BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

Thursday 31 December 2009

Coupla Prog -Sprite (1970-71 Fantastic German Heavy Prog-Psych)


Coupla Prog from Baden-Baden/Germany is known for a melange of kraut and heavy bluesrock, full of suspense, theatrical in parts, with a derivative sense of professionality. The new band name results from a shortened version of "A Couple Of Progs".Though they were active between 1969-1975; the band's complete material is live played, pure, without reworking and overdubbing, the result of sessions recorded at studio U1 of Radio Südwestfunk between 1970 and 1972. Heavy blues rock, blues, electronic music, free style, occassional classical music references and echoes of post Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, Vanilla Fudge but also Procol Harum distinguished the sound of the band.

The music is extremely varied, never commercially oriented, but always homogenous and exciting music, which occasionally diverge from the well travelled tracks of kraut and prog rock. Talented craftsmen, the band captures the zeitgeist of the era.The group played not only in relevant clubs and youth centres but also to large audiences at open-air concerts in Karlsruhe and Heidelberg.Although the group never managed to secure a record company deal they did, thanks to SWF, leave behind an extensive and musically valuable legacy for underground and progressive rock fans. Highly addictive.
"Sprite" contains 7 tracks that were recorded on 26.02.1970 and 16.04.1971.

- from progarchives.com -

Line-up :
- Rolf Peters / guitar, vocals
- Reiner Niketta / bass, piano
- Wolfgang Schindhelm / organ, piano, trumpet, vocals
- Hubert Donauer / drums

Track List :
01. I Wanna Be Free (5:10)
02. Goodbye, Guns, Be By Gones (11:45)
03. The Queen Is Selling Out (9:30)
04. Die Wut Über Den Verlorenen Groschen - The Anger Of The Lost Penny (4:35)
05. Ode To The Vanilla Fudge (7:00)
06. Auf Dass Er Sich Im Grabe Umdrehe - He Would Turn In His Grave (12:00)
07. Dies Irae - De Mortuis (5:00)

Intense awesomeness!!

Wednesday 30 December 2009

Music Emporium -Music Emporium (Great 1969 U.S Psych)



"Nam Myo Renge Kyo" -Music Emporium. Cool!


Music Emporium, The (The Music Emporium) 1969 Initially called The CAGE, this trippy West Coast psych band from the 60’s were quite sophisticated for their time. They started off in 1968 when keyboardist Bil Cosby joined forces with guitarist Dave Padwin and two female musicians, namely bassist Carolyn Lee and drummer Dora Wahl. All four were either classically trained or seasoned club veterans, Cosby himself being a UCLA music major. Evolving smack in the middle of the flower power era, they played their blistering rockers and wispy melodies quite convincingly, borrowing from jazz, classical music, avant-garde and rock. On the psychedelic side, they were definitely more song oriented than, say, early PINK FLOYD; although they did pour a mean dose of organ on their self-titled LP released in 1969. Unfortunately, a year later Cosby got drafted and the band broke up Their album is a fascinating testimony of a different time and place. Highly organ dominated, it has just about everything one would expect from a late 60’s album driving rhythms, heavy guitar riffs, trippy Farfisa organ and cool, groovy male/female vocals by Cosby and especially Lee who delivers her druggy, cosmic lyrics with style. Their solos are concise and they know how to lock into a groove without jamming aimlessly , as did so many bands of that era. They also know how to structure songs that best display their strengths although in retrospect, it is their softer tunes that seem to have aged better, especially those with a nice gothic/ classical feel. The CD version, which was recorded from the master tapes, comprises five bonus tracks, all of them instrumental versions of songs from the LP.

CASEY COSBY organ, vcls
CAROLYN LEE bs gtr, piano, acoustic bs, organ, vcls
DAVE PADWIN ld gtr, vcls, acous bs gtr
DORA WAHL perc, drms

1. Nam Myo Ho Renge Kyo (2:37)
2. Velvet Sunsets (2:35)
3. Prelude(2:07)
4. Catatonic Variations (1:58)
5. Times Like This (2:00)
6. Gentle Thursday (3:46)
7. Winds Have Changed (2:12)
8. Cage (5:09)
9. Sun Never Shines (4:01)
10. Day Of Wrath (3:25)
******************************************************
+5 Bonus Tracks; From The Master Tapes: (Instrumental versions)
11. Nam Myo Renge Kyo - (previously unreleased) (2:41)
12. Velvet Sunsets - (previously unreleased) (3:08)
13. Winds Have Changed - (previously unreleased) (2:14)
14. Sun Never Shines -(previously unreleased) (4:04)
15. Gentle Thursday

essential trip!

Wallenstein -Mother Universe (1972)

Wallenstein were one of Germany's best known "space rock" bands, clearly indebted to Pink Floyd but also developing a personal style of their own. Jurgen Dollase founded the group Blitzkrieg as an international group with Bill Barone (from the USA), Jerry Berkers (from the Netherlands) and Harald Grosskopf (from Germany!). Dollase had previously studied art and classical music. In late Autumn 1971 Blitzkrieg had the repertoire ready for an album, but as a British group already was using the name "Blitzkrieg", the German group changed their name to Wallenstein and kept Blitzkrieg as the title of their first album. This featured four very long tracks in a symphonic progressive rock style (all written by Dollase) and almost completely instrumental. Dense, complex and powerful stuff!

Mother Universe (1972) pictured Dollase's grandma on the sleeve acting as the grandmother of our universe. Musically this was a more dynamic album, introducing some quieter, folky passages with acoustic guitar between the more usual powerful and pompous electric guitar and organ outbursts. Jerry Berkers wanted to do more of these folky things, and quit Wallenstein to record his own solo album Unterwegs - which musically I find it to be in a rather dull singer & songwriter tradition. After Dollase and Grosskopf had taken part in the large scale projects Lord Krishna von Goloka (Sergius Golowin), Tarot (Walter Wegmuller) and the Cosmic Jokers-sessions, they recorded Cosmic Century (1973) in September 1973. This album brought another change of style, clearly influenced by Dollase's recent "cosmic" experiences. It was marketed as the first album by the 'symphonic rock orchestra Wallenstein' (text on the sleeve). It consisted of five refined symphonic rock tracks and a short piano piece. Dollase's strained vocal parts lowered the overall standard of this album, but apart from this the music was good! Sadly this was to be their last great album...

Stories, Songs & Symphonies (1975) attempted to bring in more conventional rock and jazz styles for a kind of extended fusion, but was largely an artistic failure. Only their adaptation of Bartok's music on "Symphaty for Bela Bartok" was of much interest. The rest represented Dollase's failed attempts to be a serious singer-songwriter. Wallenstein split in 1975 and Bill Barone returned to the USA. Harald Grosskopf was engaged as the drummer for Klaus Schulze, Ashra and more recently Central Europe Performance.

Tracks:
All music and lyrics by Jürgen Dollase.
1. Mother Universe - 8:38
2. Braintrain - 8:38
3. Shakespearesque - 4:19
4. Dedicated To Mystery Land - 7:56
5. Relics Of Past - 6:24
6. Golden Antenna - 4:18

Personnel:
- Jürgen Dollase - lead vocals, keyboards
- Bill Barone - guitars, vocals
- Jerry Berkers - bass, lead vocals
- Harald Großkopf - drums, percussion

intensely enjoyable!

Monday 28 December 2009

****Apocalypse -Apocalypse -1969 German Psych.-ESSENTIAL CLASSIC!*****


HERE IS A ME3DLEY I MADE OF ALL THE TRACKS, CLICK PLAY BUTTON BELOW:


apm2mp3


1. Life is your profession.
2. Let it die.
3. Patricia.
4. Milkman.
5. Try to please me.
6. Pictures of my woman
7. Linda jones
8. Blowing in blow
9. Reflections of a summer.

password = sam1957

GET WHOLE ALBUM HERE!!

Truth -Of Them & Other Tales (Wonderful, dreamy '69 U.S Psych, ex-Them members)



"Music is Life" -Truth. Very indicative of the rest of the album. its all good!


Truth, Of Them and Other Tales (Epilogue). Although Truth never released an LP while they were together, in 1995 this 68-minute CD was salvaged from 1969-70 recordings. Most of them were made for a soundtrack of an obscure film, with three other tracks coming from a Chicago studio session during the brief time in which Ray Elliott was in the band. Perhaps to the surprise of some listeners aware of Truth's Them connections, there's not much of a hard R&B-blues- British Invasion influence. It's far more reminiscent of late-'60s California guitar psychedelia, along the lines of some of the more economic and harmony-driven bands in that style, like Moby Grape and (more distantly) Love. In this respect, Truth recall Fat Mattress (Noel Redding's group), another act with heavy British Isles roots that took major cues from West Coast harmonized psych, though Truth and Fat Mattress aren't extremely similar. Truth play late-'60s psychedelic rock with a breezy lightness, yet with some guts, anchored by extremely versatile guitar lines by the underrated Jim Armstrong. The songs might not be classic, but they're very pleasant go-with-the-flow period sequences of images, with one vocal (on "Blackboard Words") closely approximating the sound of late-'60s Roger McGuinn. On "Sonic Sitar," the group expands upon the raga-rock explored in the post-Van Morrison Them's best cut"Square Room," and in fact "Archimed's Pad (Squared Room)" is an impressive instrumental remake of "Square Room" that's an underrated highlight of the whole raga-rock genre, with its hypnotic drawn-out interplay of drones and Indian-influenced guitar melodies. The three songs recorded with Ray Elliott on flute and piano go into jazzier grooves with good effect, adding nice icing to a record that's on the whole better (and certainly more consistent) than either of the late-'60s Them albums on which some of the Truth musicians played.

01 - Music Is Life (4'13")
02 - 6 O'Clock Alarm (9'14")
03 - Mysterios (1'21")
04 - Music From Big Puce (4'27")
05 - Country Funk (0'39")
06 - Blackboard Words (2'47")
07 - Sonic Sitar (3'18")
08 - High! (6'35")
09 - Archimed's Pad (Square Room) (11'4")
10 - Getting Better (5'27")
11 - Circle 'Round The Sun (5'19")
12 - Ride The Wind (6'37")
13 - Castles In The Sand (7'18")
14 - October ´68 (The Tears That You Cry) (5'23")

dreamy, baby!

Friday 25 December 2009

Anyone's Daughter -Adonis -BLOODY BRILLIANT Symphonic prog. Ignore and you're a loser!


Absolutely incredible German act,formed in mid/late-70's and starting as a DEEP PURPLE cover band.Soon they developed their composition skills to release their debut ''Adonis'' in 1979.At very difficult times for playing progressive rock,ANYONE'S DAUGHTER created an amazing musical treasure.''Adonis'' combines the nventiveness and interplays of GENESIS with the strong melodies of CAMEL and the deep atmosphere of ELOY's works.The result is absolutely fantastic with a sidelong epic dominating this work,filled with intense emotions,melodies and keyboard/guitar solos,and three shorter tracks,yet they follow the same path of space/symphonic music with changing moods and almost jazzy interplays at times.No more to say than ''Adonis'' is so close to a masterpiece of progressive rock and,of course,it comes extremely highly recommended to every prog rock fan,who respects himself!

Band info: http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=22

Review by greenback SPECIAL COLLABORATOR "Another excellent German progressive rock band. ANYONE'S DAUGHTER's debut was in the late 70's, so that they use slightly more modern keyboards than prog bands of the 70's, but they still keep an old sound. The music is quite complex: the drums are fast, the bass is sophisticated and not timid at all, the numerous guitars solos are extremely melodic & is sophisticated and not timid at all, the numerous guitars solos are extremely melodic & melancholic, and the keyboards are varied, melodic and elaborated. This is their first album, and probably their best one. There is often the presence of rythmic guitar, distortion free, like CAMEL. The electric guitar is never aggressive, despite some solos are near the hard rock style. Actually, the overall sound and style is similar to CAMEL, in a more melancholic way. The keyboards are often floating too, giving some relaxing ambience. The English lead vocals have a strong German accent, like Triumvirat. I would say this record can be quite sentimental. The first track, "Adonis", is a near 25 minutes of delightful prog rock: you can't stop listen it once started: at the very end, there is one of most POIGNANT guitar solos ever recorded: just hear the sustained notes full of tremolos: U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E, despite the sound is not at its best! The side 2 contains 3 excellent songs: The "Blue House", an emotional combination of moog solos and electric guitars. The second track, "Sally", is a joyful piano+saxes song, full of punchy elaborated bass; again tons of excellent drums & lead vocals. The third song, "Anyone's Daughter", has beautiful cohesion between keyboards, guitars, bass and drums: organ solos and floating keyboards, fast guitar solos, very fast and complex drums. guitars, bass and drums: organ solos and floating keyboards, fast guitar solos, very fast and complex drums Yes, "Adonis" is a sad album, melancholic, an emotion transporter. IMO, it is one of the most poignant record in the progressive rock history."
Tracklisting / Tracks / Songs / Faixas / Músicas:

1. Adonis (24:09)
Part I: Come Away
Part II: The Disguise
Part III: Adonis
Part IV: The Epitaph
2. Blue House (7:20)
3. Sally (4:20)
4. Anyone´s Daughter (9:10)

Total Time: 45:19

Line-up / Musicians / Musicos / Formação:

- Harald Bareth: bass, lead vocals
- Uwe Karpa: acoustic & electric guitars
- Kono Konopik: drums
- Matthias Ulmer: keyboards, vocals

GET IT NOW!!

Wednesday 23 December 2009

Psychelatte's Playlist -Essential tracks, Essential Albums!



"Marsbeli Kronikak" (The Martian Chronicles) -Solaris. Coool Cool album from a Cool cool band. Space ROCKS!!




"Epistle to Paradise" -The Plastic Cloud. As good as the rest of their fab album.




"Gone with the Mouse"- Fuchsia




"...and the madness" -Cornucopia. Typical mad track from this wacky album. Love it!




Eroc (from Eroc 1st album 1975)-Typical nuts experimental electronic tomfoolery from Mr. Eroc. I love him!




"Summer for the Rose" Dr. Z -typical track. Love it!!




The Garden of Earthly Delights -United States of America -Awesome track, one of many great great tracks off this essential psych masterpiece!





"Stresemannstrasse" -Liliental. LISTEN!!




"High Evolution" -Novalis




"And I was Blue"- Sunforest.




"Vision On" -The Tv Sets...Wow isn't this the greatest theme tune??




"Eli's Coming" -Affinity. Love it, love it, love it!




"The Four Horsemen" -Aphrodite's Child, -("666"). -Demis Roussos in fine vocal form!!




"Little Ruby Rain" -Markley. -Delightful! (as is the rest of the album).




"Will you Walk with Me" -The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band Vol 1. Lovely melody as they so often do,




"Hurry Sundown" -The Bubble Puppy. Love the guitar work on this album!




"Haunted Island" -Agitation Free ("2nd). spooky!




"Anyone's Daughter" -Anyone's Daughter (From "Adonis") -The rest of the album is really as good as this!




"It's a Rainy Day Sunshine Girl" -Faust ("So Far")




"Fly" -Epitaph. (Stop,Look and Listen) -surprising variety of styles on this great rocking album!




"The Kettle" -Colosseum

Thursday 17 December 2009

Hoelderlin -Hoelderlin


Hoelderlin was founded in November of 1970 by the brothers Joachim and Christian von Grumbkow together with Nanny de Ruig. This fabulous album was released in 1975. It is their first album in which they are also using english lyrics.

01. Schwebebahn
02. I Love My Dog
03. Honeypot
04. Nürnberg
05. Deathwatchbeetle

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Tuesday 15 December 2009

Alan Stivell -Chemins De Terre


01. Susy MacGuire
02. Ian Morrison Reel
03. She moved through the Fair
04. Can Y Melinydd
05. Oidhche Mhait
06. An Dro Nevez
07. Maro Ma Mestrez
08. Brezhoneg' Raok
09. An Hani A Garan
10. Metig
11. Kimiad

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Krokodil -An Invisible World Revealed (1971) -Includes bonus tracks


1 Lady Of Attraction (4:21)
2 With Little Miss Trimmings (1:42)
3 Oddyssey In Om (15:19)
4 Green Fly (4:23)
5 Looking At Time (14:03)
6 Last Doors (4:00)
7 Pollution - Bonus track (3:41)
8 Krokodil Session Part 1 - Bonus track (11:26)
9 Krokodil Session Part 2 - Bonus track (11:42)

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Saturday 12 December 2009

Freedom -Through the Years (1971)


Freshly departed from PROCOL HARUM, Bobby Harrison & Ray Royer founded FREEDOM, a Heavy Blues infected Psych Rock combo, that toured with BLACK SABBATH among others. FREEDOM never reached great success and is often seen as a middle-of-the-pack band. Sure it's not as inventive and catchy as other British bands of the era, but FREEDOM still delivers some great tunes and good Heavy Rock tracks that really deserve a listen
1. Freestone
2. Through the Years
3. Get Yourself Together
4. London City
5. Thanks
6. Toe Grabber

Roger Saunders - acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Walter Monaghan - vocals, electric piano, Mellotron, bass guitar
Bobby Harrison - vocals, drums, percussion

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Thursday 10 December 2009

Tea -The Ship (1975)


1. Breakdown 7:15
2. Through Scarlet 4:43
3. The Ship 6:50
4. See You Again 4:03
5. I'd Never Have Bothered 8:00
6. A Dog Called Joe 3:19
7. Crystal Rivers 2:50
8. Summer In the City 2:50

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Mammut -Mammut (1971)


One of the rarest German private releases ! Dual guitar led long tracks, wild / furious fuzz psych soloing, howling vocals. Regarded by some as the best private pressing from the German burgeoning underground.

This group made one of the most legendary German private pressings. It is now incredibly rare. The sound of a squeaking mouse opens the album, released on 'Mouse Trick Track Music' (amazing choice of label name!) The album is a thematically linked "Mammut Opus", with the word "Mammut" included in all the track titles. A rhythmic and dramatic instrumental overture with wistful flute ("Bird Mammut") and a short interlude for piano ("Classical Mammut") put you in the right mood before the lengthy, heavy guitar riffing tracks "Mammut Ecstasy" and "Footmachine Mammut" strike you. Perhaps Elias Hulk and parts of the first Embryo album are comparable to this. Side two starts with a "Short Mammut" - sounds of gunfire and bomber planes. "Schizoid Mammut" had violent, paranoid lyrics with music to match. "Nagarn Mammut" is their attempt to be more lyrical. The album closes the same way as it started with large doses of instrumental music ("Mammut Opera"), what Pete Townshend would name 'underture'. The most impressive aspect of this album is that all the biting guitar statements are woven in-between the vocals. A typical golden artefact from one of the most fertile years of modern music (1971) incorporating both classical and heavy acid blues influences. Good production as well, considering it was a private release.

1. Bird Mammut - 4.03
2. Classical Mammut - 1.21
3. Mammut Ecstacy - 4.27
4. Foolmachine Mammut - 3.08
5. Short Mammut - 1.48
6. Shizoyd Mammut - 3.21
7. Nähgern Mammut - 6.59
8. Mammut Opera - 13.33

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Monday 7 December 2009

Cardiacs -Sing to God -Wild, wild progressive punk! -Gotta hear!!


Cardiacs biography
THE CARDIACS are rightly famous for being the founders of a musical genre of their own: pronk (a mixture of prog and punk). Although the current sound of THE CARDIACS is closer to punk than in the first fifteen years of their career, you'd still not mistake them for mainstream rock. Their songs are just too twisted and complicated, their wall of sound approach to mistake them for mainstream rock. And for a regular audience, their still too progressive for their own good. The band was founded in 1977 by brothers Tim and Jim Smith. Even their first primitive recordings feature their trademark sound of Banksian chord sequences, ZAPPA-esque twisted time signatures, Pythonesque lyrics and a love of fast drums and gnarly guitars that betray their punk influences. (These recordings were later collected on "Archive Cardiacs" and "The Seaside"). Starting with what later became "Songs for ships and iron" the band was in the classic line-up of Tim Smith (guitar vocals), Jim Smith (bass), Sarah Smith (sax), William D. Drake (keyboards), Dominic Luckman (drums) and Tim Quy(percussion). "A little man and a house and the whole world window " and "On land and in the sea" are the band at their proggiest with a diverse instrumentation (including Mellotron, lent to the band by IQ's keyboard player) and a potpourri of musical styles in every single song. It was during this period they scored a small indie hit in the UK with the Big Ship single and were invited by Fish to open for MARILLION on a UK tour. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Sarah Smith and William Drake left the band and THE CARDIACS were now a foursome, relying on backing tapes for keys and choirs. 1992's "Heaven born and ever bright" was a step backwards but 1995's "Sing to God part 1+2" was a return to form with classic CARDIACS songs like "Fiery Hand Gun" and "A Dog Called Sparky". "Guns' was once again a step back. At the moment the band is in the studio recording a new album. Nothing much is known so far. It's interesting though that in late 2003 the band went back to their earliest, most progressive period and did a couple of shows where they played only songs from the first few years, songs that had never been played live in more than twenty years.

Disc: 1
1. Eden On The Air
2. Eat It Up Worms Hero
3. Dog-Like Sparky
4. Fiery Gun Hand
5. Insect Hoofs On Lassie
6. Fairy Mary Mag
7. Believe
8. Horses Tail
9. Manhoo
10. Dirty Boy

Disc: 2
1. Wireless
2. Billion
3. Odd Even
4. Bell Stinks
5. Bell Clinks
6. Flap Off You Beak
7. Quiet As A Mouse
8. Angelworm Angel
9. red Fire Coming Out From His Gills
10. No Gold
11. Nurses Whispering Verses

Psychelatte says: WOW this is mad!! More info progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1488
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Friday 4 December 2009

Krautrock -Music for Your Brain Vol 3 -Essential Introduction to Krautrock!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!


6CD Set with 67 tracks as a good overview to German Krautrock. Artists featured: Dschinn, Odin, Floh de Cologne, Sahara, Franz K., Subject Esq., Anyone's Daughter, Mythos, Mammut, Rufus Zuphall, Krokodil, Pell Mell, Thirsty Moon, Nektar, Witthüser & Westrupp, Gila, Wallenstein, Wolfgang Dauner, Message, Guru Guru, Bröselmaschine, Dzyan, Eloy, Eulenspygel, Faust, Hoelderlin, Tangerine Dream, Udo Lindenberg, Passport and many more.

CD 1
01 Dschinn Rock'n Roll Dschinny 03:06
02 Hairy Chapter It must be an Officer's Daughter 08:00
03 My Solid Ground The Executioner 03:29
04 Odin Make up your Mind 13:35
05 Birth Control Just before the Sun will rise 07:37
06 Virus King Heroin 05:41
07 Floh de Cologne Die oberen Zehntausend 03:33
08 Sahara The Mountain King Part I & Part II 13:17
09 Franz K. Bock auf Rock 03:17
10 Subject Esq. Mammon 12:36
11 Fashion Pink Brainstorming 05:04
79:15:00

CD 2
01 Nektar Do you believe in Magic? 07:14
02 Witthüser & Westrupp Das Märchen vom Königssohn 09:25
03 Floh de Cologne Ford Capri 02:23
04 Gila Kommunikation 12:57
05 Coupla Prog Goodbye Guns be by gones 11:38
06 Apocalypse Let it die 06:08
07 Wallenstein Golden Antenna 04:15
08 Wolfgang Dauner Take off your Clothes to feel the setting Sun 04:00
09 Thrice Mice Jo Joe 08:48
10 McChurch Soundroom What are you doin' 08:31
11 Et Cetera Lady Blue 02:59
78:18:00

CD 3
01 Frame Frame of Mind 04:10
02 Anyone's Daughter Anyone's Daughter 09:07
03 Analogy Analogy 09:43
04 Toto Blanke PPG 06:02
05 Dies Irae Trip 06:47
06 Krokodil And I know 07:40
07 Jud's Gallery Follow me 11:12
08 Mythos Harry Chanceless 04:59
09 Jerusalem Moon's new Way 06:00
10 Mammut Mammut Opera 13:37
79:17:00

CD 4
01 Wallenstein Braintrain 08:40
02 Message Heaven knows 09:47
03 Guru Guru Der LSD-Marsch 08:29
04 Tiger B. Smith Help for a blind Man 05:45
05 Walpurgis Disappointment 04:20
06 Annexus Quam Troblush El Eisch 05:25
07 Bröselmaschine Gedanken 05:06
08 Nosferatu No. 4 08:43
09 Dzyan Back to where we come from 08:53
10 Franz K. Peterlied 12:52
78:00:00

CD 5
01 Rufus Zuphall Freitag 07:14
02 Krokodil Marzipan 06:05
03 Epsilon 2-Four-4 07:27
04 Pacific Sound Gates of Hell 05:42
05 Pell Mell Friend 07:02
06 Violence Fog Rolli Zink 06:40
07 Haze Fast Career 08:31
08 Et Cetera Mellodrama Nr. 2 A 05:10
09 Thirsty Moon Black Clouds (Live) 09:50
10 Nine Days Wonder Drag Dilemma 12:48
11 Bernd Witthüser Wenn ich ein wenig fröhlicher wär' 02:52
79:21:00

CD 6
01 Eloy Future City 05:35
02 Eulenspygel Die Wunde bleibt 01:58
03 Eulenspygel Staub auf deinem Haar 07:58
04 Faust The sad Skinhead 02:31
05 Hoelderlin Nürnberg 03:04
06 Peter Baumann Bicentennial Present 04:48
07 Sweet Smoke Kundalini 13:24
08 Tangerine Dream Coldwater Canyon (Live) 17:39
09 Birth Control Trial Trip 06:43
10 Udo Lindenberg Cowboy Rocker 05:57
11 Passport Uranus 06:40
76:17:00

Thursday 3 December 2009

Design -Design/Tomorrow is So Far Away (2 LPS) -Rare vinyl rip of band featured on Fading Yellow 5)


Design -Design. Sunshine Psych Pop, vocal harmony and sparkly acoustic fans will fairly gag when they hear this masterpiece. It would definitely fall into the Free Design and Collage domain but like the others, occupies its own unique locale and that locale might be called 'Art'. The musical arrangements are stunning and the vocal arrangements are creative but never inaccessible. The songwriting ranges from perky to zany to introspective to ethereal and on and on - exemplary.

Tracklisting:
1. Coloured Mile
2. Willow Stream
3. Marguaretta
4. The Lonely
5. Thinkin
6. Matchbox Man
7. The Minstrel's Theme
8. Speak
9. Buttercup Stranger
10. Children Of The Mist
11. Dawn Chorus

All songs by A.C. Smith except The Minstrel's Theme by Barry Johnston
Musical Director: Sydney Dale
Vocal Arrangements: Tony Smith

DESIGN: Kathy Manuell, Gabrielle Field, Tony Smith, Barry Johnston, Geoff Ramseyer and John Morgan Original B&W Graphic: Karenlee Grant

Design - Tomorrow Is So Far Away -Two of the original group members have been replaced but the essence is the same. The opening track, Take A Boat is as sensational as any cut from the 1st album as are a number of the others like Sad Fisherman and Love Is. There is an artful cover of the Beatle's Strawberry Fields Forever and a lush and faithful cover of The Groop's The Jet Song. One more cover is Paul McCartney's Man We Was Lonely that the group does beautifully by - a sight better than Paul himself did with this substandard, throw-away tune. Also of note is the album's title track, the lovely and tender Tomorrow Is So Far Away.

track listing :

Take A Boat
Jet Song
Celestina
Ladybird Don't Fly
Strawberry Fields Forever
Tomorrow Is So Far Away
Sad Fisherman
Butterfly Catcher
The Time Has Come
Man We Was Lonely

musicians

Barry Alexander : vocals
Gabrielle Field : vocals
Kathy Manuell : vocals
Geoff Ramseyer : vocals
Chris Spedding : guitars
Alan Parker : guitars
Herbie Flowers : bass
Tony Campo : bass
Clem Cattini : drums
Roger Coulam : keyboards
Alan Hawkshaw : keyboards


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Tuesday 1 December 2009

Agitation Free -Fragments


(Review from Amazon.com)
One of the lesser known Krautrock bands of the early 70s, the Agitation Free discography deserves greater exposure. While bands like Can and Amon Duul started out psychedelic and evolved into (less interesting) progressive rock acts, Agitation Free did exactly the opposite. Their first album, Malesh, is their most well-known, and exudes a self-conscously arty and progressive vibe. While many fans spotlight that work, one could take a revisionist stance and argue that the band's early work is marred a little by nerdy prog rock clichés, especially noodling solos bookended by clunky riffs. Their followup album, "Second", improved things a bit by loosening up the vibe, especially on the great "Layla," but their live work paints a different story of the band.

Like many acts that suffer from sounding a bit stiff in the studio, the live experience is the way to hear `em let their hair down and show how rock music can be dangerous in a way that other musical genres are often not. Trad Gras Och Stenar are another example of a band far more visceral and exciting when heard out of the studio. This live set (and also the similarly excellent "Last" album) snapshot the band in a trance-inducing psychedelic vibe. The live setting is wholly appropriate given their stiff and soulless precision in the studio, but still highlights their musicianship as far above wasted and sloppy psych clichés.

The original record has three long tracks and a short, forgettable blues-inflected number. The Garden of Delights reissue lengthens a couple of these and adds a passable bonus track. The long workouts are near holy grails for those who seek spaced out mantras that always seemed integral to the psychedelic experience, but are few and far between on well-known albums. Pretty fine, but the zoned vibe of their album "Last" reaches even greater peaks.

Track Listings
1. Someones Secret
2. Mickeys Laugh
3. We Are Men
4. Mediterranean Flight
5. Blues

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Agitation free- The oTher Sides of Agitation Free (1999)


*Psychelatte says: Very unlike their previous spaced out music but as a jazz-fusion experiment I enjoyed this album very much.

1. Atlantic Overcrossing (5:34)
2. Abulafia (6:17)
3. 6th Floor (5:11)
4. Deliverance (4:24)
5. Latino Catherine (3:37)
6. Get It Out (4:21)
7. Offstage (2:47)
8. Song Für Den Proletariersohn, Teil 1 (5:38)
9. Song Für Den Proletariersohn, Teil 2 (2:55)
10. Song Für Den Proletariersohn, Teil 3 (1:36)

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Agitation Free -River of Return (1999)


This is quite the impressive comeback for Agitation Free. A little cleaner than earlier albums, but still has that spacey/ambient feel added to the krautrock stew that made Agitation Free quite remarkable.

Top-flight German space-rock featuring synthesist Michael Hoenig and future Ashra guitarist Lutz Ulbrich. Both Malesch and Second are excellent space excursions worth taking, featuring droning and warbling synths, wailing guitars and the like, but with a strong rock rhythm section giving it more drive than your average space-rock band. Malesch has a strong Middle-Eastern feel to it, incorporating some taped street-sounds apparently recorded live in Cairo into the music. Second is more Euro-folk inflected, with a stronger use of acoustic guitars and (on one track) bouzouki! I haven't heard Last. If I had to compare them to anyone, it would be Ash Ra Tempel, but they really defy comparison. -- Mike Ohman

Lutz "Lüül" Ulbrich / guitar, keyboards
- Gustl Lütjens / guitar, keyboards
- Burghard Rausch / drums
- Johannes "Alto" Pappert (ex-Kraan) / saxophone
- Michael "Fame" Günther / bass, keybopards
Guest musicians:
- Chris Dehler / overtonevoice, Didgeridoo
- Koma / Bagpipe
- Minas Saluyan / percussion
- Bernard "Potsch" Potschka / guitar, Mandoline, Udu

1. River Of return (8:24)
2. 2 part 2 (5:46)
3. Fame's mood (4:10)
4. Susie sells seashells at the seashore (10:01)
5. The obscure carousel (5:16)
6. Nomads (7:07)
7. Das kleine Uhrwerk (5:04)
8. 177 spectacular sunrises (13:08)
9. Keep on (3:57)

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Monday 30 November 2009

Group 1850 -Agemo's Trip to Mother Earth (1968)


Group 1850 is an interesting, if sometimes exasperating, late-'60s Dutch band who ranks among the most accomplished and original Continental rock acts of the era, though they made little impression in English-speaking territories. Starting as a more or less conventional beat band in the mid-'60s, they had taken a turn for the more psychedelic and bizarre by 1967. Determined to drive into the heart of the psychedelic beast, their songs (performed in English) are quite eclectic for the era, shifting from doom-laden tempos with growling vocals to sunny, utopian passages with breezy harmonies.

"Agemo's Trip to Mother Earth" was one of the most ambitious psychedelic albums to emerge from continental Europe in the late '60s. The LP's nominal concept was, like many early such endeavors, obscure, involving something like the journey of Agemo from a paradise-like planet to the more chaotic imperfection of Earth.

Musically, the record owes a lot to late-'60s British psychedelia (particularly of the Pink Floyd school), with hints of the onset of progressive rock in its less-conventional passages. Although plenty of melodic shifts, celestial organ, wiggling distorted guitar, harmony vocals, Gregorian chant-like singing, Mothers of Invention-like horns, beatific respites (on "Reborn"), and general freakiness entertainingly convey the exploration of new psychic territory, it ultimately lacks the lyrical and musical cogency of, say, late-'60s Pink Floyd. At times the bold weirdness gets self-indulgent, throwing in phased drum soloing, solemnly intoned spoken female romantic exclamations, and multilingual murmuring.

01 Steel Sings
02 Little Fly
03 I Put My Hands On Your Shoulder
04 You Did It Too Hard
05 A Point In This Life
06 Refound
07 Reborn
08 I Know (Bonus Track)
09 I Want More (Bonus Track)
10 Mother No Head (Bonus Track)
11 Ever Ever Green (Bonus Track)
12 Zero (Bonus Track)
13 Frozen Mind (Bonus Track)
14 We Love Life (Bonus Track)
15 Mother No Head (French Version) (Bonus Track)
16 Mother No Head (Instrumental) (Bonus Track)

Peter Sjardin - guitar, flute, keyboards
Daniël Van Bergen - guitar
Ruud Van Buren - bass
Beer Klaasse - drums

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Earth Opera -Earth Opera (1968)



"The Red Sox are Winning" -Earth Opera (Earth Opera)


The stylistic explorations pursued by the Beatles in 1966-1967, and the commercial success the group continued to enjoy, inspired other popular musicians to be similarly ambitious and persuaded record companies to take chances on more daring music. Earth Opera is a good example.

The Boston-based group's self-titled debut LP featured a heady mixture of pop, rock, folk, jazz, and classical elements in involved arrangements played on such unusual instruments as mandocello and harpsichord.

Less a rock band than a highly eclectic chamber orchestra, Earth Opera played in an arty style that suited singer/songwriter/guitarist Peter Rowan's songs, with their complicated structures and highly poetic lyrics.

Rowan sang those lyrics, which dealt here and there with anti-war and more generalized sentiments of social dissatisfaction, in a distanced, somewhat artificial tone of voice, using an accent that sounded vaguely British, even when he was mentioning the Red Sox.

But he was rarely so specific, more often concerning himself with "the stage inside my mind" or "the picket fenceposts of your mind," internal landscapes in which wordplay and allusions substituted for specific meaning.

It was a psychedelic language matched by the music, which hurried and slowed, making room for sudden solos and unexpected juxtapositions of instruments.

The result ultimately may have been too ornate and inaccessible for a pop recording, even in 1968, but Earth Opera was very much of its time (review by William Ruhlmann - AMG).

Tracklisting:
01.Red Sox Are Winning, The
02.As It Is Before
03.Dreamless
04.To Care at All
05.Home of the Brave
06.Child Bride, The
07.Close Your Eyes and Shut the Door
08.Time & Again
09.When You Were Full of Wonder
10.Death by Fire

Earth Opera:
David Grisman - mandolin, mandocello
Peter Rowan - vocals, guitar
John Nagy - bass
Bill Stevenson - piano, harpsichord, organ, vibraphone
Paul Dillon - drums
Warren Smith - drums, percussion
Billy Mundi - drums, percussion

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Tuesday 24 November 2009

Fuchsia - Fuchsia, Mahagonny & Other Gems


(Review from progarchives.com)

This archive album is of a high interest if you enjoyed the sole "Fuchsia" album.

The first three tracks are demos that were recorded for their second album (they were looking for another label) and if the sound quality is acceptable for an archives album, they certainly have a finished songwriting feel and are closely related to the debut album, with the same line-up for the first two of them, the third being a pre-debut acetate. All three tracks still have that upfront string section reminiscent of pre-classical music and the very early ELO feel. Even if "Ragtime Brahms" might indicate a much later period, we are talking of folk in the popular tradition here. But unfortunately Fuchsia was not able to record again and folded.

The group saw a second incarnation in 1975 under the name Mahagonny, but in a fairly different line-up (only leader Durant and drummer Gregory are left) and slightly different instrumentation (added a keyboard), but spiritually this session was very close to the Fuchsia realm. Those five tracks make-up a small opera or conceptual suite based on the "Rise And Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny" (a bit in the style of an updated "S. F. Sorrow" from "Pretty Things") and the suite is rather a happy and funny affair even if the events in the storyline are not always so. Again the spirit is very folkish and sounds between "Eleanor Rigby", early-ELO and somehow a bit like Queen also. These tracks actually did not get an issue at its time and remained dormant for over 30 years.

The next two tracks are pre-debut album, back in the college/university days, where Durant was mostly playing with his buddy Robert Chudley (they were also playing with future Henry Cow’s Chris Cutler at the time) and although not recorded under or attributed to the Fuchsia banner, these two tracks (with the original trio of Durant, Day and Gregory is present) are also very worthy, even if the late-60’s feeling is present on these two but they are also strongly related to the group. "Mary Used To.." is a hilarious piece.

This release is almost (if not more) as essential as the only official album. This obscure group deserved much better back then and even today.

Line-up :
Fuchsia:
- Tony Durant / guitars, lead vocals
- Michael Day / bass
- Michael Gregory / drums, percussion
- Janet Rogers / violin)
- Madeleine Bland / cello
- Vanessa Hall-Smith / viola
Mahagonny:
- Jan Pulsford / vocals
- Nic Pallett / vocals
- Tony Durant / guitar
- Robin Langridge / keyboards
- Keith Grant-Evans / bass
- Michael Gregory / drums
- Angela Pulsford / violin
- Philida Ahearn / cello
Robert Chudley:
- Bob Chudley / vocals, guitar
- Tony Durant / backing vocals, guitar
- Michael Day / bass
- Michael Gregory / drums
- Andrew Wilson / keyboards
The Golden Medallion:
- John Tams / vocals, accordion
- Tony Durant / acoustic guitar
- Pete Bullock / piano
- Michael Gregory / percussion

Track List :
01. The Band - 3:21
02. Ragtime Brahms - 5:02
03. Ring Of Red Roses - 4:02
04. Prologue - 5:43
05. Pirate Jenny - 3:44
06. Mr Munch Interminable Lunch - 5:26
07. Drunken Meanderings - 4:22
08. Behind Innocent Eyes - 3:57
09. Absent Friends - 4:36
10. Mary Used to Play the Piano - 2:15
11. I'll Remember Her Face - 2:32

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Monday 23 November 2009

Krautrock -Music For your Brain Volume 1 -UNMISSABLE INTRODUCTION TO KRAUTROCK!!


CD 1:
01.Lucifer's Friend: Ride the Sky (02:55)
02.Birth Control: The Work is Done (06:02)
03.Cravinkel: Two Circles (02:39)
04.Os Mundi: Question of Decision (07:42)
05.Embryo: Radio Marrakesch (09:46)
06.Sperrmull: Pal Casey (03:15)
07.Lava: Tears are Goin' Home (04:22)
08.Jane: Hangman [Live] (12:00)
09.Professor Wolfff: Hans im Glück (07:44)
10.Scorpions: It All Depends (03:26)
11.Grobschnitt: Drummer's Dream (06:14)
12.Electric Sandwich: China (08:09)
13.Weed: Sweet Morning Light (05:31)

CD 2:
01.The Rattles: The Wich (02:57)
02.Frumpy: How the Gypsy was Born (08:50)
03.Gomorrha: I Turned to See Whose Voice it Was (07:45)
04.Grobschnitt: Jupp Vater Schmidts Wandertag (09:53)
05.Guru Guru: Samantha's Rabbit (02:57)
06.Kin Ping Meh: Fairy Tales (09:50)
07.Hölderlin: Requim Für Einen Wicht (06:37)
08.Jane: Daytime (08:09)
09.Weed: Lonely Ship (03:15)
10.Abacus: Song For Brunhilde (04:36)
11.Odin: Tribute to Frank (01:55)
12.Yatha Sidra: A Meditation Mass Pt. 3 (12:02)

CD 3:
01.Eloy: Castle in the Air (07:18)
02.Kraan: Nam Nam (05:50)
03.Atlantis: It's Getting Better! (04:52)
04.Klaus Schulze: Mental Door (22:58)
05.Cluster: Hollywood (04:47)
06.Faust: So Far (06:20)
07.Harmonia: Watussi (05:59)
08.Curly Curve: Queen of Spades (05:00)
09.Gomorrha: Dance on a Volcano (09:58)
10.Sperrmull: No Freak Out (06:44)

CD 4:
01. Wonderland: Moscow (02:52)
02. Frumpy: Take Care of Illusion (07:37)
03. Faust: Why Don't You eat Carrots? (17:27)
04. Epitaph: Fly (08:52)
05. Guru Guru: Der Elektrolurch (09:46)
06. Eroc: Nordeland (06:32)
07. Topas: Train to an Island (06:08)
08. Novalis: Impressionen (08:58)
09. Jane: Air and the End (10:53)

CD 5:
01. Randy Pie: Highway Driver (03:56)
02. Brith Control: Gamma Ray (09:44)
03. Can: Mother Sky (14:29)
04. Topas: Hurricane (04:17)
05. Guru Guru: Ooga Booga (11:10)
06. Altantis: Friends (08:43)
07. Grobschnitt: Traum Und Wirklichkeit (05:28)
08. Embryo: A place To Go (04:08)
09. Lucifer's Friend: Lucifer's Friend (06:11)
10. Novalis: Wer Schmetterlinge Lachen Hört (09:17)

CD 6:
01. Curly Curve: Hell and Booze (04:05)
02. Lucifer's Friend: Sorrow (11:36)
03. Lava: Holy Foot (05:16)
04. Grobschnitt: Anywhere (04:14)
05. La Düsseldorf: Rheinita (07:38)
06. Harmonia: Dino (03:30)
07. Randy Pie: Wintersong (05:49)
08. Jane: Windows (18:46)
09. Cravinkel: About Mother and Son (03:13)
10. Dull Knife: Tumberlin' Down (04:21)
11. Eroc: Wolkenreise (04:33)
12. Udo Linderberg: Alles Kalr Auf Andrea... (03:46)
13. Wallenstein: Charline (04:04)

*see Also Krautrock Vol 2 which is posted on my blog. Vol 3 to come!
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Sunday 22 November 2009

Frumpy -All Will Be Changed (1970)


Tracklisting:

01. Life Without Pain (3:50)
02. Rosalie, Part 1 (6:00)
03. Otium (4:22)
04. Rosalie, Part 2 (4:14)
05. Indian Rope Man (3:19)
06. Morning (3:24)
07. Floating, Part 1 (7:39)
08. Baroque (7:36)
09. Floating, Part 2 (1:25)

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