Allmen Joy
1967-12-xx(*) Denver, Colorado Family Dog (M2-SBD)
1601 West Evans Avenue
~!~ remastered without EQ ~!~
[°°-NOT- the pre-Allman Brothers Band called The Allman Joys °°]
If Blue Cheer made cream cheese outta the air, then these guys musta crystalized the heavens on a good night. Some kind of a mix of Blue Cheer & Big Brother guitars, Country Joe & The Fish style ethereal moves & organ, & occasional Dead-like feedback & vocal insanity, mixed with 60s garage sounds & a nod to the Chambers Brothers... 60s West Coast manna from the vault.
"You came here to enjoy yourselves, so why not trip out?"
01-[06:38]. ...Walk With Me
02-[11:02]. Funky Broadway
03-[09:58]. Funky Broadway (late set, or reprise)
04-[10:55]. You're Gonna Miss Me
05-[06:55]. Need Your Love
06-[07:01]. The// Merry Tripster
07-[06:43]. The Monkey Time
08-[04:22]. 'Freak Out' -> ? (instrumental)...
Total Time ::: 1:03:35
::: EXC stereo SBD with a few bad splices. Check samples 2C4 YRself or for a few puffs of anticipatory time trippin' flashbacks.
::: Warts: Slightly overdriven vocals at times. Some dullspots/dropouts unrepairable or surely missed but fixed most of 'em. #4 has brief glitch in middle (but patched so unless yr countin' beats ya won't notice). #5 fades in. #6 has BAD splice at start & after it they're possibly into another song but it's a monster of a jam 'til the guitar player breaks a string, but they wander thru space til the end. #8 cuts.
::: (*) Parts of 2 sets from 1 night during December 29-31, 1967. Gingerbred Blu, Allmen Joy with The Doors headlining.
::: FD-D18 is a well known Rick Griffin poster for this 3 night stand & is around online.
::: VERY heavy Haight Ashbury psychedelic band with funk influences that evolved out of the FAC's (Fungus Amongus Committee) in summer 1966.
::: http://web.archive.org/web/20111018030613/http://www.wingswest.net/Bands/1967AllmenJoy/AllmenJoy.html offers band history & photos.
::: Check PLAYBOY mag reference on site above. Band convinced a Straight Theatre audience to join them in a nude romp & pillow fight at a gig - newsworthy!
::: Band never had ANY commercial 45s or an album as far as I can see. Musta done studio sessions & recorded other gigs. Sundazed should get busy...
::: Tracks 3-9 are likely from a late set or 2nd show & the reel was changed or flipped.
::: #1 & #5 song titles are guesses & the #8 instrumental title is unknown to me. If you recognise 'em, please do tell.
::: Got the go-ahead to spring this one. You've waited 47 YEARS for the ALLMEN JOY... Welcome to 2014!
Recording Information ::: soundboard -> unknown reel-to-reel equipment -> master stereo reel -> 1st generation reel or cassette -> 2nd generation Maxell XLII-90 cassette, Dolby B on.
Playback 2013-12-25 (because how else would you spend your Christmas?) ::: 2nd generation Maxell XLII-90 cassette on Nakamichi 680ZX cassette deck, Dolby B on, azimuth & speed adjusted (pitched!) for individual recording, heads cleaned & demagnetized -> Sony Linear PCM Recorder PCM-M10 (LPCM 44.10kHz/16bit WAV files) -> computer -> Audacity (normalisation to remove DC offset, channel/phase alignment, fades, manual one-at-a-time glitch / dropout / bump / pop / click / dullspot repairs, volume adjustments, further speed fix 1st 17 mins -1%, NO equalisation) -> CD Wave (track splits) -> flacs (Trader's Little Helper) -> yr ears. First uploaded week of 2013-12-27.
Line-up (unconfirmed) ::: Lu "Fist" Stephens - organ, vocals // Roger “Rog” Alan Saunders - lead electric guitar, vocals // Ken Zeidel - rhythm electric guitar, vocals // Dennis "Funky" Parker - electric bass, vocals // Rod Harper - drums.
Nothing here ever commercially released to my knowledge. If I'm wrong, please advise & I'll take the offending trax offline.
CoolSonics 290 ::: Thanks to the original taper & traders! ::: Corrections welcome ::: When this came along it was a welcome addition to my West Coast music library as I'd seen the name on some many cool psychedelic posters but never actually heard the band. Most everything about it is great, jamming, instrumentation & vocals & only a couple of funk numbers overdo it a bit for me, though they more than have their good moments as they contain extensive jams & feedback sessions. The drugged-out material is staggeringly great, with astonishing SUPER HEAVY psychedelic lead guitar. Nice to have entered an age where one can increase one's listening pleaure in so many ways with home mastering. Aside from a couple of bad splices, this is massively improved over my original tape. Anyway, according to "Fist", the band name was changed to Allmen Joy in part because of the candy bar (loved by band members) & partly, "because the band was very promiscuous & was a hit with many of the female followers"! Many posters with Allmen Joy exist as they were Avalon Ballroom regulars & played the Straight Theatre, Matrix & most Bay Area venues, toured California, & played as far afield as the Vancouver Retinal Circus. There certainly are more tapes out there. Please consider letting us hear some of them. In the meantime, your heart will nearly stop at times. Be sure the pacemaker & air guitar fuzzbox have fresh batteries. If you had trouble coming down from your last acid trip, however many days, months or years ago that was, then be careful with the volume on "You're Gonna Miss Me", cause it SURE ain't for those who aren't into doin' some cerebral travelin'. Pretty well guaranteed to leave whatever mind noodles ya got left all over the floor & the ghosts of Christmas past howling down your chimney. Get ready to ENJOY the Allmen Joy!
Kudos to Zongo for life support, Lochner for mikes&more & Fast Freddie for runnin' Video Dick's Record Emporium with the bathroom office full of tape decks. Thanks to Hanwaker (few among us can keep his pace). Mountains of gratitude to Davmar, D.White, Sanchez, Elliot, The Florida Kid, Kloiber, Zingg, JTW, Bershaw, Boston Gold, Dixon, Moore, Gough & SO many more for all that collecting & sharing... Royal thanks to The Man In The Palace, Doc Tinker, Brinkhoffs, Barely Eatin', Reel Master Gaule, Parrish & all the traders who housed me thru my music acquisition & travel years. Hats off to Brother Kent, Uncle Jake, Little Queenie (& her neighbor Frank) & his honor Ptomaine Thomas. Glasses raised to Byron for musical horizon expansion & much obliged to J & Thurston for keepin' my concert fires burnin' since my continental shift. Thanks to the Mods for keepin' DIME alive. Enjoy, share, give, spread peace. Yers truly, Knees
Do whatever you want with it except sell it, 'cause that ain't cool!