Should old acquaintance be forgot for All Pearls, No Swine?

My my, how time flies. It's been a month since I posted the last volume of our moderately succesful All Pearls, No Swine series. Plus, that last volume was a head on dive into Eighties Eightiness, which caused some folks who shall go unnamed to hold their noses. Fear not, nosepinchers, for the seventh volume brings us right back to where things started, to the same mix of singer/songwriters, folk, country rock, and whatever related genres I could fit into another hour plus of sweet sweet grooves from the Seventies. 

Starting things of is one of the more recognizable names, ex-Box Top and future Big Star Alex Chilton, caught between the two with his first stabs as a solo musician. Other somewhat known names are Brit rockers Hookfoot, L.A. folk-rock duo Brewer & Shipley with the exceedingly lovely "Crested Butte", and - if you squint real hard - session musician and producer Marlin Green with a lovely song off his obscure one-off album Tiptoe Past The Dragon. From there it's the usual mix of unknown, little remembered and self-published folks, including returning favorites from earlier volumes like Sandy Harless, Doug Firebaugh and Diggory Venn. Plus newcomers like Hoover with a title that should be worth the price of admission alone, which is still a very low one buck nothing: "Jesus Don't Drive No Fastback Ford". Admittedly, the song doesn't quite live up to that title, but how could it have? 

As usual, a couple of words on a couple of the featured artists: Deerfield were a country rock troupe from Houston that managed two self-published records in 1971 and 1972. Sodbusters were yet another Canadian country rock troupe/hippie commune, including APNS alumni Huckle, covering a Bob Burchill song (check out the post on him, if you haven't already...). Mabel Joy were a folk rock troupe from the U.K, mostly covering other artists. Phil McHugh, represented by the beautiful "There's A River" had a sturdy career as a Christian music recording artist. Ray Stinett, original guitar player for Sam The Shah & The Pharaos recorded a solo record in 1971 for A&M that never got released at the time, the excellent "The Rain", an improbable mix of psych rock and soul ballad, shows that that was a mistake. The other rain song ("Let The Rain...") is by psych folk outfit Sunrise who recorded two versions of the song, this is the first one. And speaking of psych folk, Canadians D'Arcy also fall under the distinction, they're the rare major label act here, having recorded their album for Polydor. Cherokee was one of about a thousand bands all named Cherokee, this is the country rock group (pictured below in all their hayseed glory) that recorded a single album on ABC Records in 1971, ably assisted by then-Flying Burrito Bros. Chris Hillman and Sneaky Pete Kleinow. 

And that's it, folks. More goodness from the best decade in music. Have yourself a fine end to 2023 with some of the best unknown stuff the Seventies had to offer...