The Cynics : Rock' n' Roll 1989

The Cynics are an American garage rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band, consisting of guitarist Gregg Kostelich, drummer Bill Von Hagen, vocalist Michael Kastelic who joined in 1985, bass player Steve Magee, and keyboardist Becky Smith (later founder of New York City's Bellwether gallery), who debuted with their first album, Blue Train Station in 1986. She wrote one of the four extra tracks included on the expanded reissue of Twelve Flights Up, entitled Sixteen Flights Up.

The band's sound is influenced by 1960s garage rock.
Many of their songs "carry the torch" for other favorite bands as cover songs or tributes. They underwent a number of lineup changes culminating in 1990's Rock and Roll album. They formed their own independent record label called Get Hip Records in 1986.

They suffered an eight-year break up after the release of Get Our Way but returned in 2002 with the release of Living Is the best Revenge. The release of their 2007 album Here We Are was accompanied with a European tour.

( AllMusic Review by Matt Carlson
Rock 'N' Roll brings together the best aspects of The Cynics' previous two albums  R&B roots, psychedelic fuzz, folk-pop, and garage rock to produce a cohesive statement.

The record, despite its collection of heartfelt ballads, does not contain one single down note. Sure, a lot of fury and pain, but not any grief. While the original compositions on previous Cynics albums were mostly harder-edged as the ballads were mostly covers, here the band has written a killer love song, "Close To Me." But, yet again, the livelier pop songs "Girl, You're On My Mind" and "You Got the Love" are where The Cynics shine.)

Formed in 1983 by Get Hip Recordings owner Gregg Kostelich, The CYNICS are a Garage-Punk institution.
Guitarist/producer/record company head Gregg Kostelich is the frenetic force behind THE CYNICS. He managed to keep the band afloat in the wake of constant personnel changes, he recorded some of the finest garage tracks ever, and also launched one of the best independent record labels of the 1980s.

THE CYNICS’ style has been clear since their 1983 inception: fuzzed ultra-distorted guitar, screaming, moaning vocals, with a straight-ahead no frills rhythm section. The influences are extreme ‘60s Punk, R&B, and other loud, frantic trash. Gregg has occasionally steered the band into flirtations with folk-rock and little pop, but it’s the grunged-out punkers that have created THE CYNICS’ reputation.

Their first two 45s were released by the Californian Dionysus label, but soon after Gregg had established his own Pittsburgh-based GET HIP RECORDINGS who would release all of  THE CYNICS albums and singles, as well as those by countless great garage, punk-rock and power-pop releases by other bands from around the globe.

Third album by Pittsburgh’s Garage finest. This release from 1990 featured a major lineup change for the Cynics, and showed the band continuing to mature as writers and musicians. Cuts like “Now I’m Alone” and “Girl, You’re on My Mind” (the latter penned for the Cynics by the Mystic Eyes Bernie Kugel) are hits that should have been. Other cuts like “What You Get,” “Business As Usual,” “Baby, What’s Wrong” and “Way It’s Gonna Be” show the Cynics at a peak of energy, creativity and ability.

This release also includes a few well-chosen covers of forgotten classics from the sixties, revitalized with the Cynics style and skill. “Cry, Cry, Cry” and “Last Time Around” are scorchers, while “The Room” shows the Cynics lighter side. This album is a true classic. If you didn’t get it before, get it now!
Though Gregg’s guitar is the backbone of the band, vocalist Michael Kastelic’s contribution to THE CYNICS sound cannot be underestimated. In concert (and on record) he screeches, wails, and moans with great abandon, while his frail, thin body shakes throughout the room. Michael is a truly possessed frontman.

Since the 2007 recording in Spain of the band’s 7th full-length album, Here We are, The CYNICS have been graced with a fantastic and powerful rhythm section of two talented musicians from Asturias (Spain): Angel Kaplan and Pablo Gonzalez. They have been touring relentlessly with the band since and also joined Gregg and Michael in Detroit for the recording of their latest album, SPINNING WHEEL MOTEL (2012) under the masterful direction of Jim Diamond .

In an interview on March 21, 1986, Gregg Kostelich said “I was maybe 4 or 5 when I started collecting Garage records, and I’ve been listening to that type of music ever since. And I was lucky enough to see a couple of shows I was a little kid…my parents would bring to see bands like THE SONICS and THE BLUES MAGOOS and THE WHO, when I was about 7 or 8! I didn’t know what was going on really, but it was really exciting. I was kinda embarrassed in a way because I was with my parents.” When I mentioned that this early exposure to garage music explained THE CYNICS style, Gregg responded “Yeah, maybe I got brain damage from all the noise!”

TRAXS

01. Baby What's Wrong (Michael Kastelic / Gregg Kostelich)  02:31         

02. Way It's Gonna Be  (Michael Kastelic / Gregg Kostelich)  02:51        

03. Girl You're on My Mind  02:11         

04. Get My Way  (Michael Kastelic / Gregg Kostelich  03:06        

05. Tears Are Coming  (Michael Kastelic / Gregg Kostelich)   04:10         

06. Business as Usual  (Michael Kastelic)  01:44

07. Cry, Cry, Cry  (Rory Mack / Ron Stults)  03:09    

08. You Got the Love  (Michael Kastelic / Gregg Kostelich)  02:50        

09. Close to Me  (Michael Kastelic / Gregg Kostelich)  03:28         

10. Different Worlds  (Michael Kastelic / Gregg Kostelich)  02:17

11. Now I'm Alone  (Michael Kastelic / Gregg Kostelich)  02:46

12. What You Get  (Michael Kastelic / Gregg Kostelich)  02:09        

13. Last Time Around  03:00         

14. The Room  (Michael Kastelic)  03:53

 

MEMBERS:

Angel Kaplan,

Gregg Kostelich,

Michael Kastelic, 

Mike Kolesar, 

Pablo Gonzalez 

Discography: Albums

Blue Train Station (1986)

Twelve Flights Up (1988) - reissue as Sixteen Flights Up (2000)

Rock 'n' Roll (1989)

Learn to Lose (1993)

Get Our Way (1994)

Living is the Best Revenge (2002)

Here We Are (2007)

Spinning Wheel Motel (2011)

THE STORY BEHIND THE ALBUM: Rock’N’Roll by The Cynics

BABY, WHAT'S WRONG  LYRICS

You didn't hear me when I tried to tell you

You didn't see me when I looked so lonely

You didn't answer when I said, "Where you going?"

You didn't see the way you drive me crazy

Baby what's wrong with me

I can't seem to turn your head

Baby what's wrong with me

I'm always going home to an empty bed

You got my number, you never use it

You got my choice, but you never choose it

You got those brown eyes, they're hiding something

If I could open up, I'd let you in

Baby what's wrong with me

I can't seem to turn your head

Baby what's wrong with me

I'm always going home to an empty bed

Maybe some day, there will be a full moon

We'll be together, in the same room

Open our eyes, see what we're missing

My hard time is maybe they're dissing

Baby what's wrong with me

I can't seem to turn your head

Baby what's wrong with me

I'm always going home

MP3 Size: 94.4 MB

Flac Size: 274 MB

Various Artists - Pebbles, Vol. 11 Subtitled: Northern California, Original '60s Punk & Psych Classics 2007

Various Artists - Pebbles, Vol. 11
Subtitled: Northern California, Original '60s Punk & Psych Classics
2007 Archive International Productions (AIP)
CD cat. #: AIP CD 5028

 The long-running Pebbles series has done a great job of digging up regional garage rock singles from the '60s, and while most of these sides are probably more interesting for their historical value than for their musical virtues, there is something undeniably fascinating about this time period when seemingly every basement and garage in America had its own band crashing away. The eleventh volume in the series, this installment covers garage bands from Northern California, and one can hear the usual Beatles, Kinks, Animals, Rolling Stones and Byrds influences at work here.

Among the highlights are Peter Wheat and the Breadmen's hook-filled "All the Time," the Soultons' "Rain Down Soul" (which sounds an awful lot like the Animals' hit take on "House of the Rising Sun") and Sound 70's interesting folk-rock version of Bob Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings."

None of these 20 sides was anything more than a regional hit, and none of them are exactly essential, but the anything goes sensibility that drew a premium on passion and energy over exacting musical arrangements shows why the garage bands of the era constitute a genuine folk movement.
(Steve Leggett, AllMusic) 

TRACK LISTING:

01. Peter Wheat and the Breadmen: All The Time - 02:48

02. The Trolls: Walking Shoes - 02:07

03. Barry Carlos and the Night Caps: Don't You Know - 02:56

04. Boy Blues: Living Child - 02:39

05. Rock Shop: Is That Your Halo - 03:25

06. Sound 70: One Too Many Mornings - 02:24
07. Bethlehem Exit: Blues Concerning My Girl - 02:07
08. Druids: Sorry's Not Enough - 02:22

09. Crystal Garden: Peach Fuzz Forest - 03:57

10. Soultons: Rain Down Soul - 03:53

11. Family Tree: Prince Of Dreams - 02:22

12. Fourth Street Exit: Strange One - 02:16

13. Big Timers: Hangin' High - 02:20

14. Cave Dwellers: Meditation - 04:06

15. Bedpost Oracle: Love Isn't Dead - 02:48

16. Just Six: You - 02:05

17. Other Side: Streetcar - 02:20

18. Uncle Ben and Wild Rice: Sinner - 02:09

19. Gerry and Leslie: Me Love Am Gone - 01:54

20. Stepping Stones: Pills - 02:33

Playing time...53:29

Notes:

Grinning Tombstones from the Garage Graveyard.
"Do not expect the liner notes to correspond to the music on this CD!"
The sleeve indicates a 1996 release, but this was in fact released in 2007, over 8 years after Volume 12. This will apparently be the last volume in the Pebbles series.
Due to legal issues this CD was withdrawn soon after release.

An excellent addition to the Pebbles series.

Although this disc is billed as the eleventh disc in the Pebbles lineup, this is actually came out after Volume 12, making it the most recent addition to AIP Records' long-running series of garage rock

compilations. It also appears to be out of print (I was lucky enough to find a used copy in a local music shop), which, considering the generally high quality of the music found herin, is a real shame.
See, those Northern Californians really knew how to bring out the good stuff. The songs here aren't as hard-rockin' as those on some of the other Pebbles volumes- the music tends to be (relatively) poppier, with tinges of Byrdsian folk, Beatle-manic melodicism, and Jefferson Airplaney psychedlia (not surprising, considering the strength of the Hippie movement in places like San Francisco). In this case, that's a pretty good thing: the songs are catchy, fun, exciting, and with enough teenage energy and youthful gusto to justify their inclusion on a Pebbles disc.

Highlights include the Boys Blues' ultra-groovy folk-rocker "Living Child," which boasts some juicy harmonies and a squirming fuzz-guitar, as well as Peter Wheat & the Breadmen's "All the Time," which is a soaring slice of power pop, and the Druids' shimmering, Brit-influenced "Sorry's Not Enough." There's also the Crystal Garden's "Peach Fuzz Forest," an absolutely awesome slab of acid-psych that boasts a freaky guitar attack, a propulsive rhythm, and a bizarro main melody. On top of that, we have the Soultons "Rain Down Soul," which, as the group name/song title implies, is a soul-tinged ballad.

What the title and group name don't readily reveal is the fact that the song is an ethereal, dreamy bit of atmosphere, with some pining vocals and a drizzling organ. The Trolls' "Walkin' Shoes" is an unspeakably cool nightclub strutter, and "Is That Your Halo" (by Rock Shop) is quintessential garage punk, complete with a snarling vocal and some primal rhythms. The Sound 70 provide a neatcover of Bob Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings," throwing in a cool organ line and making the chorus sound totally anthemic. Barry Carlos & The Night Caps' "Don't You Know" is a superb R&B inflected frat-rock sing along, and the Big Tymers' "Hangin' High" is a wonderfully shambling surf-rockin' instrumental. "Meditation" by the Cave Dwellers is a neat little psychedelic trip, with a raving double-time instrumental midsection, and the Bethlahem Exit's "Blues Concerning My Girl" is a rambling rocker with some neat harmonicas and a drummer who is obviously having quite a bit of fun.

"Love Isn't Dead" by the Bedpost Oracle is a really cool "give-peace-a-chance" amthem with some great instrumental breaks. And I wouldn't want to leave out "Prince of Dreams," a lovely folk-rocker by the Family Tree. All in all, the most recent addition to the Pebbles family is a welcome one, wth enough gems to consider it among the series' very finest volumes. If you're a fan of the series (or of sixties garage rock in general), you'd do well to seek out a moderatly-priced copy of this little bugger.

MP3 Size: 124 MB

Flac Size: 372 MB

Baker Gurvitz Army : Elysian Encounter 1975

Baker Gurvitz Army were an English rock group. Their self-titled debut album featured a blend of hard rock laced with Ginger Baker's jazz- and Afrobeat-influenced drumming. The lengthy "Mad Jack" was that album's outstanding track, and the album hit the US Billboard 200 chart, and peaked at number 22 in the UK Albums Chart.

When Cream split up in 1968, Ginger Baker was invited to join Blind Faith, which formed the following year. This was not such a successful venture and following its demise, Baker put together his own outfit, Ginger Baker's Air Force, in 1970. Things did not go too well for Baker after the demise of that band.

Former The Gun and Three Man Army members, brothers Paul and Adrian Gurvitz were looking for a new way ahead after early successes, so they joined forces with Baker in 1974. In their first year they recorded one live and one studio album, following with two more studio albums, Elysian Encounter and Hearts On Fire. However, the death of their manager led to the band breaking up in 1976. In 2003, a compilation album, Flying In And Out Of Stardom, was released, including four new live songs.

This is the 2nd album by the British supergroup Baker Gurvitz Army, which was created when legendary drummer Ginger Baker joined forces with brothers Adrian Gurvitz (guitar) and Paul Gurvitz (bass), known to British proto-Prog fans as the founders of the legendary band Gun.

The trio was joined by excellent keyboardist Peter Lemer (with extensive Jazz background) and extraordinary vocalist Steve Parsons (ex-Sharks aka Mr. Snips). These five formidable musicians had enough talent between them to blow any band off the stage, which is clearly evident from what's enclosed here. Both Baker's drumming and Adrian's guitar playing is some of the best ever heard on record. This music simply refuses to fade out and remains to be vibrant and exciting.

Discography

Studio albums

Baker Gurvitz Army (1974)

Elysian Encounter (1975)

Hearts On Fire (1976)

Live albums

Live In Derby '75 (1975)

Live Live Live (2005)

Still Alive (2008) 

TRACKS

01. People

02. The Key

03. Time

04. The Gambler

05. The Dreamer

06. Remember

07. The Artist

08. The Hustler

Bonus Tracks

09. People (Live)

10. Freedom (Live)

Members

Ginger Baker: drums

Adrian Gurvitz: guitar, vocals

Paul Gurvitz: bass guitar, backing vocals

Mr Snips a.k.a. Stephen W. Parsons: lead vocals

Peter Lemer: keyboards

MP3 @ 320 Size: 154 MB

Flac Size: 373 MB

The Chesterfield Kings: Let's Go Get Stoned 1994

The Chesterfield Kings were a rock band from Rochester, New York, who began as a retro-1960s garage band, and who have heavily mined 1960s music.

The early Kings were a late-1970s recreation of a mid-1960s garage band sound. Their self-released first single (Living Eye Records, LSD-1) was a cover of The Brogues' 1965 "I Ain't No Miracle Worker" b/w The Heard's 1967 "Exit 9". In a deliberate effort to create their own rare garage-band collectible singles, only 100 copies were pressed.

Their first broader public exposure came when a track on Greg Shaw's 1981 Bomp! Records compilation Battle of the Garage netted them a series of dates at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City. They continued with this 1960s garage sound through the mid-1980s, releasing two albums—Here are the Chesterfield Kings (1982) which contained entirely cover songs, and Stop! (1985) which introduced their first originals. They then turned to a harder-edged rock sound for Don't Open Till Doomsday (1987) and Berlin Wall of Sound (1989) featuring the blues guitar work of new band member Paul Rocco. The group's next album was an acoustic blues record Drunk On Muddy Water (1990).

Their Let's Go Get Stoned (1994) is a mix of slightly post-Aftermath Stones covers and worthy originals in the Stones' style.
[ AllMusic Review by Matt Carlson

Although the Chesterfield Kings promised that the group would never sound like anything after The Rolling Stones' Aftermath, Let's Go Get Stoned is a tribute to the post-Aftermath Stones, replete with Stones covers ("Street Fighting Man" and "Can't Believe It"), songs The Stones covered (Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home"), and Kings originals that mimic The Stones. Mick Taylor even guests on "I'm Not Talking." Singer Greg Provost has always worshipped at Mick Jagger's altar, but here, the attempt is deliberate. Musically, the results are different, of course, but The Chesterfield Kings go beyond mere ripoff or idolatry.]

Surfin' Rampage (1997) showed that they were fully capable of pop harmonies; Where the Action Is (1999) was a return to garage band roots, a mix of covers and 1960s-styled originals.

The Mindbending Sounds of the Chesterfield Kings (2003) pays tribute to the more baroque side of the 1960s underground, evoking at times the sound of the Electric Prunes ("Transparent Life", "Disconnection"), and featuring appearances by Jorma Kaukonen on two tracks.

Their Psychedelic Sunrise (2008) was an extension of sorts of the group's previous album.
Got Live…If You Want It (2009) was a dual live recording and DVD set, as well as the group's final release.

TRAXS

01. Johnny Volume (Saxophone – James Locigno)   2:16

02. Street Fighting Man (Piano [Additional] – Gilby Clarke)Written By – M. Jagger, K. Richards   3:25

03. Drunkhouse     2:58

04. It's Getting Harder All The Time  (Lead Guitar – Kim SimmondsWritten-By – K. Simmonds)   3:35

05. I'd Rather Be Dead  (Arranged By – G. Prevost, P. Rocco ) Traditional   3:49

06. Can't Believe It    Written-By – M. Jagger, K. Richards   3:05

07. Rock N' Roll Murder   (Saxophone – James Locigno)   Written-By – Kim Fowley   2:53

08. Sing Me Back Home  (Steel Guitar [Pedal] – Chuck Clarke)  written-By – Merle Haggard   3:24

09. Long Ago, Far Away     3:51

10. I'm Not Talking  (Slide Guitar – Mick Taylor)  Written-By – Mose Allison   2:31

11. One Foot In The Graveyard     3:29

12. Worried Life Blues   Written-By – M. Merriweather   2:50

13. I'm So Confused, Baby     4:32

14. Cannonballs For Christmas     1:12

MP3 Size: 103 MB

Flac Size: 294 MB

Echo And The Bunnymen: Heaven Up Here 1981

Echo & the Bunnymen are an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas joined as the band's drummer.

Their 1980 debut album, Crocodiles, went into the top 20 of the UK Albums Chart. After releasing their second album, Heaven Up Here, in 1981, the band's cult status was followed by mainstream success in 1983, when they scored a UK Top 10 hit with "The Cutter", and the album which the song came from, Porcupine, hit number 2 in the UK. Ocean Rain (1984), continued the band's UK chart success with its lead single "The Killing Moon" entering into the top ten.

Their album, Heaven Up Here (1981), was a big critical and commercial success, reaching the UK Top Ten (No. 10), although a single lifted from the album, "A Promise", could only reach UK No. 49.
Recorded at Rockfield Studios near Monmouth in Wales, Heaven Up Here was co-produced by Hugh Jones and the band. A generally well received album by fans in the United Kingdom and by critics, Heaven Up Here won the "Best Dressed LP" and "Best Album" awards at the 1981 NME Awards. The album has also been listed at number 463 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

After releasing a self-titled album in 1987, McCulloch left the band and was replaced by former St. Vitus Dance singer Noel Burke. In 1989, de Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident. After working together as Electrafixion, McCulloch and Sergeant regrouped with Pattinson in 1997 and returned as Echo & the Bunnymen, before Pattinson's departure in 1998. The band has been touring since, releasing several albums since the late 1990s, to varying degrees of success.

[Following their more psychedelia-based debut, Crocodiles, and subsequent "Puppet" single, Echo & the Bunnymen returned in 1981 with the darkest and perhaps most experimental album of their career. Heaven Up Here lacks the signature hooks and melodies that would make the Bunnymen famous, showcasing instead a dirge-like songwriting approach built around the circular rhythms of bassist Les Pattinson and drummer Pete DeFreitas.

In this setting, the band remarkably flourishes, although they would go on to greater heights by scaling back the album's extremism. Heaven Up Here's strength is the way in which the Bunnymen seamlessly work together to shape each song's dynamics (the tension underlying the crescendo of "Turquoise Days" being a prime example).

Ian McCulloch, having found his trademark confidence, sings with soaring abandon and passion throughout the album. Similarly, Will Sergeant's guitar playing, notably freed from verse-chorus structure and pop riffs, is at its angular finest; his playing on "No Dark Things" is pure Andy Gill-esque skronk. The album's opening troika of "Show of Strength," "With a Hip," and "Over the Wall" (the latter with its jarring, direct invocation of Del Shannon's "Runaway") are particularly effective, establishing the theme of distrust and restlessness which continues throughout the album. Indeed, even the album's lone single, "A Promise," is hardly light, pop material.

But the message underneath that darkness, especially in McCulloch's lyrics, is a call to overcome rather than wallow, as the album ends with the relatively euphoric "All I Want." Sitting comfortably next to the pioneering work of contemporaries like Joy Division/New Order, and early Public Image Ltd. and Cure, this is a rather fine -- and in the end, influential -- example of atmospheric post-punk.

Having reached the British Top Ten, Heaven Up Here is highly regarded among Echo & the Bunnymen's fans precisely for the reasons which, on the surface, make it one of the least accessible albums in the band's catalog.
AllMusic Review by Aaron Warshaw]

Personel

Will Sergeant – lead guitar

Ian McCulloch – vocals, rhythm guitar, piano

Les Pattinson – bass

Pete de Freitas – drums

with:

Les Penning – woodwind

Tracklist

01. Show Of Strength     4:50

02. With A Hip     3:16

03. Over The Wall     5:59

04. It Was A Pleasure     3:12

05. A Promise     4:08

06. Heaven Up Here     3:45

07. The Disease     2:28

08. All My Colours     4:06

09. No Dark Things     4:27

10. Turquoise Days     3:51

11. All I Want     4:09

    Bonus Tracks

12. Broke My Neck (Long Version)     7:22

13. Show Of Strength (Live)     4:41

14. The Disease (Live)     1:53

15. All I Want (Live)     3:09

16. Zimbo (Live)     3:52

Tracks 1 to 11 were recorded at Rockfield Studios March 1981. Track 12 was recorded at Tistedal Studios, Norway on 7th June 1981. Tracks 13 to 16 were recorded live at the Manley Vale Hotel, Sydney, Australia on 11th Nov 1981 and were previously unissued.

MP3 @ 320 Size: 150 MB

Flac  Size: 441 MB