Can we talk about early-mid70s West Coast post-psych/pop/rock/folk-rock/country-rock?

At first, Fusetron said it was out of print, but then he tracked one down for me.

http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/amg/pop_albums/9/6/n/f96579rpmn1.jpg

I crank Unicorn's Blue Pine Trees LP nearly everyday. They were the UK's answer to New Riders of the Purple Sage. David Gilmour even sits in on pedal steel, just the way Garcia did with NRPS.

Nice to see some New Riders of the Purple Sage love here - I've been digging their early LPs for the past couple of weeks. I'd never heard 'em before, except for one 'unmemorable' occasion 20 years ago, in a smoke-filled dorm room. (Aside from the New Riders and the Dead, the guy listened to '70s prog and-nothing-but. I tried to turn him onto Trout Mask Replica: He didn't like it much, but thought the cover was hilarious on mushrooms.)

listening to ned doheny debut on asylum. i guess they were hoping for another jackson browne. it's nice though. VERY light and mellow el lay southern/folk/jazz/rock. very california.

been seeking this for some time now..I have his second LP (Hard Candy) which is also great, probably a little slicker than the first...(the David Foster effect)...have only heard "Postcards From Hollywood" from the debut...

on this tip, any love from anybody for this?:

http://blog.livedoor.jp/kisslikejudas/f2868e55.jpg

I seen that Unicorn record raved about elsewhere. Different cover too...

http://ring.cdandlp.com/vendors2/photo_grande/110023839.jpg

Maybe it's a diff Unicorn or a diff record? That cover looks a little too whimsical for Blue Pine Trees. It's def a better artwork, however!

Nice to see some New Riders of the Purple Sage love here - I've been digging their early LPs for the past couple of weeks.

Have you been digging Gypsy Cowboy (sorry for the small jpg)?
http://www.artist-shop.com/wounded/cowboy.jpg
This one is NRPS' most overtly psychedelic -- some murky Floyd vibes. It's also a lot darker than both the debut and Powerglide. Marmaduke is really bummed about the environment, so he submerged everything is hazy sonic stuff.

Naw, that's definitely Blue Pine Trees, that's the cover on my copy! the back cover is TERRIBLE.

I've never checked out Gypsy Cowboy, but I'm a fan of select tracks on s/t & Powerglide. Dirty Business was my drug haze bonghit anthem for a week or so after I first heard it.

Naw, that's definitely Blue Pine Trees, that's the cover on my copy! the back cover is TERRIBLE.

Well, damn, I want that version!

huh, now that i look at it, the back cover of this version (orange label capitol) is the central image from the front cover on yours, with pretty bad band photos and a tracklist gridded down in the middle. Same crummy Unicorn logo as on yers!

I've never checked out Gypsy Cowboy, but I'm a fan of select tracks on s/t & Powerglide. Dirty Business was my drug haze bonghit anthem for a week or so after I first heard it.

Gypsy Cowboy is two, three bong hits past "Dirty Business." If you find a copy, you'll have about three more weeks worth of anthems.

the back cover of this version (orange label capitol) is the central image from the front cover on yours, with pretty bad band photos and a tracklist gridded down in the middle.

What a weird juxtaposition! My cover is cokehead, and yours is straight-up shroomer.

Ooh child, I'll second Just a Stone's Throw Away and not just 'cause it's Featsy. Polished creamy, like all these all-star artifacts, but smart & expansive. "Face of Appalachia" is kind of a prog-country classic, but there are some sweet soul groovers, too. And it's Featsy -- the title number is like their great lost song, except with a girl that can really, really sing.

yeah, Lowell George was all over that record, as was Jackson Browne and Maurice White (!)...

Huh, just now playing that Valerie Carter (thanks for the nudge), and I forgot about the EWF funk stomper on side two!

Plus John Sebastian plays on this record, too, establishing one degree of separation between Verdine White and Ron Palillo.

ooh ooh!
ooh ooh!

Gypsy Cowboy's got "Death And Destruction" - sounds very similar to "Down By The River" (practically the same "two suspended chords" riff for eight minutes) with some remarkably sustained soloing on top, as if Ron Asheton decided to tackle Duane Allman's "Dreams". Yeah!

OK, maybe I'm making it sound better than it is. But it's still pretty good.

man, no gypsy cowboy in stock right now.
am i actually going to have to go look for it at ANOTHER RECORD STORE?

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you're not far off at all. the production on this record is really kind of harsh and blown-out at times. How about the album's feedback intro? These dudes were definitely listening to some Ummagumma.

you know what album i still have never heard? john fogerty's blue ridge rangers album on fantasy. i have a 45 of jambalaya and that's it.

http://bluestormmusic.com/store/images/fogerty-john_blue-ridge-rangersLP.jpg

John Fogerty's Blue Ridge Rangers album is really good roots-rock; I'd go ahead and take the plunge and buy it if I were you. Right now in my listening pile is a Blue Ridge Rangers single that didn't make the album, "You Don't Owe Me"/"Back To The Hills."

Although I don't know if somebody who rocks as hard as Fogerty would be right for this thread. Talking about him on a thread devoted to Poco soundalikes is like being the token greaser in the Haight-Ashbury. But then again, that's kinda what Fogerty was about!

hey, poco could rock!

and there are other rockin' things on here. like my tribute to grinderswitch.

but i put it here just cuzza the whole bluegrass/country vibe he was going for with the rangers record.

and, hey, if you are talking about good early 70's west coast post-psych/pop/rock/folk-rock/country-rock, this album has it all:

http://tokyo.cool.ne.jp/creedence/content2/image/Pendulum.jpg

but everyone knows that already.

hey, poco (and Grinderswitch) could rock!

Not in the rootsy, post-rockabilly-ish sense of the word, like CCR or Commander Cody or the Flamin' Groovies...Poco may have played rock, but Fogerty played rock & roll, if you dig my meaning...

i put it here just cuzza the whole bluegrass/country vibe he was going for with the rangers record.

I can kinda see that.

One thing about early-'70s country-rock is that it put bluegrass in the spotlight - "Dueling Banjos," Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, banjoist Earl Scruggs forming a semi-rock band with his sons, etc..

BTW, any opinions on Southwind (who counted Moon Martin as a member)?

I'm listening to The Blue Ridge Rangers right now, while living on the Blue Ridge! (Well, it's just about eight miles from here.) It makes total sense on this thread. It goes perfect with New Riders, Old & In the Way (Jerry's bluegrass outfit), Clarence White and Muleskinner, etc.

Fogerty is awesome. He plays straight up country guy on the opening track then on the second second he says "fuck that" and starts howling like a gospel fanatic. He then returns to country guy on the third. It's a fun record, with a fresh sound to it.

loved this record when i was a kiddie:

http://pixhost.eu/avaxhome/avaxhome/2007-09-18/thumbnail.jpg

RAVE ON!

can't underestimate the impact that Will The Circle Be Unbroken had on people in the early 70's. Tons of rock fans bought that thing. a lot of people who never really listened to that music.

Although I don't know if somebody who rocks as hard as Fogerty would be right for this thread. Talking about him on a thread devoted to Poco soundalikes is like being the token greaser in the Haight-Ashbury. But then again, that's kinda what Fogerty was about!

Also, the home of all those coked-up canyon rats, Asylum, released two of Fogerty's records in the '70s.

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Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (That cover of "Rave On" is like country-glam!)
Goose Greek Symphony
Pure Praire League

All vital to the development of country rock in the early 70s.

okay, so i went out to the ONE AND ONLY RECORD STORE ON THIS ISLAND just now and picked up a vinyl copy of Blue Ridge Rangers for four bucks. I don't mess around!

also picked up, in honor of this thread, Stealin' Home by Ian Matthews, and Marin County Line by the New Riders.

Stealin Home isn't that good, man. I'm pretty shocked you hadn't picked up a dollar bin copy ten years ago!

i waited until today. i can wait for most things. and i actually paid two dollars for it today!

I don't listen to much Iain/Ian after 1974's Some Days You Eat the Bear and Some Days the Bear Eats You.

I recently snagged a copy of If You Saw Thro' My Eyes from 1971. The title track is a duet w/Sandy Denny, and it's gorgeous.

I just finished reading Hotel California. When addressing the Eagles' major influences Hoskyns dropped the ball by not mentioning Iain. They took a lot from him.

i think i already went over what ian/southern comfort albums i like on this thread. so i won't repeat myself. for two bucks i don't mind listening to later lesser stuff.

okay, i can see you not liking stealin' home, ian, but jaxon would really dig it! totally smoooooove el-lay loverman stuff. i like this kind of thing.

I'm listening to Amelia Earhart album by Plainsong as I type this...

Although I don't know if somebody who rocks as hard as Fogerty would be right for this thread. Talking about him on a thread devoted to Poco soundalikes is like being the token greaser in the Haight-Ashbury. But then again, that's kinda what Fogerty was about!

*****

Also, the home of all those coked-up canyon rats, Asylum, released two of Fogerty's records in the '70s.

They only put out one John Fogerty album. The followup, Hoodoo, remains mostly unreleased (although a single came out).

Asylum also had the Dictators, who are as far from the Eagles and Jackson Browne as one can get.

Still, my only point is that Fogerty and CCR totally fit here. They were from California and very much reflected that fact. Although they weren't part of the Haight-Ashbury scene, the way their music created this Bayou myth is just like the Charlatans creating their neo-Victorian image and the Eagles whipping up their desperado thing. What's more, CCR/Fogerty were very much helping invent roots rock/Americana/country along with the Burritos, Poco, Dead, Little Feat, etc.

Hell, even "the dude" listens to CCR.

You can listen to the Bobby and the Dorks recordings here: http://www.jerryradio.com/downloads/DD-70-12-20-MP3/

Bobby and the Dorks was Crosby, Garcia, Lesh and Hart playing some club gigs around the Bay Area in 1970. They do an awesome version of "Cowboy Movie," off Crosby's debut solo album.

Seeing Scott's comments about "el-lay loverman stuff" reminded me that I've never followed up my post from way the hell upthread about Emitt Rhodes. A few months back I finally happened into a vinyl copy of Farewell To Paradise, his last set for Dunhill. Dude was definitely heading in that direction. Is it just me, or was he actually getting better as he went on? I know most people (including the manager of the shop I got it from) swear by the self titled debut, but I feel his playing on FTP is tighter and more varied than on his previous "one man band" efforts, giving off the illusion that other people were in on the session. Not to mention that his songwriting was more eclectic then it had been since the Merry-Go-Round era. Too bad there wasn't an immediate follow-up, altough though Rhodes may have been too far gone by that point. His liner notes are painfully earnest about "how hard it is to do this" and so on.

I've not investigated anything by Emitt Rhodes beyond the Merry-Go-Round cd that Rev-Ola issued a few years ago, and I loved that. Are any of his Dunhill LPs on CD at all?

Farewell To Paradise is, I've got a copy...prolly hard to find, though...certainly worth it, less Macca-esque than his earlier stuff...

The Rhodes Dunhill albums were out on CD from One-Way, but are long OOP. Both Varese Sarabande and Edsel have done best of's (the edsel one even has all the tracks from the s/t album), but whaddaya know, they are also OOP.

*Paging Hip-O Select*

No not Hip-0 Select, Emmit Rhodes should be in print longer than a month... (I only have the s/t plus a single of "Really Wanted You," myself.)

...maybe Sundazed should be the ones reissuing Emitt Rhodes, not some label like Hip-O Select or Rhino Handmade who will only have it around for a day.

"His liner notes are painfully earnest about "how hard it is to do this" and so on."

those were rough years for him!

Not a lot of competition in the one-man-band field those days, I would imagine. Rundgren & McCartney and who else?

Wasn't he contracted to produce a new album of materia every six months, or something ridiculous like that? Hard to do on your own.

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http://www.onemanband.org/omb-photo/one_man_band-aeroclube-stage.jpg