Tag: Iron Butterfly

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Permanent Records and RidingEasy Records Release an MC5 Meet Jimi Hendrix-like Single from The Seventh Brown Acid Compilation

Over the past few years, I’ve written quite a bit about Permanent Records’ and RidingEasy Records ongoing collaboration on their increasingly expansive series of proto-metal and pre-stoner rock compilations Brown Acid. And as you may recall, each individual edition of the compilation is centered around RidingEasy Records’ founder Daniel Hall’s and Permanent Records co-owner Lance Barresi’s extensive, painstaking research and curation — with Hall and Barresi spending a great deal of time tracking down songs’ creators, most often bands that haven’t written, played or recored together in 30 or 40 years, and then encouraging them to take part in the compilation process. As Permanent Records’ Barresi has explained in press notes regarding the previous editions of the compilations “All of (these songs) could’ve been hits given the right circumstances. But for one reason or another most of these songs fell flat and were forgotten. However, time has been kind in my opinion and I think these songs are as good now or better than they ever were.”

Naturally, by having the original artists participate as much as possible in the compilation process, it can give the artists and their songs, a real, second chance at the attention and success that they originally missed. Additionally, these songs can help fill in the larger picture of what was going on in and around the underground music scenes during the 60s and 70s. Following the critical and commercial success of its first six volumes, RidingEasy Records and Permanent Records’ seventh volume of 60s and 70s proto-metal and pre-stoner rock Brown Acid: The Seventh Trip is slated for release on Halloween, continuing what I hope will be a bi-yearly tradition. Much like the preceding editions, the seventh continues Barressi’s and Hall’s exhaustive, painstaking research and curation that has fond them digging ever so deeper in to the well of hard rock, psych rock and proto-metal from the 60s and 70s. Much like its predecessors, the seventh edition features songs from predominantly American bands — although there’s the inclusion of material from a French band and a Swedish band. You’ll remember that I wrote about s C.T. Pilfherhogg’s 1973 bluesy stomp “You Haul,” a single that brings Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and Iron Butterfly‘s “In A Gadda Da Vida” but with Echoplex-effected laughs to give the song a maniacal vibe; however, the album’s first single is a virtually unknown Oklahoma band, fronted by Rod McClure while still in high school — and the remarkably self-assured  MC5 meets Are You Experienced?-era Jimi Hendrix-like “Peace of Mind” is a bluesy and anthemic ripper centered by propulsive drum fills and some explosive guitar work, making it the perfect song for speeding on the highway. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Permanent Records and RidingEasy Records Release a Bluesy Stomper off Their Seventh Brown Acid Compilation

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few years, you’d likely be extremely familiar with Permanent Records’ and RidingEasy Records collaboration on their increasingly expansive series of proto-metal and pre-stoner rock compilations Brown Acid. Each individual edition of the compilation is centered around RidingEasy Records’ founder Daniel Hall’s and Permanent Records co-owner Lance Barresi’s extensive, painstaking research and curation — with Hall and Barresi spending a great deal of time tracking down songs’ creators, most often bands that haven’t written, played or recored together in 30 or 40 years, and then encouraging them to take part in the compilation process. As Permanent Records’ Barresi has explained in press notes regarding the previous editions of the compilations “All of (these songs) could’ve been hits given the right circumstances. But for one reason or another most of these songs fell flat and were forgotten. However, time has been kind in my opinion and I think these songs are as good now or better than they ever were.”

Naturally, by having the original artists participate as much as possible in the compilation process, it can give the artists and their songs, a real, second chance at the attention and success that they originally missed. Additionally, these songs can help fill in the larger picture of what was going on in and around the underground music scenes during the 60s and 70s. Following the critical and commercial success of its first six volumes, RidingEasy Records and Permanent Records’ sixth volume of 60s and 70s proto-metal and pre-stoner rock Brown Acid: The Seventh Trip is slated for an October 31, 2018 release continuing what I hope will be a bi-yearly tradition. Much like the preceding editions, the seventh continues Barressi’s and Hall’s exhaustive, painstaking research and curation that has fond them digging ever so deeper in to the well of hard rock, psych rock and proto-metal from the 60s and 70s. Interestingly enough, Youngstown, Ohio was a hotbed for these 45s and for a town of about 150,000, an overwhelming majority of the 45s Barressi and Hall found were by bands who hailed from there — and much like the predecessors, the seventh edition features songs from mostly American bands, although there’s the inclusion of a French band and a Swedish band to round it all out. 

Brown Acid: The Seventh Trip’s latest single is C.T. Pilfherhogg’s 1973 bluesy stomp “You Haul,” a single that brings Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and Iron Butterfly’s “In A Gadda Da Vida” but with Echoplex-effected laughs to give the song a maniacal vibe, centered around arpeggiated organs, enormous power keys and a hard rocking hook. During their day, the band was touted as “Southwest Virginia’s Finest Boogie Band” but from this single, the band kicked ass and took names. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Dream Machine Returns with an Anthemic Heavy Psych and Proto-Metal Barnburner

As the story goes, Matthew Melton, best known as the founder, frontman and primary songwriter of well-regarded Austin, TX-based indie pop/indie rock act Warm Soda had approached Thee Oh Sees’ prolific and dynamic frontman and Castle Face Records co-founder John Dwyer with two full-length albums — Warm Soda’s fourth and final album together I Don’t Want To Grow Up, which was released last month and material from a new project Dream Machine, which prominently features Melton’s wife Doris.

Now, if you’ve frequented this site earlier this year, you may recall that I wrote about “I Walked in The Fire” off Dream Machine’s recently released full-length album The Illusion, a single that revealed a rather decided change of sonic direction for Melton and his new bandmates, as the project’s sound clearly draws from the heavy psych, proto-metal and proto-stoner rock of early Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly and RidingEasy Records‘ and Permanent Records’ collaborative compilations of similar sounds from the 1960s and 1970s, Brown Acid while also nodding at The Doors. The Illusion’s latest single “All For A Chance,” which features Doris Melton taking up vocal duties will further cement the band’s reputation for crafting a lovingly spot on take on 60s heavy psych — and in the same loving fashion that Daptone Records does for soul; so much so that you can feel tricked into thinking that you were listening to some obscure rarity that was just discovered. (It helps that the band recorded the single and the material on a Tascam 388.)

Much like the video for “I Walked in The Fire,” the recently released video for “All For A Chance” employs a relatively simple concept — the band performing the song in an empty studio and shot on what looks like Super 8 film, as the video quality possess a smoky, grainy quality.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The 60s Psych Rock and Proto-Metal Sounds of Austin TX’s Dream Machine

Perhaps best known as the founder, frontman and primary songwriter of Austin, TX-based indie pop, indie rock act Warm Soda, Matthew Melton had approached John Dwyer and the rest of the folks at renowned indie label Castle Face Records with two new albums — Warm Soda’s fourth and final album together I Don’t Want to Grow Up, which is slated for an April release and The Illusion, the full-length debut slated for a May 2017 release from a new project that Melton and his wife Doris formed, by the name of Dream Machine. And from the album’s latest single “I Walked In The Fire,” the project’s sound reveals a decided change of sonic direction for Melton as the band’s sound draws from the heavy psych, proto-metal and proto-stoner rock of early Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly and RidingEasy Records’ and Permanent Records’ collaborative compilation of similar sounds from the 1960s and 1970s, Brown Acid, complete with some early synthesizer and organ.

Fittingly, the recently released music video manages to be a spot on take on the early music videos and recorded musical segments of the 1960s — a simple yet very trippy concept in which the members of the band play in front of a screen, featuring psychedelic imagery; in fact, paired with the band’s sound, the visuals manage to evoke 1967-1972 so well that you could be tricked into thinking that the video was the promotional video for a band that time has sadly forgotten.