The Churchills - Living Loving (1968)

The Churchills' sole album is above average for a rare psychedelic late-'60s obscurity, and an important document as the only Israeli psychedelic record to achieve even a bit of an international cult, but not as interesting as some of the buzz generated on the collector's circuit may have you believe. Heavily influenced by both West Coast psychedelia and late-'60s British hard rock, there's often a Jack Bruce-type resonance to the vocals, and a garage-Doors vibe to the guitar-organ interplay and spacy-but-somber lyrics. Sometimes they let more of a Middle Eastern element into play, as on "Subsequent Final," a mandolin tune which sounds like a psychedelic hora dance.
One of the top 10 psych albums of all time (fact). Only released in Israel in 1968, this is an incredible psych fest with superb tripped out songs in English, amazing multi-layered, phased freaked out acid guitar solos, weird effects and exotic arabian instruments.

Track Listing...

01 - Open Up Your Eyes
02 - Song From The Sea
03 - Pictures In My Mind
04 - Comics
05 - Where You're Gone
06 - Strangulation
07 - Straight People
08 - Subsequent Final
09 - So Alone Today
10 - Debka
Bonus tracks:
11 - Living Loving
12 - Signs Of You
13 - She's A Woman
14 - Sunshine Man

Jericho Jones - Junkies, Monkeys and Donkeys (1971)

The highly obscure psychedelic rock group from Israel began life in the late '60s as the Churchills, who produced a string of beat/psychedelic singles before relocating to England, where they changed their name to Jericho Jones and later simply Jericho. They released this sole album as Jericho Jones on A&M; it bridges the group's transition from the Churchills' fuzz psychedelic sound into the more hard rock sound they produced as Jericho. This album can be recommended to fans of exotic underground progressive and the hard rock of the '70s. The CD reissue contains the entire scarce, original double LP as well as five bonus tracks from the same session.

Track Listing...
1 Mare Tranquilitatas
2 Man in the Crowd
3 There Is Always a Train
4 Yellow and Blue
5 Freedom
6 Trangulum
7 No School to Day
8 Junkies Monkeys & Donkeys
9 Junkies Monkeys & Donkeys
10 What Have We Got to Lose
11 Mama's Gonna Take You Home
12 So Come On
13 Mona Mona
14 Champs
15 Hey Man

Part 1
Part 2

Jericho - Jericho (1972)

Jericho evolved from Jericho Jones which evolved from the Churchills. What sets this version apart from the others is it's much more of a progressive album with heavy undertones throughout."Kill Me With Your Love" is an epic proto-metal song that should be on any classic rock fan's list. "Don't You Let Me Down" is another straightforward rocker. The rest of the songs are not quite as good, but the album is still worth hearing, and if you can track it down do so.Classic hard-rock album highlighted by the jammy proto-metal monster "Kill me with your love" and beautiful ballad "Justin and Nova" which benefits from a tasty string arrangement. If I'm pressed to throw away all the heavy rock CDs in my collection and leave just one, this might well be it.Damn tempted to give this a four, but the band seemed a little confused on what their "sound" is. Some way heavy pieces, a big jam, prog etc. Kind of like a cross between Captain Beyond, Santana, The Who and a prog band. Not worth a couple hundred bucks but damn fine. From Israel.
Here are 5 stars necessary. One of the best records of 1972, perhaps the best. Hardrock from Israel. I cannot believe, which power they play and the voice is astounding.
Track Listing...
1. Ethiopia
2. Don't You Let Me Down
3. Featherbed
4. Justin and Nova
5. Kill Me With Your Love