Creeper Lagoon - Take Back The Universe And Give Me Yesterday (2001)

This album is a request from my bro Dylan. This is Creeper Lagoon's second album. I think it rules a little bit, and apparently David Cross does too. Did I say that in my other Creeper Lagoon post? Probably, but I'm drunk at a family dinner right now so I don't really care.

Tracklist:
1. Chance Of A Lifetime
2. Wrecking Ball
3. Sunfair
4. She Loves Me Not
5. Up All Nights
6. Naked Days
7. Under The Tracks
8. Dead Man Saloon
9. Hey Sister
10. Cellophane
11. Keep From Moving
12. Lover's Leap
13. Here We Are

Download: mediafire

The Flame - The Flame (1970)

The Flame are most well-known for their connection to The Beach Boys. Al Jardine saw them play at a bar one night, and thought they were so good that he brought Carl Wilson to see them the next night. Carl also liked them, so he invited them to LA to record an album for Brother Records, which Carl produced. Two of the members, Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar, also became short-term members of The Beach Boys, playing on 2 studio albums and 1 live album.

This album's pretty good, sounds kind of like the late-60's Beatles.

Tracklist:
1. See The Light
2. Make It Easy
3. Hey Lord
4. Lady
5. Don't Worry, Bill
6. Get Your Mind Made Up
7. Highs And Lows
8. I'm So Happy
9. Dove
10. Another Day Like Heaven
11. See The Light (Reprise)

Download: megaupload

The Beach Boys - Sunflower (European Pressing) (1970)

This album is often critically acclaimed as The Beach Boys creative re-birth. I'm not sure if I agree with that statement entirely, as I don't really think The Beach Boys released any bad music at all before this album, if anything, their most creative period was in the years right before before this album. Though after Pet Sounds, Smile, and Smiley Smile, this album does show The Beach Boys as a fully working band again, and a return to the style of songs they were recording in the mid-60's, similar in sound and feel to albums like "Today!" and "Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!!)".

This is ripped from a European pressing of the vinyl, which includes a recording of "Cottonfields", alternate to the version found on "20/20".




Tracklist:
1. Cottonfields
2. Slip On Through
3. This Whole World
4. Add Some Music To Your Day
5. Deirdre
6. Got To Know The Woman
7. It's About Time
8. Tears In The Morning
9. All I Wanna Do
10. Forever
11. Our Sweet Love
12. At My Window
13. Cool, Cool Water

Download: megaupload

Taylor Swift covers "God Only Knows".

Like it or love it (I personally like it, besides all the screaming fans), it's cool to see someone sharing this music with a younger audience. The sing-a-long part at the end rules. Also, she has "Don't worry baby, everything will be alright" written down her arm.

Annette - Muscle Beach Party (1964)

This album was the soundtrack to Annette Funicello's 1964 movie Muscle Beach Party. It's pretty much by the books surf-girl-pop. Brian Wilson get's a recording credit on 3 tracks on this album, and Gary Usher gets writing credits on almost all of the album. Rumors are that Brian Wilson produced this album, as well as providing backing vocals with The Honeys, however I can't really find any proof of that on the internet.

Here's what Beach Boys historian Andrew G. Doe has to say about it: "Depending on who you listen to, and when, the two Wilson/Usher cuts are either self-recording with no BW involvement or the original soundtrack recordings, co-produced by Brian and with him helping out on the bvs. if I had to come down one side or the other, I'd have to say "re-recordings"."

I think it's a pretty fun album, has a definite early 60's Brian Wilson/Phil Spector feel to it. Though keep in mind it's the soundtrack to a Disney album so all the songs are very, very tame, but still nothing like you'd expect from a teens album now-a-days. This is taken from a mono pressing.

Tracklist:
1. Muscle Beach Party
2. A Girl Needs A Boy
3. Surfer's Holiday
4. I Dream About Frankie
5. Muscle Bustle
6. Merlin Jones
7. Custom City
8. Draggin' U.S.A.
9. Rebel Rider
10. Waikiki
11. Shut Down Again
12. The Scrambled Egghead

Download: megaupload

The Bee Gees - 1st (1967)

It seems like quite a few pretty/really good psych bands/musicians/producers from the 1960's eventually ended up making disco. As you all know, Curt Boettcher was huge into disco in the decade following his genius sunshine pop productions, The Beach Boys dabbled in disco on LA Light Album (with the help of Curt Boettcher, or uhh... Becher), if you look back a few posts on this blog, you'll see The Flower Pot Men, who were a great sunshine pop band in the 1960's, and eventually partially became First Class, who still kept their sunshine pop sound but implemented tons of disco sounds into their music, and these examples just barely scratch the surface. What you might not know though, is that some of the hugest disco acts of the 1970's, also started as psych bands in the 1960's. The Bee Gees are the perfect example of one of those bands.

Sounds similar to The Hollies, The Tremeloes, and Revolver-era Beatles. Though it sounds like a lot of other psych-pop albums, it's still a good album, and it's interesting to hear pre-disco-love-ballad The Bee Gees.

Tracklist:
1. Turn Of The Century
2. Holiday
3. Red Chair Fade Away
4. One Minute Woman
5. In My Own Time
6. Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You
7. Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy Of Arts
8. New York Mining Disaster 1941
9. Cucumber Castle
10. To Love Somebody
11. I Close My Eyes
12. I Can't See Nobody
13. Please Read Me
14. Close Another Door

Download: megaupload

The Crazy People - Bedlam (1968)

The Crazy People is very similar to the Victims Of Chance LP. Not much is known about this album. It was recorded in Burnaby, British Columbia in 1968 and released on the small Condor Records label. The main theory behind this album is that it was produced and written by Johnny Kitchen and recorded by Canadian studio musicians, though the sleeve says it was produced by "Jean Daniel Productions and Jack Millman - Music Industried". Again, one theory is that Johnny Kitchen may have been Tandyn Almer, though it's unknown for sure. Just like The Victims Of Chance, this record is a hodge-podge of weirdness and psychedelic sound collages. If you listen closely, in one of the songs they mention The Victims Of Chance in the lyrics.

Tracklist:
1. Parade At The Funny Farm
2. Head Amusement
3. Raunchy Boog-A-Loo
4. After Six
5. The Truth
6. Head Games And Other Assorted Crap
7. Head Job
8. Happy Academy
9. Trans Luv Airlines
10. Let's Split

Download: megaupload