Oldish Psych and Prog

Style: hard
Country: uk
Audio: mp3 (256k)
Size: 76mb

Chapman and Whitney recorded the first Streetwalkers album after Family's farewell tour in 1973 with help from ex-Jeff Beck Group guitarist Bob Tench, members of King Crimson, Linda Lewis and another former Family member John Wetton. At this stage Streetwalkers were a loose knit collection of individuals not a group in the real sense at all. After Chapman's work with Family the album was a real anti-climax.

For the Downtown Flyers album Chapman and Whitney assembled a more stable line-up (B). John Plotel was previously with Casablanca. The album veered towards R&B and soul and Chapman's vocal style was much more mainstream than what he'd been doing with Family. Their most successful album commercially, though, was Red Card, which got to No 16 in the UK Album Charts. The group were popular on the Continent too, particularly in Germany. Their final 45 'A' side, Daddy Rolling Stone was a Derek Martin R&B track.

Internal friction ripped line-up (B) apart and line-up (C) recorded their remaining two albums to increasing public indifference. Inevitably, though Roger Chapman, a man of considerable talent, went on to make solo albums and he appeared in TV commercials. McBrain later worked for Pat Travers and was then in Iron Maiden. Tench and Feat worked for Van Morrison and Johnson and Dowle were in David Coverdale's Whitesnake.

This near-classic outing from the underground R&B/rock supergroup that was propelled Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney from Family, and future Iron Maiden drummer NIcko McBain features 9 cuts including the rare bonus track, "Hole In Your Pocket."

 

 

Style: garage, beat
Country: us
Audio: mp3 (256k)
Size: 121mb incl. covers

Fuzz Acid & Flowers:
Question Mark (Rudy Martinez) was born in 1945 and raised in Saginaw, Michigan. The band of Mexican/Americans were initially based in Corpus Christi, hence their inclusion here, although they were based for much of their career in Flint, Michigan, where they issued 96 Tears on their own label before it was picked up by Neil Bogart for release on Cameo. A relentless 'punk' two note organ sound ran throughout the record which quickly became a classic of its genre making No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 37 in the UK. They enjoyed some subsequent chart success but were never quite able to recapture the magic of 96 Tears or shake off the 'one hit wonder' tag, although it wasn't quite true. Robert Martinez and Larry Borjas were also original members of the band but they were in the U.S. Army when the first album was recorded.

Splitting in 1968, Martinez has made various attempted reformations. A 45 was issued in 1973 and new demos were recorded with Kim Fowley in 1978. They also played a reunion concert at the Dallas Arcadia in early 1985 and have continued to perform into the nineties. The Michigan band Inflight included ex-members of The Mysterians.

Mel Schaefer would later form Grand Funk Railroad.

The band have also appeared on a few compilations. Make You Mine was included on Pebbles, Vol. 8, Smokes on The Sound Of The Sixties; Do Something To Me on Michigan Brand Nuggets and Mindrocker, Vol. 11; 96 Tears on Mayhem & Psychosis Vol.3, Girl (You Captivate Me) on Songs We Taught The Fuzztones; Can't Get Enough Of You Baby on Michigan Nuggets (a '70s 2-LP set now reissued on CD), and Hang In on Everything You Ever Wanted To Know... CD. They were also included on the much earlier compilation The Stars Of Hitsville (Wyncote 9187).
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Rocky Rossi - sax, flute
Roby Grablovits - guitar, flute
Luigi Ventura - bass, trombone
Rubino Calasante - drums, double bass
 

 

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