The Music Machine: Sean Bonniwell (vocals, guitar); Mark Landon (guitar); Doug Rhodes (organ, background vocals); Keith Olsen (bass, background vocals); Ron Edgar (drums).
Personnel: Keith Olsen (vocals, guitar); Doug Rhodes (vocals, flute, horns, keyboards); Sean Bonniwell (vocals, horns); Ron Edgar (vocals, drums); Mark Landon (guitar).
Liner Note Author: Alec Palao.
Recording information: Cosimo's, New Orleans, LA; Original Sound; RCA Hollywood; Studio 76, New York, NY; The San Pedro Garage.
Authors: Doug Rhodes; Brian Ross; Keith Olsen ; Sean Bonniwell; Mark Landon; Ron Edgar.
The first album by The Music Machine is an archetypal garage rock document. It consists of the group's sole hit--the incomprehensibly weird, aggressively snotty two-minute wonder "Talk Talk"--a few less distinguished but oddly compelling originals, and the exact same covers as nearly every other garage band: "96 Tears," "Cherry Cherry," "Taxman," "See See Rider" and--yes, you guessed it--"Hey Joe."
Bandleader Sean Bonniwell and group recorded the album in one 10-hour session, and the lo-fi but rocking results sound like a very good bar band on a particularly hot night. "The People in Me" and "Masculine Intuition," two more stomping Bonniwell originals, were released as singles, but the band broke up even before the album was released. A new lineup's 1967 album on Warner Brothers called BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE disappeared almost immediately. Bassist Keith Olsen later produced classic albums by Fleetwood Mac, Heart and others.
Professional Reviews
Uncut (p.117) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The Music Machine were always ahead of their time, mixing a twisted folk-rock sensibility with psychedelic guitars and spooky Farfisa organ..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.122) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A]n exhilarating mesh of fuzz guitar, keening organ, and complex pounding rhythms far beyond the reach of the average garage band."
