Lee Hazlewood - Love And Other Crimes (1968)

Sinister, psychedelic country from the late, great, Lee Hazlewood, the pioneer of "Saccharine Underground." He is best known for his work producing Duane Eddy's late-50s twangy sides and Nancy Sinatra's go-go pop in the 60s. Lee wrote Nancy's greatest songs, including "These Boots..." and "Some Velvet Morning," on which he duetted. However, as I recently discovered, he also put out dozens of records under his own name, and is plain bad-ass in his own right. Hazlewood was blessed with a voice (and, when he felt like it, a moustache) that other musicians (myself included) would pray for - as Beck so eloquently put it, “His voice had the kind of stature that Johnny Cash's had. It had a gravity that allows him to be sincere and tongue-in-cheek at the same time. It's that immense voice of experience, not expecting any kindness from humanity other than a spare cigarette.” I'm not even going to select my favourite tunes from this album. Each one of them is fantastic.

Track listing:
1. Love and Other Crimes
2. Morning Dew
3. She Comes Running
4. Rosacoke Street
5. She's Funny That Way
6 The House Song
7. Wait And See
8. Forget Marie
9. Pour' Man
10. Love And Other Crimes

Note: I do not take credit for ripping this album. Someone else did and put it on their blog. I've had it on my computer for a while and only just discovered it. Thanks to whoever that was.
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Les Fleurs De Pavot - Les Fleurs De Pavot (1968)

The French twist band Les Bourgeois De Calais split shortly after recording their final disc for DMF in 1966, an EP featuring one original, "Les Filles Dans Le Vent", plus versions of Jimmy McGriff's "Talkin' Bout My Girl", The Beatles' "Michelle" and Jerry Lee Lewis' "High Heel Sneakers". A few months later, in 1967, Jean-Pierre Castelain (guitar, vocals), Claude Lachèvre (rhythm guitar), Patrick Legros (bass), Jacques Gressier (organ, vocals) and Joël Parmentier (drums) pick up their axes to form Les Fleurs De Pavot (The Poppy Flowers), the first French psychedelic band. Initially managed by a cheese monger, they recorded a single album for Mercury records at the CBE studio. Under the direction and production of Jean-Pierre Rawson, the members completely re-invent their image as stoned hippies, exploiting the flower-power trend that was the order of the day. Sponsored by Marlboro, they played one major gig, at the Grenoble Winter Olympics of 1968 alongside Johnny Hallyday (who had also jumped on the psychedelic bandwagon).

Anyway, the album in question is quite terrific.
Top tracks: À Degager, a sure-nuff mod dancefloor filler, a hymn to straightening out all the squares in one's neighbourhood by spiking their coffee or their tin of tobacco with LSD. Hippies Nous Voila, another funky soulful psych jam. Pourquoi L'Amour À Deux, Le Marchand D'Amitié (a flute-laden bossa about spreading friendliness across the world...), Psycha Bourrée.

Track Listing:
1. Super Girl
2. La Caresse Du Fleuve
3. Psycha Bourrée
4. Le Marchand D'Amitié
5. La Force Fait L'Union
6. À Degager
7. Dites-Le Avec Des Fleurs De Pavot
8. Pourquoi L'Amour À Deux
9. Les Petits Cochons L'Ont Mangé
10. Hippies Nous Voila
11. La Puissance Des Ténèbres
12. Le Rateau De La Méduse

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The Stairs - Mexican R&B (1992)

1. Intro
2. Mary Joanna
3. Mr. Window Pane
4. Out In The Country
5. Laughter In Their Eyes
6. Sweet Thing
7. Russian R&B (The World Shall Not Be Saved)
8. Right in the Back of Your Mind
9. Flying Machine
10. Mexican R&B
11. Take No Notice of the World Outside
12. Mundane Mundae
13. When It All Goes Wrong
14. Wrap Me Round Your Finger
15. Weed Bus
16. Woman Gone and Say Goodbye
17. Sometimes The World Escapes Me
18. Fall Down The Rain
19. Outro

These four young men from Liverpool, England formed the Stairs in the early 90s and made one of the greatest and most authentic 60s-revival albums to date. The single Weed Bus is a highly sought-after collector's piece, and the album that followed, Mexican R&B, is just as difficult to find. The Stairs use a classic fusion of mod/freakbeak/R&B sounds with psychedelic rock (several of these numbers degenerate into fuzzy mind trips) with top-notch songwriting and singing courtesy of frontman Edgar Summertyme (now Edgar "Jones" Jones of the fabulous Joneses), who often sounds like an over-enthusiastic Mick Jagger... My top tunes on here: Weed Bus, Right In The Back Of Your Mind, Mr Window Pane, Woman Gone and Say Goodbye.

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