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Various Artists: Brown Acid: The Seventh Trip (2018)

Now this is more like it ...

If you follow this blog, you'll know I've been rather unimpressed with later installments of Riding Easy records' ever-expanding Brown Acid collection, but this Seventh Trip momentarily redeemed a series I gave up collecting after ten "trips."

Better late than never ... oh, wait, never mind!

For those not in-the-know, Brown Acid is committed to unearthing and compiling decades-old 7-inch singles (see above) released by independent heavy/hard/psych/acid/garage rock bands -- few of which ever landed a major label recording contract.

Aptly subtitled 'Heavy Rock from the Underground Comedown,' this ten track set from 2018 showcases nine groups from the "Great American Wasteland" and one from Sweden, offering songs that came and went between 1967 and 1976, leaving little trace.

So let's get into it, shall we?

Getting things off on the right foot, Baltimore, MD's Pegasus marry Iommi mega-riffage and Geezer busy-bass with Leslie West's wild-eyed howl on '72's "The Sorcerer," before Dallas, TX's Nobody's Children counter with classic acid/garage/psych dripping with irony on '67's "Good Times."

Splitting the difference, Youngstown, OH's Blue Amber deliver Neanderthal grunge with '71's "We Got Love," while Camden, NJ's Negative Space (later known as Snow) jam for days (well, six-minutes-plus) like Hendrix with a fuzz box on 70's "The Calm After the Storm."

(The latter, incidentally, is the only cut here that was originally released as part of a full-length LP, The Living Dead Years.)

Next, Malmö, Sweden's Zane uniquely blend sludge and synths on '76's "Damage" and Oklahoma City, OK's Blizzard (one of Brown Acid's best-ever finds!) roll Sir Lord Baltimore, Tiger B. Smith, and the MC5 into a far-out proto-metal spliff in '73's "Peace of Mind."

Fellow Okies Third World (from McAlester) keep up the basic but effective riff-mongering going with '71's "End of Time," while Virginia, MN's (not a typo) Sweet Wine blow their shot with the run-of-the-mill psych and awful lyrics of '70's "Things You Told Me."

And for the final stretch we get a driving disciple of Deep Purple's "Black Night" in '73's "Your Haul," by Norton, VA's memorably named, Hammond organ-assisted C.T. Pilferhogg, and the Hawkwind-foreshadowing power chord hypnosis of '69's "The Darkness," by Clinton, MO's Summit.

All in all, Brown Acid's lucky number seven was just that: a fortuitous selection of high-caliber obscurities, thankfully lacking in the usual onslaught of Grand Funk Railroad copycats; but it may have depleted Riding Easy's stash, because the ensuing Eighth Trip was a complete dumpster fire.

So do yourself a favor and sample these sets before you buy, or, better yet, pick and choose your favorite cuts online, because you certainly won't find vintage copies of the original, ultra-rare 7-inches for affordable prices.

More Hard Rock Compilations: Brown Acid 1, Brown Acid 2, Brown Acid 3, Brown Acid 4, Brown Acid 5, Brown Acid 6, Brown Acid 8, Brown Acid 9, Brown Acid 10, Castle Donington Monsters of Rock, Hardrock ‘83, Hear ‘n Aid, Metal Massacre, Metal for Muthas, Metal for Muthas Volume II, New Wave of British Heavy Metal ‘79 Revisited, S.P. Metal, S.P. Metal II, Scandinavian Metal Attack, Speed Metal Hell, Warfaring Strangers: Darkscorch Canticles.

#brown acid #proto metal #vinyl #classic rock #acid rock #psychedelic rock #heavy metal #hard rock #sir lord baltimore #mc5 #tiger b smith #black sabbath #deep purple #grand funk railroad

Bolder Damn: Mourning (1971)

Bolder Damn is the punny band moniker and Mourning is the foreboding title of this somber private pressing, issued some 50 years ago by a Ft. Lauderdale quartet that probably has no business being talked about today, but here we are ...

Formed in 1967 by Glenn Eaton (guitar), Bobby Eaton (drums), John Anderson (vocals), Mark Gaspard (keyboards) and Ron Reffett (bass), they honed their chops in the Eaton family garage before hitting the Florida club scene, playing alongside other hopefuls like Coventry Carol, featuring a young Frankie Banali.

By the turn of the decade, Bolder Damn were opening shows for visiting headliners like Alice Cooper, the MC5, The Amboy Dukes and the mighty Blue Cheer, but they were still relying almost entirely on covers until a negative review encouraged them to work up some original material.

But the band was dealt a major blow when Gaspard, their most accomplished musician, left to pursue an academic career in classical music, so the remaining quartet decided it was high time they secure some studio time (a princely sum of four hours!) to lay down their newly written songs for posterity.

Only a few hundred copies of Mourning were ultimately pressed and given or sold to friends, family and fans, so if not for a 1990 CD reissue by Rockadelic Records, this now collectible item may have been lost to oblivion, taking with it modest achievements like the hooky “Rock On” and “Breakthrough,” which opens under a barrage of gunfire and falling bombs.

Each of these, plus the urgent “Brtcd” and the bluesy “Got that Feeling,” showcase a high-energy, low-experience band, still compensating for their instrumental and compositional shortcomings with volume, aggression and distortion: ripping acid rock wah-wah solos guaranteed!

And the album’s pièce de résistance is saved for last in the 16-minute, Vietnam War-inspired “Dead Meat,” which, in an echo of Bloodrock’s morbid masterpiece, “D.O.A.,” climaxed with singer Anderson’s “execution,” followed by another wild, reverb meltdown courtesy of Glenn’s Gibson SG.

Legend has it that, on stage, this politicized epic was accompanied by shock rock gimmicks (smoke machines, blood and guts, robed figures), and though it’s not stood the test of time all that well, it does contain an insightful lyric in “You can kill a man, but can you kill the idea?”

You could say the same about Bolder Damn -- the band -- which I’d certainly recommend to diehard proto-metal nutcases like myself, but not to less tolerant musical explorers; this is a solid, sometimes very good album, but never a great one.

And, unfortunately, by 1972 Anderson and Reffett had received their dreaded draft notices to join Uncle Sam’s army in fighting for a doomed and dubious cause halfway ‘round the world, so Bolder Damn disintegrated and was soon forgotten ... but obviously not forever.

More Obscure Early ‘70s Heavy Rock: A.K.A.’s Do What You Like, Alamo’s Alamo, Ancient Grease's Women and Children First, Asterix’s Asterix, Bang’s Mother/Bow to the King, Birtha’s Birtha, Black Merda’s Black Merda, Blackwater Park’s Dirt Box, Blues Creation’s Demon & Eleven Children, Boomerang’s Boomerang, Bull Angus’ Bull Angus, Cactus’ Cactus, Captain Beyond’s Captain Beyond, Charlee’s Charlee, Copperhead's Copperhead, Cradle’s The History, Crushed Butler’s Uncrushed, Dark’s Dark Round the Edges, Dies Irae's First, Los Dug Dug’s Smog, Fanny Adams’ Fanny Adams, Flied Egg’s Dr. Siegel’s Fried Egg Shooting Machine, Flower Travellin’ Band’s Satori, A Foot in Coldwater’s A Foot in Coldwater, Fuse’s Fuse, Gift’s Gift, Hairy Chapter's Can't Get Through, Hard Stuff’s Bulletproof, Haystacks Balboa's Haystacks Balboa, Head Machine’s Orgasm, Head Over Heels’ Head Over Heels, Heavy Cruiser’s Heavy Cruiser, High Tide's High Tide, Highway Robbery’s For Love or Money, Incredible Hog’s Volume 1, Irish Coffee's Irish Coffee, Jericho’s Jericho, Jerusalem’s Jerusalem, Kahvas Jute’s Wide Open, Leaf Hound’s Growers of Mushroom, May Blitz’s May Blitz, Murphy Blend’s First Loss, Night Sun’s Mournin’, Power of Zeus’ The Gospel According to Zeus, Orang-Utan’s Orang-Utan, Pink Fairies’ Never Neverland, Poobah’s Let Me In, Road’s Road, Rumplestiltskin's Rumplestiltskin, Silberbart's 4 Times Sound Razing, Sir Lord Baltimore’s Kingdom Come, Steel’s Steel, Stray’s Stray, Stray Dog’s Stray Dog, Tapiman’s Tapiman, Tear Gas' Tear Gas, Tempest’s Tempest, Thundermug’s Thundermug Strikes, Tiger B. Smith’s Tiger Rock, Tin House’s Tin House, Toad’s Toad, Toe Fat’s Toe Fat, Trapeze’s Medusa, Truk’s Truk Tracks, Tucky Buzzard’s Tucky Buzzard, Ursa Major’s Ursa Major, Warhorse’s Warhorse, Warpig’s Warpig, Weed’s Weed.