ALWAYSBACK: June 2012

June 30, 2012

1825 - WALTER CLEVENGER & THE DAIRY KINGS - Full Tilt & Swing (2003)

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1824 - TIM EASTON - Break Your Mother's Heart (2003)

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1823 - STOLEN EARTH - A Far Cry From Home (2012)

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1822 - RICHARD JULIAN - Good Life (2002)

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1821 - ORCUS CHYLDE (2012)

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1820 - MARTIN STEPHENSON & THE DAINTEES - California Star (2012)

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1819 - LEVELLERS - Static On The Airwaves (2012)

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1818 - LEVELLERS - Live At The Royal Albert Hall (2009)

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1817 - LEVELLERS - Letters From The Underground (2008)

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1816 - LEVELLERS - Mouth To Mouth (Bonus Tracks) (2007)

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1815 - LEVELLERS - Truth & Lies (2005)

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1814 - LEVELLERS - Hello Pig (Bonus Tracks) (2000)

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1813 - LEVELLERS - Headlights, White Lines, Black Tar Rivers_ Best Live (1996)

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1812 - LEVELLERS - Zeitgeist (Bonus Tracks) (1995)

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1811 - LEVELLERS - Levelling The Land (1992)

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1810 - JOHAN RANDÉN - Summary (2012)

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1809 - JERRY DOUGLAS - The Best Kept Secret (2005)

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1808 - FOX STREET ALLSTARS - Welcome To Mighty Pleasin' (2010)

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June 28, 2012

1807 - ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND - Manzanita (2012)

ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND
''MANZANITA''
JUN 19 2012
40:29
TEEPEE RECORDS

1 - L.A. Sacrifice/0:4:10
2 - (Gone) 'round The Corner/0:4:30
3 - Blue Wire/0:6:38
4 - Sunshine/0:4:22
5 - Ghost String/0:3:49
6 - Slithery Thing/0:3:33
7 - Green Meadow Slowdown/0:4:37
8 - The Flume/0:4:32
9 - Low Island Blues/0:3:56

REVIEW
by Ned Raggett
Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound's 2012 album finds the San Francisco group still happily riding the waves of a late-'60s acid/jam afterglow, but one that has its own calm appeal beyond the comforts of the past. "L.A. Sacrifice" sets a tone less of deep exploration than full-bodied acid rock and crooning, so initially the name of the game might be gentle re-creation rather than the back of beyond. The key to the album, though, might be that while there's singing throughout, the group sounds much more comfortable as an instrumental prospect, with occasional verses and choruses acting as brief hooks for the group as a whole to hang its hat on. The steady swing of "Blue Wire" is as good an instance of this in action as any, with vocals just a touch buried in the mix and soloing moments standing out over the easy rhythm -- with even those shifting gears a touch via some extra hi-hat here and there. Other examples might be less immediately gripping, but a song like "Sunshine" at least moseys along quite well rather than making one bark at the speakers in annoyance. Meantime, "Slithery Thing" finds a sweet, gently choppy vibe, and it's a little hard to knock the sentiments of a song called "Green Meadow Slowdown." Back on "L.A. Sacrifice," the organ break fades into some reasonably heavy riffage right before the end, only for "(Gone) ‘Round the Corner" to turn into a quiet guitar start and then vocals that shift between the late-'60s-era and a kind of sweet and soaring flow that could almost be more '90s indie pop, not to mention an actual instrumental coda that doesn't feel tacked on. Not bad, really. As a little bonus, it's also easy to like "The Flume"'s lyrical note about being a bug on a windshield wiper.

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1806 - ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND - When Sweet Sleep Returned (2009)

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1805 - ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND (2007)

ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND
''ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND''
MAR 2007
38:20

1 - Ekranoplan/0:3:17
2 - Mosquito Lantern/0:3:50
3 - Rudy On The Corner/0:3:44
4 - Summon The Vardig/0:6:09
5 - Occult Roots/0:4:15
6 - Message By Mistral And Thunderclap/0:3:45
7 - D. Brown/0:5:36
8 - The Chocolate Maiden's Misty Summer Morning/0:4:15
9 - Gemini 9/0:3:28

REVIEW
by Jo-Ann Greene
Straight out of San Francisco erupt Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, a band that formed early in the new millennium but sounds like it just washed in from the '60 and early '70s. Assemble Head's self-produced and self-released debut album was available in minimal quantities (500 to be precise), so Ekranoplan will be most people's introduction to their approach in the studio. The group's core trio sports a wide array of influences, all of which burst out in this recording. "Mosquito Lantern," for instance, is built around an Iron Butterfly-ish riff, a hard rockin' blues that slides into rockabilly and then prog before the song's done. "A Bourbon for Rudy" is even more blues-based, and bleeds straight out of "The Corner Zombies," which is brighter in sound, with a definite Jefferson Airplane bent. In contrast comes the darker "Occult Roots," a song that slips right into Black Sabbath's satanic realms, while the blistering "D Brown" boasts Hendrix-esque guitars early in, but swiftly settles into a delicious Creamy jam. And "jam" defines much of the band's sound, even though most of the tracks clock in at under four minutes, a style that reaches heady heights on the fabulously spacy instrumental "The Morning Maiden." Even so, the Head's heads aren't totally in the past -- "Ellen Koray," for instance, is a fabulous mix of classic and recent styles, while the title track spatters grunge all over prog rock. Prog fans will have a marvelous time comparing the Head to their originators, while everyone else will revel in the group's musicianship and glory in the rich textures and atmospheres that infuse this splendid set.

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1804 - ROY HARPER - Stormcock (1971)

ROY HARPER
''STORMCOCK''
1971

1/Hors d'Oeuvres/Roy Harper/8:35
2/The Same Old Rock/Roy Harper/12:26
3/One Man Rock and Roll Band/Roy Harper/7:22
4/Me and My Woman/Roy Harper/13:03

David Bedford /Arranger, Keyboards, Organ (Hammond), String Arrangements
Roy Harper/Bass, Guitar, Guitar (12 String), Keyboards, Lead, Moog Synthesizer, Percussion, Piano, Producer, Saxophone, Vocals
Peter Jenner /Producer
Jimmy Page /Guest Artist, Guitar

REVIEW
by Brian Downing
Roy Harper achieved some acclaim with releases like his debut, Sophisticated Beggar, and Flat Baroque and Berserk, but 1971's Stormcock was his first effort that was a fully realized success. Even though all four long songs on the record were arguably superior in subsequent live versions, this is one of only a handful of Harper's albums that has no weak cuts. "Hors d'Oeuvres" had been previewed two years earlier in a faster incarnation, but this version is pleasingly lethargic in a way much like Pink Floyd's "Fearless." "The Same Old Rock" is an extended musical poem about the narrow-mindedness of organized religion and features several movements, including one of Jimmy Page's best solos, even though the notes list Page as S. Flavius Mercurius. After the strangely melodic "One Man Rock and Roll Band," the album ends with the grand "Me and My Woman." This version, while slower than the definitive live take from Flashes From the Archives of Oblivion, features lush orchestration by David Bedford. All four lyrics could stand on their own, showing Harper's vision to be much more profound than the typical stoned poet. His musicianship on acoustic guitar is revelatory, at once thoughtful and hard-edged. Stormcock, in fact, epitomized a hybrid genre that had no exclusive purveyors save Harper -- epic progressive acoustic. In this style, Harper amalgamated the best elements of associates Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and folk artists like Bert Jansch into a winning stew of thought-provoking acoustic music. Harper dabbled in this style with mostly good results for the rest of his career, but never again would one of his albums exclusively have these type of songs on it. Stormcock represents a truly original vision comprised of oft-heard parts rarely assembled and therefore is on par with other heavyweights from the class of 1971 such as Led Zeppelin IV or Meddle.

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1803 - CHRIS SQUIRE & STEVE HACKETT - Squackett: A Life Within A Day (2012)

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1802 - THE RUSTY WRIGHT BAND - Live Fire (2011)

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1801 - THE RUSTY WRIGHT BAND - Playin' With Fire (2009)

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1800 - THE FLAMING LIPS And Heady Fwends (2012)

THE FLAMING LIPS
''THE FLAMING LIPS AND HEADY FWENDS''
JUN 26 2012
67:53

1/2012 (You Must Be Upgraded) /4:11
2/Ashes in the Air /6:13
3/Helping the Retarded to Know God /7:03
4/Supermom Made Me Want to Pee /3:17
5/Children of the Moon /5:32
6/That Ain't My Trip /3:47
7/You, Man? Human??? /3:34
8/I'm Working at NASA on Acid /7:59
9/Do It! /3:28
10/Is David Bowie Dying /6:38
11/The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face /Erykah Badu /10:05
12/Girl, You're So Weird /3:23
13/Tasered and Maced /2:43

REVIEW
by Gregory Heaney
After the release of their freaked-out twelfth album, Embryonic, the Flaming Lips went on a predictably unpredictable musical bender. Rather than just getting back to it and putting out another full-length, the band seemed to be following whatever flights of fancy came their way, first covering Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety before embarking on a string of psychedelic collaborations released in giant gummy skulls, ultra-limited vinyl, candy fetuses, and even actual human skulls. While getting hold of a lot of these limited-edition EPs generally required some combination of dedication, luck, and money (with the human skulls containing the bands 24-hour long song costing $5,000 each), the Lips brought a lot of these hard to find team-ups, as well as a host of new collaborations, to the masses with the 2012 release of The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends. Originally released on limited, multi-colored vinyl for Record Store Day 2012, the spaced-out compilation has also seen a wider release on compact disc, allowing people the opportunity to experience previously hard-to-own tracks like "Is David Bowie Dying," "Supermoon Made Me Want to Pee," and "I'm Working at NASA on Acid?," which feature Neon Indian, Prefuse 73, and Lightning Bolt, respectively. The compilation also finds the Lips working with a host of guests that runs from the expected (Tame Impala, Plastic Ono Band) to the downright strange (Biz Markie, Ke$ha). The high point of the album is the cover of the iconic "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," which finds the band working with Erykah Badu to transform the song into a haunting and glacial, ten-minute shoegaze epic. The stunning cover is the most beautiful and cohesive on what is an otherwise (understandably) uneven collection which, while definitely appealing to hardcore fans, might be a bit too out there for casual listeners.

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