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.