Q 65 - Revolution (Decca 6454 412) NL 1966

What can one say about Q 65's Revolution? - well, this is probably as raw and dirty as it gets.
Q 65 play a blend of Rhytm+Blues, Blues, Rock and Beat - in many parts it sounds like uncompromisingly hard Garage Rock with amazing vocals and guitarwork played by a Band that seems to be bursting with energy (not really a surprise as these guys were about 20 years old at the time this album was recorded).
I would definitely recommend this album to every Rock, Bluesrock and Garage fan out there....this record deserves to be heard!

Check it out:

The Life I Live
I Got Nightmares
Just Who Is In Sight
Mr. Pityful
I'm A Man
Middle Age Talk
Summer Thoughts In A Field Of Weed
Down In The Bottom
Spoonful
(my personal favourite....what an incredible cover of this Willie Dixon classic - this should explain what i meant when i described the style of the early Q 65 as "raw" and "dirty")
Get Out Of My Life Woman
Sour Wine
Bring It On Home

Windmills, Cheese and amazing music!

It's been some time since the last signs of life on this blog but what can i say...an old man sometimes needs his rest. As you can see i'm back, ready and highly motivated to deliver all of my two or three loyal readers an amazing glimpse on the rocking and grooving music-scene of a country famous for it's beautiful tulips, baffled dopeheads, tasty gouda-cheese and those wonderful, wonderful grachts! ...yes, you are absolutely right: i'm talking about Holland, to the more sophisticated ones among you also known as The Netherlands!

The dutch rock and pop- landscape which developed during the 1960's was, as in almost every other country too, strongly influenced by the british beat-music. Despite all the admiration for the Beatles and their likes it did not take long and loads of more or less talented dutch musicians started playing and recording their own interpretation of beat. Various radio-startions started airing the new pop-music from holland which was soon tagged as Nederbeat. Clubs and rock-venues like the infamous Paradiso in Amsterdam gained their cult-status during this era.

Logo of the Decca "Nederbeat"-series

Similar to the German "Krautrock" there were many different musical-styles and approaches outlined under the term "Nederbeat". Many of my personal favourites and propably the most relevant Dutch releases from that period are characterized by strong blues-influences.

The reason for my recent enthusiasm for dutch contemporary music from the 60's and 70's was the find of a quite exotic 2Lp-box called "Blues from Holland" i picked up on a record-fair a couple of months ago.
Although i already knew and liked some of the bands featured on this sampler (specially Cuby & The Blizzards which have remained among my favourites for years now) listening to these two records was really a pleasure and introduced me to other great acts like Blues Dimension, Livin'Blues, Q 65 as well as some other noteworthy artists.
The funny thing about this sampler is that Philips obviously did not have enough real blues acts in their portfolio, so they included several blues-influenced tracks from artists who had blues references in their name or their music but were actually miles away from being real blues-outfits...the best example is probably an awful Dixieland track from the Endatteme Jugband or Blues Dimensions self titled track which is the only real blues song you can find on their first record while the rest is an amazing blend of garage, pop and beat (with the Nederbeat-typical blues inclusions here and there).

The Philips "Blues From Holland"-Sampler that started it all for me

To give you a clue of what i'm writing about and to give you some recommendations as well i will take you on a short trip through the music of holland's rocking 60's and 70's ....be prepared to meet Livin' Blues , Cuby & The Blizzards, Blues Dimension, Shocking Blue, Golden Earring , The Bintangs and The Outsiders as well as many other fabulous musicians.

Creative Rock - Gorilla (Brain Metronome, 1061) GER 1972

With "Gorilla" Creative Rock recorded one of the finest brass-powered Kraut-albums i have heard so far....remarkable because of the musical quality, the weird ideas (closing the album with a distorted, completely deconstructed variation of the famous march "Preußens Gloria" and calling it "Preußens Gorilla" is weird enough if you ask me) and the trippy freaked out lyrics - all these elements are typical for the contemporary German music-scene of the early 1970's....a record like that would have never been released in the States or the UK at that time.
Creative Rock worked out their own special blend of musical-styles but if you really want to compare them with other bands you could probably pick out Colosseum or Nucleus.
After releasing one more record called "Lady Pig" Creative Rock disbanded....some of the members went on to form a (completely uninteresting) band called "Flight" in the early 80ies.

Sorry but i ain't got no links to tracks from this album, as there are absolutely no streams available at the moment....try to find it somewhere else

Jeronimo - Cosmic Blues (Bellaphon, BI 1530) GER 1970

What we have here is the first lp recorded by Jeronimo, a couple of guys from germany with an obvious affection for the wild wild west (listen to songs like Heya and look at the artwork of the later albums...that should explain everything).

Jeronimo's first longplayer is definitely their most catchy one, being a collection of songs you could find on three early singles and on a split-lp (together with Creedence Clearwater Revival) which was released in 1969.
I honestly think that this album doesn't get the recognition it deserves, mainly because of the fact that this is not as progressive or sophisticated as their later, self-titled "masterpiece" (sorry, but not for me) with the famous indian-cover (this one has recently been reissued and should be available for a reasonable price if you want to pick it up....it's good!).

As stated above, Cosmic Blues is filled with tracks that stay in your head.....songs to listen and sing along until your neighbours tell you to shut the fuck up ;)

I really dig the sound of this record...dirty and raw all the way - specially Rainer Marz's guitar-playing which, on some tracks, sounds like the strings will tear at any moment. Definitely nothing for sophisticated progressive-guitar-connaisseurs, but who needs fancy schmancy when unpretentious guitar-riffing fits this record in such a perfect way?...this is hardrock the way i like it!

With Heya and Na-Na-Hey-Hey (a Steam-cover) this album contained two real hit-singles...if you click on the latter one, you will immediately recognize it, as it's been quite popular in hockey-halls or soccer-stadiums all over the world.

The other songs are also quite enjoyable...the only filler is a uninspired two minute-cover of "Let The Sunshine In", a song we all know from the Hair-soundtrack.
I don't know why they put that one on the album as it is completely irrelevant.

Here the other songs:

News
The Key
Hands
So Nice To Know
Highjack
Number 5
No No No (a personal favourite)
Never Goin' Back

Electric Sandwich - S/T (Brain Metronome, 1018) GER 1972

Electric Sandwich's self titled debut is another one of the so called "holy grails" of Krautrock, being one of the rarest Brain-releases and almost impossible to find.
Well, luckily things change and the recent Krautrock-revival finally led to another decent vinyl-reissue of this record.
Electric Sandwich were a four-piece combo, hailing from Bonn, where they started their short-lived career in 1969...all they ever recorded was one long-player and two singles until they finally called it quits in 1975.

Around 2001 the original-lineup reformed...today Electric Sandwich is still alive and playing concerts every now and then! - go check their website if you please.

Out of a musical-perspective this record is probable THE one you should get when you are new to Krautrock and want to catch a glimpse on that kind of music. The reason for this recommendation is based on the fact that Electric Sandwich's music is full of variety and covers more sub-genres of Krautrock than most other releases do....you can find brass-rock as well as crazy guitar freakouts, fuzz-orgies and even laid back ballads - all without sounding disjointed or diffuse.
Of course you've got to love that weird cover-artwork too! ...oh how i'd love to take a bite of that delishis Electric Sandwich! ;)

To give you a feeling of what i am talking about, here is the Track China

If someone would ask me to display that special flair of german rock-music from the 70's by playing just one track, the album-version of "China" might be the one.

Ladies and gentlemen, go ahead and enjoy!

I Want You

Breath Away (2009 live-recording of a song not featured on the album...)

Orange Peel - S/T (CMP 601-1) GER 1970

Do you like heavy, organ-driven rock with long psychedelic (sometimes Floydesque-sounding) jam-parts?....then this record might be something for you!

Originaly released in Germany on Bacillus/Bellaphon, the first pressing of this record is one hell of a rarity as well as a convincing musical-effort all the way.

You can't find that much info about Orange peel but what we know is that they were based in Hanau and released just one album and a single (which was released before with a slightly different lineup). Orange Peel still play concerts every now and then but it is said, that their sets don't include too many references to their psychedelic past anymore which is sad because they were great in what they did. Leslie Link, the band's guitarist is still regarded as one of the best guitar-players out of the Rhein-Main-Scene - today he owns a guitar-shop called "Link's Musical Instruments" in Hanau...specialized in everything around guitars.
It's also worth mentioning that Curt Cress, maybe the most famous drummer emerging out of the Krautrock-Scene, was a member of Orange Peel and played on this record.

Not much left to say for me at that point except that this is definitely an amazing album and deserves a listen!
Orange Peel are without a doubt among the best german acts from the 70ies i've heard so far and i ain't telling no lie when i write about the heavy organ-parts which shape the sound of Orange Peel....this features the feared teutonic-killer-organ!!!
...dedicated organ-afficcionados like BartBowles might shed one (or more) tear(s) of joy when listening to the beauty of this record ;)

Go ahead and listen!

Tobacco Road (what a nice cover-version we have here!)

Faces That I Used To Know

sorry, no more tracks available at the moment

Some words about NEU!

To celebrate the release of the whole NEU!-discography as well as the release of the fabulous NEU! Box-Set on Herbert Grönemeyer's Grönland-Label (i tend to forgive him his last few records as long as he keeps re-releasing decent stuff like the NEU!-discography) i decided to write a short note about this pioneers of modern music

NEU! was the brainchild of Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger, both early members of Kraftwerk.
Dinger was initially hired as a session-drummer for the recording of the first Kraftwerk-album and later turned into a regular band-member; Rother joined shortly after the release of the debut, only to stay for a couple of months. Both left the band in 1971 before the recording of the second album.
The only available footage featuring Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother as part of Kraftwerk is the Song "Rückstoß-Gondoliere" which was recorded and filmed live for the German Beat-Club.

Michael Rother (left) + Klaus Dinger (right)

After leaving Kraftwerk, Dinger and Rother founded NEU!, teamed up with Conny Plank and started recording their first album which was released on Brain Records in 1972.
The first NEU! turned out to be a highly influential masterpiece and the band continued to change conventional listening-patterns on the following efforts "NEU! 2" as well as on their final official-release "NEU! 75".


The music of NEU! was always characterized by Klaus Dinger's and Michael Rother's creativity and love of experimentation...both developed their own distinctive way of playing that can be recognized just after seconds of listening.
Dinger's robotic drumming inspired countless drummers and eventually even led to the creation of the musicial-term "Motorik".
Michael Rothers reduced style of guitar-playing stood in complete contrast to the hard-riffing, solo-addicted rock-guitarists, yet it was driving and exciting - even when playing tracks that would be tagged as ambient...you just couldn't hear something like that back then.

One year after the release of the first album, NEU! started recording their second LP but initially spent most of the record company's advance payment on new instruments....as a result of these investments the band had to cut down studio time and ended up with just enough material to fill one side of the album. Acting out of necessity they decided to play around with the existing material...they speeded tracks up, slowed them down, added some distortion, looped some parts and ended up with some of the first examples of sampling and remixing in music history....not only were these "new remixes" sufficient to fill side two of the album - some of them even sound good! ;)


Over the years the musical differences between Dinger and Rother grew and they started to drift away from each other in a musicial-sense. Their final album, "NEU! 75", turned out to be the manifestation of their different musical-approaches at that time: Side one contained Michael Rother's beautiful, laid back ambient-like-compositions while side two featured Dinger's raw and unpolished proto-punk-tracks with him singing coherent vocals......another thing unusual for NEU!-standards, as the only vocals to be heard on the other two albums are some screams or silent "lalala-parts" here and there.
NEU! 75 also featured Klaus Dinger's brother Thomas on the bass and Hans Lampe who did the drumming on side two of the record while Dinger played the guitar parts. The additional musicians should help to add a little extra variety especially when performing more complex-arrangements...sadly their services weren't needed much longer as NEU! went in a long phase of inactivity without ever releasing anything again (except "NEU! 4" which was put out by Klaus Dinger without Michael Rother's agreement and, according to Rother, can not be viewed as a real NEU!-album).

After the end of NEU!, Klaus Dinger and his brother Thomas went on to be quite successful with their new project "La Düsseldorf" (good stuff - give it a try) while Michael Rother released a couple of amazing solo-albums, often backed up by other musicians out of the german-scene (Can's Jaki Liebzeit comes to mind)....they are also highly enjoyable - just listen to "Flammende Herzen"!


Two years ago Klaus Dinger passed away, closing the chapter NEU! forever.
What remains is the beauty of their songs.



NEU! discography:

NEU! (Brain 1004) 1972













Tracklist:

Side 1

1. Hallogallo
2. Sonderangebot
3. Weissensee

Side 2

1. Im Glück
2. Negativland
3. Lieber Honig
   

NEU! 2 (Brain 1028) 1973













Tracklist:

Side 1

1. Für Immer (forever)
2. Spitzenqualität
3. Gedenkminute (für A+K)
4. Lila Engel (lilac angel)

Side 2

1. Neuschnee 78
   
2. Super 16
   
3. Neuschnee
   
4. Cassetto
   
5. Super 78
   
6. Hallo Excentrico
   
7. Super
   

NEU! 75 (Brain 1062) 1975













Tracklist:

Side 1

1. Isi
2. Seeland
3. Leb’ wohl

Side 2

1. Hero
   
2. E-Musik
   
3. After Eight
   

Beggars Opera - Waters Of Change (Vertigo Swirl, 6360 054) SCO 1971

If you are looking for nice, mellow, multi-instrumental rock-music with a progressive and folky-touch, spiced up with some remarkable organ- and mellotron parts, why not try some Beggars Opera?
Waters Of Change was the second effort by this bunch of scottsmen and -women and it was definitely a good one...actually you can't do anything wrong when picking up any one of their first three albums - even their fourth release "Get Your Dog Off Me!" still has it's moments, although sounding much more commercial.

"Waters of Change" also features the band's most successful song Time Machine...just listen and enjoy...i really love this one!

here some kind of double feature that includes the songs Silver Peacock and Impromptu

Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today (Rise Above Records, Riselp100), UK 2009

After being asked to include some "newer stuff" or "maybe something by Electric Wizard" i'll gladly fulfil this request....the fact that this album delivers the flair of raw, unpolished 70ies-recordings, although recorded not even two years ago, makes it an worthy addition anyway.

What can be written about this band?....well, maybe that they are one of the heaviest bands you are ever going to hear, that they are a band with an unique sound that was often copied but never surpassed (not even remotely!) or that almost everything they ever recorded could be tagged with the label "masterpiece"...

You see, Electric Wizard is definitely not an average doom-band and no one will disagree when i'm saying that they have been one of the top-acts of this genre for almost fifteen years now.

Three years passed since the release of "We Live" until the eagerly expected "Witchcult Today" hit the stores in 2009 but it was well worth the wait. Despite it's sheer doomish-heavyness this album sounds like it is straight out of the 70ies....an all analogue recording of pure beauty.
The whole album sounds like the recorded-manifesto of some kind of strange drugged up witchcult: The occult-element has always been an essential part of the Electric Wizard-sound, but it has never been that coherent and convincing.

Maybe the most important thing to be said about this release:

Jus Oborn's and Liz Buckingham's riffs crush anyone and everything...


The typical Lovecraft-references can be found as well....there even is a track called Dunwich

Interesting fact: The cover-artwork is an adaption of the movie-posters that were used to promote the classic Hammer-Horror flick "The Devil Rides Out".


Here the other tracks:

Witchcult Today
The Chosen Few
Satanic Rites Of Drugula
Torquemada 71
Raptus
Saturnine
Black Magic Rituals And Perversions

Get this if you can!

Taste - S/T (Polydor, 184214) IE 1969

Just listened to this record and once again i have to point out what a incredibly talented guitar-player Rory Gallagher was.....sad that he passed away much too soon.
Before starting his amazing solo-career Gallagher was a founding member of Taste....the band signed a contract with Polydor and put out two studio-abums as well as some live-cuts before Gallagher left to walk his own way.
Taste's debut is an impressive display of young Rory Gallaghers guitar skills (he was only 21 at the time of the release) as well as a landmark in irish-rock history.
This is convincing bluesrock all the way (featuring this amazing cover-picture)....don't want to say much more about it, but you should definitely give this one a try and/or get some of Rory Gallaghers solo-efforts.


To get an idea of what i'm talking about:

Blister On The Moon

Leaving Blues

Sugar Mama

Same Old Story

Dual Carriageway Pain


Cheers To Bart Bowles for getting me into Gallagher some time ago...you know that you're the man, maaan! ;)

Witchcraft - S/T (Rise Above Records, RISEPD 47) SWE 2004

Witchcraft's glorious debut!

As this has been on heavy rotation during the last two days i thought i'd write some lines about this record, although most of you probably already know (and love?) it.

Recorded in 2004 but sounding like straight out of the early 1970ies this record truly delivers the feeling of being thrown into a time-machine and shot back to these ancient days of musical greatness.
As you already might have noticed, i'm truly fond of this album, which i definitely rate among the best doom/rock-related musical outputs of the last ten years.
Fronted by guitarist and singer Magnus Pellander (who recently released his first solo album on Svart-Records)Witchcraft created an album that manages to impress with an unique atmosphere that definitely takes you back in time. The Music is a blend of doom, folk and classic rock ...everything fits on this one...playing is great and Pelander's singing touches even my cold heart of stone ;)
The lyrics deal with betrayal, witchery , kings selling their daughters to the devil....honestly, what do you want more?!
I already said it several times and i'd like to say it again: THIS IS WITCHCRAFT'S BEST ALBUM!!.....i won't even argue about that because i am right and everyone with a different oppinion regarding this record is terribly wrong and should be ashamed.
Although the other two records (Firewood and The Alchimist) are good (especially Firewood) they lack the magic atmosphere of the debut...to be honest, some parts of "The Alchmist" even bore me - maybe because of a more progressive approach; Although i don't have a problem with progressive music and complex, lengthy arrangements i do think this band has other strengths.

Anyway, here are some songs...no further comments - all amazing stuff!

No Angel Or Demon

It's So Easy

I Want You To Know

Her Sisters They Were Weak

The Snake

Please Don't Forget Me

Lady Winter

Schyssta Lögner

Horse - S/T (Dr. Prog 6902 DRPR) UK 1970

Originally released on RCA back in 1970 Horse's one and only album offers a great variety of musical influences and -styles. The whole album has some kind of dark undertone and you will find lots of references to the occult when paying attention to the lyrics. As i said, this records covers a wide musical spectrum: It features songs that classify as solid Hardrock as well as other songs that fit in the folk-genre (or ar least have strong folk-influences) some tracks sound like some obscure sort of "occult-beat-music". Of course it's also progressive and psychedelic in some parts and (lucky as we are) we can even hear a walzer on this record!!
Sometimes Horse really reminds me of a heavier and more vile version of Black Widow...definitely worth to hear what these four Brits put together on their debut.
Needless to say, the dark cover-artwork hits the nail on the head......perfect!

Let's hook you up with some tracks:

The Sacrifice (listen to those theatralic vocals...scary scary...much drama on this track :)

To Greet The Sun

And I have loved You

Step Out Of The Line

Consider yourself lucky if you manage to get a good original copy of this record under 100 Euro...fortunately there has been at least one acceptable reissue

Buffalo - Dead Forever... (Vertigo Swirl, 6357 100 D) AUS 1972

About half an hour ago I was just driving home from every friday's amateur-soccer-massacre when the random track selection of my car stereo stopped at the title-track of Buffalo's first album...
Not having listened to it for a longer time i nearly forgot how much i like this band and suddenly realized that i had to write something about them right now!
To be honest, I don't know much about the combination Australia + Rock-Music except maybe AC/DC and that kind of stuff everybody knows...the great Masters Apprentices also come to mind but shamefully thats where it ends for me, with the exception of one more band that can not be ignored when we're talking about rock-music from Down Under:

Buffalo!!!

Founded by Dave Tice (vocals), Alan Milano (vocals), John Baxter (guitar), Peter Wells (bass)and Paul Balbi (drums)in 1970 this band went on to record five albums (the first two of them on the Swirl Label as the first non European act ever signed to Vertigo!)before they quit it the late 70ies.
Some like to call them the first Australian heavy metal band which seems quite understandable after being blown away by the sheer heavyness of some of their songs.

As stated in the beginning of this review this is Buffalo's first record and it's safe to say that they didn't reach the top of the mountain on that one. What we hear is Hard/Bluesrock with psychedelic/progressive moments including two cover-versions: "I'm A Mover" (orig. by Free) and Pay My Dues (Blues Image).
It all sounds raw and unpolished which is more of a compliment than criticism but in some way Dead Forever is not as consistent as Buffalo's follow up masterpiece "Volcanic Rock" - also the attempt to split vocal duties between Tice and Milano didn't work out as good as they might have expected. (Fortunately?) Milano left the band after this record as the later "Tice-only" vocals sounded way better ;)

Dead Forever still remains a very strong and recommendable album which already shows many of the strenghts that laid the foundations for Buffalo's (well deserved!) underground-cult-status.

Play the following songs LOUD!

Bean Stew
Pay My Dues
Suzie Sunshine

Pacific Sound - Forget Your Dream! (Long Hair LHC 73) CH 1972

Straight out of lovely Switzerland comes this remarkable record that should be known for it's disgusting and disturbing cover-photograph as well as for being one of the better albums out of the swiss rock-scene of the early 70ies.
Pacific sound were four guys from Neuchatel who started as a cover-band and then went on to record their only album which was released on the small "Splendid" label.....these days original copies sell for a small fortune but luckily there is a recent "Long-Hair"-Reissue that sounds + looks very good.

The music is a blend of heavy psychedelia, blues and straight rock (probably inspired by US-Westcoast Bands and of course Jimi Hendrix as they even released a single named "Ballad To Jimi" back in 1971).
This mixture works fine for me, specially because they obviously know what to do and how to do it...i specially like the heavy, driving organ-parts as to be heard on Forget Your Dream!

Take a glimpse at their mellow side on Ceremony For A Dead


So if you like good and varied 70's rock or you want to give ancient swiss-music a chance, do yourself a favour and pick this one up......if my mind doesn't trick me again, then DiMarco the mighty and invincible record-warlord still has one copy of the reissue available in his shop ;)

Devo - Q: Are we not Men? A: We are Devo! (Virgin 26353 XOT) US 1978

What a jump - from the rock-solid , grounded british Steamhammer to the first Devo album.....no, i am not bonkers - i just couldn't resist writing these lines as i recently dug this one out again.

So what about this strange phenomenon called Devo? ... well, Mark Mothersbaugh and the rest of the bunch deliver supreme-musical-weirdness since the late seventies.
Named after the concept of human de-evolution these guys continue to proof that there is nothing too strange when it comes to music. Their lyrics as well as their song-structures can hardly be compared with the output of any other musical-act except maybe some things recorded by the Residents. This is rock, this is new wave, this is punk, this is synthie-pop as well as this is retard-rap....i could go on like this for minutes so i won't even try to categorize this music - i will simply tag it as Devo.

This one is Devo's first album and many like to call it their best one. As far as i'm concerned it is definitely the best Devo album i've heard so far, although i liked all of them of at least found them amusing.

Here some tracks for you:

Mongoloid (live)

Satisfaction (Rolling Stones-cover...as heard in Martin Scorsese's movie Casino)

Uncontrollable Urge (live at the Olympic Winter Games 2010!!!...awesome, but who the hell had the balls to book Devo?! ...please watch the hundreds of Energy Domes in the crowd! :))


Enjoy it and as you surely are a fan now, why not buy your own Energy Dome at the Devo Store? ;)

Steamhammer - S/T (Bellaphon, BI 15134) UK 1970

Steamhammer from England.... solid bluesrock featuring cover-versions of songs originaly recorded by B.B. King and Eddie Boyd as well as own material. Good album but nothing special in my book - although they even pull out a sax and a flute every now and then.
Kieran White has got a typical blues-voice and knows how to use it, nothing to complain about the guitarwork...as stated above - everything you are going to hear on this record is solid but i do miss some highlights.

A big plus: You still can get the first pressing quite cheap which is something unusual when it comes to non-mainstream records from the early 70's.

Here some tracks for you to listen:

Junior's Wailing (live at Beatclub)

Even The Clock (check out the psych/prog mood on this one)

When All Your Friends Are Gone (live at Beatclub)

The Allman Brothers Band - All Men's Brothers (Atlantic, ATL 40424) GER 1972

Imagine being in a famous US-rock-band, playing filled venues, selling hundreds of thousands of copies of your first two albums and getting increasingly popular for being the real deal....to cut it short: Imagine being a well respected star!
What happens then is, that your record company want's to put out a compilation-album to promote you in a country called Germany ...a country which, at that point, is already famous for it's experimental-music scene and at least equally infamous for the awfulness of countless album-covers created by the nutcases lurking inside german graphic-design-studios (of course you don't know anything about that as you live in the States and can't be bothered with such trivial things) so your record-company gives the german design-team the task to create an awesome cover picture....a couple of weeks later you get the message that the artwork is ready and the sleeves have already been printed. Expecting a thing of pure beauty and something that could stand as a visual-example or a recognizeable synonyme for your band and the music you create you reach out for one of those freshly pressed records and....instantly collapse

That could be the story of this truly awesome Allman Brother's compilation which was released exclusively in the land of our beloved neighbours: Germany.
Actually i don't know if Duane, Greg and the other brothers ever saw that compliation but still i wonder why they decided against a global-release which would have been justified just for the sheer visual brilliance of this record!!

Ladies and Gentlemen: This is the one and only appearance of a crome-plated-winged-cock in rock history!

This is It!

If you are looking for flying - crome - cock - extravaganza (and honestly, who doesnt?) this is the record you are looking for!!

You will understand, that i won't say anything about the music on that album as it is absolutely irrelevant


Now go on and turn this picture into your desktop-wallpaper! ;)

Man - S/T (Liberty, LBS 83 464 I) Wales 1971

Nice psychedelic cover ...probably the first thing that gets you interested in Man's third Album. Although i do like it, this is no consistent release as there are obviously way too many things the band wanted to try - it's a mixture of different styles and i'm not even sure if some of the songs were intended to be taken serious or if they should be considered as some kind of eccentric joke.
On this record you will find country-songs(!) next to straight rock-tracks as well as Man's (not really impressive) progressive-experiments like Would The Christians Wait Five Minutes? The Lions Are Having A Draw (what an incredibly stupid song-title)or The Alchimist

This is not something very special and certainly no must-have but still a nice addition to any 70's rock-collection

Lincoln Street Exit - Drive It (Mainstream Records S/6126) US 1970

Drive It! was published in 1970 by Mainstream Records (the same Label that released other Gems like the second Josefus Album as well) and it should remain the only recorded Effort by this, without a Doubt, very interesting Band from the States.
Lincoln Street Exit has already been six years in Existence at the Point their first Album was released so what you get is a Band who already found their Sound and rocks it hard!
As stated on The Cover-Back Lincoln Street Exit's Music was "influenced greatly by the American Indian cultures of New Mexico" ...mainly because of the Fact that (as some Sources claim) all four Band Members were Native Americans. Frankly I can't hear too many of those Influences but what i hear is a raw and powerful Album with driving Fuzz-Guitars, strong Vocals and a surprisingly good Production ...in other Words: This Record contains enjoyable Music plus it sounds great!

My favourite Track remains Man Machine although it's a pleasure to listen to Songs like Dirty Mother Blues as well.

Put it on, lean back and Drive it!

Armaggedon - S/T (Missing Vinyl, MV009) GER 1970

Released on the small german Kuckuck-Label this is the only Album by the Berlin-based Band called Armaggedon (The british Armageddon have already been featured on this Blog). Just talked to Lebensmensch and noticed the wrong spelling of the Name on the Cover...we both think that either the Band and/or Kuckuck fucked it up - not good when you can't even figure out how to write your own Band's Name ;)

Anyway...If you are looking for well played Hardrock with Blues- and Prog-Elements shaped up with that special Krautrock-Feeling then you should definitely go for this one. Beside self composed Tracks like Round or Oh Man there are coverversions of Jeff Beck's Rice Pudding (nice effects on this one!) and Spooky Tooth's Better By You, Better Than Me

This really is a good Album, not only for German-Standards as well as a strong Contender for a Slot in my personal Krautrock Top 20

Warhorse - Red Sea (Vertigo Swirl, 6360 066) UK 1972

Second and final Warhorse Album....as good as their first one but (with some Exceptions) not as heavy. Don't want to write much more about it as i already told you what you need to know.

I love the Artwork and i love the Title-Track

Here some more:

Back In Time

Feeling Better

Mouthpiece

Warhorse - S/T (Akarma, AK 205/2) UK 1970

Warhorse was formed in 1970 by former Deep Purple Bassist Nick Simper, Ged Peck (Guitar), Ashley Holt (Vocals), Marc Poole (Drums)and Rick Wakeman (Keyboard. Especially because because of Simper's Deep Purple-Past it didn't take them long to get a Record-Deal with Vertigo who released their self-titled Debut just the same year...until then Wakeman had already left the Band and later went on to become a Member of a big Rock-Group called Yes....some of you might know them ;)

Talking about Hardrock there is no other Way than calling this Record a Masterpiece - definetely one of the strongest Musical-Efforts a Member or former Member of Deep Purple ever was involved in.
Singing, Songwriting, Guitar, Hammond, Drums....can't find anything to criticize.
...sadly way to many People took notice of this Band and their two remarkable Albums.

Go ahead and listen to their crushing first Single St. Louis

or maybe Burning

and if you want to get a taste of Vulture Blood ...

Enjoy!

Ashkan - In From The Cold (Sire, SES 97017) UK 1969

Cheers Ladies and Gents,

Reeeally excited to write about this one because i just got it delivered couple of hours ago and i can tell you that i have been desperately waiting!
Ashkan's one and only Album has been a recent discovery for me and soon turned into one of these "Must have" - Records i knew i had to chase down... again,luck was on my side and i managed to get a nice US-copy out of the Archives of this Radio Station - marked and stamped for that lovable "My Record has a History"-Feeling.
What we get from this four Guys from the UK is a solid blend of HardRock/Blues with amazing Guitarwork and great Vocals (Again Joe Cocker comes to Mind when hearing Steve Bailey's Voice....i wonder how many Singers i will compare to Cocker as this Blog runs on....well, maybe i'm a little bit obsessive about good old Joe and just don't know it yet).
Anyway....this has to receive an honourable Mention as one of the best almost unknown Hardrock/Blues/Whatever-Records i've heard from the late Sixties so far......no Stinkers on that one and just to point it out (if i didn't already): It's HEAVY!

Just listen to Going Home (i just love that one) or One Of Us Two

Just noticed that i almost forgot a little piece of Trivia that maybe should be mentioned: After Ashkan's End Bob Weston joined Fleetwood Mac where he played the Guitar 'til 1974...

To bring this to an End....here the Backlash Blues for all you little Ramblers out there.

Patto - S/T (Akarma, AK185) UK 1970

Nice Album that was originaly released on The Vertigo Swirl-Label...Patto was a Band from the UK fronted by and named after Vocalist Mike Patto.
Although tagged as Jazzrock (even in the Record-Sleeve)this Album is much more than that...it basically rocks your Socks of!
Although you can find typical Jazzrock-Arrangements on some of the Songs (specially on side two of the LP) most of what you're about to hear is guitar-driven Rock with a Lot of Variety in it....Ollie Halsall's playing is simply amazing - same has to be said about Mr. Patto's Voice!

Listen to San Antone and/or Red Glow if you please

Armageddon - S/T (A&M Records, SP-4513) UK 1975

One of the two relevant Bands with the Name Armageddon - this one is the british All-Star Band that featured former members of Renaissance, The Yardbirds, Steamhammer, Captain Beyond, The Johnny Winter Band and so on.

Q: How do they sound?!
A: Not as good as you might think

Hailed by many as a Cult-Classic i have to say that i'm not impressed by this record at all....it's true, that it features some nice Rockers, specially This One but the Ballad Silver Tightrope is so cheesy and bad, it almost makes me wanna puke: This Song is so disgusting that it has the horrible Power to turn a good overall Effort into a Pile of Crap almost instantly...i mean, how could they record something like that?!?!
Keith Relf's voice fits in the Category love it or hate it....i actually dont like it as it reminds me of Jon Anderson on several parts of the Album.

I don't say that you should avoid buying this but i tend to say that it is not as good as you might think after reading all this "Cult-Album"-Mambojambo. Parts of it are really good and others Parts suck badly...anyway, many People want this, so grab it up if you can get it cheap - at least it should be a safe Investment.

Small Note at the End: This was Armageddon's first and last Release because Keith Relf got killed by accidentaly electrocuting himself with a improperly grounded guitar. So always remember: Safety first! ;)

Hairy Chapter - Can't Get Through (Second Battle, SB LP 038) GER 1971

After the first Bunch of UK and US-Albums, let's turn to something from the vital German Rock Scene of the early 70's.
This one is Hairy Chapter's second effort after the well received "Eyes" (1970) and it is a great piece of Rock-Music as well as a major improvement if you compare it to their debut.
Can't Get Through is a nice example of an Album that stands out because of the excellent guitar work and the, for Hardrock-Standards, more complex arrangements (just check the Horns and Strings featured on "As We Crossed Over")...definitely nothing for Mister Simple or Mister Ordinary.
The (english) Vocals are allright and without the terrible Accent we know from many other German Albums out of these Times....this one is a Goodie and absolutely deserves it's Place amongst my personal Kraut-Top 20.

....here another Killer-Track for you!

By the Way: Produced and engineered by Studio-Guru Dieter Dierks...so be assured, that Sound-Quality and Mix are awesome!

Give it a Spin - you won't be disappointed!

Joseph - Stoned Age Man (Scepter, SPS 574) USA 1970

Joseph's Stoned Age Man is probably the Synonym for "Strange" when it comes to Records....still i love this one to Death and would easily rate it among my All-Time-Favourites.
The whole Album, the terms of it's recording and even Joseph himself remain a mystery...according to the little information there is, Joseph (born as Joseph Long as mentioned on the record sleeve - though some sources claim he was called Longeria) was playing in a "Battle Of The Blues Guitars" between him, T Bone Walker and B.B. King, when he was discovered by Steve Tyrell of Scepter records. If we believe Tyrell's Sleeve-Notes, Joseph had already been offered contracts by other record companies which he repeatedly refused because they wouldn't let him "Do His Thang"......well, Scepter gave him that Chance and one Thing is for sure....Joseph did his Thing on that one!
Despite or maybe because of Stoned Age Man's musical uniqueness, this Record drifted into obscurity almost at the Point of it's Release....i'm actually not surprised....how can you sell something as weird as that?

Musically Stone Age Man is rooted in the Hard-Blues-Territory mixed with psychedelic Ingredients but except that general blues mood it delivers, everything else is absolutely over the top....Joseph literally screams his Lungs out and i would like to add, that he had a remarkable voice...compare it's Timbre to that of Captain Beefhart after smoking 80 cigarettes in a row if you want...also a downtuned version of Joe Cocker comes to mind.
Besides the great Guitar Work and the other Basics you can hear Sitar, strange kinds of Flutes and some nice Hammond-Parts as well as some other undefined Extravaganza (did i hear waterpipes or am i hallucinating?).
The Lyrics fit in perfectly, as they are without a doubt walking the thin line between Genius and Madness....check out I Ain't Fattenin' No More Frogs For Snakes or the wonderful Cold Biscuits And Fish Heads ...as a bonus Joseph delivers a nice uptempo Version of The House Of The Rising Sun which rates amongst the best Versions of that Song i've heard so far.
Needless to say, that the Cover-Artwork is stunning and contributed to the Construction of the Myths around this Gem....it ain't got no weak Tracks on it....trust me!

LEAF HOUND (AKARMA, AK 256) UK 1971

Well...here we have it...i don't even know what to say about that beast - i actually refuse to write more than one line!

This is perhaps THE most underrated Hardrock/Hard-Blues Album in Existance - A holy Grail and something you can never get as Original DECCA first-press unless you are willing to trade your car for it or sell some of your internal organs.
Peter French on Vocals (he later went to join Cactus, Atomic Rooster and Randy Pie)with his best performance EVER!
Some songs are just incredibly heavy: check out Freelance Fiend !

As even the best things are not always flawless i have to admit that (to put it nicely) Mick Halls guitar skills were surely on a level which made further improvement possible...specially the guitar solo in Sad Road To The Sea sounds like played in a slightly disoriented state of mind. in a way it reminds me of slow-motion playing on a detuned guitar while desperately trying to stay focused on whats happening on the fretboard ;)


Anyway....that was actually a little more than one line but this is the real deal and beside that...what can a man do?.....i'm just in love with that record :)

Dust - S/T (Kama Sutra, KSBS 2041) USA 1971

Hailing from the USA this trio delivers a powerful hardrock album with some pleasant surprises like the allmost 10 minute epic From A Dry Camel. Dust released just two albums at the beginning of the 1970's, both of which are highly recommended...their debut is not as hard-rocking as their second album "Hard Attack" (Nomen est Omen) but still a real powerhouse...great guitarwork all the way,nice vocals, driving basslines and a guy called Marc Bell (later to be known as Marky Ramone) behind the drum-set.
Definitely one of the best US-hardrock / proto-metal albums you will get to hear.....consistent from start to finish and without the cheesefest-parts or ridiculous ballads that ruin so many hardrock-albums from the United States....sorry to say it, but we cowboys don't need that kind of shit ;)

By the way: The picture of the corpses on the Cover was taken in the Catacombs of Palermo...first press of the album came in a nice skin-textured cover...good copies of it have already become sought after collectors items.

If you want, check out Track Nr. 1 of this album: Stone Woman

or, for an additional taste of greatness try Track Nr. 4 called "Love Me Hard" (Sorry, ain't got no link to that one).

SO GO AHEAD AND LISTEN TO THIS SHIT...... NOW!! :)

Mighty Baby - S/T (Head, HDLS.6002) UK 1969

Die ersten Zeilen eines Buchs sollen ja, zumindest dem Gerede fachkundiger Literaturschaffender nach, die schwierigsten sein. Ganz ähnlich gestaltet sich in diesem Fall die Auswahl des ersten hier vorgestellten Albums...die Anspannung treibt mir die Schweissperlen auf die Stirn ;)

....Das Beste zum Schluß?!!...Nein Danke! - lieber gleich mit einem echten Kracher starten.

Mighty Baby liefern auf dem ersten (und besten) ihrer beiden Alben wunderbaren Psychedelic Rock mit mitunter folkigem Touch, der, insbesondere auf Grund des entspannten Gesangs eines gewissen Alan King, teilweise schon fast unverschämt eingängig ist. Verstecken muss sich das Debut dieser fünf Engländer wirklich vor keiner vergleichbaren Veröffentlichung - wobei hier schon die Probleme anfangen....mir fällt nämlich im Moment nichts wirklich vergleichbares ein (für diesbezügliche Tipps bin ich selbstverständlich sehr dankbar).
Mit (gottseidank dosiert eingesetztem) Saxophon und Flötenparts wird hier das klassische Rock Set-Up ergänzt - ganz ohne dabei kitschig zu werden oder in ausuferndem Progressive-Gedudel zu versumpfen. Sollte es auf diesem Album Füller geben, habe ich sie bis jetzt noch nicht gefunden...alles wie aus einem Guß.
In jedem Fall ein Album voller Song-Perlen das musikalisch überzeugt und die schönen Lyrics mit der richtigen Portion Weirdness wunderbar abrundet....für mich ist die LP ein echter Klassiker und völlig zu Recht ein gesuchtes Sammlerstück.

Als kleines Hörbeispiel hier gleich der Opener: Egyptian Tomb

Enjoy! :)

Getting This Thing Started...

Cheers,

What you are about to find in this Blog are Albums of which i think that they deserve to be written about...either because i believe they are awesome, disgustingly bad or just weird documents of pure obscurity and madness.
As you will only read about albums i actually own it is your good right to judge me and my horrible musical-taste by the stuff you see here ;)
The Label-Infos you will find in the Headlines next to the Album-Titles are actually taken from the Versions i own, regardless if they are first pressings or not.
Most of the Releases date back to the 1960's an 70's but it is my very pleasure to announce that i am also going to throw in some shimmering Pearls from the 80ies every now and then.... just for my fellow Neon-Suit Lovers from the Wild Wild West and for my friends who know how to use the Golden Ratio

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, put on your dancing shoes and walk - you know where we're heading.........up the hard way

Yours sincerely,

M.