Friday, March 26, 2010

Bike - Bike (1978)

Bike were a short-lived Detroit area based outfit who never really made waves outside of their region. It's a shame, as the these boys could muster up a furious cacophony when given the chance. The band basically released this album on a local label before dissolving among the slew of more established acts of the time. Very little is known about the band's background, though vocalist Don Pierle (brother of Indiana band, McKay's Ray Pierle) was a notoriously charismatic figure on the local scene. It is presumed that Bike's lifespan was a rather short one.

So what about the album? Well, many rarities come and go, but this one is easily one of the best I've heard. Scarcity aside, this album is chock full of anthemic and powerful 70's hard rock of the first rate. With a sound that resembles Left End, one can easily get a sense of the quality found in the grooves of this monolithic hard rock relic. It would be quite difficult to pinpoint a highlight, as this album is brimming with quality songwriting throughout. There's truly not a weak track in the lot.

I HIGHLY recommend this beast of an album to anyone craving a heavy dose of powerful in your face rock and roll. Though there's nothing here that reinvents the wheel, there's unquestionably a plethora of pounding riffage to behold. Need proof? Dig in and see what this extremely underappreciated band is all about. Being one of the rarest of its kind, you'll surely get a kick out of Bike's one and only album. Courtesy of Harvey M...

LINK REMOVED MOMENTARILY...NEWS TO FOLLOW

30 comments:

shapeuporgetlost said...

And all praises should go to the original uploader right Ronnie?

Anonymous said...

Hi J, nice to see you back in action after your lengthy break.
Would love to hear this one, your description makes it sound right up my alley.
Unfortunately when i go to the Lix.in page there's no d/l link, just a usenet one.
Is it just me or is anyone else having the same problem?
Best wishes,
Bigfootkit

JKR said...

Absolutely shapeuporgetlost, if I only knew who that was! I'm reupping shortly. Dunno what happened to the original upload I posted. Grrrr....

Anonymous said...

J, love your site! I really appreciate the effort you put into it and, of course, some very fine music. Thank you!

Bigfootkit,
I just downloaded Bike. When you got to the Lix.in page, did you try the button "continue" right above the usenet one? That takes one directly to Mega Upload. Hope this helps.

helio said...

Thank you very much for this excelent album!

BE said...

Thanks,really nice!

Anonymous said...

Again an unknown treasure.
Thanks
Kosmonaut

bigfootkit said...

Cool, it's now working!
Many thanks again J.

Anonymous said...

You copuld mention that the original link you posted was taken from Glory Daze Ronnie. It seems that in future we will have to share our links amongst ourselves only.

JKR said...

No, correction 'anonymous'. The original LINK I posted was mine which I then ran through lix.in before posting. Somehow, the URL lix.in generated was empty, so I resubmitted it for a new link.

I ALWAYS credit an uploader whenever I am aware of who that person is. In this case, I got the album thru a P2P app, cleaned up the audio, tagged it & posted it.

Glorydaze? I think the boyz there have done GREAT work in reviewing & publishing information about AOR. I have nothing but respect for them. I was NOT aware that they were sharing links there, however, until I read your rather snarky comment here TODAY & decided to go look for myself. Is this Harvey Mettle? Speak up. If you have doubts about my truthfulness, ask your buddies at Glorydaze to track my IP addy's activities at their site & see exactly when & what pages I've been visiting. You'll be disappointed.

Look, I spend alot of my hard-earned money & time purchasing vinyls, transferring them & cleaning them up for general consumption. I do it for the love of SHARING. Plain & simple. If I come across something rare via any other means, I always credit the uploader when possible. Do you honestly think I've been credited for every damn review I've written that's been reposted elsewhere? Hell, I'm sure you'll find a lot of your fellow GD buddies have discovered great music from my blog. Do you think there aren't others lifting from the work that I do here or reposting my links without credit? SO FUCKING WHAT. It's all about the MUSIC. Good music deserves to be heard by everyone. I like being credited for my work, but this is the internet age. I've learned that practically nothing is proprietary or private. Get over it.

You know, you could've simply stepped forward & sent an email explaining that you or whoever else had done the digital transfer & asked that I credit them. I would've gladly done so without question, but the anonymous smartass remarks & trying to call my bluff (when there's no bluff to call) do nothing but make you look like a self-serving internet troll.

Jeanz. said...

Hey Ronnie!

Great blog, mannn!

check this post from mine:

http://yoothbrigade.blogspot.com/2010/03/freedoms-children-astra-1970.html

Tritedio said...

Nice, I DLed it because of the mention of Left End and I definitely dig it in the same grimey, party-rock way.

mandustrian said...

skoal for your blog once again J!, & thanx for the Bike album, I been unable to track it for 2-or-so years

some notes about your wishlist.
-- 1 2 6, Norway band. their sole album was re-issued with many additions on 2-cd set. you can find it posted on Faintly Blowing: http://faintlyblowing.blogspot.com/2008/01/126-one-two-six-1966-68.html
-- Albatross. I see its out of the list now- so skip it.
-- Fosterchild - Troubled Child. recently, I sent a fair rip of the album to Chuntao, Mistress of the Rare mp3 music blog, & I see she's already posted it)
-- Rosetta Stone - Rock Pictures. do I think I saw it @ the above-mentioned blog Rare mp3? you might check.
-in case of hallucination, I'll easily make up for it, I've had it from my own sources.
-- Scrubbaloe Cain - Street Level. this album was never completed/released, known for sure. it's inclusion in RYM should pass as a mistake.

-- finally. in some comments on this blog, I gave a link to 2 Headstone's albums. over several months, the archive's been downloaded more than 50 times (to my surprise)! - I got recently better rips of both albums, & I also sent 'em to the said Lady Chuntao, www.raremp3.co.uk. anyone in the theme, expect it there while I delete old file.

and please J, dont get so agitated about those vanity goblins. you know who you are, so do we.

--cheers, mandustrian

McKagan said...

don't fight , guys.

Yes, original uplaoder was Harvey Mettle.

mandustrian said...

WHAT DOES IT MATTER WHO THE FUCK WAS ORIGINAL UPLOADER??
defying conventional copyrights in their present form (& I say, JUSTLY ENOUGH) some folks tend to build new ones on the net sharing space - even more misshapen, ugly ones!
due to unstubable vainglory we're always tryin' to create ourselves problems out of nothing...

JKR said...

Mandustrian, many thanks for the linkage & heads up for my wishlist. You sir, are a gentleman & a scholar! Rock forth, mate.

JKR said...

Funny thing about the whole debate over 'intellectual property' & proprietary information... I was just notified that Erebus Records recent reissue of Jade "Faces Of Jade" uses my article on the band without so much as crediting me for my work. That's how it goes in the online world.... lol

JKR said...

Oh and nice work Glorydaze boys. I would never have expected to be blacklisted by the very people who have freely downloaded music from my little old blog over the last three years. A real douche move, but I'm getting a kick out of the shit storm I apparently inspired! lol :)

JKR said...

Ok it's settled then. I've spoken to the original uploader & he has been credited accordingly. See, people? It always goes smoothly when the parties in question have a meeting of the minds, rather than some third party taking on the unsolicited role of being someone's mouthpiece. Ahhh, you'd think things could always be this simple in the blogosphere. :)

harveymettle said...

Harvey Mettle here! Thanks for clearing that up J. Just to reiterate, I wasn't the person who posted the snide comments! I think there may be a little jealous gremlin at work here (you know who you are!) And just to clarify further - I posted the link at GD, but it wasn't my rip. I got it some time ago via a US mp3 collector on Soulseek (I think his name was Mike) back when I dabbled in such things.

Ahole Atheist said...

"Sweet Mother Nature" reminds me of Moxy a little bit.

Anonymous said...

walsh???? from pierce???

Anonymous said...

Thanks!
Really great music you present here.
/ Peter

abominogjnr said...

Thanks for this great album

I had never heard of them before and only downloaded it because of your positive review, I was not disappointed and would certainly add my recommendation

On your comments about "blogger theft" I couldn't agree more it is disappointing when you spend time and money on a post only to find it copied and pasted elsewhere several days later without any credit given, but then that's life. I personally have done it occasionally but always try to give the original blogger credit as was the case when I posted the champion album on my blog (there is a link back to this site)

Thanks and keep up the good work. Here's to keeping great and forgotten music alive and well

harleytexas said...

I just found your blog and have been enjoying it. I really like the mid/late 70's, early 80's stuff I've snagged from you. Great blog!

Alocacoc said...

Hi!

Just want to say a big THANK YOU for still being capable of finding true obscure gems. And doing it. Music from the times when music wasn't as forgettable as most of todays music. Rock on!

JKR said...

Alocacoc, thx so much for the kind words. I think I speak on behalf of the folks that visit here, your presence in the blogosphere has been sorely missed. I truly hope you will consider re-joining the cause to bring unheard treasures to the masses. I've missed seeing new content from you! I haven't exactly been prolific over the last couple of years, but whenever I come across something that begs to be heard, the urge to share is irresistable. lol Hope to see you active again soon, brother!

Anonymous said...

Great blog.
Any chance of some new posts anytime soon?

SeFi said...

Please post a new link, i want to listen to this band ! Thanks a lot for your effort, love the bands you post on your blog :)

guttersnipe666 said...

Man I gotta get this if they are anything like LEFT END its gotta be incredible.