New England

New England were an American hard-rock band from Boston, Mass., that released a self-titled album on Infinity in 1979, followed by two albums on Elektra during the early 1980s. Members: John Fannon (guitar, vocals), Hirsh Gardner (drums, vocals), Jimmy Waldo (keyboards, vocals), Gary Shea (bass) Discography: New England (1979) Explorer Suite (1980) Walking Wild (1981) […]

Boston

Boston are an American symphonic/hard-rock band that released two albums on Epic between 1976 and 1978, followed by three further albums at eight-year intervals over the ensuing quarter-century. A sixth album, released in 2013, upheld the band’s post-’70s album-per-decade schedule. Members: Tom Scholz (guitar, bass, keyboards, organ, percussion, vocals), Brad Delp (lead vocals, guitar, percussion, […]

Face to Face

Face to Face were an American New Wave/modern-rock band from Boston that released two albums on Epic in 1984 and 1985, followed by a third on Mercury in 1988. Members: Laurie Sargent (vocals), Stuart Kimball (guitar, keyboards), Angelo Petraglia (guitar, keyboards), John Ryder (bass), Billy Beard (drums) Discography: Face to Face (1984) Confrontation (1985) One […]

The Cars

The Cars were an American New Wave/modern-rock band that released six studio albums on Elektra between 1978 and 1987. Their first two albums, The Cars (1978) and Candy-O (1979), spawned a slew of radio-rock evergreens, including “Just What I Needed,” “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Good Times Roll, and “Let’s Go.” A turn toward icy modernism […]

Earth Opera

Earth Opera were an American psych-rock band from Boston that released two albums on Elektra in 1968/69. Members: Peter Rowan (guitar, saxophone, vocals), David Grisman (mandolin, keyboards, saxophone, vocals), John Nagy (bass, cello), Paul Dillon (drums, guitar, percussion, vocals), Bill Stevenson (keyboards, vibraphone, 1967-68) Discography: Earth Opera (1968) The Great American Eagle Tragedy (1969)

Appaloosa

Appaloosa were an American chamber-folk band from Boston that released a self-titled album on Columbia in 1969. Guitarist/vocalist John Compton and violinist/vocalist Robin Batteau released one further album together as a duo in 1970. Batteau’s younger brother David was briefly a member of Appaloosa but didn’t play on the album. The brothers later released an […]

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic were an American avant-rock band from Boston that released two EPs and the album Magnetic Flip on small-press Ace of Hearts between 1983 and 1985, followed by a string of discs on Cuneiform between 1989 and 2006. Members: Erik Lindgren (piano, synthesizer, Farfisa organ, sampling, percussion, drum programming, trumpet), Roger Miller […]

The Stark Reality

The Stark Reality were an American jazz-rock/psych band from Boston that released the double-album …Discovers Hoagy Carmichael’s Music Shop on Ahmad Jamal‘s AJP label in 1970. Guitarist John Abercrombie subsequently became a leading light on the international jazz-rock scene. Members: Monty Stark (vibraphone, vocals), Phil Morrison (bass), Vinton Johnson (drums), John Abercrombie (guitar) Discography: …Discovers […]

Cynara

Cynara were an American band from Boston that released a self-titled album on Capitol in 1970. Members: Jeffrey Watson (vocals, percussion), Michael Tschudin (keyboards), Cal Hill (bass), Les Lumley (percussion), Chip White (drums) Discography: Cynara (1970)

Phluph

Phluph were an American psych-rock band from Cambridge, Mass., that released a self-titled album on Verve in 1968. Members: Lee Dudley (vocals, drums), Ben Blake (vocals, guitar), John Pell (vocals, bass), Joel Maisano (vocals, organ) Discography: Phluph (1968)

Orpheus

Orpheus were an American psych-rock band from Boston that released three albums on MGM in 1968/69, followed by a fourth on Bell in 1971. Members: Bruce Arnold (vocals, guitar), Jack McKenes (vocals, guitar), Eric “The Snake” Gulliksen (bass), Harry Sandler (drums) Discography: Orpheus (1968) Ascending (1968) Joyful (1969) Orpheus (1971)

Chamaeleon Church

Chamaeleon Church were an American pop-psych band from Boston that released a self-titled album on MGM in 1968. Drummer Chevy Chase later transferred into comedy, achieving fame as a member of the original cast of NBC’s Saturday Night Live during the 1975–76 television season. He ultimately became a big-screen funnyman in a series of screwball […]

The Freeborne

The Freeborne were an American psych-rock band from Boston that released the album Peak Impressions on Monitor Records in 1968. Members: Bob Margolin (guitar), Nick Castoln (guitar, keyboard, vocals, recorder, cello), Dave Codd (recorder, harpsichord, percussion, vocals, bass), Mike Spiros (keyboards, chimes, bell tree, trumpet, percussion), Lew Lipson (drums, percussion) Discography: Peak Impressions (1968)