Daiistar: Good Time 2023

 

Over the last few years we’ve become wary of surprise. When the unexpected comes along, it’s not unwise to duck. Yet not all surprises are bad. Take DAIISTAR, a band that was on pretty much nobody’s

radar before the release of their thrilling debut album, Good Time.
"Good Time" out now via Fuzz Club. Except DAIISTAR (pronounced ‘day star’) seem to have already gathered a psych rock pedigree. The album is produced by Black Angels frontman Alex Maas, engineered by White Denim’s James Petrali, and is out on the influential London label Fuzz Club. They’re about to embark on tours with the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. 
                           

The debut album from Austin’s Daiistar blends hook-laden psych sounds from across the decades to

joyous results. The earth may be scorched but new Austin band Daiistar are kicking up a psych party on their debut album Good Time. The album is a swirling and grooving affair filled with great beats, hooks, and melodies to delve into as the band bring together psych-influenced sounds from across the decades, fusing their classic Texan musical heritage with twists from the 80s psych revival and blasts of Hacienda-born dance.
                                         

The blend is served up perfectly right from the very first track, Star Starter, mixing Madchester-shuffle

drum beats with My Bloody Valentine sonic blasts underneath glorious vocals, coming together in celebration, imploring us to raise our arms high and around those with us as we move in unison. It’s a hell of an opening to an album that shifts through dense guitars, modulating synths, and blissful vocals that hammer home their intention to stand up against the world we are served from above. “Fuck the world, this is our time”, they sing on the wonderful LMN BB LMN before they drift off on the waves of recent single Repeater, a woozy guitar looping around four notes to cast an irresistible spell.
                      

On songs like Tracemaker and Heathens Gate, the band flit deftly between darker grooving riffs and crystalline undercurrents, sonic blasts of thunder that give way to clear skies under which they shine. It’s no mystery how they caught the eye of Alex Maas and his work producing the album has brought out the

best of all that Daiistar have to offer. When they put the guitar pedals to one side for a moment we get songs like Purified, simple yet beautiful in its approach, one that sees them sidling up alongside Stoned And Dethroned-era Jesus And Mary Chain. It floats along, saving itself for the surging guitars that lift the vocals further, not overpowering but coming from within to add a subtle underlying power; a tranquilising dose that releases us momentarily from the acid-hinged noise-pop that surrounds it, shoegazing were its head not held high and looking up at the stars.
                                     

As they fly through the following triplet of Say It To Me, Parallel, and Speed Jesus, the band grab you by

the hand to spin tripping through the desert as the sun goes down. As the party dies out and the night gives way to a new dawn, final song Velvet Reality seems to find the band realising that there is still a truth that must be faced.
                                   

“Mother help me. 
I could walk but they took the world from me… 
Mother help me.
I was so bright by they took the light from me,
Mother help me
I had dreams
But they took the streets from me.” 

                              

sings frontman Alex Capistran over soft strumming, a plaintive end perhaps, but one on which he still

reminds us of our enduring strength in unity. “Together we’re free and they can’t stop us now,” he reminds us. Good times are ahead and Daiistar have arrived just in time to remind us of that fact. Drop a dose of their debut album and soak up all they have to offer.

                             

DAIISTAR – Good Time
Label: Fuzz Club Records – FC205
Format: CD, Album
Country: UK
Released: 2023
Genre: Rock, Pop
Style: Alternative Rock, Pop Rock, New-Psychedelic
                                

TRACKS

                     

01. Star Starter
02. LMN BB LMN
03. Repeater
04. Tracemaker
05. Purified
06. Say It To Me
07. Parallel
08. Speed Jesus
09. Heathens Gate
10. Velvet Reality

LINE - UP

                            

Guitar, Vocals – Alex Capistran
Bass – Misti Hamrick
Drums, Percussion – Nick Cornetti
Keyboards – Derek Strahan 
Written-By – Alex Capistran

Flac Size: 241 MB

Andwellas Dream: Love And Poetry 1969 + Andwella: World's End 1970 + People's People 1970

 

Andwella were an Irish psychedelic rock band formed in 1968, originally as The Method and later renamed Andwella's Dream. The trio were fronted by Dave Lewis (guitar/keyboard/vocals), with Nigel

Smith (bass/vocals) and Gordon Barton (drums). Andwellas Dream began in the late '60s as a heavy psychedelic trio, tapping into the multicolored imagery and fuzzy guitars of the era while remaining grounded by bandleader David Lewis' solid songwriting. After releasing 1969's Love & Poetry, Andwellas Dream shortened their name to Andwella, and released two more albums before breaking up in 1972. 
                            

Their first album, as Andwella's Dream, Love and Poetry, was recorded in London in 1968, and

released in August 1969. It featured jazz musician Bob Downes on saxophone and flute, and Wilgar Campbell on drums on the track "Felix". The album failed to sell, and Lewis then recorded a solo album, privately pressed, on the Ax label in 1970; which included new versions of some of the Andwella's Dream songs. In 1970 David Lewis wrote the music for and produced poet David Baxter's Goodbye Dave album, for which he was backed by Andwella.
                     

With the addition of Dave McDougall on guitar and vocals, the band was renamed Andwella. This line-up issued World's End in August 1970, before Dave Struthers replaced Nigel Smith on bass and

Jack McCulloch joined as drummer. This iteration of Andwella recorded their third album, 1971's People's People, which brought into greater focus some of the country and folk-rock tendencies that appeared in latent form on earlier material. Shortly after the album's release, Andwella broke up. While relatively obscure during their time, the band became highly regarded by psychedelia collectors and historians in years to follow.
                                

DISCOGRAPHY

Andwellas Dream: Love And Poetry (LP, CBS 1969-08)
Andwella: World's End   (LP, Reflection Records 1970-08)
Andwella: People's People (LP, Reflection, rel. Late 1970)

01. ANDWELLAS DREAM - LOVE AND POETRY 1969

                                 

Although Andwella's Dream were a versatile psychedelic group, they were nonetheless generic no matter

what angle they were taking. On Love & Poetry, you get sustained guitar that walks the line between freakbeat and heaviness, some swirling organ and husky vocals that betray the influence of Traffic and Procol Harum, pastoral acoustic folky tunes in the Donovan style, airy-fairy dabs of phased guitars and storybook lyrics, etc. 
                                    

Andwellas Dream – 1969 - Love And Poetry
Label: Sunbeam Records – SBRCD5063
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered 2009
Country: UK
Released: 1969
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

                        

01. The Days Grew Longer For Love
02. Sunday
03. Lost A Number, Found A King
04. Man Without A Name
05. Clockwork Man
06. Cocaine
07. Shades Of Grey
08. High On A Mountain
09. Andwella
10. Midday Sun
11. Take My Road
12. Felix
13. Goodbye

BONUS TRACKS        

    
14. Mrs. Man (45 A-side)
15. Mr. Sunshine (45 B-side)
16. Every Little Minute (45 A-side)
17. Micheal FitzHenry (45 B-side)
18. Take My Road (Alt. Mix)
19. Man Without A Name (Alt. Mix)
20. Paradise Isle (2008)
21. Miles Away From My Baby (2008)

LINE - UP

Guitar, Piano, Organ, Vocals, Written By – Dave Lewis
Bass, Vocals – Nigel Smith 
Drums – Gordon Barton
Flute, Bells [Chinese], Tam-tam, Finger Cymbals, Percussion [Dry Leaves], Ti-tse [Chinese Bamboo Flute] – Bob Downes

Flac Size: 440 MB

02. ANDWELLA - WORLD'S END 1970

                                 

In 1970, Andwella dropped the dream and woke up to a new morning sound that traded flutes for trumpets

and shredding guitars for pounding pianos. With a little help from Bobby Scott, David Lewis proved once again his mastery over the craft of songwriting with “The Weight” style epics “Back on The Road,” proto arena-rock power ballads like “Just How Long,” and portraits of tenderness in the epic love song on “Lady Love.” Highly recommended.
                        

Andwella – World's End
Label: Geffen Records – UICY-93049
Series: Rock Legend Series
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered Apr 26, 2006
Country: Japan
Released: 1970
Genre: Rock
Style: Psych - Rock

TRACKS

                       

01. Hold On To Your Mind
02. Lady Love
03. Michael Fitzhenry
04. I'm Just Happy To See You Get Her
05. Just How Long
06. World's End Part I
07. World's End Part II
08. Back On The Road
09. I Got A Woman
10. Reason For Living
11. Shadow Of The Night

LINE - UP

Guitar, Flute, Piano, Lead Vocals – David Lewis
Bass, Vocals – Nigel Smith 
Drums, Percussion – Gordon Barton
Piano, Organ, Vocals – Dave McDougall 
Written-By – David Lewis (tracks: 1 to 5, 7 to 11)

Flac Size: 400 MB

03. ANDWELLA - PEOPLE'S PEOPLE 1970

                            

People’s People finds David Lewis and his band of freewheelers stripping their sound down to the

essentials. Emerging from the psychedelic haze, the trio find themselves at a crossroads of American southern rock and a pastoral English countryside and deliver an album with booming harmonies and transcendental hooks that could go head-to-head with The Band or The Allman Brothers. The final chapter in the Andwella story has all the makings of a classic LP, and if not for the Reflection label’s own chaotic dissolution around the time of the release, it probably would have been.
                      

Andwella – People's People
Label: Geffen Records – UICY-93050
Series: Rock Legend Series
Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered Apr 26, 2006
Country: Japan
Released: 1970    
Genre: Rock
Style: Psych - Rock

TRACKS

                 

    
01. She Taught Me To Love
02. Saint Bartholomew
03. The World Of Angelique
04. Mississippi Water
05. I've Got My Own
06. Are You Ready
07. Four Days In September
08. Lazy Days
09. People's People
10. Behind The Painted Screen
11. All For You

LINE - UP

Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Organ – David Lewis 
Piano, Organ – Dave McDougall
Bass, Vocals – Dave Struthers
Percussion – Jack McCulloch

Flac Size: 380 MB

The Oxpetals: The Oxpetals 1970

                           

 

One of those talented late-'60s/early-'70s bands that's been lost in the dust of time. Calling Roanoke, Virginia home (one well known reference work ties them to update New York), the band debuted with an obscure garage and fuzz guitar powered 1967 single on Musicor:- 1967's 'Prune Growing In

June' b/w 'Walking Down the Sunny Side' (Musicor catalog number MU 1274). Dropped by Musicor, the band struggled on, going through a couple of personnel changes. By 1970 the personnel line-up consisted of drummer Daniel "Ace" Aliison, singer/guitarist Benjamin Herndon, bassist Guy Phillips, singer/guitarist Steven Pague, and keyboard player Robert Webber. Signed by Mercury, they relocated to Moosepack Lake, New Jersey, recording their self-titled debut at Mercury Studios in New York City. Produced by Steve Boone (of Lovin' Spoonful fame, "The Oxpetals" featured an all original set of material with all five members contributing to the writing chores. 
                               

With Herndon and Pague responsible for the majority of songs, exemplified by tracks like 'I Still Remember' and 'What Can You Say' the predominant sound was melodic country-rock. Both Herndon and

Pague had nice voices, with the band showing off a talent for writing nice melodies and sweet harmony vocals (check out the opener 'Don't Cry Mother'). Curiously the band were actually at their best on atypical tunes like the rockers 'The Lazy Station', 'You Can't Hide from the Rude Owl ', and the country-rock closer 'Glory of the Skies'. The thing to remember is the first side gets off to a slow start. It's not until the second half of the "A" side and the flip side that the band starts to reveal their considerable gifts.
                                  

Oxpetals – The Oxpetals
Label: Mercury – SR 61289
Format: Album, Promo
Country: US
Released: 1970
Genre: Rock, Pop
Style: Soft Rock, Classic Rock, Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

                         

01. Don't Cry Mother   3:41
Written-By – Benjamin Herndon
02. I Still Remember   3:29
Written-By – Steven Pague    
03. Doin' It   3:14
Written-By – Benjamin Herndon, Robert Webber       
04. What Can You Say   3:30
Written-By – Steven Pague
05. The Lazy Station   2:57
Written-By – Benjamin Herndon    
06. March 22   3:45
Written-By – Benjamin Herndon
07. Declaration Of Oneness   4:50
Written-By – Benjamin Herndon
08. Down From The Mountain   4:00
Written-By – Guy Phillips
09. Silent Partner   3:07
Written-By – Benjamin Herndon
10. Stephanie   1:34
Written-By – Guy Phillips
11. You Can't Hide From The Rude Owl   3:00
Written-By – Benjamin Herndon
12. Glory To The Skys   3:10
Written-By – Benjamin Herndon, Guy Phillips, Bob Weber, Steve Pague
    

LINE - UP

Vocals, Guitar – Benjamin Herndon 
Vocals, Guitar – Steven Pague
Bass – Guy Phillips
Drums – Daniel "Ace" Allison
Keyboards – Robert Webber 

Flac Size: 290 MB

The Adverts: Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts 1978 + Cast Of Thousands (The Ultimate Edition) 1980

 

The Adverts was an English punk rock band who formed in 1976 and broke up in 1979. They were one of the very best acts to come out of the first wave of English punk, with a stellar debut single,

"One Chord Wonders" and "Gary Gilmore's Eyes". "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" reached the UK top 20 in August 1977. The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music described bassist and founding member Gaye Advert as the "first female punk star". The band was formed in 1976 by T. V. Smith (Tim Smith) and Gaye Advert (Gaye Black). Smith was from the town of Okehampton in mid-Devon, and Advert was from Bideford, a small coastal town in North Devon. After relocating to London, the two young punks recruited guitarist Howard Pickup (Boak) and drummer Laurie Driver (Muscat), and the Adverts were born.
                                    

Their first gig was to support Generation X on January 15, 1977 at The Roxy in London.  The Adverts were a prolific live act. Their first nationwide tour was with Stiff labelmates the Damned.

The tour poster read: "The Damned can now play three chords, The Adverts can play one. Hear all four of them at..." Later they would support Iggy Pop on tour, as well as conducting their own headlining tours in Britain, Ireland and continental Europe. On 19 August 1977, the band released the first of their two UK Top 40 hit singles on Anchor Records. Lyrically, "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" was a controversial song based on the wishes of Gary Gilmore, an American murderer, that his eyes be donated to medical science after his execution. Sounds described it as "the sickest and cleverest record to come out of the new wave". It was later included in Mojo magazine's list of the best punk rock singles of all time.
                                

Switching to RCA Records, the Adverts released three additional well-regarded singles, "Television's Over" on 10 November 1978, "My Place" on 1 June 1979 and "Cast of Thousands" on 19 October 1979, but were unable to maintain their momentum. Their career stalled after the release of their second

album Cast of Thousands, issued by RCA on 12 October 1979. For that album, the lineup was augmented by drummer Rod Latter (replacing Driver) and keyboardist Tim Cross. Pickup and Latter were then replaced by Paul Martinez (guitar) and Rick Martinez (drums). Their last gig was at Slough College on October 27, 1979. When the Adverts finally split up, T.V. Smith continued with Tim Cross forming as TV Smith's Explorers, then Cheap, and finally through the 1990s to date performing as a solo artist. Adverts' guitarist Howard Pickup (Howard Boak, Born 1951) died in 1997 of a brain tumor.

                            

01. THE ADVERTS - CROSSING THE RED SEA WITH THE ADVERTS 1978

                                

A devastating debut, one of the finest albums not only of the punk era, but of the 1970s as a whole, Crossing the Red Sea Wand frequently underplayed though it was -- nevertheless bristled with hits,

both commercial and cultural.ith the Adverts was the summation of a year's worth of gigging, honing a repertoire that -- jagged, jarring,  "No Time to Be 21," "One Chord Wonders," and "Bored Teenagers" were already established among the most potent rallying cries of the entire new wave, catch phrases for a generation that had no time for anthems; "Bombsite Boy," "Safety in Numbers," and "Great British Mistake" offered salvation to the movement's disaffected hordes; and the whole thing was cut with such numbingly widescreen energy that, even with the volume down, it still shakes the foundations. 
                               

The Adverts – 1978 - Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts [Ultimate Edition]
Label: The Devils Own Jukebox – SDEVIL901CD
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Special Edition 2002
Country: UK
Released: 1978
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk

TRAXS

                                   

01. One Chord Wonders    2:49
02. Bored Teenagers    1:44
03. New Church    2:26
04. On The Roof    3:01
05. Newboys    3:12
06. Gary Gilmore's Eyes    2:17
07. Bombsite Boy    3:28
08. No Time To Be 21    2:36
09. Safety In Numbers    3:15
10. New Day Dawns    2:40
11. Drowning Men    2:18
12. On Wheels    3:17
13. Great British Mistake    3:48
14. One Chord Wonders    2:36
15. Quickstep    3:18
16. Gary Gilmore's Eyes    2:13
17. Bored Teenagers    1:54
18. Safety In Numbers    3:31
19. We Who Wait    2:02
20. On Wheels    4:09
21. Newboys    3:24
22. New Church    2:26
23. Gary Gilmore's Eyes    2:20
24. Drowning Men    2:05
25. No Time To Be 21    2:39

GARY GILMORE'S EYES LYRICS

                                

Gary Mark Gilmore (born Faye Robert Coffman; December 4, 1940 – January 17, 1977) was an American criminal who gained international attention for demanding the implementation of his death sentence for two murders he had admitted to committing in Utah. The song was written from the point of view of a patient who has just undergone an eye transplant and discovers that he has received the eyes of the executed double murderer Gary Gilmore. Gilmore had requested that his eyes be donated to science after his execution as "they'd probably be the only body part usable".

[Verse 1]
I'm lying in a hospital
I'm pinned against the bed
A stethoscope upon my heart
A hand against my head
They're peeling off the bandages
I'm wincing in the light
The nurse is looking anxious
And she's quivering with fright

[Chorus]
I'm looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes
Looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes

                                     

[Verse 2]
The doctors are avoiding me
My vision is confused
I listen to my earphones
And I catch the evening news
A murderer's been killed
And he donates his sight to science
I'm locked into a private ward
I realise that I must be

[Chorus]
Looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes
Looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes

                                  

[Verse 3]
I smash the light in anger
Push my bed against the door
I close my lids across the eyes
And wish to see no more
The eye receives the messages
And sends them to the brain
No guarantee the stimuli
Must be perceived the same way

[Chorus]
Looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes
Looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes

                                     

[Outro]
Gary don´t need his eyes to see
Gary and his eyes have parted company, yow.

LINE - UP

                                    

Vocals, Written-By – TV Smith
Bass – Gaye Advert
Drums – John Towe (tracks: 20 to 25), Laurie Driver (tracks: 1 to 19)
Guitar – Howard Pickup

NOTES

Track 1-5 original album tracks
Track 6 bonus track
Track 7-9 original album tracks
Track 10 bonus track
Track 12-13 original album tracks
Track 14-19 bonus tracks (single versions and b-sides)
Track 20-25 bonus tracks (live)

Flac Size: 435 MB

02. THE ADVERTS - CAST OF THOUSANDS 1980

                               

Famously recorded with Mike Oldfield associate Tom Newman at the controls, the second Adverts album was never going to be just another punk album. Although the group's live performance remained as fiery as ever, T.V. Smith was opening their sound to all manner of influences, including

augmenting the lineup with keyboards -- Richard Strange handled synth on what would become the new album's title track, before Newman introduced another Oldfield sideman, Tim Cross. His flourishes and textures would come to dominate the record (he appears on all but two songs), adding to the alien environment that was the new, ambitiously arranged world of the Adverts. It was not an album that was to win the Adverts many friends, but it probably wasn't meant to. A flagrant departure from even the most extreme expectations, Cast of Thousands not only cast the band adrift from the new wave mainstream, but it would also alienate all but the most adaptable of the band's following.
                                 

The Adverts – 1980 - Cast Of Thousands - The Ultimate Edition
Label: The Devils Own Jukebox – SDEVIL905CD
Format: 2 x CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered Jan 24, 2005
Country: UK
Released: 1980
Genre: Rock
Style: New Wave, Punk

CD1. CAST OF THOUSANDS

                             

    
01. Cast Of Thousands    5:26
02. The Adverts    3:06
03. My Place    2:49
04. Male Assault    2:26
05. Television's Over    3:17
06. Fate Of Criminals    3:09
07. Love Songs    2:27
08. I Surrender    3:02
09. I Looked At The Sun    4:15
10. I Will Walk You Home    4:04
11. Television's Over (Single Version)    3:20
12. Back From The Dead    1:41

Flac Size: 294 MB

CD2. THE COMPLETE ADVERTS RADIO SESSIONS        

                                   

   
01. One Chord Wonders    2:30
02. Bored Teenagers    1:53
03. Gary Gilmore's Eyes    2:17
04. Newboys    3:20
05. Quickstep    3:19
06. We Who Wait    2:04
07. New Church    2:33
08. Safety In Numbers    3:22
09. Great British Mistake    3:33
10. Fate Of Criminals    3:09
11. Television's Over    3:22
12. Love Songs    2:35
13. Back From The Dead(Written-By – Richard Strange, T.V. Smith)  1:39
14. I Surrender    3:07
15. The Adverts    3:18
16. I Looked At The Sun    4:28
17. Cast Of Thousands    4:59
18. I Will Walk You Home    4:43

Flac Size: 364 MB

LINE - UP

                         

Guitar, Vocals – T.V. Smith
Keyboards – Tim Cross
Bass Guitar – Gaye Advert
Drums – Laurie Driver (tracks: 1-1 to 1-9, 1-15 to 1-18), Rick Martinez (tracks: 2-15 to 2-18), Rod Latter (tracks: 1-1 to 1-12, 2-10 to 2-14)
Guitar – Howard Pickup (tracks: 1-1 to 2-14), Paul Martinez (tracks: 2-15 to 2-18)
Written-By – T.V. Smith

NOTES

CD1: Cast Of Thousands - The Ultimate Edition
Remastered edition of the 1979 LP The Adverts - Cast Of Thousands, with two bonus tracks from The Adverts - Television's Over / Back From The Dead single.
CD2: The Complete Adverts Radio Sessions:
Tracks 1-5 John Peel Show April 29, 1977; Tracks 6-9 John Peel Show August 30, 1977; Tracks 10-14 John Peel Show September 11, 1978; Tracks 15-18 John Peel Show November 12, 1979