Saturday, January 16, 2010

Zooom! glitter/teenybopper/top forty band



Can we get these Zoom tapes released! Roger "Flash" Mansour was the drummer for the great Vagrants, whose role in the life of a young Johnny Ramone is documented here. The Vagrants as everyone knows were at one time the kings of Long Island. Check out a young Leslie West ripping it up poolside.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

new faces, new sounds on the ROCK SCENE/Planets 1976 Demos


Binky Phillips has one of the better names in rock. Kicking around since the early 70's, the Planets were one of the mainstays of the early to late 70's NYC scene. Picked as one of the ones to watch by Rock Scene in 1973 (see barn archive image with early lineup), we coulda, woulda, shoulda had one of the better mid-70s high energy rock lps. These demos featuring singer Tally (who was compared to Arthur Lee by the broadcaster in DC playing these demos on air in '76), has some good power pop moves straight outta Artful Dodger. I suggest that the rhythm section's freakbeat execution in "Come on Up" is so good to be confused with its English brethren which at that time was only about ten years away from its heyday. Here are two demos - "Come on Up" and "Lexington Avenue" from (unbelievably) 35 years ago: