Psychedelic Pop from 1969: Gandalf - Gandalf 1969 (2002 Sundazed) Flac

Gandalf's self-titled album has some attractive baroque-psychedelia with a spacey air, though its quality depends very much on the standard of the material. Generally they're better the more they rely on the slightly weird and spacey production, as on "Scarlet Ribbons" and their cover of Tim Hardin's "Hang on to a Dream." On tracks like "You Upset the Grace of Living" there's a nice balance of melody and quasi-classical keyboards on the cusp between pop, progressive rock and psychedelia.

"Can You Travel in the Dark Alone," one of the few originals (by Peter Sando), is nice, harmonic sunshine pop with a slightly experimental feel, along the lines of some of the better things being done by Californian cult figures like Gary Usher and Curt Boettcher at the time. Other selections are nothing special, however.(allmusic.com)

Very nice and relaxed pop psychedelia from 1969.
Have fun
               Frank   Link

Debut album by Gleeson: The Very Very Best Of...(2009 Almost There Records) Flac

Gleeson - The very very best of.. is no best of album it's the debut album by the band in 2009. I would call them an Alternative Power Pop band because here are some more harder influences as in the common Power Pop. Nevertheless the band have great melodies and well written songs.

Originally spawned by Ty Chandler as a side project, Gleeson was meant as an outlet for material that didn’t quite fit his other bands. Releasing a few tracks here and there through compilation albums from his own Almost There Records label, songs made it out to an audience - but not ideally in the way he envisioned. It wasn’t until 2008 that Chandler joined forces with Raul Vela III and IV from San Antonio, who provided lead guitar and drumming, respectively. It was then that Gleeson, the full band, was born. In 2009, Gleeson’s debut album The Very Very Best of Gleeson was released.
The band’s second effort, the sprawling double-album Gleeson II, made it on plenty “Best Of” lists for 2013, including those by Goldmine Magazine, Powerpopaholic, and Absolute Powerpop, and was rated one of the “Top 10 in Austin” by the Austin Chronicle.
Curse My Lucky Stars, Gleeson's third and most ambitious record to date, is now available for streaming and download on most major outlets, and the band is already working on an upcoming release for 2017.

Enjoy it!
              Frank   Flac 1
                          Flac 2
You need both links!

p.s.: You can get ''Seven Songs '' by Gleeson at Bandcamp for ''pay what you want'' here

Great Nederbeat: The Golden Earrings - Winter Harvest 1967 (2009 RPM) Flac

Holland's the Golden Earrings still sounded like a crack British Invasion-era outfit who had made a wrong turn somewhere when they cut their second album, 1966's Winter Harvest, but they were inarguably a stronger and more ambitious group a year after releasing their debut. All 14 songs on Winter Harvest were originals (primarily written by bassist Rinus Gerritsen and guitarist George Kooymans), and the stylistic range of this collection is noticeably wider, with the Northern soul-influenced "Smoking Cigarettes," the darkly witty character study "Lionel the Miser," and the spare but sophisticated "You Break My Heart" all exploring sounds and styles the band had not pursued before.

(They could also rock harder than ever before, as evidenced by the swaggering "You've Got the Intention to Hurt Me.") The Golden Earrings clearly had the confidence to try new things when they recorded Winter Harvest, and with good reason -- they sounded good on Just Earrings, but they're tighter and sharper here, hitting a more consistent groove and making the most of the possibilities of the studio.

Gerritsen began playing keyboards as well as bass on these recordings, and the added tonal colors serve the material well, and vocalist Frans Krassenburg had picked up a lot of nuance after a year of steady recording and performing. If Just Earrings was the Golden Earrings' Please Please Me, Winter Harvest is their Rubber Soul, an album that masterfully consolidates their old strengths while revealing many new ones. This LP isn't quite up to the lofty level of the Fab Four's early masterpiece, but it stands comfortably beside the work of most of the better-known English acts of the period, and remains impressive more than four decades after it was released. (allmusic.com)

A very excellent mid till late sixties version of the band. To me this album is maybe the best in the history of the band because to me they have the most strongest songs on one album and a sound they were up to date in the years back then. It's a brave statement i know but despite the fame around the world with big hits (Buddy Joe, Radar Love, Mad Loves Coming in her Hard Rock phase) and very well album sales they never had again an album with the strength of Winter Harvest. I know all the Hard Rock fans of the band will stone me to death for my words lol but in the end it's a question of taste, isn't it?! In my opinion one of the best Nederbeat albums i've heard.
Give it a try if you are in sixties Pop/Rock/Beat.
...and have fun
                       Frank   Flac1    You need both links!    Flac2

@Request: Lolas - Something You Oughta Know 2004 (2006 Jam Rec) mp3

Something You Oughta Know doesn't stray far from the immaculate bubblegum/jangle pop assault of the Lolas' previous releases. The Alabama combo are high-scoring students of the genre, and each heady blend of tight Byrds-like harmonies and Cheap Trick swagger is instantly catchy and deliciously transparent -- in a good way. They've got enough Gary Glitter/ELO rave-ups ("Little Deedra"), Nuggets-infused fist-pumpers ("Jungle Girl"), and sugary ballads ("Light Up Every Doorway") to satisfy the rottenest of sweet tooths, and despite the ultracompressed, a little too bright and radio-ready -- for 1977 that is -- production, they all work. Sure, it's just retro power pop and it's all been done before, but if hearing it filtered through the ears and amps of a band whose heaviest lyric is "since you've been gone, my guitar won't stay in tune" doesn't put a smile on your face, then you're just plain jaded.

A further album with very fine Power Pop by the Lolas.
Recommendable.
Cheers
           Frank    mp3@320

Australian Garage by the Lords Of Gravity - The Curse Of Icarus (2012) Flac

Lords Of Gravity are Australia’s Premier Garage-Punk outfit!!!  The four-piece outfit deliver the finest example of 1960’s pop-punk and surf influenced rock’n’roll! Including members of The Stoneage Hearts, The Crusaders, Hands Of Time, The Finkers, The Seminal Rats.

Heavily influenced by the sixties garage bands these guys are not retro, they sound like they are from the sixties. Garage Rock at its best.
Enjoy it loud
Cheers   Frank     

Flac1  You need both links!   Flac2
         
           mp3@320

Lolas - Let's Rock Rave & Shout

Alabama-based power pop/bubblegum combo the Lolas formed in 1998 around vocalist/guitarist Tim Boykin (ex-Shame Idols), drummer Mark Reynolds, and bassist Walon Smith. They debuted with the Ballerina Breakout LP a year later, and followed it with Silver Dollar Sunday in 2001.

Both albums were issued through the indie Jam! Between albums the Lolas did some touring, and recorded a blisteringly faithful version of "Color Me Impressed" for the 2001 Replacements tribute on Facedown entitled Left of the Dial. 2004 saw the release of Something You Oughta Know, again on Jam!.(allmusic.com)

Like all albums of the Lolas this is also a top notch effort. Great guitars and great songs which are inspired in sixties garage sound. This is really a great but very underrated band. Highly recommended. And this time again with artwork! :-)
Have fun
               Frank  mp3@320

Power Pop: Lolas - Doctor Apache (2006 Wizzard In Vinyl Rec) mp3

This is the fifth release by the Lolas and this is finest power pop. A very nice album that reminds me sometimes a little bit of the Shoes. Tim Boykin and the band are in high shape here. For Power Pop lovers a must. Sorry no artwork :-(
Enjoy
         Frank  mp3@320

The Golden Gate - Year One (1968 (2009, Now Sounds) Flac

Year One album for sale by Golden Gate was released Aug 11, 2009 on the Now Sounds label. Billy Carlucci and Reid Whitelaw were a pair of New York-based songwriters who, after kicking around the business for several years, hit paydirt in 1968 when they wrote the tune "Goody Goody Gumdrops" for the 1910 Fruitgum Company. Year One songs It was the first of a string of pop songs the team would write for the Kasenetz-Katz bubblegum empire, and they formed a bubblegum act of their own, Marshmallow Way, who cut an album for United Artists.

Year One album for sale But by 1970, Carlucci and Whitelaw had ambitions to make music that was classier and more mature, and they signed a deal with Audio Fidelity Records for their new project. Year One CD music The Golden Gate combined polished pop tunes and a production that matched the well-crafted pop/rock of acts like the Buckinghams with horn-based arrangements in the manner of Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears. The Golden Gate's one and only album, YEAR ONE, is a notably more ambitious and less gimmicky work than Carlucci and Whitelaw had delivered in the past; with a handful of top studio musicians backing them up and the vocal group the Tradewinds adding background harmonies, YEAR ONE's craft is impeccable (beyond a few shaky vocal moments that reveal these guys were songwriters first), and the production and arrangements are a canny reflection of both the style of the day and the studio-centered pop background of the composers/bandleaders.

Billy Carlucci and Reid Whitelaw were a pair of New York-based songwriters who, after kicking around the business for several years, hit paydirt in 1968 when they wrote the tune "Goody Goody Gumdrops" for the 1910 Fruitgum Company. It was the first of a string of pop songs the team would write for the Kasenetz-Katz bubblegum empire, and they formed a bubblegum act of their own, Marshmallow Way, who cut an album for United Artists. But by 1970, Carlucci and Whitelaw had ambitions to make music that was classier and more mature, and they signed a deal with Audio Fidelity Records for their new project.

The Golden Gate combined polished pop tunes and a production that matched the well-crafted pop/rock of acts like the Buckinghams with horn-based arrangements in the manner of Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears. The Golden Gate's one and only album, YEAR ONE, is a notably more ambitious and less gimmicky work than Carlucci and Whitelaw had delivered in the past; with a handful of top studio musicians backing them up and the vocal group the Tradewinds adding background harmonies, YEAR ONE's craft is impeccable (beyond a few shaky vocal moments that reveal these guys were songwriters first), and the production and arrangements are a canny reflection of both the style of the day and the studio-centered pop background of the composers/bandleaders.
  
Very good sunshine/bubblegum with brill building influence. To me a strong effort. Strong melodies and the horn arrangements are very tasteful. Very good effort.

Have fun
               Frank    
                                                FLAC

Ringo Starr - Photograph: The Very Best Of Ringo Starr (2007 Capitol) Flac

Hard as it is to believe but there has not been a proper Ringo Starr hits collection since the first, 1975's Blast from Your Past -- that's not counting 1989's Starr Struck: Best of Ringo Starr, Vol. 2, which was designed as a companion to that earlier set -- until 2007's Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr. Blast from Your Past was released just five years after his debut, Sentimental Journey, but it ignored that collection of pop standards, along with much of its country cousin Beaucoups of Blues, winding up as a collection of highlights of 1973's Ringo and 1974's Goodnight Vienna, with a few non-LP hit singles rounded up within the LP's tight ten-track, 30-minute span. Ringo kept recording after Blast, working his way through several labels and ill-advised phases before settling into a nice, easy groove with 1993's Time Takes Time, but he stopped having hits not long after 1975, after the Elton John/Bernie Taupin "Snookeroo" climbed all the way to number three, capping off a remarkable streak of seven Top Ten singles.

After that, the crash was fast: "Oo-Wee" was pulled off of Vienna and stalled at 31, then there was just one more hit -- "A Dose of Rock & Roll," peaking at 26 in 1976 -- before a five-year wait until the George Harrison-written "Wrack My Brain" limped to 38 in 1981 before Ringo disappeared from the charts. His '90s comeback may have never dented Billboard, but it is represented on the 20-track Photograph, which also contains all the aforementioned singles (apart from "Oo-Wee," no great loss) and the entirety of Blast from Your Past, albeit presented in a different running order. This doesn't just make for a compilation that's longer than the 1975 set, it makes for one that's better, since it adds the terrific "(It's All Down to) Good Night Vienna" to the mix, along with the amiable 1976 cover of Bruce Channel's "Hey Baby," a duet with Buck Owens on "Act Naturally" from 1989, and a well-chosen selection from each of Time Takes Time, 1998's Vertical Man, 2003's Ringorama, and 2005's Choose Love. This may not hit all the great stuff from the early '70s -- after all, the whole of Ringo is exceptionally strong -- but it does cut out all the real embarrassing stuff from the late '70s and just concentrates on the good latter-day material that holds its own with the best of his '70s hits.

Far from merely being songs that are good when graded on a curve, these hits have aged really well, especially his originals: "It Don't Come Easy," the thundering glam rocker "Back Off Boogaloo," the cheerfully post-Beatles autobiography of "Early 1970" and "Photograph," his gorgeous collaboration with George, which lends this comp its title and ranks as among the very best post-Beatles songs by any of the Fab Four. That tune proves Ringo could deliver music every bit as memorable as his colleagues and much of this excellent, long overdue compilation is at a similar high standard.

[Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr also includes entertaining track-by-track commentary from Ringo and was also released in a deluxe edition that contains a wonderful DVD with the videos for "Sentimental Journey," "It Don't Come Easy," "Back Off Boogaloo," "You're Sixteen," "Only You (And You Alone)" (which also features Harry Nilsson), and "Act Naturally," along with an ad for Goodnight Vienna.]

Very good compilation of Ringo songs taken (the most) by his albums he had released in his career till 2007. Ringo Starr is just great. He was a part of the greatest band in pop music of the 20th century. He is a great musician. He had a lot of hits. This man don't must not to prove anything to anyone. But exactly this makes ''Photograph''. It shows me (once again) what a great artist and humorous human being he is.
Have fun
               Frank   Flac

Manfred Mann - The Singles Plus (1963 - 1966) (1987 EMI) Flac

This 25-song CD (originally a shorter LP called The Singles Album) is a handy collection of the band's most well-known English tracks from 1963 through 1966, plus their B-sides and some songs off of EPs that charted high in the U.K. Except for the final three songs -- "Groovin'," "Can't Believe It," and "Did You Have to Do That?," none of which are that easy to find on compilations -- it's all assembled in chronological order from their debut single "Why Should We Not" to 1966's "You Gave Me Somebody to Love."

The notes by John Tobler are a bit superficial, and the American EMI Manfred Mann: The Definitive Collection is a little more adventurous. Also, the sound here doesn't match the presence and clarity of more recent 24-bit transfers. Nonetheless, this is a respectable compilation for the novice or the casual fan. The presence of the B-sides, including lost gems like "What Did I Do Wrong" (a killer Chess-style blues number written by Tom McGuinness) and the Goffin/King-authored "Oh No Not My Baby" (one of Paul Jones's greatest R&B-style performances), assures that one gets a truer picture of the band's output and their focus on R&B, jazz, blues, and folk, than the A-sides by themselves would provide.

Enjoy!

          Frank  Flac  Link expire 2017-04-15

Psychedelic Garage Pop: The Boston Tea Party - The Boston Tea Party 1968 (2010 Dogtoire) Flac

The Boston Tea Party actually happened in beautiful, downtown Burbank, where five young guys got together in 1963 to strike out for their own brand of musical independence. Truly revolutionary in spirit, the group is unique in that it has no “leader”. Each of the members, all accomplished musicians, contributes his share of musical ideas. The result of this communal effort is an infinite variety of messages with more precise musicianship, more exciting performances, than might have happened under the tutelage of a single driving force.cares. As does every member of the group.

Richard DePerna, bass guitarist and arranger, insists that the group’s in-person sound be as excellent as their recorded performances. Mike Stevens, lead guitarist, writes much of the material which is original, topical and abundant in richly poetic imagery. Organist Robert DePerna and Drummer Dave Novogroski are the men responsible for holding together The Boston Tea Party’s tight ensemble sound. Travis Fields, lead singer–who also writes material for the group–has that rare gift of addressing the listener in a very personal way. 
Visually, The Boston Tea Party is a knock-out (you’ll see them in a forthcoming American-International film) in costumes of the 1775 era. But there the gimmicks end. After all is said and done, it’s the music–a pure, unique, accomplished sound–of The Boston Tea Party that’s going to make history.”(somerecords.wordpress.com)

Nice Garage Pop from 1968.
Enjoy
         Frank   Flac

Seventies English Folk Pop/Rock Unicorn - Too Many Crooks 1976 (2006 AirMail Records Japan) Flac

Unicorn was a seventies Folk Pop/Rock band with influences of american bands. This album is widely regarded as her best. The album is typically produced as a child of the seventies. The songs communicate a warm feeling and the instruments are very well arranged.

In spite of the american influences they never sound like an american band. A very relaxed album. With a nice version of ''No Way Out Of Here'' from David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame who also produced the band.

Cheers
           Frank      Flac1  You need both links! Link2