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Artist: BEAUTIFUL LOSERS Title: Nobody Knows the Heaven Format: CD Label: Lion Productions Country: USA Price: $17.00 |
| "To set the scene: its 1974, its Paris, two young guys in their bed-sit (one of whom is French music maven/famous producer Jay Alanski) are dreaming of counter-culture, and their internal versions of California and New York. The result is this album, a child begotten of Marc Bolan, Baudelaire, and Lautréamont; a fascinating record, subtle and engaging as it is scarce; the re-creation of a parallel pop universe which one Michael Moorcock wouldnt have renounced. Somehow, the duo got their record out into the world on Monde Melodys one-off Silk imprint (a tribute to Marc Bolan). And what twisted songs (in English) they managed to squeeze into a fifty-minute slab of vinyl. The music drips with deep nostalgia for the decadent beautiful people who lived and breathed and then found a home in the songs of Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen, pervaded throughout with a kind of psychedelic sadness. All of this is expressed by means of long, jagged acid guitar runs (or in acoustic strums) supported by Moroccan percussion (bongos?) and heavy bass lines from Christophe J. A post-quaalude album, as band leader Jay Alanski has said. If the LP had been released in 1971, everyone would point to T-Rex as an influence, and call it glam folk; fast forward to today and its hard not to think loner, and draw comparisons with the music of Devendra Banhart, albeit recorded 35 years ago! Were now several decades further on in the worlds slow self-destruction, but this sole recording by the Beautiful Losers has lost nothing of its freshness and superb arrogance. Blessed be the listener who is going to discover such a hidden treasure!" - Lion Productions. Includes a 32-page booklet and bonus track "Nobody Knows The Heaven" (alternate version). |
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Artist: DINO & MONTEVIDEO BLUES Title: s/t Format: CD Label: Lion Productions Country: USA Price: $16.00 |
| "The one and only album by Dino & Montevideo Blues (Macondo GAM 551, 1972) deserves to be a serious contender as one of the most important, and as it happens, most grooving, records ever released in Uruguay. But there is another reason that the album has attained exalted status: the incisive power of the lyrics, which are all the more impressive considering the national turmoil out of which they were created. Montevideo Blues was founded by Uruguayan song-writing legend Gaston "Dino" Ciarlo as a way to fuse the rawness of rock music with obscure native Uruguayan rhythms like malambo, milonga and chamarrita-a logical direction to pursue after Dino had attempted pop/candombe fusions in his solo recordings. The tracks have an edgy, atonal quality, with terrific unconventional angular guitar and a kind of ragged glory, all driven along by insistent grooving rhythms, whether from native drums or the clicking of drumsticks. Includes a handful of bonus tracks, as well as a 32-page booklet packed with photos, detailed band history, and lyrics for this important Uruguayan band." - Lion Production. |
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Artist: ERGO SUM Title: Mexico Format: CD Label: Lion Productions Country: USA Price: $16.00 |
| "Along with the two records by Nurse With Wound favorites Moving Gelatine Plates, Ergo Sums weird and wonderful Mexico album is an unusual portal into the intense creativity of early 1970s French music. True, the bands are not musically similar; yet these three albums are distinguished not only by their instrumental richness, but by their unceasing sense of adventure. One could go so far to say that Ergo Sum presents one of the most distinctive experiences in a rock idiom (apart from Zeuhl music juggernaut Magma) to ever come from France. The bands one and only album (1971) features the unique voice of Lionel Ledissez, whose guttural sort-of-English language delivery described as being somewhere between Familys Roger Chapman and a drunken Champs-Elysees taxi driver, although more sober comparisons to Tim and/or Jeff Buckley have also been made. The compositions develop at a relaxed pace; incredible jazz-inflected guitar, flute, piano and droning violin swirl around the vocals, and keep one submerged in, yet attentive to the intimate mood. Includes a handful of bonus tracks and a 28-page booklet with band history, photos, lyrics, and a contemporary 1971 review from Superhebdo magazine. A three o-clock in the morning, slow burn album if ever there was one." -Lion Production |
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Artist: INDEX Title: Black Album + Red Album + Yesterday & Today Format: Double CD Label: Lion Productions Country: USA Price: $26.00 |
| "In the mid 1960s, Detroit Michigan was a thriving industrial city. It was at the edge of a cliff, however. The great ethnic diversity in the inner city was a brewing powder keg of civil unrest. This, coupled with a disillusioned population struggling to make some sense of a questionable war in the rice paddies of Vietnam, set an uneasy and troubling tempo for the future. Still, there were pockets of communities in the Detroit area where things were good and economic life was vibrant. The Grosse Pointes were such communities. It was on the outskirts of this political and racially tense era, in the affluent suburbs just outside of the city of Detroit, that Index was formed. The music of Index has been lauded by music heads for decades, and with good reason: it is bizarre, atmospheric, and home-made (in the best of all possible ways); the band has a druggie sound, with songs full of feedback and fuzzy guitars, hazy guitar riffs and loud rhythms. Hidden amongst the echoing canyons of sound theres some snotty post-punk attitude wrapped up in that trippy velvet fuzz; a wonderful bleak sound, both droning and murky, the atonal side of late 1960s rock that would leave the most lasting impression on those who would eventually become punk, post-punk and indie rock artists like Joy Division or the Fall. Includes a 32-page booklet, written by Index drummer Jim Valice, detailing the bands rock and roll adventures, replete with photos and lyrics; printed on FSC recycled, chlorine-free, 100% post-consumer fiber paper manufactured using biogas energy." -Lion Productions |
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Artist: KATH Title: 1 (Original Album & Unreleased Material) Format: Double CD Label: Lion Productions Country: USA Price: $20.00 |
| "Not many albums can get you in the mood to blow out your speakers quite like Kath, a band that evolved from local Maryland 1960s band Badge. This is an authentic low-fi DIY effort, recorded in the home of the bands leader (and, yes, actually dedicated to his pet monkey - and his girlfriend!), originally released in 1974 in a micro edition of 60 hand-made copies, and later reconfigured for a legendary Rockadelic label LP version. Truth to tell, the Kath album is full of well written melodic songs with loose, semi-ramshackle, low-fi/no-fi production values. Nothing gets down and dirty quite like Say What You Feel, with its blown out bass, killer guitar and drums, echoed vocals and sound effects; well, actually, Love Me Down is equally potent. The band also had a fondness for tape experimentation (Seagulls) and simply screwing around (Toilet Theme). As Patrick the Lama said in Acid Archives, Obscure and impressive melodic basement garage/psych excursion with a lo-fi atmosphere that would have most purveyors flip out, hits the Ampex two-track echo & tinny drum sound dead on. At times the vibe is almost like Mystery Meat or Index, and thats not something you run across every day. A totally outside garage/psych/private LP that feels as personally projected as those Michael Yonkers sides. Nuts lo-fi recording quality and impossible-to-figure production values gives this a nicely zonked almost real-people vibe. Keyboards, fuzz, heap of amateur avant spirit and a cover of "Norwegian Wood" that ranks up there as one of the few listenable Beatles covers ever cut by teens with brains. Weve also included Badges excellent 1978 five-track EP as bonus tracks. And since too far is never far enough for Lion Productions, weve also added an entire second disc of outtakes from the Kath recording sessions, plus other related home recordings. This 140-minute double disc set comes with twenty pages of extensive liner notes by Kath and Badge leader Val Rogolino, and a plethora of photos from his personal stash." - Lion Productions. |
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Artist: LOS DUG DUGS Title: Smog Format: LP Label: Lion Productions Country: USA Price: $22.00 |
| "The second album (1972) from psychedelic guru Armando Nava and his band is in Spanish this time, as all other Mexican bands were by now singing in English. The recording sessions were tumultuous: after the band -- now stripped down to a power trio -- had recorded just three songs, Nava stormed out of the sessions and locked himself in his house for fifteen days. Everyone on the outside worried about his safety, but Armando was fine: he kept himself busy reconfiguring the entire album, including penning the punishing riffs that form the central motif of the mesmerizing twelve-minute medley that explodes over the albums entire first side. So again, as with the genesis of the Dug Dugs debut album (also available from Lion Productions), the end result of all the tumult surrounding the band was a great album. Theres no doubt that the Dug Dugs toughened up their sound on Smog: to some people they sound like a crazy Mexican version of Jethro Tull, and to others like a Spanish speaking incarnation of MC5. No matter how you look at it, this is tremendous progressive-influenced hard rock, with a new chunky sound. It is clearly among a small group of elite recordings from the psychedelic age; it is also possibly the best Mexican hard rock album of all time." -Lion Productions. |
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Artist: PLASTIC CLOUD Title: S/T Format: LP Label: Lion Productions Country: USA Price: $19.00 |
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"In 1968, the Plastic Cloud recorded, quite simply, one of the greatest psychedelic albums ever made. This a record with few equals, full of foreboding melodies and lovely hippie harmonies, as well as some of the most superb and trippiest, Eastern sounding fuzz guitar ever recorded. There is no point singling out a specific track, they are all excellent—one is equally as good as the next. Take for example the album centerpiece, the ten-and-a-half-minute You Dont Care, an insane piece of social commentary that features terrific back-of-the-mix fuzz guitar as an elusive focal point to its extended pounding-drum laden instrumental breaks; with a great chorus and a plaintive melody in the verse, it doesnt overstay its welcome, winding its way to a final freak out. Essential psychedelia! We feel that its about time this fine record got its due on vinyl, so we have gone all out: it is mastered from the original tapes; the gatefold inner spread has the original LP text, lyrics for all of the songs (thanks to Don Brewer, the man who wrote them), as well as rare photos; as an insert, we have included a replica of an original press release that must be seen to be believed. Now, on to the presentation—the highest quality mastering and pressing; the resulting LP is housed in a poly-lined sleeve, inside an ultra-heavy 1960s style gatefold jacket, which is shrink-wrapped. The LP labels are replicas of the original Allied silver and blue labels. A top of the line pressing all the way." -Lion Productions.
SOLD OUT
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Artist: ROTOMAGUS Title: Sky Turns Red: Complete Anthology Format: Double LP Label: Lion Productions Country: USA Price: $24.00 |
| "Theres no way to know why CBS Records unceremoniously dumped ROTOMAGUS and the after one single; suffice to say that decision was a poor one, as the band has (quite rightly) developed a cult-like following over the years. All in all, the artistic trajectory of Rotomagus was peculiar: they started out as a harmony pop-psych band, shifted through a brief Jimi Hendrix-ian interlude, straight into a Vanilla Fudge groove; they then went down in flames as a hair-raising monolithic heavy rock power trio. On Julian Copes excellent Head Heritage web-site, the Seth Man raves about Rotomagus thus: "The first time I heard this track (Fighting Cock), I did not freak out. I merely walked into a nearby closet and screamed my head off for a minute solid, beat the floor and ripped my t-shirt... then I cowered when it hit me: this thing came out in 1971? Before Raw Power?! I just lost my mind... The only thing that predates this monster in terms of being a full-on amassing of all things heavy are all the many key points on Sir Lord Baltimores Kingdom Come LP and THATS it, brother." French magazine Rock & Folk was succinct: "Rotomagus create an emotional music, violent, even aggressive." Violent. Aggressive. Intense. On this disc we bring you the entire output of Rotomagus, including an album-length demo from 1971, the bands tumultuous, thunderous swansong, recorded as a super jam." - Lion Productions. |
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Artist: SAINTE ANTHONYS FYRE Title: s/t Format: LP Label: Lion Productions Country: USA Price: $19.00 |
| "Official reissue of ultra-rare 1970 wasted underground hard rock monster! Wild, loud, raw New Jersey hard psych beast thats been a favorite target of record collectors, dealers and swamp dwellers for the past two decades, originally released on the Zonk! label .This album is bleeding with that authentic dirty basement sound built around a solid set of catchy heavy weight tracks influenced by the holy trinity of Cream, Blue Cheer and Hendrix! The bible of underground psych rock, Acid Archives, says this about it: “This legendary private press is rated as one of the ultimate local basement hard rock blowouts by many connoisseurs. Released as early as 1970, the end result has some similarities to MC5s hallowed Kick out the Jams, but I find this a superior and more powerful album." Popular UK magazine thats majors in all things 60s and psychedelic, Shindig!, proclaims: “a masterpiece of zonked out, fuzz-drenched hard rock." The limited edition vinyl pressing comes with an insert with liner notes, press clippings, photos and lyrics + an 11" x 17" poster too." - Lion Productions. |
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Artist: SNYDER, DOUG & BOB THOMPSON Title: Daily Dance Format: CD Label: Lion Productions Country: USA Price: $17.00 |
| "After meeting at a Stooges/MC5 concert, drummer BOB THOMPSON and guitarist DOUG SNYDER met one fine day in October 1972 in Thompsons kitchen and bashed out this set of fiery improvisations, seemingly influenced as much by Iggys proto-punk moves as John Coltranes whole "sheets of sound" ethos; the result is a mythical frenzy of distorted guitar and improvised drums, creating walls of psychedelic noise; its sound is unparalleled for its time, preceding its closest kin, New Yorks no-wave explosion, by a solid five years. And because of its lack of pretensions (it was done almost innocently), the record comes off as something, dare we say, a little more "spiritual" than is the norm for such excursions. It is a singular recording, one that mainlines the classic high energy pantheon of the Velvet Underground, Stooges, Pharaoh Sanders, Sonny Sharrock, etc. while anticipating the free jazz/noise/no wave synthesis of groups that would follow in their footsteps. Thompson and Snyder get into some abstruse territory, with Snyder tearing industrial gamelan shapes from his six strings while Thompson uses the guts of his kit as the basis for new tonal alphabets. But its all rendered with a strong savage ethos that effortlessly equates monochord rock obliteration with the celestial freedom of Cecil Taylor/John Coltrane, et al., while establishing new territory as advanced as that attained by the most far-reaching visionaries of the rock n roll blueprint... still hard to believe that this was recorded in 1972. A major historical unearthing, remastered from the original tapes, and beautifully packaged in a Stoughton paste-on mini-LP jacket, with an informative Obi/U-Card, and an extensive 20-page booklet of liner notes and photos. Produced in conjunction with Cantor Records, who recently made Daily Dance available on vinyl for the first time in 35 years. Includes one bonus track (not included on the LP reissue), which was intended for the original release, but left off at the last moment for time considerations." -Lion Productions |
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Artist: V/A Title: Groove Club Vol. 3: Cambodia Rock Intensified! Format: Double LP Label: Lion Productions Country: USA Price: $19.00 |
| "There were no deluxe studios for the musicians who recorded the devastating tracks contained on this double-LP collection. Nothing so grand. Most of these tracks were recorded live, with traditional instruments finding a place alongside any keyboards or guitars that could be found. And yet, it was these experiments of Khmer rock musicians which transformed the nightlife of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh—and which many years later have seduced countless listeners around the world with their groovy sound. Alas, in 1975 came an entirely different type of transformation: the rise to power in Cambodia of the fanatical, anti-Western Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot. Within roughly four years, implementing their “concept of Year Zero,” Pot and his regime were responsible for the deaths of an estimated two million Cambodians, many in the notorious “killing fields.” Even the most famous and beloved Khmer musicians could not escape. Sinn Sisamouth (“the Emperor of Khmer Music”), Ros Sereysothea (“The Golden Voice of the Royal Capital”), and Pan Ron—all featured on this collection—met their deaths at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Cambodian rock music is (rightfully) adored in Cambodia. The music is wild and anarchic, rhythmic and undulating (in an “Ethiopiques” way, wed say), or sweet and lyrical, but always moving, and with that deep soulfulness (regardless of actual musical genre or style) that singles out the best music. We have assembled what we consider to be the most definitive collection of classic Cambodian rock music to appear thus far—without the later overdubs that confuse the mind, without the artificial speeding up of tracks that often has marred compilations over the years; what youll find here are crucial Khmer rock tracks, made available in the best possible sound, assembled with love and respect for the artists who made the Khmer rock scene as thrilling as we find it to be. And so, without further ado, welcome to “Cambodia Rock Intensified!” -Lion Productions. |
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Artist: YAMA AND THE KARMA DUSTERS Title: Up From The Sewers Format: CD Label: Lion Productions Country: USA Price: $17.00 |
| "Super political, rocking, anti-establishment communal band (c. 1970) put together as a result of the Kent State Massacre. As the Euphoria Blimpworks Band, fronted by Howard Berkman from morose garage punksters the Knaves, they played demonstrations and student strikes when they werent opening for blues royalty -- or being the first band to play the yard at Cook County Jail. They were inter-racial, anti-war, Stop the Bomb, free love hippies, the wildest of the wild kids. And this is the quintessential anarcho-hippie record, a surprisingly well-engineered indie effort which came inside home-made silk-screened jackets, with twisted, poetic lyrics (Dylan or Arthur Lee and Love? you decide), and funky, rocking bones -- political, sociological, ecological, reflective and free-love sexy. The Karma Dusters really cook on the up-tempo tracks, sounding at times like a cross between The Blues Project and Dylans band circa 1966, augmented by some dazzling violin. This excellent sounding master-tape reissue has two bonus tracks; it also has two booklets -- one is for the outrageous and explicit Gonzo history of the band and their urban commune; the other is a wrap-around booklet for lyrics, all served up together in a Mylar plastic sleeve. You just know the FBI has a huge file on these punks. But do they have the album?" -Lion Productions. |