Gotta Love Triple LP's And Cans of Beer

Home To You- Earth Opera MP3


Rama Mama- The Rainbow Band mp3

7/7/11

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10607/22193- A-

Sixpoint Sweet Action Ale- Quick Mart- Rego Park, Queens- 1 16 oz. Can- Poured into Pub glass- 5.2% ABV

Head- Nice creamy, 2 finger head. Didn't hang around to long, though, and, no lacing.

Color-Light brown, dark orange

Mouthfeel- Medium bodied, creamy. Very nice, what an ale should taste like in my opinion.

Aroma- Fruity, maybe peaches and malts. Not to hoppy.

Taste/ Overall- Wow, this came out of a can. I am impressed. Nice local offering from the Sixpoint Brewery in Brooklyn. I have never had this before nor any of the other beers from Sixpoint but I am intrigued by this. Well down offering, especially since it is from a can.

On the turntable is Garden of Delights- Various Artists- Elektra Records compilation. Early 70's? 3 LP set in a slip case. I had read an article about Jac Holzman the founder of Elektra records and started looking around for an Elektra Records compilation and I came across this on a website. This was actually an Ebay purchase. I usually don't tend to buy much on Ebay (less than 5% of my records are from Ebay) and try to find it on my own but there are times where I breakdown. No one else ended up bidding on it opened at $4.99 and I bought it for $5 plus $4 shipping and handling. Not a bad value for a 3 LP set.



The collection is really good, better than I expected, and has opened me up to a bunch of artists I had never heard of. The majority of the tracks seem to be from the late 60's and early 70's aschewing the earlier output of the label which from what I have read and heard is decidedly more "folky". One of the interesting things about Jac Holman was his affinity for music outside the mainstream or at least on the cusp of. He actually made quite a bit of money making "sound affects" records and their success funded the early stages of the label and allowed him to take risks other labels were not willing to take. Love, Judy Collins, The Doors and The Stooges were all Elektra bands! But there seems to be hundreds of others and I have chosen to share with you two of those bands from this compilation. The first is Home To You by Earth Opera. A Boston based band led by David Grishman and Peter Rowan who both went on to fame at different times playing bluegrass with both Clarence White and Jerry Garcia. According to the liner notes this group initially had a garage rock/psychedelic bent but this track from there 2nd LP has a definite country-rock bent leaning towards the direction Rowan and Grishman would take their careers in the future. The second track is Rama Mama by The Rainbow Band. I chose this tune for two reasons. One is that it is a great example of a strain psychedelic folk popularized in the 60's which has a not so vague eastern spiritual quality to it. The second reason is that this husband and wife band were originally from Syosset, NY not to far from where I grew up! After some research I learned that there one Electra LP, which seems fairly rare, fetches some big dollars on the resale market. It's hard to believe some folks from Syosset came up with this ditty.The liner notes stated they "live and work in Topanga Canyon where they are inspired by God and the California sunshine." Amen, enjoy.