U.K. psychedelic rock legends Pink Fairies were formed in 1970, rising phoenix-like from the ashes of cult rockers the Deviants when guitarist Paul Rudolph, bassist Duncan Sanderson, and drummer Russell Hunter sacked frontman Mick Farren. The trio hooked up with former Pretty Things drummer ‘Twink’ and recorded their classic 1971 debut LP, Never Never Land.
The band was back to three members after Twink left for the following year’s What A Bunch of Sweeties, which also included contributions from the Move’s guitarist Trevor Burton. After a few roster changes, Sanderson and Hunter hooked up with former Shagrat guitarist Larry Wallis for 1973’s Kings of Oblivion. The Fairies packed it in mid-decade when Wallis jumped to join Lemmy in Motörhead.
Interest in the Pink Fairies’ unique brand of anarchic rock ‘n’ roll has been on the rise since the early 2000s when Polydor reissued the band’s first three albums on CD, and various line-ups of the Fairies have performed reunion shows in the ensuing years. On August 24th, 2018 Purple Pyramid (a Cleopatra Records imprint) will release a brand spankin’ new Pink Fairies album titled Resident Reptiles. Featuring original Fairies singer and guitarist Paul Rudolph along with fellow travelers Alan Davey (ex-Hawkwind) on bass and Lucas Fox (Motörhead) on drums, the trio recorded a sizzling eight-song set that will be released on both CD and, of course, pink vinyl.
“I’d say this journey started with Nik Turner introducing me to Cleopatra Records,” says Rudolph in a press release for the new album. “I was asked about the possibility of recording a LP under the Pink Fairies banner and thought – this would be a lot of fun. Get a few people together, turn the amps up to 10 and let ‘er rip. So here it is – a spontaneous collaboration of ideas recorded mostly live. Thank you for listening. Peace and Love.”
Resident Reptiles tracklist:
1. Resident Reptile
2. Old Enuff To Know Better
3. Your Cover Is Blown
4. Mirage
5. Lone Wolf
6. Whipping Boy
7. Monkey Chatter
8. Apologize
Arguably the first true rock ‘n’ roll ‘supergroup’ of the ’70s, Captain Beyond never rose above the band’s cult status to achieve the fame and fortune they deserved. Formed by former Deep Purple singer Rod Evans (the voice on early Purple hits like “Hush” and “Kentucky Woman”) with guitarist Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt and bassist Lee Dorman – both refugees from Iron Butterfly – and Bobby Caldwell, Johnny Winter’s former drummer, Captain Beyond sounded like no other band at the time. Their self-titled debut album, released in 1972, was notable for its mind-blowing 3-D cover art (created using lenticular printing) and its heady, ambitious mix of guitar-driven, proto-metal hard rock and improvisational jazz influences.
The music of Captain Beyond was tailor-made for the bourgeoning progressive rock audience, the album’s songs zipping along the grooves with ever-evolving time signatures and whiplash sonic dynamics. In ‘Rhino’ Reinhardt, the band had a guitarist who could rock with the best of his contemporaries but also knew an odd, enticing lick or two, and the Dorman/Caldwell rhythm section played more like seasoned jazzbos than plodding rockers, together developing a complex foundation for Evans’ ‘rock star’ vocals. The album was released by Capricorn Records – better known for its Southern rock fare like the Allman Brothers and the Marshall Tucker Band – Captain Beyond signed by the label at the request of Duane Allman, an enthusiastic early supporter of the band.
Captain Beyond’s Lost & Found 1972-1973
It was Captain Beyond’s original demo tape, recorded in Rhino’s four-track home studio, which caught the ear of Mr. Allman (and, later, his manager and Capricorn big chief Phil Walden). Although the band re-created the songs from their demo tape for their debut, those original recordings were thought lost for all these years until resurfacing in Bobby Caldwell’s possession. Purple Pyramid’s release of these original demo tapes as Lost & Found 1972-1973 places Captain Beyond’s efforts in proper context, and showcases a band whose immense musical chemistry was obviously present from the very beginning. Unlike other band’s demos that were poorly-recorded and badly transferred onto CD for sale to the hardcore faithful here in the 21st century, the sound quality of the performances on Lost & Found 1972-1973 is pretty good considering the vintage of the tracks, a testament to the veteran performers’ studio experience.
Lost & Found 1972-1973 opens with the previously-unreleased “Uranus Highway,” an exhilarating psych-rock sojourn that “nobody has heard outside of the band” according to Caldwell. Why such an exciting, fully-formed song would fall through the cracks is a mystery, but Rhino’s wiry fretwork, the swirling rhythms, and Evans’ lofty vocals provide four minutes of brand-new excitement. The demo version of “I Can’t Feel Nothing (Part One)” is longer and, to these ears, sounds more confident than the studio version used on Captain Beyond. Rhino’s guitar licks dance and parry like an expert fencer, Evans’ semi-metallic vocals muscle their way out of the mix, and Caldwell’s percussive drumbeats slap your ears with the force of a sledge hammer. The song is just the entry point to the five-song suite that made up much of side two of the original album – tracks like the mesmerizing “As the Moon Speaks (To the Waves of the Sea),” with its shimmering instrumentation and eerie spoken-word passage, or “As The Moon Speaks (Return),” with its staccato Latin rhythms – are perfect showcases for the band’s instrumental virtuosity.
“Icarus” was originally written for singer Rod Evans, although it wasn’t recorded until 1977 with a different singer for the band’s Dawn Explosion album. Evans’ vocals compliment the song quite nicely, soaring along effortlessly on the waves of scorching guitar, cacophonic rhythms, scraps of hallucinogenic keyboards, and an overall intoxicating space-rock vibe. It’s a heavy trip, to be sure, and it probably should have been shoehorned somewhere onto the debut album. The demo take on “Raging River of Fear” is an out-of-control wildfire featuring Rhino’s bluesy, serpentine slide-guitar playing that is obviously inspired by Johnny Winter; the album version, suffice it to say, pales by comparison. The martial rhythms of “Myopic Void” provide a strong center for Evans’ psych-drenched vocals and Rhino’s otherworldly fretwork, the song kicking into overdrive with Caldwell’s explosive percussion and Dorman’s fluid bass lines.
The Reverend’s Bottom Line
Truth is, there were but a handful of bands making music as innovative as Captain Beyond during the sunrise years of the ‘70s. The American band Gypsy is the only one that readily comes to mind, and while they walked a similar neo-prog path as Captain Beyond, they incorporated more folk than jazz influences into their unique sound. Captain Beyond’s imaginative instrumentation and unique song construction set them apart from a crowded field of early 1970s hard rockers.
Captain Beyond’s reckless musical experimentation in the studio, combined with their electrifying live performances, earned the band a loyal, albeit small group of fans. Fellow travelers like Rush and King’s X have kept the musical spirit of the band alive for a subsequent generations of fans, and young newcomers jump on the bandwagon each passing year. Running a hair short of 30 minutes, the early band demos documented by Lost & Found 1972-1973 are nevertheless a real treat for Captain Beyond fans, and Dave Thompson’s knowledgeable liner notes offer important historical context. Lost & Found 1972-1973 preserves the unvarnished sound and fury of a band that knows they’ve stumbled upon an alchemical formula to create musical magic. Grade: A (Purple Pyramid Records, released June 2, 2017)
The groundbreaking sound of ‘70s-era cult band Captain Beyond was one part space rock and one part prog, with a dash of guitar-heavy hard rock thrown in for good measure. Captain Beyond was formed in 1971 by original Deep Purple vocalist Rod Evans with guitarist Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt and bassist Lee Dorman of Iron Butterfly, and drummer Bobby Caldwell from Johnny Winter’s band. The original Captain Beyond line-up also included keyboardist Lewie Gold, who left the fold before the band’s first album and would later be temporarily replaced by Reese Wynans (Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble).
With Reinhardt and Dorman serving as the band’s musical anchor, Captain Beyond released three early-to-mid-‘70s albums with different line-ups that would prove wildly influential beyond their meager commercial achievements: Captain Beyond (1972), Sufficiently Breathless (1973), and the reunion album, Dawn Explosion (1977), recorded with singer Willy Daffern. The band’s first two LPs were released by Capricorn Records, a label best known for its association with Southern rock. But legend has it that Allman Brothers Band guitarist Duane Allman was so impressed by Captain Beyond’s demo tape that he convinced the label to sign the unique outfit.
That original Captain Beyond demo tape was lost to the ages until recently discovered by longtime band drummer Bobby Caldwell. Those original performances have recently been released by Purple Pyramid Records, a Cleopatra Records imprint, as Lost & Found 1972-1973 on both CD and as a special, limited edition red-colored vinyl album. The album documents the original versions of band favorites like “I Can’t Feel Nothing” and “Dancing Madly Backwards” as well as the previously-unreleased track “Uranus Expressway.” The set also includes lengthy liner notes by noted music historian and rock critic Dave Thompson.
Original Captain Beyond vocalist Rod Evans left the band after the release of Sufficiently Breathless and literally disappeared from the industry (really…nobody knows where Evans is and, if they do know, they ain’t talkin’…). After the band’s late ‘70s break-up, Reinhardt and Caldwell reunited in 1998 as Captain Beyond and toured for five years, disbanding in 2003 when Rhino developed cancer; the guitarist later passed away in 2012. Caldwell once again resurrected the band in 2013 and has scheduled a short tour in support of Lost & Found (dates below). In their prime, Captain Beyond was a powerful, innovative, and entertaining band that left its mark. Lost & Found provides yet another chapter in the story of this obscure, albeit influential band.
Captain Beyond's Lost & Found track list:
1. Uranus Expressway *
2. I Can't Feel Nothing, Pt. 1
3. As The Moon Speaks (To the Waves of the Sea)
4. Astral Lady
5. As The Moon Speaks (Return)
6. I Can't Feel Nothing, Pt. 2
7. Icarus
8. Raging River of Fear
9. Dancing Madly Backwards (On A Sea Of Air)
10. Myopic Void +
* previously unreleased
+ CD bonus track
Captain Beyond (with Bobby Caldwell) tour dates:
6/22/17 @ The Golden Pony, Harrisonburg VA
6/23/17 @ Cafe 611 “Maryland Doom Fest,” Fredrick MD
8/16/17 @ The Earl, Atlanta GA
8/18/17 @ The Pour House Music Hall, Raleigh NC
8/20/17 @ Kung Fu Neck Tie, Philadelphia PA
8/22/17 @ Saint Vitus, Brooklyn NY
8/25/17 @ “The Bear's Den” Seneca Niagara Casino, Niagara Falls NY
10/28/17 @ Ram's Head Live “Days of Darkness Fest,” Baltimore MD
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Daevid Allen sadly passed away in March 2015 at 77 years old, but he’d led a full and inspirational life. One of the most innovative musicians to leave his mark on the world of progressive rock, Allen was a founding member of 1960s-era trailblazers the Soft Machine, although he had to drop out of the band before they recorded their first album.
Allen also helped form the legendary prog-rock outfit Gong in 1968, recording half a dozen albums with the band – including their influential Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy of albums – before launching a solo career that carried on, one way or another, until his death. There were also plenty of Gong reunions through the years, as well as offshoots of the band that Allen took part in.
On February 12th, 2016, Purple Pyramid Records will release Elevenses, the final album from Allen and his band, the Daevid Allen Weird Quartet, which included multi-instrumentalist Don Falcone of Spirits Burning, bassist Michael Clare of Daevid Allen’s University of Errors, and drummers Trey Sabatelli of the Tubes and Paul Sears of the Muffins. Elevenses is the second album by the band, following 2005’s DJDDAY, which was released under the name “Weird Biscuit Teatime.”
For his swansong, Allen created his typical musical mix of prog, art-rock, psychedelic rock, and experimental music; still, Elevenses serves up a few surprises, including a blues song and an Irish-styled folk song. Anything Allen recorded is always worth a listen, so check out Elevenses and if you like what you hear, dig into Gong’s early ‘70s catalog or any of Daevid Allen’s many solo efforts.
Daevid Allen Weird Quartet's Elevenses track list:
1. Transloop This Message
2. Imagicknation
3. The Latest Curfew Craze
4. Kick That Habit Man
5. Secretary of Lore
6. Alchemy
7. The Cold Stuffings of November
8. Grasshopping
9. God's New Deal
10. Dim Sum In Alphabetical Order
11. Killer Honey
12. Under The YumYum Tree Cafe
13. Banana Construction Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Daevid Allen Weird Quartet's Elevenses
Greg Lake is best known as a founding member of King Crimson and, of course, and one-third of the prog-rock world-beaters that were Emerson, Lake and Palmer. The talented singer and multi-instrumentalist has dabbled in a solo career these past 30 years, releasing his self-titled solo debut album in 1981. Enlisting blues-rock guitarist Gary Moore and a studio band that included the E Street Band’s Clarence Clemmons and members of the band Toto, Lake ventured out of his prog-rock comfort zone to explore a guitar-driven, hard rock direction.
Touring in support of his debut album, Lake performed a legendary show at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on November 5th, 1981. The Greg Lake Band at the time featured Lake playing guitar, bassist Tristian Margetts, keyboardist Tommy Eyre, and drummer Ted McKenna, with special guest Gary Moore. The concert was recorded for a King Biscuit Flower Hour radio broadcast, and was originally released on CD in 1986 as Greg Lake In Concert. The performance re-appeared on disc again in 2004 as Nuclear Attack, but it’s been out of print for the better part of a decade.
On August 7th, 2015 Purple Pyramid Records – a subsidiary of Cleopatra Records – will be reissuing this classic concert on CD and vinyl as London ’81. Whether or not you’re an ELP fan (and the Reverend certainly is…), this concert is definitely worth your while. Lake and his skilled players crank out an inspired, high-octane performance of classic tracks by ELP and King Crimson as well as material from Lake’s solo debut. Recorded in front of 2,000 rabid fans, London ’81 offers up gems like “Love You Too Much,” a song co-written by Lake with Bob Dylan; “21st Century Schizoid Man,” from Crimson’s debut; Gary Moore’s enchanting “Parisienne Walkways,” and the ELP medley “Fanfare For The Common Man/Karn Evil 9.” Unlike previous CD releases of this frequently-revisited show, London ’81 includes a bonus track in the form of ELP’s “C’est La Vie,” recorded live at a 1981 show in New York City.
Greg Lake’s London ’81 tracklist:
1. Medley: Fanfare For the Common Man/Karn Evil 9
2. Nuclear Attack
3. The Lie
4. Retribution Drive
5. Lucky Man
6. Parisienne Walkways
7. You Really Got A Hold On Me
8. Love You Too Much
9. 21st Century Schizoid Man
10. In The Court of the Crimson King
11. C'est La Vie
A one-time high-flyer of the 1970s-era arena-rock royalty, guitarist Pat Travers has been playing aggressive, live-wire rock ‘n’ blues music for better than three and a half decades. The Canadian-born string-bender is showing no signs of slowing down, either, taking part in the Rock Legends Cruise in February and booking a U.S. tour for March and April in support of his upcoming studio album, Retro Rocket.
On March 17th, 2015 Cleopatra’s Purple Pyramid Records will release Travers’ Retro Rocket, a nine-song LP or eleven-song CD that includes “Lead Me Home,” the theme from The Walking Dead TV series, as a bonus track. On this new slate of songs, Travers pulls inspiration from his vital, essential late 1970s albums like Heat In The Street and Live! Go For What You Know, providing each of these new performances with scorching guitars and whiskey-soaked vocals.
Travers isn’t just revisiting his glory days, but rather building upon his earlier success with a red-hot slate of performances that tie the past and present together. During the mid-to-late ‘70s, Travers was a bona-fide guitar hero. Beginning with 1977’s Makin’ Magic, Travers released a string of acclaimed, fast-charting albums: 1979’s Heat In The Street and Live! Go For What You Know (#29 on the charts), 1980’s Crash and Burn (#20), and 1981’s Radio Active (#37) that made the guitarist a hot draw on the stadium circuit (and subsequently influenced young musicians like Metallica’s Kirk Hammett).
Although Travers’ commercial star waned during the late 1980s and into the ‘90s, he’s continued to tour the U.S. and Europe and record, with nearly three-dozen studio and live albums to his credit. Retro Rocket is a fitting follow-up to 2013’s Can Do and should be a heck of a lot of fun!
Pat Travers' Retro Rocket track list:
1. I Always Run
2. Searching For A Clue
3. Who Can You Turn To
4. Up Is Down
5. Mystery At The Wrecking Yard
6. You Can’t Get Their From Hare
7. I Am Alive
8. I Wanna Be Free
9. Hellbound Train
10. Looking Up [Live]*
11. Lead Me Home (Theme from The Walking Dead)*
Blues-rock guitarist Harvey Mandel has long been a favorite ‘round these parts, the underrated, innovative fretburner seldom getting the credit he deserves for all the great music he’s made through the years. Sadly, many of his best solo recordings have long been out of print and copies have been more painful than a root canal to scratch up. Luckily, Purple Pyramid Records will be fixing this unfortunate situation when they release the limited edition, six-disc Snake Box set comprised of Mandel’s classic first five solo albums and a sixth bonus disc with an unreleased 1968 concert recording.
Born in Detroit but raised in Chicago, Mandel fell under the spell of the blues at an early age, and the first time we heard of the young guitarist was as part of Charlie Musselwhite’s South Side Band. Mandel appeared on Musselwhite’s Stand Back! LP, widely considered to be one of the best Chicago blues albums of all time, with Mandel adding his imaginative fretwork behind the frontman’s soulful, frenetic harp playing. Moving to the San Francisco Bay area, Mandel fell in with like-minded artists and was convinced by Blue Cheer producer Abe “Voco” Kesh to record a solo album, resulting in his acclaimed 1968 instrumental debut, Cristo Redentor.
After releasing his second solo effort, 1969’s Righteous, Mandel replaced Henry Vestine as lead guitarist of the legendary blues-rock outfit Canned Heat. The Woodstock Festival was Mandel’s third show with the band, and he’d go on to tour extensively and record three albums with Canned Heat, including the band’s landmark Future Blues LP. Recruited by British blues-rock legend John Mayall, Mandel joined the Bluesbreakers in 1970, appearing on three albums with Mayall, including 1971’s classic Back To The Roots. In between Canned Heat and the Bluesbreakers, Mandel released his third solo album, 1970’s Games Guitars Play, his first recorded with a vocalist.
Leaving Mayall’s band, Mandel returned to his solo career, releasing what his considered his best work, 1971’s Baby Batter, the album a masterful and influential hybrid of blues, jazz, and rock instrumentals that included former Canned Heat/Bluesbreakers bandmate Larry Taylor on bass. Mandel veered towards jazz-rock fusion with 1972’s The Snake album, his fifth, which also featured former Mayall/Zappa violinist Don “Sugarcane” Harris, with whom he would form the short-lived band Pure Food and Drug Act, which released a single 1972 album, Choice Cuts. Mandel has continued to record solo through the present day, as well as performing with a reformed Canned Heat through much of the 2000s.
Mandel somehow found time to audition for Mick Taylor’s spot in the Rolling Stones in the mid-1970s; he didn’t get the gig, but he appears on two songs – “Hot Stuff” and “Memory Motel” – from the band’s 1976 album Black and Blue. Through the years, Mandel has also lent his six-string skills to recordings by the Ventures, Graham Bond, Love, and bluesman Jimmy Witherspoon, among others, as well as playing on several albums from his old Chicago running buddy Barry Goldberg and his former Bluesbreakers bandmate “Sugarcane” Harris. Mandel’s innovative two-handed fretboard tapping technique – first used by The Snake in 1973 – would influence a generation of rock guitarists to follow, including Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai.
Each CD in the Snake Box is packaged in its own sleeve with the original album artwork, and the set includes a full-color booklet with new liner notes. Amazon.com has a pre-order page up with the set priced at around $36, which works out to $6 per disc…not a lot of money for a heck of a lot of fine music. Whether you’re a long-time Harvey Mandel fan or a newcomer, this is one set you’re going to want to get behind!
They’ll forever be known as the “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” band, but Iron Butterfly released six studio and a live album over the course of their initial ten-year run. Formed in 1966 by keyboardist/vocalist Doug Ingle and guitarist Danny Weiss, Iron Butterfly became known as one of the leading progenitors of the era’s psychedelic-rock sound. Unlike almost all of the pop-psych bands of the 1960s, though, Iron Butterfly evinced a sound befitting its name, bringing a sonic tonnage to its material that was shared only by a few like-minded fellow travelers as Blue Cheer.
Aside from a lone 1970 album and 2011’s Fillmore East 1968, there hasn’t been a heck of a lot of live Butterfly recordings floating around collectors’ circles. That oversight will be corrected on May 27th, 2014 when Purple Pyramid – a subsidiary of Cleopatra Records – releases Live At The Galaxy 1967, a rare concert document from the psychedelic-rock legends. The album was recorded at the historic Galaxy Club in Los Angeles, just a few doors down from Whiskey A Go-Go on the infamous Sunset Strip and features the early band line-up which recorded Iron Butterfly’s 1968 debut album Heavy.
The band at the time included Ingle on lead vocals and keyboards, guitarist Weiss, bassist Jerry Penrod, percussionist and singer Darryl DeLoach, and drummer Ron Bushy. Live At The Galaxy 1967 will be released on both compact disc and, in June, on glorious colored 180 gram vinyl. The album is of special interest to fans as it’s a rare document of the early band; Weiss, Penrod, and DeLoach left Butterfly shortly after the January 1968 release of Heavy, replaced by guitarist Erik Brann and bassist Lee Dorman who, along with Ingle and Bushy, represented the best-known and most successful band line-up that recorded the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968) and Ball (1969) albums.
“Every big name act that was in L.A. came to see us play at the Galaxy,” Ron Bushy remembers in a press release for the album. “There was Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, etc.” A&R reps from Atlantic Records were also at the show, and promptly signed the band and hustled them into the studio to record Heavy. Six of the twelve performances captured by Live At The Galaxy 1967 are from Heavy, including the band’s signature “Iron Butterfly Theme,” while only two of the other half-dozen songs would be released later, providing long-time fans with some previously unreleased gems from the enigmatic band.
Live At The Galaxy 1967 track listing:
1. Real Fright
2. Possession
3. Filled With Fear
4. Fields of Sun
5. It’s Up To You
6. Gloomy Day To Remember
7. Evil Temptation
8. So-Lo
9. Gentle As It May Seem
10. Lonely Boy
11. Iron Butterfly Theme
12. You Can’t Win
