All Pearls No Swine 45: Let's Check What We've Got Here...

Dear customer, in the name of our new and improved customer service program, our R & D and Quality Control departments will now allow you to verify yourself the quality of our products before pushing the download purchase button!

Please go down today's All Pearls No Swine checklist, to see if volume 45 is truly complying with the standards you expect from this beloved series:

- 20 tracks? Check!

- Mostly unknown and underappreciated songs and artists? Check!

- Some private press items? Check!

- A variety of genres? Check!

> If so, please specify:

prog rock: Say hello again to Ragnarok, whose borderline candidates I couldn't find a place for on my fabulous compilation of the band's work will find their way into APNS volumes, including this comp's opener "Caviar Queen". And in true bookends style, we also close with some prog from down under, with  S.J.C. Powell's "Governor Lane".

country rock: An obvious must for any self-respecting APNS compilation from the 70's, we have indeed included a number of gems, including Santa Fe's "Tomorrow's Gone", Hal Paris' "Cool Country Breeze" and Wayne Parker's old school weeper "I Can't Stand Country Music" (but you do, Wayne, you do!).

folk and folk rock: a couple of prime spots have been reserved for the purveyors of delicate sounds, such as Stephen Ambrose and his lovely ode to a "Gypsy Moth", Brian Reeves' slightly jazzy "Nuance", Gallery's "Let No Man Steal Your Theme" and David W. Peters' "Joy Once Was". My favorite, though, is the wonderful "40 And Getting Colder" from Gayland Titus & Paul Wehling. 

rock'n'roll: we sure have a couple of rockin' tunes on this one, thanks for asking, courtesy of Australia's Captain Beyond, who by the time of their last album Dawn Explosion had morphed into a hard rock band, a long ways away from the prog rock group they started as, but "Do Or Die" - clichéd title aside - is a fine little rocker. So is "Justa Nother Teenage rebel" (yup, that's really how they spelled it, these outcasts rascals), from Northern Irish punk band The Outcasts (below). Red Wilder Blue build up a pretty mean groove on "Orange County Jail", as do Ten Wheel Drive on "The Pickpocket" and Weight on "Mr. M, Mr. N, And Mr. C (With A Help From Mr. D)".

- volume equalizing and declicking for improved fidelity and enjoyment? Check!

- so, any questions?

What if I'm a psych fan, like, uh, Psychfan? 

Oh, we got you. The two tracks just mentioned, as well as the aforementioned "Let No Man Steal Your Theme" and "My Only Love" from French outsider folkie Dominiqe Droin (yes, Dominique is a dude's name over here!) have some definitive psych influences. 

- and, uh, (lowers volume), what if I'm secretly into (lowers volume some more) soft rock? 

(softly): Don't worry, we won't tell anyone that you enjoy Nasty Road's "She Lit Up My Eyes" or the B. Mello Band's "Kona Country Song"!

-so, any other business? No? 

Then I ask you gently to proceed to the check out line, this volume of All Pearls, No Swine has passed all quality control tests. Enjoy your purchase here at All Pearls, No Swine One Buck Records!