Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Hairy Chapter, "There's a Kind of Nothing," 1971

German hard/acid rock band, this is the lead number of their debut album:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Felix Pappalardi & Creation,"She's Got Me," 1976

After Mountain, bass player (and record producer) Pappalardi teamed up with the Japanese band formerly known as Blues Creation to record a forgettable album, except for the lead track, which isn't bad:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Nicky Hopkins, "Pig's Boogie," 1973

Another solo number by the great rock pianist (a variation on the 1966 version we posted last year):

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Les Variations, "What a Mess Again," 1969

French rock trio (whose members were Jews originally from Morocco), this is the lead number from their debut album:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Bolder Damn, "BRTCD," 1971

This is the lead number from the one and only album of this Florida hard rock band:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Steamhammer, "Contemporary Chick Con Song," 1969

Part of the British blues explosion in the 1960s, this is far and away their best-known number, and what a great one it is (you'll have it on replay I predict):

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Bang, "Mother," 1972

Another great number (this from their second album) from the Philadelphia hard rock trio that deserved to be much more successful than, alas, they were:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Damnation of Adam Blessing, "Last Train to Clarkesville," 1969

Cleveland, Ohio rock band active in the 1960s and 1970s (but never made it to the big time), this brilliant cover of the Monkees' hit comes from their debut album:

(Thanks to Jeff Roland for the pointer.)

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: the five best finds of 2020...

...in my opinion, anyway. Glad to hear yours in the comments (click on the category, "Great Moments in Obscure Rock 'n' Roll" to see this year's selections from which to choose).   When the year started, I was skeptical I would find enough suitable choices, but as it turned out, there were so many good choices, it's hard to settle on just five, so I'm going to list some runners-up too.  (By the way, you can find all these and more--and the best from prior years--on Spotify under "Brian Best of Obscure Rock 60s and 70s"; you may need to search "Bleiter" and then scroll through to find mine.)

Here's my top five:

Bang, "Questions," 1971

The Factory, "Gone," 1968

Freedom, "Nobody," 1970

Josefus, "Country Boy," 1969

Kaleidoscope, "Lie to Me," 1969

And here are my runners-up, which just as easily could have been in the top five:

Blodwyn Pig, "It's Only Love," 1969

Fat, "The Shape I'm In," 1970

Frijid Pink, "Sing a Song for Freedom," 1970

Fuzzy Duck, "Just Look Around You," 1971

Tear Gas, "Big House," 1970

You may add your choices from this year's selections in the comments.

Joe Walsh meets Xmas

40 years ago, in my misspent youth, I had planned to be a rock star, as it were.  I played a passable rhythm guitar, I sang more in tune than Bob Dylan or Neil Young (not by much), and I wrote lots of songs.   I was also fortunate to know a real rock musician, Tommy Williams. Tommy took my simple songs, arranged them, and added lead guitars, bass, keyboards, drums and lead or backing vocals.   Some weren't bad, and once we get around to digitizing them, I'll put them online.   Unlike me, Tommy has made a real career as a musician, since he is a very good one.  Anyway, all this is a prelude to the main point:  each Xmas, Tommy and his wife and son, record Xmas versions of well-known rock songs, in this case, Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way."  Tommy is playing all the guitars--do check out his Xmas twist on the famous guitar "talk box" solos.

(You can find this song and more at Tommy's YouTube channel.)

In Memoriam: Leslie West (1945-2020)

Not a philosopher, but a famed guitarist from rock's Golden Age (1967-1972), born Leslie Weinstein, a nice Jewish boy from Long Island.  Most famously, he played with the band Mountain (which took its name from West's bulk), and then later with Jack Bruce and Corky Laing in a trio.  Here's a few numbers, some obscure, some not so much.

Here they are doing their most famous number, "Mississippi Queen," live at Randall's Island, in the East River just off Manhattan in 1970:

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: T2, "In Circles," 1970

From the debut album of British progressive rock band T2:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Blues Creation, "Atomic Bombs Away," 1971

Japanese hard/blues rock band, this is the lead number from a 1971 album:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Highway Robbery, "Promotion Man," 1972

American hard rock/heavy metal trio, they were supposed to be the next Black Sabbath, but ended up recording only one album before being dropped by RCA.  This is the concluding number from that album:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Tucky Buzzard, "Time Will Be Your Doctor," 1971

British hard/progressive rock band active in the early 1970s and produced by Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones.  This is probably their best-known number:

 

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Speed, Glue & Shinki, "Mr. Walking Drugstore Man," 1970

Japanese power trio led by Hendrix-inspired guitarist Shinki Chen, this is the lead number of their only album:

UPDATE:  On Twitter, Andrew Grossman points out to me that in fact they released a second album, in 1972:  some details here.

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Ancient Grease, "Mother Grease The Cat," 1970

Welsh hard rock band, this comes from their one and only album:

 

A propos nothing...here's the earliest known recording of Joni Mitchell...

...at age 19, singing "House of the Rising Sun."  It's instantly recognizable as her!  What a voice!

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Dimitri, "Got a Dog Named Sally," 1967

Dutch psychedelic band, this is certainly a catchy tune, very much of its moment:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Irish Coffee, "I'm Lost," 1971

Belgian rock band, this was the concluding track on their debut album:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Freedom, "Nobody," 1970

A terrific number (the lead track) from the second album of the British blues/rock band we featured in the late summer:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Bang, "Lions, Christians," 1972

Another number from the debut album of this Philadelphia band we featured a few weeks ago, who were, not wrongly, described as the "American Black Sabbath" (albeit not as successful), which one can hear in this song:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Yesterday's Children, "Sailing," 1970

Psychedelic/blues band from Connecticut, they recorded one album, from which this song comes:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Uriel, "Garden of Earthly Delights," 1969

British pscyhedelic/blues band, this is the lead number on their debut album:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Stack Waddy, "Mystic Eyes," 1971

British blues rock band active in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this is from their debut album (a cover of the mid-60s number by the Irish band Them):

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Fuzzy Duck, "Just Look Around You," 1971

British progressive/hard rock band in the vein of Uriah Heep and Atomic Rooster, this comes from their only album:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: The Gods, "Towards the Skies," 1968

Before he made it big with Uriah Heep, Ken Hensley fronted this British band, which recorded one album, Genesis, that leads with this song:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Bang, "Questions," 1971

Philadelphia-based hard rock/proto-metal band, this single actually cracked the Billboard top 100!  It's a great number!

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Bobby Fuller Four, "Misirlou," 1965 (live)

Bobby Fuller was famous for "I Fought the Law," but I'd never heard his live version of that 60s staple "Misrlou," which sounds more like 1968 acid rock in his rendering:

(Thanks to Tom Carson for the pointer.)

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Freedom, "Dusty Track," 1970

British hard rock blues band formed in 1968 by two former members of Procol Harum, this song from their second album is a slightly different version of one from their first:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Tear Gas, "Lay It On Me," 1971

Another great rollicking number from the Scottish rock band:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Josefus, "Country Boy," 1969

We haven't featured this good-but-raw Houston-based hard rock outfit in quite awhile, but here's another number from their debut album:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Red Dirt, "Maybe I'm Right," 1970

We haven't featured this Yorkshire band since 2016, but here's another tune from their debut album:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Tear Gas, "Big House," 1970

Another great tune from this long-forgotten Scottish rock band:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys, "Good Old Rock and Roll," 1969

This band was actually produced by Jimi Hendrix, and even had one top 40 hit, this medley of 50s rock songs:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Edgar Broughton Band, "Call Me a Liar," 1971

One of the stranger acts to emerge from British psychedelia and blues rock (that we last featured back in 2016), Broughton's Captain Beefheart-like vocals make them always recognizable; this was the B-side of a 1971 single, and the better side in my view:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Tear Gas, "Woman for Sale," 1971

Scottish hard rock band, this comes from their second album:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Frankie Miller Band, "Ain't Got No Money," 1975

This tune comes from Scottish rock singer Frankie Miller's third album, and bears such an uncanny resemblance to a later Bob Seger song one wonders whether there was a copyright infringement action:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Asylum Choir, "Tryin' to Stay 'Live," 1971

Pianist Leon Russell and guitarist Marc Benno were studio musicians in California when they formed the band Asylum Choir in 1967.  This song comes from their second album, recorded in 1969, but not released until 1971, when Russell had already become famous as a solo performer:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Mother Earth, "Stop That Train," 1969

San Francisco-based band that relocated to Nashville for their second, and most successful, album (that features a young Boz Scaggs):

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Kaleidescope, "Lie to Me," 1969

Eclectic folk and rock band from California, this is a live version of the lead number from their third and probably best album (here's the album version); I love this tune!

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Captain Beyond, "Dancing Madly Backwards," 1972

California band, made up of former members of Deep Purple and Iron Butterfly, among others, they are sometimes described as a proto-"stoner rock" band.  This is from their debut album:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Nicky Hopkins, "The Ilejistry Pig," 1966

Before he became the best-known rock pianist studio musician of the late 1960s and 1970s, he recorded this boogie-woogie number on a solo album:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Jimmy Page & friends, "Burn Up," 1968

Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Nicky Hopkins (on piano) and other lesser-known friends recorded an album in 1967 (released in 1968 as No Introduction Necessary), from which this bluesy number comes:

(Thanks to Ken Brown for correcting the information about the year and origin of this track.)

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Daddy Cool, "Eagle Rock," 1971

This was a #1 hit in Australia, and still remains a bit controversial there although how that juvenile practice arose from this song I can't really figure!

(Thanks to Michael Sevel for the pointer.)

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Tyrannosaurus Rex, "Hot Rod Mama," 1968

The lead number of their debut album, before they became the famous T.Rex and Marc Bolan became the face of glam rock in the 1970s:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Blodwyn Pig, "Dear Jill," 1969

Another nice number from the debut album of ex-Jethro Tull guitarist Mick Abrahams' band:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Groundhogs, "Groundhog," 1971

Another excellent number from the sadly forgotten British blues band:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Rhinoceros, "Apricot Brandy," 1969

Elektra Records created this band through auditions in 1967, but it never achieved much success, despite releasing a number of singles and albums.  This instrumental, released as a single, isn't bad:

 

Great moments in obscure rock 'n' roll: Fat, "The Shape I'm In," 1970

Another great number (earlier ones here and here) from the Western Massachusetts band that deserved to be far more successful than they were: