Marillion

Jugguler was a fusion band in Chicago during the early-mid '80s.  They featured great jazz muscians and a juggler.  Yes, a juggler.  He juggled throughout their shows. 

It was entertaining, but it was the wrong style at the wrong time.  I got to know the keyboardist pretty well.  That dude could really play.

dmbaer


Grahm Parker (mostly "and the Rumor").  Not unknown by any means but never huge.

Indeed.  

+1 Anvil.
I'd also add the Dan Reed Network, Fishbone, October Project, the Posies, the Zombies, and finally MY FRICKIN' BAND!

BenMMusTech


Even though these guys (make that one guy and one ego) are on the cusp T-Rex, they were huge in England but didn't registar a blip in the US and this is such a travisty because, you think of the hits, Children of The Revolution, We Love to Boogie, 20th Century Boy, Get it On, Telegram Sam, Metal Guru.

Then his wife drove him into a tree in his mini, and the irony, there is, all the songs he wrote about cars.

Also try his accoustic duo before he became T-Rex, Tyrannosaurus Rex, hunt down Wind Quartet, it will make you weep and if you want to piss yourself laughing try Dwarven Trumpet Blues.

Marc Bolen was taught guitar by Eric Clapton, and you should see him in his only movie: Ringo Star and Marc Bolen in a forest (I think Ringo's forest) served and this is for all you english heads being served by none other than Catweazle, classic.

So if you are american, check out T-Rex and Tyrannosaurus Rex, Marc Bolen, stole Glam (the look) from Syd Barret and David Bowie style the glam music style from Marc Bolen.

Love Marc Bolen

Neb 

Si senor
Get it on was called Bang the gong in the US as Get it on was too racey (bollocks)

Trapeze

Trying to watch now but it keeps stopping every five seconds for five seconds...

Anyway, I had completely forgotten about this band and am glad you posted!  I always liked that song (and a few others they had).  I think I've got a CD of theirs, I need to look...

Yep - I either have this (as a CD) or had it (as an LP).  I found a reference in one of my old lists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAl1nrRqSVg]This as another hit from them.  Wouldn't mind listening to that whole album again...

OK, I'm listening to Those Who Are About To Die Salute You


Did Colosseum write Whiter Shade of Pale? or did they just rename it Beware the Ides of March for the fun of it?

Wait, I get it... it just segued into a Santana jam.

Jazz Music.

:-)

bitflipper


I nominate Toronto's Klaatu, whose 1977 concept album "Hope" I consider to be in the same league with "Dark Side of the Moon". The band had great songwriting, great musicianship, but only bumped the charts a couple times and never had a big hit.

Honorable mention to Coliseum, a British blues/rock band with extraordinary musicianship that enjoyed brief popularity in England and Germany in the early 70's but is hardly known at all in North America. Saw them live in Munich, 1971. Best live concert I ever saw in Europe, and that includes some killer live acts such as Deep Purple, ELP and the Moody Blues.

I have to agree on Klaatu.  I love the album with Calling Occupants, Anus from Uranus, Little Neutrino...


I always thought XTC should have gained substantial notoriety in the West but they didn't.  Andy was such a great songwriter in his time.  


I don't know that they should have been huge, but I love Hawkwind.   

Todd Rundgren - I have seen him multiple times and never in a big arena. And he has ventured from hard rock to prog to pop to electronica.  And he was a hella producer.  

Hi,

I can list too many here ... many of which some of you already know and might have given a listen to, via some of my words.

I have never been influenced by commercial and popular music only, probably because of my finding out about music in 3 different countries (Portugal, Brazil and then America) in what amounts to 3 continents and culture chages. The end result is ... that you know something about the vibe of music and its "source", that is not an idea, or a style ... it's a passion of the spirit.

Thus, the strong music that lives and dies that spirit is the stuff that I live for the most, and because of the power and strength in those feelings, a lot of these bands will never get listed in a top ten, because of the sugar'd up nature of most popular music that wets your appetite.

However, I was born into a time and place that had many different things, and arts, and music, and ... things that were not Elvis or John Wayne, and it meant that I understood better things like Bunuel, Picasso, and Matisse, than I did "A Star is Born" ... which to me was candy cane, compared to the others -- until Dali made fun of it in Playboy, of course!

That said:

Carmen - From LA, of all places, and an insane rocking flamenco thing that had a magnificent guitarist and gave Jethro Tull it's bass player until he passed away a few years later. Massive 3 albums. Very romantic (in literary tradition) and beautifully done all around.

Guru Guru - The mother of free form rock trios. If you ever listen to the first 4 albums (until Dance of the Flames), you will never find a more insane guitar based power trio. And to me, this always has been what Jimi would have done, if he had the chance. And the drummer is one of the best rock drummers ever, and he doesn't do "rhythm" ... or backbone. Very playful, and the political base and satire is not always visible, but if you ever hear that one song at the end of "Tango Fango" you will know who "their God" is ... if only we had an appreciation for its mention by anyone else!

Sadistic Mika Band -- Fell apart after Chris Thomas (producer for Roxy Music) took away Mika, but in the meantime there were 3 albums that were delightful and excellent. And the psychedelic standards from the first album are amazing, but not something that Bapu would listen to on his Sunday Evenings! Too much Am beer!

Capability Brown -- 2 albums in the old Harvest label, and one of the prettiest versions of the song "Liar" you will ever hear. Also one of Hipgnosis finest album covers on the 2nd album ("Voice") and an amazing long piece in there of electric folk rock magnificence.

Byzantium -- A rather unknown band that had 2 albums, and they were both really good and unusual. The first one might be considered pop music, but it's flow is beautiful and very neatly written and designed. Absolutely lovely music all the way through.

Roy Harper -- Fitting as the outspoken bandit in all of these, the strength in his words and music is not always appreciated. If you have not heard "Jugula +4", "Lifemask", or "Stormcock", or "Headquarters" or "The Unknown Soldier" ... 'nuff said! One of the very nice things not always known is that Jimmy is all over these albums too, as is Gilmour and many others.

Amon Duul 2 -- Not something for the commercially minded folks at all. Very difficult band to get into and one of those that all of its life refused to give in to a lot of commercial definitions and in many cases flipped a finger to it. This attitude is not quite appreciated, specially in a place like this where the music is so formulaic and not defined in terms of the experience as it is in terms of a "song" format. This is not a cirticism of the tastes here. It's just a comment about a different perception and way to go about things, that many are not capable of foind.  Not too many folks can sit through an expose of this band from Phallus Dei (a massive attack on the stupidity of the commune thing where sex was the rule, or the party!), to Yeti (which you can think of aliens arriving or simply the most amazing guitar trip ever put together as an improvisation), to Dance of the Lemmings (way out there!) and then spend some time listening to one of the most amazing rock albums ever written in Wolf City ... and finish it off with Mozambique or Apocaliptyc Bore ... not many folks can appreciate the fighting spirit in those pieces and what they stood for, and how the "old days" died off ... as Apocaliptyc Bore suggested, mired in drugs, ideas and movies -- not reality!

Many more ... many more.

Alan Stivell -- does not get enough recognition for his work because of the sugaredup Ennia stuff that puts "Celtic" way back 10k years. The much more modern and experiential work of Alan Stivell is not appreciated enough!

All in all, the American psychedelic scene in California and New York in the 60's and 70's need to get some better documentation and work done, because too much of that music is lost in drugs and sex and ... the Fillmore! It was a lot of those long cuts and extensions in music that set off Europe music as well, and helped develop it into something ... that many of us ... still don't listen to!

Great post, Moshkiae. Not everybody puts so much thought into a CH post. Some names I haven't heard in a long time and some I've never heard of at all.

I could not find Carmen on Amazon...probably a bad idea to give your band the same name as a famous opera, at least for online searches. I did find "Carmen Elektra's Aerobic Striptease", which sounds interesting.

Del Amitri were one of my favourites, and I think they were more or less a one-hit wonder in the US (Roll to Me). They had some perfectly crafted pop/rock songs, and I always thought they should have been bigger.

Always The Last to Know

Driving With the Brakes On

(a country hit for someone else I think)

Some Other Sucker's Parade

Hi,

More on this:

NY ... is by far one of the strangest and weirdest of places, and as big as it was, and as much fame it had in the art department, going as far as Warhol, for example, you can also get to the literature of the day and the massive listing of folks with it ... and then you get the music area ... you only know about Lou Reed ... not even Velvet Underground ... maybe John Cale ... and maybe ... although it is later something or other about Iggy Pop and then ... later ... The Ramones. Maybe a little Patti Smith if you like different things ... but Patti does not really talk about the music around there, except that Bob Dylan was God and ... this and that ... although she does talk about the "royalty" in the business, but she never mentions names!

By comparison, London is unreal in terms of how many you can name in all of these arts, and so is Paris, for that matter, and Germany is out of this world ...

I think it points to the media killing these arts (the 60's) in America ... sort of like the way that American History books, for the longest times had nothing on the American Indian or the Black history ... this has changed somewhat, but in the end, the history that was killed, prevents you and I from learning a lot of things about ourselves and those around us ... and this is specially important in the arts! The different feelings that bring it all out for us ... that we had not thought about!
 
That's what all this music and art is all about for me!

A couple of local groups that I thought could have made it....

Thundermug...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4RxO0m_tNM

Demics...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwfkpW63Nj8