Nuggets

 

A couple of days ago I found in the deepest corner of my external hard drive a complilation from the late 60's. Nuggets attempted to provide an overview of the then-emerging psychedelic music scene. Many of these bands were never heard again of - whilst a few songs by others have stuck in the memo. A far cry from the marijuana-fuelled music of California, these bands sought to establish a new guitar sound rooted in the blues. What remains are songs based on a raw, DIY sound. These days, one would classify this as garage rock or describe it as a journey back in time to a carefree era.

The Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard

The Standells - Dirty Water

The Electric Prunes - I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)

Animal Wednesday

 

This weeks edition of songs with animals in the title takes us back more than 50 years ago to the age of glam. In 1975 The Sweet released their first self written Song and it was a kind of emancipation from Chinn/Chapman.

Chinn/Capman were the state of the art in writing and producing legendary pop songs in these days. They also produced Mud's greatest hit back in 1974.

The Osmonds described their sound as an evolution of heavy metal. They may well see it that way, but for me it was one of the better songs from 1972.

Monday's Long Song

 

Another week in which I’m featuring a band here that I’d never heard of before. Prairiewolf are a three-piece instrumental band from Denver, Colorado, who recorded their third album a few weeks ago. According to the band themselves, this is a live album, although it was actually recorded in the studio.

The recordings of two live performances were layered on top of one another, collaged and enhanced with overdubs.

The result can be described as psychedelic ambient country, in which electronic guitar chords float above a beatbox and meander off into ethereal heights. To some, this sounds like lift music; to others, it’s the current American response to German electronic music of the early 1970s. Form your own opinion of this music.