Gene Vincent - Dressed in Black

Well V is for Victory & here it is also for Vincent...Sweet Gene Vincent. Here’s one that I don’t think you’ll find elsewhere on the Interweb. Gene Vincent - Dressed in Black from Magnum Force in Shepperton, Middlesex. This one’s from 1982, ten years before Magnum Force launched their great Rebel Heart series.

Round 1 is studio tracks recorded between 1965 - 1970, some Vincent usual suspects like “Be-Bop-A-Lula” & some rarer material like “The Last Word in Lonesome” or “Pretty Girls”. Round 2 is a private ‘live’ recording from 2 May 1971 with Gene & the Houseshakers. The Houseshakers were a British rock 'n’ roll band that formed at the end of 1969, active in the early 1970s, who backed Gene Vincent on two of his European visits.

This might just be an album for completists in some folks opinion, but in my opinion...more Gene...MORE GENE! As Steve Aynsley remarks on the album notes, “We are privileged to re-live some of the excitement of a sadly bygone era, & if the recording quality (live tracks are less than studio quality - NØ) is not quite as we have become used to, excuse us because these items are precious & unique.”

Year of Release: 1982
Label: Magnum Force MFLP-016
Genre: Rockabilly

"Gene Vincent & The Houseshakers in the recording studio in 1971.
From left to right: rear - Graham Fenton (vocals), Jimmy Walls (bass),
John Earl (saxophone), Terry Clemson (guitar - ex-Downliner Sect);
front - Les Warren (drums), Gene Vincent (lead vocals)."

Tracklist:
Round 1 -
Rocky Road Blues
Say Mama
Pistol Packin' Mama
Be-Bop-A-Lula
The Last Word in Lonesome
Pretty Girls
Bluejean Bop
Round 2 -
Say Mama (live)
Baby Blue (live)
Rocky Road Blues (live)
Good Golly Miss Molly (live)
Whole Lotta Shakin' (live)
I'm Movin' On (live)
Be-Bop-A-Lula (live)

Download: Gene Vincent - Dressed in Black
Download Size: 87.5MB (ripped from much-loved vinyl at 320Kbps)

VA - A Heavy Dose Of Lyte Psych

Update: Here is re-up three of four of the "A BLANK Dose of BLANK Psych" series, which was originally posted almost four years ago on Digital Meltd0wn. For those interested in having the complete series, I will be posting the last installment of the series, "An Overdose of Hard Psych" tomorrow. Apparently I never got around to posting a track list for this around the time I originally posted it. Things obviously haven't changed much, because I have precious little time on my hands now. I have my college finals to study for, but I'm going to go ahead and put a track list together for you all since I love you people.

I apologize for taking so long to finally deliver on this. For those interested, I posted the companions to this several months back, actually it may have been more than a year ago. They can be found here - An Overdose of Heavy Psych, A Deadly Dose Of Wylde Psych, and A Lethal Dose Of Hard Psych.

I'm short on time right now, but I'll add the track list as soon as I return from work. Enjoy!

Label: Arf! Arf!
Genre: Psychedelic
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
1. Unknown - Intro
2. Misty Wizards - It's Love
3. Capes of Good Hopes - Lady Margaret
4. Freeborne - Land of Diana
5. The Id - The Rake
6. Flowers - Tea Company
7. Truth - P.S. (Prognosis Stegnoisis)
8. Ballroom - Baby Please Don't Go
9. Teddy and His Patches - Haight Ashbury
10. Picture - Evolution
11. Gurus - It Just Won't Be That Way
12. Mongrels - Good Good Man
13. Wildflowers - More Than Me
14. Chris Carpenter - This World (Is Closing In On Me)
15. Childe Harold - Brink of Death
16. Jk & Co. - Fly
17. Masada - A Hundred Days And Nights
18. Crescent Six - And Then
19. Attic Sound - Look Straight Through You
20. White Room - Thoughts of Yesterday
21. Chimps - Fifth Class Mail
22. Chris Carpenter - Waterfalls
23. Fourth Way - The Far Side Of Your Mind
24. Unknown - Mystery Track
25. Rock Revival - Venus 2038

Download: VA - A Heavy Dose of Lyte Psych
Download Size: 104MB

VA - A Deadly Dose of Wylde Psych

This is a reup that was originally posted on DM back in 2006. I will be posting "A Heavy Dose of Lyte Psych" tomorrow.

Here's the 4th installment in a series of obscure psychedelic rock compilations released by Arf Arf. I have 3 out of the 4 installments, one of which I have already posted (A Lethal Dose of Hard Psych). I also have "An Overdose of Heavy Psych", which I will be posting next. I'll try to find out the name of the remaining album, and post it if I'm able to find it. Here are the notes that were included:

Trip on out to 26 excessive tracks (over 78 minutes) of sparkling ’60s psychedelic acid reign. Presented here is elusive American psychedelic rock at it’s best—from the savage to the sublime, massive to the mesmirizing, and futuristic to flashbacks.

Deadly Dose of Wylde Psych is another wild compilation from Arf Arf that digs up 26 tracks of long lost American psychedelic acid rock from the mid-'60s. These tracks were recorded during an era when garage bands switched from "Louie Louie" and "Gloria" to a darker, yet no less inept, age of acid-influenced sludge. During the 78 minutes of Deadly Dose, listeners are introduced to beyond obscure bands with names like Chocolate Moose, Peacepipe, Lime Frost, Nite Watchmen, and Sweet Cherry. Most of these tracks sound like a combination of the Music Machine or Count Five with Barry Melton or Jorma Kaukonen on electric guitar at their most hallucinogenic.

Label: Arf! Arf!
Genres: Psychedelic, Garage Rock
Bitrate: 256kbps

Track List:
01.Sound Apparatus - Travel Agent Man
02.Finch - Nothing In The Sun
03.Nite Watchmen - Mimic Jester
04.Sweet Cherry - Funny Things Floating
05.Peacepipe - The Sun Won’t Shine Forever
06.Moon Dawgs - Keep On Pushing
07.Blue Creed - Need A Friend
08.Chocolate Moose - Take A Ride
09.Pawnbrokers - Realize
10.Christian Brothers - Feeling Bad
11.Oscar And The Majestics - House Of The Rising Sun
12.Liberation News Service - Mid-Winter’s Afternoon
13.Wet Paint - Glass Road
14.Waters - Mother Samwell
15.Chaparral Trio - Roxanne
16.Lime Frost - Post Bellum Blues
17.Leather Pages - Accept Me For Who I Am
18.The Blues Inc. - And Is
19.Wildwood - Plastic People
20.Portraits - It Had To Be You
21.(Mikes) Mijal & White - I’ve Been You
22.Tea Company - Come And Have Some Tea With Me
23.Angel Angel Down We Go, Attack - School Daze
24.Attack - School Daze
25.Mass Temper - Gravedigger
26.Johnny Thompson Quintet - Color Me Columbuth

Download: VA - A Deadly Dose of Wylde Psych
Download Size: 146.6MB

VA - A Lethal Dose of Hard Psych

As requested, here is a repost of one of the earliest psychedelic comps to be posted on Meltd0wn. I will be uploading the companion albums "A Hard Dose of Lyte Psych" and "A Deadly Dose of Wylde Psych" next.

This is another great compilation I found on DC++. Let me know if you all like this type of stuff. If so I have a few more like this that I could upload. Here are the notes that were included with the album:

"With twenty-three very rare singles, originating from all over North America, from 1966-70 (dates are not given for a couple but they certainly fit the time frame), this is very much in the Pebbles garage compilation mentality. The key difference is that the focus is on a later era -- only two to three years later on the average, mind you, but a significant difference when we're talking about the sixties, when styles and sounds changed very quickly. It logically begats another difference between this and your average garage compilation: there is much more weight given to hard, even heavy, guitar rock and psychedelic lyrics.

Featured on this 70+ minute collection is the more bombastic and harder slice of '60s American Psych. You'll find a glorious deluge of overdriven fuzz guitar, swirling surreal sounds, hallucinogenic lyrical content and superb songwriting. As with our previous two installments, fans of Vernon Joynson's Fuzz Acid & Flowers book will discover plenty of massively cool testaments from this by-gone era. Changin' Tymes: Blue Music Box, Catfish Knight And The Blue Express Deathwise, Bondsmen: Our Time To Try, Flower Power: I Can Feel It, Adam: Eve, Aardvarks: Subconscious Train Of Thought, Factree: Kaleidoscope, Light: Back Up, Dutch Masters: The Expectation, Sidells: Watch Out Mother, Zoser: Dark Of The Morning, Tom Dae Turned On: I Shall Walk, Cardboard Box: Come On Baby Legend: Enjoy Yourself, Crystal Rain: Hey Ma Ma, Sound System: Take A Look At Yourself, Lovechain: Step out Of Your Window You Can Fly, Inner Light: Temptation, Mammoth: Mammoth, Lazy Nickels: 35 Design, Enoch Smoky: It's Cruel, Haymarket Riot: Leaving, Mind Garage: Asphalt Mother.I believe this is the third in Arf Arf's psych comp series, adding Hard to the previous Heavy and Light discs.

As with those collections, there are plenty of songs here that will make you cringe and thank your maker that the performers are now safely away from the public ear somewhere in the working sector. Then there are bands like Bondsmen ("Our Time To Try"), Mind Garage ("Asphalt Mother"), Legend ("Enjoy Yourself") and Enoch Smoky ("It's Cruel") that had exactly what it took to open for Iron Butterfly back in the day, and these songs are what makes being a garage psych fan a pleasure. Taken as a whole, Lethal Dose is, at the very least, interesting, a hodgepodge of everything from spirited fuzzfests from groups with dubious vocal skills to absolute mind-expansion from groups from which a contact high can somehow still be obtained just by listening. For those of you who collect garage gems from obscure bands of the 60s, this is all moot. You'll snag it regardless. For the casual fans, I recommend this as an entertaining artifact and a 70 minute mind trip. - D.J. Johnson"

Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock
Bitrate: 256kbps

Track List:
1. Blue Music Box - Changin' Tymes
2. Deathwise - Catfish Knight And The Blue Express
3. Our Time To Try - Bondsmen
4. I Can Feel It - Flower Power
5. Eve - Adam
6. Subconcious Train Of Though - Aardvarks
7. Kaleidoscope - Factree
8. Back Up - Light
9. The Expectation - Dutch Masters
10. Watch Out Mother - Sidells
11. Dark Of The Morning - Zoser
12. I Shall Walk - Tom Dae Turned On
13. Come On Baby - Cardboard Box
14. Enjoy Yourself - Legend
15. Hey Ma Ma - Crystal Rain
16. Take A Look At Yourself - Sound System
17. Step Out Of Your Window You Can Fly - Lovechain
18. Temptation - Inner Light
19. Mammoth - Mammoth
20. 35 Design - Lazy Nickels
21. It's Cruel - Enoch Smoky
22. Leaving - Haymarket Riot
23. Asphalt Mother - Mind Garage

Download: VA - A Lethal Dose of Psych
Download Size: 165MB

Major Updates to the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blogroll/Aggregator

Digital Meltd0wn Music Blogroll/Aggregator
http://music-bloggers.blogspot.com

Hopefully most of you are already aware that in addition to this blog, I also run the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blogroll/Aggregator. I wanted to inform you that I have just completed the first couple of phases of a major update. Over the last week I have made a number of updates to increase the quality of the blogroll, improve the RSS feed, and enhance the functions of the site as a whole. Here is a list of some of the recent changes:

Changelist:

Removed 250+ spam comments

Removed all dead blogs from the list

Updated urls for all of the blogs that have relocated

Added several dozen blogs

Added RSS feeds for blogs to the master RSS feed, which delivers updates from all of the blogs on the blogroll

Added "Followers" and "Latest Blog Updates" to the sidebar section

So far I have only completed two phases of what will be a six phase update, so there are still several more updates to come. Right now I am going through the comments section and adding the blogs that qualify to the list. This will take some time as there are several hundred comments. I have written a couple of more detailed posts concerning the changes to the site on the site.

I am trying to make the blogroll/aggregator the most valuable resource for finding underground and out of print music that I can. I hope that you will approve of the changes being made, and that it will serve as a valuable tool in your ongoing quest to discover great music. Here is the url:

Digital Meltd0wn Music Blogroll/Aggregator
http://music-bloggers.blogspot.com

This one's for U

Unsane - Unsane

This alphabetical challenge is driving me unsane...New York City's Unsane, that is. If you’re not familiar with them, then where the fuck have you been? They play aggressive noise rock. In their earliest incarnation as a power trio, Unsane have a driving rhythm section, a screaming Telecaster howl, & distorted vocals. This line-up included: Chris Spencer (vocals, guitar); Pete Shore (bass); & Charles Ondras (drums). They began playing NYC low-life clubs in 1989. It was at clubs like CBGB's that the band developed their trademark sound.

This, their self-titled debut, was recorded 16 January 1991 at Fun City & released on Matador Records in 1991. The cover is a photo of a decapitated man lying across train tracks, which sets the tone for the seething aggression of this album. In 1992, Unsane's drummer Charles Ondras died of a drug overdose & thing would never be quite the same for the band. Before the band released their follow-up album, Matador compiled & issued a collection of Unsane's early singles/compilation tracks, called Singles: '89-'92. It is perhaps Unsane's defining moment.

Year of Release: 1991
Label: Matador OLE 009-1
Genre: Noise, Hardcore
Bitrate: 320kbps

Tracklist:

Side A -
Organ Donor
Bath
Maggot
Cracked Up
Slag
Exterminator

Side B -
Vandal-X
HLL
AZA-2000
Cut
Action Man
White Hand

Download: Unsane - Unsane
Download Size: 84.55MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

A Couple of Important Announcements

I have a couple of important announcements to make. First of all I would like to apologize for my recent inactivity here on the blog. I didn't even realize how long it had been since I made a post until a friend of mine pointed it out. I would also like to thank NØ and Sab for shouldering the load and continuously updating the blog since that time. From now till the end of July I will be working on re-uploading albums that no longer have working download links. I will upload these in the order they were reported to me by the visitors of this site. I was also make my best effort to post albums with a higher quality bitrate if they are available.

The reason for my recent inactivity is because I have been wrapped up in the planning phase of a very major project for Digital Meltd0wn, and I have been carefully making preparations to ensure that we are able to pull it off smoothly. I will be making an announcement regarding the project in roughly one weeks' time. We are very excited about this project, as it is something that hasn't been attempted by any other music blog, at least as far as we know. Check back in shortly for more details concerning the project, and in the meantime, if any of you run across any posts that have dead download links, please click on the "Report a Dead Link" option on the main menu and leave a comment.

Rev. Louis Overstreet - An Evening With Rev. Louis Overstreet

Allow me to apologize in advance for the short review. My time has been divided between working on the upcoming project for this blog, updating the DM blogroll, college, and work, so I haven't had much time to focus on writing a lengthy review for any new albums. I had been looking for this album for some time before "" was kind enough to fill my request last week. Thank you once again , for making it possible for me to listen to this gospel gem, and share it with the visitors here also.

What we have here is a gospel recording released in 1962, which captures a very upbeat set of performances by Rev. Louis Overstreet, his four songs, and the congregation of St. Luke Powerhouse Church of God In Christ. I should point out that this is a vinyl rip of the original recording released by Arhoolie, and not the reissue released by Mississippi Records. What makes this recording unique from other gospel recordings of the era is the electric guitar, played by the good Reverand, that is featured throughout. It helps to give the performances a more down and dirty rock 'n' roll feeling to it all. Those who follow this blog know that I despise most mainstream religions; however, music like this transcends the religion itself in my opinion, and I can't help but be captured by it's energetic soulfullness. I hope you all enjoy this album as much as I did, and if you do, please take the time to leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Year of Release: 1962
Label: Arhoolie
Genre: Gospel
Bitrate: 320kbps

Track List:
1. Holiness Dance
2. Working on the Building
3. Yeah Lord, Jesus Is Able
4. I'm On My Way
5. I'm A Soldier In The Army Of The Lord
6. Get Ready, I'm Gonna Move
7. Is There Anybody Here
8. Getting Richer

Download: Rev. Louis Overstreet - An Evening With Rev. Louis Overstreet
Download Size: 62MB

The Chocolate Watch Band - No Way Out

Edit: This was actually one of the very first albums I uploaded for Digital Meltd0wn almost 4 years ago. I'm in the process of uploading several albums which no longer have working download links. If you happen across any albums that you would like to see reuploaded, now would be a good time to report the dead links. You can find the link to "report a dead link" in the main menu. For those who haven't heard it, I hope you all enjoy this little gem from the DM vaults.

The Chocolate Watchband's debut album, No Way Out was also their most heavily Rolling Stones-influenced album, but appreciating the album and what's on it (and what's not) requires some explanation -- especially as an original vinyl copy could set you back $100 or more. Released in September of 1967, No Way Out came at the end of the band's first 15 months of existence, a period that encompassed the recording and release of four singles of generally extraordinary quality, and as good as anything heard from any garage band anywhere during that period. Just two of those single tracks, "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)" and "No Way Out," ended up on the original ten-track LP, but even they could (and should) have been the core of an immensely powerful LP. Instead, out of the remaining songs, only two -- the group's nicely cranked-up version of Chuck Berry's "Come On" (obviously influenced by the Rolling Stones' debut single, which was, itself, a good trick, since the latter had never seen a U.S. release in any form) and the psychedelic Bo Diddley-based "Gone and Passes By" -- were recorded by the entire group and released in the form intended. The other six tracks included Watchband recordings, such as "Let's Talk About Girls," "In the Midnight Hour," and "Hot Dusty Road," on which lead singer David Aguilar's vocals had been replaced by those of session singer Don Bennett (co-author of the band's single "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)") and also embellished with extra instrumental overdubs; two instrumentals, "Expo 2000" and "Dark Side of the Mushroom," recorded by a group of studio musicians put together by engineer Richie Podolor; and, finally, the bizarre "Gossamer Wings," a psychedelic digression by Bennett and company that used the band's basic track from the 1966 single B-side "Loose Lip Sync Ship" as its jumping-off point. So what's here is not really representative of the Chocolate Watchband that was seen in the movie Riot on Sunset Strip, or heard on those four killer singles in 1966 and early 1967. All of that said, No Way Out is still an extremely impressive and enduring album that nicely straddles the garage punk and psychedelic genres; the Watchband's "Come On" still gets this reviewer's pulse bouncing to Chuck Berry's beat, and it and the other three finished band cuts are still highly potent, slashing, exciting, clever pieces of music. "Gone and Passes By" and "No Way Out" are sharp works of psychedelic punk music, the former mixing sitar music with a shimmering Bo Diddley beat to superbly seductive effect, while the latter is built on a twisting, jagged blues- and raga-based lead guitar line that recalls the late-1966 vintage Jefferson Airplane's work. And "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)" is a stirring, even threatening anthem to youthful defiance. The record is still an essential '60s album in any collection.

Year of Release: 1967
Label: Tower
Genre: Psychedelic, Garage Rock
Bitrate: 256kbps

Track List:
1. Let's Talk About Girls
2. In the Midnight Hour
3. Come On
4. Dark Side of the Mushroom
5. Hot Dusty Road
6. Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)
7. Gone and Passes By
8. No Way Out
9. Expo 2000
10. Gossamer Wings
11. In the Midnight Hour
12. Milk Cow Blues
13. Psychedelic Trip

Download: Chocolate Watch Band - No Way Out
Download Size: 68.6 MB