Rarebird's Rock and Roll Nest

On Record Store Day Black Friday in 2018, Columbia/Legacy issued a vinyl LP titled Rare Power, containing nine rare tracks related to Iggy And The Stooges’ 1973 pre-punk classicRaw Power. Five of the tracks were outtakes from that album’s sessions; two tracks were alternate Iggy Pop mixes of album tracks, and one track was recorded during a 1973 rehearsal. Those eight tracks were previously included on a Limited Deluxe Edition of Raw Power which was only available through the Iggy And The Stooges website in 2010. The other track on Rare Power is a previously unreleased remix of “Gimme Danger” by TV/film/app music composer Josh Mobley. The LP was limited to 3,000 copies. Rare Power will not disappoint fans of Raw Power, as it contains a generous helping of the same garage-based hard rock that pre-figured the punk rock ethos.

The outtakes offer more of the primitive pre-punk nihilism found on Raw Power. “I’m Hungry”, “I Got A Right”, and “Hey, Peter” possess the type of dumb, reckless …

The original Alice Cooper band played a surprise reunion show on October 6, 2015 at the indie music store Good Records in Dallas, Texas. Four-fifths of the original lineup – singer Vincent Furnier (whom we now know as Alice Cooper the solo artist), rhythm guitarist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith – performed for a crowd of approximately 200 people. Ryan Roxie took the place of original lead guitarist Glen Buxton, who passed away in 1997. The seven songs performed by this lineup made up the longest set the original band had performed in 40 years. For the Black Friday Record Store Day in 2016, a limited edition 7-inch single was issued, containing two songs ("I'm Eighteen" and "Is It My Body") from that performance. Two years later, on Record Store Day Black Friday in 2018, a full-length 12-inch LP was issued under the same title Live From The Astroturf, with the same cover art, containing the full concert. The LP was limited to 3,00…

For Record Store Day Black Friday 2018, the alternative rock band Garbage released a 7-inch, 33 1/3 RPM single titled "Destroying Angels", the A-side of which the band co-wrote, co-produced, and co-recorded with John Doe and Exene Cervenka of the veteran L.A. punk band X. The single was pressed in magenta and white vinyl, and was limited to 3,000 copies.

The A-side "Destroying Angels" is an eerie Gothic murder ballad done in the Garbage way, with heavy electronic textures added to the sounds of piano, violin, drums and accordion. Lead singer Shirley Mansion sings most of the verses, building tension with the gruesome storyline, until Doe and Cervenka join in on the bridges and the chorus to add an additional dimension of spookiness. (Doe also played the bass). It's a vivid piece of musical Grand Guignol.

The B-side is an equally intriguing cover of David Bowie's "Starman" by Garbage, without the duo from X. The band recorded this cover of the …

Before Ace Frehley met Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons in 1972 and became the original lead guitarist for Kiss, Ace was a member of an unsigned band called Molimo. This six-piece band, named after an obscure African musical instrument, bore more musical resemblance to the Jefferson Airplane than to anyone else. They had a Grace Slick-like singer in Christine Murphy, and a male vocalist (Tom Ellis) who interacted with her in the Airplane's style. Molimo recorded a three-song demo acetate for RCA in 1971. This demo recording disappeared from RCA's vault, but was unexpectedly discovered in a barn full of vinyl records in upstate New York four decades later in 2014. It then sold for over $4,000 on eBay. Although the acetate recordings do show some good musicianship, particularly from Frehley and keyboardist Roy Singer, the three short demo tracks -- which are quite distorted due to the age and condition of the acetate -- are not very prepossessing. The California-style hippie rock f…

The mid-‘70’s band Mallard was formed by former members of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, after they had become fed up with working with the avant garde artist when he briefly went mainstream in 1974. Initially made up of guitarist Bill Harkleroad (aka Zoot Horn Rollo), bassist Mark Boston (aka Rockette Morton), percussionist Art Tripp III (aka Ed Marimba), and a vocalist named Sam Galpin, Mallard recorded two albums that were released in the United Kingdom. Mallard (1975) and In A Different Climate (1976) did not possess nearly the same amount of quirkiness as the works of the band members’ former leader, but they did display unique musicianship just the same.

The self-titled Mallard is a surprisingly rustic set of country-blues tracks, sometimes laced with a healthy dose of funk rhythm. It sounded as if these Magic Band refugees had fled from Southern California in favor of a wider open area of the American South, not unlike the musical route taken by Little Feat after its founde…

Reprinted from the web page at Rarebird's Rock and Roll Rarity Reviews, originally created in 1999.

Reviewed on this page:
Beatles "The Beatles Christmas Album" (Apple SBC 100) 1970 Beatles "The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl" (Capitol SMAS-11638) 1977 Beatles "Love Songs" (Capitol SKBL 11711) 1977 Beatles "Rarities" (Capitol SHAL-12060) 1980 Paul McCartney "Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)" (Capitol C2-96413) 1991 Beatles "Live at the BBC" (Apple C4 8 31796 4) 1994 Beatles "Baby It's You" EP (Apple 8 82073 2) 1995 Beatles "Free As A Bird" EP (Apple 8 82587 2) 1995 Beatles "Real Love" EP (Apple 8 82646 2) 1996
In each of the years from 1963 to 1969, the Beatles issued a flexi-disc recording of a Ch…

The 37th set of exclusive vinyl items offered to Platinum members of Third Man Records’ Vault service was mailed out to the members in September of 2018. For those who are unaware, Third Man Records is the label owned by Jack White, who is the leader of the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and is now a solo artist. The Vault service promises to deliver exclusive vinyl-only records (usually one full-length album and one 7” single) to its Platinum members every three months.

The 37th Vault package consisted of a 3-LP live album by Jack White titled Live At Third Man Records ||| Nashville & Cass Corridor. The set documented two performances at the two Third Man Records locations in Nashville and Detroit in the spring of ’18, which celebrated the release of White’s third solo album titled Boarding House Reach. The LP’s were packaged in a die-cut sleeve with interchangeable graphics, inspired by the cover art from Led Zep’s Physical Graffiti and the Stones’ Some G…