HIGH BIAS -- reissues

High Bias refreshed

THE FROST
The Best of the Frost
(Vanguard)
The Frost was one of Detroit's most popular bands in the late 60s, a hardworking rock & roll outfit that fits in with that city's tradition of loud guitar rock. Led by future Alice Cooper/Lou Reed guitarist Dick Wagner, the Frost was less political than the MC5 and less anarchic than the Stooges. Its blues-based take on hard rock had more in common with Motor City contemporaries the Rationals and the Bob Seger System and its forebears Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels than with the proto-punk vanguard with which it's most associated. The Frost recorded three albums for Vanguard without much national success, though they remained a big draw in the Midwest. The Best of the Frost is actually a live album recorded at Detroit's famed Grande Ballroom in 1969; it's unclear from the liner notes whether or not this is the same session that produced the Frost's second album Rock and Roll Music. It doesn't matter, really; either way this record is likely to be many listeners' first and only exposure to the Frost. Tracks like "Black As Night," "Sweet Lady Love," the rootsy "Black Train" and "Take My Hand/Mystery Man" (which betrays a bit of a prog influence—very innovative for 1969) are given enthusiastic performances, with the three vocalists trading off R&B-inspired wails. Of course, Wagner loads up the arrangements with plenty of incendiary picking; his melodic but still raucous playing here pretty much justifies his rep as one of the most underrated guitarists of the 60s and 70s. Unfortunately the songwriting, while not bad per se, is fairly colorless; few of the tunes will stick with you after they end. And the band succumbs to the typical excess of the time, i.e. stretching some of the songs out beyond endurance; if it's your dream to hear a 17-minute cover of the Animals' "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," you can fulfill that wish here. Otherwise, unless you're absolutely obsessed with underground 60s rock, you can live fairly content without The Best of the Frost. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Blue Cheer, Cream, the MC5

SPIRIT
The Best of Spirit
(Ode/Epic/Legacy)
Spirit isn't a name that comes immediately to most people's lips when asked about great bands of the 60s, and it really should. The L.A. outfit, in least in its original form, was a great amalgamator, effortlessly blending elements of rock, pop, blues, jazz, folk and even classical into an accessible, artistic hybrid. The band scored a hit with the catchy, to-the-point "I Got a Line On You," but otherwise dwelt mainly in the shadows of the pop industry, a well-regarded cult act. Once the original lineup splintered (singer Jay Ferguson to solo albums and soundtrack work, keyboardist John Locke to occasional session work and obscurity, bassist Mark Andes to Jo Jo Gunne, Firefall, Heart, Robert Mirabal and Jon Dee Graham), the band's reason to be was pretty much gone, though that didn't stop guitarist Randy California and drummer Ed Cassidy from keeping Spirit going until California's death by drowning a couple of years ago. The founding lineup put out four classic albums, Spirit, The Family That Plays Together, Clear and The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, before the 60s were over, and those albums are summarized on 1973's The Best of Spirit. It's a good mixture of straight rockers ("Line," "Mr. Skin," "Morning Will Come," "1984") and the quintet's more ambitious mini-movements (the quirky "Animal Zoo," "Nature's Way," the orchestral "Fresh Garbage") and does a good job of displaying the band's broad range and impeccable sense of melody. This edition tacks on five more cuts from their albums, including the enigmatic "Silky Sam," bluesy "Aren't You Glad," jamming "I'm Truckin'," soaring "So Little Time to Fly" and spacey "Taurus," an acoustic California instrumental. Diehard fans won't be satisfied with anything less than the original albums, especially since there are no unreleased or rare tracks here, but casual fans and neophytes would do well to include The Best of Spirit in their well-rounded music collections. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Traffic, Al Kooper, the Pretty Things

THE YOUNGBLOODS
Rock Festival
Ride the Wind
Good and Dusty
High On a Ridge Top
(Sundazed)
The Youngbloods have gone down in history as one-hit wonders, thanks to the ubiquitous hippie anthem "Get Together." But the band made over half a dozen records in the late 60s and early 70s, and is still fondly recalled by survivors of the era. These four remastered albums represent the group's 70s output, originally issued on its own Raccoon imprint via Warner Bros. Riding high on the success of "Get Together" and reduced to the trio of drummer Joe Bauger and singer/songwriters Jesse Colin Young and Lowell "Banana" Levinger, the Youngbloods specialized in laid-back, lightly psychedelized folk rock, perfect for the post-hippy era when soft rock was beginning to take hold of the airwaves and contemporaries like the Byrds, the Lovin' Spoonful and the Cyrkle were either gone or in decline. The 'bloods never had much major impact outside of its hit and its loyal cult following, though, and these albums make it clear why.

The live Rock Festival was originally released in 1970. The album meanders along amiably, never going out of its way to offend but never chasing excitement either. Banana occasionally shines on the electric piano, but his guitar work is less than stellar, and Young's busy basslines aren't enough to compensate. Both singers are competent, with Young's tenor standing out more than Banana's crusty baritone, but neither man is particularly distinctive vocally. The mixture of plotless instrumental interludes and actual songs simply lays there for whoever may come across them; mellow tunes like "It's a Lovely Day," "On Beautiful Lake Spenard" and the interminably long "Josiane" must have been the hippy rock festival equivalent of chill-out music, since it's impossible to imagine them quickening anyone's pulse. The trio's take on Jimmy Reed's "Peepin' and Hidin'" (AKA "Baby What You Want Me to Do") falls flatter than a pancake after a steamroller attack, and what possible justification was there for including the pathetic improvisation "Ice Bag," which doesn't even earn any applause from the otherwise-adoring audience? The record sounds like a random collection of pieces that just happened to find their way onto tape, with little rhyme or reason or connecting thread other than that they were performed by the same band. Rock Festival is the very definition of aimlessness. [buy it]

Also originally released in 1970, Ride the Wind, though recorded on stage at different New York venues, might as well be called Rock Festival Pt. 2. It's another batch of pointless lazy meanderings, only the songs are even longer. The opening nine-and-a-half minute "Ride the Wind" is all Young crooning and Banana soloing to little effect. Banana's enervated noodling on both the Rhodes and his guitar sounds like the work of a man who just wants to collect his paycheck and groupies when he comes offstage. The cornpone "Sugar Babe," complete with kazoo solo, at least has the advantage of being short, and the album includes a perfunctory "Get Together," for those who might still care. But "Sunlight," "Beautiful" and a cover of Fred Neil's "The Dolphin" stretch their laid-back good vibes beyond endurance, making this a listening experience that would be execrable if it weren't so damned dull. [buy it]

1971's Good and Dusty is a return to the studio, but not to good taste. Sure, it's nice to know these boys have plenty of soul and country records in their collections, but what possessed them to think they could do justice to songs from them? "That How Strong My Love Is" gets a tasteful, reverent arrangement, but the limp guitar solo and Young's soul-less singing sinks it. The brutal folk/blues tune "Stagger Lee," the theme of which was about to be acted out on screen in acclaimed African American crime films like Shaft and Superfly, is turned into a jaunty singalong, as if Young and the rest of the band were non-English speakers with no clue what the lyrics mean. The band's takes on "Let the Good Times Roll," "I'm a Hog For You Baby" and Sonny Boy Williamson's "Pontiac Blues" smother any sense of groove or passion under Young's hippy mellowosity. His original blues "Drifting and Drifting" almost works, but it's undercut by the total lack of urgency or soul in the band's performance. The 'bloods fare a bit better on the country tunes; Banana's "Hippie From Olema #5" is actually a pretty funny riposte to Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee," and the band's sleepy vibe isn't completely at odds with the classic "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." But that's no excuse for the evisceration the Youngbloods give the R&B numbers. Good and Dusty should be titled Vile and Stinky. [buy it]

The Youngbloods' final album, High On a Ridge Top features yet more covers of classic R&B and rock songs, with only a single original, Young's fine pop tune "Dreamboat." Apparently the songwriting well had dried up; no wonder the band split after this record. Shockingly, it's not all bad. (Mostly, but not all.) Treating the doo-wop oldie "Speedo" and Taj Mahal's arrangement of Yank Rachell's "She Caught the Katy and Left Me a Mule To Ride" as straight folk rock works much better than the combo's previous limp R&B emulations, and turning the Big Bopper's "Running Bear" into a peppy blues tune almost obscures the song's essential silliness. But there are still far more missteps than graceful glides. The band strives for gospel purity on Dylan's "I Shall Be Released," but their whitebread lack of passion saps it of any significance. Banana's attempts at Jimmy Reed ("Going By the River") and the Beatles ("She Came In Through the Bathroom Window") suffer from the band's usual laid-back laziness, and the two (!) Ritchie Valens covers are utterly pointless. And it's best not to contemplate Young's dope-hazed desecration of Robert Johnson's "Kind Hearted Woman," though the mandolin solo is a nice touch—where was that inspiration on the rest of the record? Judging by High On a Ridge Top, the Youngbloods couldn't break up soon enough. [buy it]

It's always valuable to re-evaluate the music of the past, especially that from a fertile period like the 60s and early 70s; you never know when you may rediscover a great band thought lost. Based on the evidence of these four reissues, the Youngbloods are most emphatically not one of those bands. Michael Toland

For fans of: the Lovin' Spoonful, Seals and Crofts, Pure Prairie League