How obscure arcam?
Does Greg Kihn qualify? What about Dwight Twilley (w/Phil Seymour)??
But if Joy Division, Wishbone Ash, Uriah Heep, & Spooky Tooth are considered obscure, then I guess these two will stand.
Cuby & The Blizzards should definitely qualify (well in the USA - but not so much in the Netherlands).
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Hey Marty - Remember Chicken Shack? No.... Aware it was the band Christine McVie nee Perfect came from? Yes. Here's another from around that time: Killing Floor. Of note to me because that's where Lou Martin (pianist with Rory Gallagher) came from. Check out the RG Irish Tour '74 movie. Lou is killer on electric piano. But here's a track from a Killing Floor LP that features Lou. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHPSKL2Z2Mw |
Hello again, Marty - so I did look up Chicken Shack on Wikipedia. You are thinking of Chris Wood maybe who joined Traffic? OR possibly others (including Webb) who joined Savoy Brown. The Chicken Shack/Savoy Brown connection I did not know about.
If you aren't already familiar with 'em, check out Cuby and The Blizzards on YouTube. Dutch blues band from the same era as Chicken Shack and Killing Floor. A couple of great old vids on YouTube from back before MTV and fashion poisoned things. Worth noting Eelco Gelling co-founder of C & the B was guitarist in Golden Earring after joining them in '77.
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A few bands I'd like to see get more recognition...one defunct, two still recording.
No longer active: The Standard...check out a fine trilogy of albums by them: Wire Post to Wire; Swimmer; Albatross.
Still active: Nada Surf...been around a while. Have been enjoying, The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy; also their, You Know Who You Are.
Also active: Me Without You. Try, Pale Horses; Catch For Us the Foxes; or Brother, Sister. Great album art too.
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@arcam88
Don't know "The Law" but do recall Paul Rodgers in a "supergroup" briefly with Jimmy Page called, "The Firm". 2 albums released, maybe. Not sure who the 3rd member was without looking things up. Wondering if that's what you are thinking about??
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvjVGh0jmzY Thanks, @nutty, @arcam88 - The Law, The Firm...what is this, "Lawyers ’R’ Us"? Was completely ignorant of Rodgers ever teaming up with Gilmour. Looks like that might be well after his partnering with Page. Anyway, the link above will take you to a You Tube clip of The Firm’s "Satisfaction Guaranteed". Notes to the upload are worth reading...a bit of background on personnel, etc. See comments too. Les Paul as bartender. That video is so '80s. Make sure to run it in 720 hd. Thanks again for setting me straight about "The Law". |
Verbena Souls For Sale (their debut) A video for a single (Way Out West) from their last album, La Musica Negra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJQuymYY9s8 Maybe not as obscure as some but more obscure than they deserved to be. |
@arcam - compliments on your "arcane" taste. The only ones from your list I've even heard of are those below. I marked the ones I've actually ever listened to....
Meat Puppets
Monster Magnet
Mother Love Bone
Porcupine Tree - listened
Spock's Beard - listened briefly
Screamin Cheetah Wheelies
The Good Rats - know these guys from back in 1970/71 on vinyl. Listened to it a lot back then. Have their first on CD now.
Velvet Revolver - Slash's band after Guns N Roses, I think. Never listened.
Do check out A.A. Bondy solo also in Verbena. Worth a quick listen.
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Arcam & nutty - will do. I'll surf that list and start w/Spock's Beard. I admit to having a short attention span so if something doesn't grab me right away, I won't stick with it. BUT I'll often re-visit stuff. Just have to be "in the mood" for some things to click. Later. |
Hey arcam...
Yes, I did note the similarity to Paul Rodgers on certain tracks (and Robert Plant as well). Their drummer has Bonham down too.
Watched a few You Tube videos. Not sure if Keep on Swinging & Electric Man are more recent. Maybe they represent what sells plastic these days but I thought both cuts were a simpler, more repetitive and less imaginative than stuff off Time & Pressure and an EP I listened to. SQ aside, I might end up getting T&P.
You are correct, a new release, "Hollow Bones" is scheduled for June 10.
Thanks for turning me on to Rival Sons. Still have a bunch of other stuff from your list to check out. |
PS -
"Buchanan, despite singing in a higher register, demonstrates an Eric Burdon-like swagger on 'Young Love.'"
Had to come back to toot my own horn on that call about Buchanan vis a vis Burdon. Apparently the AllMusic Guide reviewer saw it that way too.
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First installment though I won’t promise to write an impression for each of Arcam’s discs (I’m sure you are heart broken over that!!!). I tried Spock’s Beard first...listened to a good bit of "The Oblivion Particle". Then a couple tracks from "X" and then "Snow". Yeesh...In general, I like prog and can tell these guys are good musicians but for whatever reason they don’t light me up. X was most interesting to me. I’m going to re-visit that one. I was kind of anxious to see how much better Snow might be given that was the last one w/Neal Morse. Didn't listen to X all the way through.
Velvet Revolver - "Contraband". Okay. But for me nothing extraordinary. Very competent but pretty average. Not much incentive to stick with it and get through the entire album. Some big names in the lineup but not sure they deceived the big noise VR got.
Mother Love Bone - I’m hearing something I like here. Didn’t spend a lot of time with "Apple". Will re-visit. Heck of a thing about Andrew Wood.
Rival Sons - OKAY! now we’re talking. I don’t know what it is that I like about them, but I like it a lot. Some of that Led Zeppelin thing going for sure. Very good drummer. Listening to "Time & Pressure". Recording sound quality (at least on Spotify) is a bit muddy but this band kicks a**. Looked them up. Jay Buchanan is a great vocalist much in the style of Eric Burdon but possibly with greater range and dynamics. That 2nd track "Young Love" coulda been done by the Animals back in the day. Wish the sound was better.
That’s it for today’s exploration of Acman’s arcane list of obscure albums. Want to dig into Rival Sons a bit more tonight.
Lot’s more to sample tomorrow, Lord willing. |
Loomis - Duly chastened ! I will check them out. The only explanation I can give is that for a big part of the '80s I was listening to WXPN public radio out of the U. of Pennsylvania a lot. If they, or WNEW out of NYC or WMMR out of Phila. weren't playing it, it wasn't on my radar. Will look 'em up and give 'em a go. |
The Nines . Don't be confused by other bands with the same name (especially a wedding band that goes by that name). You want Steve Eggers' power pop trio from Canada and the self-titled 2011 release, specifically (first track: Sun Don't Shine); only available as a download, unfortunately. Here's a link to the full album on Spotify. spotify:album:04LmRFSkQGjQicDN3u2cXm Here it is on CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thenines2 Talk about criminally unknown....that's The Nines. |
