History:

The Together Sound Of Lehigh and The Together Sound Of Reading compilations are a bit of a mystery. Both were made in Pennsylvania but are quite obscure and the histories of both recordings remain unclear. 

The Together Sound Of Reading was clearly made to showcase local club talent. There were probably a half dozen other eastern Pennsylvania compilations featuring local talents across various cities and labels (Hazelton 1968, for example). Most of those are on the Empire Records label and are extremely rare. Some even fetch a couple thousand dollars each.

This Reading compilation features ten garage rock / lounge rock bands from the city and surrounding boroughs playing cover songs. Information about each group was on the back cover of the album. The front cover features three scantily clad women which was certainly a choice.

Released in 1970 on Philadelphia based Airport Records, the album was engineered / recorded by Marty Ruszala. He did some psych and garage rock work in South Amboy, New Jersey. He engineered recordings for Jim Riviera and Dear Martha Of Monmouth County. It's unclear why they recorded the album so far away from Reading. Also, Airport Records was a one off label. Perhaps it never existed outside this release.  

A year later, a similar compilation was recorded and released. This time, the project was apparently spearheaded by Mario Andretti (yes the famous racer). He lived in Nazareth, a small Lehigh Valley community. Andretti was a chairman for the local Hemophilia Association chapter, and came up with the project with the chapter. This compilation, titled The Together Sound Of Lehigh, was produced in 1971 to fund a Hemophilia treatment center. This album featured ten bands like the first, but three original tracks were performed. 

The music was heavier and more in the hard rock direction. A few psychedelic rock and lounge cuts snuck in too. Somehow, The Rebels appear on both compilations. They are notable for their horrible performances. There were rumors that the album was a tax scam record, but due to the high sales of the record and inclusion of business cards I disagree. Also, Red Barn Farm Studios was a real label with a few country record releases. 

Both albums are sought after by collectors. Two tracks from The Together Sound Of Reading were on multiple compilations. The two were Phusion's "Lonely Twilight (Hemophilia Theme)" and Bitter Ends' "If You Want Somebody". Both albums were also featured in The Acid Archives book and website.

Review:

The Together Sound Of Lehigh (1971, Red Barn Farm Studios)

Rating: 7.5/10

​

Very solid album overall with great performances of both original music and covers. The Shadows’ take on “Aimless Lady” is cool with a great fuzz solo. Max Blatt’s version of Fleetwood Mac’s “I Loved Another Woman” is pretty funky with groovy drumming and some nice bluesy guitar. The Illusions do a fine take on “Lucky In The Morning” by Bloodrock. Has some nice hard rock breaks. The rest of the covers are heinous and corny. Not even the fuzz lead on “Cinnamon Girl” can save it. 

As for original material, Phusion’s “Lonely Twilight” is a beautiful psychedelic folk rock tune with nice harmonies, acoustic guitars, and subdued lead guitar. The Bitter End’s “If You Want Somebody” is a great psych track with heavy fuzz guitar and a lot of freakouts. “Where Is My Life” by Morpheus is greatly overlooked. Great trippy production and odd lyrics (“Sitting on a box one evening, waiting for the moon”), nice 12-string acoustic guitar, and some farfisa cooking in the background. Overall a strong affair despite it being later in the game genre wise. I prefer this to the Reading album which I have listened to but do not own currently.