Tag: rock

679. WITCH

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Episode 679 is WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc). TIL there is a thing called Zamrock. WITCH emerged as one of the most popular bands in post-independence Zambia, playing varieties of psychedelic and rock songs. This form reached its peak with 1975’s Lazy Bones. Their second phase was a couple disco albums in the early 1980s, not so good. After a long gap and being rediscovered by crate diggers, their frontman reformed the band and put out two albums in 2023 and 2025 which are really good: a mix of their old sound on the funky side and with African rhythms.

Favorite album: Lazy Bones!

Favorite song: Lazy Bones.  Or Look Out, I can’t decide.

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Lazy Bones!, Zango and Sogolo are good albums.

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664. The Electric Prunes

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(August 2025) Episode 664 is THE ELECTRIC PRUNES. After the disappointment of the falsely labeled “psychedelic” music of Episode 662, I needed some OG psychedelia. Thus the Electric Prunes. Their first two albums are quintessential psychedelic garage band material. Their path from there got weird. They were handed over to a producer who had them record a psychedelic Latin Mass, which strangely works, and another religious album released in the band’s name only. They issued one decent late-60s hard rock album before calling it quits. “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” was Lenny Kaye’s apt choice to lead off his original Nuggets compilation, setting the tone for that landmark box set and for a genre I adore. Some original members came together in the 21st century for four albums which, by the normally very low standards of decades-later regroupings, weren’t that bad.

Favorite album: The Electric Prunes

Favorite song: I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The first two albums are delicious psychedelic garage rock.

662. The High Dials

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(July 2025) Episode 662 is THE HIGH DIALS. This is a good reminder to apply robust skepticism to any contemporary band given the label “psychedelic.” This Canadian outfit’s initial album, A New Devotion, drew me in by offering promise with Beatles/Byrds-style baroque rock songs. But thereafter they descend into that 21st century kind of pop/rock that over-processes voice and instruments into a lush-ness that someone decided to improperly label psychedelic, thereby insulting all the art and artistry of the OG psychedelic aesthetic. “Open Up the Gates” from their third album was good neo-psychedelia, though.

Favorite album: A New Devotion

Favorite song: Oisin, My Bastard Brother

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Just that first album. I didn’t enjoy the rest.

660. Spirit

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(July 2025) Episode 660 is SPIRIT. They’re known for three things: (1) the minor classic rock hit “I Got a Line on You,” (2) the object of the copyright suit claiming Jimmy Page nicked a guitar line for “Stairway to Heaven” (unsuccessful, correctly IMO), and (3) giving us Jay Ferguson, of the yacht rock classic “Thunder Island” and composer of the theme song from The Office (US). Otherwise, their three late-60s albums will be of interest only to deep divers of that period (like me). They are an eclectic mix of rock, psychedelic, prog and jazz, fittingly drawing from the LA scene at the time. For an unknown reason, though, someone kept giving them recording contracts afterwards and through the 1990s.

Favorite album: The Family That Plays Together

Favorite song: I Got A Line On You

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The first three albums may be of interest to aficionados of late 60s California rock. But others can skip.

656. Lush

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(June 2025) Episode 656 is LUSH, among the top-tier of bands whose name describes their sound. That was from the first part of their career in the early 1990s, when they helped introduce the shoegaze sound of ethereal, sweeping guitars, represented on several EPs and their first album. By their third and last album (1996’s Lovelife), Lush has turned to the prevalent Britpop sound. (Their second album was a transition between the two.) I like both styles, but kinda favor the shoegaze and Miki Berenyi’s floating vocals.

Favourite album: Spooky

Favourite song: Sweetness and Light

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Each of the three albums are good, but check out the several EPs that preceded the first.

652. The Grass Roots

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Episode 652 is THE GRASS ROOTS. You will recognize the songs “Let’s Live for Today,” “Midnight Confessions” and “Sooner or Later” as AM radio staples, but you probably didn’t know the band behind them. That’s the Grass Roots. Music fans will know that songwriter P.F. Sloan got his start here. And fans of The Office may know it as the band Creed Bratton was in in the 1960s. They offered some decent LA-style late 60s pop, but with changing lineups and sounds, they come down to us in some obscurity.

Favorite album: Let’s Live for Today

Favorite song: Let’s Live for Today

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: A greatest hits record is more than you’ll need.

649. Tim Buckley and Jeff Buckley

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Episode 649 is TIM BUCKLEY and JEFF BUCKLEY. Tim is an acquired taste, and he hasn’t acquired mine. His five-octave voice is impressive, but I’ve never warmed to the crooning way he employed it. It often feels discordant to the music underneath, even as he varies his style from folk to avant-garde to pop. I appreciate the experimentalism of Starsailor, which has become a cult classic. It may seem odd to append Jeff here, as he was never part of his father’s life, but it’s the only way I could review him as he had only one studio album, Grace, but what a fine album that is. His “Hallelujah” is among the best covers that surpasses the original. Jeff inherited his father’s many-octave voice, but uses it more pleasantly.

Favorite Tim album: Tim Buckley

Favorite Tim song: Pleasant Street

Favorite Jeff song: Hallelujah

Compared to expectations: Tim ↓, Jeff same

Recommendation: You should know Jeff’s Grace. Try Tim’s more conventional eponymous album or Goodbye and Hello, or the weird Starsailor, to see if it fits your taste.

647. Captain Beyond

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Episode 647 is CAPTAIN BEYOND, a B-list supergroup from the mid-70s (with former Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly and Johnny Winter members). It’s a weird mix of heavy, prog rock, space and yacht rock, and thus a lesser-known archetype of the period. Their first of three albums has the heaviest sound, and thus the best.

Favorite album: Captain Beyond

Favorite song Mesmerization Eclipse

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Probably only relevant for 1970s rock completists

646. Violet Mindfield

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(April 2025) Episode 646 is the VIOLET MINDFIELD, a contemporary Southern California-based retro-psychedelic band. While their stated intention is to recreate 60s psychedelic and garage band sounds, what I hear is a call back to acts of previous retro generations, such as Olivia Tremor Control and Oh Sees. There’s a fine line between reverent homage and derivative mimicry, which they straddle. Their most recent album, California Burning, appears to be original songs based on classic 60s riffs (not unlike what the Rutles did).

Favorite album: The Forgotten Streetlamps of Time

Favorite song: Autonomous Overdrive

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: It’s an interesting listen if you like 60s psychedelic and garage music.

639. Peter and Gordon

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(March 2025) Episode 639 is PETER AND GORDON. Very like Chad & Jeremy from a couple episodes ago: a UK duo featuring Everly-ish vocals in the early British Invasion. What Peter and Gordon had going for them is proximity to the Beatles, socially and musically; Paul wrote their early hits and dated Peter’s sister Jane Asher. They offered fine, middle-of-the-road 60s pop, but struggled to keep up with trends. Peter and Gordon didn’t go as far as Chad & Jeremy’s full-bore attempt at tudor psychedelia, just venturing into baroque pop. Both duos were done by decade’s end. Peter became a long-time producer.

Favourite album: In London for Tea

Favourite song: A World Without Love

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The Ultimate Peter & Gordon (compilation)

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