Forty-Seven Times Its Own Weight were an American jazz-rock band from Austin that released the album Cumulo Nimbus on local-press Fable Records in 1975. Members: Mel Winters (trumpet), Paul Ostermayer (saxophone), Robert “Dude” Skiles (keyboards), Spencer Starnes (bass), John Treanor (drums) Forty-Seven Times Its Own Weight released their singular album, Cumulo Nimbus, on Fable Records […]
Exit 9 were an American soul-funk band that released the album Straight Up on Brunswick-subsidiary BRC in 1975. Members: David Lavender (rhythm/lead guitar), Enoch Jappa (congas, backing vocals), Eric Hoosier (alto saxophone, backing vocals), Hollis Googe (lead guitar, backing vocals), James “Binky” Davis (drums, backing vocals), Johnny Rios (lead vocals), Michael Pelzer (bass, backing vocals), […]
Timeless Legend were an American soul group from Columbus, Ohio, that released sporadic singles on the small-press labels of manager/producer Carl Fagain. Their one album, Synchronized, appeared on lone-press Pendulum Records in 1976. Members: Butch Johnson, Allen B. Burney, Jackie Hogg, Donald Harmon, Michael Harmon Timeless Legend were discovered by Carl Fagain, who first recorded […]
George-Edwards were an American art-pop duo from Detroit that self-pressed the album 38:38 in 1977. It contains 13 self-produced originals, including “You Came Away,” “Planets and Stars,” “La Jolla,” “Magnetic Vision,” and “Solar Flare.” The original album was pressed with no cover in a limited run of 100 copies. A non-album single, “I See Your […]
Airlord were a New Zealander art-rock band from Wellington that released the album Clockwork Revenge on Infinity in 1977. Members: Steve MacKenzie (guitar, vocals), Ray Simenauer (guitar, vocals), Brad Murray (bass, vocals), Alan Blackburn (keyboards), Rick Mercer (drums) Prior to forming Airlord, the only member with a recorded history was guitarist/singer Steve MacKenzie, who cut […]
Odyssey 5 were an American soul group that released the album First Time Around on BRC in 1975. Members: Carlotta Samuels, Catherine Rice, Glenda Wharton, Jackie Sinclair, Linda McCrae, Sylvania Wilson Odyssey 5 released their singular album, First Time Around, in 1975 on Brunswick-subsidiary BRC, which issued contemporary recordings by Exit 9 and The Eliminators. […]
Driver were a Canadian hard-rock trio that released the album No Accident on A&M in 1977. Members: Peter Glinderman (vocals, guitar), Dennis Coats (bass), Stephen Roxford (drums) Prior to forming Driver, bassist Dennis Coats had notched songwriting credits on albums by Doyle Holly, The Original Caste, and Appleshine. Driver issued one album, No Accident, in […]
Waves were a New Zealander folk-rock combo that released a self-titled album on Direction Records in 1975. Members: Michael Matthews, Kevin Wildman, Graeme Gash, David Marshall Waves were signed to the short-lived Direction Records (1974–76) which existed primarily as a distribution arm for Casablanca and Capricorn in the NZ market. The band’s singular album, Waves, […]
Silk were an American soul trio that released two albums on Prelude Records in 1977. (Not to be confused with the seven-piece soul-funk Silk that evolved out of Anglo-Saxon Brown.) Members: Maurice Jackson, Eric Thomas, Arthur Reid Silk were formed in Los Angeles in 1976 by Chicago-born vocalist and songwriter Maurice Jackson. Singers Eric Thomas […]
Heaven & Earth were an American soul group from Chicago that released the album I Can’t Seem to Forget You on GEC in 1976, followed by two albums on Mercury in 1978/79 and a fourth on WMOT in 1981. Members: Keith Steward, Michael Brown (vocals, 1974-77), Dwight Dukes, James Dukes, Dean Williams (vocals, 1978), Greg […]
Chetarca was an Australian symphonic-rock band from Melbourne that released a self-titled album on WEA/Atlantic in 1975. Members: Paul Lever (lead vocals, harmonica, tambourine), Andrew Vance (keyboards, vocals), John Rees (bass, violin), Geoff Gallent (drums, percussion), Bruce Bryan (synthesizer) Chetarca emerged from the wreckage of Langford Lever, an unrecorded early ’70s Melbourne act. The new […]
Black Ivory were an American soul trio from Manhattan that released two albums on Today Records in 1971/72, followed by three albums on Buddah between 1975 and 1979. The original group consisted of vocalists Russell Patterson, Stuart Bascombe, and Leroy Burgess. Their first two albums were recorded under the auspices of producer Patrick Adams. Members: […]
Lem were an American electro/art-pop band from California that released the album Machines on self-press Wavefront Records in 1977. Members: Bryce Robbley (synthesizer, vocals), Alex Cima (synthesizer), Doug Lynner (synthesizer) Danny Sofer (synthesizer, drums) Lem was a recording project comprised of four synthesizer players: Bryce Robbley, Alex Cima, Doug Lynner, and Danny Sofer. The project […]
Wanka were a Canadian hard-rock band from Toronto that released The Orange Album on Axe Records in 1977. Members: Chris Gibb (bass, vocals), Mike McConnell (drums), Mark Pickett (rhythm guitar, vocals), Howard Samuel (lead guitar, vocals), Doug Paul Smith (keyboards, vocals) Wanka was formed in the early 1970s by two English transplants on the Toronto […]
Totty was an American hard-rock/boogie band from Tulsa that released two albums on self-press Our First Record Company between 1977 and 1981. The band centered on the musical partnership of brothers Dennis and Bryon Totty. Members: Dennis Totty (guitar, vocals, piano, synthesizer), Byron Totty (bass, vocals, synthesizer), George Cooper (drums), David Blue (drums), Roger Roden […]
Manchild was an American soul-funk band from Indianapolis that released two albums on Chi Sound Records in 1977 and 1978. They morphed into Redd Hott for a further album on Venture Records in 1982. Guitarist/singer Kenneth Edmonds later achieved fame as Babyface. Members: Reggie Griffin (soprano/tenor saxophone, Clavinet, electric/acoustic guitar, harmonica, backing vocals, handclaps), Anthony […]
Raices was a Puerto Rican Latin-jazz/rock band that released a self-titled album on Nemperor in 1975. The band were a local supergroup comprising ex-members of Kaleidoscope, Space, and Cortijo & His Time Machine. Members: Juan Melendez (flute, soprano saxophone, clarinet), Amaury Lopez (fender rhodes, grand piano, clavinet, moog, acoustic guitar, percussion, vocal), Carlos ‘Kiko’ Melendez […]
Dr. Tree was a New Zealander jazz-rock band that released a self-titled album on EMI in 1976. Drummer Frank Gibson and bassist Bob Jackson were already established sessionists. Both appeared on the 1974 album The Song of Crazy Horse by American singer/songwriter J. D. Blackfoot. Members: Frank Gibson (drums), Murray McNabb (keyboards), Martin Winch (guitar), […]
Kalevala were a Finnish art-rock/psych band from Helsinki that was active for nine years, starting in 1969. In 1972, the band debuted with the popular People No Names album on Finnlevy. Between 1975 and 1977, the band released two further albums on Hi-Hat. Members: Juha “Lido” Salonen (guitar, bass, vocals), Beaver Aitto-Oja (drums, 1969), Remu […]
Carpe Diem was a French space-rock band that released two albums on Arcane/Crypto between 1975 and 1977. Members: Christian Truchi (organ, synthesizer, piano, lead vocals), Gilbert Abbenanti (guitar, 1970-77), Alain Bergé (bass, 1970-77), Claude Méchard (drums, 1970-74), Claude “Marius” David (soprano saxophone, flute, percussion, 1974-79), Alain Faraut (drums, percussion, 1974-79), Georges Ferrero (bass, 1977-79), Gérald […]
