One of Carl Wilson’s inspired contributions to the Beach Boys, lead singer Blondie Chaplin and percussionist Ricky Fataar form the core of this under recognized group. The album was recorded for the Beach Boys’ own Brother Records in 1970. Before this record they were The Flames and fairly popular in South Africa. They even released [...]

One of the best underground/unsung soul albums I know of. Prior to Total Destruction To Your Mind, Swamp Dogg had been recording music and releasing 45s since the 50s, under the name Jerry Williams (or Little Jerry Williams). Frustrated by the lack of commercial success, Williams changed his name and persona and in 1970, unleashed [...]

Sometimes it’s the less visible members of a great band who turn out to be the most interesting. Gene Parsons was the drummer with the Byrds from 1968 to 1972. If you’ve ever even heard his name, there’s a fair chance that you’ll confuse him with his near namesake who was with the same band [...]

Ted Lucas got his start playing in a Detroit folk revival band called The Spike-Drivers, eventually leaving to form other groups The Misty Wizards, Horny Toads, and the Boogie Disease. While he was a respected figure in Michigan’s folk and rock scene, his self-titled solo album (recorded largely in his attic studio during 1974) failed [...]

Released in 1969, The House of Blue Lights was Don Covay’s bold, adventurous attempt to reach an underground audience. Here Covay is backed by the white-hot Jefferson Lemon Blues Band, credited on the album jacket. Prior to this LP Don Covay released two of the finest soul/pop albums of the 60′s, Mercy! and See-Saw. The [...]

This album comes out of the mind of Phil Pearlman; a veteran of the American 60′s rock scene and the brains behind such epic psych albums Beat of the Earth and the great Electronic Hole. Relatively Clean Rivers’ only album was released in 1975/76 though it sounds straight out of 1969. This album is extremely [...]

For an outfit whose very name professed a preference for anonymity, there’s a surprising amount of information available nowadays about this bunch of rockin’ Chicano chavales; check out their Wikipedia page for the full Monty. Question Mark himself has gone to considerable lengths to conceal his identity over the years, and why not? It’s one [...]

From the clatter of the Greenwich Village 60s folk scene came a voice that was inspired, authentic, and extraordinarily deep. Fred Neil had one of those unmistakable voices, a baritone that could rumble your brain and leave cracks in your spine. Add to that the skills of one of the better blues-folk songwriters; his songs [...]