18 Karat Gold - All-Bumm (1974)

Only album from this band led by Lothar Meid , ex-Amon Düül II. All the members would at one time or other be in Amon Düül II, also other German bands like Embryo, and Klaus Doldinger's Passport and Doldinger's Motherhood. Sounds very much like late 70's AD II, with some poppy material rubbing shoulders with some great spacey rock.

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Kyrie Eleison - The Fountain Beyond The Sunrise (1976)

Real nice symphonic prog from this Austrian band, which manages to sound a lot like early 70's Genesis, without being overly derivative. Lots of keyboard leads and a wide range of moods. Long songs and high-quality musicianship. Includes bonus track which is a demo from 1978. Band later turned into Indigo.

Part 1 Part 2

Mott The Hoople - Mad Shadows (1970)

This is probably my favorite Mott The Hoople album. Well, maybe "Brain Capers"! Whichever one I listened to last is my favorite I guess. Never cared too much for the David Bowie/glam era Mott.
Great piano-based electric rock ballads. The last track, "When My Mind's Gone" was improvised in the studio and might be the most angst-ridden thing I've heard. Brilliant.

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Edgar Froese - Aqua (1974)

First solo release from Tangerine Dream founding member Froese. A classic of free-form, pastoral, ambient electronic rock.

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Sugar Cube Blues Band - Sugar Cube Blues Band (1967)

Forget the 'Blues Band' part of the band's name - they weren't a blues band and the songs aren't remotely bluesy! The 'Sugar Cube' part makes more sense, because this is some great mid-60's garagey psychedelia. There are some real good tunes here and this is well worth checking out if you are into the "Sixties Sound"

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John Entwistle - Smash Your Head Against The Wall (1971)

Digitally remastered edition of the late Who bassist's debut solo album gave him an outlet for his musical muse since his compositions had increasingly taken a backseat to the blaze of Pete Townshend's creativity in The Who. This is some very downbeat stuff. Players here included Who brother Keith Moon & Humble Pie's Jerry Shirley on drums, Neil Innes and Viv Stanshall from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, and Cyrano and Dave Layston on guitars. The whole affair was engineered by Roy Thomas Baker. Enough bonus material to double the length of the album!

Part 1 Part 2

Pyramid - Pyramid (1976)

From the same label as that Nazgûl album I posted a few months ago. Same deal - very little information, virtually no liner notes, about all the back cover says is "personnel unknown". This consists of only one track, basically a long jam, coming in at 33 minutes. Two guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards. This is very trippy, stoned-sounding stuff, recommended for anyone that loves 1970's German space music.

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It's bootleg week here at Toter Allee! These are all great sounding boots at high bit-rates.

Led Zeppelin IV - Mickboy Remaster

Mickboy is mostly known for reworking Rolling Stones albums, but he has done at least one Led Zep - this one. Clearly he doesn't have access to the master tapes, so it's not really a remaster. I understand that he purchases the highest quality Japanese vinyl, takes it into a studio, and he does whatever it is that he does. Whether this reworking sounds 'better' or not is a matter of opinion, but there's no denying that it definitely sounds different. To my ears, it sounds fantastic, most noticeably on a song I thought I was sick of, "Stairway To Heaven".

Part 1 Part 2

.flac files for LZ4 Mickboy remaster: approx. 333 megs.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

The Groundhogs - Quinn Abbey (1971)

I got this off cyberspace a year ago or so, and I remember that there is some controversy if this is an actual concert, or a collection of live tracks pasted together. Whatever - it sounds great!

1. Mistreated
2. Split - Part 1
3. Cherry Red
4. Split - Part 2
5. Groundhog Blues
6. Still A Fool
7. Garden
8. Eccentric Man

Tony McPhee - guitar, Pete Cruickshank - bass, Ken Pustelnik - drums

Part 1 Part 2

Procol Harum - Easter Island (1969)

14 tracks recorded live at the Fillmore East and L.A.'s Troubador.

1. Conquistador
2. Chelsea's Tune
3. Kaleidoscope
4. Homburg
5. Repent Walpurgis
6. Shine On Brightly
7. Going Down Slow
8. Juicy John Pink
9. (Outside The Gates Of) Cerdes
10. Skip Softly
11. Crucifixion Lane
12. Wishing Well
13. Rambling On
14. Whiter Shade Of Pale

Part 1 Part 2

Free - Talking Of Heartbreaker (1972)

OK this is an unusual Free bootleg, and I wasn't at all sure that I would even like it, but it is great!! The problem, so I thought, was that though he is pictured in the artwork, Paul Kossof was 'sick' for this part of the tour, and was replaced by some guy named Wendell Richardson who does a hell of a job. The music is just great, the band is really on top of it. Maybe being relieved of the burden of worrying about Kossoff collapsing or falling off the stage or something was a good thing! I mean, talented as he was, working with Koss towards the end must have been a major pain in the ass.

1. I'm On The Run
2. Heartbreaker
3. Soldier Boy
4. Come Together In The Morning
5. Everyday I Have The Blues
6. Child
7. Wishing Well
8. Seven Angels
9. Fire And Water
10. All Right Now

Paul Rodgers - guitar, Wendell Richardson - guitar, John 'Rabbit' Bundrick - keyboards, Tetsu Yamauchi - bass, Simon Kirke - drums

Part 1 Part 2

Sandy Denny - Dark The Night (1966-1972)

Great sounding Sandy Denny boot!

1. Green Grow The Laurels
2. Fhir A Bhata (The Boatman)
3. Blues Run The Game
4. Milk And Honey
5. Window Of Your Soul
6. In Memory (The Tender Years)
7. It Ain't Me Babe
8. You Never Will Be Mine
9. Dear Geordie
10. Until The Real Thing Comes Along
11. Whispering Grass
12. Dark The Night
13. Solo
14. It Suits Me Well
15. The Music Weaver
16. Bushes And Briars
17. It'll Take A Long Time
18. Man Of Iron
19. Here In Silence

Tracks 1-2: BBC, Cellarful Of Folk, November 7, 1966
Tracks 3-9: Home Demos, 1966
Tracks 10-13: BBC, Sound Of The Seventies, November 14, 1972
Tracks 14-17: BBC, Sound Of The Seventies, October 25, 1972
Tracks 18-19: Pass Of Arms Soundtrack, 1972

Part 1 Part 2

Robin Trower - The Tower Of Philadelphia (1974)

Excellent soundboard recording of the best Robin Trower lineup. Tower Theatre, Philadelphia, November 21, 1974

1. Twice Removed From Yesterday
2. Bridge Of Sighs
3. Althea
4. Lady Love
5. Daydream
6. Too Rolling Stoned
7. I Can't Wait Much Longer
8. Day Of The Eagle
9. Little Bit Of Sympathy

Robin Trower - guitar Jim Dewar - bass, vocals Conrad Isadore - drums

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The Strawbs - Heroes Are Forever (1973-1974)

BBC In Concert

Disc 1: March 25, 1973

1. New World
2. Sheep
3. Tears and Pavan
4. The Hangman And The Papist
5. Benedictus
6. Heavy Disguise
7. The River
8. Down By The Sea
9. The Winter And The Summer
10. Part Of The Union
11. Lay Down

Dave Cousins - guitar, Dave Lambert - guitar, Richard Hudson - drums, John Ford - bass, Blue Weaver - keyboards

Disc 2: April 11, 1974
1. New World
2. Lay Down
3. Autumn
4. Tears And Pavan
5. Just Love
6. Out In The Cold/Round And Round
7. Hero And Heroine
8. The River/Down By The Sea
9. Lay A Little Light On Me

Dave Cousins - guitar, Dave Lambert - guitar, Rod Coombes - drums, Chas Cronk - bass, John Hawken - keyboards

Part 1 Part 2

Quicksilver Messenger Service - The Matrix, San Francisco, March 19, 1967

Alright this isn't really a bootleg, this 2-disc set was gotten from a torrent site a couple years ago. There aren't any covers for this, so if anyone is inspired to make a nice set, it'd be great if you uploaded them for us! The sound is pretty damn good, considering this performance was almost 40 years ago!!

Disc 1 - First set 31:38
01 intro talk before first song 0:34
02 Susie Q 3:43
03 I Hear You Knocking 3:34
04 talk : intro to Little Dandelion 0:22
05 Little Dandelion 2:08
06 talk : intro to Gold And Silver 0:25
07 Gold And Silver 2:42
08 You Don't Love Me 2:44
09 Codine 4:58
10 talk: intro to I'm Backwords 0:36
11 I'm Backwords [instrumental] 2:53
12 Smokestack Lightning 6:52
13 talk: set outro 0:07

Disc 2 - Second set 59:48
01 talk before first song of set 0:25
02 [cuts in] Dino's Song 3:05
03 > Walking Blues 2:56
04 Too Long 3:54
05 Duncan And Brady 3:00
06 talk: intro to Babe I'm Gonna Leave You 1:17
07 Babe I'm Gonna Leave You 4:40
08 If You Live 6:20
09 Hoochie Coochie Man 4:40
10 All Night Worker 4:03
11 Pride Of Man 3:47
12 Mona 10:58
Encores:
13 Got My Mojo Working 4:16
14 Who Do You Love? [cuts on last notes] 6:27

Part 1 Part 2

Black Sabbath - Come To The Sabbath (1970)

Terrific sounding show in Paris, France December 1970

1. Paranoid
2. Hand Of Doom
3. Iron Man
4. Black Sabbath
5. N.I.B.
6. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
7. War Pigs
8. Fairies Wear Boots

Part 1 Part 2

OK! See you later.

A little bit of everything again this week -

Wolfgang Bock - Cycles (1980)

If Klaus Schulze, who produced this, had an energetic young brother who made similar music, it could be Wolfgang Bock. While Bock went on to make music for Sky much later, he created this extraordinary electronic rock album in the late 70s that stands up well next to any of the giants. Cycles includes two side long pieces, the title track and the second of which is broken down into three parts, "Robsai" parts I and II and "Changes." The similarities with Schulze's 1976 album Moondawn are immense.

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John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers - Bluesbreaking!

This great sounding bootleg has all the material that is known to exist of the version of the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton on guitar. Besides the official album of course. BBC sessions, concert recordings, an Immediate Records single, and a track from a 1968 sampler album. 20 tracks in all.

Part 1 Part 2

Cluster - Zuckerzeit (1974)

Roedelius and Moebius teamed up with producers Michael Rother and Conrad Plank to make this essential album of krautrock electronica. Ten tracks featuring complex rhythms - warm, subtle, and relaxing, though this is not "New Age" music! Sometimes a little weird - in a good way.

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Jodo - 'Guts' (1971)

British group Jodo had only this one album, and it was released in the USA only, to be largely ignored by record buyers. This is great, fuzzed-out, blues based hard rock. If you dig bands like Black Cat Bones and Leaf Hound, you will really like this! Great cover too.

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Dzyan - Dzyan (1972)

Formed in Mannheim in 1971, Dzyan were typically eclectic for a band from Southern Germany. In fact Dzyan were always a hard band to pin down, as each album they released was quite different. The original quintet on their debut album 'Dzyan' played a jazzy form of rock, with hints of Wolfgang Dauner, flashes of Zappa's 'Hot Rats' and even some Van Der Graaf Generator styled sax-fronted diversions. All this leads to a weird hodge-podge, punctuated by strange gothic songs and experimentation with electronic effects. (The Crack In The Cosmic Egg)

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Box Of Frogs - Box Of Frogs (1984)

Great blues based melodic hard rock featuring guitarist Chris Dreja, bass player Paul Samwell-Smith and drummer Jim McCarty, founding members of the Yardbirds. With John Fiddler of Medicine Head on vocals and guest player on some tracks Jeff Beck.

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Embryo - Opal (1970)

Literally the birthplace of a new type of fusion, Embryo had their roots in the very fertile Munich late-60's scene. Formed in 1969 by percussionist Christian Burchard (after leaving Amon Düül II) along with other like-minded former jazz and underground musicians, the idea of Embryo was to work collectively, intuitively, and let the music evolve on its own. Early pioneering improvised sessions can now be heard on the CD reissue of their debut OPAL (with Lothar Meid on bass) which take a jazzy twist on the improvised Ash Ra Tempel or Amon Düül II type sound, freaky and inventive in the extreme. (The Crack In The Cosmic Egg)

Part 1 Part 2

Satin Whale - Desert Places (1974)

A late addition to the first wave of Krautrock, Satin Whale were influenced by many of the bands that had preceded them: Jane, Sahara, Os Mundi, et al., blending powerful rock ballads with dramatic instrumentals that featured classical and jazz elements, and a notable comparison with Camel in the use of keyboards and flute. Their debut on Brain featured lengthy tracks with surging instrumentals and quite an individual song style. (The Crack In The Cosmic Egg)

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Alright that's it for now!

ALL OVER THE MAP!

Blodwyn Pig - The Basement Tapes

Previously unreleased Radio 1 sessions and other live material from 1969-1974, including tracks from versions of Blodwyn Pig that never put out an album, and a couple Mick Abrahams cuts fron 1996. Great stuff featuring one of rock's best bluesrock guitarists.

Part 1 Part 2

Mogul Thrash - Mogul Thrash (1971)

Regular blog visitors will know that I posted the original Mogul Thrash release in December of 2005. So I'm not losing track (not yet) - this is a different version of their only album. Includes edited versions of four of the tracks from the 1971 release, plus alternate versions of six of the tracks that appeared on it. Curiously, the 'bonus track' is the same! Over 75 minutes of great progressive rock.

Part 1 Part 2

Robert Palmer - Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley (1974)

Robert Palmer's first solo album is his best I think, sounding more similar to Vinegar Joe than to his later solo albums. This is 70's rhythm and blues at it's best, slick, smooth and funky! A lot of help from New Orleans band The Meters and Lowell George's Little Feat.

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Coupla Prog - Death Is A Great Gambler (1972)

Haven't been able to find out a whole lot about this terrific German band - it seems they weren't that interested in becoming rock stars. They aren't even mentioned by the main krautrock references! Politically oriented, their energy was directed at playing rallies and benefits, there were no albums released during the band's lifetime. Rolf Peters, the guitarist and main songwriter, died of an overdose of alcohol and sleeping pills at the ripe old age of 21. These guys were good musicians, the music is rhythm and blues based, song-oriented proggy rock that can seem a little theatrical at times. All in all a great CD for krautrock fans.

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Ocean - God's Clown (1976)

Information on this obscure French band is hard to come by, but I did find a review of a later album on a Metal site, so I assume they changed musical direction sometime after releasing this, their first album. This is a real tasty slice of progressive rock, with English vocals, and they manage to bring to mind a more proggy Led Zeppelin, or maybe a harder rockin' King Crimson! Very nice addition to any prog collection.

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Toad - Rarities

The first time I heard Swiss band Toad a few years ago, I dismissed them as being derivative riff-rock. Well I must have been in a bad mood or something, because nowadays when I'm in the mood for some great vintage hard rock, I'll probably bust out a Toad album. I mean these guys were great! Guitarist Vic Vergeat would be a legend if more people heard this stuff. As you can tell by the title, this is all unreleased material, and it is an awesome disc - provided you like this kinda stuff. Thanks to josy for letting me know that this material is also available on a disc called "Behind The Wheels" so if you have that album, not much point downloading this.

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Magma - 1001 Degrees Centigrade (1971)

French group Magma's second album. I assume all Magma fans know their story so here is the link!

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Cream - Final USA Tour

This great sounding 2 disc bootleg features performances from Oakland and San Diego California recorded on their last US tour in 1968. No surprises, just great rock and roll. When I went to upload this I found that RapidShare had reverted to a maximum file size of 100 megs, so I had to split the file in 3 ways. If you are a Cream fan you shouldn't miss this.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3


There it is! See you later!!

OK all German stuff this week!

Walter Wegmüller - Tarot (1973)

This was the third Kosmische Kuriere / Cosmic Jokers large scale project, predated by Ash Ra Temple's "Seven Up" (August 1972) and Sergius Golowin's "Lord Krishna von Goloka" (Autumn 1972). The big attraction here is undoubtedly Manuel Gottsching (from Ash Ra Temple) with his brilliant guitar playing. Klaus Schulze (electronics) was another great asset, adding his impressive and characterstic "cosmic" electronic sounds. Klaus Schulze even read his own poem on "Der Weise". Hartmut Enke (also from Ash Ra Temple) for once passed the bass over to Jerry Berkers (ex-Wallenstein) and instead enjoyed guitar battles with Gottsching. Bernd Witthuser (of Witthuser & Westrupp) played acoustic guitar. The conventional keyboards, mainly piano, were played by Jurgen Dollase from Wallenstein. Berkers and Harald Grosskopf (drums, percussion) had just left this group.

Water Wegmuller wrote the lyrics and sang (well, he spoke!) on most of the tracks. Dieter Dierks and Rosi Muller were also credited - as guests. The music is stunning and varied - cosmic mayhem recalling Ash Ra Tempel's "Seven Up", electronic sound paintings a la Klaus Schulze, heavy guitar-based acid blues numbers, folky songs with acoustic guitar, mellotron and organ excursions. Actually the compositions on Tarot are more "together" than on the two preceding Kosmische Kuriere projects and easily the best! On sides 1 to 3 the tracks are more or less clearly separated, on side 4 they formed a continuous suite. Tarot was recorded in December 1972 in the Dierks studio, Stommeln. The next Kosmische Kuriere projects would be the three albums by Cosmic Jokers, compiled from jam session, recorded between February and May 1973, and two strange samplers: Gilles Zeitschiff and Sci Fi Party. (Cosmic Dreams At Play)

Part 1 Part 2
Oops! Track 22, "Die Welt" is bad. Replace with This

Cosmic Jokers - Gilles Zeitschiff (1974)

Definitely not the best Cosmic Jokers release, but 'Gilles Zeitschiff' (Gille's Spaceship) [timeship?] is perhaps the freakiest artifact to come out of the Cosmic Jokers' short existence. A pastiche concept 'sampler', the album contains heavily overdubbed excerpts from the Kosmische Kuriere projects: 'Seven Up', 'Lord Krishna Von Goloka', and 'Tarot'. The material is spiced up by additional material recorded by Klaus Schulze and Gille Lettman. Schulze's signature cosmic synthesizer sound is used to full effect while Gille can be heard delivering an acid drenched narration in German and English. The narration details the power of 'Mr. Energy', Timothy Leary, and how he became involved with the Kosmische Kuriere group. In case you weren't aware, Gille makes it known that Timothy is a love god and that "T. L. stands for true love". Obviously the effect which Mr. Leary had on Gille was out of this world. Plain and simple, 'Gilles Zeitschiff' is krautrock in its purest form and the album should make its way into your collection at some point. This one is best listened to with head phones! (krautrockgroup.com)

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Herbert F. Bairy - Traumspiel (1979)

Thanks to 'dtfloyd' from France who sent me this one, which I had never heard of. It's a real eccentric album from 1979 by percussionist Bairy, who appears here with a large ensemble that includes a second drummer/percussionist, synthesizers, Indian/eastern instruments, cello, clarinet, electric guitars and bass, trumpets, church organ, soprano sax and wordless male and femal voices. Pretty wild and spacious, this is not a free-form blow out, but something that pretty much resembles the title of the work translated into English: "dream game". Two long tracks and two short tracks. Unusual and interesting!!

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Ardo Dombec - Ardo Dombec (1971)

Not much is known about ARDO DOMBEC except that they were an early 70's German prog band who released an album with a heavy, bluesy, and slightly jazzy feel, ending up barely sounding German at all. Often compared to COLOSSEUM, their music features a lot of saxophone, often matched by electric guitar and flute. Their arrangements are upbeat and bright, yet the lyrics are rather dark and cynical in contrast. The band consisted of Helmut Hachmann on sax and flute, Harald Gleu on guitar and vocals, Wolfgang Spillner on drums and vocals, and Michael Ufer on bass.

Their only cd, entitled simply "Ardo Dombec" (1971), collects just about everything the band has ever recorded. At times, their jazzy material flirts with pop and at other times, it sounds downright baroque. The band obviously enjoys strange and complex rhythms, SOFT MACHINE style. Although they seem to favour vocal tracks (which aren't exactly their forte), it is in the instrumental sections that they truly shine. Technically speaking, the musicianship is fairly good but the compositions may lack a little inspiration and excitement.

Not an essential album, but definitely worth a listen, if only for Hachmann's heavy sax grooves. (progarchives.com)

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Shaa Khan - The World Will End On Friday (1977)

Like many young bands, Shaa Khan were formed as a student group playing the music of their heroes, and in 1970 their staple repertoire was built on a diet of Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin numbers. Via a trek into jazz-rock, and then after supporting the likes of Earth & Fire, UFO and Nektar, the 1976 incarnation had gained a complex and lyrical progressive rock style comparable to Grobschnitt, Gentle Giant and Druid. With dual lead vocalists and inventive instrumental work, their debut "The World Will End On Friday" was a fine example of the genre, and a surprisingly fresh album stepping on from Grobschnitt's "Jumbo". (Crack In The Cosmic Egg)

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Wallenstein - Blitzkrieg (1971)

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

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Blitzkrieg in .flac format: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Walpurgis "Queen Of Saba" (1972)

'Queen of Saba' is a strange bird. Part folk, part rock, part 'space rock', the album has its share of good and dull moments. Walpurgis features Jürgen Dollase of Wallenstein on keyboards and piano. The first track, the aptly titled, 'Disappointment', sounds like a not-so-pompous version of Wallenstein. The second track, 'Hey You Over There', picks up a bit, but still their guitar-based sound is dominated by a Hendrix-esque Anglo-American feel. The title track, 'Queen Of Saba', has a unique dark sound that reminds me of what early Pere Ubu sounded like. This track also has a nice musical bridge which has a feel similar to A Saucerful Of Secrets. The rest of the album is dominated by a standard 'space rock' sound encompassing acoustic rythm guitar, electric lead guitar, conga percussion and drums. Musically, it is these three tracks which carry the album. It seems to me like the guitarist from Boston must have listened to and borrowed the guitar riffs heard in 'Daily' and 'My Last Illusion'. As a whole this album is the closest thing to standard rock that the Ohr label ever released. My biggest con about the album is that the vocals, in English, are extremely weak and sound strained in many spots! They should have stuck with native German! (Doug, Krautrock Album Database)

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Well there you have it - some great, some maybe not that great. But all very interesting at least, and well worth downloading! See ya!