Tag: Noble Records

Tennessee River Crooks – ‘Tennessee River Crooks’ (1976/2024) – Album Review

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Tennessee River Crooks was a band out of Paris, Tennessee and although they had one album, it was produced on a private press and had no major label release. RidingEasy Records licensed the album for an official release and our good friends at Noble Records had an exclusive version printed out exclusive to their store. Their version is what I have here and it was limited to 300 copies on a almost Mint Green colored vinyl. It is listed as Green, but I feel it is more mint green so there you have it.

The band consisted of Jimmy Stewart on bass, Ronnie Waters & Larry Farrar on guitars with Ricky Stewart on drums. Jimmy also handled all the vocals. One of the main song writers on here is Mike Hendrix who also contributed some guitar work and harmony vocals on a lot of song. He was in the band at one time, but only contributed to the recordings at this point. Their sound is pure Southern Rock and the album was mostly recorded with the rhythm tracks live so you would get the feel of the band and how they sounded live. It was recorded, mostly, at Sound Farm in Puryear, Tennessee betwen June and October of 1976 as it states on the back cover. All I can say is that it is another solid Exclusive offered by Noble and why I keep coming back time and again and buying his exclusive. The man knows what he is talking about.

The band’s name came from a friend of theirs name Jerry Crouch. He worked the door at a lot of their gigs and when he collected the money at the door for entry, he placed it in a cigar box for the company Tennessee River Crooks. They shortened it TR Crooks as the other was a mouthful to always say. Whatever you want to call them, you can call them talented musicians and a hell of a band.

SIDE ONE:

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Dryewater – ‘Southpaw’ (1974/2024) – Album Review

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Our local record store here, Noble Records, has its own record label. They released the album from Underground Fire a couple months back and now it is time for their second release. This time around, it is actually another North Carolina band called Dryewater. They were based out of Charlotte, North Carolina and the album originally came out back in 1974 which was called ‘Southpaw’. The band on that album was only together for around a year and consisted of Richard Drye on guitar and lead vocals plus his wife Shaye Drye on keyboards. That wasn’t all, you had Robert Blair on bass and Garland Walker Stidham on drums. The original album had only 500 copies and was mostly given away by the band so if you want a hard to find album, this is probably one of them.

Luckily for us, Noble Records contacted the remaining band members and obtained the license to distribute this album again. Once they obtained the rights, they needed a copy of the album to master and re-issue, but the problem was there was no master tape of the album. As a result, using a very clean copy of the vinyl, the did what you call a needledrop mix of the album. Test pressings were run and you could hear the album as it was originally released. And being the hardcore supporter I have been with Noble Records, Dillon was kind enough to give me one of the test pressings. This test pressing was back from September 18, 2023.

I note the date because after he received the test pressings and before it went to print, guess what happened. They found the master tapes from the recordings. And if that wasn’t all, they found an unreleased song and an extended version of one of the original songs that had not been released either. So, we now had two unreleased tracks. Lo and behold, the tapes were great and they were mastered for a new pressing. I bought one of the test pressings he had for this next run as well. This time around, the date was January 9, 2024.

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The Collection: Ep. 41 – December Wrap-Up 2024

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As we end another month, it is time to go back and see what 2 Loud 2 Old Music added to the collection. This is December 2024 and we have lots of vinyl, CDs, cassettes and even books plus some music related items. So much to go through including another Noble Record Exclusive, Voice of America Archive Albums as well as another addition to the Rock Candy collection, the Kiss collection and Box Set collection. Lots of great albums to go though and show for this month so I hope you enjoy the show!!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, January 6, 2025 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

And here is all is if you can’t catch the video…

Mammoth – ‘Mammoth’ (1981/2024) – Album Review

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Noble Records had three exclusives in October and they were all great, but this one stood out the most for me. It is from a band called Mammoth (not to be confused with the early Van Halen band or even Wolfgang’s Mammoth WVH). These guys were a Southern Rock band out of Florida and the album was recorded in 1981 at Relayer Studios in Deland, Florida. If you like Lynyrd Skynyrd and that Southern Rock sound, than Mammoth will be right up your alley. It is the first Exclusive Noble Records has done where I had actually heard of the band and had always been curious about them. The Noble Exclusive was limited to only 300 copies on a really cool purple colored vinyl. It sold out rather quickly.

The band consists of Bill Abell (Rhythm guitar), Ron Herman (Drums), Joey Costa (Bass) and Buzz Fetters (Lead Guitar) and apparently they all lent a hand to vocals as they don’t have a defined lead singer. Instead, the blend the vocals into each track that works to perfection. These guys are in your face, rocking it hard and are 100% authentic in their delivery. Hold on tight and get ready for a band that should’ve been bigger as they had the songs, the sound and the style. Riding Easy Records reminds us again of another great band that we all missed back in the day.

SIDE ONE:

The album kicks off with “Change the Run” and it simply explodes out of the speakers. The riffs are slick, fast and frenzied and the vocals are powerful and full of attitude. The guitar tones are in that sweet spot with wicked licks and ever so slight distortion. The drums and bass drive a rhythm section that pushes the song forward at a controlled, fast pace…oh yeah…and there is cowbell!! There is never enough cowbell!! But the highlight is that guitar and the solo..wow! What a blistering opening track.

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The Collection: Ep. 39 – November 2024 Wrap Up

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As we end another month, it is time to go back and see what 2 Loud 2 Old Music added to the collection. This is November 2024 and we have lots of vinyl and CDs. So much to go through including a ton of Noble Record Exclusives, Voice of America Archive Albums as well as another addition to the Rock Candy collection, the Kiss collection and a Box Set collections. Lots of great albums to go though and show for this month so I hope you enjoy the show!!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, December 2, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

Elias Hulk – ‘Unchained’ (1970/2023) – Album Review

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One thing I’ve been having fun with is collecting the Exclusive vinyls offered at my local Record Store, Noble Records. Each month he generally has one or two releases that are exclusive to his store. Usually that means a colored variant of archival release. It has allowed me to branch out and listen to things I would normally never ever hear or get the chance to hear. And I will say, 90% of his releases I have found to be quite enjoyable and made me really appreciate a lot of these cult bands that seemed to fall by the wayside or discarded from this rock & roll business. I have reviewed two of these before and I thought, it is time to start diving in to more of this and do a review. So, here we are with one of those exclusives.

For this review, we are going to look at a band that had one album and was done. A One And Done band called Elias Hulk. The album was released in the UK sometime back in 1970. The band was originally called Alias the Hulk due to their love for Marvel Comics and The Incredible Hulk. Eventually the name was shorted to Elias Hulk. The band consisted of members James Haines (Bass), Bernard James (Drums), Neil Tatum (Lead Guitar), Granville Frazer (Rhythm Guitar) and Peter Thorpe (Lead Singer). And as far as sound, they are a cross between a heavy bluesy rock with some psychedelic hard rock mixed and some Eastern elements that add a cool uniqueness to their sound. And if that wasn’t enough, it is a little proggy as well. I would say that it is a pretty accurate as we definitely have some heavy moments and then some not quite so heavy, but all sounds are still rock and still kick ass.

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The Collection: Ep. 38 – October Wrap Up 2024

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As we end another month, it is time to go back and see what 2 Loud 2 Old Music added to the collection. This is October 2024 and we have vinyl, CDs and even a book. So much to go through including a ton of Noble Record Exclusives and Test Pressings as well as another addition to the Rock Candy collection, the Kiss collection and 2 Box Set collections. Lots of great albums to go though and show for this month so I hope you enjoy the show!!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, October 28, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

And here is everything in case you can’t watch the video…

The Collection: Ep. 35 – September Wrap-Up 2024

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic7 Comments

As we end another month, it is time to go back and see what 2 Loud 2 Old Music added to the collection. This is September 2024 and we have vinyl, CDs and a brand new 7″ Single. So much to go through including a Noble Record Exclusives and to top that off we have another addition to the Rock Candy, the Kiss collection and a Box Set collection. Lots of great albums to go though and show for this month so I hope you enjoy the show!!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, September 30, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

The Collection: Ep. 31 – August Wrap-Up 2024

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic4 Comments

As we end another month, it is time to go back and see what 2 Loud 2 Old Music added to the collection. This is August 2024 and we have vinyl, CDs and even some 7″ Singles. So much to go through including not one…not two…but four Noble Record Exclusives and or Label records. And to top that off we have another addition to the Rock Candy, the Kiss collection and now starting a Box Set collection. We even hit up a big $5 CD sale at MNRK Records. So much to show for this month so I hope you enjoy the show!!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, September 2, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

And here it is for those that won’t watch video…