Recorded in the wake of John Lennon’s death in 1980, Rick Penta’s Dreams finds the lifelong Beatles fanatic channeling grief, admiration, and the pursuit of his own musical ambitions. The title track is a soaring piano ballad built on shimmering synth melodies and dreamily phased vocals, evoking the emotional grandeur of Lennon’s “#9 Dream” while carrying the … Continued
Originally released in 1983 on Larry Lupole’s own Ice Records imprint, Classic Fantasy is a lost gem of downhome American soft rock finally stepping into the spotlight. Built around earlier singles “My Lady” and “Angel,” the album captures Lupole’s heartfelt songwriting, guitar-driven balladry, and lifelong devotion to the art of making music. Listen + Download: https://anthology.ffm.to/classicfantasy.OYD
Recorded two years after his 1977 debut Hit the Road, the pair of songs finds Penta pushing beyond the intimate acoustic folk of his earliest work into a richer, more expansive sound. “My Story Changes” is a hook-filled blend of electric folk and power pop, driven by flanging guitars, punchy drum breaks, and a subtle touch … Continued
Bionic Funk, a term initially coined by Frank Zappa in the late 1970s, became the banner under which this short-lived outfit from Jacksonville, Florida poured forth its extra smooth strain of jazz-inflected funk. Led by guitarist Michael Ray Fitzgerald, the group started out as a six-piece playing instrumental covers of Bob James, Grover Washington, Gato … Continued
Clete Stallbaumer’s My House is Your House is an album that nests inside the imagination and lingers there. Self-released in 1978 by a mysterious US-born, UK transplant whose known biography doesn’t extend far beyond a handful of names, dates, and places, this is music charged with an energy and attitude that’s slightly too elusive to … Continued
A Sorcerer’s Dream adds more lore to the sonic mythology of soft-psych voyager Michael Angelo. Written and recorded in close proximity with his celebrated 1977 self-titled debut, this sophomore effort didn’t find its way into the world until decades later, taking on a mysterious life of its own before Anthology Recordings sent a signal back … Continued
Fourth Chapter was a garage rock band from the Dearborn Heights suburb of Detroit made up of Charlie Block, James Henterly, Pat Mezza, Bob Okonowski, and Gordie Roedding. These childhood friends started jamming together at the tender age of ten, and it wasn’t too much later that they solidified their status as local legends on … Continued
Throughout the 60s, Missouri-born singer-songwriter Willis David Hoover, aka Hoover, was part of the original outlaw country music scene and a late-night, neon-campire associate of Kinky Friedman, Waylon Jennings, Billy Joe Saver and Tompall Glaser. He wrote songs for the likes of Tina Turner, Eddy Arnold, and Jennings, as well as Ralph Nelson’s 1970 American … Continued
If You Wanna Laugh, You Gotta Cry Sometimes: Archives Vol. 3, 1972-1975 is another magical discovery from Georgia-born singer-songwriter Robert Lester Folsom’s oeuvre of soft psychedelia and rural rock n’ roll, written and recorded over 50 years ago yet prophetically resonant today. Born of lost summers, new love (and the breaks that follow), and hippie … Continued
From the mangled minds behind the beloved Follow the Sun and Sad About the Times compilations, Maybe I’m Dreaming is the latest collection selected by Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Suppression Ring) and Keith Abrahamsson (Founder and Head of A&R at Anthology Recordings). Featuring twenty tracks, Dreaming makes a conscious and unconscious, detour from its … Continued