Rock & Indie Vinyl 226 Items

Leeds-born folk-rocker John Trevor Midgely, alias Beau, was known for his deft twelve-string guitar work, his poignant voice and distinctive song-writing, which brought him onto the roster of John Peel’s Dandelion label in 1969. His self-titled debut album is arguably his best and includes the outstanding single ‘1917 Revolution,’ said to have inspired America’s smash, ‘Horse With No Name,’ the LP ably demonstrating that all the artist needed was his voice, his guitar, and his individual approach to song writing, the work bearing his haunting hallmarks throughout. In short, an unjustly obscure release that is ripe for current reappraisal. Including 2 Bonus Tracks

Although this amazing U.S. popsike gem seems to have remained under the radar since it was first released in 1969, copies of an original pressing of this LP fetch several hundreds of dollars among the small circle of collectors that have managed to discover the amazing works of Don Beckmann and David Rea.

Their only LP was originally released on their hometown Denver’s Stylist Records label back in 1969. The production is amazing: to the strength of the duo’s compositions and their guitar and vocal talents, a complete band is added, plus impressive orchestrated arrangements with scores provided by Dan Goodman and Mark Schuster and conducted by Ben Kaufman, the result being a deliciously beautiful album that could be a missing link between the works of Simon & Garfunkel and those of soft pop maestros like The Free Design or Harper's Bizarre or baroque pop legends The Left Banke.

The Stormy Six debut album is, in some ways, the mirror of an era with simple atmospheres and an almost like ‘messa beat’ feel. The harmonies are kinda elementary and the general setting is strongly influenced by the Beat origins of the group. The "Stormy Six" formed as a sextet in Milan in 1965, right along that student environment that had already given birth to Maurizio Arcieri's "New Dada". The album is an eccentric mixture of Beat, Psychedelia and proto-prog in the vein of Moody Blues "In the search of the lost chord" or even early Genesis. The songs are almost written by the Rocchi-Fabbri duo even if, in retrospect, it was assumed that three of them belonged to Rocchi alone: ‘Ramo’, with a mystical indian flavor, ‘I Tuoi Occhi Sono Tristi’ – much in the vein of Brian Auger- and the poignant ‘Sotto I Portici Di Marmo’.

A vocal band that made it through, the Free Design have been more than an exception in the glittering world of the psychedelic circus. That was the Age of Aquarius in the end, but in the long run the 4-piece had an enormous impact on the younger generation. Released in 1969 “Heaven/earth” is a cornerstone on its own and 30 years later the band had a sort of epiphany, thanks to the spanning interest of artists such as Cornelius, Beck, Stereolab and crate digger master Madlib. By now the Free Design are considered in the same league of The Beach Boys and The Carpenters. Under the influence of the Hi-Lo’s and Peter, Paul and Mary, The Free Design rose through the folk scene of the Greenwich Village coffee houses, achieving national prominence with the enchanting ‘Kites Are Fun’. They would prove to be at least the artistic equals of such popular contemporaries as The Association, The Mamas and the Papas, The Fifth Dimension and Harper’s Bizarre, but without quite matching their commercial success. Rather than be dictated to and diluted by the majors, they chose to commit to the artistic freedom and potential to develop offered them by the producer Enoch Light through his independent set up Project 3 Total Sound.

180g 45rpm pressing. Newly repressed at 45 RPM by Quality Record Pressings. This recording was originally mastered at the former AcousTech Mastering facility and the sound is fantastic.



John Lee Hooker himself did not know his exact date of birth. If he hadn't died at around the age of 80, this ageless musician would still be easily pulling the next generation to his gigs. Hooker remains a phenomenon, a mysterious figure of black rhythm and blues, a charismatic king who reigns supreme in rock 'n' roll's Hall of Fame. John W. Peters described his music as a synthesis of scorching emotional ardour, unrelenting rhythmic intensity, and original poetry of a highly personal character. Anyone hearing him for the first time may well be startled at the unfiltered passion and power of his music.



And another surprise is in store for those who compare Hooker's late recordings with those made in the Sixties. His unmistakable, raw voice has fully matured, but his incantory style of singing appears markedly finer and more flexible. And then there is the perfect gem of a rhythm group whose sinewy sounds fill the grooves with merciless gravitational force. It's enough to make your spine tingle!

First ever reissue of this bona fide “buried treasure” produced by Richard Perry and featuring Ry Cooder and the Wrecking Crew. Includes 4 page insert with notes by music historian Stephen J McParland and Vini Poncia, and many rare pictures and ephemera. Like the other more familiar and phenomenally successful duos Goffin/King, Barry/Greenwich or Mann/Weil, Peter Anders and Vini Poncia also graduated from the Brill Building era school of songwriting. Friends since high school, Anders and Poncia debuted as members of the Providence, Rhode Island vocal group The Videls whose second single Mister Lonely (written by Anders-Poncia) proved to be a moderate national hit (#73 on Cash Box and Billboard) in early 1960. It would be five more years before the duo’s pièce de résistance, The Trade Winds’ New York’s A Lonely Town, would appear on the legendary Red Bird label (started by George Goldner and songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1964). An East Coast (though California molded) surf music anthem, New York’s A Lonely Town had impressed both Phil Spector (with whom Anders and Poncia had enjoyed a brief working association, writing songs for The Ronettes, The Crystals or Darlene Love) and Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson. They also worked on an Elvis Presley film score – “Harum Scarum”. After releasing albums as The Trade Winds and The Innocence, as well writing and releasing a bunch of songs under various guises for Kama Sutra and Buddah Records, Anders & Poncia signed to Warner Bros in 1969. Produced by Richard Perry (Captain Beefheart, Fats Domino, Tiny Tim…), and featuring the Los Angeles A-Team of sessioneers (later known as “The Wrecking Crew”), their only album features ten original compositions and a version of Leiber & Stoller’s “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” (with some great bottleneck guitar by Ry Cooder). Reissued here for the first time these eleven brilliant and extraordinarily powerful tracks are ripe for rediscovery. As the liner notes state: “listen to Anders & Poncia … and you have found your poets.”

One album into their career in 1969, Mutantes showed few signs of musical burnout after turning in one of the oddest LPs released in the '60s. Similar to its predecessor, Mutantes relies on an atmosphere of experimentation and continual musical collisions, walking a fine line between innovation and pointless genre exercises. The lead track ("Dom Quixote") has the same focus on stylistic cut-and-paste as their debut LP's first track ("Panis et Circenses"). Among the band's musical contemporaries, Mutantes sounds similar only to songs like the Who's miniature suite "A Quick One While He's Away" -- though done in three minutes instead of nine, and much more confusing given the language barrier. The album highlights ("Nao Va Se Perder por Ai") and ("Dois Mil e Um") come with what sounds like a typically twisted take on roots music (both Brazilian and American), complete with banjo, accordion, and twangy vocals. Though there are several other enjoyable tracks, including "Magica" and a slap-happy stomp called "Rita Lee," there's a palpable sense that the experimentation here isn't serving much more than its own ends. If the first album's relentless eclecticism did in fact occasionally result in dry passages, it's especially true here

Before Uriah Heep there was Fat Toe, and before Fat Toe there was The Gods, who recorded this risqué hard prog album, Orgasm, as Head Machine. Singer/keyboardist/guitarist Ken Hensley takes centre stage under the alias Ken Leslie, his lyrics alluding to the undeniable allure of human coitus and aspects of its management, the climax eventually coming in audible groans, though the guitar really drives most of the songs forward, with stereo panning. Produced by David Paramour, who had worked with Garnett Mimms and The Nocturnes, it was recorded in late 1969 and released in small number by Major Minor; this reissue spins at 45 RPM for improved fidelity.

Limited to 2000 copies.

There is little doubt that John Lee Hooker was one of the most commercially successful blues artists that ever lived. He rose above his contemporaries with worldwide hit records and a particularly long series of albums, and a career that lasted for over sixty years. He was always prolific and attracted other artists to collaborate with him without ever losing his own highly distinctive style. One of the real and lasting strengths of "That's My Story" as an album is in its immediacy. Orrin Keepnews knew just how to use studio microphone placement to make the listener feel right in the middle of the session. Nothing extraneous is used to move John Lee away from you, making it evident that the producer's original intention with the album has certainly been fulfilled. No wonder that this laid-back work, so quickly recorded, has stood the test of time as one of John Lee Hooker's most revered records.

Del Shannon did not fit the typical teen-idol mould other pop singers of the early Sixties were shoehorned into. Although he certainly had the required good looks, his songs had a brooding intensity to them, with recurring themes of loss and rejection that didn't sit well with the typical pop-star image of the time. In many respects he was similar to the UK's John Leyton and did a lot to pave the way for the British Invasion and the huge expansion to the boundaries of what could be considered pop music.

Reissue for the 1969 live album for Quicksilver Messenger Service, recorded live in 1968 at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

Originally released in 1966, Shakers For You was the second LP by Los Shakers, the legendary beat/pop band from Uruguay. An album clearly influenced by Help!, Rubber Soul and Revolver, but showing a band that were more than mere copycats, offering some revolutionary compositions and influences such as bossa-nova. The songs on Shakers For You take us through incredible musical mixtures that, while keeping a strong early/mid Beatles feel, give us clues of what would come later in pop music with psychedelia just around the corner. This is the first ever vinyl reissue of one of the greatest beat LPs from the 1960s.

Once The Shain´s had disbanded a new project was born, St Thomas Pepper Smelter. Recorded in 1969, with practically the same band members as The Shain´s, the band explored darker and psychedelic sounds with covers from Vanilla Fudge, Cream, Hendrix and Music Machine, as well as various amazing songs of their own. This album was to be the transition towards their new projects more progressive and 70s style than before and lead to Gerardo Manuel y Humo!

Motor City legends Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels set unsurpassed standards for balls-out American white-boy R&B. Under the aegis of crack producer Bob Crewe, the Wheels shot to fame, propelled by Ryder\'s sweat-soaked soulful vocals, the piercing, mile-a-minute guitar sting of Jim McCarty, and the piledriver drum attack of Johnny Bee. Attacking rock and R&B with a startling, head-on frenzy, the group created a rock-n-soul dynasty still without equal.

In 1969, Locksley Hall, a psychedelic band from Washington, recorded a full album at Audio Recorders in Seattle produced by Sonics Engineer Kearney Barton and long time Northwest guitarist Ned Neltner (Mark Five, Gas Company…).
Never released at the time, this is a great example of West Coast styled psychedelia / acid-rock, featuring female vocals, prominent organ, hard guitar, excellent songs…

This reissue comes on 180g. Right Track is a specialized music label based in Beirut - Lebanon. As an IFPI certified member they are the exclusive Licensee and distributor of multiple international and regional labels in addition to a range of Lebanese Artists. From Omar Khorshid’s arabian-funk to Fairuz’s eerie songs, from Ziad Rabani’s proto-disco to lebanese traditional Wadih Al Safi compositions, Right Track is committed to re-releasing the Immortal Arabic music repertoire on 180 g vinyls, delivering the highest possible quality from remastered audio to satisfy the demanding audiophile connoisseurs.

‘O’Seis’ are the core members of the mighty and legendary ‘Os Mutantes’ – namely Rita Lee and brothers Arnaldo and Sérgio Baptista, accompanied here by Raphael Vilardi, Maria ‘Mogguy’ Malheiros and Luiz Pastura. The record features anthemic, heavyweight, psychedelic rock on ‘Suicida’ b/w deeper, tripped-out MPB-folk on ‘Apocalipse’. Both tracks were written by Rita Lee, assisted by Tobe and Vilardi respectively. The term ‘holy grail’ is a little overused these days perhaps, but this definitely is one. Originally pressed and released by the band themselves in 1966, apparently only a handful of copies are known to exist (sources/numbers vary). The record has changed hands for up to a staggering $5000! Ouch.
Official Mr Bongo reissue. Licensed courtesy of Warner Music UK LTD.

The most elusive Edigsa 7" gets its first ever vinyl reissue on Wah Wah. An unsung moody garage folk-rock act, Brenner's Folk where the embryonic Pic-Nic (of "Cállate niña" fame) and featured a very young Jordi 'Toti' Soler right after he had gone through Els Xerracs (who also had released an EP on Edigsa), drummer Jordi Barangé (also from Els Xerracs) and brothers Vytas and Haakon Brenner. The Brenner brothers were born in Germany but grew up in Venezuela, where their family had emigrated after the devastation of World War II. The Brenner family would return several years later to establish in Europe, first in Italy and later in Barcelona. The new band started to rehearse under the name of The Vytas Brenner Quartet, and their main influences came from american modern folk acts like Peter Paul and Mary or The Mamas & The Papas, a.o. Not long after they started rehearsing, a very young Jeanette joined them thus becoming Brenner's Folk. Edigsa approached them and offered a contract for the recording of their only EP, sung in catalan and issued in 1966. A showcase of their folk and folk rock influences, the Brenner's Folk 7" is a lo fi garagey jewel that has become an elusive piece due to the importance that its band members would gather in years to come. Toti Soler became the biggest master of guitar, he went to psychedelic and progressive / jazz rock with Om prior to trading in his electric for a Spanish guitar and pioneering instrumental flamenco jazz rock fussion sound on his early solo albums. He is still active nowadays, he is one the biggest Catalan geniuses of modern guitar. The Brenner brothers returned to Venezuela where Vytas became a big solo act, recording the sought after LPs "La Ofrenda de Vytas" and "Hermanos" with his brother Haakon on production duties. Vytas continued a solo carrer that would last until his premature death in 2004 at only 57 due to a heart attack. Jeanette, of course, went on to lead the successful Pic-Nic along with Toti Soler and later enjoyed a successful solo career in the 1970s and 1980s, plus a come back in the early 2000s.

The 4 original Catalan sung tunes will appeal to lovers of Catalan sixties aborigen sounds, Euro & Nederbiet or American teen moody folk rock garage a la Rising Storm, Dovers, Nightcrawlers, Tormentors and the likes.

A facsimile reproduction of this mega rare EP, originally released on Edigsa in 1966, coming with remastered sound and an insert with lyrics, photos and notes.

Breezy Sunshine-Pop / Soft-Rock / Psych-Pop from California, 1970, featuring Peter Clark a.k.a Chet DeMilo.

Crystal clear recording, awesome vocal harmonies, superb musicianship, bossa & blue-eyed-soul-jazz touches,folk-rock moves…

In 1969 Chet Demilo was appearing at Donkin's Inn, Marina Del Rey, where he met Arnie Marcus and Ray Hames, who together were to become part of an incredible slice of history. Donkin's became the hottest and most famous destination in Southern California for the next seven years, and Chet was the magnet that started the new singles scene in Los Angeles with Marina Del Rey as ground zero.

Arnie sat in on bongos with Chet from time to time, and Ray, who was managing an apartment complex that housed 200 flight attendants, just happened to have a unit available!! Chet moved in, and he and Ray started working on songs together. Chet suggested forming a vocal group with Arnie and SST was born. For three months they practiced the intricate vocal harmonies and in early 1970 cut the album, "Soft Soul Transition". A thousand records were pressed, and an album release party was held at Donkins where SST gave their one and only performance that night!

There was interest in the project at Burt Bacharach's Blue Seas Music, but it was not to be and SST faded away...until more than 20 years later when the SST album was discovered by a new generation of DJs and collectors looking for cool and groovy sounds from the 60s-70s.

180 gram pressing!

180 gram pressing!

In the spring of 1969, 49th Parallel had a hit in with ‘Twilight Woman’, a lovely song that sounds like a poppier version of what bands like Tomorrow were doing in England. That success led to the release of 49th Parallel’s only album. All hyperbole aside, it is easily one of the top Canadian rock albums of the psychedelic era. The album is strong throughout—from the pulsating psychedelia of ‘Lazerander Filchy’ and the ultra-strange ‘(The) Magician’, the shimmering beauty of 'Twilight Woman', to the quintessential slashing guitars punk edginess of ‘Now That I'm a Man’ and ‘(Come On Little Child &) Talk To Me’. Dan Lowe's blazing fuzz guitar work stands out on ‘Missouri’ and also when matched by organist Jack Velker's brilliant work on ‘Eye To Eye’, ‘Talk To Me’ and ‘(The) People’.

Remastered from the original tapes, 180g vinyl!

Freshly remastered for 2012!

180 gram gatefold LP. Originally released in 1966 on the Takoma label, Contemporary Guitar is a beautiful compilation of solo acoustic guitar instrumentals from folk and blues legends such as Bukka White, John Fahey, and Robbie Basho as well as lesser known-s like Max Ochs and Harry Taussig.

An essential compilation of American guitar soli.

180 gram vinyl!

180 Gram Vinyl

180 Gram Reissue!

limited edition analogue 180 gram vinyl reisue ... sampled by Run DMC, Public Enemy, ODB, ...

180 gram vinyl

180 gram vinyl

Blisterin’ bleach blonde garage punk from Long Beach’s Emperors!

Previously limited to a handful of singles, this full length LP includes all of their material, including 4 unissued tracks! From the maniacal laughter on “Laughin’ Linda” to their foot-tappin’ cover of the Zombies’ “You Make Me Feel So Good” it’s easy to see why this group of teens were hailed as Long Beach’s favorite group.

Susan Gilmore, an Emperor fan, recollects, “The highlight of the dances were when they played. While attendance was pretty good for other bands, the Emperors packed the place every time. The buzz would start during the week at school. ‘The Emperors are playing this weekend. Are you going to go?’”

The wild teenage sound of the original Emperors is still the greatest. “It's just a lifetime experience,” concluded Randall. “In a way, I felt that we were ahead of our time. The way we played and the way we presented everything on stage, nobody was shy. It was a wonderful experience.”

A new version of the band rebranded as simply Emperor, led by Steve Watts and Randy Budihas, would record for RCA, then Private Stock during the ‘70s. After a 20-year break, The Emperors reformed in 2002 and are still performing and entertaining fans today.