Stegzy's Music Project

A commentary on Stegzy's album collection

Jun 1

Aladdin – Rotary Connection [#672]

by stegzy

Rotary Connection’s Aladdin, released in 1968 lay unlistened to in my music library for several years. I can’t actually remember ever listening to it before and I believe that I had actually deleted it in one of the pre-music project tidyups.

But wow. What a first listen I had.

It’s kind of like a concept album but, I don’t think it is intentionally. The songs are like they have been ripped from a Broadway show like Hair or straight from a long forgotten film akin to Barbarella – only Aladdin.

Aladdin is the band’s second album, the first being the eponymous Rotary Connection – they only released 6 albums in their time. Hailing from Chicago the band blends rock, pop and soul with a psychedelic feel. I’m fairly certain any contemporary TV show or film trying to set a 1960’s scene with music would use a bit of Rotary Connection.

The band has echoes of This Mortal Coil in that the band was formed by a label, Chess Records, to showcase talent. Only this time the musicians Bobby Simms, Mitch Aliotta and Ken Venegas were recruited from little known band Proper Strangers, seasoned with session musicians, Judy Hauff and the then receptionist Minnie Ripperton – whom you might know as the mother of US SNL’s Maya Rudolph.

These guys captured the sound of an era and I don’t think they get enough recognition. And that’s just from a few listens to this album…

‎Aladdin – Album by Rotary Connection – Apple Music

Play Aladdin by Rotary Connection on Amazon Music Unlimited

Aladdin – Compilation by Rotary Connection | Spotify

1968 Chess Psychedelic Rotary Connection

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May 17

Afflatus – The Polyphonic Spree[#671]

by stegzy

So something bollocks happened between the last entry and this one. I had been mooching about on my PC exploring a box of old hard drives I had come across which contained quite a lot of music that had, for what ever reason known only to Apple Music, removed itself from my Apple Music Library. I copied some of what I found into my iTunes – album by album – before I got bored and tried to move several at once.

Bad mistake.

In doing so, iTunes decided to rejig my library, import folders from my usual drives that I had excluded and retag around about 100 albums to be under the tags VARIOUS ARTISTS and the album GOTHIC EROTICA .

Great.

I rage quit and did not dare look at my PC’s iTunes library again for several months until such time as I had completely forgotten what I’d done, logged back in and knackered up my library even more.

Even then it took me the best part of a year to get back to some normality. In the process of re-tagging well over 1000 tracks I started to notice I had albums I had no idea that I had – moreover albums I’d never even heard of before. One such album was Afflatus by The Polyphonic Spree

Afflatus was released in 2021 which kind of indicates to me that this isn’t one I’d downloaded back in the grand old days of YoHoHoery. I can only assume that Apple Music added it out of generosity – something I’ve noticed has happened a fair bit since the great Tagging Disaster of 2025. Never the less, the album is in the library so it must be included in the music project.

The album comprises of 10 tracks – all slightly jollified Spreesque cover versions of songs such as the Bee Gee’s Could It Be Magic and Rush’s Spirit of Radio. I’m not certain if it’s because the moment of cheesy tambourine clapping uplifting music has passed, much in the same way that long haired hippy “we’re all entering a new spiritual age” 1960s music did by the 1980s or if its just a terrible album – but Afflatus really does set the cringe glands on edge.

I don’t know, to me it just feels like the band lost a little “something” after Fragile Army but I can’t really put my finger – or ear – on it.


You can buy/listen to the album on:

2021 Good Records Recordings Plastic pop Polyphonic Spree Psychedelic

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May 18

Insane Times – Various Artists [#634]

by stegzy

 

61FhX7u36eLInsane Times: 25 Psychedelic Artyfacts from the EMI Vaults is a compilation album of really odd music. I’d say completely odd but the inclusion of Bonzo Dog, Yardbirds and Kevin Ayres kind of bring the oddness down a bit. It is though, very much the Psychadelic Rock version of the folk anthology Gather in the Mushrooms. 

Amongst the bands appearing in this compilation are Mandrake Paddle Steamer, Simon Dupree & the Big Sound, The Lemon Tree and The Orange Bicycle with some oddly familiar yet new to many songs. I saw this compilation as a gateway to new-to-me and interesting acts from the psychedelic era, about the time when the Beatles were farting about with Sergeant Pepper and lots of drugs and indeed, there are subtle beginnings of some huge prog acts within this album and bands in which young prog stars cut their teeth.

Very much an interesting selection.

2007 Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band compilations Psychedelic Syd Barrett Various Artists

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Apr 24

In Ear Park – Department of Eagles [#622]

by stegzy

In Ear Park by Department of Eagles

There has been some discussion of late about the longevity of albums in the music market and how, because of the likes of Spotify (a Facebook infected platform), Apple Music and Google Play, albums have only a few years left in them. This is a discussion that people have been having for some years now, indeed, there have been discussions about why modern artists are required to provide fans with a selection of their other works when, surely just by the hard work put into making one song alone, the fans should just be thankful and worship the artist just for that one pitiful track. Kids today eh?

And why not?

Well, this is an example of where I’ve downloaded bought an entire album purely because I liked one track. Really I should come up with a tag for this kind of thing as it seems to have happened regularly.

Sometime ago, the song No One Does It Like You kept coming up on random playlists and internet radios where the software decides what music you would like. So often did it surface, I had to find out what it was from.

From the sounds of the song, I thought it had been dredged up from some 1960’s hipster compilation I had but I was mistaken, it was, in fact from the 2008 album  In Ear Park by Department of Eagles.  I suspect that the reason it kept coming up was that I’m a big fan of the 4AD label and many of the artists on that label such as Tanya Donelly, Dead Can Dance and Kristin Hersh to name but a few.

Over the years, including the recent weeks before writing this article, I’ve tried to enjoy the other tracks on the album. I don’t know what it is, but something just doesn’t gel with me. Whether that be mood, time, situation or just the fact it’s a little unfamiliar and not catchy enough beyond No One Does It Like You. 

2002 4AD Department of Eagles Folk Indie Psychedelic

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Feb 15

Hurdy Gurdy Man – Donovan [#600]

by stegzy

Donovan-The_Hurdy_Gurdy_Man

The Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan

So you’re a film producer and you are wanting to set the scene of your hippy fest movie set at the height of the 1960’s hippy movement. Or maybe you’re just a young person experimenting with retro drugs. Or perhaps you’re just old looking, with mad long Gandalf hair and matching beard dressing in army fatigues. Chances are you’re using the title song of this album to project some kind of ennui.

While Jim Morrison was riding on his storm and Hendrix was wanking his guitar. Manson and his family murdering people and John Paul George and Ringo were discovering drugs, Scottish folk artist Donovan was writing far-out folk tunes like some sort of Scottish Bob Dylan.

Legend has it that Donovan wrote the eponymous title track for his pal Mac Macleod and his band Hurdy Gurdy. However other sources, mostly Wikipedia and Donovan himself, say the song was written whilst visiting mystics in the Indian subcontinent with John Lennon, George Harrison, Mia Farrow and possibly every other Tom Dick and Harry from the music and art scenes at the time. Moreover, Donovan has performed the song with a verse he claims Harrison wrote for him so I guess there’s some truth in that.

When I obtained the album I was exploring music from the sixties looking for artists and albums I had possibly overlooked. I was already familiar with the title song so was interested in hearing other works by Donovan to see if there was any “connection”.  Sadly there wasn’t but I’ve kept it in my library purely for the “just in case” option.

1968 Donovan Epic Psychedelic Pye

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May 19

Ha Ha Sound – Broadcast [#565]

by stegzy

HahasoundWhen we last saw Broadcast, they were working with Focus Group Investigating Witch Cults in the Radio Age, a hauntological psychedelic album with a tragic epitaph.  Ha Ha Sound is Broadcast’s second studio album.

This traditionally “difficult” second album demonstrates the further development of Broadcast’s musical talent. Indeed, while lacking the finesse (and additional production from Focus Group) having heard the later Witch Cults first I was reluctant to spoil my impression of Broadcast by polluting it with earlier works. But in this instance I was rather surprised by how much I like it.

Think Portishead only 30 years ago.

 

2003 Broadcast Hauntology Psychedelic

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