Early 70's Underground Heavy Metal

SAHB Healer wrote:

Yeah, it's good. But it's almost too proggy even for me.

Hmmm....not so much proggy but it wanders off the beaten path a few times (which may be proggy) but even then the guitar violence still claws at your ears.

Really Doorsy as well when that band gets loud but particuarly through the vocals which evoke Jim.

How's that electric violin?

This was no doubt an at times violent noise experiment that i'd say isn't to far off the repel of L.A. Blues.

Don't get me wrong, I like them. But the first two songs each begin with a nasty riff, which they promply forget about for most of the song. In my world under-used riffs aren't just a tragedy, but will become a prosecutable offense once I'm elected King. :king: Granted there is enough going on to keep the songs enjoyable, but I just get frustrated with High Tide sometimes. Especially the S/t album. I've always felt that these guys were smoking Hash in the studio. A mixed blessing, but worth the effort of listening to.

Bump the la la.......

This thread is great alot of bands I never heard, others I have but never checked out or were afaird they would suck.

On the other hand I also hate this thread because my never ending want list got longer, thanks for the discovery gentlemen, my wife of course does not extend her thanks since I have already spent millions on my music collection.

Fantastic thread!!!!

I'm listening to a little lost "gem" bootleg right now:

Mythology - Live At The Queens Hotel - 7/13/1968

Chris Smith - Vocals
Tony Iommi - Guitar
Neil Marshall - Bass
Bill Ward - Drums

Oh, man. I finally found you guys. You are the guys. And, I finally found you. I knew you had to exist and that I couldn't be the only one around. I remember being at a party about fifteen years ago and me and my buddy overheard a dude talking to another dude about the Sabbath album, Sabotage. I said, hey, we love that frikkin thing. Told 'em that we weren't aware that other fans existed. And then, the frikkin guy says, "Oh, there are others." It was said with a comedic timing and gravitas that it has us bellowing with laughter. The line has now become a catchphrase between me and my buddy. This 'happening' was just prior to the original lineup of the Sabbath reuniting and we all know how that reuniting sparked a major re-interest in the group amongst the last two or three generations of fans. Is there really three generations now? I was never clear on how many years in a gen.

Now, that's back when I was only into a surface layer sampling of Heavy Metal, and things like Zep, Sab and a tad of Deep Purple were the total sum extent of my homework on the subject. Now it's become somewhat of a sizable obsession of mine and I've plunge ballz deep into the entire history of Heavy Metal. 'Old School' is not some sorta casual descriptive or some trendy nomenclature used to label my favourite brand of music, it's a total way of frikkin life, ming....

Alright, this is somewhat of an overstatement. I was never one to wear the clothes or the pins and the patches and whatnot. I actually don't look like yer run o' the mill dirtbag in the least. Well, on occasion. lol. But, I'm certainly one in the dark recesses of my mind, lol. When Molly Ringwald asked Judd Nelson about his Heavy Metal Puke Parties in the movie, 'Breakfast Club', I wondered if such things really existed, and whether I'd be asked to attend any of them the following year. I haven't wore a denim, or a flannel since in between Karate Kid 2 and 3. So, I got some decent mileage on me.

So, fast forward to the present day and time and I've still retained my childhood fascination with all things Metal. But, I wasn't really that into the stuff back in the day. This, I find out recently, was primarily due to the fact that the 80's were tragically corny. There really wasn't much material during that era which could honestly qualify as Heavy Metal. Most of it was corn-ball Glam Pop Music that the suits passed off to the young 'uns as Metal. Schitt, even nowadays, they play those Glam bands on VH1 Classic and try to call it Metal. I want to kick in my frikkin television when they do. There's gotta be some true fans out there who must call the station and set thosse moronic staffers straight on what is REAL Heavy Metal. C'mon now.

Alright, I wasted too much of your time already. I'm just ecstatic that like-minded rock fans like ya'll exist. I'll give ya the lowdown. I dig mostly Thrash Metal, old and new. The big names and some of the smaller groups. At the moment I'm gaga over Exodus and Onslaught. I'm also bigtime down with some of the new and classic Death Metal bands and some Black stuff too. Right now I'm gaga over Death and Atheist, as well as Gojira and Intronaut. The progressive thing I'm heavily into, but not in the form of the plethora of DT clones. If it's progressive it's got to be done with an Avant Garde or Jazz-Fusion edge to it, like in the case of Baroness and Giant Squid. LOVE these two bands in a big fat juicy way. Oh, man, and I love the technical, Fusion-based bands who'll spin your flarkin head. Bands like Spiral Architect, Aghora, Spastic Ink and Zero Hour. Holy shnikes, ming. The only really popular, modern bands that I listen to are Mastodon and Lamb.

AT present, I'm bigtime into the history of Heavy Metal. Old School Metal is my meal ticket de jour. And, it really don't matter nutin' how heavy or mellow the band, or album in question is. Just as long as it's of a high quality, both writing and playing. A lot of my favourite stuff is music which could just as easily be labeled Heavy Prog. Right now I'm concerned with primarily the first half of the 1970's, but I'm also giving attention to the NWOBHM as well. I basically joined this site because of two things which happened in quick succession. I heard the High Tide - Sea Shanties recording from 1969 that someone posted, and I also heard the title, Goliath - Hot Rock and Thunder mentioned in the body of this thread. I love that frikkin' thing. lol. You guys have mentioned a bunch of great titles thus far, but I'm sure that we're still missing many. I sure hope so. I don't want the party to be over as soon as I get here.

Tell me if everyone's already familiar with this partial roster of greatness:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=233731864
Asgard - In The Realm of Asgard
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=80278420
Trapeze - Medusa
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=185531640
Goliath - Hot Rock and Thunder
http://www.myspace.com/therealhightide
High Tide - Sea Shanties
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=256650626
Armageddon - s/t 1975

I'm listening to this right now:

Trapeze - Medusa (1970)



Like a metal-ized version of Free. Glenn Hughes, Mel Galley & Dave Holland. What's not to like?

By the way, welcome to the board Marc...you'll fit right in.

Thanks for the welcome, detuned. Great tag, by the way. I was thinking of using 'Obscure Dropped A: A-E-A-d-f-b Tuning' as my name, but thank God I didn't. lol. That Trapeze title with Hughes is sweet. The Free that you mentioned is also sweet. Like I said in my lenghty manifesto, I don't really see in terms of what's Metal, or what happens to be a direct decendant of this or that brand of Metal. Well, maybe I see in those terms, but I don't care. I'm not a one-dimensional cat who thrives on the Meh-tal, and only the Meh-tal.

I'm interested in understanding it all in an organized context, sure. This reminds me of that Metalhead sociologist who did the documentary, 'Metal: A Headbanger's Journey'. Guy did a good job. Although, I would have liked it to be even more academic than it was. I heard that the DVD was more detailed. But, Metal is not the only genre I'm interested in. Love the early Prog Rock thing as well. And, both genres happen to meet in a lot of this stuff from the early 70's. Also getting into the Heavy Blues-Rock thing which is evident in Paul Rogers' Free and the Coverdale/Hughes era of Deep Purple. I can't believe that I overlooked all of that stuff years ago.

I guess the problem is that I've polished off all the big name acts already a while back. So, now I'm digging deeper into the vaults. There might not be a heckuva lot more in the way of great rock 'bands' left, but there certainly are many more great 'albums' to uncover. As I'm only now discovering, there were plenty of great recordings done by bands who themselves weren't that great....or, at least, not that consistent. Like, at the moment, I'm diggin' hard on Atomic Rooster's Death Walks Behind You and Rare Bird's Epic Forest. Not too into the rest of these bands' catalogs, but these two releases sure were outstanding. Rooster's 'DWBY' is definitely something we should be discussing here. What a monster recording. And, just as important as Zep and Sabbath in the formation of Metal.

Welcome to the board MM.......yes it is exciting digging through all this stuff and discovering some lost classics.......i assume your down with the mighty Buffalo, if not a band you have to get a hold of.

Any suggestions, people?

What else am I missing from the formative years?

I got a question fer ya'll. I got mp3s for the unreleased Supernaut album, circa 1974....Is this schitt for real or what, son? I would like to believe that the sub-genre of Doom got it's start way back this early on in the game...But something just doesn't ring true 'bout it. Since it's in a rough demo form, I'm having issues with authenticity.

First off, the music truly sucks, and is flat out uninspired. It sounds like kids who have just got their instruments about 6 months ago. But, that's really irrelevant in the scheme in things. The significance of this project would be in this band's ability to take Sabbath's Doom leanings and use it to further develop the sub-genre of Doom. If this project was truly conceived by some burgeoning band, circa 1974, then that band would be extremely forward thinking. But, I can't tell if it's actually what it says it is, and not just some group of 10 graders making a terrible noise in their parents basement during the Summer of '07. lol. Give me your insights on Supernaut.

I've heard of that Supernaut your talking about (There was also a great 70's Australian Glam/Punk/Hard Rock band called Supernaut).......there seems to be an obsession from people to try and dig up something as heavy as Sabbath from the early 70's so that's why you see all these sub par releases collected from demo's and supposed unreleased albums, there are another two bands like Supernaut (UK) that didn't release any thing back in the day but have had comps released in the 00's.....Wicked Lady and Iron Claw, who are certainly heavy and doomy but are mostly poor quality sound and song wise. Pentagram comes to mind with this sort of thing as well.

If you want some legitimately great records that have good songs and playing and that are actually heavy you should try if you haven't already.......

Buffalo - Volcanic Rock (1973)
Buffalo - Only Want You For Your Body (1974)
Jerusalem - S/T (1972)
Night Sun - Mournin' (1972)

Thanks for the heads up with these titles, mate. So, you think that this Supernaut demo is something which is probably authentic and not some modern tape made up to sound like a vintage demo? I believe that I heard that this band was almost picked up by Sabbath's first label, but that they were perceived as being 'too heavy' for the time. The recording actually does sound somewhat out of step with with the era. That's why I even contested the issue. And, boy do they suck outright, huh? lol. Friggin' completely uninventive. Sounds like how me and my buddy sounded like when we just turned 16 and just received our first instruments.

I think folks give a lot of undue credit to Sabbath because, in general, folks are one-dimensional in their appraisal of history. They only know a few names in relation to each subject, and they regurgitate these names over and over, ad infinitum. Budige is one of those bands who doesn't receive enough credit for their overall contribution. They are hugely responsible for that rapid-fire, staccato rhythm playing associated with various forms of Metal. Gotta thank Metallica for familiarizing us with a number of Budgie tracks from the early 70's, like Breadfan and Crash Course In Brain Surgery. Budgie were really something else, weren't they?

And, hows abouts Jefro Tull? I love that frikkin outfit. I'm now familar with their entire 70's catalog. The titles are so alluring that one of 'em is just never enough. One just naturally leads to the next. Please don't forget 'bout the Tull...not now, not never. What a highly nuanced group with a great guitar player who was inevitably forced aside in favor of the man with the flute. The Tull titles, Benefit and Aqualung, were probably amongst the most influential Tull recordings in the realm of Heavy Metal....really, Thick as a Brick as well. That thing is a frikkin masterpiece. In every sense of the word. There's plenty of musical acuity packed into a very small area on both of these two releases. Who's got either or both or all three of these Tull titltes?

Major Tull Fanatic here. I have the following (either on CD or LP):

This Was
Stand Up
Benefit
Aqualung
Thick As A Brick
Living In The Past
A Passion Play
Minstrel In The Gallery
Songs From The Wood
Heavy Horses
Stormwatch
Crest Of A Knave
Roots To Branches

The only albums from the 70s I don't like are Too Old To Rock N Roll and Warchild...but there are songs on each album that I do like, they're just not up to the standard of the other material.

I saw them in the late 90s, one of the best concerts I've ever attended.

Edit: regarding "the man with the flute", it's easy to forget that Anderson plays the majority of the acoustic guitar parts on their albums.

Oh, we'll get along just fine, detuned. You are a man of highly refined and cultured tastes! lol. Most people just don't understand how great the music of JT really was. And, I like it that way. If everyone just 'got it', how simply ordinary everything would be.

For a long while, I didn't really care for 'A Passion Play'. And, this mostly stemmed from my early acquisition of that JT's late entry - Nightcap. I quickly became accustomed to, and completely enamored with, IA's original vision for the APP suite. I still happen to care for the original version slightly more than the released work. The margin of disparity was once much greater. Now it's just a lil' ol' margin off to the side. Plus, the remastering which was done for this suite has made the sting arrangements just frikkin POP out of your speakers. So much richer, but at the expense of a little muffling on the vocals. Now I absolutely love the album.

So, what in the world kept you from, uh, War Child all this time? The British remaster is a real humdinger, eh, mate. This title, like Broadsword, offers the longtime fan almost another whole album's worth of material from the same sessions, or those close in temporal proximity. See, I've never know this title to be anything other than a 17 track collection. So, with that much material at your disposal, it's rather easy to assemble a substantial 9 or 10 song album. And, that's the way it should have been released. Get rid of the bulk of the fluff, bring in the better pieces which were shelved for no good reason. In fact, since the last two Tull releases were so damn convoluted, they could have made this collection into a 'singles' collection. In that case, you must bring in songs like Rainbow Blues, Paradise Steakhouse and Glory Row into the fold, and release a few singles along with the album...including Skating Away and Bungle. Would have been quite the popular little album if this choice was made for it. But, regardless, this album is a must for the Tull fan. 'Too Old', not so much lol.

Whadaya'll think of some of these bands who are doing the retro-early 70's thing? I think some of the better known acts do it quite convincingly. Got to go on record as saying that I'm in love with Witchcraft. What sounds like it could be nothing more than sheer novelty on the debut release, quickly morphs into something with at least some degree of widescale potential. I love all three of their releases. But, the most recent, The Alchemist, definitely had the songs to compete with a Wolfmother. Some folks have got it out for the Wolf, but their ok with me. Plus, Witchcraft sounds nothing like Motherwolf. Witchcraft began life as a Pentragram tribute band. That's probably why they got the authenticity thing going for them. Another one who got their start in the manner is Graveyard. But, Witchcraft is way better. Another new edition to the scene is Blood Cermemony. Tney got an early Jethro Tull meets Pentagram meets Sabbath thing going on for them. Sounds really dark, and, sadly, kitschy sometimes. You can picture some of the parts being the supporting soundtrack to a 1971 Vampire flick. All in good fun though. Anybody else who's doing the retro thing very well?

Oh, snap, nizza. I'm listening to Atomic Rooster's Death Walks Behind You as I type this line. What kinda 'outside of the box' thinking led to this monstrosity of early metalic goodness? More folks gotta get this title. What a strange 'un. Almost every track is awesome. Truth. This recording happens to fit into that whole 'roots of metal' mold that's the focus of this thread. I had Tull's Benefit on before and that thing fits the mold as well. But, there's just so many other excellent recordings from that 69/70/71 period. The first Chicago recording is outlandishly good, and nothing like their latter works. The one and only Blind Faith album. How about Epic Forest by Rare Bird? Anyone down with that?

Atomic Rooster are brilliant......Rare Bird are a bit too Wishbone Ash/Procal Harum for me.

One band you gotta check out is a Japanese band from the early 70's called the Flower Travellin' Band, the most out there band of that early 70's heavy sound, this will f*ck with your head.......




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrzVN5HDo-o

The first known Black Sabbath cover ever in 1970!......

Wow, Sabbath were already covered in their very first year of existence. That's crazy, yo. You're talking about not having any love for the Rare Bird, but their 'Epic Forest' recording is super-tight. Same can be said for Wishbone Ash's prog-rock masterpiece, Argus. Never got into Procol Harum though. I think that they're consistently more mellow. I just like really busy music. Doesn't need to have that kinda real sludgy guitar which is prevalent in many of these bands that we're talking about...but it sure helps. lol.

Here's a Leaf Hound cover by the mighty Unida.

I got a trio of bands for ya, detuned. Alright, much respect must be given to Leslie West and his early 70's outfit, Mountain. The first two Mountain releases, Nantucket Sleighride and Climbing!, both have to be cited for certainly bringing early doses of The Heavy. Really solid efforts too. I give much spinage to both of these recordings. A real, power trio from Long Island, NY. Two great albums, Classic Rock radio plays one crumby song, Mississippi Queen.

Then, ya got a quite ludicrous outfit, named Uriah Heep. There's some really decent UH songs, but, ya also got some really tasteless, overboard stuff as well. If there was one specific band that The Darkness was spoofing with their act, it definitely was Uriah Heep..whether they knew it or not. Yet, they still got two more than respectable titles in their catalog, The Magician's Birthday and Demons & Wizards. Two great albums, Classic Rock radio plays one crumby song, Easy Livin'.

This last band we might butt heads on. I havta tell ya that at first, I truly believed these guys to be a fictional band who spoofed those kinda overblown, pompous Kokk Rokk groups, ten years before they really rose to prominence. I heard a Frank Zappa tune called, Punky's Whips, which spoke of a flamboyant rock star with perfect hair, named Punky Meadows. I thought it all was a joke. Turns out, that joke breathes oxygen. When I was first told that the band, and the guitarist, were real entities, I still had a laugh at 'em. But, then, someone on the net says, "Based on your taste in music, I bet you'll actually like them. Let me send ya a copy." So, he does...and I do. I love these buncha quiffs, named ANGEL. At least, the first album. The debut effort is tight, son. I actually have the follow-up too, Helluva Band, and it's not half the recording. But, I wanna know if any of all ya'll dig the debut Angel outing. Good stuff, mate.

Saw Ken Hensley (ex-Uriah Heep) live here in Norway last summer. That was a blast!

I like all of the three bands that you mentioned, Marc. Uriah Heep early material is excellent and they had good run with their self titled debut, Salisbury, Look At Yourself, The Magician's Birthday, and Demons and Wizards, all done between 1970 til 1973 I believe, very impressive output for a three year period.

Mountain of course was a great band, Leslie West one of the fattest ( no pun intended) and distinct guitar tones and with Cream producer on bass and co song writing duties Felix Pappalardi put out some classic early proto type metal and West was huge influence on one Randy Rhoads

Angel very good band that never got their due, Marc I think that the debut album and the follow up 'Helluva Band' might be all you like, as their career moved further away from their prog roots into a more commerical vein, IMO still has very good stuff but you have mentioned your disdain for anything to mainstream so approach with caution albums such as 'Whitehot' and 'Sinful'. I personally like them but very little in common with their self titled album.

Angel, and that flamboyant porkrind of a guitarplayer, Punky Meadows, both deserve some glory after all these years. Although, I do think that the Punkster will opt out for a nice restroom gloryhole instead. The dang first Angel outing is sweet, son. The lead-off track, The Tower, sounds like something which might appear on Rainbow's Rising LP. Right, playa? It's awesome, regardless of how Fruit-flavored their outfits were.

What's Detuned got to say about Uriah, Mountain and Angel? Maybe he got some word on Blue Cheer. I hear that they're a significant piece of the Metal puzzle, but I haven't heard anything from 'em.

And, what about Budgie? Great band. Probably like a bunch of other folks, I discovered this band through Metallica's cover tunes of Crash Course and Breadfan. I actually got my hands on Diamond Head this way too. Metallica sure had plenty of great early influences. I'm familiar with only a couple of the Budgie efforts. Never Turn Your Back on a Friend and In For The Kill. Great collections. And, I have the single disc 'Best Of', so I know pretty much all their best known tracks. There's a promo video out there for 'Breadfan' and man did that band cook. It's hard to believe that they existed contemporaneous to Zeppelin, Sabbath and Gentle Giant. They definitely have to be the earliest known ancestor for Thrash Metal. I'll eventually have to check out more of their discog.