Dion DiMucci may not be a name often associated with underground rock and roll. As the New York teen behind such inner city oldies as “The Wanderer” and “Runaround Sue,” Dion is usually branded as representative of the slick, early-1960s pop sound that came to replace teenagers’ grittier rock and roll heroes like Elvis Presley [...]

Maffitt/Davies was a short lived duo who released one album via Capitol Records in 1968. Judging by the cover you’d expect psychedelic fireworks but The Rise and Fall of Honesty is really an Ameriana folk-rock record. This is another good one that never saw release in the CD era. I found a vinyl copy in [...]

In the wake of pop’s rediscovery of itself, prompted by the blitzkrieg success of punk, 1977 proved to be a banner year for debut albums. Most of the artists concerned were promising newcomers, but a fair number were veterans in new guises. In the UK, musicians who had cut their teeth in the back-to-basics pub-rock [...]

Beginning with 1967′s Fire & Fleet & Candlelight, the music of Cree folksinger Buffy Sainte-Marie began to take on a decidedly schizophrenic nature. Traditionally celebrated for her biting political songs, as well as her stark approach to folksong, the late sixties saw her take her distinctive sound in a series of surprising directions. Candlelight experimented [...]

With its picture of the gorgeous Bobbie Gentry superimposed in monochrome over a fallen-down shack, The Delta Sweete promises the peculiarly Southern music that Gentry is known for.  Released in 1968, it was Gentry’s second album, coming on the heels of the tremendous success of one of the most memorable, if bizarre, hits of the [...]

For reasons unexplained, officially-sanctioned outtakes from the Rolling Stones’ Decca Records (a.k.a. London) period remain as rare as rocking-horse manure. Although to date no fewer than 23 compilations of their ’63-’70 material have been issued worldwide, the number of cuts on these which were not used on the scheduled studio releases can be approximately counted [...]

There is no doubt in my mind that the Speakers were one of the finest rock bands Colombia ever produced. Prior to Ingeson they had released 4 albums, the first 3 LPs mixed rock & roll covers with two or three beat garage/folk-rock group originals. All of their records are sung in Spanish and by [...]