The Fat Angel Sings

Kaleidoscope (originally the Kaleidoscope) was an American psychedelic folk group who recorded four albums and several singles for Epic Records between 1966 and 1970. The band membership included David Lindley who has been a performing musician with Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and others, who later released numerous solo albums and won additional renown as a multi-instrumentalist session musician, and Chris Darrow who later performed and recorded with a number of groups including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.  The first single, “Please”, was released in December 1966. It was produced by Barry Friedman, as was their first album “Side Trips”, released in May 1967. The album showcased the group’s musical diversity and studio experimentation. It included Feldthouse’s “Egyptian Gardens”, Darrow’s “Keep Your Mind Open”, and versions of Cab Calloway’s “Minnie the Moocher” and Dock Boggs’ “Oh Death”.

Between them, the group played a huge collection of stringed instruments in such psychedelic songs as “Egyptian Gardens” and “Pulsating Dream.” They played fusions of Middle-Eastern music with rock in longer pieces such as “Taxim,” which they performed at numerous venues including the Berkeley Folk Festival on July 4, 1967, and the Newport Folk Festival and the Family Dog at The Avalon Ballroom (San Francisco) in 1968. Live, band numbers were sometimes interspersed by solo instrumental turns from Feldthouse or Lindley, and occasionally Feldthouse brought belly dancers or flamenco dancers on stage.

The band performed many different styles, including rock, blues, folk, jazz, Middle-Eastern and also featured music by Calloway and Duke Ellington in their repertoire.

Several of their 45s were pretty good. One of the best, “Nobody,” was a most unusual fusion of R&B and psychedelia that found the group backing veteran rock and blues greats Larry Williams and Johnny “Guitar” Watson.#

The band’s second album “A Beacon from Mars” was released in November 1967, to generally good reviews but poor sales. The album was a mix of Middle-Eastern, country, folk and rock musical styles. The title track, inspired by a Howlin’ Wolf musical riff originally in his song “Smokestack Lightning”, was recorded live in the studio, and featured a long psychedelic electric guitar solo by Lindley, which later caused Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page to refer to Kaleidoscope as his “favourite band of all time.” 

In live performances of the tune, Lindley used a violin bow on his electric guitar, probably influencing Page to use the same effect later. Another live “no overdubs” track on the album was “Taxim,” with solos from Lindley on a “harp guitar” and Felthouse, who played oud and saz on the lengthy cut.

The band recorded their third album, “Incredible! Kaleidoscope”, in 1968. It featured “Seven-Ate Sweet”, a long progressive instrumental piece in 7/8 time signature which they had been playing live since the early days of the group.

Kaleidoscope’s fourth and final album from their Epic Records era, “Bernice”, featured more electric guitar work than the earlier albums, and more country influence.

Kaleidoscope contributed two new songs (“Brother Mary” and “Mickey’s Tune”) to Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Zabriskie Point” The band split up soon afterwards.

One of the most revered, reviled and talked about records in all Australian music history “(I’m) Stranded”, by The Saints, finally gets the vinyl box set treatment.

A joint collaboration between long standing L.A garage label In The Red, Universal Music Australia and spearheaded by Feel Presents and Saints founder Ed Kuepper, the deluxe edition of “(I’m) Stranded” will feature 4 x vinyl long players covering all the band’s studio and live recordings from 1976 thru 1977 and includes;

• The iconic debut album remastered for vinyl for the first time in over 40 years.
• A five-song live performance from Paddington Town Hall Sydney 3.4.1977 appearing on vinyl for the first time.
• A full live performance from the Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival, London November 1977 appearing on vinyl for the first time.
• All three tracks from the 1977 “This Perfect Day” 12” single and all four tracks from the 1977 “1-2-3-4” double 7” single.
• The previously unreleased 1976 demo mix of the full “(I’m) Stranded” album.
• In addition to all that vinyl “(I’m) Stranded” deluxe edition will also features a 28 page 12” x 12” photo essay of the band covering their origins from 1973 through the end of of ’77, authorised band history, an 8” x 10” 1976 promo photo and a “(I’m) Stranded” sticker.

“It’s been an exhausting yet thrilling process being involved in the creation of this box set. It’s been 51 years in the making and has possibly turned out even better  than I anticipated. It’s by far the most extensive appraisal of the band, both aurally and visually, that has ever been made available and hopefully reveals some things people may not have known about the band.” – Ed Kuepper

Linking music and literature, building a bridge between the written and the sung–only the greats have managed to do this in the past. Leonard Cohen, Scott Walker, and Patti Smith were just some of the shining stars that Anna B Savage orientated herself towards as a teenager.
Born on the anniversary of Bach’s death, the young musician spent her birthday every year in the Green Room of the Royal Albert Hall watching her parents perform compositions by the grand master.
That shaped her.

Today, thanks to albums such as her debut, “A Common Turn” (2021), and the incredibly sensual art-pop opus “in|FLUX” (2023), the singer-songwriter is one of the truly exceptional talents on the British independent scene.
In her music, otherworldly vocals nestle up against chamber orchestral compositions, delicate arrangements rise up and blow away, and the musician’s highly eclectic sound grows song by song into an experience that lingers for days and weeks.
Potentially life-changing. A sense of rootedness is at the heart of Anna B Savage’s third record “You and I are Earth“, a record that is as much about healing as it is an unbowed sense of curiosity, and, more imply, “a love letter to a man and to Ireland.”

Following on from her critically acclaimed records “A Common Turn” and in “FLUX”, “You and I are Earth” manages to convey a sense of intimacy, while also being open-ended. Gentleness is as radiant a touchstone on the record as earthiness, something that Savage attributes to the place she finds herself at present, both geographically and emotionally. And quite literally the record bears witness to a particular piece of earth-Ireland, and Savage’s relationship to it as her new home.

Ethel Cain has unveiled the first single off her new project “Perverts”,  Cain has said that the follow-up to 2022’s great “Preacher’s Daughter“, 

“Perverts”, is on the way, due out on January 8th via Daughters of Cain, and we now have a few more details about the project. It’s 90 minutes long and takes inspiration from drone, noise, slowcore, ambient and beyond. Ethel wrote and produced it over the past year between Coraopolis, PA and Tallahassee, FL, and she wrote a piece about it, “The Consequence of Audience,” .

Sharing the first single from “Perverts”, the haunting track “Punish,” Of the song, she says, “I wonder how deep shame can run, and how unforgivable an act could be that I may still justify it in some bent way to make carrying it more bearable.

Would I tell myself it’s not my fault and I couldn’t help myself? Would anyone truly believe that? Would I?”

Fontaines D.C. have shared the video for “Bug,” one of the many highlights from this year’s superb album release “Romance”. It was directed by Academy Award winner Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Fish Tank, Cow), stars Academy Award nominee Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin, Saltburn), and is comprised of footage from the new film Bird, which also stars Fontaines D.C.’s Carlos O’Connell.

“Andrea Arnold was kind enough to cut up a sequence to our tune ‘Bug; featuring Barry Keoghan playing the character Bug in her new movie Bird,” says Carlos. “Bug’s a song that happened quickly and convinced everyone quicker. In my eyes, the character Bug, the tattoo ‘Bug’s Life,’ Andrea’s essential & romantic worlds, and the line ‘Changed my name to “Promise you, Yea”’; when put all together make convincing needless & conviction undeniable.

Big thanks to Andrea Arnold for letting us in so close to her visionary universe. She’ll be remembered how we remember Bacon or Goya.”

“Bug” video below, and Bird is out Friday, November 8th via MUBI.

Manchester greats Doves announced their sixth album, “Constellations For The Lonely“, today and shared its first single. Doves return with their first new music in over four years and announce a new album for release in early 2025, reclaiming territory all their own with the stormy euphoria of “Renegade”.

Jimi Goodwin, Andy and Jez Williams’ winding path to a sixth album reaches that milestone next year, after joining EMI North.

“Renegade” is a retrospective glimpse into Manchester’s future – a dystopian vision born from uncertain times. It’s entirely imaginary, yet somehow deeply familiar.

Doves return with their first new music in over four years and announce a new album for release in early 2025. Jimi Goodwin, Andy and Jez Williams’ winding path to a sixth album reaches that milestone with the 10-Track “Constellations For The Lonely”.

Doves forthcoming album “Constellations For The Lonely”:

Cincinnati indie rock vets Wussy will release their first album in six years in just a couple weeks. Here’s another early taste with “Inhaler” that has just the right amount of twang. Wussy are an American five-piece fronted by songwriters Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker & backed by Mark Messerly, Joe Klug & John Erhardt. Bridging the gap between The Band & Sonic Youth, Wussy continue in the tradition of bands with multiple writers & singers. Cleaver and Walker offer radically different perspectives that blend in seamless fashion – usually blanketed inside layers of noise

This is the third single from Wussy’s new album “CINCINNATI OHIO” – out November 15th, 2024 on Shake It Records.

Wussy are : Chuck Cleaver – guitar, vocals Lisa Walker – guitar, vocals Mark Messerly – bass Joe Klug – drums, percussion, synth, the band leans heavily into its penchant for cinematic Americana landscapes, drawing stylistic inspiration from influences such as Calexico, Mazzy Star, R.E.M., Sun Volt, and the Mekons (whose Jon Langford painted the album’s cover art). This Midwestern wall-of-sound method clearly works for Wussy, 

Wussy are back with their first LP in six years. The aptly titled “Cincinnati Ohio” – out NOVEMBER 15th on Shake It Records 

British collective Honesty hail from Leeds and were started by George Mitchell, who fronted post-punk band Eagulls in the 2010s and the early days of the pandemic. The rest of the four-member core of the group is rounded out Matt Peel, Josh Lewis and Imi Marston but also includes contributions from Kosi Tydes, Softlizard, Rarelyalways, Dry Cleaning‘s Florence Shaw, and Liam Bailey.

Now signed to Partisan Records (which was also Eagulls’ label), Honesty will release their debut album, “U R Here“, in February 2025.

While there is a post-punk undercurrent to their music, HONESTY draw from a much bigger well of influences, including a variety of electronic/dance (trip-hop, IDM, techno, dubstep) and  shoegaze. New single “Tormentor”its woozy sub-bass and breathy vocals by Marston. It’s not all chill, though, as it rips into cinematic technicolour for the chorus.

from the EP “Where R U” out now on Partisan Records:

The Vanilla Fudge were a heavy psych influenced band which specialised in taking well known songs and totally rearranging them.  known predominantly for their slow extended heavy rock arrangements of contemporary hit songs, such as their hit cover of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”. This version featured Stein’s psychedelic-baroque organ intro and Appice’s energetic drumming.  The Fudge version begins with a single organ note that appears to be struggling to hold its pitch against unseen forces. Gradually, the note is joined by other notes as you begin to wonder whether it may be some musical code trying to tell you something – a bit like that sequence in Close Encounters . In what sounds like the noise of a drumstick splintering against a hi-hat jolts your senses, and suddenly you’re engulfed in a clattering musical cacophony that finally erupts into the classic “You Keep Me Hangin On” riff. Except that it’s played at a quarter of the speed and with a fearsome, heavyweight, pile-driving intensity. 

The band’s original line–up was vocalist/organist Mark Stein, bassist/vocalist Tim Bogert, guitarist/vocalist Vince Martell, and drummer/vocalist Carmine Appice. They recorded five albums during the years 1967–69, before disbanding in 1970. The band has been cited as “one of the few American links between psychedelia and what soon became heavy metal and as a proto-prog band.  Vanilla Fudge’s organ-heavy sound was a large influence on the British band Deep Purple.

We always felt this was one of the greatest cover versions of any Beatles song in history. The band opened up their debut album entitled “Vanilla Fudge”, shocking the world with this glorious version of The Beatles’ song “Ticket To Ride.” Vanilla Fudge would cover many Beatles songs throughout their career making the songs their own with intense original arrangements that rock fans loved.

Vanilla Fudge was managed by Phillip Basile, a reputed Lucchese crime family, who operated several popular clubs in New York. With a suitably surreal cover artwork, Vanilla Fudge’s debut album began a nine-month residency in the US chart in September 1967, peaking at No.6 despite the absence of a hit single. Their first three albums “Vanilla Fudge”, “The Beat Goes On”, and “Renaissance” were produced by Shadow Morton, whom the band met through The Rascals.

“The Sky Cried/When I Was a Boy,” was the opening track on the band’s third album entitled “Renaissance“. This music is just simply stunning. It rocks hard, is melodic, and is played with such brilliant musicianship.

If you’re a fan of the band Emerson Lake & Palmer, you should check out this song because this is exactly what Keith Emerson was listening to in 1968. This track is so stunning, The song was released on the Vanilla Fudge “Renaissance” album as a bonus track. It was initially released as a stand alone single.

“Renaissance”, was rushed out in June 1968, just five months after “The Beat Goes On“, helped to steady things with a bunch of band-written material that was cosmic but controlled, and a version of Donovan’s “Season Of The Witch” left over from the first album.

The song was written by Donovan, who released it on his 1966 album “Sunshine Superman“. The song has been covered by many artists including Al Kooper and Stephen Stills on the “Super Sessions” album. Dr. John also did a great version of the song However, our favourite will always be this killer version recorded by Vanilla Fudge.

Vanilla Fudge’s fourth album, “Near The Beginning”, contained a 23-minute live epic called ‘Break Song’ which featured solos from all four band members. 

I had already familiar with the first 4 studio albums Their 5th, “Rock & Roll”, came out in October 1969, but by now the band were in total disarray. The band also went back into the studio to record “Out Through the In Door”, a Led Zeppelin cover album released in 2007 only in Europe.

If you like this band or want to get into them then they have never sounded better than here – The mono versions of the first 2 albums sound the best to me preserving the weight of the music more But The live double album is a treasure to behold, absolutely superb

This is an excellent box by a seminal US band These are the must have “Vanilla Fudge”, their second album, “The Beat Goes On” , It was followed by “Renaissance” one of Vanilla Fudge’s best albums , “Near the Beginning” Around this time the band supported it by touring with Jimi Hendrix, Also opening several dates on Cream’s farewell tour, and later in the year, touring again with the fledgling Led Zeppelin as their opening act.,

The band sounds a little bit like Cream on the introduction to this smoking song. This great track, “Shotgun,” was released by he band in 1968. The song was originally recorded and released as a single by Junior Walker & the All Stars in 1965. It was written by Autry DeWalt. Vanilla Fudge’s killer version was issued on the album “Near the Beginning“

The expansive, symphonic-tinged “Near the Beginning”. After part of the band recorded a radio commercial with guitarist Jeff Beck, an idea was hatched to form a Cream-styled power trio with plenty of individual solo spotlights. Exhausted by the constant touring, the band decided that their late-1969 European tour would be their last.

Following the release of their final album, “Rock & Roll”, Vanilla Fudge played a few U.S. farewell dates and disbanded in early 1970. The band’s legacy will also be fuelled and remembered by their original five albums released between 1967 and 1969.

Bogert and Appice first formed the hard rock group Cactus, then later joined Jeff Beck in the aptly named Beck, Bogert & Appice. Appice went on to become an active session and touring musician, working with a variety of rock and hard rock artists. Vanilla Fudge reunited in 1984 for the poorly received “Mystery” album, and, over the course of the next two decades, Vanilla Fudge would regroup for tours. These reunions often had differing lineups, always anchored by Carmine Appice and usually Tim Bogert.

Irish rock legends Thin Lizzy have announced they will release their first new album in over 40 years early next year. We are thrilled to announce the release of “Thin Lizzy – Acoustic Sessions”, a ground breaking new frontline album that brings together the legendary voice of Philip Lynott, the masterful guitar work of founding member Eric Bell, and the powerful original drum takes of Brian Downey.

This unique project offers fans a rare opportunity to experience Thin Lizzy’s classic hits like never before, with Lynott’s previously unheard vocal takes perfectly complemented by Bell’s fresh acoustic arrangements and Downey’s dynamic drumming. Drawing on material from the band’s iconic Decca era, the album revisits tracks from Thin Lizzy’s first three albums, presenting them in an intimate, stripped-down format that is sure to captivate both long time fans and a new generation of listeners.

Titled “The Acoustic Sessions“, the record will comprise acoustic re-imaginings of classic songs that pair unreleased Phil Lynott vocal tracks with brand-new guitar parts recorded by original member, Eric Bell.

Renowned for their twin guitar harmonies, Thin Lizzy found themselves exploring a heavier sound on their last studio album, 1983’s “Thunder and Lightning”.

Not long after that record arrived, the band came to an abrupt halt following the death of bass player and founding member Phil Lynott in 1986.

Despite sporadically touring with various new-look line ups over the years, the Thin Lizzy brand has released no official music has since then. As such, this new record represents the first new Thin Lizzy release for over four decades.

Eric Bell was part of the band’s original line-up alongside Lynott and drummer Brian Downey. He and organist Eric Wrixon would eventually make way for what would become the band’s most-known line-up, featuring Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson.  

As the guitarist attests, the acoustic reworkings – which tackle classics such as “Whiskey In The Jar,” “Shades of a Blue Orphanage” and “Dublin” – hark back to their original song writing tact. Of recording “Eire” from their 1971 self-titled debut, Bell says: “I wrote the main guitar part first on acoustic and then we built it up from there. I played the 12-string acoustic guitar throughout the track and introduced the electric on top.

“This was useful in the studio in Belfast recently where we recorded fresh guitar parts to allow us to create new Thin Lizzy acoustic versions of some of our favourite songs,” he continues. That found the guitarist and producer Richard Whittaker “recreating those original acoustic parts and adding the vocals which Philip laid down on the day and those original drum parts”.

There have been numerous versions of Thin Lizzy’s classic “Whiskey In The Jar” over the years, including Metallica’s hugely successful Garage Inc. cover, but this marks the first official acoustic release from the band. Its origins as an Irish folk song can reportedly be traced back to the 1700s, but Lynott and co. breathed fresh life into it in 1972, when it appeared as a bonus track on “Vagabonds of the Western World”.

Whittaker, who was tasked with scouring the original recording sessions to create skeleton tracks for Bell, believes “we’ve made something really quite unique and special”.

“Acoustic Sessions” releases on January 24th 2025 via Decca Records. A special two-disc edition includes an exclusive bonus track, “Slow Blues G.M“, written as a tribute to Gary Moore.