bay Area band Kak. The heavier and blues-influenced "Me and the Township," "Off Ramp Road Tramp," and "Hog Child" recall Blue Cheer and even later-era Moby Grape as much as they do the electric British blues of, say, Fleetwood Mac.(allmusic.com)

 I also think the album is without any direction. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. In big parts a completely other affair as the albums before. Miss Attraction, Write your name in gold, (You put me on) standby, Dear Joy are the more stronger songs here. On the other hand i can understand that they want do the next step to the seventies. However, after the personnel change Strawberry Alarm Clock was over.
Greetz
          SB1  Flac

Paul McCartney And Wings - At Abbey Road 1974 mp3

This is not the unofficial album from Macca and Wings. This are recordings for the planned album ''One Hand Clapping''. It was recorded at Abbey Road in 1974. I also have the collector's edition double disc of ''One Hand Clapping'' with 40 tracks. If there is interest please comment and i will post it. The double disc is in flac. Okay let's go back to 1974.
Cheers
          Frank  mp3@320

The Feelies/The Bongos/Winter Hours Are East Of Venus!

East Of Venus - Memory Box 2016
This is the album of members/ex members of bands like the Feelies, Winter Hours, The Bongos. But you should read the article underneath. I just want to say that this is a wonderful record and you should give it a try. The link is here. I'll let it just up for the next three days.If you like it please purchase the album. I believe this will help the family in this bad times. You can buy it here and at amazon, itunes and the common places.
Cheers
           Frank

The joy in arrival of indie rock supergroup East of Venus’ Memory Box is tempered significantly by the knowledge that this will be the band’s only release. Guitarist/vocalist Michael Carlucci died of a heart attack in October 2015, a shock to the broad indie music community and one felt especially deep within the New Jersey scene of which he’d been a part since the exceptional run of his band  Winter Hours in the 80s. That said, though, there is much to celebrate in the existence of this release.
Carlucci is joined here by Stanley Demeski, who had been Winter Hours’ drummer before joining the reconstituted Feelies to record The Good Earth in 1986. Fellow Feelie Glenn Mercer shares guitar duties and ex-Bongo Rob Norris provides bass. Again, “indie-rock supergroup” is hardly an overstatement here.
Fragmentary, characteristic elements of the primary source bands are evident throughout, but East of Venus stands as its own unit with its own distinct blend of sound. Mercer’s languid, ringing guitar playing dominates songs like “You Started Something” and “Who’s to Know” while his whispered talk-singing is central to the sweet, Lou Reed-inspired “Jane September”. Norris carves intricate bass patterns below the lead guitars and around Demeski’s solid drumming, adding a deeper sonic complexity to even the album’s slower songs. But, from start to finish, this is Carlucci’s record. He composed six of the ten songs here, collaborated on a seventh, and sings lead on all but one track. Even the three covers reflect his spirit.
If a little thin on first listen, the raspy sincerity of Carlucci’s voice adds an endearing intimacy to these performances after repeated plays. Having travelled around central Georgia with this disc on repeat for a couple weeks now, I can’t imagine them sung any other way. “Faded Pictures”, a previously unrecorded Winter Hours song, makes the most of this characteristic. “Have you been wondering”, he sings, “what to say? / Have you been wondering where all the happy people play?” The repeated refrain of “Where do they play?” is heartbreakingly beautiful.
The band’s upbeat performance of Tim Hardin’s “Reason to Believe”, turns this classic bitter pill of a song into a folk-rock singalong, without softening its sting. The dark mood continues in “Wishing Well”, a song depicting the stubborn refusal to accept a relationship’s end and which gives the album its title: “The memory box it’s full of pain / Ten years later we remain the same.” A Byrds-like, twisting guitar run drives “Who’s to Know?” then gives way to a solo straight out of Crazy Horse. One of the album’s gems is the already-mentioned “Jane September”, a track composed by Richard Mason and Kristen Yiengst for their early ‘80s band Red Buckets, a group of significant potential that toured the Boston to Philadelphia corridor before imploding, as so many do.
Three of the four members of East of Venus—Carlucci, Mercer, and Demeski—were members of Red Buckets during that band’s brief period of promise. All moved on to their better-known bands, while Yiengst became an art director of note, working with a diverse collection of artists from Melissa Etheridge and Jon Bon Jovi to Jay Z and Kanye West. Mason, though, that band’s brilliant and troubled leader, never rose to the heights his talent promised and died of diabetes-related complications. It was a direct result of a 2004 tribute show for Mason that Carlucci, Mercer, Demeski, and Norris formed East of Venus. The excellent Tapewrecks blog has published a fascinating oral history of Red Buckets including commentary from all band members, save Mason, and scene contemporaries such as Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan.
This Memory Box, despite the tragedy at its heart, is not “filled with pain”. This aptly titled album is a tribute to the memory of Michael Carlucci and to the ever-pulsing beat of a true believer.(popmatters.com)

The Movements - Grains Of Oats (2006) Flac

“Yes, Yes and thrice Yes!! This bunch are a Swedish group and if you liked Sweden’s The Strollers then you will want this disc without doubt. The Movements have a strong affinity to the ‘Paint It Black’ school of minor key modal scale lead lines, but played on farfisa organ rather than guitar. Add some strong fuzztone guitar, well mixed back, leaving the keyboard to carry the melody and add a confident vocal, cleanly recorded and you have a perfect modern ’60s album.
 ~ Paul Martin (Shindig magazine)

It is also not unduly reminsent of Sean Bonniwell’s Music Machine at times, and that’s no small compliment! This is a blinding set from start to finish. The Swedes and the Spanish (see Winnerys review further on) seem to be the global hubs for inventively modern 60s rooted music. From the opener ‘It Starts With A Whisper’, you know you will be on this ride until the end. The end comes 11 songs later with ‘Space Autopsy’ which is a great whirlwind of a number coloured by bleeps and various noises which conjure up a late 60s episode of the popular British science programme Tomorrow’s World take on what the future will sound like. I recommend this one very strongly and you can find out how to get it via their website, don’t hesitate!”

Hello Folks wish you a relaxed nice sunday all out there wherever you are. To this band Paul Martin of Shindig magazine have all said. If you love psychedelic pop with minor scales and all what a nice sixties psychedelic pop sound needs you are right here. I only can recommend it. You can buy it here.

Viel Spass wünscht Euch der
Superbillie1   Flac

Australian Power Pop; Ice Cream Hands - Travelling...Made Easy (1993) Flac

The Australian power-pop band Ice Cream Hands comprised singer/guitarist Charles Jenkins, guitarist Dominic Larizza, bassist Douglas Lee Robertson and drummer Derek Smiley. Debuting in late 1992 with a self-titled EP, the group issued their first full-length release Travelling...Made Easy a year later. After 1994's Supermarket Scene EP, Ice Cream Hands issued another stop-gap single release, Olive, before finally resurfacing with their sophomore LP Memory Lane Traffic Jam in 1997.

For a debut album, Australia's Ice Cream Hands' Travelling... Made Easy is quite an accomplished and ambitious effort. Instead of ever taking the easy road and resorting to guitar-drenched rockers or ballad schlock, Travelling... Made Easy immediately set up the blueprint of Ice Cream Hands' sound. While the tracks are not quite as strong or memorable as later material (especially that found on Memory Lane Traffic Jam), most of it is excellent nonetheless.

The sing-along opener "Let's Take a Look Inside" could almost be considered the band's mission statement; the lines "To blaze higher, endlessly -- that won't impress me/You can glow like a superpower/I'd rather have a wallflower/Let's take a look inside" clearly state the kind of pop that Ice Cream Hands create. There's no flash or bravado to this music, it's just pure, honest, catchy power pop, and that's part of this band's true far-reaching appeal. Since it is a debut, Travelling... Made Easy is a bit all over the place in terms of tempo changes and production, but that doesn't stop the full-throttle rocker "The Way She Drives" or the ultra-catchy pop of "Poor and Unknown" and "You Can Smile Now" from being any less enjoyable. With a debut like this, it's amazing this band continues to live in relative obscurity. (The German import release includes four B-sides as bonus tracks to make a total of 18. These are well worth seeking out as most are more raw than what is found on the album, and they also include a cover of the Replacements' "Swingin' Party.") (allmusic.com)

Wonderful band wonderful debut. Very strong piece of power pop. The complete album makes a lot of fun. I sometimes can't understand why bands like these don't get a little piece of fame. I highly recommend these guys. Grab it and enjoy
Good night
                  Frank  Flac

You will find the album ''Broken UFO'' here