Grey Temples is officially surfing the information superhighway (once a week, because as we all know the internet is terrible, but probably necessary in the grand scheme of things, like a lamprey eel).
But man, if there was a representative episode of Grey Temples to start with, this is a gooder. Entrenched firmly in the 1970s, this episode is a symptom of my imagined nostalgia for a slightly crappy decade I didn’t actually have to live through.
Kicking off with a ripper of a tune from Crabby Appleton from their 1970 self-titled album, we’ve got Try. Bongo solos, organ freakouts, you can’t go wrong. Then we slide into some tasty lickz, as we call them in the biz of community radio with Canada’s own Chilliwack and their Canadian super hit, Lonesome Mary. Call your Grampy and tell him it’s time to boogie to a song he hasn’t heard in 30 years! Moving to some pub-rock, we’ve got Brinsley Schwartz and their 1974 tune Trying to Live My Life Without You. As I mention on the show, this band featured power-pop legend Nick Lowe, and this song is from the album that features the original version of (What’s So Funny Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding later made famous by Elvis Costello (who was produced by Nick Lowe). Finally, we’ve got the soft rock band Australia, from Australia, and the song Knowing That You’re There. This is a wonderful little obscurity that was featured on the great Follow the Sun compilation put out by Anthology and put together in part by Mikey Young from the band Eddy Current Suppression Ring (and other bands, but that’s the one I know).
Getting a little more psychedelic, we move on to Alexander “Skip” Spence with Little Hands from his 1969 album, Oar. Born in Windsor, Ontario, Spence was an early member of Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service, he was most famous for being a founding member of Moby Grape. Who in turn, in my younger years, were most famous for being the favorite band of Mr. Van Driessen, the hippie teacher from Beavis and Butthead. Spence wrote his one and only solo album while institutionalized after attacking one of his band members with an axe. Even after this, the band continued to support Spence as they could, as Moby Grape had a more relaxed policy around axe attacks than I would have, personally. Then staying in the psychedelic folk realm (and sounding more than a bit like the aforementioned Jefferson Airplane) we’ve got Lily & Maria with Everybody Knows, from 1968. Moving ahead a few decades, we’ve got one of my favourite modern psychedelic bands with Melody’s Echo Chamber and the tune Pyramids in the Clouds. With a song name like that, you know it’s gonna be good! Melody’s Echo Chamber hail from France and are the solo project of Melody Prochet. She just released a new album! This song isn’t from it! Finally, in this set we have D.R. Hooker with A Tormented Heart from his 1972 private press album, The Truth. I recommend looking up the artwork for this one. Dude straight up styled himself to look like Jesus from a commemorative plate, but with a guitar. Really crazy keyboard sounds on this one, especially for an independently released album from 1972. The guitar line on the verse is sick on this one.
Next up, some Jonathan Richman (and the Modern Lovers) with Abdul and Cleopatra. If you don’t know the first Modern Lovers album, get on it! If you don’t like it, keep listening, because you’re wrong! Then we move on to Mike Lennox and a song from his one and only single release, 1968’s Images of You. Mike Lennox was a Canadian lad who mainly worked as a radio DJ in England leading up to the release of this track. Eventually Mike moved back to Canada and became, like, a regular dude. Finishing off this set, we’ve got a campy tune produced by noted studio lunatic Joe Meek. Houston Wells and The Marksmen were one of England’s first country bands, but this song North Wind doesn’t have a whole lot in it you’d mark as country in the modern sense, but hopefully it inspires you to blast off into outer space on a rocket you’ve named “Trigger”.
Winding up, as I often like to, with a few instrumental tunes. Starting off with Kleopatra from Salah Ragab & Cairo Jazz Band, this was originally released in 1974 by the Arab Republic of Egypt Ministry of Culture, this song features a lot of instruments that will sound familiar, but used in pretty unfamiliar ways, plus the sound of what I assume is a hookah being smoked. Salah Ragab went on to do some work with Sun Ra in later years. Moving on, next we have Canada’s Badge Epoque Ensemble and the song Lujon. And finally, Who Knows When, from cinematic soul jazz maestros, Glenn Fallows & Mark Treffel. I have no grand story to tell about either of these songs. Vibes is vibes.
Finally, wrapping up as always with some Canadian punk (or punk adjacent) we have Protest the Hero with Heretics & Killers. If you’re not familiar with the band, they put out an EP to start, and everyone who heard it seemed to generally like it. Then, they released Kezia, the album this song is from, and absolutely blew the doors off. I can’t stress enough how mind blowing this album was at the time. Put out by a bunch of teenagers who had clearly been OBSESSING over their instruments in a way that only a teenager can, they put out a prog metal punk album that still has few equals. And they’re still putting out great music.
Til next time,
JW
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