Black Granite

One great thing about buying old records is that you find absolute gems in the weirdest places.

In the late 1970s, Chicago's WKQX-FM (Now Q101) was a pretty crappy album-rock station. To their credit, though, the folks at the station released two compilation albums of local bands. Unfortunately, with an exception or two, the bands' collective aesthetic pretty much reflected the station's preoccupations.

The first of these albums, 1977's Hometown Album, has some of the worst packaging and art I've ever seen, but one song is an absolute keeper: Tetra's "Black Granite."

With its furious guitar/organ attack, enigmatic lyrics, and Move-like heavy bass, this taut rocker sounds more like 1970 than 1977. I'd like to know more about these guys, but I don't.

But a tip of the top anyway to guitarist/singer Jim Miller, organist Bill Tebbets, bassist/singer Randy Leff, and drummer/singer Randy Gladstone. We don't know who or where you are, but you rocked!