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Buried Treasure: Delving into Heavy ’70s Obscurities

Posted in Buried Treasure on December 13th, 2010 by JJ Koczan

After my success at the Second Saturday Record Show last month, I hit up the Void Records store on eBay and made a wishlist of obscure ’70s curios. The box arrived over this weekend and I’ve been in trance after psychedelic trance ever since. Most of the stuff is on Gear Fab Records, a label that specializing in this kind of thing, but here’s a rundown of what I picked up in case you’re interested in doing the same:

Christopher, Christopher: Originally released in 1969, it’s psych sub-folk with a couple heavier numbers. Some Hendrix vibes, a great bass sound and on “Wilbur Lite,” lyrics about a rainbow inside Doug Walden‘s head. Not as riffy as some of the others, but still pretty good.

Gandalf the Grey, The Grey Wizard am I: First off, it sounds like it was recorded on a Fisher Price tape recorder, but for the cover alone, this one’s worth what Void was charging. Weirdo acid folk half about Lord of the Rings and half about whatever’s around. Druggy distraction, I guess. Fun.

Salem Mass, Witch Burning: Killer overblown proggy indulgence with some really heavy parts. I had a feeling this one was going to be a highlight and it was. Fans of bands like Black Widow and Coven should take note. Memorable riffs and a great organ sound.

Bliss, Bliss: Bluesy and rudimentary heavy psych from 1970, there are covers of “Rock Me Baby” and “Gangster of Love,” among others. It’s kind of surprising in terms of how clear the audio is, but it’s got a great vinyl sound. More influenced than influential, but still cool.

Blind Ravage, Blind Ravage: Angrier in a political sense, these Quebecers reminded me some of Jethro Tull, and that’s by no means a negative. Lots of killer organ work and an opening cover of “Susie-Q” that was even more endearing than I could have hoped.

Khazad Doom, Cherry Town: Earlier, from 1968, these acid rockers took The Beatles‘ approach of creating a cast of characters and exploring them in drugged-out melodies and gave it a lo-fi garage treatment. “Mrs. Murphy’s Purple Grocery Store” precedes “Zany Zeke the Blacksmith,” and then I woke up with my shirt off.

Stone Harbour, Emerges: More psych than heavy, I found some of my favorite cuts on the Lion Productions reissue were the bonus tracks, “Taurus” and “Witch to You” being particular favorites. They were recorded later than the album proper, in 1975, and a little more hard-driving. The album itself is still also worth checking out though.

Ellison, Ellison: Another highlight of the haul, this riffy Gear Fab number from ’71 has a killer post-Deep Purple vibe that’s just a little looser instrumentally and grooving in a way that if it came out today I’d definitely be calling it stoner rock. Only about 29 minutes long, but solid front to back.

There were a couple others thrown in the box that I haven’t checked out yet (hey, it’s only been two days): The Third Estate, Dreu Ferguson Sr., but I’m looking forward to getting there. In the meantime, if you want to dig into any of the above, Void‘s eBay store is here.

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