If - S/T

Proggy Jazz Rock - 1970 ==== If - S/T

Christmas - Heritage

A few years after Reign Ghost Bob Bryden starts Christmas. (Weird band name but ok) Here is Heritage from 1970.+++ Christmas - Heritage

Alan Holdsworth - Velvet Darkness

Alan Holdsworth - Velvet Darkness

Clockwork - Cybernaut / Mean Lady

A great heavy prog instrumental on the A side which for my money ends to soon and abrupt. Seems like they start start really cooking and then they were like "shit that's all that is going to fit on the 45!" and end the jam suddenly. Too bad really, because like most proggy goodness i could listen to these stoners ramble semi aimlessly for hours. Side B is more of a crunchy rocker with a great fuzzed out solo. Reminds me of maybe Stepson or Kin Ping Meh a bit. Ace 45.


Clockwork - Cybernaut

Clockwork - Mean Lady

The Devils Music - Devil Dick Mix Vol. 16 - Mind Games

I own all of this on vinyl. Do you know what any of them are?

If anyones knows or guesses correct i will add the vinyl scan to the post... If not, oh well...

The Devils Music - Devil Dick Mix Vol. 16 - Mind Games

Fringe Benefit - Fringe Benefit

AAAAAAHHHHHHH..... It's saturday morning, the kids are asleep and the lady is out food shopping and the dogs are being surprisingly quiet, (probably eating my shoes again) so I am on my 2nd cup of coffee and i actually have time to write something! So here is a record that has been on my plate for the last week solid. Self titled from 1977 by a band called Fringe Benefit.

I had never heard this record or even knew it existed until I stumbled upon a copy in a record store in Philly the other day. It was CHEAP (1.99) and looked interesting. So I bought it.
It kind of had a punky glam cover and being from 77 and on the capricorn label, a label associated with more Southern Rock then glam, took a shot. Even though it happens to be from 1977 it sounds older in most spots, 74 or maybe even early. At the heart of it all it’s just a nice well played & produced AOR record but there are plenty of other sounds going on. Some late 60’s pop ala string and horn arrangements on a song or two, some west coast singer songwriter type sounds, even a Queen meets Rush heavy prog mash up that could have been a extra track from Yes - Fragile/Close to the Edge era; Even a little Glammy pub rock via Slade/Sweet, but mostly acoustic guitars rule the roost here. Also throw in a few covers, All Shook Up/Elvis and Suzanne by Leonard Cohen… Sounds like a strange mix but it all works. Maybe I’m getting old but really dig this record. It has not left my player to and from work all week… By the looks of the cover the band had some high hopes for success.... not so much.

So considering I'm pretty sure this thing is way out of print and is very under the radar here it is in its entirety.

Was God an Astronaut and When She's Next Free being my 2 fave tracks but all are worth a listen, who know you may just enjoy it as much as me... If not, oh well. maybe next time.

PS... The Devils Music Blog has quietly crept past 1/2 a million hits.... Not all that impressive in the web world but not to bad for my crappy little corner of the music blog world.... cheers to those of you who continue to support this little slice of musical retardation.


Fringe Benefit - Fringe Benefit

The Devil's Music: Devil Dick Covers Mix Vol. 6

A few cover songs strung together for the 6th devil's music mix:

I make no bones about it; I'm a rock guy @ heart. Here is a little thing i threw together w/ some Rockin' cover songs i happen to dig. I think I'm gonna take a little break from posting for a while. I'm kinda bored & burnt out on this shit and i think i need a break...

Till next time, dig the tunes...

Colosseum: Theme for an imaginary western - English Rock Jazz, Prog band do Mountain.

Neil Merryweather: 8 miles high - Neil was some sort of funky space alien guitar god, here is his take on The Byrds classic.

Slade: Move over -Good time glam boys and their take on Janis Joplin classic. ( i like this one more)

McPhee: I am the walrus -Australian psych/prog band doing the boys from Liverpool.

Juicy Lucy: Willie the pimp -Saucy blues-rockers give us some Frank Zappa.

Leslie West: This wheels on fire - the great fatsby does some folkie gone electric.

Houston Fearless: Mr. soul -Don't know shit about Houston Fearless - i picked this record up for .99 cents about 15 years ago. Cool take on Neil Young's tune.

Taste: I'm moving on -Before the boogie guitar god of Ireland was a solo lad he was in a "Blues" rock band. Here he is in Taste and a version of a Hank Snow cut.

The Devil's Music: Devil Dick Covers Mix Vol. 6

Mashmakhan - As The Years Go By - Days When We Are Free

Gonna stick w/ the rock here and while this is not as muscular as the past few post this proggy goodness still rocks, the Mash stretch out a bit more than the last 2 45's but there is a certian cool flavor found in this product of the Great White North...

Sending this one one out to The Red Boy and his American hating brother...

Mashmakhan was a Canadian rock fusion band that was most active in the early 1970s, and is best known for their hit single "As The Years Go By."

Members Pierre Senecal, Brian Edwards and Rayburn Blake first met in 1960 in Montreal. Their drummer did not show up one night for a gig, so Jerry Mercer was brought in and ended up joining the band. Edwards quit shortly thereafter, but the other three continued to perform on the local scene under names like the Phantoms, Ray Blake's Combo and the Dominoes.

By 1965 they were calling themselves The Triangle, and backing up local R&B singer Trevor Payne. They backed up Payne for four years until being discovered by record producer Bob Hahn, who helped them get signed with Columbia Records in Toronto. Edwards rejoined the band and they changed their name to Mashmakhan. This name is a reference to Michoacan, a region in Mexico famous at the time for its high grade marijuana.

Senecal's song "As The Years Go By" was released off the debut album in an edited form, and was the group's first hit; it sold 100,000 copies in Canada and 500,000 copies in the United States (on the Epic label). The band actually wrote the song as a novelty addition to their album, not expecting it to gain serious recognition. The single also sold 399,000 copies in Japan. The two follow-up singles were "Gladwyn" and "Days When We Are Free".

In 1971, Mashmakhan was one of two contributors to the musical score of the NFB film Epilogue/Fieve, which was directed by William Pettigrew. "Couldn't Find the Sun", written by Rayburn Blake for the movie, was included on Mashmakhan's 1971 album The Family. This album also did well in Japan, but the band realized little domestic success and split up shortly thereafter.

Blake joined the Lisa Hartt Band and also recorded some solo material, and Jerry Mercer joined April Wine.

The original group was revived twice in the late seventies by Aquarius Records with future April Wine members Brian Greenway and, later, Steve Lang.

Mashmakhan later experienced significant renewed interest with the release of the film Festival Express, which featured color film of the band performing two songs (one song appears in the movie, one song appears in the DVD extras) during the Festival Express concerts in Canada in 1970. Several cameras provide multiple angle views of the band, and the audio recordings of the live performance are synchronized to the performance film. The Festival Express footage was captured using advanced recording devices for the time, and the resultant audio and video quality is relatively high. The band's performances in the film are powerful, creative, and exciting; Mashmakhan is perhaps most accurately termed a jazz fusion band in terms of the character of their performances.

Mashmakhan - As The Years Go By

Mashmakhan - Days When We Are Free

Rare Bird - Sympathy

One of the cooler idea's for a band that was somewhat successful: A moody somehwhat "heavy" progressive band with NO GUITARS!!!

Breaking tradiation here today. There are no guitars to be found on the 1st two records by Rare Bird.

Here's some info:
Rare Bird came together in October 1969 when organist Graham Field, keyboardist Dave Kaffinetti, drummer Mark Ashton, and vocalist Steve Gould envisioned a two-keyboard rock sound without guitars. They released their debut before the end of the year, featuring the minor radio hit "Sympathy." The next year they released As Your Mind Flies By, a dark and heavier album that put further emphasis on Gould's melodramatic singing style. Field and Ashton left the group before Epic Forest, which saw new drummer Fred Kelly bring in guitarist Andy Curtis to revamp their sound into a more folk-oriented direction. Gould also picked up the guitar at this point, and the music became much more about their guitar interplay than anything else. By 1973's Somebody's Watching, interest had waned in their efforts, leaving the group with a dwindling fan base. Still, they managed to release one more album, 1974's Born Again, which featured an entirely different sound than the progressive rock of their first two albums. The band's demise was followed by a collection, Sympathy, which took its material from the first two albums only. by Bradley Torreano

Rare Bird - Sympathy