The Movement – Combination of the Two / Riding on a Sunday. 1969 USA-Buffalo

Custom pressing from Buffalo, New York.  Psych collector's dream opening with wild fuzz soloing. Roughhewn vocals follow, while the rhythm guitar rips away. Nice heavy solo towards the end. Hyperactive drumming too. B) gets right to business with a Steppenwolf styled hard rocker. Both sides exist on compilations.

7/15/20 (first listen); 2/13/24 (review / new entry)

Unsettled Society – 17 Diamond Studded Cadillacs / Passion Seeds. 1969 USA-New York

A side is a heavy wah wah psych classic that's been comped quite a bit. Neither track made any of the ones I own, so this is my first exposure. In hearing the drum patterns and guitar effects, one has to presume Iron Butterfly's poster was up in their collective bedrooms. Proto Krautrock really. B side goes for the witchy mystic midnight hour sound. They can't sing, but that's part of the allure honestly. Looks like they were from Syracuse.

1/2/24

Cucumber - Don't Make Me Cry / Under. 1968 USA-Brooklyn

From Brooklyn. Well right from the very first note, you know this is going to be a psychedelic monster. Way fuzzed out guitars, with background Hammond organ, pounding rhythms, and spaced out vocals. The flip is an instrumental - just as acid drenched as 'Don't Make Me Cry', except it's a dirge. This is as good as it gets for underground psychedelic singles. Major leagues.

Ownership: SP: 1968 Cobblestone promo. Recent online acquisition (2021). 

Sometimes you just get lucky. I bought this from one of those ebay mega-sellers that usually gets top dollar for everything. A friend of mine had this one very highly rated, so I figured I'd throw in a lowball for the heck of it. I won it, and for significantly less than my high bid. Part of why that may have been is because their description had it rated as a G+, and that the labels were worn. Funny enough I never sampled it (which they always provide, and I usually check). Once I re-read the description I said "no wonder" (though the labels looked fine to me). But - that wasn't the case. Honestly I think they forgot to change the description. Once I received it, the labels look great (much better than Discogs' stock photos that you see here), and the condition wasn't scuffy at all. OK, the b side has a tiny feelable scratch for the last 30 seconds that causes a light tick. Big deal. I'm sure it was a listing mistake (this is an easy VG++). I'll take it!

2/8/21 (first listen / review / new entry)

The Essentials - Sunshine Baby / Freedom. 1970 USA-New York

The Essentials were from the Albany, New York area. The A side is pure sunshine popsike, and is lovely, if not way out of date for 1970. The flip is the complete opposite, and starts off with a wicked wah wah rhythm with more effects applied after. The vocals have turned bitter. Looks like the girlfriend didn't work out, and he's free! And then went on to take his anger out on the guitar. Timeless tactic. I would like to say this two sider is essential...

5/11/20

Harlequin - Trees / What's Your Pleasure. 1974 USA-New York

Harlequin is that rare breed - a progressive rock band that released only a 45 single. As I stated on the Christian Friday (Indiana) review: "Progressive rock and the 45 single are somewhat mutually exclusive anyway." Prog rock is the ultimate long form rock music and 45s are... not. Long form that is.

In any case, this Long Island based Harlequin is often confused with another New York based Harlequin that once featured Eric Adams on vocals (yea, the Manowar guy). 

The two tracks here are excellent. 'Trees' recalls early King Crimson and Genesis, whereas 'What's Your Pleasure' brings to mind - yet another Long Island band - Cathedral. Bucket loads of mellotron on both songs here for fans of the instrument.

9/8/19 

These two tracks are not on any comps that I'm aware of. It would be great to have an all-American non-LP, non-reissued comp of progressive rock 45s or unreleased tracks released on CD (or LP is you insist). I can think of a few off the top: Xebec, Christian Friday, PBX, Graced Lightning (it's only half an album so why not?), Vesuvius, Traum, Apocalypse, Quorum, Guardian, and now Harlequin. Shoot, maybe even throw in the proggy tracks from otherwise not-very-good obscure albums like Luna Sea and Skyeros. OK, I had my fun.