Psychedelic Pop: Levitation Room - Ethos (2016 Burger Records) Flac &mp3@320

Fusing the lo-fi buzz of 21st century garage punk with the sunburnt drift of vintage psychedelia, Levitation Room was formed in Los Angeles, California in 2012 by longtime friends Julian Porte and Gabriel Fernandez. The two had previously played together in a group called the Hitz; after they broke up, Porte focused on his interest in folk music, but in time he was eager to start a new band. After Porte posted a message on a social media page asking if anyone was interested in starting a band, Fernandez promptly responded, and they began exchanging notes on their shared interest in psychedelic rock.

Porte became lead singer and guitarist with the new group, while Fernandez played lead guitar and sang backups. Porte discovered drummer Johnathan Martin when he borrowed a harmonica from him at a party, and with the addition of the similarly named Jonathan Martin on bass and vocals, the group's lineup was complete. After making the rounds as a live act and gaining the endorsement of California psych label Lollipop Records, Levitation Room self-released their first demo in March 2013 (it was later reissued by Lollipop), and their first proper EP, Minds of Our Own, followed in January 2015, released in a cassette edition by hip indie rock label Burger Records.

By this time, Levitation Room were playing regularly in Los Angeles and touring the west coast, and were also the proprietors of Everydaze Music, a music store and vintage clothing boutique that also served as the group's rehearsal space and base of operations. Their first full-length album, Ethos, was released by Burger Records in early 2016.(allmusic)

These guys play (in my ears) a very inspired sounding style of psychedelic guitar pop. Sometimes they sound like a young version of the Dandy Warhols in their best guitar days.
Enjoy
          Frank    Flac   &   mp3@320

Power Pop by Kurt Baker - For Spanish Ears Only (2011 Rumble Records - 200 Discs Limited For Spain Tour 2011) Flac & mp3@320

Hello Folks, this release was a exclusive 200 Disc limited edition in 2011 for the Spain Tour. Here are Demos, Leftovers, Live recordings and Outtakes on this compilation. Like always you will get here the usual fun factor of Baker recordings. Play loud!

Have fun
              Frank   Flac part 1  &  Flac part 2        mp3@320

Part5 Of 5 - Cilla Black - Completely Cilla 1963-1973 Track 14 maybe corrupt!

Folks, maybe Track 14 of Disc 5 ''I hate Sunday'' is corrupt. I added a link in the post in case your track 14 should be corrupt.
 Frank

Brendan Benson - Lapalco (2006 V2 Records) Flac & mp3

On Lapalco, Brendan Benson enlists help from like-minded popster Jason Falkner for a golden power pop record reminiscent of Matthew Sweet's best work on albums like Girlfriend. Five years in the making, Benson's sophomore effort was long-awaited by the devoted fans of his debut, One Mississippi, which Esquire writer Jeff Gordinier listed among "the greatest overlooked pop masterpieces of the decade." But it's on Lapalco that Benson really hones his jangly melodicism and crunchy bubblegum riffs, fusing influences like the Kinks, T. Rex, the Beatles, and Paul McCartney's solo work into something more meditative than his debut.

The album begins with the electronic keyboard gurgle of "Tiny Spark," an instant single that sounds upon first listen like you've heard it a thousand times before. And that's not all Benson can do. "Metarie" is wistfully repetitive. "Life in the D" plays John Lennon's solo career through Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers, and you half expect Benson to break into, "I'm just sittin' here watching the wheels go round and round...." The album has its moments of cringing goofiness, too, like, "I've been a little bit down on my luck, I think you know where I'm coming from.

I need a pickup and I don't mean truck, I think you know where to get some" ("You're Quiet"). But, it's forgivable, especially with the last three tracks, "Pleasure Seeker," "Just Like Me," and "Jet Lag," where Benson stakes claim on a sound all his own -- bittersweet, down-tempo, semi-acoustic, melancholy with a sense of humor and just a little bit psychedelic. .(allmusic)

Yes Folks i know it was a long run through the sixties without a power pop album here in the last days but i will post in the next days some (i hope you will like it) great power pop albums. Promised!!!
I post this album because Brendan Benson's pop to me always sounds like '' i will write a song play and record 'em and let's see what comes out at the end'' and that's the way i like very much. His songs never sound like ''I write now a power pop song who sounds like a power pop song''. His songs have more freedom in my ears and that gives the songs a particular effortlessness or laxness. Okay enough talked. Hope you have fun
Enjoy
         Frank    Flac p1  &  Flac p2     -  mp3@320

British Female Pop Of The Sixties: Billie Davis - Tell Him - The Decca Years (1963-1970) 2005 Flac & mp3

Carol Hedges was a 16-year-old aspiring singer when she was discovered as the result of a talent contest in 1962. Backed up in the competition by Cliff Bennett's support group, the Rebel Rousers, she won the contest and Bennett got her together with producer Joe Meek. Hedges was recorded by Meek with his resident group, the Tornados, without achieving success. Luckily, a neophyte music talent manager named Robert Stigwood had also seen her and liked what he heard, and he ultimately took her away from Meek.

He was impressed with Hedges' singing, a white soul sound similar to (though not as powerful as) Beryl Marsden's work, and also with the fact that her two musical inspirations were Billie Holiday and Sammy Davis Jr.. Stigwood renamed her Billie Davis and teamed her with Mike Sarne, another singer he had under contract, and the two scored a novelty hit in 1962 with "Will I What." For her solo debut, he gave her a song that he had heard on a visit to America. "Tell Him" had been recorded by the Exciters, but Davis' cover, released on English Decca, made the Top Ten in England in early 1963 despite the fact that the American original actually topped the U.K. charts at the same time.

Davis recorded for both English Decca and Pye Records during the early and mid-'60s without ever duplicating "Tell Him"'s success -- the closest she came to another hit was in 1968, with "I Want You to Be My Baby." Some of her work was reissued on compilation CDs, including her cover of Burt Bacharach's "The Last One to Be Loved," which appears on Sequel Records' Trains & Boats & Covers. Billie Davis is fondly remembered in England by her early pop/rock success in the pre-Beatles era.(allmusic)

Actually i don't understand why Billie Davis don't made it to the top. She had a real good voice, maybe not on a level like Lulu or Dusty Springfield but with a lot expression and she had good song material. And maybe one of the most important things she was under the wings of Decca. Regardless of all this it don't worked for Billie Davis.
This collection is a very well done work by Spectrum music.
Enjoy
         Frank   Flac p1  &  Flac p2      mp3@320

British Psychedelia by Kaleidoscope (UK) - Faintly Blowing 1969 (2005 Repertoire Records) Flac & mp3@320

For their second album, Kaleidoscope delivered something an awful lot like their debut, a body of pleasant, trippy, spacy raga-rock, with the main difference that they pushed the wattage a little harder on their instruments -- they'd also been performing pretty extensively by the time of their second long-player, and a lot of the music here was material that they'd worked out on-stage in very solid versions.

The result is a record just as pretty as their debut but a little punchier and more exciting within each song than their first album. The title track is also one of the more beautiful psychedelic effects pieces of its period, while "A Story from Tom Bitz" is crunchy folk-rock, "(Love Song) For Annie" represents a more lyrical brand of druggy folk-rock, and "If You So Wish" shifts over to Moody Blues-style ballad territory circa late 1968 and early 1969.(allmusic)

 Druggy folk rock ??? Druggy reviewers? lol I am just kiddin' but sometimes reading reviews can also be a funny thing. Anyway here is another great piece of british psychedelia and i hope you like it, too. ...Druggy listeners?...lol

Enjoy
         Frank                     Flac p1  &  Flac p2         mp3@320

Dave Berry - This Strange Effect - The Decca Sessions 1963-1966 (2009 RPM) mp3@320 only

He never had a hit in the U.S., and he was only briefly a star in the U.K., but Dave Berry recorded a whole lot of material in the mid-'60s. This double CD only covers about the first half of his output for Decca between 1963-1970, yet contains no less than 57 tracks, making it likely to be the most definitive collection of his work during this era. Every one of his British hits (except 1966's "Mama") is here, along with all the non-hits, B-sides, LP tracks, and rarities from EPs. There are even five cuts that only appeared on either the Rhythm and Blues compilation LP or the live At the Cavern album, as well as two previously unissued April 1963 recordings ("Easy to Cry" and "Tongue Twistin'") produced by Mickie Most. Load on lengthy liner notes with firsthand quotes from Berry and many cool vintage period illustrations, and you have a package that's hard to beat for comprehensiveness. The quality of the music, it should be cautioned, is nonetheless pretty uneven. Along with the haunting ballads that were his greatest strength (including his big hit "The Crying Game" and the Ray Davies composition "This Strange Effect") and the odd first-rate R&B raver ("Don't Gimme No Lip Child," "I Love You Babe"), there are also a good number of so-so tracks. Berry wasn't the greatest R&B singer, and some of the covers are humdrum; some of the sentimental songs are gloppy; and in his effort to demonstrate his versatility, there were some unimpressive forays into country, folk, and easy listening. To be blunt, you could easily halve this down to a single disc that would be far better, though the specific songs chosen might vary widely according to listeners' personal tastes. Nonetheless, there are a good few fine off-the-beaten tracks that don't usually show up on Berry compilations, like the B-side "Hidden" (which strongly recalls the underrated Scottish group the Poets); the moody folkish "On the Other Side of Town"; the overlooked Gerry Goffin-Carole King tune "So Goes Love"; and the sullen, surprisingly tough "Don't Make Fun of Me." With such good value in terms of quantity and annotation, it's a sensible purchase for anyone with enough interest in Berry to want more than a best-of.(allmusic) 

As i said i post here the ''Decca Sessions 1963 - 1966''. I am sorry but i don't have it in lossless. Here are some fine tracks you don't usually don't see on ''Best off'' albums. There is a further RPM collection called '' Picture Me Gone The Decca Sessions 1966-1974'' released in 2010. I am very interested in this one . Maybe some of you gals and guys have this album. I would be very happy if one kind person would send me (if possible lossless) a copy. I would post it than here on the blog.
Okay hope you like it
Have fun
              Frank             mp3@320 p1    &    mp3@320 p2

Brit Invasion R&B - The V.I.P's - The Complete V.I.P.s (2006 Repertoire 2 CD) Flac & mp3@320

Modern mathematics isn't quite capable of counting how many R&B bands existed in Great Britain during the 1960s, but like a significant number of them, the V.I.P.s were destined to win greater recognition after they called it quits than while they were together. The final version of the V.I.P.s evolved into Spooky Tooth, who enjoyed chart success in both Europe and the United States during their late-'60s/early-'70s heyday, while guitarist Luther Grosvenor became a member of Mott the Hoople after changing his name to Ariel Bender (he also received some less than flattering reviews from several young women in the documentary Groupies, but that's another story).

Given their résumé and the obscurity of their catalog, one might not expect much from The Complete V.I.P.s, but this double-disc compilation makes it clear this band was better than the average gathering of blues-wailing Brits. Lead singer Mike Harrison's voice was strong and emotive enough to carry material like "Smokestack Lightning" and "Straight Down to the Bottom" with style, guitarists Frank Kenyon and Jimmy Henshaw (the latter of whom was later replaced by Grosvenor) played with tough, no-frills menace, and bassist Alf "Greg" Ridley and drummer Walter Johnstone (later replaced by Mike Kellie) held down the rhythm with a solid, potent groove.

The Complete V.I.P.s, true to its title, collects everything the band released between 1964 and 1967 -- one single each for RCA, CBS, and Phillips; two 45s for Island; two three-song EPs for French Fontana; and a pair of stereo mixes from a Fontana compilation -- along with an impressive live set recorded for German radio and two unreleased tracks.

If the V.I.P.s aren't enough to make anyone forget the Yardbirds or the Pretty Things based on this material, they could certainly hold their own in a contest with most of their other contemporaries, and the segue from the frantic rocker "Rosemarie" into a jazzy take on "In the Wee Wee Hours" (here called "Late Night Blues") shows they had impressive versatility. Anyone with a taste for Anglo R&B from the classic era would do well to give this a spin.(allmusic)

Surely the V.I.P's were one of the stronger bands in this genre. They did inventive versions of the classics and they did very very good own songs. In the end the band evolved in Spooky Tooth with temporary success nearly worldwide. This Repertoire release fulfill all you like about these guys.
Enjoy it
             Frank                   Flac p1  &  Flac p2  -  mp3 p1  -  mp3 p2

British Top Notch Psychedelia: Kaleidoscope - Tangerine Dream 1967 (1998 Repertoire Records) Flac & mp3@320

No relation to the far better known American Kaleidoscope, though this British group was also psychedelic, and was active at almost exactly the same time in the late '60s.

Highly esteemed by some collectors, Kaleidoscope epitomized certain of the more precious traits of British psychedelia with their fairy-tale lyrics and gentle, swirling folky sound. At times they sound like a far more melodic and accessible Incredible String Band. Their folky ballads have aged best, and although there's some period charm to be found throughout their two albums, it's all a bit too cloying to rank among the finest unknown psychedelia.

Although they had a solid underground reputation in Britain, they never found wide success, and evolved into a similar group, Fairfield Parlour, by the end of the '60s.(allmusic)

And here comes the complete review by allmusic:

Probably has the edge as the best of their two albums, but not by much. Includes several of their best songs: "Flight From Ashiya," "Dive Into Yesterday," "The Murder Of Lewis Tollani," and especially the fragile ballad "Please Excuse My Face."  (Richie Unterberger, allmusic)

Wow...this at great length review let no questions unanswered.

Dear Folks maybe you know that i love this band. This is their first album full of british psychedelia and folk sounds from the mid sixties in parts influenced by ''Diamond'' Syd. Rather the guys are no simple copies. If you don't know this album and you like british psychedelia grab it. It's highly recommend. This is the Repertoire release from 1998 but i added also the artwork from the 2005 Repertoire release. The tracklist is the same and i think it's the same remastered tapes like the '98 release. So you can choose your preferred artwork if you want print it. Anyway i hope you enjoy.

Cheers
           Frank     Flac part 1  &  Flac part 2           mp3@320

 

Heavy Pop Rock From Ohio: Freeport - Freeport 1970 (1970 Mainstream Records, Vinyl) Flac & mp3@320

 A band from Ohio, Freeport cut this album in 1970. It was the only album by the band. In my opinion it is a real good one. As i heard the first time about it it was called ''Psychedelic Rock''. But it's definitely not psychedelic. To me it have a lot of pop inside. Very fine guitar work (often very heavy), good songs, very good vocals here and fine pop melodies in the most songs. I don't know how to name it, so i call it a very good album :-).

Have fun
              Frank    Flac & mp3@320

Dave Berry...This Strange Effect - The Very Best of (1997 Rotation Records) Flac & mp3@320

I posted some weeks or months ago a Singles collection by Dave Berry in mp3. Here is now a very good ''Best Of'' from Rotation Records. 20 of his well known hits, mostly from the sixties.

Dave Berry was a former teenage idol and a star in the early/mid sixties here in Europe and with some songs also in the UK.
His most successful songs are ''Cryin Game'', ''Memphis, Tennessee'', Little Things. He had a Number 1 hit in the Benelux states with  ''This Strange Effect'' that was written by Ray Davies but never recorded by himself or with the Kinks as far as i knows.

His early hits name-checked his backing band the Cruisers who at that time were John Fleet (bass and piano), Roy Barber (rhythm guitar), Frank Miles (lead guitar) and Kenny Slade (drums). Berry parted with this line-up around the time of "The Crying Game" and recruited three more local musicians - Frank White, Johnny Riley and Pete Cliff as the second generation of Cruisers. Lead guitarist White was eventually replaced by Roy Ledger. Berry regularly used session musicians Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Big Jim Sullivan and Bobby Graham.
Currently in the Cruisers are Daniel Martin (lead guitar since 2010), Adrian Fountain (rhythm guitar since late 2011), Dan Wright (drums, from January 2013) and Brian Wood (bass guitar, joined 24 years ago, the longest serving member of the band).
In 2009 RPM Records issued a double disc with the title '' This Strange Effect (The Decca Sessions '63 - '66)''. If someone is interested i can post the double disc, too (But it's only in mp3@320).
Okay hope you will like this one and

enjoy it
            Frank           Flac p1 & Flac p2          mp3@320

Part5 Of 5 - Cilla Black - Completely Cilla 1963-1973 (2012 EMI Records 5CD Box) Flac & mp3@320

Hello Folks, you know all come to an end and this is the last disc of the marvelous Cilla Black box. The last song of the last disc is called ''Silly Wasn't I'' and Mrs.Black is right. She wasn't. Hope you have fun with the music of Cilla Black.

Cheers
           Frank   Flac p1 Disc5  &  Flac p2 Disc5  &  Flac p3 Disc5       - mp3@320 Disc5   



In case on disc five the track 14 should be corrupted you can download the track correctly here:
 Track 14 Disc 5 - I Hate Sunday mp3

Track 14 Disc 5 - I Hate Sunday Flac