The Rockets - The Rockets

A lost link in the saga of West Coast rock, LA's Rockets cut one LP in 1968 for White Wale Records before core members guitarist Danny Whitten, bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina signed with Neil Young for the recording of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and became Crazy Horse. But despite the Rockets' brief life, their rare, self-titled LP is no mere rock 'n' roll footnote. Lashed with the keening, unsettled lines of electric violinist Bobby Notkoff and brimming with crunching blues rock, acid-doused meanderings and sunny, melodic pop, The Rockets is a solid and underrated late-'60s gem that represents a formative chapter of the Neil Young/Crazy Horse story.