I’m back after a freakin’ HIGH ATE US. Or, more to the point, I’ve managed to dig out from the avalanche of work I was under. It was always my hope to write about everything I listened to. But it’s obvious I cannot keep up. There are many places I can sneak in the tunes, but not in a position to write about. And then there’s the issue of not having anything to say. Do I really need to comment about Amon Duul II’s albums (not to mention someone like King Crimson)? Not sure I have any great insight that hasn’t been shared already. I would rather focus my time on items that have few words written about them (both new and old groups) – where you the reader may learn about a cool album. As well, there’s the countless number of (Gnosis) 8 and 9 level albums I go through. Many of them are fine albums, but I’m not motivated by the recording to say anything of interest.

In any event, I will be a pretty infrequent poster overall (though there may be some continuous days). Mike is far better at maintaining a schedule for getting down reviews. Mine will always be a spontaneous situation, pending on personal/work circumstances.

So it’s been about a month since I last posted. And this batch represents three of the best four or five I heard during that span.

The Grodeck Whipperjenny – s/t. 1970. As Mike mentioned earlier, I pointed him towards this band as I knew it would be something right up his alley. The Grodeck Whipperjenny were a Cincinnati based group, who also happened to be the backup band for James Brown during this period (and thus the album was released on Brown’s People label). Without Brown at the microphone, the band obtained a chance to extend their compositional abilities. Not surprisingly, there’s plenty of killer fuzz guitar fronted funk, but here it’s mixed with an almost European progressive rock take on the Jefferson Airplane! So you get a mix of bands somewhere between Stark Reality and Sandrose or Julian’s Treatment. A great find and an excellent candidate for a legit CD (there does exist a bootleg).

The Beat of the Earth – s/t. 1967. In the late 1980s, I was a frequent guest at the house of one of the Rockadelic guys. Before they even had a label, they were commissioned as “private investigators” for tracking down some of the rarest psych and rock albums in the US. Especially in those days, most of what they tracked down wasn’t to my (overtly progressive rock) tastes. Today I have a different viewpoint (though still by no means my preferred style) . However, The Beat of the Earth appealed to me right away on first listen. Unfortunately the album was a small fortune even then. The album did receive a legit LP press (put out by the band themselves), but a CD has yet to surface (not including boots). A friend dubbed me a CD-R and this is my first time to hear it in nearly 20 years. And it’s one of the most extraordinary early recordings you’ll ever hear. Maybe the best aural document we have of the free wheeling Southern Californian culture of 1966 and 1967. This is one continuous track, broken up by the sides of the record. Non stop percussion, acoustic and electric guitar (a fuzzy surf sound), sitars, an ancient organ, and droning vocals. Also it’s one of the most drugged out albums I’ve ever heard, except the bandleader (Phil Pearlman) was anti-drugs! Maybe if the Velvet Underground had more of that Californian sunshine, they’d sound like this. Also worth reading is this wonderful interview from one of the original female members of the band: Beat of the Earth

Children of One – s/t. 1969. Not really a rock album, but as psychedelic as any album I’ve come across. Meditative, Eastern influenced acoustic jazz with flute, female voice, sitar, hand percussion, cello, piano and other instruments. Otherworldly and deeply peaceful. Has THAT vibe that reeks of the real underground, a certain something that is found more frequently in the Krautrock genre (the atmosphere of Dom’s “Edge of Time” comes to mind in parts – though musically quite different). A wonderful album that would certainly benefit from a masters tape CD reissue. Children of One were from one of the many hippy communes that existed in upstate New York during that time.