The Exkursions

High-octane power rock trio of Mike Johnson, Fyl Jonnzen and Leon Wilson, their custom album absolutely blitzing through eight tunes of heavy blues-influenced material in the vein of Hendrix and Cream. No muffled sounds here - the production is top-notch and the guitars shine forth loud and mean, heavily imbrued with 60s psych effects (originally released in 1971). Singer/lead guitarist Johnson gives an exceptional performance, he contributed a number of fine solo albums in the 70s, but none of them cook with near the intensity of this baby. Third Eye is a good example, after starting with some bizarre psycho-babble, the piece breaks into a fierce minute-and-a-half electric guitar jam (recalling Stu Heiss opening solo in Rez Bands White Noise). Dry Ground is another standout, its fast-driving Hendrix groove outfitted with a killer searing guitar lead. Baby You Lied, a love-gone-bad slow blues rocker sounds like one of those lengthy Derek & the Dominoes tracks, with wild stereo separation that Im sure made many a hippie smile back then. Dual rhythm guitar and leads give the band a fuller sound than most trios. Wah-wah and fuzz effects abound, sometimes together as on the opening CCR-ish Picture Woman. Good solid drum work throughout, too, including a solo opportunity at the beginning of the heavily fuzzed Would You Believe, a smooth piece of soft jazz that Mike also included on his�Velvet Prince�album. Great psychedelic cover art to match. Says on the back they formed in�Chicago�in 1968, their sound "spawned out of�Chicagos own particular blend of jazz, blues and rock." This one delivers in everyway!�