Look what I've done (Think) (LP 4636)

Think  We'll Give You A Buzz (Vinyl, Think Records, 1976, reissue 2025) ****  

Genre: NZ music, Prog rock 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Stringless Provider 

Gear costume: Look What I've Done

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: Think were a rarity in the NZ music scene in the seventies. Basically, I can only think of Ragnarok as being another progressive rock outfit.  

The band was made up of five long-haired guys: Alan Badger (bass, vocals), Phil Whitehead (guitar), Neville Jess (drums), Don Mills (keyboards), Ritchie Pickett (vocals). Phil Whitehead is maybe the best known - he was also associated with Human Instinct before Think.

Think play a mix of driving rock songs (Rippoff) and long form prog (Look What I've Done, Stringless Provider) on We'll Give You A Buzz, their only album. It's those longer songs where they excel in my opinion. There they can stretch out their ideas and all are excellent musicians so the longer pieces work well.

The only weak song is the hippy-soaked social awareness of the final song - Our Children (Think About). Apart from that it's a brilliant debut.

Where do they all belong? Special mention to the awesome cover painting by Neil Vesey - perfect for prog rock NZ style.

New fang (Them Crooked Vultures) (LP 4635)

Them Crooked Vultures  Them Crooked Vultures (CD, RCA Records, 2009) ***  

Genre: Rock 

Places I remember: Hope family collection

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Dead End Friends

Gear costume: Gunman 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: Them Crooked Vultures is a modern supergroup with Queens of the Stoneage's Josh Homme (vocals, guitar), Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards), and Nirvana/ Foo Fighter's Dave Grohl (drums). While it's clearly a democracy of three equals, Josh Homme's vocals and guitar riffs dominates proceedings and means it sounds like a Queens of the Stoneage album more than anything.

Therein lies the problem and the reason I didn't rush to buy a copy back in 2009. I like a lot of Songs for the Deaf (which has Grohl on it) but the hard rock of that band doesn't especially move me to collect more of their albums.

That said, the drum sound and the bass are both massive! The riffs are generally fine and the three jell well together throughout. There are no clear standouts though in the song department.

Where do they all belong? They all went back to their day jobs after this collaboration.

Time of the season (The Zombies) (LP 4634)

The Zombies  Odessey and Oracle (Vinyl, Big Beat Records, 1968) *****  

Genre: Pop, Baroque pop. chamber pop, psychedelic rock 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Time of the Season

Gear costume: Care of Cell 44

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: The Zombies was a band that had to exist in the late sixties in England. Their time, their sound, their place (Abbey Road studios of course) - a perfect marriage.

Band members on their second album, Odessey and Oracle (the misspelling was not deliberate, but very 1968!) were: Colin Blunstone (lead vocals); Rod Argent (keyboards); Paul Atkinson (guitar); Chris White (bass); Hugh Grundy (drums). 

The recipe included a heavy dollop of Rod's mellotron and other keyboards, mix with Colin's smooth/ otherworldly lead vocals, the massed vocal harmonies, all set inside melodic rock songs that are bright (sunny) and breezy.

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Where do they all belong? The indifference that met the record meant the band broke up and Colin Blunstone's solo career and the Argent band was born. Sometimes the path reveals itself.

Sunlight (The Youngbloods) (LP 4633)

The Youngbloods  Elephant Mountain (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1969) ***  

Genre: Pop rock, folk rock, jugband

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Sunlight

Gear costume: On Sir Francis Drake

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: Reading an obit in Mojo Magazine for Jesse Colin Young (he passed away in March 2025) prompted me to search out this album after it was mentioned as a peak moment.

The Youngbloods by 1969, and this album, were down to a trio of Young, Lowell (Banana) Levinger (keyboards, guitar) and Joe Bauer on drums.

It's a pretty relaxed album with Jesse's great vocals giving the songs warmth and cohesion. However, it's the instrumentals that I tend to like the most. They are interspersed throughout the album to good effect.  

Where do they all belong? The band had that big hippy hit with Get Together in 1967. Jesse would move on to have a solo career after The Youngbloods.

Over under sideways down (The Yradbirds) (LP 4630 - 4632)

The Yardbirds  Roger the Engineer (CD, Mushroom Records, 1966, reissue 1995) ****  

The Yardbirds  The Very Best of The Yardbirds (CD, Union Square Music, 2005) **** 

The Yardbirds  The Best of The Yardbirds - Shapes of Things (2CD, Music Club Deluxe, 2010) **** 

Genre: Pop 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, second bookshop in Waipukerau)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Happenings Ten Years Time Ago

Gear costume: The Nazz Are Blue

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: I've previously included a post on my four Yardbirds singles, now it's time to feature their albums, but that's tricky.

Given the revolving door of genius guitarists (Clapton > Beck > Page) the idea of being a stable band is a luxury the band never had. The other problems were: starting with a live album (Five Live Yardbirds); having albums released in America but not the UK (For Your Love and Having a Rave Up); not having a Lennon/McCartney type writing presence; plus having a string of hit singles! But that was the early sixties for you!

All that said, The Yardbirds occupy a special place in rock history. Simply put - no one sounded like their unique blend of the blues, R&B and pop smarts.

The Yardbirds band members: Chris Dreja (rhythm guitar, bass), passed away last year; vocalist/harmonica player Keith Relf passed away in 1976; while Paul Samwell-Smith (bass) and Jim McCarty (drums) are still alive and well. Of the famous guitar trio - Jeff Beck passed away in 2023; Eric and Jimmy are still going strong.

Roger the Engineer (A.K.A. Yardbirds; A.K.A. Over Under Sideways Down) is their 1966 album that sounds like it was recorded yesterday (or 1977). It is a superb amalgam of all their talents (Jeff Beck being the guitarist du jour). It contains all original material which is often forgotten, and while being a bit inconsistent, it is still their best album.

Aside from Roger the other two albums are, more or less, essential compilations. The Very Best of The Yardbirds takes a largely chronological approach (Stroll On from Blow Up is tagged onto the end - no complaints - I love that song and film), Therefore, it includes amongst its 20 songs a number of early live tracks, belters like Train Kept A Rollin', For Your Love and Jeff's Blues, but also contains the terrible Hang on Sloopy.

The Best of The Yardbirds - Shapes of Things doubles the song count over its 2CD format. That expansion obviously gives a fuller picture of the band and as it largely ignores the live tracks, the two CD compilations work well together.

Where do they all belong? Under Jimmy Page's stewardship, the band would eventually become The New Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin, and so it's great to see the progression to that seminal band via these albums.

Fly (The Wishing Tree) (LP 4629)

The Wishing Tree Ostara (CD, Edel Records, 2009) ****  

Genre: Prog rock, folk rock

Places I remember: FOPP

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles/ Gear costume: Falling (on YouTube)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: The Wishing Tree is a side project for Marillion's ace guitarist Steve Rothery plus singer Hannah Stobart and Paul Craddick (from the prog rock band Enchant) who is also Hannah's husband. Ostara is their second album. 

Hannah has a beautiful, distinctive voice in the floaty folky Celtic tradition. The whole album perfectly captures the special chemistry between Rothery and Stobart - their talents mesh beautifully.

Where do they all belong? The project ended with this second album as Rothery returned to Marillion duties.

Nothing left to lose (Everything But The Girl) (LP 4625 - 4628)

Everything But The Girl  At Maida Vale (BBC Maida Vale Sessions) (Vinyl, BBC Records, 2024) ***** 

Mike Oldfield  Hergest Ridge - The 1974 Demo (Vinyl, Mercury Records, 2024) **** 

Ringo Starr  Long Long Road (CD, UME Records, 2026) ***

The Moody Blues  Say It With Love (Vinyl, UME Records, 2026) ***

Genre: Alt Pop, Prog rock, Beatle pop

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Choose Love (Ringo)

Gear costume: Long Long Road (Ringo)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: The Everything But The Girl EP At Maida Vale, The Moody Blues EP, and the Mike Oldfield album were in the Record Store Day reduced price bin at JB. I find the prices on the Record Store Day releases to be crazily out of my reach so I was delighted to find these three items selling for sensible prices.

At Maida Vale has the duo working on four mood pieces - nothing pacey going on but Tracey Thorn's vocals are a treat at any speed. Ben Watt's music is sympatico with the lyrics, the 2am vibe, and Tracey's vocals.

Single is the only song that didn't appear on the parent album Fuse. It fits in well to the EP which is superb on every level.

The Mike Oldfield 1974 demo to his second album Hergest Ridge is wonderful. This could have been released in this form quite easily. Mike plays all the instruments in these recordings from The Beacon studio in Herefordshire before heading to The Manor for the final recordings. The man's a genius!

I played Hergest Ridge straight after it and it's great to compare the two. The demo lays out the path, and the proper album follows that path with gusto by adding further instruments from guest musicians (snare drum, trumpet), strings and voices.

Ringo's latest continues in the country genre with similar approach and personnel to his previous record (Look Up). He does stray from that approach once, on a re-recording of Choose Love from his 2005 album (which is, incidentally, my favourite song here). 

It's an okay album, a couple of mawkish love songs detract a little but the rest is standard weepy country territory. On the whole it's not a peak like Look Up was, but it's hard to be niggly. Ringo is 85 and still firing so good luck to him. 

BTW, I decided on a CD copy because the vinyl version was nearly three times the price at close to $90. That's crazy!

My final purchase was another Record Store Day special - a 12 inch single of The Moody Blues' Say It With Love. That and two songs on the B-side (The Story in Your Eyes/ Steppin' in a Slide Zone) are live versions taken from Days of Future Passed Live.

Where do they all belong? There are still a couple of albums in JB Hi Fi's Record Store Day bins that I have my eyes on (Yes and Joni Mitchell) but they are much more expensive items, so we'll see.

Stop press: I did pick those up when JB had a 20% off sale last weekend.