The Flaming Ember--Mind, Body, and Soul (1969)

     For many music fans, when you say, "Detroit", the first thing that comes to mind is "Motown", and of course the pop/soul music machine did take front and center on the charts throughout the 60's and 70's. However, the city was a hotbed of many styles and genres. The MC5, Stooges, Frigid Pink, Alice Cooper, Grand Funk Railroad, all called the auto capital of the US it's home. The Bob Seger System represented more of a white soul sound along with this group, The Flaming Ember.

     The group began as The Flaming Embers in 1964 and spent it's first few years recording for local Detroit labels with local success but not much more. It was a move to the Hot Wax label that began a string of singles that reached the charts. Three of the four reached the top forty beginning with, "Mind, Body, and Soul" in the fall of 1969. 1970 became the pinnacle of their success with three songs on the Hot 100. A year later the band had fallen off the charts, and they changed their name to "Mind, Body and Soul", spending the rest of the 70's on the Detroit bar circuit where they began. 

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The Amboy Dukes: Journey to the Center of The Mind (1968)

In the late 60's, there were more than a few groups who experimented with lyrical content that was psychedelic in nature. Looking at it 40 years later much of that content was nonsensical, however several of those groups had one song that far exceeded the rest of their output..The Amboy Dukes were out of Detroit and had a very fervent following in the Motor City, but could only make that leap to the national charts one time. One thing this group had going for it that none of the others had was Ted Nugent. Yep boys and girls, if you didn't know this already, Uncle Teddy cut his teeth with the Amboy Dukes and took them musically from your common regional garage band to something with a bit more substance. This was the only hit they had, and by 1973 Ted was the undisputed leader and the sound became much more of what you would hear from him by the late 70's. This is a clip from 1968...enjoy your Friday...

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