(E) The Music Encyclopedia of The Gravis Sub Humus

Edge: (same) Nose Records 1970

Edge was one of the many late 60s/early 70s bands that were making the transition from the Psych scene to the Heavy Rock scene. Their one eponymous musical effort on the very obscure "Nose Records" label is a decent effort to be sure. It consists of good "down to earth" heavy guitar driven tunes that also contain some keyboard work with appropriate raspy, guttural vocals. This album for whatever reason has never been reissued on vinyl or CD.


Euclid: S/T 1970

Euclid's one and only album is amongst the very best in it's genre which is most certainly Heavy Rock at it's best. The musicians themselves were of an excellent caliber & very experienced, coming from a diverse New England Garage & Psych rock background. Groups from which they haled prior included the noteworthy Garage acts the Lazy Smoke & the Cobras. One of the coolest things about this album is the overall evidence of it's group members various background influences on it. In Euclid, you get the very best of it all. You have the raw & ferocious high energy Garage element mixed with a very clear and real psychedelic conviction of the drug use saturated times. These over shadowing characteristics combined with their new heavy/hard rock discipline & focus, resulted in one of the best early Heavy Rock albums ever recorded in the United States. The combined member's various instrumental contributions is equally matched by their amazing crystalline vocal harmonies. This was all offset by the lead vocal's "take no prisoners" brutal male vocal stylings. The production on this record is absolutely top notch and can't help but to give the music it's unstoppable heavy forward momentum. Very much living up to the group's namesake, the guitar, bass & drums on this record, in typical earth moving fashion, musically command the attention of the listener & level any and all resistance in it's path. The album itself stands to this day as a perfect monument of that which musically represents the US transition from Hard/Heavy Psych to Hard/Heavy Rock. In short, the group Euclid were one of the true "unsung" fundamental cornerstones in the emerging FM oriented commercial US Hard Rock movement. KILLER! From start to finish

(D) The Music Encyclopedia of The Gravis Sub Humus

Dark - Round the Edges 1972

Dark was a British band formed in the late 60s by a few musicians that met while at school in Northampton. Their famous and incredibly rare album (because of original pressed numbers)was recorded in just two days. The guitarist & vocalist Steve Giles had a keen interest in photography and is responsible for the initial 12 gatefold copies with the woman's picture on the couch that are worth the most. A good deal of mystery surrounds the album and 90% of it was generated via the Kissing Spell label trying to squeeze every nickel they could out of group's "then" unpublished recordings. Some of which would have been much better never heard. Their one real album entitled "Round The Edges" is actually a very good guitar oriented melodic rock album with the mildest of progressive & psychedelic underpinnings. The tone of the album at times does reach "into" somewhat heavy territories, but it seems to be the scattered mildly fuzzy guitar outbreaks with competent bass & drum accompaniment that give the album this vague appearance. There are about 5 reissues available on CD and 2 or 3 on vinyl.

(C) The Music Encyclopedia of The Gravis Sub Humus


Captain Beyond: Captain Beyond (same) 1972, Sufficiently Breathless 1973, Dawn Explosion 1977.

This group, after being intently locked away in a house they were renting in LA, practicing 8-10 hours a day for about 8 months time, recorded in just 2 days what may be the best Heavy Rock/Psychedelic/Progressive album ever recorded. The first Captain Beyond album is without question not only amazing in musical content from start to finish, it's also an absolute anomaly of a recording within Rock Music's history. This being because it powerfully and seamlessly blends the Heaviest of Rock with a mesmerizing obvious Psychedelic fabric that is a woven journey via stunning guitar oriented Progressive precision. The degree to which no other known group of musicians from the US ever had or have since. The musicians Captain Beyond consisted of originally were nothing short of an amalgam of super musicians all coming from a somewhat Heavy Rock background. Rod Evans the Lead Vocalist had been with Deep Purple, Bobby Caldwell on drums had been with Johnny Winter, Larry "Rhino" Rheinhardt on guitar & Lee Dowman on bass had both been with Iron Butterfly. The group initially formed in 1971. As one can imagine with such tremendous talent all assembled in one place, it must have taken a miracle for the group to remain together long enough to record the first album. After the initial album's release, because of extremely poor management & representation, after several line up changes the group eventually evolved to the point of extinction. Sadly none of their albums post 1972's self titled release even bore a remote resemblance to their preceding masterpiece.

(B) The Music Encyclopedia of The Gravis Sub Humus

Bang - Death of a Country 1971, Bang (same) 1971, Mother / Bow to the King 1972, Music 1973, RTZ 1999, The Maze 2004

Guitar driven Heavy Rock with minor Psych leanings. Good power trio riffing in the Sabbath vein with very good playing from all involved. All their material has been reissued on CD including a 2004 reunion CD.



Blackfeather: At The Mountains of Madness 1971


Blackfeather's "At The Mountains of Madness" is certainly one of the very best hard psych records to come out of Australia during the 60s/70s. It features the remarkable talents of ALL the band members, but one John Robinson on guitar is absolutely astounding. John's guitar playing is so intense & his musical arrangements so precise on this record, that the record literally has an intoxicating "buzz" all it's own that you'll certainly not be building a tolerance to any time soon. At The Mountains of Madness possesses that magical characteristic of great psych records where the listener is transported on a journey from it's start to it's finish. In short, it's a masterpiece. The album has been reissued both in vinyl & CD form several times. Listeners and fans of Blackfeather often complain of a somewhat substandard sound quality, even from Festival Music's legitimate version. Although, I find these claims to be a bit exaggerated, I agree that for instance compared to Kahvas Jute, yes they could have done a slightly better job. I am sure of one thing however, that any and all would find these priceless recordings more than enough to elicit the best "trip" possible within the realm of the mind's ear.

Bull Angus: (same) 1971, Free For All 1972

Bull Angus: S/T is an all but forgotten masterpiece of brutal well written and executed Hard n Heavy Rock. The founding members of Bull Angus were in Delaware when they decided to form a band. That's where Franke Previte, originally from New Brunswick, New Jersey was going to school at Goldey-Beacom college to earn a business degree. He was in a band at the time called The Oxford Watch Band. (catchey eh?) He and the drummer, who was in fact a native of Rochester NY, decided to form what would become Bull Angus after The Oxford Watch Band broke up. By the time they had advertised and located the rest of the of the new band members, they settled into a little berg in New York called Rhinebeck where the three other members were from. Rhinebeck is about 20 miles north of Poughkeepsi NY and the band rented an old farm house to live in and practiced in the barn. This Rhinebeck area is rich with Angus (a type of beef bred cattle) grazing pasture and this is where they took the name from. Every song on this album, is "stand up" grade A certified American Heavy Rock. You won't be asking "Where's The Beef"? on this one!

(A) The Music Encyclopedia of The Gravis Sub Humus

Ambrose Slade: Beginnings (Phillips)/Ballzy (Fontana) 1969(Same album - Different name & country of release)

This was the pre-Slade version of the group that released one album that had two different names. Entertaining but consisting of mainly cover material that the group were then performing when signed to the German Phillips label. The music consists of a "good time" competent guitar based Boogie Blues style that just touches upon the Hard Psych element of the time.


Amulet: (same) 1979

One of the absolute best Hard Rock efforts from the Private Pressed late 70s frontier. The group was from the Midwest area of the United States although I am uncertain where exactly. The album was originally released on vinyl and is extremely rare and sought after. There is a legit CD release that sounds as good as possible. The music consists of very competent, excellent & tight guitar oriented hard rock tunes. The vocals are superb. The over all feel of the album is quite heavy and not so FM aimed mainstream that it lacks the guttural,
"take no prisoners" sincerity that great Hard Rock consists of.

THE GRAVIS MUSIC SUB HUMUS

meaning:

The Heavy Music Underground



Being a fan and archivist of Local independent, Private Pressed & Obscure Major Labeled Heavy music, I have become familiar to a certain degree with many an esoteric title within this broad musical aptitude. After contemplating where and how to best start a basic data base to help illuminate the paths of other collectors and vinyl venators, I decided at least temporarily that this blog would make a great format for just such an undertaking. What I will do is to start with the letter "A" and over a 26 day period of time, progress to the letter "Z". Each day's entry will represent a single letter in the alphabet. Each entry will in turn represent an amendable alphabetized filing system in which those viewing this simple database will be able to locate esoteric bands or artists they are curious about. I absolutely encourage amendments, corrections and additions via email to this database.

To submit any of the above, please email me at: gravissubhumus@yahoo.com

There will be zero limitations other than each entry must be at least of a somewhat Heavy & Obscure Rock Music nature. All countries, time periods & sub genres of Heavy Rock Music will be permitted & encouraged other than commercial post late 70s Glam, i.e. "Hair" Metal.

If you found this site via a web search, please take the time to "book mark" and add this site to your list of "favorites". This is going to be an ongoing process of continual updates and expansion. It will never stop growing!


Welcome to: The Music Encyclopedia of The Gravis Sub Humus

Typically my favorite type of music is somewhat "Older & Heavy" in nature. What I have done here is to basically outline the difference between variations of this type of music.



Heavy/Hard Blues Rock: I.E. Bands & artists like Savoy Brown, Killing Floor, Moloch, etc. consist of music of a heavy or hard rock nature whereas the music as written and played is predominantly blues based. Very easy to discern.

Heavy Psych Rock: I.E. Bands like Maypole, Blue Cheer, Q65, Golden Dawn, Cream, Blue Mountain Eagle, Captain Beyond, etc. consist of music that is not overly mainstream or pop oriented, often consisting of highly talented musical underdogs. The music is often more philosophical in approach, rather than focusing on the relating of personal experience alone. The music tends to have more of a thud n thunder effect and usually does not focus on one primary instrument, but rather has a powerful "wall of sound" combination of drums, bass & guitar. The songs tend to be "longer" in nature and the music & lyrics are psychedelic drug culture oriented.


Hard Psych Rock: I.E. Bands like Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix (first three albums & only so because of commercial pressure placed on him by management), Amen Corner, Art, Brain Police, Chocolate Watchband, etc. This music tends to focus on dominant musicianship including vocals. It's most often the guitar that gets front and center in terms of instrumentation, but vocals are important as well. The songs are shorter and more radio friendly. Often the subject mater is social in nature with emphasis on personal experience and relationships either one on one (sex & getting high) or one as related to the many (the outcast effect and/or protest). The songs often consist of a rebellious "call to arms" that is easy to relate to and tend to illicit a "yeah man, right on"! reaction. Very seldom is fantasy an attribute of "Hard" music. It's one that deals much more commonly with human experience.

Heavy Rock: I.E. Bands like BLACK SABBATH, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin ( a bizarre hair slitting group by definition if ever there were one), Euclid, Chariot, Rush, Night Sun, Jeronimo, Blues Creation, etc. Drugs played a HUGE part in this music. Of this, there is no question. The element that sets these groups apart from traditional Heavy Psych is that we find them condoning the usage (and over usage) as much as we do condemning the same degree of use. In other words we find tons of time line based (fate) human experience mixed with just as much socio political, apocalyptic and out and outright fantastically based song/story content. Certainly human relations of a sexually based nature are not exempt lyrical content, but in no way is this found to be a dominant theme within the scope of these band's output. Heavy Rock is most always a equilateral combination of each musician's prowess. It seems as though a fateful chemistry was destined to bear out all the combined parts (musicians) to equate a greater whole or group identity when joined. These bands often fuse prevalent musical influences such as Classical, Celtic, Jazz, Blues, etc. into what is the musical recipe that each band is responsible for. This can and does often lend a very real progressive name tag to their music but the bottom line is the fact that this is a form of rock that is hands down the heaviest of them all.


Hard Rock: I.E. Bands like Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Foghat, Stepson, Robert Savage, AC/DC, Bad Company,Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kiss, etc. These groups have an unmistakable guitar/lead vocalist orientation and most often offer up a smorgasbord of sex, freedom & rock n roll forever mentality. Almost always dealing with the ego in one way or another, their material is extremely relative & appealing on a youthful hormone driven level. Naturally they were the more commercially "successful" of the hard/heavy genres because their songs were often shorter (other than an occasional signature anthem like Free Bird that were often cut in length for radio airplay) and to the point. These groups mostly helped to "pave the way" for the ongoing successful radio domination of rock music & along with their more sophisticated and heavy brethren, were first wave of AOR driven rock groups. Glam was a very real, and only in the most minor of senses, sub category of Hard Rock. IMO, Like Iommi points out, along with Proto, it was the pre "German Metal" bands like Saxon, Iron Maiden, Accept, JUDAS PRIEST, Krokus, etc. that started Metal. Metal was born a hybrid from a combination of the *Denim & Leather motorcycle/military mentality. (*not to rip off Saxon) The term Heavy Metal was most likely first "penned" by William Burroughs and then spun by underground sub context journalists to describe certain loud speaker rock concert events. Many referrals to early linguistic similarities like "Iron Man" & "Led Zeppelin" as well as Mars Bonfire's "Heavy Metal Thunder" made famous by Steppenwolf, were actually cultural references pertinent to various motivations for this or that. Heavy Metal became a real definable musical identity when the intricate duel metal guitar onslaught/double bass drum came into play. I would say that most likely, Priest and Maiden were the first bands to "punch through" (direct as Sir Lord Doom would say) the somewhat commercially repressed packaging that was the European Hard Rock scene. Rob Halford was the leather clad lead singer poster boy for Heavy Metal whereas "Eddie" was rather the poster freak for a band that just plain loved to hang out drink ale, play pool & darts while retaining the comfort and sweat free environment that their jeans offered.

The Layer Cake

It seems like there are 5 layers to the cake that make up eBay sellers.

Layer 1: Excellent Sellers/World Class = Solid Communication Skills, Consistently Offering Desirable Sought After Collectibles, Reputably Dependable & Knowledgeable Descriptions, Accurate Conservative Grading, Timely Delivery w/Strong Safe Packaging.

Layer 2: Above Average Sellers = Same as above but slightly looser grading, a mix of very collectible items and common place stuff, slight wavers in described accuracy or absence of information.

Layer 3: Average = Exact Hits & Occasional Misses in terms of grading, knowledgeability & dependable delivery times. Communication & Packaging are still above average. 80% of the time dealing with this type of seller yields satisfactory results. The averages are on the buyer's side.

Layer 4: Below Average = Inconsistent Grading, Packaging, descriptions & timely communication skills. Satisfactory dealings with this type of seller are 50/50. This seller normally has a few negatives but will try and take care of you if you have a problem. He gives partial or complete refunds.

Layer 5: Poor = Sellers w/Rude & Violent communications, Grading & Packaging from this seller can be a complete risk, just receiving what you have won is a risk, sellers provide either (a)false information in auction descriptions, or (b) intentionally does not include information such as warps or other obvious information the buyer should be aware of. Pictured items and descriptions are also often like east and west in relation to what you receive. Seller has a reputation for dissatisfaction and is extremely slow to provide communication, product or service.

Vinyl Grading-What Did You Expect, Accuracy?



Today, the Venator covers a small but very important aspect of the savage's quest for vinyl. This being the dreaded mail order. Whether it's the "old school" dealer mail order lists, or the newer trend that is eBay dealer's auctions, in either case, your gettin' them rekkids through the mail.

While the more sporting and less obsessive of us might consider this form of hunting much likened to shooting fish in a barrel, or perhaps hunting & trapping on a game reserve, I for one do not. After all if your after the "big game" like, lions, tigers & bears so to speak, unless your property butts up to your local zoo your not going to have much luck "back yard" hunting in New Jersey.

Often times once you have located that "trophy" the biggest element of dissatisfaction in terms of collecting your vinyl prey through the mail comes from poor grading. NOTHING sucks more than to have a record that you paid top dollar for arrive in notably less than it's described condition.

To me a record is accurately graded M- when it's been opened but appears "new". This being both in relation to the cover & the record itself. Some VERY experienced dealers seem to think this grading should be left up to their interpretation. Personally, I think that's BS. Please read the following relevant portion of an email that was in reply to a letter I sent expressing my dissatisfaction with this highly experienced seller's grading. This being after I purchased a tidy sum of records from him in the last month and a half.

From the desk of a highly respected long term experienced record dealer:

*The majority of Lp's I deal in are used and about 30 years old. Even Sealed Lp's have sleevelines , especially US major Labels like Bell, Atlantic, Capitol etc.. Does a barely played record with some faint sleeve lines or occasional angelhair with no affect on sound still qualify as M-. In my grading scale, yes.*

Gee, that's not what it says in Goldmine & I HAVE received quite a few records in my short career collecting them that appear "new" and don't have these "acceptable flaws". Most genuinely sealed records that I have encountered look new, don't have "angelhair", "sleevelines", scuffs or spindle marks. The ones that don't appear clean and shiny are normally the albums that have either (a) suffered obvious mishandling or weathering as evidenced by their covers, or (b) underwent a surface splotching or discoloration due to a long term chemically induced reaction. Many sellers are quick to note such conditions. What am I missing here?

*If I was just dealing in Reissues this might be a different story . You can pretty much take any record and if you hold it under a 100 Watt light bulb find something wrong with it. Maybe the M- grade should be left out completely and we should just use EX as the highest grade. Might solve a lot of arguments and complications.*

Screw incandescent lighting my friend, this is the 21st century. For the average person, florescent lighting provides the closest likeness to sunlight and you don't even need any heat to achieve it. Screw wattage. What is this seller really saying here anyway?

#1) I know I am too lax when it comes to grading, maybe I should just use the Ex grade and leave the M- to other sellers that grade more strictly????

#2) Because my records are generally older original copies that cost the buyer 3-15 times as much money as a reissue, the same standards for grading don't apply to them????

#3) When you buy a record from me, always employ the Dale Carnegie method in which we ease the pain of disappointment by expecting the worst.


Why do we make excuses for people that make the mojority of their living selling records? And they wonder why eBay is kicking their little asses as of late...

Last weekend, because of my musician activities, sub humus (under ground) audio remastering & vinyl venatio (hunting), I only managed to archive 2 LPs. In short, I had a lot going on. One must perform 3 separate tasks to achieve and maintain ongoing archival custodia as I regularily do.

I call this 3 part process, "ut excipio , transfero & rememdium".

1.ut excipio) The act of hunting obscure heavy vinyl with the intent to capture is simple. You merely go down to your favorite used record "keep" and capture as much as you feel merits your interest and whose weight is justified via the arduous trek back to your den, cave, or basement lair with said records in tow. Now, the act of semita (tracking) is where the hunt gets extremely challenging, but I will "go there" later.

2.transfero) This is the process of acclimation whereby the captured vinyl prey is physically cleaned, *proof listened & then transferred (recorded) via a high standard dedicated turntable to a computer's hard drive via an audiophile grade external soundcard or "dock".

3.rememdium)This term translates to "cure" and this in turn translates in this applicable case to an audio "ReMastered Rough Draft"(RMRD). This is to say that the Album's side long wave files are broken down into smaller song files. These segmented or indexed smaller files are then further ^"batch processed". These sequential multiple digital processes insure that the analog warmth and distinction of the original recording is preserved as best as is possible while removing surface noise and vinyl imperfections. The result is a rough but suitable digital audio rendering. This allows the smaller file material to be archived in a undiminished or "compressed" high quality audio format in one of 3 ways that I choose. Either, (a) on the hard drive of the computer, (b) on a CDR disc, or (c) on a DVDR disc.

The latter two options have four major advantages:

1. Physical Storage Portability

2. Conserves Storage Space On The Hard Drive In Place of Using The Hard Drive As A Storage Medium.

3. Multiple Application In Various Players (you can listen wherever you want)

4. Zero Loss of Quality via Compression as In The Case of MP3s, etc.

* Proof Listening is just that. Like "proof reading" the archivist is "proofing" audio material in terms of it's potential interest or sound quality.

^Batch Processing is a computer program feature that allows you to place numerous files in a queue or specific "holding" area so that each file can be effected via an identical sequential process consisting of various digital effects, filters or "treatments".

It seems to me that when we are all together, we are alone as just one person, or as a group of many. Either way, I choose now to be one here, just one nut's case for the exclusive purpose of conveying my lone soul road's undertaking. I am...

Ignotus Gravis Recordatio Venator


but you can call me Ven for short.