Rolling Late-60's/Early-70's Thud-Rock Thread

More releases in this vein, both from '69:

- EMERGE, Litter (Probe)
- RATIONALS, Rationals (Crewe)

For years, both of these albums were despised by fans of both bands' earlier, garagier records, but now that the collectors are starting to cream over late '60s/early '70s hard-rock, these LP's might finally get some shine...

i always wondered if that litter album sounded similar to the white lightning stuff...

Trapeze were 'discovered' by the Moody Blues who dragged 'em around with 'em as a support act on one of their big early American tours. Their first album is mellow stuff. Then they morphed into a harder-sounding band. You might have done a bit better with the "We're Just the Band but You're the Show," or whatever it's called. The couple of live albums from this period -- when they were a trio with Hughes as singer -- are the best representation of their hard stuff.

Then Hughes left and they became much more of a generic Seventies rock act, except with an inclination to do lots of funk. Hot Wire is the best-known album from that version of the band. I have it and like it but it has nothing to do with Dust or SLB. xhuxk might like it. That line-up did two albums, were big in San Antone. Then there was another personnel rearrangement that resulted in two or three records and I lost interest.

^^^
Earlier on in this thread, George "The Animal" Steele (is that you?) recommended MEDUSA (the album I found), HOT WIRE, and YOU'RE THE MUSIC, WE'RE JUST THE BAND...I'll be looking out for the other two I don't have.

Right now I'm listening to David Peel & the Lower East Side's AMERICAN REVOLUTION, from 1970...musically, this is cool punkish hard rock that goes down well next to two other Elektra acts, the Stooges and the MC 5. However, you gotta get past Peel's outrageous-for-the-hell-of-it lyrics (anti-religion, anti-cop, anti-everybody...even hippie rock critics hated him back then. I understand that this is the only time Peel ever rocked out; everything else is on the folkish side.

does that have his version of "helter skelter" on it?

Nope.

Yeah, it's me. Of the two, "You're the music..." is the best. Hot Wire is as I said above. Approach with a bit of caution if you don't want the funk. Lacks Glenn Hughes but adds a guitarist and still has Dave Holland on drums.

"EMERGE, Litter (Probe)"

one of my faves. i put it on my decibel thud-rock top 50:

http://decibelmagazine.com/features_detail.aspx?id=8926&terms=filthy+50&searchtype=2&fragment=True

"For years, both of these albums were despised by fans of both bands' earlier, garagier records"

this is definitely true of the litter record. basically psych heads wrote it off as "hard rock" which, um, i have never had a problem with! it just kicks ass, that's all i know. and i do love the first two litter albums a bunch.

"For years, both of these albums were despised by fans of both bands' earlier, garagier records"

"this is definitely true of the litter record. basically psych heads wrote it off as "hard rock" which, um, i have never had a problem with! it just kicks ass, that's all i know. and i do love the first two litter albums a bunch."

I'd read about the Litter and had seen their name dropped in fanzines when I thrifted my copy of EMERGE. I knew it wasn't gonna be a garage record - 1969 was a little too late for that - but right off the bat, I dug it for what it was.

anyone familiar with the Raven album Back to Ohio Blues? Just got a reissue and the descriptions sound awesome

I don't know if their album on the Lizard label has been reissued, but Frantic is another good band in this vein. I only have a 45 from the LP ("Midnight To Six Man" - yeah, the Pretty Things tune - backed with "Shady Sam"), but a friend who has the LP sez it has the same high standards. Produced by Gabriel Mekler, so it has that same ABC/Dunhill studio polish heard on Steppenwolf and Three Dog Night records, but the heaviosity still comes shinin' through...

And while I brought up ABC/Dunhill, any thoughts on the band Birtha? Or is that not heavy enuff?

the frantic record is on my filthy 50 list that i posted above. it's not an album that many people remember/have heard. it's not great, but it's good and scuzzy and that's why i put it on there. plus, great cover!

http://www.popsike.com/pix/20060307/4845986514.jpg

Good list, I have about 12 of the "Filthy 50."

Rev. Hoodoo, the Bar-Kays do indeed rock on the '07 collection Wattstax: Music From The Wattstax Festival And Film (3 discs, from the various LPs that came out of this, plus some prev unissued). They kill with "Son Of Shaft/Feel It"(9:19; "In The Hole" (originally an instrumental b-side, here with "screams, vocables," as the booklet says, and words too!)(lotta stuff happens in 2:47); and "I Can't Turn You Loose." This follows an equally hot set from Rance Allen, and Disc One has a great 5-song set from the Staple Singers. Overall, each disc is a little uneven, but for instance David Porter's "Reach Out And Touch Somebody's Hand" is followed by Richard Pryor's "Niggas" and "Arrest/Lineup." The Terry Manning album starts really good (with a parody of a Box Tops outtake, like teenaged Chilton forcing the obligatory gravel voice through a mouthful of hangover) and ends great ("I Can't Stand The Rain," with the Hi Rhythm Section, live at a last-minute fill-in gig, at a high school, I think!)(the guitarist cuts loose like I always hoped Sonny Sharrock would get to do on one of Herbie Mann's Memphis or Muscle Shoals sets)(yeah, he's good on Memphis Underground, but this is way past that)But the booklet explains that Manning just did the Box Tops parody as a one-off; played it for his boss, who demanded an album, and to me the results sound as forced as what he was kidding Alex about. But Edd Hurt really likes the whole thing, so maybe he's right (Manning also worked with Big Star, on Led Zep III, etc.)

Hey, Dow...

I am very familiar with the Bar-Kays appearance in the WATTSTAX flick. I've had the two original soundtracks for years, and while I usually lift the needle during the "Feel It" part, the "Son Of Shaft" half of that song kills on contact - matter of fact, I like the live version of "S.O.S." better than the studio, but then again this live take was the first version I ever heard.

Gospel-soul icon Rance Allen wasn't a stoner-rocker, but the distorted tone he gets on his guitar is on some kind of Blue Cheer steez. Too bad he doesn't play guitar live anymore! "Lying On The Truth" is amazing.

As far as Terry Manning, I'm with Edd Hurt - that album is really good, especially when you consider how hit-or-miss Stax was with white rock! I consider Manning's album to be one of those peculiar, twisted rock classics that could have only come out of Memphis, up there with James Luther Dickinson's DIXIE FRIED and John Prine's PINK CADILLAC. But Manning's LP is the only one that would fit in a thread devoted to Nixon-era hard rock...

And speaking of hard rock on Stax...the self-titled Moloch album definitely belongs in this thread. Recently reissued on CD.

anyone familiar with the Raven album Back to Ohio Blues? Just got a reissue and the descriptions sound awesome

of all of the albums i've seen described as having a "biker vibe," it's by far the best. not too bluesy or too boogie, just kind of pissed off stomping rock. alright, the title track is kinda bluesy, but not in a shitty way, and the vocalist is foaming at the mouth through much of it. rockadelic version made the rounds of the mp3 blogs a while back if you're interested in checking it out before you drop $20 on it.

was that Rationals album reissued on CD?

Also on Wattstax, after horns play fancy, Rufus Thomas says, "Ohhhh, I feel soooo inadequate." But he doesn't really! You can tell! A true thudster. (Sure hope the great Concord Music Group's Stax-Volt reissue series will include whole albums by him; he keeps having to hitch a ride with daughter Carla). The recent Blue Cheer set, What Doesn't Kill You..., has thud and bounce, which they may be getting from (and/or why they're attracted to) "Born Under A Bad Sign," although their cover isn't that great (it's okay though). The opening track is really stupid, but mostof the rest is pretty satisfying on my exercycle (but I need even more recommended biker rock than is already on this thread).

well, there's that reissue of betty's "handful" album on shadoks...

a bit late for this thread, from '92, but the High Speed & The Afflict Man 'Get Stoned Ezy' record is real cool, maybe in more of a "basement rock" way? what are the specific limits of basement rock vs. thud rock???

http://www.inblogs.net/siltblog/2006/03/superfuzz-bigmuffmudhoney-is_06.html

oops, from EIGHTY-TWO, not 92.

>>the self-titled Moloch album definitely belongs in this thread. >>Recently reissued on CD.

A bit overrated. I got this one on the Don Nix connection. He wrote all the material. Leans toward heavy psychedelic with acid bursts of blooz fuzztone guitar. But the entire thing tends toward slow in a molasses way and the rhythm section just never quite gets going the way you think it should for the style. Plus, it's on Fallout which is just another dodge name for the Radioactive ripoff label from Europe.

>>the self-titled Moloch album definitely belongs in this thread. >>Recently reissued on CD.

>>A bit overrated. I got this one on the Don Nix connection>>

I was probably more impressed by the band than the Nix connection, although it is unusual that the entire album was written by a non-member of the band...makes 'em look like a prefabricated bubblegum band or something.

I just dl'd this groundhogs album, thank christ for the bomb. damn, it's pretty good! it's not nearly as plodding as 'thud rock' (with all respect) makes it sound.

yeah, those dudes were probably like the next level above thud rock. really, they were on that shoulda-been-huge level, but i don't think they did very well in the US.

"maybe in more of a "basement rock" way? what are the specific limits of basement rock vs. thud rock???"

who else is basement rock?

I got an Afflicted Man track off of the Crud Crud blog, it's awesome!
Still pumped over finding a cdr of the first Dust album in the free box in the break room at the library I work at. How the hell did that get in there!?

Another thing that deserves mention is a UK biker group called Wicked Lady. They've got an album called "The Axeman Cometh" that thuds with the best of em.

Gott Punch, I do have that Betty album in Shadoks, and wrote about it on Rolling Country (since we also talk about bikers and everything else over there; Gorge recently discoursed/dosgorged astutely on Slade). I thought of most of it as being more like biker pop, remembering that the Doobie Brothers (!) were said to be biker mascots, very early on (that would be when Tom Johnson or Johnston's driving guitar and voice were more dominant, but still pop).Which was okay, except the wrong guy sang lead on most of it. But some good tracks, especially the one about vengence on the sawmill operator that done you wrong: "Good mornin, how do you do, I'm lookin' for a man with the name of, Harley Perdoo." Billy, I don't mean thud rock to=plodding, God and Gott forbid! Just has a lotta thud in it, though maybe not just thud. Like the new Apes album, with new singer: high voice x high lyrics x keybs x thud of bass and drums= ape sporting shredded wedding veil ov stars.

Meant "wrong guy sang lead on most of" Betty's Handful, not that Tom J. was wrong lead for Doobies; he was prob the rightest one for them.

This is a good thread.
I listened to that first Dust record a few days ago cuz of it. Still can't get behind Toe Fat, though.

also many xposts: i think basement rock is some sort of lo-fi/amateurish subgenre of thud rock...? sorta.

been jamming this lately, so nerdy, so awesome...they always seemed to be of one spirit with the first rush album to me (thx metallica for covering these dudes so i knew abt them!)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41NXTZNGXML._SS500_.jpg

(of course, like all 2 disc sets, last half of the second disc is sort of a bummer)

Budgie have a few really badass albums. I'm still looking for a copy of Squawk, dammit.

What do you recommend, TM?

First five Budgie albums are generally good to excellent. Bandolier is my personal favorite. Budgie's live double CD, Heavier than Air is also invigorating. Described with other similar things here.

the first three are essential: budgie, squawk, never turn your back on a friend. if you like those, then you really like budgie and you'll want the rest of their 70's albums like bandolier and in for the kill. *never turn your back on a friend* is a solid starting point. the whole album is great. strong songs. just killer stuff. but i like most of their albums a bunch.

budgie x-post with gorge.

Thanks fellas

Those guys said it better than I could.

Some rare singles that'd fit right in with this thread:
- Mouse & the Traps, "Wicker Vine" (Texas garage-rockers get heavy with this 1969 single, probably available on any Mouse/Traps compilation...I know of two)

- Magi, "You Don't Know Me" (1971 single that was mistakenly included on a PEBBLES compilation)

- Curley Moore & the Kool Ones, "Funky Yeah" (more psychedelic funk, with a lot more distorted guitar than you're used to hearing on a funk record, thus qualifying it for this thread)

I guess I'd think "basement rock" as like Stone Harbor (would-be Uriah Heep), Sainte Anthony's Fyre (would-be Sir Lord Baltimore), Friedhof ... private press heaviosity like that

we talked about Gun on that Groundhogs thread... I still think "Yellow Cab Man" is the only song on the first one that i truly love. agreed w/ skot that the 2nd is better.

Hi James!

this one - Broheems, You Do Need A Copy Of Black Diamond! A.K.A. The Groundhogs Thread

that Frantic album is great

for Budgie, I'd start with Squawk ... that's their best as far as I'm concerned. does Rodger Bain still produce that one? can't remember, I know he did the first one.

(sorry just getting up to speed on all the recent posts)

Can't think of too much *new* stuff that I've picked up in this vein .. 'cept maybe that Maxmillian record that Hurlothrumbo mentions upthread. that thing is INSANE!!!!

for some reason i think rev.hoodoo - and you too stormy - would like the one and only five by five album on paula. unless you already own copies.

http://www.popsike.com/pix/20070801/260145271670.jpg

album is a little uneven, but worth the price for "hang up" and their cover of "fire". doesn't totally fit this thread. though they fuckin' rocked when they wanted to.

fyi: i have three singles (i think) that Paula put out and they are WAY louder than the album versions. and preferable if you are me. i gotta dig them out and maybe put them on a mix for ilm. "apple cider" rules. as does "fruitstand man".

singles usually go pretty cheap:

http://cgi.ebay.com/FIVE-BY-FIVE----APPLE-CIDER._W0QQitemZ200191741502QQcmdZViewItem?IMSfp=TL0801141342a34443

TM, fyi, Squawk is available here