Fusion

Chambers Brothers, The: The Chambers Brothers: Love, Peace and Happiness

Review by Ben Edmonds, Fusion, February 1969

THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS have enjoyed a good deal of popularity and commercial success during the past couple of years, but to be quite honest, the ...

Taste: Taste (Atco)

Review by Loyd Grossman, Fusion, September 1969

FOR SOME reason Cream seems to have become the standard against which all other rock trios are judged. Not only is this unfair, it is ...

Stooges, The: The Stooges: The Stooges (Elektra)

Review by Lenny Kaye, Fusion, September 1969

I WAS ONCE thinking of doing a piece on Blue Cheer where I wanted to show, through all sorts of diagrams and convoluted logic, that ...

Yes: Yes

Review by Loyd Grossman, Fusion, October 1969

MAYBE HIDDEN away in the offices of Atlantic Records right now is an evil genius publicity man who is trying to devise a monstrous hype ...

Nice, The: The Nice: Nice

Review by Loyd Grossman, Fusion, October 1969

THE NICE are one of the few different groups on today’s pop scene, centering their music around the keyboard work of Keith Emerson. They use ...

John Mayall: The Turning Point

Review by Loyd Grossman, Fusion, October 1969

A TURNING POINT in British blues music may have been reached last May when Mick Taylor and Colin Allen left John Mayall's band. Following their ...

Little Anthony & the Imperials: Little Anthony and the Imperials: Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Review by Lenny Kaye, Fusion, November 1969

LITTLE ANTHONY AND the Imperials. Ah, just saying the name is a high, bringing back all those battered End records of 'Tears On My Pillow', ...

Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks: Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks (Epic)

Review by Lenny Kaye, Fusion, November 1969

DAN HICKS is an ex-Chariatan, a founding father of the group which (among other things) helped to bring a stately Victorian air to early Haight-Ashbury. ...

Sha Na Na: Sha-Na-Na: Sha-Na-Na (Buddah)

Review by Lenny Kaye, Fusion, November 1969

SHA-NA-NA has a cute stage show. They come out, dressed fit to kill in an assortment of gold lamé, black pants, white socks, t-shirts, etc., ...

Carry That Weight: Music In The ‘60s

Overview by Lenny Kaye, Fusion, January 1970

THE WAY IT WORKS is that someone picks up the torch and carries it for a while, and when they get tired, or irrelevant, or ...

Blind Faith, Eric Clapton: Eric Clapton: Another Crossroad

Interview by Keith Altham, Fusion, February 1970

MANY PEOPLE THINK that Eric Clapton is the best guitarist in the world. A veteran of the Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Cream, all that ...

Beatles, The: The Beatles '75

Guide by Loyd Grossman, Fusion, February 1970

The Beatles – do you still want to know what they're up to? Even if, sub specie aeternitatis, it's, like, nothing? Well, go ahead, indulge ...

Allman Brothers Band: The Allman Brothers Band: The Allman Brothers Band

Review by Ben Edmonds, Fusion, February 1970

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND has been causing somewhat of a commotion in the music world of late. They were the talk of the town during ...

Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground c/o New York, NY

Report and Interview by Robert Greenfield, Fusion, March 1970

NONE OF THIS concerns anything except maybe the back room at Max's Kansas City, which is on Union Square in Manhattan but not worth finding ...

Nice, The: The Nice: Coalition Music

Interview by Keith Altham, Fusion, March 1970

The Nice are perhaps one of the most controversial groups on the pop music scene today. Praised by many for relieving us from the excesses ...

Electric Kool-Aid: On & Off the Bus

Essay by Michael Lydon, Fusion, March 1970

The last words of Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test are "WE BLEW IT". In caps, naturally. ...

MC5: Back In The USA (Atlantic)

Review by Ben Edmonds, Fusion, March 1970

WHAT A difference a year can make. This time last year the MC5 were riding high on the crest of the biggest hype in the ...

Richie Havens: Stonehenge (Stormy Forest)

Review by Ben Edmonds, Fusion, March 1970

THE SUBJECT OF Richie Havens is always sure to provoke an argument. Those who tend to dislike him do so with a great deal of ...

Crazy Horse, Neil Young: Neil Young: Songs of Innocence, Songs of Restraint

Profile and Interview by Robert Greenfield, Fusion, April 1970

NEIL YOUNG HAS A voice like a sunrise, fresh with promise, wise with years and practice, something you turn to for light encouragement and warmth. ...

James Taylor: Sweet Baby James (Warner Bros.)

Review by Ben Edmonds, Fusion, May 1970

JAMES TAYLOR was the first artist signed to the Beatles’ Apple label, and ironically, the first to leave it as well. While there, he produced ...

Eric Clapton, Keef Hartley: Eric Clapton: Eric Clapton

Review by Loyd Grossman, Fusion, September 1970

WHEN I HAVE to write something I mope. I mope and do other things. And I don't think about my topic. I only think about ...

Bonzo Dog Band: The Bonzo Dog (Doo Dah) Band

Retrospective by John Mendelsohn, Fusion, October 1970

IT GIVES ME limitless pleasure to inform you that, unless you're a member of a decidedly tiny minority of rock and roll women and men, ...

Kinks, The: The Kinks: A profile

Profile by Greg Shaw, Fusion, February 1971

THE ORIGIN of The Kinks is nearly shrouded in antiquity – 1964, to be exact. There weren't many 'rock' groups around yet; just the Stones ...

Captain Beefheart

Discography by Nick Tosches, Fusion, March 1971

"The Chatanooga Choo-Choo careens headlong into the hub of an exploding galaxy. The cadavers of 19 raped and strangled astronauts float de-pants'd, froggish in the ...

Allen Toussaint

Profile by Charlie Gillett, Fusion, July 1971

IF BRITAIN HAD a good system of radio stations, the history of the world might have been at least a little different. ...

Jethro Tull: Aqualung

Review by Jon Tiven, Fusion, July 1971

TOUCHÉ, Jesus Christ Superstar (the non-statement rock opera of the year), here's a religious message with a bit more balls and a lot more talent ...

Doors, The: The End of Jim Morrison

Obituary by Al Aronowitz, Fusion, September 1971

WE ALL MAKE our deals with the devil. I suppose Jim Morrison must have realized that he made his. Listen to Jac Holzman, the president ...

Creedence Clearwater Revival: A Simple But Compelling Sound: Creedence Clearwater Revival

Overview by Greg Shaw, Fusion, October 1971

WHO'D HAVE THOUGHT it would be an old-fashioned rock 'n' roll band to pull us out of the doldrums of 1968's acid comedown/methedrine blues nightmare? ...

King Curtis: A Good Man Gone

Obituary by Michael Lydon, Fusion, October 1971

MAYBE THIS should be a collection of unrelated notes. I’m not sure how the things I’m thinking about fit together. King Curtis is dead. That ...

Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin'

Review by Nick Tosches, Fusion, October 1971

ALL OF Butterfield's albums are beauts that never obsolesce. The complete Catholicism of his/their approach to musical communication has already resulted in more than your ...

Sonics, The: The Sonics: Boom

Review by Gene Sculatti, Fusion, November 1971

  She's got long black hairAnd a big black carI know what you're thinkin'But you won't get far!She's gonna make you itch'Cause she's a witch! ...

Nico: A Kind Of Frozen Purity

Profile by Lester Bangs, Fusion, November 1971

NICO IS one of the true enigmas of our time. Austere, elusive, a tall ghostly woman with an aura of utter loneliness and distance so ...

Rolling Stones, The: Rocking Chair: Working Out

Column by Michael Lydon, Fusion, December 1971

I HAVE been writing about music for years, and am now trying to play myself. This changes matters. ...

John Lennon: Rocking Chair: Popular & Vital

Column by Michael Lydon, Fusion, December 1971

JAMES TAYLOR came on the jukebox in the bar last night, singing that pretty Carole King song about "Call me and I'll come running and ...

Charles Manson, Ed Sanders: Charles Manson: Stalking Manson – The Sanders Saga

Essay by Nick Tosches, Fusion, December 1971

Ed Sanders spent the summer of the Tate-LaBianca murders yodeling the ditties that were to come to comprise Sanders Truckstop into an overhead mike at ...

Lonnie Mack: The Hills of Indiana

Review by Gene Sculatti, Fusion, December 1971

"FOR BEST results, this record should be played more than once." Maybe Elektra should've included that tip in the liner notes. ...

Dionne Warwick: "...The Holy Ghost, Of Course."

Overview by Nick Tosches, Fusion, January 1972

ONCE THERE was a little pickaninny girl from East Orange, N.J. She used to play organ and sing in the choir at the church of ...

Quicksilver Messenger Service: Quicksilver

Profile by Gene Sculatti, Fusion, April 1972

The once-famous logo, "May the Baby Jesus Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Mind," has been supplanted by an outsized plastic marquee proclaiming ‘Summer of ...

The Philadelphia Story, Early Sixties Style: What It Was, Was Pud

Retrospective by Greg Shaw, Fusion, October 1972

It all started in 1959, perhaps rock 'n' roll's bleakest year. Buddy Holly had gone down in flames over N. Dakota, Little Richard had gone ...

Various Artists: Fillmore – The Last Days

Review by Jon Tiven, Fusion, October 1972

NO PART OF this review is meant as a slur against the names of Bill Graham, Fillmore Records, or Columbia Records. I realize that the ...

Zombies, The: The Zombies: Everything you wanted to know!

Retrospective by Metal Mike Saunders, Fusion, November 1972

HALF A YEAR AGO I would have started this piece by saying that the Zombies, like so many other defunct mid-Sixties groups, have suffered dreadfully ...

Grand Funk Railroad: The Case for Grand Funk Railroad

Profile and Interview by Metal Mike Saunders, Fusion, December 1972

I HEARD Grand Funk’s first album for the first time in November, 1969. I was a freshman in college and a friend down the hall ...

Family: Bandstand

Review by Jon Tiven, Fusion, January 1973

FAMILY IS an all-around brilliant British quintet who have just bestowed their seventh disc upon a generally unappreciative American public. The United States doesn't deserve ...

Patto: Roll 'Em Smoke 'Em Put Another Line Out

Review by Ken Barnes, Fusion, March 1973

PATTO'S THIRD ALBUM is something different. Not different than their last release, Hold Your Fire, which is fairly similar stylistically, but very distinctive indeed in ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers, Wailers, The: The Wailers: Catch A Fire

Review by Gene Sculatti, Fusion, May 1973

AFTER ALL THESE veers, a new Wailers' LP! But wait, Catch A Fire doesn't have anything to do with those soggy Seattle-ites who rocked hot ...

Terry Reid: River

Review by Jon Tiven, Fusion, June 1973

AFTER WHAT SEEMS like a decade of musical silence, Terry Reid has finally come across with a new album which isn't called Water (scheduled for ...

Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy

Review by Jon Tiven, Fusion, August 1973

LED ZEP'S ANNUAL album is at last upon us, and although many a fan may be befuddled by its lack of rhythmic/lyric/melodic coherence-conformity, it is ...

Big Star: Radio City Comes to NYC

Live Review by Jon Tiven, Fusion, March 1974

BIG STAR IS America's premier rock band, hands down – they'll no longer be forced into comparisons with Raspberries, Stories, Blue Ash, or any of ...

Marshall Tucker Band, The: The Marshall Tucker Band: A New Life

Review by Gene Sculatti, Fusion, June 1974

I used to have a band like this one once. Yeah. Five guys trying to work into that storm 'n' lull Grateful Dead groove. Organ, ...