The Great New Guitar Sounds "Freakout!! (1968 Premier Lp)

Ok everyone, it's psychedelic exploitation time again!!! This time out we have an unnamed bunch of session musicians giving us some "psyched up" hits such as the popular "Ruby Tuesday" and "There's A Kind Of Hush" to get your attention, then throwing you the bone with such "hip" titles as "Heaven Is High" and "Dig Ye Deep". Only problem is there's nothing psychedelic here, just some fifties sounding jam music that was probably recorded at 4:00 a.m. studio rates. This time around i'm not going to apologize for the "snap, crackle, pop" and occasional skip, since it enhances the sound. Oh, by the way, is that you Tommy Tedesco on the guitar? (Jack Dominilla)

American Eagle (1970 Decca Lp)

American Eagle were Greg Beck (guitar-vocals), Gene Hubbard (organ-piano-piano bass-vocals), Robert Lowery (vocals), and Fred Zuefeldt (drums-vocals).

The group’s roots go back to the Seattle Washington area where Greg Beck and Fred Zuefeldt were members of the Viceroys, who also included future Raider Jim “Harpo” Valley, prior to this recording, the group recorded an album for Lee Hazlewood’s LHI label as Surprise Package releasing “Free Up” in 1968.

American Eagle is basically the same band as the Surprise Package (previous post). They released this album about a year after the dissolution of the Package in the fall of 1969. Where the emphasis was on psychedelia on the previous album, here the band covers straightforward rock with a slight gospel rural feel to it. Highlights are "On The Rack" and a fine version of the Moody Blues' "Nights In White Satin" that recalls the Vanilla Fudge. (Jack Dominilla)

The Surprise Package "Free Up" (1968 LHI Lp)

The Surprise Package were a Seattle, Washington group consisting of Fred Zeufeldt (drums, backing vocals), Michael Rohers (piano, organ, bass, backing vocals), Greg Beck (guitar, backing vocals), Rob Lowery (lead vocals).

Pretty standard late-60s heavy psych: soulful vocals, lots of organ, loud fuzz guitars. As with most of these bands, it has its moments, and the guitar sound is very nice. Still, it doesn’t really offer much you can’t get from dozens of other albums. The long title track, which would have easily been the album’s best song, is extended beyond the bound of reason with a batch of dull solos. It has some nice feedback, though. (Acid Archives)

Sounds Of Modification (1968 Jubilee Lp)

This is a nice psych/pop album from 1968 that's pretty solid from front to back. The thing that I really like about it is the recording and the way it's engineered. It seems like they really wanted to explore the stereo aspect of the recording. It's one of those albums where you'll hear something interesting and you can often isolate it through panning. Bob Gallo, who is not in the band, handles the majority of the writing and produced and arranged the whole album. (Soul Strut)

Hilton Valentine "All In Your Head" (1970 Capitol Lp)

Originally posted by Play It Again, Max

Even many committed Animals fans don't know that the group's guitarist, Hilton Valentine, did an obscure 1970 album in which he stepped from the sideman shadow to sing and write his own material. But while fellow ex-Animal Alan Price had done this with considerable success, and Eric Burdon had launched a fairly successful solo career of sorts when he fronted a new version of the Animals (and later War), Valentine's LP was consigned to instant collector's item status. With production by another ex-Animals guitarist, Vic Briggs (who joined after Valentine left), it's actually not such a bad record, sounding at times a little like a more modestly talented variation on the rustic folky rock of British blokes such as Ronnie Lane. But neither is it a particularly memorable one, emphasizing low-key, wistfully gentle tunes with a touch of Baroque production and orchestration. Valentine's singing is serviceable and suitable for the watching-the-river-flow-after-the-storm mood, but nothing on the order of, say, Burdon, or even Price, to take two convenient points of comparison. It's least successful when it ventures into country-vaudeville-influenced material (especially on "Little Soldier"), and best when it's at its most fragile and tuneful ("Everything Return to Me"). Overall he sounds like too gentle a soul to weather the storms of the music business, such is the nearly guileless naiveté of his outlook. (Richie Unterberger)

Oliver "Standing Stone" (1974 Self Released Lp)

Bluesy private-press loner psych from the Welsh backwoods. Barrett by way of Beefheart? Sure. Immaculate recording, done by Oliver (Chaplin)'s brother, the BBC sound engineer who recorded Jimi Hendrix's famous radio sessions. Oliver was the music man no label could charm. Virgin certainly tried, but Oliver's contempt for the music industry just ran too deep. Standing Stone is an uncorrupted testament to his unique personal vision. (echoinggrove RYM)

H.Y. Sledge "Bootleg Music" (1971 SSS International Lp)

H.Y.Sledge at the time of this recording consisted of Richard Porter (guitar-piano-harpsichord-acoustic-vocals), Michael Eubank (organ-piano-acoustic-vocals), and Jan Pulver (bass-cowbell-gun shots-vocals). They were signed to Shelby Singleton's SSS International label in 1971 and recorded this album in Nashville Tennessee.

H.Y. Sledge was a Tampa Florida band, and some of the members had backgrounds in 60s garage bands -- Jan Pulver, for example, was in Those Five, who had recorded for the Paris Tower label. A couple members of the Outlaws were in H.Y. Sledge, so Outlaws fans have an interest in the album, Richard Porter played bass for the late sixties trio Wilkinson Tri-cycle who released an album on Date Records in 1969. (Jack Dominilla)