My fave "obscure atists":

Devin Townsend - Current artist from Vancouver B.C. should be 10,000x bigger than he is right now. Check out "Accelerated Evolution".

Max Webster - Toronto band from '70's toured w/ Rush. Never got huge in the States. They were Gods. "Universal Juveniles"

805 - Prog Rock band from Syracuse N.Y. Had an RCA release in '80 or '81. "Stand in Line"

Robert Hazard - Philly guy with one very minor hit in '82. "The Escalator of Life."

Gowan - Sort of Canada's answer to Peter Gabriel. Now the lead singer of Styx, but his own stuff was wayyyy better. "Criminal Mind."

Willie Nile - Early 80's singer songwriter from N.Y.

Naughty Sweeties - Was L.A.'s answer to the B-52's

jettison eddy - Was L.A.'s answer to Matchbox 20. Incredible CD produced by Keith Olsen. Should've been massive. Blame their "Manager".

Leggs Diamond - What if Deep Purple grew up in Texas? They'd be Leggs Diamond.

Civil Defiance - L.A.'s bastard stepchildren of Metallica meets Megadeth meets Allan Holdsworth. Awesome.

A truly great recent band was the Mommyheads. These guys changed my whole way of approaching music!

A sad thing happened to them- they were signed to Geffen Records and Don Was produced their 5th or 6th album, after 10 years as an indefatigable independent act.

That killed that band but dead!

One week of press releases and charting on a few college radio stations, and finis.

You have to wonder how many great acts died in similar fashion...

Originaly posted by nhcomp45@aol.com Your welcome we ordered the reissue of Recycled with the following Bonus tracks

– Original Geoff Emerick mixes July 1975 : Recycle, Cybernetic Consumption, Recycle Countdown, Automoton Horrorscope, Recycling, Flight to Reality, Unendless Imaginations, Sao Paulo Sunrise, Costa Del Sol, Marvellous Moses, It’s All Over (All tracks previously unreleased)

Does anyone have any info on the band ETHOS some of the albums I know of are OPEN UP and ARDOUR I think they were great musicians.
Dennis
http://www.clearstudio.com

Since they're from the Toronto area, they've been fixtures in Western NY since the early '90s. From a concert date here about 6 years ago, they might still hold an attendance record for our local "hockey barn" concert venue.

I just took my wife and 3 young kids to see them a month ago (the 3rd time my wife & I have seen them). Pound for pound, dollar for dollar, BnL is probably the most entertaining live act on the road today.

I'll echo Gtoledo3's post and put XTC at the top of the list. They hit the "medium time", but still never got near the success they deserved. Check out "Dukes Of Stratosphear" or "Big Express", brilliant CDs that were largely ignored. Aside from their first album and their latest two or three releases, everything they put out is great...

"Speech" is one that I'm disappointed to not see hit the big time.

As the front man for Arrested Development he was successful, but as a solo career he doesn't seem to have the draw, but for the genre it's the best I've found.

Nika.

Sooo many great groups...

Soft Machine
Toad the Wet Sprocket
Nitzinger
Danny Gatton
Love Sculpture
Atomic Rooster

Just the first handful that spring to mind...

Ohh yeah, I'll second (or third) XTC and the Jayhawks. Peter Case is another one (former front man for the Plimsouls, another shoulda-been-big band, but his solo stuff might be even stronger). Richard Thompson I guess is well known to his cult following but never really hit the big time.

I used to always put Fountains of Wayne on lists like this but I guess now they've finally had a top 10 hit. I also used to always mention Orange Hat , but a few months ago I was asked to join the band so I guess I shouldn't toot my own horn... but hey, they're still one of my favorite bands and definitely not big time!

Tall Dogs from Macon, Georgia
Jam Factory from Syracuse
Tribal Therapy from Seattle
Moxy Fruvous from Toronto
Andy Pratt ("Avenging Annie")
Pousette-Dart Band

Gotta chip in on this one. Growing up in the Bay Area in the 70's we had a great band that used to play our high school dances once in a while. They were called the Sons of Champlin. They killed it every gig. Later Bill Champlin joined Chicago but his best work was with the Sons.

My 2cents.

Second choice was Montrose.

I liked Ronnie Montrose a lot... geat player, great guy. What was his first popular band? I think that their big song was,"I Got The Fire"... a riff that I can still play.

I have some old San Francisco psychedelic posters with the "Sons.." on them... usually as the opening act, if I remember correctly. I don'tthink that I ever got to hear them, though.

Bill

Montrose was great then with a young Sammy Haggar was the lead singer back then. The group at that time was just called Montrose. Another blast from the past was a rock band called Yesterday and Today. Good also. The bay area was great back then... Bill Graham Day's on the Green all day concerts, Winterland...inebriated memories.

I have Atomic Rooster Headline News it is a great album I believe it's the only one with keyboards, and they were sorry they put them in. I checked some of there other work but that album was the only one I liked.
Dennis

PS does anyone know of the band ETHO's or have any info on them?

Jellyfish!!! If you want to hear a great vocalist singing superbly crafted tunes with influences of Badfinger, Beach Boys, Queen, Beatles and a great dollop of their own greatness....buy the two albums, Bellybutton and Spilt Milk. You will not be disappointed.

I have made it my life's work (I am exaggerating a bit ofcourse) to spread the word about Jellyfish.

Note of interest, some members of Jellyfish were part of Ringo Star's band a few years ago...

I told Andy Sturmer about this thread. He let out a good chuckle.

Nika.

"You're My Girl" ... ,love it! One day back in the 60s I had X amount of money in my pocket... the 2 albums that I was looking at were both unknown at the time. I almost bought that Led Zep album, being a Yardbirds fan. But I tried something different instead. Never regretted it. (Bought Zep later... everybody had it anyway.)

Bill

....and did anyone mention Pages yet?

I just recieved my new Nektar CD Recycled with the original album mix and a Geoff Emrick album mix it is awsome if you like this kind of music.

Dennis