A FEW UNHERALDED GEMS FROM THE STRANGE AND SOMETIMES WONDERFUL 70s

Blackwell and Deccenium two very different bands from two very different countries do both share one major thing in common- they are not very well known even amongst the most elite of record collectors of 70s progressive/hard/psych rock yet they are two of the best albums ever recorded during that turbulent period of time which saw so much change occur during the 10 years the 1970s were around.
Blackwell came from Houston Texas which would seem an odd place for an art rock/progressive band like their sort to come out of and they were packaged in one of the year of 1970's least flattering album covers. Comprised of writers Johnny "Rabbit" Bundrick (keyboards) and Vocalist Glen Gibson along with Jimmy Smith (lead guitar), Terry Wilson (Bass), and Randy De Hart (Drums)
they were one of several bands around the 1970-1971 period to combine hard rock/progressive material with a later, more sombre British influenced popsike sound that made for an exciting mix of power and substance. Borrowing from an eclectic wide range of influences (how many bands can make you think of Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, The Bee Gees, attempts at a late westcoast rock sound, and Cream on the same record?) they were obviously a unique band, unlike any other and so it wasn't long before a record company (Atco) thought they could cash in on the band's mix of ready friendly pop art and underground hard progressive rock.




Unfortunately, Blackwell weren't on Atco proper, but
the only release on the short lived subsidiary Astro records. Perhaps someone heard the group's rather dark lyrical subject matter on songs such as "Dirty Story" and decided to give them the boot, or else it just was bad luck for the band, but a lack of any kind of promotion and the label's demise as soon as it came led the band to just release this one gem.
Based around the soaring, unearthly, and haunting vocals of Glenn Gibson and tight ensemble playing they could jam with heavy Hammond B3 action, but like European bands such as Asterix and my previous write up Leafhound (From England), this lot preferred to keep it to songs. Having mentioned both these bands Blackwell were both heavier and more poppsych oriented, but obviously full on into the underground vibes that were coming from across the pond where the music coming out was much more revolutionary than most American bands of that era. Clearly a beautiful, sad, and incessantly catchy song like "Something Real" or the amazing cleverness of "Heaven Or Worse" would have made for a great chart hit and just as clearly the band could be all out art rockers with late 60s psych roots still showing on the brilliant "Dear Mr. Jupiter," "Fake," and the sad ode to suicide written by their producer "Almost Gifted" should have made them huge, should have had them not just on Atco, but right up there with the cream on Atlantic. It just wasn't to be, unfortunately for Blackwell. They may have been too good to make it in the States, and certainly music of this sort would be pretty unwelcome with all the rednecks in the South. Worst of all, with Glenn Gibson out of the picture and Blackwell gone the group would first become the poor Southern rockers Bl**ntz and then the equally awful UK based Back Street Crawler/Crawler enjoying success and raves that Blackwell never had. Such is the music business. I've tried every album I could by with Bundrick on it hoping for the magic of Blackwell to come through, and there ain't none to be had of it. So it's best just to focus on this band as they were when they were young, hopeful, and fully Anglophiles in Blackwell. Gibson is clearly the band's major strength- his voice is unique and enigmatic as he flies above the inspired, tight, flawless ensemble playing of the group. The lyrics tend towards the fantasy side and a darker fantasy side I should add. "Dirty Story" is a great anthem for the combative and depressed with the following line:
"Promise Me One Certain Something That I Have Wished For All My Life/An Isolated Deep And Dark Grave Where I Can Spend One Peaceful Night"
This whole song is full of eerie lyrics and even eerier, freakier harmonies and music. Then there's the flip side with the celebratory, joyous, all out power pop brilliance of "Wonderful." This song is  one of the best on the album- a song with a hint of the Left Banke somewhere in the melodies of a mainly power chord driven pop ode to a day of perfect happiness. Blackwell had it all. There are no flaws to be found on this record and even when they delve into jazz/blues rock free form hysteria on "Long Long Ago" they never fail to impress. The going price is around $75 and up now. Buy this album at any price you find it at as this is a truly dynamic, creative record worth its weight in gold.



Decennium is a group I picked up for $40 at a great record store out in the wilds of Eastern PA who were a dutch quintet on the small Pandora label. I know nothing about them but the superb album cover and the amazing music contained within Song Of The Sad Times, which to my knowledge is their only release. Let me know if I'm wrong there.
Where I know I'm right on is that for twin guitar led melodic progressive/psychedelic rock this album is the epitome of what made for so much exciting music in Northern Europe and England during an amazing time of revolution. When I look back to the past decades I never witnessed in musical and social terms the most strangely lopsided, opposite image time was the 70s. On one hand in Europe/England a dream of a freer, more honest, more carefree approach to life and more music for the sake of really adventurous music was rampant, but in America all was falling apart trying to keep the struggling structure of better values and better music that had been the 60s from being something wiped off the face of that country. I'm talking all the rubbish that was on the radio. Disturbing mean spirited bullshit like "One Tin Soldier" and "Run Joey Run" or the equally pop throwaway hits by The Osmonds and their ilk were the order of the day. If you wanted quality pop the best you'd get would be a miraculous masterpiece like "Precious And Few" by Climax. Basically, it was a dormant world for chart hits that were good in the early 70s, but vibrant for underground bands trying to make a living in the lean mean world of rock 'n roll. You had bands with the whole backing behind them like Smoke Rise whose album The Survival Of Saint Joan put a whole double album together of  the masterful. There were bands like the previous rant on Blackwell. You had Styx and Boston polishing their skills then in probably a few underground bands waiting till their takeover and the ascent of pomp rock as we know it in the mid 70s. Decennium didn't have to worry about chart success or no chart success. They could freely make their music without big money tiny brained American record executives telling them what to take out, and what we have here is some of the most exciting and tuneful progressive rock ever recorded. An album of 7 fairly long tracks the music is full of a similar vibe to their countrymen Cargo or bands like Northwind (Scotland) and Wishbone Ash (England) who combined jamming cooking guitars with a little bit of rural/country rock in there. There's definitely a country element to Decennium, but not like you'd hear in the dreadful Band or in the deadpan homages to early C&W Americana in The Byrds, Burrito Brothers, or Poco. Rather, this is just a more laidback and softer progressive rock with enough energy and drive to save it from the "too mellow to get out of our rocking chairs while we pass the hash" sound of folkrock. "Oriental Weeping Woman" which begins the album is full of beautiful vocals, heavy clashing guitars, and magically skilled transitions from the difficultly dexterous to the straight on attack of epic rural prog at its best. The rest of the album follows a similar path with the accent clearly on excellent songs and harmonies with long time lengths leaving room for epic jams. The use of a Fender Rhodes electric piano may occasionally bring to mind Canterbury progressive for some, but it's worked into music in a much less obtrusive manner than say Hatfield and The North or National Health. This album is still completely unknown. I honestly don't know a thing about this band other than the sheer excellence of the music contained on this album and for me that's enough. Find yourself a copy at any risk and it will be more than enough for you too.

DIGGING WHAT NO OTHERS HAVE EVER DUG- A WORD OR TWO ON HYPE, MANIPULATION, AND A FEW SUGGESTIONS ABOUT RECORD BUYING

What's that old saying "The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same?" Well, that would only be partly true about record collecting, but it would have a grain of truth in that the good records stay good and the horrible ones, well most of them stay horrible. I began digging through the 99 cent bin at the Princeton Record Exchange and the racks of records at the Cranbury Bookworm back 23 years ago when I was only 12 years old. That was how it began. I would gradually go to the somewhat pricier records and then the really big stuff a bit later on. Around the 1992-1995 period I was between the ages of 16 and 19- an age when you really become aware of a lot of things in life. It was then that I started getting serious about rare and obscure records/bands/artists and it was very much trial and error. What I am alluding to now is that Paul Major and his then partner Mike Ascherman who is bad vibes incarnate had a very opposite take than my other mentor/teacher/record guru Bill Paquin and this would lead me down the road of the overhyped and the justly praised. The overrated and the amazingly underrated. Paul and I met when Mike and I met. The two were inseparable partners for awhile and we met each other at a record show at the Marriott Hotel in Forestall Village (referred to by myself and my mum as the "deserted village"). Paul became my first mail order contact. Paul was at that time the biggest record dealer in the States and he had everything. Now, what I want to get at is that Paul, bless him, was somebody who would turn me onto some of the most obnoxious garbage in the world and also concur with me about some of the best music. It's a double edged sword. On one hand you have something as dreadful as Morgen- now an album approaching a ludicrous price tag that was always for God Knows what reason held in really high regard by most. Not Bill. After my reaction to the album when Paul hyped it and I went for it Bill said right out that Saint Steven is the masterpiece on ABC/Probe and Morgen is not even psychedelic at all (which it of course isn't- just a bad macho whining nothing hard rock record). On the other hand, there's Saint Steven- an undeniable masterstroke and an album good enough to be considered one of the best ever. Bill and I still talk about it. That goes to show you how much something can stick in your mind as a warning against hype machines. Some of my favourite records don't go for much and some go for prices that would freak nearly anyone at how high they are. Oftentimes an album like Rain on Project 3 and the also superb Blackwell on Astro (the only album on the label to my knowledge) which for me are two of the best anywhere I'd get laughed at about and then they'd go on to be valuable. It figures. I was always saying that American records were gonna stay at the same value except the underrated ones and that imports were the big deal- mainly British and German. I was laughed at, called a novice, and the whole thing ended up with me the one who was right. I can laugh at those people. Any dealer who tells you still that a $400 American record is going to be worth a thousand in a year is living squarely in the past. I learned the hard way with a lot of things. There's still a lot of pain for losing gems like Dog That Bit People and Arcadium in the summer of 1995- I call it the summer of bad timing. I've smashed rare records. I've traded records I never should have traded. It still goes on and has to stop. I've bought back records I once thought were nothing records only to discover they are masterful. It took me ages to acquire a love for the heavy German bands of the 1970s and now that is some of my most favourite music. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, and a lot of sticking it out.
  I discovered a bunch of European oddball imports in a store in far off Allentown PA called Double Decker this year and a lot really impressed me especially one called Song Of The Sad Times by a band called Decennium. I was sure I'd scored a monster with the quality of the music which is rural/country/jazzy tinged progressive rock with a few psych leanings and great vocals all through. On Ebay it sold for not much at all, but the great cover and small pressing still in my mind make it a monster. Don't be fooled by hype and price tags. I will agree that many high priced rarities are well worth it as I own them, but then I will have to also add to that one must be cautious.  There's a lot of great records that don't fetch more than the $25 to $40 range that beat most of the big enormously overpriced ones.
We now have the internet at our disposal- samples, youtube, and if you can get them downloads. Now nearly all record business is done through the internet. I can't say how much easier that's made things. I also can't say how miserably sad it is when you look at what it has done to the collecting world. There still are criminals on the net, but back in the old days there were more insane dealers than you could count on both hands 3 times. Anyone could print a list. I heard many horror stories and experienced my share, but I generally was given guidelines by Paul and Bill as to who not to deal with. That, though, is somewhat beside the point. What I want to bring up here is what the net has done to record stores. The internet and rising prices for rent have led to the almost complete destruction of the best and most economic way to find and buy rare vinyl- quality record shops. NYC used to be a mecca. There were great stores, wonderful places where you could find all kinds of things. Venus, It's Only Rock 'N Roll, Revolver, Midnight, later in years for me Second Coming, Shrine, Stooz. All those stores were so much fun. All of them are gone and in the case of Second Coming, Shrine, and Stooz they all went under within a year and a half. This isn't just happening in New York. The bad economy is making it harder for a lot of collectors like me to find things in stores when the shops keep on disappearing. Now it's the internet for nearly everything. It takes so much of the fun out. The computer by nature is impersonal, cold, technical. It has taken out the human element. The meeting and talking and bantering with friends in nice cozy shops full of quality LPS. All I can say about it is you just have to take it and try to accept that this way might be safer. I have bought most of my collection off the net, but not all. Still, it is both good and horrendous. I'm 35 now. I'm looking to slow buying records down to a halt for awhile because I buy too much, but now I could step into the position of someone who could educate willing record fiends. What you have to remember before anything else is that your own  taste comes first. You need to judge by what you like and not buy into peer pressure and hype. I was always someone who had my own way of looking at and listening to things. I don't care what people think of my taste because I know it's really good. I also have learned that you have to give things a chance, a few spins to know if its a good one or not. Unless it's absolutely great or absolutely unlistenable don't make your mind up the first time. Give it time and let it come to you if it isn't or play it more and more if you love it- which is advice I should listen to myself. It's been a long time since those early days of collecting when I hardly had anything to spend and I was making discoveries for really cheap. I would say that the 1988-1994 period was THE BEST for records. Everybody was dumping their vinyl and buying CDs. You could find anything. Now I just have to say that although they can take the fun out of it and make it more difficult not to spend a huge amount of money, they can't take away the quality of the music. And that's what it's down to. Quality and good music.
 That's what it always was and always will be- digging deep into great music and loving it. There's simply nothing else that can compare to the magic of the best music there is and I'd like to end with a big round of applause for all those who stick with it in the collecting world. Don't go too far, but it's definitely worth it.