Does anyone know a band called City Boy? (70's/80's)Very obscure and very original. It's beyond Me how such great talent goes so unnoticed! Also please chime in on other obscure talented musicians.
More entries for the list (quotes are from All Music); please forgive where not truly obscure but more like forgotten or under-recognized):
- Frozen Ghost ("every track is rock-solid and probably gone forever, further adding to the mystique of one of the all-time should-have-beens."). - Died Pretty - The Adventures ("Soothing harmonies, ringing guitars, and lush synths ... shimmering, hummable pop"). - The Silencers ("consistently melodic and occasionally breathtaking...unfailingly pleasant and sometimes inspired...the band's consistency went unrewarded and ... was largely ignored"). - Propaganda - Concrete Blonde (yes, they did have hit MTV videos). - Willi Jones ("Almost every song is a winner ... why wasn't there at least one more album?") - Bill Lloyd ("essential addition to the collection of any fan of melodic, unflashy, guitar-based power pop"). - The Records ("undeniably made some of the best singles of the [70's] era...definitive proof of the band's generally overlooked brilliance. Anyone interested in power-pop should start here"). - Antena ("chanteuse-whisper vocals provide one of the clues to the group's uniqueness, as do the pencil-thin synth lines and genteel bossa nova drum machine patterns...the wonder of this rediscovery"). - Zero 7 ("chiseling textured aural atmospheres...accomplished slice of soulful genius"). - Air ("electronica ... ideas wrapped up in music that was engaging, warm, and irresistible"). - Art of Noise - Juno Reactor ("Art of Noise for the 21st century coupled with atmospheric merging with world music elements from all over the planet...mammoth sounds at hand -- deep, dark moods, moments of widescreen cinema"). - Run Lola Run movie soundtrack ("fast-paced techno...one of the most cohesive soundtrack albums in recent memory, and the music is excellent"). - Twin Peaks ("borders on fever-dream jazz...dark, cloying, and obsessive -- and one of the best scores ever written for television"). - Donnie Iris (maybe not so obscure and too pop for some, but nevertheless a fun rocker with great song hooks and harmonies; per Allmusic "Donnie Iris is one of the classiest rock singers who deserved widespread stardom but never achieved it".)
I couldn't help chuckling a bit as I read your most recent post. It almost reads like a scene from "Spinal Tap". That must have been a fun time and it sounds like a few of those guys have had a decent run in the music making business, which is always good to hear.
And also need to add the following as groups who had major hits but have body of work that can be considered obscure to many (quotes from AllMusic):
- The Church (considered a one-hit wonder in the US ("Under the Milky Way") that nevertheless recorded 19 albums and still going strong; per AllMusic "jangling guitar pop with opaque wordplay to create a lush, melancholy brand of neo-psych rich in texture and melody"). - Jesus Jones (were on top of the world but fell hard with no one buying later albums that still contained catchy songs). - Inspiral Carpets ("released some of the best singles of the '90s"). - The Outfield ("The world quit listening, but The Outfield continued to make tight, glistening pop records...sharp harmonies, crackling guitar, and the always remarkable vocals...The Outfield recedes into history as yet another shining power pop band unjustly ignored and lost forever"). - The Ocean Blue ("melodic guitar and synth-driven pop that ranks among the best ... indisputably well-crafted albums").
’Few more: Kasenatz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus (Quick Joey Small) Slaughter & The Dogs (Quick Joey Small) Fever Tree (60s Acid band) Simply Red (English torch Stories (Brother Louie) The Shoes (used name before Beatles could co-opt!) The Left Banke (Pretty Ballerina -very trippy)
James Mastro (guitarist and songwriting partner to Richard Barone in The Bongos) started this alt-country/guitar pop band. They did three extremely good records without much in the way of recognition.
Gonna have to give a +2 to Jade Warrior. I'm impressed that someone brought that one up! A fantastic band from the 70's in the prog rock arena out of Britain. Supremely creative. Steve Winwood got involved with them trying to get them on the main stage, but to no avail. A cross between rock, jazz, classical and oriental. 3 older albums that were sensational are Floating World, Waves, and Kites. They came out with a new release a couple of years ago called Now which is unbelievably good.
Another excellent album self produced by a guy out of San Diego by the name of Chuck Perrin is Beatitude by the Holy Barbarians. Cover to cover killer tunes in a Pop Jazz genre with vocals.
The Mystix - from the Boston area I believe. They have added Annie Raines to the line-up. She plays sometimes with Paul Rishell, a great guitar player.
Had to dust off some Love Tractor after reading through this thread. "Themes From Venus" is a great album. Also, Marty mentioned some Feelies spin-offs early on, but didn't mention my personal favorite Feelies spin-off - Wake Ooloo. Silly name, but great music. A little harder than the other Feelies stuff.
Here is one a lot of Paul Rodgers fans might not know - "The Law". A very solid album from the early 90s! David Gilmour did some of the guitar work on this album. Also, Paul Thorn, pretty obscure as far as I know. His music is a combination of Rock & country with a little humor mixed in.
I spaced on Wake Ooloo. Great catch. I used to live in Hoboken and got to see just about every iteration of The Feelies (not sure if I mentioned The Trypes, who may or may not have ever recorded a record). All of them were terrific. There was a period where those bands ended their shows with different obscure Brian Eno covers. I'm pretty sure that Wake Ooloo crushed it with King's Lead Hat, but it's been too many years to swear that it was WO, rather than one of its "cousins".
@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??
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".
I have went through my music pretty thoroughly and compiled a list of artists I have not heard mentioned.( Rock ,hard rock, alt.... 70's to present) Rival Sons Hero jr. Gotthard Moxy Pallas Gary Hoey Mad Season Krypteria Glass Moon Fastway Jet CamelotHardline Dead Soul Tribe Meat Puppets Monster Magnet Legs Diamond Mother Love Bone Skywynd Porcupine Tree RTZ Spock's Beard Roadmaster Rob Tognoni Screamin Cheetah Wheelies The Good Rats TKO Vinnie Moore Triumvirat Symphony X The Rockets Velvet Revolver Vandenberg Vanden Riot Richie Kotzen Do any of these ring a bell for anyone?
John Croslin was the main man in The Reivers (AKA Zeitgeist, before a conflict with another band caused them to change their name). This was one of the earliest and IMO best alt-country bands. I’m not sure that they’re obscure enough to qualify for this thread, but - if they are - they go to the top of my list.
If they don’t qualify, Croslin’s next band "Fire Marshalls of Bethlehem" surely does. Their one record wasn’t at the level of The Reivers catalog, but it was good in its own right. Basically, my belief is that Croslin belongs on this list. He’s an immensely talented and undeservedly obscure musician, IMO.
I am a big fan of Hero jr. TKO was a great band, the lead singer sounded like of Roger Daltrey. Because of Mother Lone Bone we have the very unique "Temple of the Dog". Great list.
@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.
Recommend Spocks Beard highly. Every one of their recordings is unique and different. Their "Snow" is a great 2- CD concept albumn recorded in HDCD. I particularly like their material that includes Nick D’vergilio. He’s got quite a resume as well.
Thanks ghosthouse! I will check your suggestion. You need to check out the bands on my list that you have not heard of on YouTube or whatever Source you can find them on. I am pretty sure you will like all or most of them! I also definitely Echo what nutty says about Spock's Beard! They are one of the most talented group of musicians and songwriters I have ever come across😎
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.
I know the deal ghosthouse, The first CD I got by Spock's beard was "Day for Night". I listen to it once or twice and it did not grab me so it's sat on the Shelf. Then I saw them in concert warming up for Dream Theater and it clicked! I have loved them ever since. They have at least 10 and a few live ones. They are all pretty solid. Just take your time and listen to a variety of their stuff. Don't make a snap decision😎
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.
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.
ghosthouse, i can't believe that you (of all people) haven't actually heard the meat puppets--really one of the great alt bands of the 80s. II and up on the sum are their indisputable classics; their later major label stuff was good but started veering from their unique brainfried desert psychedelia into a more commercial zz top-ish direction.
arcam, good list--some of your picks have stumped even the most obsessive of us.
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.
Awesome rwwear! Finally someone who likes a lot of my stuff. Here is a few I overlooked. Starcastle Enchant Axe Badlands Shadow King Giant Max Webster Gamma I'm sure you probably know at least some of these😎
judging from the foregoing recs, many of you would dig the new zealand bands from the flying nun label--most of these are (thankfully) available on spotify: the clean/david kilgour bailter space tall dwarfs the verlaines 3Ds jean paul satre experience the bats most of these bands share a guitar-based, sorta fractured folk/rock sensibility not too far removed from early rem or velevet underground; a few get more into the heavier/electro side. all are worth hearing.
Ooh! Ooh! I just remembered - band called Tribe. (Not Tribe called Quest or anything else, just Tribe.) Great Boston area alt band from the 90s with excellent female vocals and great song writing skills. AFAIK, only two CDs were released.
Monty Montgomery, Mirror is a great Cd. He added a live version on the CD of "When will I". It’s not only the best song on the disc it is recorded amazingly well.
I actually saw Monty in Chattanooga at the Riverbend Festival a few years ago. I also have a DVD by him.
Arcam I have some Montrose but no Gamma. I’ll check some of the others. I just got Flied Egg, Blues Pills, Pure Reason "Hammer And Anvil" Amenophis "Time" Tortoise "Standards" and a few more mainstream items.
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