A MUST 4 DEAF EARS

Amon Düül -1972 - Disaster — Lüüd Noma

AMON DÜÜL were a huge musical collective that had a spectacular appearance in a tv-show in 1968. Before they put out their first album they split though, and one half set off to form AMON DÜÜL II.

The others kept the name AMON DÜÜL and in 1969 published the first Krautrock album ever, "Psychedelic Underground". It was very badly produced, and the music consisted of long improvisations, but after this album no other band needed to have an inferiority complex. Their second official album "Paradieswärts Düül" (1970) is much better produced and has a folky touch. The albums "Collapsing - Singvögel Rückwärts", "Disaster" and "Experimente" stem from the same session as "Psychedelic Underground" and are of similar nature; they were published after the band had split up already.

Stonewall - Stoner (1974 us, fantastic psychedelic/hard rock - Akarma reissue)

Stonewall was the house band of a recording studio owned by James (Jimmy) Goldstein, based in Long Island during the late '60s.

Goldstein was also a part-time member of the band, occasionally playing keyboards on their sessions. He was a performer of his own, using the stage name of "Jay James". Under that alias he recorded the album "Good Times And Bad Times" that was released on the Tiger Lily label (same as Stonewall).

Psychedelic Underground is the debut psychedelic rock album by the German band Amon Düül. It was released in 1969.

AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett:
“Some albums just have the perfect name, and Amon Duul's debut nails that to a T. Obscure upon release and obscure even now, for all the cult appeal, Underground is music at its most experimental and relentlessly uncommercial, using late-'60s inspirations as a launching ground for what came to be described as Krautrock.

Releases information

"Originally given away free to people who ordered enough other Amon Düül CDs
from the record label with material from 1969 to 1971
reworked by members of the group into one space rock epic."

CD Captain Trip Records - CTCD-041 (1996, Japan)

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Easily Steamhammer's crowning achievment (certainly as far as progheads are concerned) ,
although many rockers will prefer Mountains. The main difference with this album and other Steamhammer albums is Steve Joliffe
who is not unknown to progheads since he went through Tangerine Dream , albeit on their controversial Cyclone ,
the only TD album to have acoustic instruments and yes! Vocals!!!!

Hardly controversial Mk II album, though as it is simply their most refined album ,

3 stars! Gone is the wind section (which is not necessarily a bad thing IMO). Gone is Jerry Goodman (which is not necessarily a good thing IMO). He was replaced by another great violin player : Mike Zydowsky who joined the band in 1973 or so for their touring over Europe.

The music here is less jazz oriented than on their first two albums and there are some very good tracks in here. Still, jazz is very much present during the longest song from this album : "Back To You". It goes along with the poorest : "Hang On" which is a funky / soul song which is best avoided, believe me.

Their 5th album, live in concert. Great prog!! ...or just hard rock
Very rare out of print double CD...

1976 / 1995 (Nova / Second Battle)

As far as I am aware, there were no other German bands like Kin Ping Meh, who chose their name in the Chinese language! In 1970, this quintet assembled in Mannheim: Werner Stephan (lead vocals), Joachim Schafer (guitar, piano, vocals), Fritz Schmitt (organ, piano), Torsten Herzog (bass) and Kalle Weber (drums). They played live extensively during their early years, performing a rough hard rock modeled on British bands like Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and Spooky Tooth. Soon, Kin Ping Meh were discovered by Polydor's talent scouts. Joachim Schafer left the band just before the recording of their first album. He was promptly replaced by Willie Wagner (guitar, harmonica, vocals), who joined the band in the Windrose Studio. Indeed, Wagner wrote the stand-out track of this album, the opening 11-minute 'Fairy-Tales', a haunting heavy rock song with long, 'progressive' guitar and organ solo parts. Even if you do not find this style attractive, you'll sense the great enthusiasm of the band. There were also some mellow, folky songs on the album, like 'Too Many People', recorded live and boasting an irresistible chorus. 'Kin Ping Meh' was produced by the experienced rock veterans Achim Reichel and Frank Dostal. The engineer was none other than Konrad Plank. The album is highly recommended for fans of groups like Epitaph, Zarathustra, Frame, etc. It's now quite rare (selling for more than 300 DM) as the first and only vinyl edition was only pressed at around 5,000 copies.

Stomu Yamashta - Go - Live From Paris (1976) [Re2005]

One of the most unrecognized jazz rock masterpiece! /---it was a masterpiece, quite hard to find---/

The music is hard to describe. A mix of smooth atmospheric, Jazz and Rock pages. Very enjoyable music, with cool and easily accessible jazz rock parts, but also with sometimes dark or weird ambiences. Superb production, nice sound with an equal part for each instrument, and a great singer in the person of Steve Winwood. So the question is : Why does this live album had been so wrongly forgotten? It is surprising, knowing that this super group brings together some famous musicians such as Klaus Schultze, Al Di Meola and Michael Shrieve. The fact is that Stomu Yamash'ta doesn't benefit from the same reknown. But considering this dashing effort it is a real shame. Try it out and I bet you will also wonder why!

A.R. & Machines biography
Producer, composer and musician from Hamburg (Germany), Achim Reichel is a key figure in the explosion of krautrock. Reichel was first a founder member of "The Rattles" at the beginning of the 60's. In 1968 he formed the "Wonderland band" with the drummer Frank Dostal. Late 60's he launched his first solo musical project called A.R and the machines. Musically it provides a supreme sonic musical voyage turned to cycled psychedelic guitar playing with lot of echoes and delay. The first album was published in 1971 in collaboration with Frank Dostal. The album presents an ambitious collection of spacey rock jams featuring a lot of electronic effects and arrangements. This album prefigures "acid" trips of krautrock guitar / minimal electronic explorers like Manuel Gottsching. The guitar freakouts and the weird imagination of the first effort continue to prevail in the following inspired, confused and various Die Grune Reise, A.R. IV, Autovision (generally a mix between guitar soudscapes and psych pop orientated songs). Reichel decided to abandon the project after 5 studio albums. Today A.R and the machines remains a high class standard of hypnotic space-echo guitar inventions.

Die Grune Reise (The Green Journey)
A.R. & Machines Krautrock

Review by siLLy puPPy
Collaborator PSIKE Team (From Progarchives.com)
5 stars This is definitely Krautrock but unlike most contemporaries that were distancing themselves from the blues and rock influences of the 60s, A.R. & MACHINES fully utilized a blues based guitar sound on this album. What makes this so trippy is that they added guitar loops, effects and feedback like there's no tomorrow. It can sound like a very accessible sound one moment and then suddenly burst into extremely trippy worlds where the only thing that's for sure is that echos and feedback are plentiful, but all with an underlying catchiness.

4.0 out of 5 starsexcellent
By Bill on Amazon.com
This is a 1970 album by Abstract Truth, a band from South Africa.

The band features a lot of sax, and flute, but this is not the driving blues of early Jethro Tull or Bloodwyn Pig. Abstract Truth are far more laid back, almost trance-like. The CD carves a quiet groove and stays there.

But there is a lot of subtance here, and this group will make a mark given a chance. You can listen intently, or play it a few times and let the quiet groove wash over you.

Out Of Focus biography
This awesome band came from Munich and made three extraordinary albums on the super-collectable Kuckuk label plus another that never got released until recently. Hennes Herring on KB (mainly Hammond organ), Remi Dreschler on guitars, Moran Neumuller on vocals and winds, Klaus Spöri and Stefan Wisheu on drums and bass respectively made an incredibly tight unit although they were prone to a lot of improvisation moments also. Their music is somewhat similar to early British prog but will gradually evolve to a certain jazz-rock while staying very politically and socially conscious (in the typical German style of those years) although the singing does not hold a big place in their music, their third release (a double) being mostly instrumental. They released three albums on the legendary Kuckuk label, the same one that also reissued them in Cd format.

Streetwalkers / Red Card (76)+ Vicious But Fair (77)[2 on 1]2005
Style: Rock
Country: Great Britain

BGO Records BGOCD669

After Family (one of the best loved British 'underground' acts) split up, the two main people, (singer Roger 'Chappo' Chapman and guitarist John 'Charlie' Whitney) recorded an album called 'Streetwalkers' then formed a band of the same name. That band recorded three studio albums and a live album. This CD contains the second and the third studio albums.

Genre : Blues rock, hard rock, Pop/Rock
Charlie Whitney and Roger Chapman formed Streetwalkers late in 1973. This new band included vocalist and guitarist Bobby Tench from The Jeff Beck Group and Hummingbird and future Iron Maiden drummer, Nicko McBrain. Streetwalkers was a polished AOR band with more elements of white soul than Family. They signed to the Vertigo label as Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers recording an album simply entitled Streetwalkers, released on the Reprise label in 1974, with a line up including other members of Family and King Crimson. Chapman and Whitney morphed their band into the "Streetwalkers" which comprised five members including Bobby Tench, drummer Nicko McBrain,

Before he awkwardly replaced David LaFlamme in IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY, Greg Bloch had his own shot at early seventies psych-folk fame with STRING CHEESE, a band whose early promise but quick demise was undoubtedly influenced by the fortunes of their label (Wooden Nickel), which started to unravel even before marquee act STYX began to be courted by A&M Records.

Blessed with a lead vocalist (Sally Smaller) much in the vein of IABD's Patti Santos, the band's music bears a striking resemblance to many of the Haight-Ashbury stable of psychedelic and folk bands of the late sixties and early seventies. The group also featured drummer John Maggi, whose prior group IOWA BY THE SEA became a footnote for being the band that launched Michael Wood's career with the seventies folk-rock band AMERICA.

Bull Angus - Bull Angus - 1971

Quite solid album this one I have come to quite accidentally. You will find here the highlights that made great bands like Rooster, Heep, Purple or even Lynyrd Skynyrd, such mix is thrown in these pieces of music. Maybe this band did not have the recognition I think they should have had because there's not a single track that really stands out over the rest (maybe CY sets a different mood for its acoustic nature (great tune by the way!)), so due to low commercial success they delivered just two albums

Hammonds and double guitars are present in all the album, delivered in an energetic way, with good interplay, riffing and crunchy soloing. The doble guitar attack and the flavour is sometimes more sabbat, zep or purple but sometimes they threw some souther flavours ala Lynyrd Skynyrd. Quite tasty mix, let me tell you. There's even some flute every now and then that really fits the themes. The songs are complex and dynamic enough to consider this prog in the same terms as, for example, Uriah Heep.
Songwriting is ok, maybe not superb, but this is a very pleasant listen to everyone who loves heavy prog hammond and guitar driven.
There are also good vocal harmonies even in the backing vocals, and the lead singer reminds to Gillan or Byron, and is quite dynamic.
All in all, I'm having a really good time listening to this, and it is leaving me in a very good mood so...I'll give it a weak 4 stars, give them a try!

If you like the idea of the legendary group WIND playing in a more straight
forward heavy rock style, this is the album for you!
The moniker Corporal Gander's Fire Dog Brigade was invented by the budget
price label EUROPA , who realised ON THE ROCKS lp in early 1971.
The album was produced by Jochen Petersen (in December 1970),
who later produced SEASONS. The best lp's of Exploitation Music are from U.S.A
& Germany .An example from Germany ... Corporal Gander's Fire Dog Brigade (pre WIND)group.
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Progressive rock

Country: Italy

Review by loserboy
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Excellent classic 70's Ital-prog with complex yet melodic compositions reminding me somewhat of elements of PFM, JUMBO and perhaps even BIGLIETTO PER L'INFERN0. ENEIDE juxtapose a liberal amount of organ, Hammond and Moog and flute throughout even some violin. The most amazing parts IMHO are when ENEIDE get into their groove and then they really take off. Bass and drum lay a fantastic backdrop for keyboard, electric guitar and flute to overlay. Songs are well written and offer a nice array of mood and tempo changes with some grand well thought out melodies. Considering this album has been hidden away for a large number of years the sound quality is quite amazing. Vocals are shared among the band and are quite good with lots of emotive character and clever harmonies. Overall an excellent slice of 70's Italian Progressive Rock.
progarchives

Psychedelic/Space Rock

Korai Öröm biography
Imagine a more organic-sounding OZRIC TENTACLES where the electronics, synths and drum machines are replaced by a didgeridoo, the occasional chant and lots of percussion. This tripped-out Budapest outfit comprises a dozen or so musicians whose albums consist of improvised material recorded on stage and then remixed in the studio. They are known for their dynamic live concerts (often in unusual places such as around swimming pools or in the great outdoors) accompanied by video projections. Their SANTANA-like percussion and wicked, trance-like grooves actually make their music quite danceable. In the words of one of their founding members, Emil Biljarszki: ".(our) CD's are good but sterile, better to come to our concerts and let's feel together that things, which happen from themselves and make us stay alive."

Sweetwater is the debut studio album by the Los Angeles band, Sweetwater. The album is musically enriched by several influences from different genres that the band sought to experiment with. Much of the band's resemblance came from Jefferson Airplane, the group that successfully integrated jazz fusion into their compositions. Upon the album's release, it was largely unnoticed, but still became the band's only work to chart in the Billboard 200. Their most acclaimed track is the opening cover version of "Motherless Child"

What they were saying about 'The Difference Machine'

Splendidly mellifluous UK prog, featuring appearances from Marillion's Pete Trewavas and Nick D'Virgilio from Spock's Beard.
Dave Ling, Classic Rock and Metal Hammer magazines

The Bournemouth band have extra locomotive power for their fifth album, with guest Pete Trewavas (Marillion), Nick D'Virgilio (Spock's Beard, Genesis, Tears For Fears) and Dave Meros (Spock's Beard.) This is finely crafted and acutely involving, especially the chilling Salt Water Falling On Uneven Ground.
Geoff Barton, Classic Rock

Axis - It's a Circus World CD. Reissue of 1978 record by hard rock power trio featuring drummer Vinnie Appice & guitarist Danny Johnston.
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Over the years, rock & roll has had its share of one-album wonders-artists who only recorded one album when it seemed like they should have built a large catalogue. Axis turned out be one of those one-album wonders, which came as a surprise because the late 1970s power trio had potential. Consisting of Vinny Appice (Carmine Appice's brother) on drums and background vocals, Jay Davis on bass and lead vocals and Danny Johnson on guitar and lead vocals, Axis boasted talented musicians even though its material fell short of mind-blowing. It's A Circus World isn't a gem, but it's a decent collection of commercial arena rock. Catchy, if unremarkable, tunes like "Ray's Electric Farm" and "Cats in the Alley" gave one reason to believe that Axis might be around for awhile-the listener figured that even though this 1978 LP is imperfect, Axis could easily develop into a major force in arena rock on subsequent albums. But there were no subsequent albums for Axis, whose first album was also its last.

Depending on your point of view, you are either going to categorise this CD as either "A musical tour de force" or "A load of self indulgent tosh." Whatever, Cairo have unreservedly and irrevocably nailed their colours to the Progressive Rock mast. From the classic combination of Hammond C3 organ and Moog synthesiser to the bewildering changes of key and time signatures this album bears all the hallmarks of classic prog. Cairo's keyboard player is a real revelation. If you like Keith Emerson, then you will love what this guy does with a HammondIt kicks off with Angels and Rage, which to my mind is the least accessible track on the album with style and virtuosity taking centre stage, and tunefulness taking a bit of a back seat. Then things start to kick into gear with Corridors. Western Desert is a prog masterpiece, over 17 minutes long with one of the best keyboard solos I've heard in a long while. Imagine is a lovely piano and guitar interlude before the high energy stuff is back with Then you were Gone. The final track Valley of the Shadow is everything prog. A song that tells a story, over 15 minutes long, full of key and time signature changes, virtuoso solos. Phew!OK so as you can probably tell I'm in the "musical tour de force" camp on this one. It's not a perfect album. The vocals are OK (But not world class, like Anderson, Lake or Gabriel) The instrumentation is fabulous, the performances range from great to brilliant, but I found the production lacked real sparkle. However that said it's an excellent addition to the Prog Rock cannon.Other bands worth a listen: Spocks Beard, Transatlantic, Dream Theatre, Liquid Tension Experiment, Arena.

This interesting new Italian formation invites us for a trip with their musical time-machine to the early Seventies. In those days most of the big record companies had small sub-labels in order to host their progressive rock acts (like EMI had Harvest for Pink Floyd), there they got room for adventure and experiments. Well, listening to Areknames you can easily confuse this for a Seventies rooted band. This live CD was recorded during the Burg Herzberg Festival 2007, I hope a DVD will follow soon, what a stunning sound!

1. Dateless Diary : After a dreamy climate with wonderful violin-Mellotron and a bit melancholical vocals (evoking Peter Hamill),we can enjoy powerful Hammond organ, propulsive guitarwork and fat synthesizer flights in a compelling atmosphere. In the end the dreamy climate returns delivering Mellotron, Hammond and flowing electric guitar.

Wikipedia:
Out of Season is a studio album by Portishead frontwoman Beth Gibbons and former Talk Talk bassist Paul Webb (under the pseudonym Rustin Man). It was released on 28 October 2002 in the United Kingdom and on 7 October 2003 in the United States. Out of Season is largely a folk album with jazz leanings, with Gibbons and Webb drawing more directly on the influences of Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, and Nick Drake, at which Portishead's work in trip-hop only hinted. Out of Season also features contributions from Gibbon's fellow Portishead bandmate Adrian Utley. The first track of the album, "Mysteries", appears on the original soundtrack of the French movie Les Poupées Russes (The Russian Dolls).

The trip-hop project Archive was formed by Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths, who originally met in 1990.
The pair released a few singles on their own Swam label, worked with Genaside II, and formed Archive in 1994.
Signed to Island, Keeler and Griffiths released their debut, Londinium, in 1997. After splitting briefly,
the two re-formed and released their second album, Take My Head, on Independiente in 1999.

Studio Album, released in 2004

After the departure of vocalist Craig Walker, British electronic rock band Archive recruited Pollard Berrier as their new lead vocalist.

Archive's latest is quite a contrast compared to its predecessor, 2004's "Noise". 2 years have passed and somehow I think their music has altered during those years. "Noise" had its 'darkness' as a trademark, whereas "Lights" sounds far more uplifting and more coherent as an album. The name of the title kind of expresses the overall atmosphere.

"Lights" is definitely something I would qualify as genre blending. This is the point from which Archive present us their future sound: a mix of their triphop background and an upbeat rock sound, or as I tend to refer to their music myself: triprock.

Andaluz, Arabic, Medieval, Folk, World...

The bewitching Deus et Diabolus (God and the Devil) threads together the voices of three women: Mara Aranda, from Valencia's L'Ham de Foc; Sigrid Hausen, from Munich's medieval music group Estampie; and Iman al Kandoussi. They are accompanied by a lively ensemble of flutes, qanun, ud, saz, rabab, fiddle, nyckelharpa, hurdy-gurdy, pandera tambourines and percussion. It's an inspiring encounter between the talented musicians of L'Ham de Foc and Estampie recorded in the old Cartuja Monastery, Cazalla de la Sierra, Seville. This is sprightly music, fusing Mediterranean, Oriental and medieval moods. The ethos underpinning their reinterpretations of Arab, Jewish and Christian cantigas to the Virgin Mary, their reimaginings of sensual dances and Arabic songs, is expressed by a line from poet Ibn al-Arabi, `Wherever the caravan may bend its steps/Love is my religion'.

Like its namesake mythical creature, Amon Duul II's YETI is a ... Full Descriptiongigantic, threatening, and elusive beast that will easily trample listeners underfoot. Following up the epic PHALLUS DEI, YETI finds the Krautrock offshoot codifying their terrifyingly feral improvisations across four album sides of loud, psychedelic excess and dotting the fried landscape with a loose songcraft. "Soap Shop Rock," the four-part album opener, features droning organ, grilled violin, the distorted guitar tandem of Chris Karrer and John Weinzierl, and the yowling arias of Miss Renate Knaup fighting for space, while "Cerebus" loosens the band's more acoustic and Eastern yearnings. The entire album remains one of Krautrock's heavy masterpieces, but above the froth looms "Archangels Thunderbird," an anthem of demented catchiness for the ages.

Studio Album, released in 1972

This is a terribly underrated album. The problem with a band like Amon Duul II is that their sound and approach changed very radically as their career progressed, which means that you will have fans from all sides of the fence each harshly criticizing what they think to be the "bad albums" -- that are actually awesome -- which simply happened to have departed from their particular range of taste. This album (the band's fourth) is a completely different affair than the three that preceded it, in that it begins to focus more on songwriting, vocal work, and a degree of cohesion; as opposed to turning all the amplifiers up to 11 and freaking out for entire album sides (which is equally delightful, of course).

allmusic.com; Biography by Steven McDonald

Amon Düül preferred the commune life to the hurly-burly of the music business, releasing several albums edited from recordings of a single extended jam session conducted in 1968. Several commune members with greater musical ambitions formed Amon Düül II -- they saw no reason to struggle for a new name, or argue over the original. The new group was helmed by John Weinzierl, Chris Karrer and Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, and set to work to produce an impressive debut with Phallus Dei. This was followed quickly by the double album Yeti, the cover of which features one of the band's roadies.

The story of Curved Air is important to Air Cut, and it started with budding classical musicians Francis Monkman (keys, guitar) and Darryl Way (violin, keys) teaming up with Sonja Kristina (vocals) and ace drummer Florian Pilkington-Miksa of the glass family fame, plus Ian Eyre on bass, to form one of the first classical rock bands. And in the face of a lot of scepticism, they were actually pretty good, both on record and live. The first LP, a picture disc called Air Conditioning sold well and was followed by CA Two, also a top seller and full of fabulous tunes. The third, Phantasmagoria, wasmore…

Hastily put together in 1969 by a veteran quartet of Tallahassee, FL, musicians and together for only a handful of months, After All is merely a footnote in the history of late-'60s and Florida rock. Their single recorded effort, however, was a moody slice of acid-tinged progressive pop that, while perhaps not among the finest obscurities from the era, brings back the grooviness and off-the-cuff adventurousness of the decade in full color. All of the members of After All had a history playing in various rhythm & blues and jazz bands, dating back to the late '50s, performing at clubs and parties throughout the Tallahassee region. Drummer Mark Ellerbee was fresh out of Vietnam and a graduate of the Florida State School of Music when he bumped into fellow Florida State graduate and keyboardist Alan Gold , who was performing at the time in one of the area's top night club bands.

Review by Tom OzricPROG REVIEWER
4 stars GURU GURU are a band I've now adored for many years. This was my first purchase of theirs, and darn it, it ROCKS. It rocks in a fun way, practically more so than a 'Zappa fun' way. Truly, IT ROCKS !!!! Side 1 of the record is a blatant nod towards, heck, I don't even know - now, forgive me for my insolence, 50's Rockabilly dudes like Eddie Cochran and the like - all that 'Splish Splash I was Takin' a bath' type stuff. Man, what these Krautrockers have somehow mangled into something that I thoroughly enjoy is totally amazing !!!!!

4 stars
If you are slightly interested in the german prog genre krautrock you will know who GURU GURU is. It's one of the best and most influential krautrock bands besides "Amon Düül II", "CAN" and "Faust".

Their third release "Känguru" is in principle composed of the same ingredients as their forerunners "Hinten" and "UFO" but the guitar isn't that dominant any longer and the tracks aren't as aggressive as on "UFO". Simultaneously they added the humorous component that was completely nonexistent on "UFO" yet. Examples would be the funny singing on "Oxymoron" or the spoken introduction to "Immer lustig".

Review by Sean Trane, progarchives.com

If you ever read Asbjornssen's Cosmic Dreams at Play, you will know how high esteem he holds this band. His article finishes this way: WHAT AN AWESOME GROUP THEY WERE! I cannot say it any better as the three albums they made in their prime were all drastically different from each other yet so unmistakably OOF (much like Floyd did all of their albums so different, yet all so FLOYD). Their music is absolutely theirs and sound like nothing else and although they are Germans, I hesitate to call it Krautrock or as some call it Krautjazz.

good stuff
By B. E Jackson on June 5, 2010
Amazon.com
Stop, Look & Listen is probably a slight improvement over their self-titled album, but the songwriting still feels pretty weak overall. Sometimes the vocal melodies drag a little longer than necessary, not to mention the guitar playing is secondrate at best.

The lead singer had potential though. I like the sound of his voice, at least. I have no idea whether he's still around these days and singing or whether he retired a long time ago.

Still, this album is extremely inoffensive hard/progressive rock, and you can't go wrong with that. Don't expect the songwriting or guitar playing to completely blow you away and you'll be fine.

....If you're looking for a piece of excellent musicianship
that has probably NEVER been played on the radio,
then Epitaph's first self-titled album/CD is for you.
Ever since I first heard this well-crafted rock album,
I was hooked.
Formed around 1969, the band is half German,
half British, and their music is like a fusion of
Deep Purple or Uriah Heep meets King Crimson.
Though they were never popular in the U.S.,
their musical creativity is on full display in every song,
including the bonus tracks!!!!

Could start talking about my relationship with this obscure German band in the early 70's.released on the label Lost Pipe Dreams, During the 95 years in USA I bought this CD I was surprised to hear power and reminded me of bands like Necronomicon and Virus, certainly much more crude and rude. In 2000 I lost this CD product of a robbery at my house. During all these years I looked lost all hope of getting a copy because Lost Pipe Dreams had disappeared from the market. With great surprise a few months ago I could locate a copy and a wonderful opportunity to buy.

Darn good sound quality archive compilation CD release of the short lived British progressive art rock band's brief existence, 1972-74. 'Psychosync' is a collection of six live performances from American radio and TV shows. For those of you that might have not heard of Flash, they were the brainchild of former Yes guitarist Peter Banks. Tunes here that I was most impressed with were "Room With A View", the fifteen-minute epic "Dreams Of Heaven" and the title track "Psychosync". Simply just SO '70's-ish. Might appeal to fans of Alan Parsons, early Yes, Genesis and possibly Marillion. Recommended.
.../... "Room With A View" is simply the original title of "There No More" from In the Can....

By Mike Reed on 14 Dec 2006
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This is a killer album produced by Klaus Schulze,...and he makes all the difference too! Don't believe me(?),...buy Tenkujin and hear what they did without him at the helm.
This has a slight vocal nod to the Moody Blues(at times),but these guys head for deep space where the Moodies were too stiff to follow. This also features Kitaro on keyboards,....but it's no "light fare". This is Kosmic Musik of the first degree...buy it if you like Kraut Rock.
5.0 out of 5 stars Hands down the best Far East Family Band album
By Barry P. Saranchuk

Stoned and freaked out acid kraut rock with lots of acoustic guitars, sitarrs, harmonica, percussion etc. A minor folky touch. Comparable to the more freaked out parts of Emtidi, but with a male vocalist. Ihre Kinder member.

http://youtu.be/Q3eiVHyUAa0

Emeraude biography
Formed between 1979 and 1980, this French combo of friends and relatives had regular everyday lives, complemented by an amateur pursuit of music. A previous musical project, the folk group "Temple Ghost", formed the core of the new group, with members Jean-Paul Ansart (keyboards), Dominique Flachon (guitar), Didier Chas (drums) and Gilles Baud (guitars, bass). They were joined in the new group by Gilles Escoffier, on guitars, and Jean-Paul Ansart's wife and Gilles Baud sister, Bernardette Simonet, on piano. Influenced by groups like Ange, King Crimson and especially Pink Floyd, the new group chose the name Emeraude, a word reporting to a primordial esoteric tradition. The group's goal was to produce an album by themselves which they could leave as a legacy to their children.

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website
Monument / Zior biography (By Raffaella Berry (Raff)
More than an independent band, MONUMENT are an offshoot of British hard rock band ZIOR, who released two albums in the early Seventies. Their only album, "The First Monument", is the result of an all-night, drunken jam session involving the four members of ZIOR. The album features a heavy, distorted, Hammond-drenched sound, and ZIOR's trademark occult lyrical themes.

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Crack biography
This Spanish band came from Gijon, the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula. The members were Alex Cakrul (bass), Alberto Fontaneda (guitar, flute and vocals), Mento Heria (keybaords and vocals), Manda Jimenez (drums) and Rafael Rodriguez (guitar).

Their only album "Si Todo Hiciera Crack" from CRACK is one of the jewels of the Spanish progressive rock. It contains seven tracks, all with a beautiful harmony between keyboards, guitar and flute. There are hints of early GENESIS (sensitive piano chords and moving Mellotron waves) and JETHRO TULL (flute) but the typical Spanish climate and the elaborate compositions makes this album to an enthralling and emotional experience.

With its usual bass/drums/guitar parts, Guru Guru plays a trippy blues-kraut jamming. It's mostly instrumental and improvised with very original rhythmic and lead guitar sections, sometimes interrupted by monologues in German and strange screaming vocals. The last track contains a lot of psychedelic effects thanks to electronic gadgets.This album is a great answer to the English heavy and blues rock scene led by The Cream and others but really more outrageous and exciting. In the band's career, this album is in the direct line of their first effort UFO, a total free form rock with delicate psychedelic touches. Guru Guru representative style at his summit. (http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=5019)

CD Description
NEW REMASTERED 2 CD COMPILATION OF THE ENTIRE
DECCA RECORDINGS BY UNDERGROUND STARS CLARK HUTCHINSON
ESOTERIC RECORDINGS are pleased to announce the release of a
new 2CD anthology by underground rock heroes CLARK HUTCHINSON.
One of the first signings to Decca s underground
imprint NOVA, the duo of Andy Clark and Mick Hutchinson
recorded the album A=MH2 in 1969, soon to become the
biggest selling album on NOVA.
Championed by JOHN PEEL, the duo s first album highlighted the
extraordinary talent of guitarist Hutchinson. The 1970 follow up
album Retribution saw the band augmented by Del Coverley and
included the classic Free to Be Stoned ,

Country: United Kingdom - Germany

Whether the UK branch of Amon Düül really needed a compilation after the release of just two studio albums is an interesting question. However, "Airs On A Shoestring" is an interesting album in its own right, comprising the long, freaky improvisation "One Moment's Anger Is Two Pints Of Blood" from their debut, two more commercial hard rock tracks from "Meetings With Menmachines Unremarkable Heroes From The Past", and "Hymn For The Hardcore", which would later appear on "Fool Moon".

Dustygroove.com: “A sweet psychedelic set, but one with very mysterious origins -- originally recorded as a sound library session, by a group that was really the better-known Nuova Idea! The album's definitely got a vibe that fits its sound library roots -- all instrumental, with a bit less bravado than most psyche albums of this type -- almost more of a focus on the rhythms, which stretch out strongly amidst the Hammond and guitar solos on the set. The whole thing's still pretty rockish, but also has a deeper sensitivity to the overall sound too -- a quality that's partly due to production efforts of Giampiero Reverberi.”

The third work released in 1974 "Growing". A sense of existence of Alan Bown becomes strong, and it has changed from a symphonic sound to a funky sound. It is a very yborecedebted and a fine work of a psychedelic content. String music is unlimited and is beautiful. Above all, a stout performance is a masterpiece of the charm. I recommends it for electrification Miles Davis's fan.
braindamage | 4/5 | 2005-12-18 From Progarchives.com
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Incredible music! Lots of mellotron, keyboard, guitar, bass, trumpet and violin parts, with an incredible speed and energy that makes this album worth a listen. Interesting vocals. Nice rythm changes. Wonderful.

NOISE

Noise is all around you, from televisions and radios to lawn mowers and washing machines. Normally, you hear these sounds at safe levels that don't affect hearing. But sounds that are too loud or loud sounds over a long time are harmful. They can damage sensitive structures of the inner ear and cause noise-induced hearing loss. More than 30 million Humans are exposed to hazardous sound levels on a regular basis. Hazardous sound levels are louder than 80 decibels. That's not as loud as traffic on a busy street. Listening to loud music, especially on headphones, is a common cause of noise-induced hearing loss. You can protect your hearing by Keeping the volume down when listening to music Wearing earplugs when using loud equipment

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