GRT (1970)

GRT (General Recorded Tape) bought Cadet in 1969, which meant they got to put out all of the Chicago talent on this classic soul album - Minnie Riperton, Ramsey Lewis, Charles Stepney, Phil Upchurch, Maurice White. As much as the classic Cadet logo and design has my heart, I have to admit that I also really dig the businesslike GRT logo.

Charles Stepney is one of my favorites. This album carries forward a noticeable soft-psych pop vibe from the Riperton's previous band, The Rotary Connection, but with a strong soul flavor. Overall it's a really satisfying listen, but it veers into moments of saccharine indulgence that I suspect inadvertently capture what was going on culturally at the time. Take for example the opening track Les Fleurs. The opening bars are understated, groovy and downright sublime. The first time I heard those opening 10 seconds of this album, I thought it might be the best piece of music I ever heard. Minnie's famous voice is impressive, but by the time it hits the first crescendo at about 1:30, I'm reaching for the volume knob. Whoa! Let's cool out a minute. The track pulls itself together with a catchy "la-la-la" ending that always sticks in my head. I think this track pretty well sums up what's going on with the big picture of the album. Killer talent, amazing moments of arranging and musicianship, but a nagging feeling that ambition is getting the best of the whole exercise. This is 1970, the 60's are over.

"The 80's will trash the 70's for garbaging the 60's." - Ed Sanders, Fame and Love in New York

Groove Merchant (1973)

This Groove Merchant label has several notable elements: the nice overall layout; the cool circular Groove Merchant logo; and, the fact that this label says "Two Giant Organs Come Together." Yikes. (On the sleeve, the title is, "Giants of the Organ Come Together," which is somewhat less obscene.)

Blue Note (1969)

A later Blue Note style. I think the curved text looks great on here.

Hannibal (1981)

Reprise (1966)

Nice colors and great smoke on the classic Reprise label.

Prophesy (1972)

I'm a fan of the crisp silhouette and color scheme on this label. Reminds me of the cutout style of The Adventures of Prince Achmed.

My initial assumption was that Prophesy was on some kind of religious thing. Later, I saw that in addition to this Quincy Jones LP (which has a couple of nice samples on it) Prophesy also released an Amon Duul record. Seems pretty secular to me. Cool name though.

Charisma (1972)

"The Famous Charisma Label" has a great Alice In Wonderland theme. I noticed that this is the second Lord of the Rings related label I have posted, but I don't want to give the impression that I'm a Middle Earth enthusiast. This Bo Hansson record is a really good instrumental album with an eerie jazzy/proggy psych style. I think it's less rare than I imagine it is; I actually see the record fairly often, but every time I do I feel like I should buy it.

Virgin (1974)

Here's a really excellent label. Wow!

Vertigo (1974)

Vertigo label from a few years later. It seems telling to compare the bug-out psychedelic Vertigo label in the very early 70's with the more restrained sci-fi fantasy illustration style here. This could probably be used as key supporting evidence for some sort of a PhD thesis about what happened to psychedelic culture in the 70's.

Vertigo (1971)

This fantastic label seems to be based on Marcel Duchamp's Rotoreliefs, which are a set of circular designs that produce an effect of depth when rotated. Check out the Vertigo label in action here. Duchamp suggests viewing with one eye closed for best results.

I read something that called Vertigo the Blue Note of 70's rock, which I this is a great analogy. Even the weak stuff they put out is pretty good.

This design just knocks my socks off!

SSS (1971)

The banded colors on this label make me think of Oskar Fischinger's animated cutout abstractions, like Composition in Blue. The music is sassy rock interpretations of Beethoven with a couple of nice drum breaks along the way. If only Fischinger had been animating in the early 70's, he could have used this bitchin' stuff instead of boring ol' Bach.

Uni (1971)

"Lucifer" is one of the recording names of Mort Garson, the freaked-out psych Moog maestro responsible for Electronic Hair Pieces, which are Moog interpretations of the musical Hair; The Wozard of Iz, which is a bizarre take on the Wizard of Oz along the lines of Bruce Haack's Electric Lucifer; and the amazing Plantasia, which is supposed to help your plants grow. Probably the best of all of his records, though, is The Zodiac: Cosmic Sounds album he did on Electra. All of his stuff is great.

Volt (1972)

Volt was part of Stax Records, and put out Otis Redding's music. The Bar-Kays are on a kind of groovin instrumental soul-rock flavor. They were Redding's backing band, sort of the other Stax house band besides Booker T. This is the second incarnation of the band.

Verve (1967)

Classic Verve label. For some reason, these seem to be printed off-center fairly often. At least the ones I have. This Gil Melle record claims in the liner notes to be the first "electronic jazz" album, with synthesizers and stuff.