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Czar - Czar (1970)

The four members of Czar began as "Tuesday's Children" in 1967. They played the well-known clubs like the Marquee, toured with The Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, The Nice, The Animals, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, King Crimson and many others. In 1970 they changed their name to "Czar", recorded an album and promptly disappeared. The album they left behind is a pretty good proto-progressive/psychedelic effort, dominated by Mellotron and Hammond organ battling against some blues-based guitar riffs and thudding drums. Britain in the late sixties and early seventies wasn't exactly undergoing a shortage of bands like Czar, bands that today are described as 'proto-prog', and Czar probably isn't the best of them, but their album is well worth having and is a real good addition to the collection of anyone interested in rock music from this era. Ripped @ 320. Artwork included.

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Marianne Faithfull - Greatest Hits (1987)

This is my Thrift Store find this week. This CD was released on the Abkco label in 1987, Executive Producer Andrew Loog Oldham. I wonder whatever happened to him. Wasn't he the "Sixth Rolling Stone" or something? Anyway this has 16 tracks purporting to be her greatest hits. I don't know her music at all, but I picked this up for one dollar thinking that some, at least, of the horde of readers bound to be attracted to my blog would appreciate it. LOL! Ripped @ 320. Artwork included.

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Gomorrha - I Turned To See Whose Voice It Was (1972)

Doomy and aggressive yet brimming with a cosmic folkiness, this near-masterpiece of psychedelic German rock was released in 1972, marking the high point and the climax of Gomorrha's short career. Dominated by a churchy Hammond organ played by Eberhard Krietsch and the spaced out acid guitars of Ali Claudi and Ad Ochel, the lyrics are suitably bizarre, concerning life, death, religion and visionary dreams with a lot of quoting from the Book of Revelation by English singer Peter Otten. Bassist Mike Eulner and drummer Helmut Pohl anchor some tasty psychedelic jams that are played in the fashion that only the best Krautrockers can pull off. This is a brilliant mix of psychedelic and progressive rock that never gets raunchy or heavy. Head-melting electric guitars, Hammond organ freakouts mingling with quiet acoustic passages and weird lyrics make this an album that should be in any Krautrock fan's collection. Artwork included.

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Various Artists - American Yodeling 1911-1946

Despite the title, the focus of this release from the German label Trikont is on American music from the 30's & 40's. You don't hear yodeling much these days, but apparently it was huge at one time. The man most responsible for popularizing yodeling in the US, Jimmie Rodgers, is represented here by a rarity, 'Standin' On The Corner (Blue Yodel #9)', a collaboration with Lil and Louis Armstrong on piano and trumpet. Fans of American roots music will be familiar with a lot of the performers, like The Delmore Brothers, Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, Roy Rogers, the Carter Family, and Sons of the Pioneers. Just as much fun, though, are the selections from artists who are not so well-known today, like the DeZurik Sisters, Goebel Reeves (the Texas Drifter), Lottie Kimbrough & Winston Holmes, the Mississippi Shieks, Tampa Red, the Guidry Brothers and on and on. The disc has 26 great tracks, from the almost creepy hillbilly lovesick yodeling of J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers to the smooth as silk yodeling of Patsy Montana, making this a worthy collection. Artwork included.

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Various Artists - Early Blues Roots Of Led Zeppelin

'Early Blues Roots Of Led Zeppelin' is collection of 17 early country blues songs that Led Zeppelin covered, or borrowed bits from. Included are the obvious ones like 'When The Levee Breaks' by Memphis Minnie, 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' by Blind Willie Johnson, and 'Traveling Riverside Blues' by Robert Johnson. There are tracks by Blind Boy Fuller, Bukka White, Sonny Boy Williamson, Josh White, Sleepy John Estes, Leadbelly, Arthur Crudup, John Lee Hooker, Oscar Woods, St. Louis Jimmy Oden, and Big Bill Broonzy. All these songs were drastically modernized by Led Zeppelin, with always impressive results; compare Bukka White's 'Shake 'Em On Down' with 'Hat's Off To Roy' on Led Zeppelin 3. Plant and Page never made a secret of their influences, and had great taste in early country blues. Jimmy Page used to say that all his riffs were original, it was Robert Plant's habit of lifting lines that kept getting them in legal trouble! Covers included.

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OK that's it then. See you next Monday or Tuesday! Comments appreciated.