Good review
this is one of my favourite threads and it's great to see it get a shot in the arm!
That being said, i may as well add something to it myself.
THE HUMAN INSTINCT - STONED GUITAR (1970)
Ok so i know this is the SIXTIES psych thread but as was outlined in the first post, there was bound to be some overlap into the early seventies and this album i feel deserves a mention here.
The New Zealand bands first album, Burning Up Years is a record i have also recently listened to and although some tracks on it were fairly decent blues/pop, there were also some stinkers on it including a terrible cover of The Kink's 'You Really Got Me' which certainly helped leave a fairly bad taste in the mouth. However their second record, Stoned Guitar managed to blend the blues in which that record was rooted in with some fantastic Hendrix-inspired guitar work.
A much more complex, complete album in comparison i got a real sense that this is when the band hit their stride. Theres a lot of good use of repetition in the structuring of the lengthy songs (of the six songs, three of them are over eight minutes long) which allows guitarist Billy Tekahika the freedom to accompany the blues riffs with some tight, loud, fuzzy jams and solo's.
The title track sports some exceptionally loud lead guitar work and noise, 'Jugg a Jug' and 'Midnight Sun' are two great examples of the lengthy, hazy, psychedelic jams i mentioned and the closing track 'Railway Gun' is best described as not being a million miles away from the raw, electric blues that made Hendrix so great. Its also worth mentioning (because chances are you will notice) that the beginning of 'Midnight Sun' is very reminiscent, or rather exactly the same as 'Mississippi Queen' by Mountain. I have a feeling the Mountain track came first and im not sure what month of 1970 they released this album but it looks like The Human Instinct did release their first single from this record in the same month, at least.
The track 'Tomorrow' arguably may seem a little out of place and offers the albums only real respite as a slow, acoustic, melodic number but after a few listens through i usually find myself welcoming this respite.
Whether further listens improve or weaken this record for me has yet to be seen but you may as well make your own mind up in the meantime.
STONED GUITAR
JUGG-A-JUG
MIDNIGHT SUN