DAMNATION OF ADAM BLESSING – S/T & SECOND 2CD – 1969/1970 (US) heavy psych/hard rock

DAMNATION OF ADAM BLESSING
The Damnation of Adam Blessing's debut LP was a fairly worthwhile, though inconsistent, record bridging the late psychedelic and early hard rock eras, with occasional strong traces of blues-rock, psychedelia, folk-rock, and pop. The group's strongest ace in standing out from what was, by 1969, a huge deck of new hard rock bands, was singer Adam Blessing, whose full-throated, husky vocals were — unlike those in so many other similar outfits of the time — powerful without being bombastic. The original material was often built around jagged riffs that were more blues-rock-influenced than bluesy. "Le Voyage" is a fairly good Midwestern spin on the kind of proto-psychedelic Yardbirds songs that had haunting choruses and background vocals, and sort of like some of the best efforts in that regard by the likes of, say, the Amboy Dukes: "Hold On" is similar, though not as good. On "Dreams," though, they could almost be an entirely different band, sounding more like the Strawberry Alarm Clock than anyone besides the Strawberry Alarm Clock themselves. As another change of pace, the harpsichord-speckled "Strings and Things" is almost a hard rock-Baroque rock fusion. The covers were indicative of the group's lack of consistent direction, though, with a pretty well-done cover of "Morning Dew," joined by a routine run-through of the blues standard "You Don't Love Me," and an odd, heavy, funk-rock version of the Monkees' "Last Train to Clarksville."
1. COOKBOOK
2. MORNING DEW
3. LE VOYAGE
4. YOU DON'T LOVE ME
5. STRINGS AND THINGS
6. LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE
7. DREAMS
8. HOLD ON
9. LONELY

Great covers of "Morning Dew"and "Last Train to Clarkesville"

SECOND
The Damnation of Adam Blessing's second LP (sometimes attributed in discographies to Damnation) went in a harder rock direction than their 1969 self-titled debut. The result was a more stylistically consistent, yet overall less interesting effort that was closer to the standard of competent, but below-top-of-the-line early Midwestern hard rock bands, lacking some of the pop influences that were among the most interesting attributes of their prior album. It's not totally run-of-the-mill, though, since Adam Blessing was one of the best singers in the style, and since the group were more adept at background vocal harmonies than almost any other similar bands of the era. "Death of a Virgin" and (to a lesser extent) "Everyone," actually sound closer to the likes of Moby Grape and some of Quicksilver's more song-driven material than Midwestern hard rock; this and some other tracks are graced with some particularly exceptional bass playing by Ray Benich. Cuts like "Driver" and "Back to the River" are more typical of their approach, though, relying on pile-driving blues-rockish riffs and pummeling drums, boringly so on the overlong "In the Morning."

1. NO WAY
2. DEATH OF A VIRGIN
3. DRIVER
4. EVERYONE
5. BACK TO THE RIVER
6. MONEY TREE
7. BA-DUP
8. NEW YORK CITY WOMAN
9. IN THE MORNING
10. SMILE

his 2nd Lp they get their stuff together and ya get some of the best Heavypsych of the era. HEAVY music well performed and High quality vocals and loadsa catchy tracks.
This is way better than the debut album, which wasn't bad at all, but they get high gear in on this album.

Highly recommended!
Rip from CD 256@ (full artwork included)
Download links
http://link-protector.com/239646/
http://link-protector.com/239647/