Showing posts with label not in RYM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label not in RYM. Show all posts

Sunday, June 15, 2025

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 cover 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

Monday, May 19, 2025

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

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

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)

Saturday, April 26, 2025

Bondzmen – Smoke In The City / Come Along With Me. USA ~ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


Both tracks are dreary soul numbers with a hint of garage. A) side is more upbeat but still depressing in its content. B) side has an overlong chorus. 

Derived they were from Philly based on the publisher name, but that could be incorrect.

2.5 / 2.0

4/26/25

The Revised Edition - Thoughts / Illusions Of You ~ USA ~ North Carolina


From Asheboro, south of Greensboro. A) side is high energy garage driven by organ and excellent drumming. The B) side turns up the amps while slowing things down. Bit of doom even. Has a nice fuzz solo in the middle.

3.0 / 3.5

4/26/25

Sunday, April 20, 2025

T.M.L. - Should Have Done Better / Can’t Take It No More. USA ~ Chicago, Illinois


A) side is a moderately paced driving song with a scratchy sound and a nice fuzz break. Chorus is overlong. B) side is more moody. Organ is a distinguishing feature. Seems the latter track is going to break out into a proggy bit but always holds back. Sort of like Procol Harum I suppose.

3.0 / 3.0

4/20/25 (review)

Friday, April 11, 2025

Amber Band - Keep It Burning / I'm So Confused. 1980 USA ~ San Diego, California


A) side has a hard driving riff though the song is 70s classic rock in construct. I liked the B) side better which contains soft flute and more than a nod to fellow Californians Ambrosia. Nice piece of yacht rock.

3/3.5

4/11/25 

Friday, April 4, 2025

The Mods - Dry My Eyes / Rosalie. 1967 USA ~ Lincoln, Nebraska


Excellent blue eyed soul that yields to early funk. Good horn charts, solid melodies, high energy, and makes you want to hop around. Great organ too.

The song 'Dry My Eyes' was written by a well known band called The Fabulous Flippers, a group from Genius Hans' favorite town of Hays, Kansas. And the single was released on Fona. There are allegations that The Mods were a pseudonym for The Fabulous Flippers. However it's documented they were "The Modds" and were from Lincoln, Nebraska. They are in the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame in fact. So they grabbed the tune from their label mates is all there is to the story.

Own.

3.5 / 3.5

4/4/25 (new entry)

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

The TKO's – Dancing With My Baby / Getting Into Something. 1966 USA


I believe this is what they call "a dancer". All instrumental soul funk with wonderful fuzzy organ and jazz tone guitar. The flip side is more Latin influenced. 1966 is the year everything began to turn, and this is another one of those transitional 45s.

Own.

3.5 / 3.0

4/1/25 (new entry)

The Dan Terry Thing ‎– Big Daddy / Funin'. 1968 USA


Of late I've had an interest in big band jazz rock. The Dan Terry Thing is an excellent example of that sound. The stage band charts are excellent and energetic though the soloing is odd. Seems like a kazoo (!?) at times. Were that fuzz guitar instead, this 45 would be a $500+ rarity. You can hear some Maynard Ferguson and Buddy Rich in these grooves.

I have the SP here, not sure I'm going to keep it. Will hold onto for a bit.

3/3

4/1/25 (new entry)

Friday, March 28, 2025

Headwinds - Warrior Song / Just To Be With You. 1977 USA ~ Los Angeles, California


I can't remember how I first heard about Headwinds, but the 45 found its way onto my want list eventually. The music here is a commercially oriented progressive rock. Somewhat like same era Yes and Starcastle. And the B) side leans towards Styx even. The synthesizer work in particular is very much from the prog school. Nice saxophone, acoustic guitar, and harmony vocals. It's not rhythmically complex, so this for fans of lush "symphonic", though it would have been better served had it featured mellotron. Headwinds aren't for underground fans looking for psych excursions. Given that this is a custom pressing, I'll presume the band had no real intention of getting radio airplay. Rather they were documenting their efforts to that point in time. One wonders if they have more material sitting in a vault somewhere.

After some research I found 'Warrior Song' on YouTube posted by keyboardist Mark Poynter (going by Eric). It's a longer take. So there may be more after all.

Further research teaches us that Headwinds were from Pasadena and often played with Van Halen. Now isn't that interesting? Especially back then when Mammoth / VH were at their heaviest. After breaking up in 1980, two of the members (guitarist Michael Britton and keyboardist Poynter) joined forces with Tommy Lee (yes, pre-Motley Crue) to form a hard rock band called Dealer (there is an archival CDr demo of their recordings). Later, guitarist Michael Britton went onto to form Romeo then his namesake Britton, who managed to put out three albums. Later Britton found Woodbury Boys in Salt Lake City and that seems to be the end of the line from a recording perspective.

You would never know that Headwinds housed heavy metal / hard rockers in their midst as they didn't display that angst on this 45.

Own.

4 / 3.5

3/28/25 (new entry)

Sunday, March 2, 2025

Harpy - Backseat Love / Mr. Jimmy. 1975 USA ~ Syracuse, New York


Harpy were from Syracuse, New York and this is their only known recorded work. Their music could best be described as AM radio rock of the mid 70s. Something akin to Three Dog Night. There is an excellent synthesizer break on the A) side making it more interesting than usual. This track was featured on a local Syracuse 2xLP comp in 1976.

3 / 2.5

3/2/25

Young Presidents - Mac-10 Morning / Not In Love. 1987 USA ~ Monterey, California


Average anthem hard rock with a slight metal tone. The wildcard here is the use of harmonica, not an instrument we typically here in music such as this. One presumes they used a lot of hairspray, but the vintage photos show them looking more like Huey Lewis and the News. Some older clips show saxophone as well, so it appears they really weren't metal at all. Band is still active as I enter this post.

2/5 / 2.5

3/2/25

The Red Barons - Bomb Out Of Your Mind / You Do. 1971 USA ~ New York ~ Pennsylvania


Both sides are consistent folk rock jangly pop styled. Led by a one Cheryl Barnes, her vocals recall a bit of Janis Joplin and Canned Haat. Or even Jean Ritchie. There's some old organ in play. The music sounds more like 1967 than '71. It appears the band were from the New York / Pennsylvania border, and there's some Appalachia in here too.

3 / 3

3/2/25

Sunday, January 26, 2025

Cheyenne - Heart Throb Girl / Bad Taste of Love. USA


Complete unknown here. It would be tempting to say they're from Wyoming but probably not. The A) side is bordering hard rock, more like 70s classic rock with a late night bar aura. The guitar solo is interesting, a bit more notes per second than usual, making me think this might be from the 80s. The B) side is straight up AOR music with even a hint of synthesizer, adding more credence to the 80s claim. Not very interesting musically but worth documenting for the historical record.

2.5 / 2.0

1/9/25 (first listen / review)


Hatterfox – Lonely Tonight / Holdin' On. 1981 USA-Alabama


From Hunstville, Hatterfox played a mix of hard rock and AOR. This 45 is their debut, a year before their sole LP. Neither of these tracks made it to the album.  After hearing this 45, I'd submit the album is probably worth giving a listen. Despite the origin of the group, Hatterfox are not Southern rock in the slightest. They have their eye on the national charts, and the music plays to that. They have some talent, but neither song has a memorable hook. The vocalist isn't very dynamic. Decent dual guitar work. Overall it sounds more like something from a few years earlier, but now with synth pop in the limelight, bands like Hatterfox needed to slick it up a bit. And it's nowhere near heavy enough to be an underground hard rock classic. Yea it's just too 70s for the 80s I'm afraid.

3/3

1/9/25 (first listen / review)


Thursday, January 9, 2025

Tail Gunner – Sassy / Ten Years. 1980 USA-Baltimore


Tail Gunner is a great example of the American hard rock sound from the late 70s going into 1980. A full album (which apparently was planned) would have been a revelation. Neither of these two tracks exceed two and a half minutes, but they do pack a few ideas into each. Which tells me an album would have fallen into the sophisticated hard rock category. 'Ten Years' eerily sounds like the great Micah, especially the way the vocals are handled. Keyboards are a nice touch. The YouTube video confirms these guys have the "look" to go with the chops.

3.5 / 3.5

1/9/25

Saturday, January 4, 2025

Haz - My True Love (You Are To Me) / Prelude to Paradise. 1983 USA ~ Colorado Springs, Colorado


Cool find here. The A) side is whiny soul balladry and is not for me. It's the B) side that you're after (presuming you're not into whiny soul balladry that is...). Interesting mix of synthesizer driven boogie funk, late era disco, and jazz fusion. Plenty of saxophone, a little flute, and some tight horn charts. A wonderful groove throughout. Mainly instrumental with whispered vocals. Closes with sounds of the ocean.

I found this among a large drop of both soul and country (?!) 45s that obviously came from a radio station (that would be a weird playlist format). This was the only private obscurity in the batch, at least that I found (it's very possible I wasn't first). As you can see, it doesn't have any info on the label.

According to Discogs it comes with a picture sleeve, though this copy didn't have it. The Discogs entry doesn't show the back which might contain information (though it could be blank too). The band is led by Al Hazard (hence the name Haz) though nothing reliable turned up for him. The pic sleeve lists the two singers from the A) side. A little sleuthing shows that Heidie White performed on an album from Denver. Lyndon Copeland, on the other hand, has a biography and guess what? He's from here in Colorado Springs! Which explains why this station probably had the 45 in their possession. Some influencer put it up on YouTube which has lead to it having huge demand. I'm keeping it though.

Own. 

1/4/25 (new entry)

Thursday, January 2, 2025

The Changing Image – Awakening Dream / The Happy Girl. 1969 USA-Miami


There's a bit of budget behind this title, as there's some orchestra backing the sunshine happy vocals. If you're a fan of The Association's style of pop psych, then these titles are worth seeking out. Pleasant but unnecessary in my world.

3 / 3

1/2/25

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