HUNGRY MAN BLOG

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This minute
I dig deep into
her
heap of black winged sorrows.
Then,
wresteling me
she cries
these pains are selfishly mine

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Jay Jackson and Ric Robertson were the brainchildren behind this studio project. In short a soulfull record that encapsulates a lot of psych elements.

First released on the small Canadian Goodgroove and later on the USA Audio File label, 1970’s “The Subtle Art of Self Destruction” offers

a mix of original material and contemporary pop and soul hits done in a fashion that you’ll either love, or hate.   Musically the album could serve as a primer for studio psych effects – it’s all here including waves of fuzz guitar, sitar, backwards tapes, channel panning, tons of sound effects and hysterical over-the-top belly button gazing insight such as that found on ‘W.O.R.D.S’ (“a burning desire for a woman with a blank look on her face, who will assist you in the subtle art of self destruction”).  All the tricks in the book are used.

Highlights included the blazing opening instrumental ‘Airhead’ and the weirdest cover of ‘Wichita Lineman’ you’ll ever hear.   Less impressive, but still worth hearing were a couple of the covers, including a lame ‘Mercy, Mercy, Mercy’, a ”heavied-up’ ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’ and one of the stranger Hendrix covers I’ve ever heard ‘Crosstown Traffic’.

This is not great art, but the LP is a load of fun!

This outfit traces it roots back to the mid sixties “The Majestics”

The cover is a mask of some sort on a chromium and black background. It catches the eye at once.

To get in the mood without listening to the music just read these liner notes on the backside:

“The knowledge that one begins to die a split second after birth is a cringing scream that echoes throughout your body.  And as you breathe the poison in the air around you, your expanding mind turns on its originator to begin the cold, calculated destruction of itself.  Slave becomes master and the awesome power of it makes nerve endings quiver and creates a burning desire for a woman with a blank look on her face who will assist you in “the subtle art of self destruction”.

Side one

1. airhed
2. mercy, mercy, mercy
3. with a little help from my friends
4. w.o.r.d.s
5. bizarre requiem
6. crosstown traffic

Side two

1. time cycle 1
2. most anything that you want
3. time cycle 2
4. is your mind bent now?
5. time cycle 3
6. fastrax
7. time cycle 4
8. wichita lineman
9. listen here
10. speed stretch
    

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A Danish progressive act recorded live in West-Germany on the MPS label (usually a Jazz label)

They started out in 1963 as The Dragons with covers of The Rolling Stones, The Beatles… They earned a reputation and played in a lot of places locally.  Around 1965 they changed their style and name.  The Maxwells were born.

In late 1966 some members appeared in The beggars opera and Superman, stage plays in Denmark.

In 1967 , they acclaimed the first psychedelic show in Denmark called WE, a collage of scenes and songs. At the time with a very sensational light show, all handmade with gramophone motors, old glass ans slide projectors.

They collaborated with contemporary composer Per Norgaard, who wrote some songs for the group.

In 1967, they had their first TV appearance.  This was a real success, followed by a radio broadcasting and interviews in the magazines.

Late 1967, they recorded their first single flower powder/what did she do? (sonet 7250).

Succesful touring and theatre appearences followed.

Their show opened with a recital of Dada poetry, slowly developping in a wild climax some 40 minutes later.  The crowd loved it.

In the beginning of 1969 the German critic, Joachim Ernst Behrendt, heard the band play.  He signed them to make the above LP.

The session took 4 days and was recorded in Villingen, Germany.

This is a real example of European psychedelica.  Get out the incense and candles, bells and paint everything purple and pink.

source: www.longhairmusic.de

side 1

1. Esther
2. Free to be

• make it, break it
• Beni Riamba

side 2

1. Maxwell Street
2. What’s a smock

Maxwells started in 1963 as “The Dragons”. The group was formed by Lasse Lunderskov (guitar), Jørgen Werner (electric bass), Børge Mortensen (drums), Even Mørk Pedersen (rhythm guitar) and Lars Bisgaard (vocal). They were all, apart from Even, attending the Danish Church School, where they were trained in choral singing and obliged to sing in the Marble Church choir, the church of the royal castle Amalienborg.
The band had a repertoire consisting of cover versions of hits by The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, etc. Their skilful singing earned them a reputation as a pop rock band and as such they played a lot of gigs. In 1965 they changed the group’s name to Maxwells and the band turned their direction more and more towards a Motown style adding three horns in 1966: Kjeld Ipsen (trombone), Torben Enghoff (tenor saxophone/flute) and Bent Hesselmann (alto saxophone/flute).

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These guys were real swingers, originating from Dallas Texas.

This LP is a compilation of their work from 1965 until 1968 on the french label EVA , somewhere in the 1980.  Remember all those new garage punk emerging back then, like Scientists, Mud gang…

Their style is a little bit polished, but still.   A  fine example of US garage, teenbeat and proto-psych (if you are keen on labeling) and a typical early sixties american band in the way they treated influences of R&B standards and of the “British invasion”.  But most of the material is composed by the band.

They didn’t make much noise national or international, due to the local labelholders.

The first track on the A-side sticks (nothing better to do) in your mind the whole day as a good song should.  They had one local hit single Journey to Tyme (side two track 2), where they make the transition to a more acid like style.

Tracklisting:

side one)

1. Nothing better to do
2. Floating
3. Don’t let your baby go
4. The best thing around
5. It’s allright
6. You make me feel so good
7. Strings of time

side two

1. Raindrops to teardrops
2. journey to tyme
3. I’m gonna make it
4. See-Saw ride
5. As I knew
6. Chimes on 42nd street
7. When was then.

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