Of the plethora of touted "private press hard rock monsters" out there, very few live up to the swaggering riff-fury of west coast blasters Oda. Commonly known as the 'Black Album,' the first clobbering platter by the quartet was released on their own tiny Loud Phonograph Records imprint and now commands large sums - but is actually worth the heavy hype. The band naturally centered around Randy Oda, a multi-talented ax shredder and keyboardist, and the lineup was filled out by his brother Kevin on drum assault, Art Pantoja on lead bellows and rhythm guitar, and galloping bassist Kyle Schneider. The Oda brothers were born in Alameda County, California, attending Kennedy High School in Richmond, and started the band while still teenagers at the beginning of the '70s. Oda was influenced by hard UK rockers like Deep Purple, Zep, Free, and the Who, and they gigged all over the Bay Area, with Randy garnering comparisons to Jeff Beck's molten six-string mastery. Their 1971 self-titled LP fully displays their blistering talents, but despite some local airplay on KSAN radio, the band packed it in by '73.