Even though this is the third review we write about the trips we still have very few details of how the selection is made. Now this new one brings us some more light about Brown Acid. There is a cohesive line among the recordings. The are all obscure or lost recordings that the internet era made possible to dig somewhere and somehow. How they get the recordings wasn’t not clear yet. Now we know that Lance Barresi, owner of L.A.-based Permanent Records and Permanent Records Roadhouse has shown incredible persistence in tracking down a stellar collection of rare singles from the 60s and 70s for the growing compilation series. Partnered with Daniel Hall of RidingEasy Records, the two have assembled a selection of songs that’s hard to believe have remained unheard for so long. All tracks are proto-metal, pre-stoner rock tracks.
Ok, then. So, let’s start from the end with Raven’s “Mad Jam” a track that tells a lot about the 1960s music. First, the song has an insane drum solo maybe inspired by Iron Butterfly’s “In-a-gadda-da-vida” one of the longest drum solos of the history of rock. I guess this drum solo tells a lot about the band and how it’s so near to Metal music. Pay attention to the bass drums that remind me Kiss’s Peter Criss’s drum solo in “Alive I.” It’s eight minute trip is a nice picture of how music was thought in that time. The guitar riffings are clean and short. The ain riff is repeated for a long time intertwined by an acid and pungent guitar solo that lasts a long time as well. The acoustic guitar gives the tone and that’s the more contrasting thing of it all. Opening track has the same dynamic with acoustic guitars contrasting with fierceful guitar solos fulled with fuzzy and some whammy bars. “Fever Games” is worth for its guitar solos and bass lines. It’s great to see from where Metal guitars evolved. There is also a drum solo in the end of the song that highlights the drumming. “I’ve Been You” is introduced with a fuzzy guitar giving the tone which, however, is changed by the melodic 1960s standard vocals. It’s worth for the guitars again and the space noise in the middle of everything giving an insane mood. It seems the the fuzzy guitars are the link among all tracks because Liquid Blue’s “Henry Can’t Drive” deals with it as well. The highlight here is the keyboard and rhythm guitar moodings that would be made famous by initial Uriah Heep’s albums. The sonancy here is very near of what Uriah Heep were doing at the same time. Proto Uriah Heep music if this term exists.
Brown Acid Fourteenth Trip is a great iniciative for the ones like me love the acid driven music of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Let’s wait for some more.
Brown Acid Fourteenth Trip will be released on April 22nd via RidingEasy Records.
Track Listing:
- Fever Games
- I’ve Been You
- Henry Can’t Drive
- Signs
- Need a Friend
- Play It Cool
- You’re Not the Only Girl (I’m Out to Get)
- I’m Tired
- Mad Jam
Watch “Henry Can’t Drive” official video here:
