Danny Holien - Colorado / Red Wing. 1972 USA ~ Denver, Colorado

A surprising find from the thrifts. On first glance one would think you found a country single, which are very prevalent in these parts, especially from the 1970s. The Denver based Tumbleweed label is pretty quirky though, and has all kinds of music on it.

Apparently Holien is from Minnesota and migrated to Colorado. A) is an homage to his new state. It's mostly haunting folk with flute followed by majestic orchestration. It gets a little long in the tooth by the end, but still a nice piece. Even better is the B) which continues the haunting folk with flute, but here we are treated to a rocking mid-section and the (now dual) flutes almost have a Krautrock feeling here.

Both of these tracks are on his sole album, something I have yet to run into. Even if the rest isn't very good, these two tracks would put it in the keeper category.

Own.

The Trespassers – Living Memories / Come With Me. 1967 USA ~ Baltimore, Maryland

Both sides have a punky garage psych sound about them. The a) side sounds like a proto Plastic Cloud whereas the B) side has shades of Arthur Lee's Love. Excellent.

Jefferson Lee – Book Of Love / Sorcerella. 1969 USA ~ Atlanta, Georgia

That's his actual name. Jefferson Lee. I mean, seriously, how southern can you get? Is his brother Robert E. Davis?

The music, however, is nothing that we would typically associate with the South. Heavy psych for both tracks. Nothing extraordinary, but both very much fit the late 60s psych single mindset. Plenty of fuzz guitar and bass.

Chris Garrett & Sweet Poison – Family Man / Cold N' Rainy. 1975 England

The a) side is a heavy funk rocker with wah wah guitar. Nice driving track in the early 70s Grand Funk Railroad tradition. The b) side is a soft folky number with faint Beatles undertones. No idea why this is labeled prog rock. Nothing of the sort. Hard rock, funk, and folk. Very incongruous. We see this disconnect between sides on 60s singles, but not so much in the 70s when bands were trying to promote an identity. Sweet Poison obviously did not have one. An identity that is. This 45 has a big rep, but I'm not buying it.

3.5 / 2.5

Power - Children Ask / She Is The Color Of. 1967 USA ~ Los Angeles, California

This is my kind of doomy and trippy psych. Both tracks are absolutely haunting. The a) side starts with a zonked out organ, followed by fuzz, and then some downer vocals. The b) side continues the dark mood, though organ is more featured. There is a progressive rock like break as well. Imagine Group 1850 guesting on a Doors album and you'll be starting to get the scent. Excellent two sider.

Own.

Childe Harold - Brink Of Death / Anne, With Love. 1968 New York, New York

The a) side is a drifty and dreamy pop psych number with Baroque trimmings, which was popular in that era. Harpsichord introduces us to the b) side which has a similar spacey vibe. A bit of the same kind of folk psych one might hear from upstaters The Free Design. Perhaps best known for including Walter / Wendy Carlos on Moog synthesizer (used sparingly). Released on the relatively major label Limelight with a picture sleeve.

Σωτήρης Κοματσιούλης – Επιδρομή Από Τον Άρη / Σαν Τον Άνεμο. 1972 Greece

Well, it's all Greek to me. Sotiris Komatsioulis released this one psych single in 1972, and then headed to England and worked with various others including Robert Wyatt. Apparently the songs are Christian oriented. The guitars have fuzz tone and there's plenty of primitive organ to jam out with. The sound is very pleasant for those attuned to the psychedelic underground. The compositions themselves are straightforward, and not a whole lot to grab onto. Worth seeking out though.

Majic Bus - World Turned Away / Total Silence. 197? USA ~ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Very interesting one here. I bought this from a store in Phoenix while visiting family. I had seen it on Discogs, and since we were already there, might as well grab it. I'd heard some of it online once and added it straight to my want list. My notes says it reminded me of early Yes.

Yep, that's exactly it too. Really excellent two sider. Has much more of a UK sound than American. Thinking Guns & Butter here as well. As I put in the release notes in Discogs (while adding prog as a genre): Has organ, flute, sax, acoustic guitar, and Minimoog. Concerning the latter, this makes the date of 1970 highly suspicious (they would have had to be one of the first ever to use this synthesizer). Not enough data to overturn but 1971 to 1972 is far more likely here.

Quite an obscure item, though it isn't fetching high dollars, which isn't atypical for proggy 45s (though there are some major exceptions). Not in 45cat or RYM as I add this here.

Own.

4.0