The College Crowd Digs Me

"Journey To The Center Of The Mind" - The Amboy Dukes (1968 )      The album sounds like a group effort, with each one trying to hold the fort.  Nugent provides some wonderful guitar tones and riffs as one might expect, but Steve Farmer's lyrics and  J.B. Drake's  vocals help keep the mind in cool flux.  As does the steady bottom push.  A few of the tracks shoulder-rub the acid psych realm heavily, while others splash into a more trippy, melodic psychedelia.  And it's this variety that keeps the mind on tippy-toes.         Especially side two, where the opening song, the psych-flag title track, fiercely sends the listener off into the unknown, with a string of songs following, very much of the time.  No concept that I could point a finger at, but they're done well.  By needle-lift, the "journey" eventually returns us, full circle, in and out of our minds, in a pleasing, satisfying way.  You can tick ...

IN THE MAILBOX "Inside The Sandbox: A Tribute To Rick Selga" (2025)       "Inside The Sandbox"  honors longtime drummer  Rick Selga , a staple of the Long Beach underground music scene.  This compilation includes unreleased music from Rick Selga's band,  Secret Hate , as well as from a few other bandmates he's befriended and influenced.  A bleeding needle's worth of California punk burn to help weather the storms.  Now streaming. SECRET HATE A1   "Tough Guys Suffer" A2   "Odd Walking Man" A3   "Black Cloud" GLUE FACTORY A4   "Glueming" A5   "Little Lords" A6   "Too Many People" A7   "Running" HAMAPPLE B1   "Undone" B2   "Cops" B3   "Sick Surreal" B4   "Hazy Shade Of Winter" DAS KLOWN B5   "Dark Robot" B6   "Dumb Dumb" B7   "We Don't Give" "Hazy Shade Of Winter"  - Hamapple (2025) "Dumb Dumb"  ...

"Dawn Explosion" - Captain Beyond (1977 )      I like Captain Beyond .  I have their self-titled lenticular album as well as their follow-up.  Both are equally enjoyable.  You can't go wrong with either.   But as for their third and last album,  "Dawn Explosion," I just never had much interest in picking it up.  Mostly because of weak reviews I've read, and plus, you just don't see this square out in the wild very often.  But I'm glad I finally did.      The previous two Captain Beyond albums are filled with hard rock and a cool prog-psych mindset.  It would be four years before the band released their third, and last album... "Dawn Explosion" in 1977.  A long time to wait to satisfy the studio itch, and perhaps a bit risky, but it's a worthy effort.  Both sides have a couple of tracks that really grab the golden ring, while others sometimes slide into the classic-rock lake that other band peers wer...

"Fraser & Debolt" - Fraser & Debolt (1971)     Upon examining the front cover, Fraser & Debolt's  eponymous album gives no hint that it might be listed in the Acid Archives .  But in the Acid Archives she be.  Along with Ian Guenther and his amazing violin,  this duo created a wonder of a square.  Not necessarily a gem for everyone, but something magical is definitely going on here.        The music has been described as a mix of hippie country and acid folk, and although there is nothing psychedelic that I can specifically point a finger at, the cool vibes are in the air.  I don't know much about this Canadian duo,  Allan Fraser and Daisy Debolt,  but on their debut, they sound like a couple who have just fallen and trust each other unfettered.  Their hearts are still catching rainbows and falling stars, and the music keeps no secrets.   Fraser and Debolt sing together with reckless...

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child (2009) Paperback, 543 pages NO SPOILERS:      No need for any book-reading snobbery here.   Lee Child's mass-market Jack Reacher creation is fire.  It ticks all the boxes.  This particular story is a thriller first and foremost, but the mystery that unravels is a sweet ride as well.   In  Gone Tomorrow,   Reacher encounters plenty of ducks, dodges, and louies along the way, and we tag along as he breaks it all down and adds it all up.  Reacher's experience in various combat methods and ability to quickly strategize any situation are top-notch.  I t's all about the justice with this guy.  There are no fences to straddle.  Reacher is the good guy, and we like him.       Lee Child novels may be a wee bit formulaic, but it doesn't diminish the enjoyment.  In this page-turner, Reacher finds himself on a late-night subway ride where he notices an unusual passenger who...

"Love" - Love (1966)       Finding  Love's  debut album in one of the 2 or 3-dollar boxes on the floor at Spektrum Muzik, located in the Delano District, was a pretty cool and unexpected surprise.   It was the latter part of May, the first of June, right before the weather started getting hot.  Just sitting in one of their bargain boxes.  It was an original copy with some expected ringwear, but there were no seam splits, and the spine was clean and readable.  The album had someone's name written on the front cover up in the top-right corner, but it was small and fairly neat.  Usually, a name on the front is a deal-breaker, but honestly, I hardly noticed it.  As for the vinyl, it looked almost VG, but for a weird, hard crumb stuck in one of the grooves on the very first track on side one.  It was tiny, but I could feel it.  Still, for less than a Lincoln, I thought it might be worth it to take the record home and try to res...