Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
Luv Machine
Turns You On!
(Rise Above Relics, 1971)
Unearthed! Thirty-five year-old heavy booty! From the Caribbean!
Let’s be honest, Barbados is not renowned as a hotbed of psychedelic hard rock. Hence, in 1968 guitarist/frontman Michael Bishop and drummer Errol Bradshaw swapped Caribbean climes for the decidedly more gloomy environs of Wolverhampton where they formed the awfully named Luv Machine. Grafting their way to equal billing with the likes of Elton John and Uriah Heep at London’s Marquee, they secured a deal with Polydor, recording this sole effort before splitting on the eve of its release in January ’71. Virtually non-existent sales of the album followed (unaided as it was by the one of the worst album sleeves of all-time – an un-PC depiction of a lady’s legs akimbo, grafted on to a record player), resulting in an LP that has long been the sole preserve of those flush enough to shell out in excess of 250 pounds for a copy.
Three years ago, however, the album itself was repackaged (thankfully in a different sleeve) and reissued by Rise Above Relics – the retro imprint set up by Cathedral frontman Lee Dorrian. An avid record collector himself, Dorrian’s desire to see this album back in print is down to the fact that, for all its post-Hendrix, soulful hard rock charm, this 12-tracker boasts the kind of neo-punk-oid appeal that animates the most enduring work of ‘70s stalwarts like The Groundhogs and The Edgar Broughton Band. If the likes of the Sabbath-gone-soul groove of Witches Wand, the psychedelic jumble of It’s Amazing and the sneering Portrait In Disgust anchor the band’s weightier credentials, the Traffic-type balladry of Reminiscing is clearly a stab at a single that never was. The album’s highlight however is the Staples Singers-on-steroids groove of Happy Children – a track that almost single-handedly makes this album worth the price of admission and which will have fans of MOJO’s Heavy Nuggets compilation flapping their flares in unbridled approbation.
Phil Alexander
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 18/02/2009
Further Listening
Cream – Disreali Gears (Reaction, 1967)
The Groundhogs – Split (Liberty, 1971)
Possessed – Exploration (Rise Above Relics, 2006)
Previous Disc of the day
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Earl Brutus - Larky
Last salvo of Ginsters Pasty-Warholism from Britpop ramraiders.
12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
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Loudon Wainwright - T-Shirt
An overlooked small wonder from an unpredictable career.
6:00 AM GMT 03/06/2011
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Landscape - From The Tea-rooms Of Mars… To The Hell-holes Of Uranus
Dry computer club Futurists, upon hitting implausible chart paydirt.
6:00 AM GMT 17/05/2011
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Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol 1-3
Epic Danish jams, for when the neighbours get you down.
6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2011
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