In 1972, Ohio based band THE BROTHERHOOD released their only album, "Stavia". It was a private edition of 200 copies, pressed at the legendary Rite custom plant. This rare album is a good example of US acid-rock / hippie psych with slight soul & funk influences: fantastic playing, swirling organ, powerful vocals, top guitar shredding, flute. "Stavia" has always been one of those shrouded in mystery albums, so rare that some collectors even doubted about its existence. Bootlegged in the '90s in a butchered edition that included two songs from an unrelated band.here's the first ever legit reissue. Includes liner notes by band member John Hurd.

Esoteric Recordings are proud to announce the release of a newly re-mastered and expanded edition of the classic 1970 album by The Move, “Shazam”. Of all of the groups to emerge in Britain in the latter half of the 1960s, The Move was arguably one of the finest. A powerful act on stage, the group were blessed with one of the most imaginative songwriters of his generation in Roy Wood. “Shazam” is regarded by many as the finest The Move album, despite being recorded in a time of flux for the band.
In the Spring of 1968 bassist Ace Kefford departed the fold, with Trevor Burton assuming bass guitar duties. The band continued to enjoy success as a singles act, earning a number one hit with ‘Blackberry Way’ in November 1968. In February 1969 Burton also left the band to be replaced by Rick Price…

On the band's third studio release "Looking On", The Move found themselves moving forward past their hybrid Beatles/Byrds/Who psychedelic influences and more towards the harder Power Pop that both Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood would perfect on this album.
"Looking On" containing seven songs averaging six plus minutes was more in tune with the Progressive Rock movement of the early 70's with tracks like "What?" forming as a precursor to the band's development into the symphonic Art-rock band Electric Light Orchestra. Also on the album are the proto Heavy Metal tracks "When Alice Goes Back To The Farm" and "Brontosaurus" and Progressive Rockers in the title track and the prophetically influential "Open Up Said The World To The Door" which predates the innovative zaniness of bands like Split Enz, 10cc, Roxy Music and Queen.

The full-blown rock opera about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy that launched the band to international superstardom, written almost entirely by Pete Townshend. Hailed as a breakthrough upon its release, its critical standing has diminished somewhat in the ensuing decades because of the occasional pretensions of the concept and because of the insubstantial nature of some of the songs that functioned as little more than devices to advance the rather sketchy plot. Nonetheless, the double album has many excellent songs, including "I'm Free," "Pinball Wizard," "Sensation," "Christmas," "We're Not Gonna Take It," and the dramatic ten-minute instrumental "Underture." Though the album was slightly flawed, Townshend's ability to construct a lengthy conceptual narrative brought new possibilities to rock music…

Sound Express was formed in a smal town named Vänersborg in Sweden. Their album "The Sound Express" was voted the best Swedish debut album in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. The band consists by the duo Tillbjörn Persson and Ingemar Landén. That have been playing Beatles influenced music during the 60's under the name Tilles. But when the band disbanded they created Sound Express. Their first suggestion of band name was Regis Gotorum that means Götarnas Konung. But it wasn't a good suggestion so they changed it to Sound Express and was signed by the record label Anette. They only released one album but what a masterpeice! It sounds like Hansson & Karlsson and sometiems even better. Heavy jazz influenced psych with just drums and organ and some elements of harmonica and guitar.

Tangerine Dream (1967). Tangerine Dream probably has the edge as the best of this British psychedelic group's two albums, but not by much. A long sought-after psychedelic rarity, it includes several of Kaleidoscope's best songs: "Flight from Ashiya," "Dive into Yesterday," "The Murder of Lewis Tollani," and especially the fragile ballad "Please Excuse My Face."
Faintly Blowing (1969). For their second album, Kaleidoscope delivered something an awful lot like their debut, a body of pleasant, trippy, spacy raga-rock, with the main difference that they pushed the wattage a little harder on their instruments - they'd also been performing pretty extensively by the time of their second long-player, and a lot of the music here was material that they'd worked out on-stage in very solid versions…

The long-lost album from the legendary British group, now available remastered and presented in the definitive collectors package.
The story of a young British band that went through many changes and endured lots of adventures typifies the mood of the late Sixties, when psychedelic rock gripped the world. Kaleidoscope had released singles and albums, but was then renamed Fairfield Parlour, to avoid confusion with an American Kaleidoscope. However, both UK bands featured Peter Daltrey (vocals, keyboards), Eddy Pumer (guitars), Steve Clark (bass, flute), and Dan Bridgman (drums). As Fairfield Parlour, they released an album called From Home to Home in 1970. This was followed by White Faced Lady, an ambitious rock opera recorded in 1970-71…

Although Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus has the reputation of being Spirit's most far-out album, it actually contains the most disciplined songwriting and playing of the original lineup, cutting back on some of the drifting and offering some of their more melodic tunes. The lilting "Nature's Way" was the most endearing FM standard on the album, which also included some of Spirit's best songs in "Animal Zoo" and "Mr. Skin."
Spirit was a highly regarded rock band that achieved modest commercial success, charting 11 albums in the U.S. between 1968 and 1977. Founded in Los Angeles in 1967 by musicians who had a mixture of rock, pop, folk, blues, classical, and jazz backgrounds, and who ranged in age from 16 to 44, the group had an eclectic musical style in keeping with the early days of progressive rock…

Behind this superb Art Nouveau artwork sleeve is hiding one of the true, hidden and forgotten gems of Canada. To achieve this kind of perfection as a first try, back in the late 60's is simply astounding (the only had a few singles beforehand). Bill Henderson and Claire Lawrence (the main core of the group) make a fantastic songwriting partnership that will last a few albums. All this sounds very seventies-like, but the sound is clearly that from a sixties beat-band/psychedelic-band on fire. Perhaps a bit like the Beatles, some Doors. Recommended to every-one interested in psychedelic rock, early progressive rock and the development of the genre itself.

One of the relatively few New York psychedelic groups to achieve national recognition, Autosalvage's day in the limelight was fairly dim and brief. The band included bassist Skip Boone, the brother of Lovin' Spoonful bassist Steve Boone, and Rick Turner, who contributed guitar to most of the tracks on Ian & Sylvia's 1966 album Play One More. Autosalvage's self-titled 1968 album revealed a fairly large palette, with touches of folk, blues, and strings. The group's cheerful harmonies owed a bit to the Lovin' Spoonful, and Frank Zappa (perhaps impressed by their sometimes-disjointed and improvisational material) was a fan, but their material was not strong enough to forge a distinctive identity. Boone and drummer Darius Davenport also appear on the obscure 1968 album by Bear, but otherwise Autosalvage's debut was also their curtain call.

Please were a late-period UK psych outfit, better-known for the bands their members went on to join, notably Peter Dunton, who was playing in T2 within a year of this material's recording. The difference between the two bands is startling; Please have a sound that really predates their era, being more early than late psych, with much Farfisa, whereas T2 were definitely proto-prog.
Should appeal to fans of early Pink Floyd, Tomorrow, The Move, Yes, Syd Barrett and The Doors.

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to release a deluxe 2CD edition of The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown. The Psychedelic Rock classic burst forth in 1968, topping the albums charts on both sides of the Atlantic and spawning the hit single Fire. The rock world discovered the delights of rocks supreme showman Arthur Brown and his influence would be felt the following decade when Alice Cooper acknowledged his debt to Arthur's genius. Produced by Who manager Kit Lambert and Who guitarist Pete Townshend, this classic album has been re-mastered and expanded to a two disc edition by the inclusion of rare single tracks, a BBC Radio One session from April 1968, alternate Mono mixes from the album sessions, and a version of Nightmare from the 1968 film, The Committee. Lavishly packaged in a slipcase with an extensively illustrated booklet with new essay, this is the ultimate edition of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.

Compared to the Move's long-gestating 1968 eponymous debut, their 1970 sophomore effort Shazam is unified. It was not culled from sessions from a period of 14 months but instead largely made at one time… but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's any easier to get a handle on the album. The Move changed greatly in the period between their first albums, with original bassist Chris "Ace" Kefford leaving in a cloud of acid in 1968. In his absence, rhythm guitarist Trevor Burton jumped over to bass, beginning an odd period where the group was cutting songs, most penned by Roy Wood but a few written by David Morgan, a fellow Birmingham-based songwriter signed to the publishing company of Move lead singer Carl Wayne…