Zior - Every Inch A Man (UK - Heavy Psych - 1973)

I’ve read a few reviews of this UK four-piece’s self-titled debut, and more than once it is declared as a sound akin to Sabbath. A few shining heavy moments aside, if this sophomore release is any indication of a Sabbath blueprint on the first, then people haven’t heard enough bands to compare Zior to. In all reality, except for tinges in the first and final song, it’s about as BS as my grandmother’s bicycle. Sometimes I think reviewers get bogged down if not lazy, the record or cd in hand seems about as interesting as a pipeline, they read other people’s reviews for a brief overview, flip through tracks just to say they listened to the damn thing, and whallah…a review. Now where’s my paycheck. The band gets a reputation from all these like-minded reviews, and the result is a lot of disappointed music-loving consumers. In reality, the only thing these country mates have in common are some witchcraftian lyrics and an artist called Keef who painted the lurid covers for both band’s debuts.
Less obscure than the band’s moniker (named after a mountainside city in the Bible) and the album’s title (let’s just sit back and ponder this title, eh…) is the band’s music; a mixture of blues, progression, old-time and heavy rock, and some light psych and folk to fill out these 13 tracks. The band does a decent job tossing this mixture around within the songs as well as the overall procession of tracks, intermingling the diverse with the driven most of the time so as to not sound similar. From what I can pick apart, their lyrics are part dark-stained poetics, part straightforward, depending on the mood of the song. Their musical structures and diversity brings Australian band Blackfeather to mind, though lacking a little of the outbacker's refinement and the vocals are 95% night and day.

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The Mad's - Molesto (Peru - Psychedelic Rock - 2013, recorded in 1968-1971)

A band lost in time, of unjust neglect, known to few, and many others have heard about the legends around The Mad's. Formed in 1965, in Lima, Peru. Influenced by The Kinks, The Troggs, Vanilla Fudge, Buffalo Springfield and especially The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Never simple or some LP recorded in Peru, just recorded their trials, they wanted to give all his musical ability on stage and the absence of recordings into just that whoever wanted to hear them attend their concerts. They never had the intention to record an album, but were in the habit of recording their essays to listen and watch as the jammins came out. The energy of the concert was awesome, they had all their songs rehearsed and chose recently on stage the set list. 
In mid-1969, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards come to Peru to unwind from the stresses of the Stones. In a presentation, the English approach the band and they were told it they had liked the music and that should go to England. Them data gave their manager, Marshall Chess.
In early 1970, they traveled to England to accept the ofefer of the Marshall Chess. He took them to the Isle of Wight Festival, where they went backstage. 
The Mad's (Molesto, changed in England) recordeed a demo and some of their rehearsals at Mick Jagger's castle at Stargroves, using The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. This tape got Molesto gigs at the Lyceum, Club Marquee, and Roadhouse.
Time after, the group disbanded due to component wear.
Now, years later, we can enjoy the music of The Mad's, the myth becomes reality ...

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Días De Blues - Días De Blues (Uruguay - Blues Rock, Heavy Psych - 1972)

Good group of Heavy Blues Rock, much to the Cream. After the break-up of Opus Alfa in 1972, the keyboard player returned to his job as sound engineer, the singer went solo and Bertolone, Barral and Graf Formed the Blues power trio days.
Live shows time immediately Began, endorsed by the excellent background reputations of the members.
Their music, an absolutely wild and raw mixture of drug-induced hyper electric blues with progressive socially concerned lyrics, was influenced by Cream, Led Zeppelin and Cactus.
Their only LP, recorded in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the end of 1972, captures the roughness and vitality of their concerts like few groups ever managed to.

 

Original Cover

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Blind Faith - Blind Faith (UK - Blues Rock - 1969)

What to speak of a band that, even before officially announcing its formation, it was idolized by fans and press, surrounded by so great an expectation that their members, making fun of themselves, chose the name "Blind Faith" to name it?
After being part of the Yardbirds and present the music of black Americans for white British boys, recording one of the most important albums of the decade alongside Bluesbrakers John Mayall and take the rock to its limits with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker in Cream, Eric Clapton found himself at a crossroads: he could get in a band, form your own group or go solo. They were all possibilities.The Blind Faith came about almost by chance. In search of fun, Clapton invited his friend Steve Winwood, and together they began to take a few jams. Ginger Baker learned of the contract, and wanted to join the duo. The principle Clapton was against, it was of the opinion that the presence of Baker transformed what was to be a simple gathering of friends into something much bigger, but was overcome by the insistence of the drummer and Winwood. Tests drizzled long improvisations were emerging the first ideas for some original songs as well as the need for a bassist to complete the group. Rick Grech of Family, was offered and accepted immediately. Thus was born the Blind Faith, the first supergroup in rock history.

The news that the four were writing together soon leaked, causing a great expectation in the press and fans, who prophesied that soon Clapton, Winwood, Baker and Grech would record one of the best rock albums that would see the birth.Despite the hype, they were not wrong. The absolute belief that led the four to baptize the group as Blind Faith, materialized with the release of self-titled debut in July 1969. The album is spiked on two solid foundations: the beautiful "Can not Find My Way Home" and the anthology "Presence Of The Lord". The first is nothing less than the best record of Steve Winwood, one of the most beautiful voices that gave the world rock. About guitar Clapton, Winwood gives us a beautiful vocal line, alternating moments using your voice in a natural way the falsetto anthologies. The result is stupendous, justifying in its fullness the preconceptions about the group.

Already "Presence Of The Lord" is the talk of Clapton with one with which it was compared. Sung magnificently by Winwood, became one of the most iconic songs of guitarist, both for its beautiful letter and by soil filled with unforgettable wah-wah, where Clapton seems to show that, despite the advent of Jimi Hendrix, still possessed some tricks up his sleeve. 
In addition to "Can not Find My Way Home" and "Presence Of The Lord", four tracks complete the debut of Blind Faith. "Hard To Cry Today", the opening track, is a hard one as it was in the late sixties, and whose revenue is lost with time. "Well All Right" puts groove in the group's sound, with an end result that anticipated the ways that sunny trilharia Clapton on albums such as 461 Ocean Boulevard. The beautiful violin solo performed by Rick Grech on "Sea Of Joy" is another unforgettable moment, while the long "Do What You Like" brings individual solos of each member, especially Ginger Baker.

Besides music, Blind Faith brought another attraction. Its cover, where the daughter of Baker posed bare-chested and holding a plane beyond phallic, caused great controversy at the time, generating even banning the sale of the album in the United States, which led the label to release an exclusive version for the American market, with a photo of the group in place of the original cover.After the album's release, the group, surrounded by entrepreneurs, scheduled and held a U.S. tour. The pressure increased, commitments too, and when they saw the four were again living what he did not want to live when they met to play together. What a pleasure it was to be turned into endless obligations, and it took four to enact the end of the band.After almost forty years of its release, Blind Faith is still one of the highest points in the careers of Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker and Rick Grech. An album that is worth (re) discovered, along with live London Hyde Park in 1969, which came out in video and shows the presentation of the guys at the legendary English park.Much more than recommended, historical.

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Zior - Zior (UK - Heavy Psych - 1971)

An obscure progressive/heavy rock group whose debut album has few memorable moments but has become quite collectable because of the label it's on. The vocals are poor, the composition's weak and the playing is ponderous. The pick of a poor batch are I Really Do, Za Za Za Zilda (also released as a 45), Love's Desire and Oh Mariya, but all four were in a similar, rather flat, heavy rock style.
The See For Miles album reissue includes five previously unreleased tracks from a second projected album which never saw daylight. The best of these was Strange Kind Of Magic, which had a good voodoo beat and some distorted guitar. Overall, they were stronger than the material on the original album. Cat's Eyes had some decent heavy rock guitar riffs. The CD featured three additional tracks to the album but I can only really recommend this to Zior and Black Sabbath fans.
Zior had their roots in Southend's early sixties R&B scene. Kevin Bonsor had previously been in a local R&B outfit, The Essex Five, and then classical/rock fusion outfit, Cardboard Orchestra. Pete Brewer had been in another Southend R&B band, The Night Riders. He and Bonsor were Zior's founding members recruiting Truba and Skeels (who'd once played in a London band called The Bum) via a 'Melody Maker' advert.
Zior did have a reputation as a wild live band. They were heavily into Black Magic and Satanic Mass etc. They recorded an album on the Beacon label, later in 1971, which was credited to Monument, though in fact it featured all four members of Zior.

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Luis Alberto Spinetta - Spinettalandia y sus Amigos (Argentina - Psychedelic Rock - 1971)

Luis Alberto Spinetta was an Argentine musician of high standing and well known in Latin America, revolutionized rock music in his country with "Almendra", played heavy blues rock with "Pescado Rabioso", with "Invisible" exploded his creativity with progressive rock and jazz.
Well, we will not see an album of him in these groups today, today we will review what was his first solo album, called at first for his album "Almendra", then "La búsqueda de la estrella" and "Spinettalandia y sus amigos". The story behind the release of Luis Alberto Spinetta's first solo album is a bit strange, and it shows clearly two different mentalities: the honest -even innocent- artist and his work, and the underhand and merely commercial company that releases and distributes that work. The aim of the artist, if there is something valuable in him in the first place, will be the hallucination and the beauty just for the sake of it, and justified in it, without any second intention.
On the other hand, the responsibility of those media (labels, companies, men in suits, CEO's, technocracy, commercial plausibility, numbers) should be reduced to a simple distribution and diffusion of the artist's work, nothing more, respecting the work as the artist conceived it and created it to be showed to public consideration.
On the late 1970 Spinetta disbanded his project Almendra, they recorded two albums for RCA Victor Argentina, the RCA (Argentine branch) said to Spinetta that the band still owed the company one album, according to a contract (contract which apparently was for three albums), Almendra didn't exist anymore in the early 1971, but they insisted, so Spinetta decided to record an album, exclusively to solve the contractual demand.
Is interesting how this story continued, cause for me, it shows two clear vital philosophies: the cold commercialism vs. the simple art.
Spinetta was back then involved in a loose project "that some day could come true" with guitarist Pappo, and drummer "Pomo" Lorenzo, it was a heavy psych power trio, "Agresivos", Pappo on guitar, Pomo on drums & Spinetta on bass and vocals; the RCA contract gap was the opportunity for "Agresivos" to crystallize their LP, so Luis penned a bunch of songs in a weekend, plus some Pappo's tracks that were added, and there the album was created, and they quickly recorded it, with the help of a friend: Miguel Abuelo, on tambourine, flute & backing vocals.
The album was presented to the RCA authorities, including 11 tracks, an artwork, and a title: "Spinettalandia y sus amigos", and it was not an Almendra album.
Actually Spinetta was pretty fed up with all this affair of the contract, debts etc, and decided to record something rare, experimental and acid that, in his own words "they (the RCA) couldn't sell to anybody".
The RCA declined the release of this stuff, the album was archived, and Spinetta, tired of Argentina, flew to Europe, that was March of 1971.While Spinetta was in Europe (April, May, June, July?) the RCA released the album suddenly, but in their own terms: they 'entitled it' "Almendra" unilaterally, and the cover showed a photograph of the Almendra's members, who didn't participate in the record at all, an absolute nonsense with commercial intentions, and especially, a clear example of the disrespect that the corporations showed for the rock musicians (and for the fans) back then in Argentina, selling a misleading and false product.The rest of the Almendra's ex-members, Rodolfo García, Emilio del Güercio & Edelmiro Molinari, along with a returned -and surprised- Spinetta took legal actions, the album was withdrawn from the record stores.
And that was, basically, the turbulent solo debut of Luis Alberto Spinetta... the record was reissued as "La búsqueda de la estrella", "Luis Alberto Spinetta" and, finally in the digital era, it was released on CD with the cover and title that Spinetta originally gave it: "Spinettalandia y sus amigos".
Listening to this album is, in part, like listening to the first Pappo's Blues, the Pappo's additions and presence are too imperative here to ignore them, especially on the hard rock cuts penned by him, "Castillo de piedra", and "Era de tontos".
Strangely, in the copy I own (a vintage tape of "La búsqueda de la estrella"), "Castillo de piedra" is credited as a Spinetta's song... Pappo would record it, as well, with different lyrics and arrangements on his second LP "Pappo's Blues 2", as "Tema I", months later.
This album, intended in the first place by Spinetta to be a simple contractual obligation (mixed with willingly experimental pleasure with friends), is divided among the hard rock, the psychedelia and a considerable acoustic element... the Spinetta's usually great lyrics are not so inspired here, though the rocks featured have a cool and groovy feel a la Black Sabbath of "Master of reality", sounding like some insane 1971's stoner rock.

Among the folk-ish tracks, "Ni cuenta te das" it's a fine exercise in the vein of "Led Zeppelin III", same as the acoustic instrumental "Tema de Pedro", the lucid "La búsqueda de la estrella", or the vehement and lysergically beautiful "Dame, dame pan" (give me, give me bread).
The psych-folk and nightmare-like "Vamos al bosque" is possibly the climax of the LP, track which is spiritually linked to the dyonisiac journey "Estrella".
This LP, with its multiple titles, issues and album covers, it's like a wild testament from the Argentine rock 70s' scene, mixing in a same bag, musicians whose own environmental deficiencies extracted, surely by force, a huge potential in creativity ideas and poetry, and a local industry, idiotic, flat, mediocre, old, pathetic, commercial and horrible, which was surely obstacle for the pure development of the spirit, obstacle that created muscle and hardened carcasses.
Today, Luis Alberto Spinetta is not that post-adolescent that the RCA fucked anymore, he's a sort of national symbol in Argentina, a nationwide bard decorated by the authorities, sort of Borges of the rock music, the Sony-BMG CEO's are younger than him today, and wouldn't dare to modify a comma of his albums, now you tell me who won.

Original Cover

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Dzjenghis Khan - Hey You! (USA - Heavy Psych - 2009)

Lots of fuzz , muddy bass  and a sound that reminds you of late 60s psychedelic bluesrock power. The name of the bass-player  "Binksebus Eruptum" gives a acurate discription of what to expect.
If you are a fan of Blue Cheer ,  give it a spinn!

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