J. Teal Band - Cooks (Reissue) (1977/2012)

1977 hard rock album from South Carolina, originally released on the Mother Cleo label. Well respected among collectors for it’s top notch guitar playing and clean undistorted jams. A real long lost gem from the 70s private press underground. “Surprisingly good, underrated small-town hardrocker cruising on a backbone of tight jams that enhance almost every song, with a guitar-playing that is Quicksilver-like in it’s probing flow. Billy Hardy’s lead playing is as good as anything I’ve heard on an album of this kind, and unusually varied. The band also offers up a long introspective Top Drawer-ish brooder, utilizing an odd psychedelic effect which again sounds like something from a late 1960s Bay Area album. This album isn’t unknown, but I bet a lot of people out there will be surprised by how good it is” – The Acid Archives. Add this praise from the blogosphere, and one must conclude that this is an album of undeniable quality: "Hot Southern guitar-rock album that blows away everything else in the genre. It’s not ‘rural rock’ at all. There’s a tad of funk influence, but certainly no country. The vocals are snotty and nasal, which actually gives the music a dangerous edge more genuine than the usual throaty he-man voices that go with this kind of thing. Lots of great lead guitar and a real backwoods sleazy vibe. You get the impression these guys’ days are numbered, and they play with that kind of urgency. In the meantime, you wouldn’t want them getting anywhere near your sister, but you’d be honored to let them borrow your guitar”.