Bend Me Shape Me – THE AMERICAN BREED***

Green Light/Don’t It Make You Cry/Mindrocker/Bird/Something You’ve Got/Don’t Make Me Leave You/Bend Me Shape Me/Before & After/Sometime In The Morning/I’ve Been Tryin’/No Easy Way Down

Bend Me Shape Me was the most commercially successful album released by the pop group American Breed. The title track peaked at No. 5 in the US and was successfully covered in the UK by Amen Corner. (US:99)

“Fairly decent, as commercial pop albums go. This is pleasant and mostly uptempo vocal harmony pop with horns and/or orchestration, soul influences, a few easy listening moves, and great period flavour.”

“Somehow, in 1968, The American Breed managed to put out an album that retained the fresh-faced innocence of 1966. This is basically vocal harmonies over either horn sections (mostly Side A) or airy strings (mostly Side B). Pop with a touch of sweet soul, good if you like that sort of thing.”

"The American Breed in 1968 were pretty productive, bringing three LPs onto the market, of which this was the most successful. The album consists of a colourful mixture of rock and pop, fuzz and soul, is really well produced with some good brass and strings arrangements. Recommended to anyone interested in soul-oriented late sixties pop.”

“This, their second album contained their massive hit Bend Me Shape Me. The songs are far better than on the first album. Their version of The Monkees Sometimes In The Morning is just as good as Micky Dolenz's sung classic. Their take on Chuck Jackson's Something You Got just smokes and their interpretation of The Impressions' I've Been Trying can bring you to tears. The rest of the album is top-notch gritty Chicago garage rock. I can't give more honours to this classic.”

“The American Breed were my favourite horn based rock band of all time. They had a fine production formula which made for a great, if somewhat short-lived sound, during the dawning of the psych and heavy rock era.”

White Light/White Heat – THE VELVET UNDERGROUND**

White Light-White Heat/The Gift/Lady Godiva’s Operation/Here She Comes Now/I Heard Her Call My Name/ Sister Ray

The Velvet Underground's follow up album, White Light/White Heat, generated much less critical praise than the debut, mainly due to the extended electronic jamming tracks. (US:199)

"Is White Light a great classic, an unjustly lost gem, or is it just a collection of sloppy, pathetic, feedback-drenched 'jams'?"

"Once you tame this wild, noisy, amphetamine-fuelled, out-of-control beast of an album, it will be your best friend for a lifetime. Few albums are as off-putting on initial hearing; fewer still will reward you more after hundreds of spins. Inexplicably, its chaos, noise, and howling confusion will become comforting. But it takes awhile."

"I had to use a lot of will power to get through the album. It was loud, distorted, experimental, industrial-sounding rather than musical. I had to check at first to make sure something wasn't wrong with my sound system. In a word - horrible."

"A fair warning, White Light/White Heat is hard to listen to. This is due to the fact that longest pieces here, The Gift and Sister Ray sound like mindless noise rock jam sessions with spoken word poetry added almost as an afterthought."

"There is rhythm, primitive rhythm, mad guitars, and raw with the power of a juggernaut. The drums are insane and are the sound of hate beating against your door with the intensity of all machine guns fired in the Second World War. It's the sound of angst, genuine angst, genuine mortal fear."

"White Light/White Heat is one of the most cathartic musical experiences I've ever touched upon. The razor-sharp/wrecking ball guitar tones throughout are definitely the highlights, as well as the provocative lyrics."

"This album is very noisy and musically I don't think it works. It sounds more like a high school garage rock band just starting out."

"Most atonal music does not impress anyone beyond the first few listens, but this album stays with you. Perhaps the secret is in the amount of energy pushed into the atonality, the complete belief with which the band abandons tradition."

"It's quite an inaccessible album, most definitely a hard one to get into, but once you get it, it really is brilliant."

Welcome To My Love – NANCY WILSON****

In The Heat Of The Night/May I Come In/Angel Eyes/It Never Entered My Mind/I’m Always Drunk In San Francisco/Theme From Hotel/For Once In My Life/You Don’t Know Me/Why Try To Change Me Now/Welcome To My Love/Ode To Billy Joe

Jazz vocalist Nancy Wilson was very popular with album buyers in the mid 1960s, but by the end of the decade, with changing musical tastes, she was rather out of fashion. Despite good reviews this explains why Welcome To My Love struggled on the US album chart. (US:115)

“I got this album purely for the version of Ode To Billy Joe which I think is possibly one of the best cover versions I can think of. The rest of the album is a very nice and mellow vocal work.”

“This LP is really one of Nancy's best, not just on Capitol but her entire career. I enjoyed listening to the added edge and smokiness that Nancy just oozes on this recording. What makes this a treasure is not only the song selection, but the acquired wisdom Nancy emotes in her voice. She really attacks each song and gives it an extra edge and bite to make it stand out.”

“Nancy gives one memorable performance after another. You are unlikely to forget her cut of Ode To Billie Joe, this is the bluesiest version I've heard of the song.”

“This is one of Nancy Wilson's best albums. All the tunes are slow, sensitive ballads, which might become a drag in other hands, but with Wilson we only want more of the same. Her warm, breathy voice works marvels here, and she adds a bluesy touch that is terrific.”

“Nancy Wilson has the ability to dazzle your mind with just a whisper of her voice. Feast your ears to a sassy opening song In The Heat Of The Night. Experience the longing of Nancy's voice in Angel Eyes. Be amazed at Nancy's flawless timing in the jazzy I'm Always Drunk In San Francisco. Many singers have sung it, but nobody can sing For Once In My Life any finer. Nancy's vocal jazz style is second to none.”

“Nancy Wilson is a legendary singing wonder who came completely into her own back in the great musical sixties with the release of the smouldering masterpiece Welcome To My Love, filled with wondrous performances performed to perfection.”

Valley Of The Dolls – SOUNDTRACK****

Theme From The Valley Of The Dolls/Its Impossible/Ann At Lawrenceville/Chance Meeting/Neely’s Career Montage/Come Live With Me/I’ll Plant My Own Tree/The Gillian Girl Commercial/Jennifer’s French Movie/Give A Little More/Jennifer’s Recollection/Theme From The Valley Of The Dolls(Reprise)

The hip groovy melodrama Valley Of The Dolls starred Barbara Perkins, Patty Duke and Sharon Tate. The music was scored by Dory and Andre Previn. The US No. 2 hit single theme song by Dionne Warwick was not the version used in the film. (US:11)

"Dory and André Previn's score for the kitsch classic Valley Of The Dolls is a deliciously campy collection of swinging jazz and pop underpinned with humour and tongue-in-cheek sensuality. Like the film it supports, the music has dated - it bears all the hallmarks of 'hip' '60s pop culture, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Beneath those superficial trappings and dated production, there's an infectious spirit to Previn's score, and that's what has kept the album a cult classic."

"If you like cool 60s chilled grooves with tons of drama, then this is for you. There are some wild, dramatic vocals interspersed with groovy instrumentals. Picture yourself at a cocktail party with Sharon Tate, Verushka, Jean Shrimpton in a high-rise pad, dancing the frug and you've got it. Total cocktail lounge."

"This soundtrack contains the original version of the theme song that is in the film and performed by Dory Previn. Dionne Warwick's hit was a cover, not in the film."

"I just have to write this to state that camp lover or not, this LP has some great melodies in the old jaded ersatz jazz style of the late 60s. Theme From is a wellpenned and deserved hit, and even Dory Previn's voice here gives the tune an eeriness to match Warwick's version."

"I would most definitely recommend this soundtrack for anyone is who is a big fan of the movie. The music is perfectly matched to each scene and when you listen to the soundtrack you can picture each scene in your mind. If you love the movie like I do, then I am certain you will love this delightfully cheesy soundtrack."

"The arrangements are a bit dated, but the tunes definitely lend themselves to a bit of jazzing-up and will make 'lounge lizards' drool, 'cause it's so un-politically correct and the arrangement so cheesy, I think it's hip again."

Steppenwolf – STEPPENWOLF****

Sookie Sookie/Everybody’s Next One/Berry Rides Again/Hootchie Cootchie Man/Born To Be Wild/Your Wall’s Too High/Desperation/The Pusher/A Girl I Knew/Take What You Need/The Ostrich

Self titled debut album from Los Angeles hard rock group Steppenwolf, Includes the biker anthem Born To Be Wild, a US No. 2 hit single memorably featured in the film Easy Rider. (US:6)

"Try to imagine the huge impression produced by this original band in the late sixties with such an innovative and original musical approach. The Pusher and Born To Be Wild were an authentic explosion of newness, filled with inspiration. In this sense I think this was the most solid and auspicious debut of a rock band up to that date."

"The early American hard rock hippies - this record is a glorious mix of freaked out acid-tinged organ-tinted guitar-soaked songs including moments of glorious clarity like the furious Pusher. Steppenwolf soar with political angst and tie-dyed glory. Then there's the unique and unforgettable singing of John Kay. He differs from most of today's male rock singers in that he tries and succeeds at sounding far older and more worldly than a man just out of his teens has any right to. Shifting from pop balladeer to blistering blues shouter, John Kay is easily one of the finest singers the classic rock era ever produced."

"Virtually the first band to shape a convincing, modern hard rock sound. This is an exceptionally fully realised pioneering hard rock album that (unusually) rocks throughout. Stylistically definitive with an excellent rhythm guitar sound. Very consistent with no weak material. The lyrics too are excellent by rock standards."

"Steppenwolf stood out from the 'groovy peace and love' bands of the late '60s. They dressed like hippies, but there was a rougher, darker interior lurking beneath, which comes through in their music."

"An excellent example of late '60s hard rock, just as heavy metal music was beginning to lace itself into the rock and roll genre. The best cuts are the rebellious counter-culture anthem Born To Be Wild and the anti-drug The Pusher."

"A perennial favourite at virtually every party I attended. Though semi-commercially oriented, this is clearly acid driven hard rock, essential for any psych collection.”

Spirit – SPIRIT****

Fresh Garbage/Uncle Jack/Mechanical World/Taurus/Girl In Your Eye/Straight Arrow/Topanga Windows/ Gramophone Man/Water Woman/The Great Canyon Fire In General/Elijah

Eponymous debut album from Los Angeles jazz-rock band Spirit. Little known in the UK, their music is experimental ranging from rock, to jazz and psychedelic. (US:31)

"The vocals flow as easily as the instrumentals, taking you out and bringing you back. For the time, the record was expertly mixed and produced, there were no corners cut, what you want to hear is what you hear, there is no straining, no adjustments. Just kick back and let it all wash over you as smoothly as a breath of fresh air."

"What a really great album this is, a diverse mix of excellent soft material and semihard psych rock, and including some progressive jazz elements."

"Spirit can be a tough pill to swallow if you are not into fusion/jazz-rock. They were the creators of so much music that others ripped off."

"The fact that this album is so eclectic is its downfall for me. It's almost as if Spirit wanted to be all things to all people, and thus this makes for a somewhat jarring listen, with radically different, disparate elements clashing against each other."

"A promising debut album for a band that while constantly improving, never seemed to be able to break out into anything that really resembled stardom. Pity, because Spirit were an excellent and at times, brilliant band. I wonder though, if this debut album might have been rushed, because there are some real duds here as well."

"Deep down, they're just a hard rock band, but they blend so many different styles of music (blues, folk, world, jazz) to create some wildly psychedelic progressive rock. So the boredom factor is really low here, because of the sheer amount of styles Spirit explore, and pull off quite well."

"A true touchstone to the late sixties and psychedelia of the time. The band is right on when it comes to playing and harmonies. This album seems to have been lost in the shuffle of great sixties records."

The Notorious Byrd Brothers – THE BYRDS*****

Artificial Energy/Goin’ Back/Natural Harmony/Draft Morning/Wasn’t Born To Follow/Get To You/Change Is Now/ Old John Robertson/Tribal Gathering/Dolphin’s Smile/Space Odyssey

The Notorious Byrd Brothers was produced at a time of great turbulence for The Byrds following the departure of David Crosby. Nevertheless, many consider it to be their finest album. (US:47 UK:12)

"The Notorious Byrd Brothers is a near perfect 60s classic, and possibly The Byrds' best album overall. Despite the inner turmoil the band was facing at the time, it manages to be their most forward thinking, progressive and complete album. It's a fantastic record, one that demands replays and should find itself amongst the pantheon of great 60s pop records."

"Everything that made them great on their first albums; the jingle jangle of the twelve string, those harmonies, strong songwriting, is all here but sprinkled into the mix is that new fangled psychedelia. And what a heady brew it is. Essential and classic." "Every influence to ever touch The Byrds is thrown together here and whipped into a thick well mixed soup of country, folk, psychedelia, plain rock, and pure hippy fancy. A wonderful sound very much of its time, perfect for the hippies of the day and age."

"This is an album of beautiful songs, beautifully recorded. Who would guess that it was recorded at a time when The Byrds were on the verge of collapse? David Crosby had left/been fired and suddenly this lovely record arrived like the proverbial phoenix rising from the flames. This would be the album I would take with me if I were to be cast away on a desert island. I bought it the day it came out and have played it regularly ever since. I never tire of it."

"If anybody is looking for the absolute best in psychedelic folk, this is the place to find it. Celestial harmonies, impeccable guitar work, wonderfully recorded, inventive as you would expect for an album from 1968. There are occasional road-trips into California country, foreshadowing the entire genre to come, some lift-offs into orbit, but to this day, Goin' Back can yank tears from my eyes and put a quiver in my voice. Nobody did it better, then or now."