The College Crowd Digs Me

"71Spiders" - Spider Fingers (2017) (CD front and back)       "71Spiders" is a pretty tasty piece of guitar-driven crankage that bangs out in various directions with a mid-70s hard rock flair. The influences are numerous on this 11-song collection and ring out from coolly familiar yet oddly different places.  And it's this curious chasm that draws you in and creates unexpected flashes of awareness, making for a fun spin.  One you'll want to crank up.       Spider Fingers  is a founding member of both  The Flying Sixty Nine  and  Electric Monster.    Spider  is responsible for all the music and lyrics on this, his solo debut album, and is a chameleon of sorts, being whatever is necessary.  There are a couple of traffic cones on this square, but most of the songs work, maintaining a cool tone that often carries an enjoyable and unexpected edginess.  If you like your 70s guitar churn-and-burn c...

"Anthem Of The Sun" - Grateful Dead  (1968 )        "Anthem of the Sun," the band's second studio album, is the one I've wanted to own for the longest time.  And I intentionally avoided listening to this album until I could actually spin it for myself.  Probably the  Grateful Dead' s most psych-ified album, where the colorful 'pass-it-around' circle rug begins to spread wider and wider for everyone to enjoy.  An essential album, especially for psych enthusiasts.  Soon, the band would drift into a more cosmic country-folk-rock direction while still maintaining their community aura of headiness.        The trip-fest square   is a multiple-net-free tightrope walk across hundreds of wires strung from every direction… and crossing streams like you wouldn't believe.  An almost blindfolded adventure of sorts.  The band is fearless in their 1968 lysergic leap of faith.  This square is the purp...

"A Summer's Night" - Montreal (1970 )       "A Summer's Night" is a unique and pleasant ride on a very lightly acid-ized jazz-folk train car that gives the mind a wee-curious sensation.  This was Montreal's only album, but it did make its way into the Acid Archives .  It's pretty unusual to find a copy out here in Kansas, and it was cheap, so I had to grab it.  "A Summer's Night" is sort of loungy and gentle, but more than ordinary.  Something's going on.  Fran Losier's vocals have a nice timbre that recalls elements of both Françoise Hardy (without the French accent) and a softer Connie Devanney (Ill Wind).       Richie Havens signed Montreal to his own label and contributes some sitar and koto (a zither-like instrument) with a light touch.  Nothing that would suggest a Woodstock flashback.  There is also some occasional flute that I'm a sucker for.   "A Summer's Night" isn't a great album, but it...

A Man On The Moon by Andrew Chaikin (1994) Paperback, 685 pages      Space: The final frontier, as the mantra goes.  And going to the moon has been the greatest, boldest adventure we small humans have undertaken in our lifetime.   In A Man on the Moon ,  Andrew Chaikin   takes us along as we follow the Apollo Program from its inception in 1967.   From Apollo 1 to Apollo 17, the last mission, we are reminded of the tragedies and near-tragedies, as well as the amazing triumphs and accomplishments.  This almost reads like a novel.        We learn so much about the astronauts.  In many ways, the astronauts are a lot like us and yet nothing like us at all.  There's a fearlessness and bravery gene hidden inside each one of the astronauts that somehow allows them to rub shoulders with the shadows of death.  Savoring the risks and begging for the triple-dog dares.  We also learn how important mission ...

"Rainbow Ride" - Andy Kim (1969 )      I had a few dollars left on my gift card, and in a bit of a hurry, I spotted Andy Kim's "Rainbow Ride" sporting a $5 sticker.  Being a fan of psychedelia, I thought this might hold a little of that stuff, so I grabbed it.  The album cover was throwing off some pop-psych vibes to me, and when I got it home, cleaned it, and dropped the needle on the square, that's exactly what it was.  The psych elements are fairly light, with side one being the strongest. But overall, it's pretty good.      I'm sure Andy Kim was just trying to rub shoulders a bit with the lysergic vibes that were in the air at the time.  No foul for that.  There is some fuzz guitar.  Some phasing.  Some studio trickery and noise-dropping shenanigans.  All of these kinds of things, but in small doses.  Nothing to scare Mom and Dad.  I dug the innocence of the lite-psych dabbling  on the  "Rain...

"Hard Attack" - Dust (1972)      Not as heavy as one might think, but there are definitely a few bangers.  Two of them dive into the darker end of the bottomless pool.  Dust brings some heavy hard rock with some dustings of protometal.  The New York trio brings the riffage, and with better-than-average lyrics and vocals.  It's all good, but it's the bass that's the star of the bar to my ears.        Surprisingly, there are a few melodic chillouts on the album as well, but they play nice without sounding wimpy.  I mean, when it's time to bang, they bang.  And when it's time to chill, they chill.  Maybe Dust should have stayed in one lane, who knows?  But they pull off each equally well, and I've been spinning this one a lot.  Sometimes you don't get what you want, but you do get what you need.  If you are a lover of that early 70's rock discourse, Dust is another underground hider to check out. "Ha...