As you might know, we have one of the coolest local record stores in the country here in Charlotte. That store is Noble Records and its down is Dillon Smith. Dillon started selling what you would call “exclusives” every month which are albums that are released by a label and the store gets an exclusive version for their store…usually a cool color variant. Dillon later decided he wanted to do his own label and release his own archival releases and the first one up is this sweet gem from a band called Underground Fire. The original album came out in 1972 and there were only 1,500 copies in print. It is a sought after release for many collectors.

What is cool about this band is that they were a local band out of Monroe, North Carolin which is only 20 minutes from where I live and it is where Dillon grew up. He worked with the band and was able to come to agreement for a release. And what a great job they did with this release. The quality of the album jacket, the cool insert with a great interview from two of the original band members and the sound itself are all top notch quality. There are several color variants you can get including the standard black for you purists. You can buy at noblerecords.com. I purchased the most exclusive of the bunch which was the red/white pinwheel as there were only 200 copies of it released (and he is sold out of this variant).

A little about the band. The band consisted of Randy Jenkins (vocals), Mike Spurlock (Bass/vocal), Roger Helms (lead guitar), Errol English (rhythm guitar) and Danny Taylor (Drums). They came together in 1971 and scrapped up enough money to get a day in the studio. They played a lot of local venues and even played in a Battle of the Bands. They played a lot of covers from Alice Cooper, Grand Funk and The Stones so they needed original songs and they spent the week or so prior to the studio writing and fine tuning the songs. Oh yeah, these guys were in high school at the time.

As far as sound goes, this is pure 70’s garage rock with some psychedelic hints…but according the members, no LSD…but maybe some weed influenced them. And another influence was young love. Being teenagers those hormones were raging as there are 4 of the 8 songs with “love” in the title. The songs and music are simple and straightforward. There is nothing overly flashy or complicated. That simplicity is the charm to this album and why it resonates on the first listen.

When you drop the needle on this you will be immediately sent back to the early 70’s with “Loving Man”. That guitar tone is so cool, the bass is driving force behind the song and the straight-forward drum beat all meld great together. The guitar solo from Roger is spectacular as it feels so right for the song and such a killer sound. Randy’s vocals are stellar too and man do they sound young. A little grit, a little squeakiness and all fantastic. “Love the One That Loves You” keeps the love theme going. There is a bounciness to it that will get the head bobbing and that guitar solo will suck you right in.

With “I Love You”, I told you there was a lot of love, you get a darker tone with a really nice groove to it. The bass is prominent here and my favorite part of the song. Then with “We Can Make It” you get a bunch of solos including a very long drum solo that is so surprising and unexpected on a non-live track. It turns the song into an epic almost 9 minute track. Oh yeah, the fuzzed out guitar is totally killer too and his solo is just as cool…might be best part of this song with so many great parts.

Flipping the vinyl over and you get one of the best tracks on the album, “Evil Woman”. A Sabbathy feel, at least to me, and more straight-ahead rock. I like the darker tone on the lyrics and more great bass work which seems to be key to this album. “You’ll Like It” is a more upbeat, melodic track that feels like more party-mode than anything else. If you like that fuzz guitar sound, hold on to your hat for this one too. A fun, cool track.

We are back to the love with “I Loved Her”. A heartbreaking song about lost love You can feel it in Randy’s vocals. He does a good job with this one. The final track, “Cardack”, is an instrumental with some rip roaring guitar work from Roger Helms. The fuzz tone on the guitar is nasty and Roger brings it home with Danny tearing it up on the drum kit and Mike laying the bass groove. A really cool way to close out the album.

And there you have it. A great first release from Dillon on his brand new record label, Noble Records. As I said earlier, the simplicity of the music and lyrics is the charm of this album. The kids were only in high school yet they were fresh and hungry. The guitar tone of Roger Helms six-string is vicious and he can do some great riffing and shredding. Randy’s vocals are so young sounding and innocent, but enough grit to give it some character. Mike Spurlock’s bass work is the driving force of a lot of these songs and he was also the main songwriter as he wrote 5 of the 8 songs. The rhythm section of Errol and Danny were the backbone of the music as well. All around, a fun, exciting 70’s garage rock, fuzzy guitar, rock & roll album. My Overall Score is a 3.5 out of 5.0 Stars.

And if having this great album wasn’t enough, I also grabbed hold of one of the test pressings from the album. I believe there were only 50 copies of those. I love how they used a simple cardboard sleeve with the band’s album cover burned in to it. Dillon also added the track listing in the old school promo style from the 70’s. I saw this and couldn’t resist. In fact, I have 4 test pressings from his first four albums (two of which haven’t been released yet). So, to clarify…I support my local store by buying the exclusives, the label records and the test pressings! That is a lot of support and a lot of fun collecting. I would say it is the most fun I have in all the stuff I collect. Glad I started collecting it as it has brought me some really cool music to my ears that I might not have ever heard otherwise.