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Overlooked R & R gems from the past

I recently listened to some 70's albums in my collection and came across "Automatic Man", "Metro" and "Hummingbird",
which still sound good to my ears in terms of composition,
production and musicianship. They are documented in allmusic.com, yet never received the publicity I feel they deserved at the time of release. (The first Automatic Man album had Michael Shrieve from Santana; Hummingbird was actually Jeff Beck's group with Bernard Purdie on drums).

This made me wonder how many other worthy recordings there are that somehow got overlooked initially, but have stood the test of time. I'm interested in hearing if any of you have favorites which deserved publicity, but somehow fell through the cracks, and on to the bargain bins.
musicbuff
9 responses Add your response
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,198 posts
 

The song “Ammonia Avenue” by Alan Parsons Project. 

stevewr
45 posts
 
Wildoats, I have looked for the Butts Band Complete
Recordings. No luck-where did you get your's? Thanks
in advance, Steve
qdrone
1,039 posts
 
Eric Johnson/ Venus Isle. After receiving the Grammy for his Ah Via Musicom he came out with argruably his finest work. The angel on the cover descending to the heavens is his girlfriend Darsie Silver who was killed during these recordings, a victim of a burglary gone awry. A great and over looked R&R gem.
wildoats
339 posts
 
Butts Band. Only put out two albums, you can get them both on one disc, "The Complete Butts Band Recordings." Good blues /soul/R & B. Robbie Krieger from the DOORS is the guitarist and John Densmore form the DOORS is the drummer. This is REALLY good stuff.

Garland Jeffreys. "Ghost Writer" if you can find it is the best. Recently came out with a Best of, whicch is pretty good. Reggae/soul influenced rock. You can't go wrong with this stuff.

r_burke
212 posts
 
Harvey Mandel - Christo Redentor and Babby Batter

Tommy Bolin - Private Eyes

Les Dudek - Ghost Town Parade

Not exactly bargain bin, but never got all the respect they deserve
wahoo611
2 posts
 
Keef Hartley Band - Halfbreed
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
Here are a few bands/artists that flew under the radar and IMO deserve a listen:

Paris (Bob Welch's gig after Fleetwood Mac)
Be Bop Deluxe
City Boy
Klatuu
Steve Hillage
Crabby Appleton
qdrone
1,039 posts
 
Coming on the heels of two albums jam packed with FM fodder was Panorama by The Cars. This was more edgy and did not sell and was in the cut out bin by year end. It is my favorite Cars album more punk than the previous two and they went back to formula rock on Shake It Up and Heart Beat City.
Another one is Echo by Tom Petty. This is a great album but never sold and wound up in the cut out bin by year end. Very retrospective a kinda of taking stock on life after the fire and the divorce expose.
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
CHRISTOPHER MILK-Some People Will Drink Anything.....CATHIE CHAMBERLAIN-Rag and Roll.......HENRY GROSS-Plug Me into Something.....ANDY PRATT-Resolution....DAVID WERNER-Imagination Quota.......hundreds more...the best 70's stuff never saw the light of day on most am or fm radio....lots never made it to cd
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