Terry R. Brooks and Strange Reviews

"Messages from the Cosmos" New Article From Shindig Magazine - AUSTIN MATHEWS heads for deep space as he chats with heavy psychedelic guitar progenitor TERRY BROOKS about his life, music and NASA.

TERRY BROOKS & STRANGE - You Will Be Loved (Review from Amazon.com customer):
"Anything by this top 5 world rock guitarist is monumental. If you can find his album(s), you'll have a treasure on your hands"

TERRY BROOKS & STRANGE - To Earth With Love (8O Star People): Cosmic, smokin', powerful, riff-based power-chord hardrock w/explosive overdriven distorted heavy guitar to the forefront & gutsy, heartfelt, sincere vox by Florida (by way of Ohio!) guitarist-singer-songwriter. Heavier, harder, meaner, & more guitar-oriented than his lst 2 STRANGE LPs (better production sound, too--recorded at Criteria.) "Bottom Line" & "Mister Strange" also have rock-solid rhythms, 7:52 "It's A Beautiful Day" features especially blistering/scorching guitar licks, 6:48: Down & Dirty Blues" =loud blues jam w/ awesome guit throughout ... & it's the kind of LP where the ballads ("Midnight Angel", "You're All I Need", & "I Promise U My Luv") are'cool, too. Way better than tons of LP's costing hundreds more ...

TERRY BROOKS AND STRANGE - Rock the World (Arkama/Italy): 0hmygoshohmygoshOHMYGOSH.... You don't know my surprise ultimate delight, when an unexpected package containing this arrived here at KOTJ Central (just as I was wrappin' up the log!) from The Man himself ... I tell ya, my brothers & sisters in rock, it was a joyous occasion ... my rock & roll hear started dancin' doubletime & all but cartwheeled across my jam pad ... i had all but given up on ever seeing this stuff I used (after hearing "teasers" from this gig ished on various hard-to-find records in the '80s, I'd urged Terry on more than 1 occasion over the past 14 years to get this out-OUT-OUT so that the world could dig these supremely awesome, with sounds & experience The Jammeister live) ... it's a brand-new-issue 2LP live set recorded in Florida in '8O when Terry was at or near his peak as an Almighty Riffmeister. Trace the timeline yourself from his records listed here, by Criteria (AWESOME ballsy, heavy guit sound, the best of all his records!) on a night when Our Hero was hittin' on all cylinders. If you've heard the live cuts on the "No Exit" & "Blastin' Thru" comps. & the "Mr. Strange" 12", then you KNOW what the hubbub is about, as all of that material is included here--PLUS another 5 cuts/30:00+ unished 'til now (incl. song never even ished as a studio cut). In all, 9 cuts/77:00 (figure out the Jam Quotient fer yourself!) Title cut= killer, intense, smokin' 14:00 guit-led instro; awesome 17: 00 (!) "You Will Be Loved"; extended versions of "Mr. Strange", "Bottom Line", & "Child Of The City" ... Not one of those live LPs consisting of carbon copies of the studio versions; Terry takes these tunes to another level, w/extended versions & mucho jammin'. If I were limited to one descriptive phrase (I know, I know--it's kinda late fer that, at this point!) But, that's cuz the excitement level on the my jamroom's rockometer just got pushed outta the red zone & into the neighbor's yard!! Then it would be: "Jammin' his brains out" ...he jams almost non-stop like A Man Possessed ... fingers flyin' up & down the frets, coverin' more ground than a fat man's shirttails... rippin' out incredible licks ... playing as if there were no tomorrow ... as though he thought this would be his last-ever gig on Earth & he thought he could ignite the world with his passion before the power within him explode & propelled him into the galaxies ... the antithesis of clueless guitar wankers w/ their "pigsqueal" licks who're fulla "technique" but whose cookbook pages are blank when it comes to combining fire, power, & passion into the awesome majestic technique that is hardrock at its best. It's beasts like this that separate the contenders from the pretenders in the hardrock sweepstakes. If I was allowed to buy 1--& only l--record this year, then this baby Just might be it.

TERRY BROOKS & STRANGE - High Flyer (81 Star People): A One-take LP recorded live & raw in the studio in 50 minutes! The "Earth side=devastating guitar-blasting hardrock w/that explosive heavy guit; Billboard review (yes, they reviewed it & "Recommended" It!!!)

TERRY BROOKS & STRANGE - Criteria test press/demo :Even rarer than the version in my last log, as this 1 was limited to 12 copies & it's got the "Space" side of the "High Flyer" LP pressed on both sides on translucent gold wax. Copies were personally given by Terry only to acquaintences. Date & autograph on label/plain jacket

TERRY BROOKS & STRANGE - No Exit (Rock City/German): '84 issue of AWESOME unreleased-at-the-time '8O live cuts (l side) + 4 of the best cuts of of "To Earth ..... (other side).

TERRY BROOKS & STRANGE - Blastin' Thru (Rock City/German): Rarely-seen c. 84 issue of side-long AWESOME unreleased-at-the-time '8O live jam + 4 cuts off "High Flyer".

TERRY BROOKS & STRANGE (12" 45): Mr. Strange (live; long/short versions) (('81 Fla. Rock)): '87 special custom leased-at-the-time smokin' heavy guitar versions mixed HOT & LOUD for maximum brainblasting!

TERRY BROOKS & STRANGE (12"): Dancin' Woman/Love Of The Ages ('82 Star People): "A"=non-LP. all=colored wax.

TERRY BROOKS & STRANGE (12" 45) - NY Connection/R&R Queenie (85 NYC): 2 non-LP cuts pressed exclusively for record pools/clubs. Issued ln plain whlte covers, it's autographed & has a promo insert.