The Gale – Gotta Run Away / Make Up My Mind. 1972 USA ~ Birmingham, Alabama

A very interesting two sider here. The a) side starts with an excellent bass and drums groove. The song itself is a laid back organ rocker with excellent harmony vocals. The guitar and organ solos are clearly from the jazz school. The b) maintains the excellent groove though moves over to the soul funk genre, especially considering the addition of female vocals and wah wah rhythm guitar. At first I thought this was the weaker track, but here the guitar solo is based more in the psychedelic tradition. Obscure as they get.

4.0

1/5/26 (new entry)

Hercules & The Black Majic - War (Parts 1 and 2). 1970 USA ~ Des Moines, Iowa

The a) side is a fairly straightforward cover of the Edwin Starr classic. A little more rough and ready. More psych'd out I'd submit. Not really enough to call out on its own though. It's the b) side that captures the attention. While still the same song, it's a completely rearranged, improvised psychedelic funk instrumental with loads of killer fuzz. Good one here.

3.5 / 4.5

1/5/26 (new entry)

Pappys Hauted House - One More Time / Dude. 1972 USA ~ Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

One of those classic misspellings that that no doubt haunted (had to do it) the band for years to come. The a) side is mostly soul / jazz with the song belonging to the former and the organ to the latter. Nice wah wah rhythms and horns. It's the b) side that ignites the flame here. They add in wicked fuzz, and primarily go psychedelic with some hints of funk. 

The leader of the band was John Papi, who is the organ player, and led a jazz trio at one point. He's quite an interesting character. Much more info about him can be found here: https://oldmonmusic.blogspot.com/2010/01/john-papi.html

1/5/26 (new entry)

Long Richard – Force Myself / Lovin Cup. 1968 USA ~ Sacramento, California

The a) side is a drifty psych blues number with piano, electric guitar, and impassioned vocals. Has a jazzy styled rhythm. Vocals are strong and of the late 60s West Coast style. b) is a Butterfield Blues Band number. Again, bluesy in nature, but the psychedelic guitar playing takes it to the next level. Even some Steppenwolf styled riffing. Good two sider.

3.5

12/30/25 (new entry) 

Starchild - Long Way Home / Ocean. 1978 USA ~ Dallas, Texas

Really nice two sider. The a) side is more commercial in nature, but still based in space rock principles, especially considering the phasing. The vocals are female and bear a strong resemblance to my Proto Prog with Female Vocals list. This is especially apparent on the b) side which is more progressive rock in nature. The overall sound is late 70s or early 80s. Excellent guitar work throughout.

Not finding anything much about it. A comment on YouTube says it was made for a Sci-Fi Movie and Book. It also says Dallas. 

More research ties the Dallas reference together with this book. In the description they talk about an unfinished novel from a 40 year old movie treatment. And this was published in 2018. 40 years before? 1978. That sounds exactly right. I'm going forward with these dates and places.

3.5 / 4.0

12/30/25 (new entry)

Parente Band – Tramp / New Day. 1971 USA ~ Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Both sides are high energy instrumental jazz funk tunes. Great grooves on this one. The only soloist is the tenor saxophonist. I like his style, busy, melodic, and never out of control. The horn section is tight, and one could call this big band rock. Oddly, there are two distinct pressings for this 45. I've included the more informative one.

3.5

12/11/25 (new entry)

J.B. Green & Born Again - Rock Me Baby / Time. 1976 USA

A very interesting 45, as the music presented is not really single material. It's mostly a type of instrumental psychedelic jazz, very mellow, with fuzzy lead guitar, though not overly amplified. The a) side has vocals and is based in the blues, but once again it sounds more psych jazz than anything. 

I've read they're from Texas without corroboration. Discogs says the label is from Dallas but that's based on the record being pressed by A&R. I know the record plant from my days in DFW, but that doesn't mean the label or artist is from there. I didn't realize Josey Records owns it now. 

3.5 / 4.0

12/10/25 (new entry)

Catch - In The Garden / Brand New Day. 1974 USA ~ Chicago, Illinois

Another title that has a lot of misdirection on the ole WWW. Unknown soul funk gem is the screaming headline. Not really. The a) side is an excellent proggy hard rock track with loads of organ and guitar. The flip is a bit more poppy until they slide back into some more prog jam goodness. Plenty of early Santana references. This is a very good title, though I would think funk folks wouldn't be overly impressed. This is more in my strike zone.

4.0

12/10/25 (new entry)

Preserving the following from band member Jeff Beckler in case it gets wiped away some day: "I was in this band, we recorded it at Universal studios in Chicago. We were all from the Chicago area. It was 1974, the music was done in one take, and the vocals were added in one take. There were six people in the band. Lead guitar Rich Knoble, key boards Robert Blum, drums Mike Kariosha, Bass Tony Zerkawitz and 2 percussion and lead singers Chuck and Jeff Beckler along with the lead guitarist Rich Knoble. This group formed after originally being called The Looking Glass.When the New York looking Glass came out with The hit song Brandy , the group broke up and reformed its style into more progressive funk style of music. 2 years later we broke up and all went separate ways."

Steve Akin – It's Heavy / I'm Trippin' Alone. 1970 USA ~ Houston, Texas

First track is heavily reliant on the blues, with some country, folk, and rural vibes. The flip is faster with some nice acoustic guitar jamming, and vocals that have a distant resemblance to Jimi Hendrix. Not bad. I wouldn't call it funk or psych though, which is what you'll see out there.

12/10/25 (new entry)

The Smoke Ring - Heavy Metal Whale / Triangle. 1972 USA ~ Nebraska

The Smoke Ring were a Nebraska 60s pop act. Their final 45 (of many) looks more promising than it is. However, there seems to be some misdirection about it as well. Discogs has a note that the a) side is Reggae. Nope. It sounds like War with the addition of steel drums. The b) side is labeled as Pop. RYM does similar. Nope. To me it sounds like a typical North American early 70s hard(er) rock track with harmony vocals and a lot of Hammond organ. Not bad at all.

12/10/25 (new entry)

La Familia Inc. - La Tuna / This Time. 1972 USA ~ San Francisco, California

Now this one really caught me off guard. The beginning of 'La Tuna' has a nice tight horn section, with rhythm electric piano, playing Latin salsa music similar to early Santana in their native roots mode. Then comes the most screaming fuzz guitar I've heard in ages! We're talking Carlos Santana x2 here. Very unexpected but we get our total money's worth in this extended solo. This is followed by a trumpet lead which leads to a psychotic "La Tuna" rant, and then back to the horns. Whew - what a killer track! The b) side flips over to the Chicago Transit Authority, and reminds me of the more poppy tracks from their first three albums. Unfortunately there are no Terry Kath like breaks, but it's still a pleasant song.

Both of these tracks are on their second album from 1972 called Para La Gente. No idea what kind of consistency the album holds. But 'La Tuna' needs to be comp'd on some psychedelic anthology. 

Own.

9/16/25 (new entry)

Earth Opera - Colorado / Kick'en Back. 1976 USA ~ Colorado

Hard to imagine two bands with the name Earth Opera, but here it is. And the other group was relatively well known from the 60s, so it's a rather strange choice. Perhaps they thought they could get away with it buried way out in the desolate ranch lands of eastern Colorado. I mean, seriously, Otis is in the middle of nowhere. I live in the state and I've never even heard of it.

They actually squeaked out an album as well, and both of these tracks are on it. The reviews that I read about the album are pretty harsh, but I didn't find these two tracks so bad. Both fit into the mid 70s hard rock zone, with a little bit of dude posturing. There are no extended solos to help the lack of songwriting. Perhaps the 45 length makes it more tolerable?

It's from Colorado, so I'll keep it.

3.0 / 3.5

Own.

9/4/25 (new entry)

Holly Near - Back Off / Unity. 1982 USA ~ California

Holly Near appears to be your typical LGBTQ activist Californian that checks every woke box, and will likely be long forgotten in the decades to come. Most of her music is in the predictable folk rock or soft rock realm. But her one legacy may be this 45. Like Dianne Davidson, the music on display goes against her typecast. Essentially it's sellout deep groove disco with some fine guitar and African drums on the B) side. A nice curio that I think I'll hold onto for a bit.

3.5

Own.

8/9/25 (new entry)

The Main Attraction - I Got Love For My Baby / What Do I Wish For. 1973 USA ~ Flint, Michigan

This was the crown jewel of our recent trip to Detroit. Dug this one out of a thrift shop for 25 cents! And it's in almost perfect shape. Even better is the sleeve has a handwritten note from someone in the band. Crystal Steele maybe? There is a phone number, but no such luck. Out of service and even an internet search turned up an unrelated name from the past. It was 52 years ago after all.

The music is what I'd call funky soul. The background is definitely funk but the two tunes are soul in nature. Female vocals dominate and there are no significant instrumental breaks. No matter, this one is special to me given the backstory.

Own.

3.5 / 3.5

The Tikis - If I've Been Dreaming / Pay Attention To Me. 1965 USA ~ SF Bay Area, California

From Santa Cruz comes The Tikis. Have you heard of the Beatles? So have The Tikis. Both tracks are similar to their 'She Loves You' style with a surf guitar mid song break. The Tikis later changed their name to The Other Tikis before moving on to their most famous moniker Harpers Bizarre. Feelin' Groovy baby.

Used to own.

5/20/25

The Merry-Go-Round – Come Ride, Come Ride / She Laughed Loud. 1968 USA ~ Los Angeles, California

Both of these tracks are very much influenced by the Baroque pop psych of the Beatles and all their followers. The A) side is likewise heavily orchestrated. Pretty good overall but not my favorite style of psych.

Used to own. This is the more obscure of the two She Laughed Loud singles by the band. Neither appeared on their sole album.

5/19/25

Matrix - Comin' Home / Slam Dunk. 1982 USA ~ Wisconsin

From Appleton, Matrix had a relatively successful career, obtaining major label releases on both RCA and Warner Bros. I've heard a couple of them, but don't recall the contents and didn't keep either around. On this single, Matrix mixes two entirely different styles. The a) is smooth soul with crooning vocals and horns. The b) is hard funk with tight charts. The bassist really puts in a strong performance here. This would be Matrix's last effort and neither of these are on LP.

Own. Label is more orange than the photo suggests.

2.5 / 3.5

5/19/25

Murl (Merrell Fankhauser) - Sail It Over The Ocean / Calling From a Star. 1979 USA ~ Hawaii

Wasn't sure what to expect here. I know Fankhauser best from his psych days and the band MU. Both tracks could be considered Yacht Rock. The B) side has some cool synth, that leans in towards a David Bowie type sound. I think I'll hold onto this one given that it's scarce but not expensive enough to sell.

Own with pic sleeve.

3 / 3.5

5/19/25

Bob Abbott - Long Way To My House / Silent Girl. 1975 USA ~ Houston, Texas

This one caught me by surprise. Both tracks more or less go under the category of soft rock, perhaps pop rock. However there is some delicious analog synthesizer putting it over the Yacht Rock line and more to my interest area. A complete unknown, I'm hanging onto to this title.

Own.

More info from Unknown Vinyl Records.

3/3

5/7/25 (new entry)

Sound Company - Truman's Daughter / I Am Your Hour. 1971 USA ~ Missouri

From Neosho, Missouri which is in the far SW part of the state near Joplin. The A) side is a nice driving hard rock with more than a hint of Southern rock which you might expect of a band near the Ozarks. It's the B) side that is the head turner. Sound Company introduces Hammond organ and the bass player lays down a mean groove while the drummer gets out the amphetamine kit. In comes the wah wah rhythm guitar. Think Rare Earth when they're on their A-game. A couple of chorus' later comes the payoff - an absolute wicked and blazing fuzz solo. This is followed by the vocalist going psychotic. I could have gone for 20 minutes of this! 

Own. With picture sleeve. Paid a buck at a thrift shop and it's in minty condition. Hell yea!

5/6/25 (new entry)