#Truth and janey\Nutz

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Target: Target (1976)

Jimi Jamison found fame in 1985 as the singer of corporate rockers, Survivor, and their Rocky IV theme, "Burning Heart" (not "Eye of the Tiger," that was sung by David Bickler), but, almost a decade prior, he could be found paying his dues with the Memphis-based Target.

Isn't it ironic, then, that this largely forgotten band's self-titled debut album for A&M Records features a tiger (or maybe a leopard?) on its cover?

Also, I'm not sure it was a good idea that the inner sleeve design (see above) invited consumers to use the record as a dartboard!

But there's the baby-faced Jamison posing for his close-up on the jacket's rear, alongside guitarists Paul Cannon and Buddy Davis, bassist Tommy Cathey, and drummer David Spain.

Incidentally, prior to Target, which came together in '74, Jamison had put in time with local garage bands like The Debuts, who scored a regional hit with "If I Cry" in 1968 and toured with The Buckinghams, Roy Orbison, and Mitch Ryder's Detroit Wheels.

Anyway, if you take the time to read this LP's credits -- as I always do -- you'll note thank-yous to industry big-wigs like A&M boss Jerry Moss and super talent agent Frank Barsalona, so clearly Target had some major players in their corner.

But their music was basically stuck in a '70s classic rock rut: a no-man's land between early decade blues-rockers like Free and Humble Pie (see "Let Me Live," "Let Me Down Easy") and their end-of-decade AOR descendants ("Just a Little too Much," "Are You Ready") like Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, and, yes, Survivor.

That being said, if you dig this sort of sound and don't come looking for sure-fire hits à la Bad Company (clearly the best-case scenario Target aspired to in '76), then standouts like "Love Just Won't Quit" and the particularly nasty "Can't Fake It" should do just fine.

Although, the album's best showcase for Jamison's soulful grit may be Target's cover of Wilson Pickett's "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)" -- here styled as "99 1/2" -- which proves you simply can't go wrong with the classics.

Target was granted another shot in '77, via a sophomore LP called Captured, but were dropped with a third record in the can (it was finally released in 2017 as In Range), and broke up by decade's end.

Jamison briefly resurfaced in 1983 with a band called Cobra, which curiously featured future members (Mandy Meyer, Jeff Klaven, Tommy Kaiser) of Swiss metal-heads Krokus, before landing that plum gig in Survivor.

And then, beyond the 1990s, the singer spent the rest of his life in and out of the enduring hard rockers while simultaneously pursuing a solo career (to the tune of six records), until his death from a drug-influenced stroke in 2014, at the age of 63.

More Obscure Mid ‘70s Hard Rock: Armageddon’s Armageddon, Baker Gurvitz Army’s Elysian Encounter, Bedlam’s Bedlam, Black Sheep’s Black Sheep, Black Spirit’s Black Spirit, Blackfoot’s No Reservations, Blackfoot Sue’s Nothing to Hide, Bloontz’s Bloontz,  Blue Goose’s Blue Goose, Bux’s We Come to Play, Brownsville Station’s Motor City Connection, Cain’s A Pound of Flesh, Diamond Reo’s Diamond Reo, Dirty Tricks’ Dirty Tricks, Earth Quake’s Rocking the World, Elf’s Trying to Burn the Sun, Epitaph’s Outside the Law, Gedō’s Gedō, Goliath’s Hot Rock & Thunder ...

Even More Obscure Mid '70s Hard Rock: Good Rats’ Ratcity in Blue, Granicus’ Granicus, Granmax’s A Ninth Alive, Growl's Growl, Hammersmith’s Hammersmith, Hustler’s High Street, Legs Diamonds’ Legs Diamond, Max Webster’s Max Webster, Mother’s Finest’s Mother’s Finest, Moxy’s Moxy, Murasaki’s Murasaki, Nitzinger’s Live Better Electrically, Nutz’s Nutz, Painter’s Painter, Pentagram’s First Daze Here, Piper’s Piper, Plus’ No Pisar el Infinito, Primevil's Smokin' Bats at Campton's, Silver's Children of the Lord, Starz’s Starz, Stepson’s Stepson, The Storm’s The Storm, Strider’s Exposed, Strife’s Rush, Tiger’s Tiger, Truth and Janey’s No Rest for the Wicked, Widowmaker’s Widowmaker.

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Trooper: Trooper (1975)

Calm down Iron Maiden fans: this ain't your kind of "Trooper," but rather a Canadian hard rock outfit that arrived on the scene 50 years ago armed with this self-titled debut produced by Bachman-Turner Overdrive's own Randy Bachman.

Here's the backstory ...

Ra McGuire (vocals, harmonica) and Brian Smith (guitar) first worked together in a late '60s psych-rock duo called Winter's Green, but by the start of the new decade, they'd added bassist Harry Kalensky and drummer Tommy Stewart, and rebranded themselves Applejack.

The quartet eventually built a dedicated following in their native Vancouver and caught the attention of Bachman, who signed them to his newly launched Legend Records imprint, suggested the name change to Trooper, and produced this LP.

And a fine job he did, too, because the grinding "I'm in Trouble Again" was just about as heavy as rock got in the mid '70s and it made a strong first impression along with the seven-minute "All of the Time," which I'm sure went over like dynamite on stage.

Bachman's fingerprints are also felt on the comparatively bouncy, acoustic guitar-backed grooves of first single "General Hand Grenade": a nonsensical power pop confection that went Top 30 on the Canadian charts.

The similarly upbeat "Baby Woncha Please Come Home" gave the band a second hit, but the sleeper here, in my opinion, is one of the most '70s song there ever was in "Roller Rink," whose lyrics declare:

"I'm gonna go on down to the roller rink ... And roll my blues away. Gonna strap on a pair of roller skates; And roll …"

Rounding out the set, "Eddy Takes it Easy" showcased Smith's slide guitar chops, "Love of My Life" boogied on down with drummer Stewart on lead vocals and more six-string fireworks, and a cowbell takes us home (and, presumably, the cows) on "Don't Stop Now."

And there was sure no stopping Trooper, who graduated from Bachman's Legend to MCA Records on the strength of this LP's twin hits, and proceeded to enjoy an impressive run of success through to the end of the decade.

Their sophomore album, 1976's Two for the Show, apparently went gold, '77's Knock 'em Dead Kid went platinum, '78's Thick as Thieves double-platinum, and '79, Hot Shots quadruple-platinum!

Of course, this was in Canada and classic rock fans south of the border were none the wiser about Trooper's homeland success, or even their very existence, which I suppose makes the pre-MTV, pre-Internet era look like the fucking Dark Ages.

It wasn't, but for some mysterious reason, with the exception of Rush and, to a lesser degree, Triumph, most Canadian hard rock bands of the late '70s (Moxy, Teaze, Max Webster, etc.) simply couldn't get arrested in the U.S., and Trooper endured the same fate.

More Obscure Mid ‘70s Hard Rock: Armageddon’s Armageddon, Baker Gurvitz Army’s Elysian Encounter, Bedlam’s Bedlam, Black Sheep’s Black Sheep, Black Spirit’s Black Spirit, Blackfoot’s No Reservations, Blackfoot Sue’s Nothing to Hide, Bloontz’s Bloontz,  Blue Goose’s Blue Goose, Bux’s We Come to Play, Brownsville Station’s Motor City Connection, Cain’s A Pound of Flesh, Diamond Reo’s Diamond Reo, Dirty Tricks’ Dirty Tricks, Earth Quake’s Rocking the World, Elf’s Trying to Burn the Sun, Epitaph’s Outside the Law, Gedō’s Gedō, Goliath’s Hot Rock & Thunder, ...

Even more Obscure Mid '70s Hard Rock: Good Rats’ Ratcity in Blue, Granicus’ Granicus, Granmax’s A Ninth Alive, Growl's Growl, Hammersmith’s Hammersmith, Hustler’s High Street, Legs Diamonds’ Legs Diamond, Mariah’s Mariah, Max Webster’s Max Webster, Mother’s Finest’s Mother’s Finest, Moxy’s Moxy, Murasaki’s Murasaki, Nitzinger’s Live Better Electrically, Nutz’s Nutz, Painter’s Painter, Pentagram’s First Daze Here, Piper’s Piper, Plus’ No Pisar el Infinito, Primevil’s Smokin’ Bats at Campton’s, Silver's Children of the Lord, Starz’s Starz, Stepson’s Stepson, The Storm’s The Storm, Strider’s Exposed, Strife’s Rush, Tiger’s Tiger, Truth and Janey’s No Rest for the Wicked, Widowmaker’s Widowmaker.

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Primevil: Smokin' Bats at Campton's (1974)

Time is the eternal champion and even the mightiest are doomed to fall before it; but time can also be peculiar and capricious, reducing monuments and empires into sand while sparing lesser mortals who, by all rights, should have been forgotten long ago.

Such is the story of Primevil: a short-lived combo from Indiana whose vocalist Dave Campton, guitarists Larry Lucas and Jay Wilfong, bassist Mark Sipe, and drummer Mel Cupp were barely out of their teens when they recorded 1974's Smokin' Bats at Campton's.

Half a century later, some of us retro-rock obsessives are still writing about Primevil's sole LP, and while it's natural to assume that Smokin' Bats was a thinly veiled reference to getting high, this reissue's liner notes insist the bats were real and lived in Campton's barn.

Did I mention that the band hailed from Indiana?

Whatever the truth, modern stoner rock enthusiasts have embraced this modest private pressing, which was produced by local do-gooder Moe Whittemore (who also contributed synthesizers) at his 700 West Studio, in New Palestine, Indiana.

And with good reason, as there's more sonic variety here than initially meets the eye ...

Yes, there's a lot of gritty hard rock like "Progress" (with its funky bass, wailing harp, and twin guitar midsection), "Pretty Woman," and "Tell Me If You Can" -- all of which smack the listener with a sub-Cactus thud, topped by some rather awful lyrics.

But the more distinctive "Hey Lover" (allegedly whipped together in one night) is a white-knuckled romp à la Sir Lord Baltimore, and "High Steppin' Stomper" teases a redneck glam rock complete with marching boots throughout.

And Primevil reveal another level of songwriting sophistication and instrumentation on the acoustic passages and stop-start riffs of "Leavin'," then they recall -- or rather, foreshadow -- Fly by Night-era Rush with the classy instrumental, "Fantasies."

The album winds down with a slow, emotional blues called, uh, "Your Blues," which like many songs here, I appreciate and understand far better today than I did 20 years ago, when I first laid hands on Smokin' Bats at Campton's.

And despite that scary cartoon demon and deep red sleeve, Primevil weren't particularly ... evil, so go figure!

Hence the differing opinions reflected here vs. my All-Music Guide review of the time, so I do think stoner rock enthusiasts are bound to enjoy this album's triumphs as much as they'll be captivated by its modest D.I.Y. origins.

More Obscure Mid '70s Hard Rock: Armageddon’s Armageddon, Baker Gurvitz Army’s Elysian Encounter, Bedlam’s Bedlam, Black Sheep’s Black Sheep, Black Spirit’s Black Spirit, Blackfoot’s No Reservations, Blackfoot Sue’s Nothing to Hide, Bloontz’s Bloontz, Blue Goose’s Blue Goose, Bux’s We Come to Play, Brownsville Station’s Motor City Connection, Cain’s A Pound of Flesh, Diamond Reo’s Diamond Reo, Dirty Tricks’ Dirty Tricks, Earth Quake’s Rocking the World, Elf’s Trying to Burn the Sun, Epitaph’s Outside the Law, Gedō’s Gedō ...

Even More Obscure Mid '70s Hard Rock: Goliath’s Hot Rock & Thunder, Good Rats’ Ratcity in Blue, Granicus’ Granicus, Granmax’s A Ninth Alive, Growl’s Growl, Hammersmith’s Hammersmith, Hustler’s High Street, Legs Diamonds’ Legs Diamond, Mariah's Mariah, Max Webster’s Max Webster, Mother’s Finest’s Mother’s Finest, Moxy’s Moxy, Murasaki’s Murasaki, Nitzinger’s Live Better Electrically, Nutz’s Nutz, Painter’s Painter, Pentagram’s First Daze Here, Piper’s Piper, Plus’ No Pisar el Infinito, Starz’s Starz, Stepson’s Stepson, The Storm’s The Storm, Strider’s Exposed, Strife’s Rush, Target’s Target, Tiger’s Tiger, Trooper's Trooper, Truth and Janey’s No Rest for the Wicked, Widowmaker’s Widowmaker.

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Growl: Growl (1974)

Growl is one obscure band, let me tell you ...

It took a lot of research to uncover just a few crumbs of information about this hard rock sextet's history, let alone their only, 50-year-old, self-titled LP, which, as you can see above, was released through Frank Zappa's DiscReet Records -- on April Fool's Day, no less!

At one point I was led to believe that Growl shared some of its musicians with Todd Rundgren's Utopia, but this proved to be a totally different group by the same name that released an eponymous LP in 1971.

Now I was on the right trail, as the L.A.-based Growl evidently evolved from that other Utopia: retaining singer Dennis Rodriguez, guitarist Harry Brender A 'Brandis (now that's an interesting name), bassist Gene Lucero, drummer Danny Mcbride, and adding second vocalist Richard Manup-Uti and guitarist Mick Small.

What's more, half of the songs found on that Utopia record resurfaced here, either re-recorded or in identical versions, while the other half were discarded over dated sounds like psychedelia and replaced with new offerings.

And then there's that curious cover art, which mimics the first LP by Brazilian psych/glam originals Secos e Molhados (released one year earlier) by placing the band's decapitated heads on a silver platter -- the kabuki-style make-up leaves no doubt about the connection.

However, there's no sonic resemblance between the two bands, as Growl's bluesy, no-fuss, lunchpail heavy rock finds its most obvious comps in early '70s contemporaries like Free, Foghat, Humble Pie, and Grand Funk Railroad.

In other words, bad-ass originals like "I Wonder," "Things Ain't Better," and "Working Man," with their meaty, downright nasty guitar riffs and frill-free production, are right up your friendly neighborhood blogger's musical alley.

Elsewhere, Rodriguez's throaty howl -- or should I just call it a growl -- combines with slide guitars to lend a southern rock feel to "Young and Crazy" and "Take My Life," while the infectious "Sadie" updates '50s rock fundamentals with '70s distortion.

Growl also presents three, toughened-up covers in Elmore James' "Shake Your Money Maker," Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You," and Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog," which they slow down into a tortured, quasi-doom grind.

But none of the above were apparently special enough to grant Growl a second act (I suppose you could say Growl was Utopia's second act), and the band soon scattered, leaving little record of their existence -- although bassist Lucero later hooked up with Santana.

So just be careful you don't spend a lot of money on BOTH that 1971 Utopia LP and this 1974 Growl LP, though I do recommend checking out at least one of the two.

More Obscure Mid ‘70s Hard Rock: Armageddon’s Armageddon, Baker Gurvitz Army’s Elysian Encounter, Bedlam’s Bedlam, Black Sheep’s Black Sheep, Black Spirit’s Black Spirit, Blackfoot’s No Reservations, Blackfoot Sue’s Nothing to Hide, Bloontz’s Bloontz, Blue Goose’s Blue Goose, Bux’s We Come to Play, Brownsville Station’s Motor City Connection, Cain’s A Pound of Flesh, Diamond Reo’s Diamond Reo, Dirty Tricks’ Dirty Tricks, Earth Quake’s Rocking the World, Elf’s Trying to Burn the Sun, Epitaph’s Outside the Law, Gedō’s Gedō …

Even More Obscure Mid '70s Hard Rock: Goliath’s Hot Rock & Thunder, Good Rats’ Ratcity in Blue, Granicus’ Granicus, Granmax’s A Ninth Alive, Hammersmith’s Hammersmith, Hustler’s High Street, Legs Diamonds’ Legs Diamond, Mariah's Mariah, Max Webster’s Max Webster, Mother’s Finest’s Mother’s Finest, Moxy’s Moxy, Murasaki’s Murasaki, Nitzinger’s Live Better Electrically, Nutz’s Nutz, Painter’s Painter, Pentagram’s First Daze Here, Piper’s Piper, Plus’ No Pisar el Infinito, Primevil's Smokin' Bats at Campton's, Silver's Children of the Lord, Starz’s Starz, Stepson’s Stepson, The Storm’s The Storm, Strider’s Exposed, Strife’s Rush, Target’s Target, Tiger’s Tiger, Trooper's Trooper, Truth and Janey’s No Rest for the Wicked, Widowmaker’s Widowmaker.

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Earth Quake: Rocking the World (1975)

For those of you who have a hard time detecting sarcasm or dissecting puns, the answer is “NO” -- San Francisco rockers Earth Quake weren’t LITERALLY Rocking the World with this pompously titled live LP from 1975.

Anything but, as they’d recently parted ways with A&M Records after a pair of poor-selling LPs and were trying to pick up the pieces of their stalled career with local independent label, Beserkely Records, conveniently founded by their manager, one Matthew King Kaufman. (*)

So this live album (“recorded throughout California,” it says here) was probably intended to land Earth Quake -- John Doukas (lead vocals, piano), Gary Phillips (guitar, vocals), Robbie Dunbar (guitar), Stan Miller (bass, vocals), and Steve Nelson (drums) -- their next major deal.

But let’s first look back to how Earth Quake came to their first record deal with A&M, shall we?

Formed way back in 1966, originally as Purple Earthquake, the band was initially inspired by the British Invasion and American garage rock counter-offensive, then added a dollop of hard rock to evolve their sound into the early manifestations of what would later be known as Power Pop.

Alas, like contemporary genre pioneers such as Big Star, Badfinger, The Raspberries, and The Flamin’ Groovies, Earth Quake’s early efforts for A&M (1971’s eponymous debut and ‘72’s already desperate-sounding Why Don't You Try Me?) barely registered on rock ‘n roll’s Richter Scale.

Promptly dropped when their combative manager accused the storied label of incompetence (countless legendary acts would beg to differ **), Earth Quake hit the clubs and this decidedly raw, but certainly authentic-sounding recording was the result.

And it’s a confusing result, at times, in that Earth Quake devote fully half of this set to covering other people’s songs, like some kind of bar band: beginning with the R&B standard “Route 66,” and proceeding with an extended version of The Easybeats’ “Friday On My Mind,” a fabulous take on The Small Faces’ “Tin Soldier,” and an encore of E.L.O.’s “Ma Ma Ma Belle.”

That they crush these renditions is beside the point, as it leaves less room to showcase generally impressive originals like “Power Glide Slide,” “Mr. Security,” “Head Held High,” and standout “(Sitting in the Middle Of) Madness,” all of which confirm Earth Quake’s growing hard rock credentials.

But even better than this hard-to-find (but usually dirt-cheap) LP is this rare black & white footage of the boys rocking, if not exactly the whole world, at least a partisan crowd at San Francisco’s 5,000-capacity Winterland Ballroom, over Thanksgiving of ‘74.

Unfortunately, no amount of hometown love could get Earth Quake that second shot at the big time, so they carried on recording studio efforts for Beserkely in 1976’s 8.5, ‘77’s Leveled, and ‘79’s Two Years in a Padded Cell, before disbanding at the start of the new decade.

Never again to go Rocking the World, I’m afraid ...

* Later the home of Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers and Greg Kihn, among others, the label was financed with a settlement won from the producers of the 1972 movie The Getaway (starring Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw), who’d used Earth Quake’s music without permission.

** Joe Cocker, Carole King, Cat Stevens, The Carpenters, Humble Pie, Peter Frampton, Burt Bacharach, Captain and Tennille, etc., etc., etc.

More Obscure Mid ‘70s Hard Rock: Armageddon’s Armageddon, Baker Gurvitz Army’s Elysian Encounter, Bedlam’s Bedlam, Black Sheep’s Black Sheep, Black Spirit’s Black Spirit, Blackfoot’s No Reservations, Blackfoot Sue’s Nothing to Hide, Blue Goose’s Blue Goose, Brownsville Station’s Motor City Connection, Bux’s We Come to Play, Cain’s A Pound of Flesh, Diamond Reo’s Diamond Reo, Dirty Tricks’ Dirty Tricks, Elf’s Trying to Burn the Sun, Epitaph’s Outside the Law, Gedō’s Gedō, Goliath’s Hot Rock & Thunder, Good Rats’ Ratcity in Blue, Granicus’ Granicus, Granmax’s A Ninth Alive, Growl's Growl, Hustler’s High Street, Legs Diamonds’ Legs Diamond, Mariah's Mariah, Max Webster’s Max Webster, Mother’s Finest’s Mother’s Finest, Moxy’s Moxy, Murasaki’s Murasaki, Nitzinger’s Live Better Electrically, Nutz’s Nutz, Painter’s Painter, Pentagram’s First Daze Here, Piper’s Piper, Plus’ No Pisar el Infinito, Primevil's Smokin' Bats at Campton's, Silver's Children of the Lord, Starz’s Starz, Stepson’s Stepson, The Storm’s The Storm, Strider’s Exposed, Strife’s Rush, Target's Target, Tiger’s Tiger, Triumph’s Triumph, Trooper's Trooper, Truth and Janey’s No Rest for the Wicked, Widowmaker’s Widowmaker.

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Tiger: Tiger (1976)

This 45-year-old obscurity is the work of a bunch of studio hacks (at least seven, count ‘em!) led by noted session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan.

Never heard of Big Jim?

Well, he was extremely busy throughout the ‘60s, ‘70s and beyond, as a performer, arranger and producer, working with the likes of ... big breath now:

Tom Jones, Billy Fury, Johnny Hallyday, Shirley Bassey, Dusty Springfield, Bobby Darin, Serge Gainsbourg, The Walker Brothers, Donovan, David Bowie, Thunderclap Newman, Long John Baldry, Marmalade, The Small Faces, George Harrison, even Frank Zappa -- the list goes on and on.

Why, back in the early ‘60s, Big Jim allegedly even gave Ritchie Blackmore guitar lessons!

But before you get too excited, I should point out that the only remarkable thing about Tiger’s self-titled LP (one of two released in 1976, the other tellingly called Goin’ Down Laughing) is how perfectly UN-remarkable it is.

In fact, this is a perfect illustration of why these guys were career sidemen: for all their talent and chops they lacked that ineffable, je ne sais quoi -- call it star-quality or charisma -- necessary to elevate their efforts above mundanity (for reference material, see 20 Feet from Stardom), no matter what style they’re playing in.

Said styles include hard rock (“I’m Not Crying”), jazz-fusion (“Lay Back, Stay Back”), tranquil symphonic prog (“Tyger, Tyger”), even funky disco (“Suzy Slicker”); but the album’s standout track, for me, is the slow, epic blues “Long Time,” and not even it can surface a really great hook. 

Nor is the album intended to showcase the musicians’ virtuosity, per se, even though Big Jim shreds like Yngwie fucking Malmsteen on the otherwise forgettable “Lay Me,” Dave McCrae unleashes synthesizer hell on “Ordinary Girl,” and the portly Nicky Moore lends his soulful pipes to the hymnal, richly orchestrated “Prayer.”

Incidentally, Nicky would later resurface -- a little trimmer, but not much -- as Bruce Dickinson’s replacement with New Wave of British Heavy Metal also-rans Samson!

But, just as I wouldn’t recommend that anyone spend too much time or money on those latter-day Samson albums (Before the Storm, Don’t Get Mad -- Get Even, etc.), I’ll do the same with Tiger, which sounds very much like the sidemen’s side project that it is.

More Obscure Mid ‘70s Hard Rock: Armageddon’s Armageddon, Baker Gurvitz Army’s Elysian Encounter, Bedlam’s Bedlam, Black Sheep’s Black Sheep, Black Spirit’s Black Spirit, Blackfoot’s No Reservations, Blackfoot Sue’s Nothing to Hide, Blue Goose’s Blue Goose, Brownsville Station’s Motor City Connection, Bux’s We Come to Play, Cain’s A Pound of Flesh, Diamond Reo’s Diamond Reo, Dirty Tricks’ Dirty Tricks, Earth Quake’s Rocking the World, Elf’s Trying to Burn the Sun, Epitaph’s Outside the Law, Gedō’s Gedō, Goliath’s Hot Rock & Thunder, Good Rats’ Ratcity in Blue, Granicus’ Granicus, Granmax’s A Ninth Alive, Growl's Growl, Hammersmith’s Hammersmith, Hustler’s High Street, Legs Diamonds’ Legs Diamond, Mariah's Mariah, Max Webster’s Max Webster, Mother’s Finest’s Mother’s Finest, Moxy’s Moxy, Murasaki’s Murasaki, Nitzinger’s Live Better Electrically, Nutz’s Nutz, Painter’s Painter, Pentagram’s First Daze Here, Piper’s Piper, Primevil's Smokin' Bats at Campton's, Silver's Children of the Lord, Starz’s Starz, Stepson’s Stepson, The Storm’s The Storm, Strider’s Exposed, Strife’s Rush, Target's Target, Trooper's Trooper, Truth and Janey’s No Rest for the Wicked, Widowmaker’s Widowmaker.

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Strife: Rush (1975)

The band was called Strife; the album was called Rush; the year was 1975.

And, while the Canadian power trio called Rush was busy weaving progressive rock fantasies about By-Tors, Snowdogs and Necromancers, the English threesome named Strife was digging through a mid ‘70s detritus of hard rock, glam rock, prog rock, even soul music (*) for a viable direction.

Heck, put it that way, and the men of Strife actually seem like a better bet to make it than a bunch of Hobbit-loving Canucks, but -- to borrow a phrase from the sports world -- sorting the victors from the losers, my friends, well “that’s why they play the game.”

And the Liverpool-based Strife had been playing the rock ‘n’ roll game since 1969, diligently paying their dues in Merseyside pubs, in the lobbies of uninterested record labels, and even, for a brief stint in L.A. (where they were oddly backed by soul man Edwin Starr!), before finally landing a deal back home with Chrysalis Records.

This full-length debut arrived 45 years ago and showed incredible promise right out of the gate, thanks to the relentless hard rock assault of “Back Streets of Heaven” and the unexpected cherry on top provided by with a glam-style girl group chorus! (**)

The ladies return for a couple of turbo-Motown bash-ups in “Magic of the Dawn” (dedicated to Starr) and “Life is Easy” (also featuring a horn section), while the driving “Better Man than I” stuffs the patented, John Lee Hooker blues lick into a glitter rock jumpsuit.

But Strife’s remaining material traffics in more predictable sounds from earlier in the decade, like the post-psychedelic reverie and apocalyptic climax of “Indian Dream,” the churning Budgiean proto-metal of “Man of the Wilderness,” and the twelve-minute title track’s spacey jam, reminiscent of Hawkwind and, ironically, Rush’s imminent 2112!

All of which puts this album right in my ‘70s retro-rock wheelhouse, but, at the time, simply condemned Strife to the “dinosaur rock” category, just as soon as Johnny Rotten and his coterie of safety-pined anarchists started laying waste to the British Isles in ‘76.

Not helping matters, Strife members John Reid (vocals/guitar), Gordon Rowley (bass/vocals) and David Williams (drums) not only looked their age (***), but had faces only radio could love (see above ****), and not even radio seemed interested.

But Strife soldiered on, regardless, via 1977’s independently released School EP and ‘78’s Back to Thunder, on Gull Records, before surrendering to the inevitable, when Rowley moved on to play with the absolutely godawful Nightwing.

* As punk rock lurked in a dark alleyway, ready to pounce.

** Think T.Rex’s “20th Century Boy.”

*** Old ... those white boy afros went out of style in ‘69!

**** Surely the ugliest hard rock power trio since Brooklyn’s Dust.

More Obscure Mid ‘70s Hard Rock: Armageddon’s Armageddon, Baker Gurvitz Army’s Elysian Encounter, Bedlam’s Bedlam, Black Sheep’s Black Sheep, Black Spirit’s Black Spirit, Blackfoot’s No Reservations, Blackfoot Sue’s Nothing to Hide, Blue Goose’s Blue Goose, Brownsville Station’s Motor City Connection, Bux’s We Come to Play, Cain’s A Pound of Flesh, Diamond Reo’s Diamond Reo, Dirty Tricks’ Dirty Tricks, Earth Quake’s Rocking the World, Elf’s Trying to Burn the Sun, Epitaph’s Outside the Law, Gedō’s Gedō, Goliath’s Hot Rock & Thunder, Good Rats’ Ratcity in Blue, Granicus’ Granicus, Granmax’s A Ninth Alive, Growl's Growl, Hammersmith’s Hammersmith, Hustler’s High Street, Legs Diamonds’ Legs Diamond, Mariah's Mariah, Max Webster’s Max Webster, Mother’s Finest’s Mother’s Finest, Moxy’s Moxy, Murasaki’s Murasaki, Nitzinger’s Live Better Electrically, Nutz’s Nutz, Painter’s Painter, Pentagram’s First Daze Here, Piper’s Piper, Plus’ No Pisar el Infinito, Primevil's Smokin' Bats at Campton's, Silver's Children of the Lord, Starz’s Starz, Stepson’s Stepson, The Storm’s The Storm, Strider’s Exposed, Target's Target, Tiger’s Tiger, Trooper's Trooper, Truth and Janey’s No Rest for the Wicked, Widowmaker’s Widowmaker.

[vinylspinning]

Hammersmith: Hammersmith (1975)

Several years ago, the estimable Day After the Sabbath blog hipped me to an obscure Canadian group called Painter, which issued a very solid but solitary self-titled opus in 1973, and then seemingly vanished without a trace.

Well, I recently discovered that three out of five “painters” -- singer Doran Beattie, lead guitarist Dan Lowe and bassist Royden Morice -- didn’t wait long to recruit drummer James Llewellyn and second guitarist Jeff Boyne, before resurfacing in a new outfit called Hammersmith.

This eponymous release followed in 1975, and the good news AND bad news is that little had changed, sonically speaking, during Painter’s transition to Hammersmith.

Meaning: this was good news for the few of us who liked the band, in the first place, but bad news for the general public, which remained largely unimpressed with this new effort.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves ...

Having launched their careers way back in the ‘60s, as 49th Parallel, the core members of Painter/Hammersmith were seasoned pros, if nothing else, so they could churn out melodic hard rock like “Late Night Lovin’ Man,” “Nobody Really Knows (Why the Sun Goes Down)” and “Low Ridin’ Ladies” in their sleep.

What they couldn’t do so well was get their funk on, though they sure as hell tried, again and again, on less memorable fare like “Money Rock,” “Breakin’ Down” (disco bass alert!) and the quasi-epic “Open Up the Sky,” where things even got a little jazzy.

But the impressive harmonized vocals and overall knack for catchy songs they’d displayed in their previous incarnation carried right over to Hammersmith standouts like “I’ve Got a Right to Know” and “Feelin’ Better,” both of them power pop nuggets, released halfway between Big Star and Cheap Trick.

Alas, Hammersmith would enjoy neither the former’s belated critical recognition, nor the latter’s mainstream acclaim, so they broke up, instead, after issuing a sophomore LP called It’s for You (likely to get reviewed here one day) in 1976. 

However, lead guitarist Lowe would go on to a successful producer’s career and was later involved in the development of a 3-D stereo enhancing algorithm called QSound, used by scores of major league artists in the studio, as well as in cell phone technology!

More Obscure Mid ‘70s Hard Rock: Armageddon’s Armageddon, Baker Gurvitz Army’s Elysian Encounter, Bedlam’s Bedlam, Black Sheep’s Black Sheep, Black Spirit’s Black Spirit, Blackfoot’s No Reservations, Blackfoot Sue’s Nothing to Hide, Blue Goose’s Blue Goose, Bux’s We Come to Play, Cain’s A Pound of Flesh, Diamond Reo’s Diamond Reo, Dirty Tricks’ Dirty Tricks, Elf’s Trying to Burn the Sun, Epitaph’s Outside the Law, Gedō’s Gedō, Goliath’s Hot Rock & Thunder, Good Rats’ Ratcity in Blue, Granicus’ Granicus, Granmax’s A Ninth Alive, Growl's Growl, Hustler’s High Street, Legs Diamonds’ Legs Diamond, Mariah's Mariah, Max Webster’s Max Webster, Mother’s Finest’s Mother’s Finest, Moxy’s Moxy, Murasaki’s Murasaki, Nitzinger’s Live Better Electrically, Nutz’s Nutz, Painter’s Painter, Pentagram’s First Daze Here, Piper’s Piper, Plus’ No Pisar el Infinito, Primevil's Smokin' Bats at Campton's, Silver's Children of the Lord, Starz’s Starz, Stepson’s Stepson, The Storm’s The Storm, Strider’s Exposed, Strife’s Rush, Target's Target, Tiger’s Tiger, Triumph’s Triumph, Trooper's Trooper, Truth and Janey’s No Rest for the Wicked, Widowmaker’s Widowmaker.

[vinylspinning]

Goliath: Hot Rock & Thunder (1975)

As ultra-obscure ‘70s heavy rock bands go, Goliath were already pretty darn good, but the group’s master stroke was writing and recording the absolute greatest Uriah Heep song not actually written or recorded by Uriah Heep in the spectacularly named, massively chorused, “Dead Drunk Screamin’.”

Though, I must say, David Byron and co. were never this bluesy.

Details about Goliath’s history and their exploits are scarce, to say the least, but most sources indicate that they arose out of the nondescript Indiana town of Terre Haute, sometime in the late ‘60s.

And yet their highly competent brand of heavy rock -- as immortalized on 1975’s (not ‘72, as is sometimes cited) aptly named Hot Rock & Thunder��-- was about as polished and cosmopolitan as one could expect of a self-financed private pressing.

Launched amid portentous, swirling winds, first track “We’re Not Afraid” was equal parts Deep Purple, Mark III funk-rock and ELP pomp, while “Tell Me You're Satisfied” and the title cut indulged in muscular barroom boogie à la Ronnie James Dio’s Elf, highlighted by singer Jim Kitchen's piercing yelps.

Side two, meanwhile, was where Goliath spread their prog-rock wings, as Paul Bays’ versatile six-string bombast and Dave Wood's alternately baroque and futuristic synths jousted for supremacy across multi-faceted creations like “The Apocalypse,” “Silver Girl” and, to a lesser degree, the deliberate and dramatic “Ordinary Guy.”

Notably, most of these songs were composed or co-composed by drummer Steve Peters (by some accounts a talented multi-instrumentalist) and his bassist brother Bill, with added contribution by the other three members.

And, for all the mystery that surrounds Goliath to this day, Hot Rock & Thunder ranks with some of the ‘70s’ most impressive heavy prog one-offs ... and if all else fails, there’s always the fantastic “Dead Drunk Screamin’”!

p.s. Some of these words come from my geographically flawed All-Music Guide review (couldn’t resist the “armpit” analogy).

More Obscure Mid ‘70s Hard Rock: Armageddon’s Armageddon, Baker Gurvitz Army’s Elysian Encounter, Bedlam’s Bedlam, Black Sheep’s Black Sheep, Black Spirit’s Black Spirit, Blackfoot’s No Reservations, Blackfoot Sue’s Nothing to Hide, Blue Goose’s Blue Goose, Brownsville Station’s Motor City Connection, Bux’s We Come to Play, Cain’s A Pound of Flesh, Diamond Reo’s Diamond Reo, Dirty Tricks’ Dirty Tricks, Earth Quake’s Rocking the World, Elf’s Trying to Burn the Sun, Epitaph’s Outside the Law, Gedō’s Gedō, Good Rats’ Ratcity in Blue, Granicus’ Granicus, Granmax’s A Ninth Alive, Growl's Growl, Hustler’s High Street, Legs Diamonds’ Legs Diamond, Mariah's Mariah, Max Webster’s Max Webster, Mother’s Finest’s Mother’s Finest, Moxy’s Moxy, Murasaki’s Murasaki, Nitzinger’s Live Better Electrically, Nutz’s Nutz, Painter’s Painter, Pentagram’s First Daze Here, Piper’s Piper, Plus’ No Pisar el Infinito, Primevil's Smokin' Bats at Campton's, Silver's Children of the Lord, Starz’s Starz, Stepson’s Stepson, The Storm’s The Storm, Strider’s Exposed, Strife’s Rush, Target's Target, Tiger’s Tiger, Triumph’s Triumph, Trooper's Trooper, Truth and Janey’s No Rest for the Wicked, Widowmaker’s Widowmaker.