Dec 14

Index

 Previous

Next 

UNDER-APPRECIATED ROCK BAND OF THE MONTH FOR MARCH 2011:  INDEX

 
But psychedelic guitar is one of the best things in rock music for my money, and it hardly gets any better than with INDEX.  This album was advertised as the “Holy Grail” among collectors of psychedelic albums, and it does live up to the hype.  I paid $27 for the record, which is about as much as I have paid for any record for at least five years.  (Truth be told, I am more of a hoarder than a collector:  On my Atlanta record-buying trip in Spring 2010, fully half of the albums that I got were priced at $1).

Index (or the Index) was formed in the tony Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, Michigan in 1967 by John Ford (lead guitar and lead vocals), Gary Francis (bass and rhythm guitar) and Jim Valice (drummer and background vocals).  The copy that I have is an “authorized" release, not a bootleg; but of course, we only have their word for that.  (It reminds me of the old joke:  How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?  Answer:  Four; calling the tail a leg doesn’t make it one).

The lead guitar really is outstanding and is clarion-clear, especially considering that the songs were recorded “at the Ford Estate” (that’s what it says here) live in the studio with one microphone.  The vocals are a little muddy and washed out, though they are well sung, particularly on “Rainy, Starless Night” (“Why must I cry? . . .”).  Their songwriting is also top notch; standout tracks include “John Riley”, “Fire Eyes”, and “Shock Wave” (the last two are woven into one song).  “Feedback” starts off with feedback-drenched guitar echo that is among the best I have heard – certainly better than “Free Form Guitar” on Chicago’s first album Chicago Transit Authority, or the side-long “Cambridge 1969” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono that was included on their follow-up to Two Virgins, Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions – then again, Index went on to do a real song rather than just waving their guitar in front of the amp.

There are two covers:  “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” (more the Vanilla Fudge version than the Supremes version) and the Byrds’ “Eight Miles High” (speaking of great psychedelic songs).  If there was ever a song that cried out for a really extended treatment, it was “Eight Miles High”; and I still remember well the first time I heard a long version of “Eight Miles High” at a party while I was in college.  The artist turned out to be Golden Earring, a Dutch band that has been around about as long as the Rolling Stones; they went on to have two giant hits – both of which I still love – “Radar Love” and “Twilight Zone”.

This album is one of two LPs that I have gotten this year where the side listings are backwards, i.e., where Side 2 is on the left and Side 1 is on the right.  The other is a live performance by a Dutch band, the Outsiders (not to be confused with the American band also called the Outsiders that hit with “Time Won’t Let Me”), called Afraid of the Dark.  In that case, the sides were numbered correctly I guess; but Side 2 is essentially the same as the outstanding first side of their legendary first album, The Outsiders (even including the introduction to the band in the Dutch language), and the album just seems better when it is played with the second side first.  This was a run-through rather than the blistering live tracks given on the first album, but that one hasn’t yet emerged from my recovery of the record albums from Katrina, so I am delighted to have this one available for playing.
 
(March 2011)
 
*       *       *
 
Items:    Index 
 
*       *       *
 
Flashback:  The Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for March 2011 – INDEX

Index is reportedly one of the most legendary psychedelic rock rarities out there, though you couldn’t prove that by me.  They released two albums actually, and the reissue of the one that I have I got at a reduced price because the corners of the LP were bent or something.  (Actually it looked fine to me when I got it).

YouTube has several Index songs in its database:  Their version of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” can be heard at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybyi8XBgjY8 (as taken from the original album, not the reissue that I own).  Their original song, “Shock Wave” is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d4xRwhrbDM .  Here is another, this time from their second album that I don’t own, “Paradise Beach”:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=738VNGV8sYQ .
 
(March 2013)
 
*       *       *
 

Picture Gallery:  The Under-Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for March 2011 – INDEX 

 

This is the Index album that I have: 

 


This is the other album by this band, Red:



Here are photographs of the bandmembers as taken from the back of the album cover:


      


This is a group shot of the band:


 
 
(March 2014)
 
*       *       *
 
Here is a rundown of the 2010-2011 Under-Appreciated Rock Bands/Artists of the Month for the past year: 
 
December 2010 – THE POPPEES, 1970’s Beatlesque power pop band (compilation album) 
 
January 2011 – HACIENDA, active 2010’s Chicano rock band (two albums) 
 
February 2011 – THE WANDERERS, 1980’s apocalyptic punk rock band (one album) 
 
March 2011 – INDEX, legendary 1960’s psychedelic rock band (two albums) 
 
April 2011 – BOHEMIAN VENDETTA, 1960’s garage rock band (one album plus compilation album) 
 
May 2011 – THE LONESOME DRIFTER, 1960’s rockabilly singer (compilation album) 
 
June 2011 – THE UNKNOWNS, 1970’s first-wave punk rock band (two albums plus compilation album) 
 
July 2011 – THE RIP CHORDS, 1960’s surf rock band (two albums) 
 
August 2011 – ANDY COLQUHOUN, active 1980’s-2010’s psychedelic rock guitarist (two albums) 
 
September 2011 – ULTRA, 1970’s old-fashioned hard rock band (compilation albums) 
 
October 2011 – JIM SULLIVAN, 1960’s country-rock singer-songwriter (two albums) 
 
November 2011 – THE UGLY, 1970’s first-wave Canadian punk rock band (compilation album) 
 
(Year 2 Review)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021