The Fuzz Lab is open

With my band Wo Fat, I design and hand screenprint all of the T Shirts that we sell. After learning how to do this and getting some experience with screen printing, I decided that I wanted to make some cool shirts of some of my favorite 70's band for myself. Then I thought, why not sell them. And thus, The Fuzz Lab.
I'm starting out with only a handful of designs, but I'll be adding more soon. The shirts are all high quality 100% cotton, 6.1 ounce Hanes or Gildan shirts.
Some possible future designs in development are Mahogany Rush, Leafhound and a really cool Pink Floyd design. In the meantime, go check 'em out:  The Fuzz Lab

Hairy Chapter "Can't Get Through" 1971

 

     1970 and early '71 was such an interesting time.  Rock had found a heaviness never before heard, thanks to Black Sabbath and others, but things hadn't quite solidified yet.  The music hadn't become formulaic,  thus giving rise to unique and original interpretations of the new heaviness by bands like Sir Lord Baltimore and Germany's own Hairy Chapter.    This is one of those albums that often pops up on the obscure 70's holy grails lists, as it should, but it certainly didn't turn out to be quite what I expected.  I don't know what I expected - maybe some straight ahead bluesy riff rock, I don't know. This is definitely not that.  Hairy Chapter's "Can't Get Through,"  much like Sir Lord Baltimore's "Kingdom Come,"  is one maniacal,  wheels-off affair. 

"Can't Get Through," released in 1971 on the German Bacillus label, was the third album from the tripped out, acid-blown, neanderthal-intellectual quartet.  I haven't heard the first, "Electric Sounds For Dancing," but the second, 1970's "Eyes," despite occasional glimpses of the alien beasts gestating within and waiting to rip out of their Hairy chests, is primarily bluesish 60's psych.  

 

  November 1970:  enter the great Dieter Dierks (producer of Orange Peel, Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream and who would later engineer the rise of the Scorpions).  Producer and Vision Quest guide, Dierks simultaneously unleashed the psychedelic beast and reined it in enough to help Hairy Chapter  realize the post modern rock and roll heights of madness that is "Can't Get Through."  The mix is urgent, electric and feels live:  guitars upfront, angry and heavy, overdriven bass,  Mitch Mitchell-esque drumming and desperate, pained vocals.  While it's not an album full of heavy guitar riffs,  it does have it's share and it's full of out of control guitar solos and cool dark grooves with lots of unexpected changes of direction. 

    Comprising only 5 songs, "There's a Kind of Nothing" opens the album with some innocent enough bass/guitar vamping with a lighthearted Allman Brothers-ish guitar lick.  The vamp continues, guitar fills becoming darker as Harry Unte attempts to belt out his vocals over the roiling rhythm section, all the while, the repetition  building to some unknown climax that never comes.  Then suddenly it stops, and we're at scarborough fair for a brief dreamy medieval interlude before being transported back to the menacing vamp.  We realize very quickly that this is not conventional song composition.  

The apex of the album is the next 2 songs, "Can't Get Through" and "It Must be an Officer's Daughter," both of which are epic sonic landscapes stretching over 8 minutes each.  "Can't Get Through" starts with an intro that's like a cross between Yes and Sabbath.  After a couple of hard rockin' verses, we're into a smoldering groove for a harmonica solo followed by Harry Titlbach's guitar workout over Rudolf Oldenburg's Jack Bruce-infused bass playing. Then suddenly a wacky slide guitar interlude comes out of know where, leading to a Led Zeppelin-ish riff that devolves into a slowly dissolving swing feel topped with dazed and confused guitar freakouts, Titlbach suffering from a momentary loss of sanity until finally it all crashes back to Earth with the Zep riff again. Like I said, not conventional songwriting.

     "It Must Be an Officer's Daughter" continues on the road to the mountains of electrified post-blues madness with 8 more minutes of erratic groove changes,  demented stalker lyrics like "I want to hold your luscious breasts in my hand" sung over a dark Sabbath-like riff,  and a heaping helping of on-the-edge guitar solos over wicked drum/bass vamps.  

   The only song that doesn't rock pretty hard is "As We Crosssed Over."  For this one we've got acoustic bass, acoustic guitar, mariachi trumpet (yes you read that right) off in the distance and haunting, trippy choir vocals swirling around in the background.  It sounds almost like Radiohead in an odd way.  Strange, melancholy little tune here.

    The album closes with "You've Got To Follow This Masquerade."  The Cro-Magnon prog motif is revived for this one.  Evil Sabbath riffs alternated with straighter Zeppelin and proggy sections that just come to an abrupt halt after 4 minutes or so, leaving you wandering what the...? 

   This is a great record, but something that you definitely must be in the mood for.  It's somewhat enigmatic and unapproachable and took me a couple of listens to really start digging it. Who knows what was going through these Krautrocker's off center brains to create a monster like this?  Post modern, proto metal, bluesish, Cro-Magnon Man Prog rock.

Second Battle has reissued this album along with the second album "Eyes" on 1 cd.

And here's my rating:

Riff Density- 7
Riff Caliber- 7
Post Blues Factor- 10
Groove Factor- 10
Dig It-7(This number is a little low only because I don't end up listening to this very often even though I dig it very much)

Sir Lord Baltimore "Kingdom Come" 1970

Kingdom Come, Brooklyn-bred Sir Lord Baltimore's debut album from 1970, was one of the first heavy 70's obscurities that I found (and a sweet vinyl copy in an awesome gatefold at that) when I was first embarking on this quest for ancient riffage a number of years back, and it is a beast. It is a relic from the early freewheeling days of heavy rock, before the formula had been defined, refined and distilled. Home brewed white lightning. This record is a crazed, hungry, foaming-at-the-mouth Hell Hound, not satisfied with Robert Johnson's long ago ingested soul, but looking for new, fresh, unguarded souls to devour. So keep your hands inside the vehicle, lest you lose them. I take no responsibility for injuries incurred from listening to this album.
It's heavy alright, but not in a Black Sabbath or Bedemon way. Kingdom Come is a chaotic, cyclonic, neanderthal-driven ride through a twisted amphetamine-fueled, post-blues, proto-punk, jungle of riffs. Even though SLB is often called the first American Heavy Metal band, musically, they lean more toward a very loose version Cactus with a dash of Hendrix and The Stooges thrown in than the monolithic, controlled heaviness of Sabbath and the metal that was yet to come. Interestingly, Randy Palmer of Bedemon/Pentagram said his favorite bands were Black Sabbath and Sir Lord Baltimore and in fact originally met Geoff O'Keefe (Bedemon/Pentagram) because Geoff bought the copy of Sir Lord Baltimore's record that the record store was holding for Randy. I assume that it must have been the 2nd self titled SLB album.



Sir Lord Baltimore was John Garner-vox and drums, Louis Dambra - guitar, and Gary Justin - bass.
The frantic, frenzied pummeling begins with a Lemmy-esque distorted bass that introduces us to "Master Heartache", which was masterfully covered by Church of Misery on their Houses of the Unholy album. This song sets the status quo for the entire album: a freight train of blues infused riffs melting into unhinged guitar fills and solos over delirious, unpredictable Mitch Mitchell-ish drumming with Garner's Ronnie James Dio a la Adam Sandler caterwauling vocals leading the charge through a seemingly random maze of a mix where guitars pan back and forth, materialize and disappear, and tempos ebb and flow like the tides. This lurching, swaying, runaway train is held on the tracks, just barely, by the gravity of the heavily distorted bass that chugs along underneath. "Master Heartache" has a classic loping riff for the verse that leads to a mean, mean breakdown part. "Hard Rain Fallin'" is a driving Led Zep machine with a cool twin lead guitar section. "Lady of Fire" starts with a sick proto stoner rock riff. The verse groove is a little weak, but the rest of the tune still rocks hard. I think Deep Purple lifted part of this tune for "Woman From Tokyo." You'll know exactly what I mean when you hear it.

The only time the pace drops below berserk is the 4th song, "Lake Isle of Innersfree," which is coincidentally(or not) the only song not penned by Dambra, but instead foisted upon them by producers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos in there misguided attempt to reach a wider audience.(?) It is a rather weak harpsichord driven Renaissance Fair song that should be immediately skipped and promptly forgotten.
Then it's pedal to the metal again with "Pumped Up." More howling vocals and angry blues riffing that lead to a nasty dual guitar lick and a crazed guitar solo. The brakes are applied for the proto metal title track, "Kingdom Come." This song is the most restrained (aside from the ridiculous Renny fair "Innisfree"), or maybe I should say controlled, and at the same time, maybe the most metal(ish) song on the album, looking to the future, with Garner sounding more Ian Gillan/Dio-like (and less like a possessed Adam Sandler)with a big late 70's metal vibrato and medieval tinged lyrics. The water has cooled slightly to a simmer here, but, fret not, it will soon be back to a rolling boil.
"I Got a Woman" is a backwards looking, 60's London Blues Explosion kind of tune, with tinges of 60's psych. A bit dated, but still cool. We're back on track (or is it off the rails) with "Hell Hound": savage guitar soloing/riffing over Garner's undulating drumming. Enter "Helium Head" (what a cool title); wicked flowing riffage and an awesome vamp at the end that should have gone on much longer -Fist smacks hand- "Damn that Mike Appel and his radio single aesthetic!" The album ends with more of the same on the uptempo "Ain't Got Hung on You."
This album, really, is somewhat unapproachable. It's almost like you need sunglasses to tone down the glare so you can really see what's going on through all of the chaos and tumult. The playing is pretty loose and the tempos fluctuate, but look deeper into the pandemonium and you'll see the wickedly cool riffs and the wheels off, hair-on-fire greatness of this album. When it's all said and done, you feel windblown and worn. Like you drove 100 miles in a convertible with the top down. Garner, Dambra and Justin are just going for it, full on; the only way they know how: over the top and with reckless abandon, the imperfections actually adding to the overall devastating effect of this record. There's loads of punk rock attitude coupled with primo pentatonic riffs and songs with lots of different sections and motif changes. Nine out of ten songs unapologetically bringing the Rock. Not many other albums from 1970 can say that.
I have to also say that I dig the spooky Flying Dutchman front cover, the groovy font used for Sir Lord Baltimore, and the cool modernist painting on the inside cover (see the picture above).
My rating is:
Riff Density 8
Riff Caliber 9
Post Blues Factor 8
Groove Factor 10
Dig It 8 (used to be lower, but I continue to appreciate it more and more)

Bedemon "Child of Darkness" 1973-79

Aah, the fabled Bedemon. This album, released by Black Widow Records of Italy with a massive booklet of great liner notes, is a compilation of recordings made in the 70's by the "band" Bedemon. Bedemon was not an actual gigging, playing band, but was the instrument used by Pentagram guitarista Randy Palmer to document some of his musical ideas. It's pretty amazing really that these private, self-made recordings firstly, have become the stuff of myth and legend that they are, and secondly, that they, in many ways, actually do live up to the hype.

The back story: Prior to joining the equally fabled Pentagram, Randy Palmer enlisted his friend and Pentagram drummer Geof O'Keefe, Pentagram vocalist Bobby Liebling, and high school friend Mike Matthews (bass) to help him record some of his musical ideas. These recordings were made using a Roberts 771X 1/4" reel-to-reel tape deck in Pentagram's rehearsal space and Randy's living room. The sonic quality is pretty rough and varies wildly, but considering they had 2 tracks to work with and were bouncing tracks(and therefore also mixing on the fly as they went) back and forth to add extra tracks Sgt Pepper style, it turned out fairly well. In fact, on some songs it enhances the grittiness and hardcore nature of the music.

Randy Palmer reconnected with Mike and Geof and in 2001 work was underway on new Bedemon material, but sadly, Randy Palmer was killed in 2002 from injuries sustained in a traffic accident.

The music:

It took me a few a listens to really start digging this album, but now I'm sold on it. For the most part, Bedemon is unapologetically heavy, dark and doomy, sounding like St Vitus or even the Blood Farmers at times, but with Bobby Liebling from Pentagram singing. I would say it's heavier and more modern metal than most of the Pentagram of the same time period. The guitar sounds are heavier (interestingly, an Electro Harmonix Mike Matthews Freedom Amp was used for the Bedemon recordings; don't know what was used for Pentagram) and the riffage/songs are heavier. Some of the contemporary Pentagram sounds stuck in the 60's at times as far as the songwriting goes. The Bedemon guitar solos, contributed by Randy Palmer, Geof O'Keefe and Mike Matthews are all very cool, and O'Keefe's drumming is slamming.
One of the only problems I have with this album is Bobby Liebling's performance. His delivery is pretty flat (I'm not referring to pitch, but energy). He kind of sounds like Iggy Pop (don't get me wrong, I love Iggy) combined with a heroin-infused Velvet Underground Lou Reed. He sounds much better on Pentagram's First Daze Here, so I'm not sure if he just didn't give it his all because it wasn't his project or what, but I think this is partly why it took me a while to get into the record. Get past the lackluster Liebling and you've got some of the heaviest rock of the early 70's.

The albums kicks you in the gut right from the start, the first three songs, Child of Darkness, Enslaver of Humanity, and Frozen Fear being devastating, plodding, doomy behemoths driven by mammoth Sabbathathian tritone blues riffs and sweet Iommi-esque soloing. Opener Child of Darkness takes us down creepy unmarked riff-roads later mapped out by the Blood Farmers and Electric Wizard, just not quite as psychedelic. I was initially not so into Frozen Fear because the vocal melody is lifted exactly from Black Sabbath (I can't for the life of me think of which song right now - help me out here...), but everything else about the song kills, so who cares. Besides, how many great blues songs utilize the same melody with different lyrics? A wicked howling banshee feedback guitar introduces Enslaver of Humanity which lumbers along big and heavy, Vitus style. One Way Road is a bit more uptempo, but only slightly, feeling a bit like a Buffalo jam. The ham-fisted riffing and bludgeoning guitar solos continue. Serpent Venom starts out promising, but then kind of lags a bit. The riffage here doesn't carry the same weight as the previous 4 tunes. Still not bad though. There is a cool Dave Chandler-ish guitar solo on this one - again with the St. Vitus comparisons.
Last Call, a melancholy ballad, is followed by Drive Me to the Grave, which sounds like a Sabbath Vol. 4 era song. Into the Grave is another minor ballad, but it's got a better groove than Last Call and some nice soloing. Unfortunately one track of lead guitar is buried in the mix. Skinned, which is introduced with a blood curdling scream, is an uptempo rocker which, at times, makes me think of early Fu Manchu.?. Hmm. Touch the Sky is another Vol. 4 trip.
Tracks 1-12 were all from '73-74, while the three songs that close the album are from '79, after Palmer's tenure with Pentagram and definitely have a different feel to them.
Time Bomb is a total Iggy and the Stooges Raw Power vibe. Nighttime Killers has a NWOBHM gallop to it with a proggy solo section. Axe to Grind is actually Geof O'Keefe's composition. It is a cool prog-metal instrumental that very much sounds like 1979 with twin harmony guitar melodies. Very different from the earlier Bedemon, but a rockin' jam nonetheless with some smokin' leads.

The album kind of falls into three sections. The first 1/3 is the heaviest and doomiest with the best riffage, and the most St Vitus-ish. The middle 1/3 kind of sags a little, but still has rockin' moments. The last 1/3 picks up the pace again, but in a less doomy, more late 70's metal kind of way. Like I said earlier, I dig it more than Pentagram First Daze Here, and again, if Liebling would've delivered more passionate performances, it would have sent this album into the territory of greatness.

My rating is:
Riff Density 9
Riff Caliber 9
Post Blues Factor 10
Groove Factor 8
Dig It 8

Comment on Downloading

Hmm... So after receiving a comment on one of my reviews asking where the link to the music is, I feel the need to say a few things here.
I personally do not have a big problem with people downloading music. We've all done it. We've all burned cdr copies of cd's from our friends. Those of us that are old enough have made cassette copies of albums-I've still got boxes full of 'em. That being said, I did not create this blog to be a place to download other peoples' albums. My intention was to make this a place to express my opinions about some somewhat obscure albums and hopefully give you another perspective about them and let you decide for yourself whether you want to seek them out or not. I started creating the Transmissions From Beyond podcasts to allow you to hear some songs off of the albums discussed to give you even more information. My hope is that if you dig something, you will search it out and buy it, but at the very least, I want people to listen to and discover more music that maybe they wouldn't have found otherwise.
This blog is affiliated with the band Wo Fat. We have 2 albums for sale in lots of different places. It cost us a lot of money to make those records: It costs money to record. It costs money to have artwork designed. It costs money to press cd's. It costs a lot more money to press vinyl. It costs money to print inserts and sleeves. It costs money to make T shirts. And on and on... Making music and making it available to people is not free, especially if you don't want it done in a half-assed manner. If you like something, you should try and support it as best you can. If you are reading this blog, most musicians that you probably dig and most of the independent record labels that deal with this type of music, do not have nor do they make a lot of money. This is a labor of love. It's about the music. Why would you want to screw over something that you like? You're not "stickin' it to the man" by downloading a Nebula album. Maybe you are if it's T Pain or TI or some such major label foolishness. But the underground needs support. And supporting underground music IS sticking it to the man! Solid.
Some sites that have a lot of stuff available for download ask that you share as much as you download or that you make a certain amount of posts in order to download so that you are contributing to the "community." I propose that instead of contributing in that way, that you buy as much as you download. Give back to the people that are entertaining you and rocking your world.
I should also say that I know of a number of sites where you can download our albums for free and ultimately, I'm ok with that. I'd rather that you buy it from us of course, but in the end, I want people listening to it and grooving on it more than I want to get paid for it. Like I said, it's all about the music, man.
Just some things to think about as you surf the void.


Support underground music.
Spread the Fuzz.
Long live Analog Rock and Roll!

Transmissions From Beyond #2

Hee is the second episode of Transmissions From Beyond, which focuses on the band Cactus. Check out the reviews of Cactus' self titled debut album and One Way or Another for more info on the band.
In order to listen to this podcast, put the following URL into itunes or whatever you choose to listen to podcasts with and prepare to rock.

Transmissions From Beyond URL:
http://wofatarcanum.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Cactus "One Way or Another" 1971

One Way or Another is Cactus' second album, coming right on the heels of their debut(check out the review of this album for more info). It is still drenched in the blues, but with less harmonica and more riffs. The album opens with a slow, tough as nails version of Little Richards Long Tall Sally built on a hard groovin' guitar riff with some burnin' McCarty wah wah soloing. Rockout, Whatever You Feel Like starts out sounding like it's gonna be a killer, but then turns out to be a bit of a lightweight happy Status Quo-ish tune. Eh... I'm a little iffy on that one. It does have a kind of cool twin lead thing, but still...

"One Way Or Another"


Anyway, next up is Rock and Roll Children, which is a midtempo backbeat blues for the verses that, as is often the case with Cactus, turns into a blazing guitar/bass drum freakout before returning to the backbeat groove. Lots of great high harmony vocals on this album, by the way.

This brings us to the aptly titled Big Mama Boogie, pt 1 & 2 . It starts of with a few minutes of groovy acoustic guitar/honkin' harmonica blues with some great vocals from Rusty. Just when you think it's over part 2 walks up and punches you in the gut with a heavy, hard-ass, Let There Be Rock-esque groove.


Side 2 opens with the cool, understated, tremolo guitar-driven Feel So Bad. Great tune with a cool hypnotic groove. Nice wah guitar solo. This simmering understatement is a bit of a departure for Cactus, but it works well. The next tune, Song for Aries is also somewhat of a departure. It is one of those melancholy minor key instrumentals so popular in the 70's that we all love that starts out with acoustic guitar building to a smoldering electric guitar solo.
Hometown Bust, a lament about drug busts is a heavy lumbering blues that alternates between subdued clean guitar/harmonica and molten overdriven Big Muffy sustain.

The record closes with what is the ultimate Cactus song - One Way or Another. This is a riff rock masterpiece that ranks up there with the most rocking songs of the 70's. Built on a nasty guitar riff, they have fully transcended the basic blues structure and moved into fully modern post blues 70's rock. After a couple of verse/choruses there's a cool breakdown that builds into a slamming guitar solo freakout section undergirded by Bogert's snarling bass and Appice's assault and battery(batterie). Pure and unadulterated, this is what Rock and Roll is about.

Can you tell I really dig this song?

Anyway, like their debut, the album is not packed front to back with giant riffage, but more than half the album is hard rockin' in one way or another ;-)

Riff Density 7
Riff Caliber 10
Post Blues Factor 6
Groove Factor 10
Dig It 8