Plain and Fancy

Sunday, August 4, 2024

Society's Children - Mister Genie Man (1968-74 us, rough fuzzy garage psych, 2023 release)

Society’s Children after the Shamrocks split up, Pat Sassone recruited two brothers and a friend of theirs to start the first version of Society’s Children. His mother, Doreen, had suggested the name. Doreen took over on vocals and continued to pitch in with lyrics. I can’t think of a single other 60s garage band that included a parent and child

Society’s Children recorded “Mister Genie Man” at Columbia Records Studios in Chicago on December 13, 1968. It’s now considered a “punkadelic” masterpiece: sounding like Grace Slick, Doreen wails doomy lyrics (Patrick described the tune as “basically about someone having a terrible nightmare”) while blasts of fuzz guitar and propulsive Farfisa organ double down hard.

Tiny local imprint Cha Cha Records, which had distribution through Chess, released the 45 before the end of the year. Cha Cha had its own small recording studio on West Randolph in the Loop, but Society’s Children never used it. The single didn’t take off, but if everything Sassone says about Cha Cha owner Donald DeLucia is true, that’s no surprise.

In 1974 Society’s Children recorded what was supposed to be their second single, “Listen” b/w “I Don’t Wanna See Tomorrow,” at the studio operated by Palos Records (which released mostly blues artists such as Lonnie Brooks, Bobby Rush, and Eddie Boyd). The interview at It’s Psychedelic Baby includes a photo of hub labels apparently from this single, but I have to assume they’re from a test pressing—the record never came out.

The band would keep recording in a home studio with various rhythm players, but in 1976 Sassone and his family (including Doreeen) moved to California. They soon moved to Arizona and tried again, but we had trouble keeping musicians. In 1977 the band ended for good.Patrick Sassone never stopped making music, and he’s been putting out solo material since 2010. Sadly, Doreen passed away in 2017.

The story of Society’s Children also continues to unfold. Because Sassone held onto the band’s unreleased recordings (including a “gospel rock” album from the early 70s), he could help assemble a new archival release, Mister Genie Man, that compiles the Cha Cha single with never-before-heard tracks from between 1968 and 1974.

by Steve Krakow, August 7, 2023

Tracks

1. Can It Be - 2:17

2. People, People - 3:14

3. Mister Genie Man - 2:33

4. Darkness - 3:05

5. Love Hour - 2:23

6. I Don't Wanna See Tomorrow - 2:19

7. Help - 3:00

8. Slippin' Away - 2:22

9. Velvet, Love, And Lace - 3:05

10.Bells Of St. Peter's Square - 2:23

11.I Am A Minstrel - 2:55

12.Goodbye Baby - 4:00

13.Listen - 2:39

14.Light Of My Gargen - 3:17

15.Wanna Gotta - 2:20

All compositions by Patrick Sassone

Society's Children

*Patrick Sassone - Electric Guitar, Organ, Backing Vocals

*Doreen Sassone - Lead Vocals

*John Kolada - Bass

*Fred Sudlow - Drums

1975 Dirty Tricks - Dirty Tricks (bonus tracks issue)

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Dirty Tricks - Hit 'n' Run (1977 uk, tough heavy rock, 2004 remaster)

Dirty Tricks made its San Antonio debut at a Southside bar known as Randy's Rodeo late in 1976, to rave reviews. It was there that they debuted songs from the upcoming "Hit and Run" and finished the crowd off with an explosive version of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me", a year before Van Halen released their first album with that same song. The next year Joe Anthony (the Godfather - widely respected in the 'Business', having used his experimental, risk-tak- ing style to break bands such as Judas Priest, Rush and Triumph in the U.S.) gave the same treatment to "Hit and Run", playing both sides in their entirety- sometimes for days on end. Unfortunately, from what I've gathered, other markets did not have 'champions' of new music with the same stature as the Godfather, and Dirty Tricks did not take off as they did in south Texas. What a shame for the others.

This album is the perfect bridge between Classic U.K. rock and the NWOBHM. The title track, along with "Get Out On The Street" and "The Gambler" (no, not THAT song, Kenny Rogers fans) grind out blues- driven rock to which to punch your fist in the air. On the other side of the coin, "I've Had These Dreams Before" and "Lost In The Past" invoke an air of a certain, shall we say, smoke-filled reverie... This album received massive airplay in Texas and regions beyond. Andy Bierne replaces John Lee on the drum kit for this outing. Interestingly, this incarnation of the band rehearsed with Ozzy Osbourne as the first Blizzard of Oz before the poor Oz Man had to leave the Motherland due to tax issues. He fled to America, met Randy Rhoades, and the rest, as they say, is history. But, we're left to wonder, What Might Have Been?

Which leads us to today. Although the band has a great following in the U.K. as the Led Zeppelin tribute band, Stairway To Zeppelin, Dirty Tricks has once again found a new cham- pion in Geoff Gillespie and Majestic Rock. Geoff has had a 'thing' for Dirty Tricks, just as I have, for all these years. The difference is that he's in a position to do something about it. I've tried to lend a hand to him as much as I can, with recordings and artwork he may find use- ful. But it is he who has commandeered the master tapes to breathe new life into this proud, 'vintage' engine of Rock N' Roll that is Dirty Tricks. And it is I, along with you reading this, that should offer a 'thanks' and a tip of the hat, if you will, to Geoff and Majestic Rock for making this dream a reality. And with that, I'll end with a heartfelt, if not cliché, "Long Live Dirty Tricks!"

by Zach Hammock, March 2004

Tracks

1. Hit And Run (Andy Beirne, John Fraser Binnie, Kenny Stewart, Terry Horbury) - 3:15

2. Get Out On The Street (Andy Beirne, John Fraser Binnie, Kenny Stewart, Terry Horbury) - 5:43

3. The Gambler (John Fraser Binnie, Kenny Stewart) - 5:24

4. Road To Deriabah (Terry Horbury) - 4:16

5. I've Had These Dreams Before (John Fraser Binnie, Kenny Stewart) - 6:20

6. Walkin' Tall (John Fraser Binnie, Kenny Stewart) - 3:54

7. Last Night Of Freedom (Andy Beirne, John Fraser Binnie, Kenny Stewart, Terry Horbury) - 3:57

8. Lost In The Past (John Fraser Binnie, Kenny Stewart) - 4:39

9. You Really Got Me (Ray Davies) - 3:41

10.Get Out On The Street (Andy Beirne, John Fraser Binnie, Kenny Stewart, Terry Horbury) - 6:53

Bonus Live Tracks 9-10

Dirty Tricks

*John Fraser Binnie - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals

*Terry Horbury - Bass, Vocals

*Andy Beirne - Drums, Percussion, Vocals

*Kenny Stewart - Vocals

1976 Dirty Tricks - Night Man (2004 remaster and expanded)

Ellen McIlwaine - Honky Tonk Angel (1972 us, impressive jazzy bluesy folk rock, bonus track remaster)

There’s a select coterie of artists whose voices are recognised as musical instruments in their own right, their unique vocal deliveries transcending lyrics and, without being pure, trained or operatic, tantalising the ear wordlessly like a breathy tenor sax or a sobbing Dobro. Ella Fitzgerald, Richie Havens, Tim Buckley, the late John Martyn all had this talent. Add to this rare gift an astonishing propensity for producing the deepest funk and the most soulful blues on an acoustic guitar, and you’ve got Ellen McIlwaine.

Born in 1945, Ellen grew up in Japan, the daughter of American missionaries, where she listened to AFN and learned to play New Orleans piano after Fats Domino and Professor Longhair. On the family’s return to Atlanta she switched to guitar, rapidly assimilating all the fiery Southern styles. For several years from 1966 she worked around NYC’s East Village, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Muddy, Wolf, Hardin and Hendrix. After a brief unproductive spell leading her own rock band, Fear Itself, she signed to Polydor in ’72 as a solo artist and produced her freshman album, Honky Tonk Angel.

The comparison with Richie Havens is more than appropriate here. As with the bulk of his early work, her primary mission on this album is to take familiar and unfamiliar songs by other artists and cover them in an idiosyncratic and totally individual vocal fashion, accompanied by a fluid and relentlessly rhymthic acoustic guitar. She’d develop her own songwriting on the follow-up and later albums, but here there are only two originals alongside the eight borrowed songs “ but her choice is impeccable, taking in some of the finest writers of the late 60s and early 70s in a plethora of genres.

She covers Isaac Hayes (Toe Hold), Jack Bruce (Weird Of Hermiston), Jimi Hendrix (Up From The Skies), Steve Winwood (Can’t Find My Way Home), Bobbie Gentry (Ode To Billy Joe) and Ghanaian jazz maestro Guy Warren’s Pinebo (My Story), culminating with a momentous retread of the traditional Wade In The Water. Most of the tracks are marked by her jazzy, strident Guild guitar, chock-full of scratchy percussive flatpicking, earsplitting eleventh chords and occasional soaring slide, complementing her astonishingly confident, melismatic, androgynous vocal as she plays shamelessly with the lyrics, frequently wandering into pure scat or an ululating African dialect.

By contrast the gentle Pinebo is a multi-tracked, stereo-separated acapella tour-de-force in Swahili, whilst her reading of the Winwood ditty is masterful and sensitive with immaculate fingerstyling. Half the album was recorded live at NYC’s Bitter End with McIlwaine’s voice and acoustic set off only by adventurous bass guitar and rattling Latin percussion, the remainder at The Record Plant with scarcely denser backing, but McIlwaine’s fretboard pyrotechnics and vocal gymnastics make the whole collection sizzle with excitement. The only sore thumb to stick out from this otherwise homogenous collection is the inexplicable inclusion of the old Kitty Wells country chestnut (It Wasn’t God Who Made) Honky Tonk Angels, done in a po-faced, almost caricatured Bakersfield style with full backing band including wailing pedal steel.

Ellen McIlwaine would go on to an uneven but uncompromising career, her commercial appeal blunted by her determination to make music her own way, but she continues to tour and to release albums at intervals.

by Len Liechti, June 25th, 2012

Tracks

1. Toe Hold (David Porter, Isaac Hayes) - 4:22

2. Weird Of Hermiston (Jack Bruce, Peter Brown) - 5:06

3. Up From The Skies (Jimi Hendrix) - 4:38

4. Losing You (Ellen McIlwaine) - 2:00

5. It's Growing (Smokey Robinson, Warren Moore) - 3:05

6. Ode To Billy Joe (Bobbie Gentry) - 3:48

7. Pinebo (My Story) (Guy Warren) - 2:41

8. Can't Find My Way Home (Steve Winwood) - 3:41

9. Wings Of A Horse (Ellen McIlwaine) - 4:02

10.It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels (Joseph Delton Miller) - 2:38

11.Wade In The Water (Traditional) - 4:50

Tracks 1-6 recorded ''Live'' at The Bitter End, New York City, using facilities of The Record Plant/Wally Heider recording van.

Tracks 7-11 recorded at The Record Plant, New York City, except for ''Can't Find My Way Home'' which was recorded at the studios of Burmese Records, Inc.

Bonus Track 5

Personnel

*Ellen McIlwaine - Vocals, Background Vocals, Guitars

*Thad Holiday - Bass, Background Vocals

*Don Payne - Bass (Track 4)

*Billy Curtis - Congas (Tracks 1,6)

*Candido - Congas (Tracks 6,8,11)

*Don Kaplan - Piano

*James Madison - Drums

*Bill Keith - Pedal Steel Guitar

1966-69 Moby Grape - Live (Sundazed digipak issue)

Monday, July 29, 2024

Moby Grape - Dark Magic (1965-69 us, amazing west coast psych folk country blues rock, double disc issue)

Several rungs down the ladder from The Whiskey or The Trip, Gazzari's on Sunset Strip was a joint whose slick- haired clientele wore sharkskin suits, skinny ties and an eloquent sneer that said, "Pinko liberal commie faggots not welcome".

But Peter Lewis, the son of film star Loretta Young, had been to hell and back before his band, Peter And The Wolves, ever took the stage at Gazzari's. At 11, his parents' divorce had driven him to a failed suicide attempt and left him in a psychiatric ward where "they shot me full of Thorazine and locked me up until I promised to go to school". The ward also had a guitar, which Lewis appropri- ated: "If I had the guitar they left me alone because I looked occupied".

Peter And The Wolves churned out efficient pop and rock covers but Lewis wanted to do more. "I'd seen The Byrds opening for The Stones at Long Beach Arena and it flipped me out, like Mr. Toad seeing the motor car." His tick- et out of Gazzari's arrived in mid-'66 in the shape of LA club band the Joel Scott Hill Trio, who shared Lewis' ambition. "The idea was to write our own songs and introduce a soul vocal sound into folk-rock." They suggested he meet their old guitarist Bob Mosley but warned that he was crazy.

When Lewis first encountered Mosley at the bar in LA airport it felt like chalk meeting cheese. "I had bell-bottoms and long hair, and he had Bermuda shorts, red sneakers with white socks, a goatee beard, shades and his hair combed back." As Lewis' car sped towards his Laurel Canyon house, the taciturn Mosley suddenly growled, "I can play like a motherfucker and sing anything up to high C. What the hell can you do?"

That night, along with the Joel Scott Hill Trio, they plied Mosley with acid and waited to see what might emerge. "About dawn, when Bob was really smashed, I stated play- ing this Rickenbacker 12-string lick and Bob latched right onto it. We wrote one of our first songs, Bitter Wind, right then and I knew we had something special."

Introduced to former Jefferson Airplane member Skip Spence by that group's ex-manager Matthew Katz, they moved to San Francisco and recruited Don Stevenson. "We wanted a lot of harmonies so we needed a drummer who could sing, and Don's voice could stop you in your tracks, like Steve Winwood with a high vibrato." Don brought in a third guitarist, Jerry Miller, and, after one half-hour rehearsal, voila, Moby Grape. Two months of solid rehearsal followed before the band started playing at a beached Sausalito houseboat which had been turned into a club, The Ark. Columbia Records producer David Rubinson came one night to see headlining act The Sparrow (later known as Steppenwolf). "They got blown offstage by the opening band," recalls Rubinson. "This group was staggering, unbelievable. I said, Who are these guys?" They were, of course, Moby Grape.

"Another night, two guys walked in looking for Skip." says Lewis, "and it was Neil Young and Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield." Forming an immediate bond of friendship, Stills and Young returned almost daily for a fortnight, then went off to spread the word about Moby Grape. They also recorded a single, For What It's Worth, which, as Stills later confided to Lewis, was based on two Moby Grape songs, Murder In My Heart For The Judge and On The Other Side. "But, hey," says Lewis, "they were cool."

After a showcase at The Matrix, every West Coast A&R man was hustling to sign Moby Grape. "Paul Rothschild of Elektra wanted us so bad he offered us 50 per cent of the stock of the label to sign." But manager Matthew Katz had other plans. "He virtually blackmailed us into signing with Columbia by threatening to stop paying for Bob and Skip's flat and have them thrown out," recalls Lewis. Before the year was out, Katz had inked a deal with Columbia Records and the career of a band with the potential to be California's finest, was locked into a down- hill course.

by Johnny Black

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Introduction At Monterey Pop Festival - 1:21

2. Indifference (Alexander "Skip" Spence) - 3:10

3. Mr. Blues (Bob Mosley) - 1:50

4. Sitting By The Window (Peter Lewis) - 2:50

5. Omaha (Alexander "Skip" Spence) - 2:33

6. Millers Blues (Jerry Miller) - 7:40

7. Hey Grandma (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 2:21

8. Sitting By The Window (Peter Lewis) - 3:07

9. Omaha (Alexander "Skip" Spence) - 1:59

10.Going Nowhere (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 2:30

11.Sweet Little Angel (B.B. King, Jules Taub) - 4:47

12.I Am Not Willing (Peter Lewis) - 4:00

13.Honky Tonk Blues (Bill Doggett, Clifford Scott, Shep Shepherd) - 8:47

14.Bitter Wind (Bob Mosley) - 4:44

15.Murder In My Heart For The Judge (Don Stevenson) - 18:25

16.Dark Magic (Alexander "Skip" Spence) - 6:49

Tracks1-5 recorded at The Monterey Pop Festival, Monterey, Ca., June 16, 1967.

Track 6 recorded at The Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, Ca., 1968

Tracks 7-9 recorded at Steve Pauls Scene, New York City, 1968

Tracks 10-15 unknown venue, 1967

Track 16 recorded at Winterland, San Francisco, Ca., 1967

Disc 2

1. $20 Blues (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 11:15

2. Hey Grandma Blues (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 8:04

3. Changes (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 4:39

4. Dark Magic Part 1 (Alexander "Skip" Spence) - 5:29

5. Dark Magic Part 2 (Alexander "Skip" Spence) - 11:37

6. Looper (Peter Lewis) - 2:29

7. 8:05 (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 2:11

8. Learn From Your Mistakes (Peter Lewis) - 3:04

9. Can't Be So Bad (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 4:00

10.Sitting By The Window (Peter Lewis) - 3:19

11.Fall On You (Peter Lewis) - 2:52

12.It's A Beautiful Day (Bob Mosley) - 7:04

13.Big Boss Man (Jimmy Reed) - 5:44

14.Hey Mama (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 2:55

15.I Can Only Give You Everything (Phil Coulter, Tommy Scott) - 2:40

Tracks 1-2 recorded unknown venue, july 23, 1968

Tracsk 3-5 recorded at The Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, Ca., Dec.31, 1966

Tracks 6-7 recorded at Winterland, 1967

Tracks 8-13 recorded at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y., 1969

Tracks 14-15 Peter & The Wolves 45,PW#500, Los Angeles, 1965 featuring Peter Lewis

Moby Grape

*Jerry Miller - Guitar, Vocals

*Peter Lewis - Guitar, Vocals

*Alexander "Skip" Spence - Guitar, Vocals

*Bob Mosley - Bass, Vocals

*Don Stevenson - Drums, Vocals

1967 Moby Grape - Moby Grape (2007 remaster)
1967-68 The Place And The Time (2009 Sundazed release)

1967 Moby Grape - Grape Jam (2007 remaster)
1969 Wow (Sundazed Issue)
1969 Moby Grape - Moby Grape 69' (2007 remaster and expanded)

1971 Moby Grape - 20 Granite Creek (2017 japan SHM remaster)

Saturday, July 27, 2024

Ainigma - Diluvium (1973 germany, pure krautrock classic, totally explosive in terms of emotions, heavy rocking and lovely psychedelic, 2006 remaster)

Cool heavy rock from Ainigma, a young trio from Germany, who released this record in 1973. The sound is dirty and sounds a lot like garage. The keyboards roar, the guitar has a fat, hard sound and the loudly mixed drums are played with great power. At the time, Ainigma consisted of the two 15-year-olds Michael Klüter (drums) and Wolfgang Netzer (g) and the 17-year-old Willi Klüter (keys, vocals). The ideas for the songs came from Willi Klüter, too. the great attraction comes from the simple, brute and naively youthful recording. The trio plays the songs clean and hard, between the loudly turned up amplifiers the flat dynamics are not noticeable, the songs rock, are not a bit well-behaved, there are no long solos, but long motifs, so that three songs are over 5 and one even over 17 minutes long.

These quirks are charming and make up a good part of the appeal of the songs. It's lucky that the songs have been preserved at all! No band can sound like this today. The boys were self-confident enough to take their ideas to the “studio”, the parish hall in Garmisch, record the songs there and release the recordings on LP.

As always, Garden of Delights has once again done a great job and released the production in a comprehensive and informative way. The label has the right philosophy. Each production is excellently documented not only in terms of the music, but also in terms of the history and development of the band and musicians with text and pictures, including alternative covers and labels. Anyone who has ever placed their record with Garden of Delights to see it from the band's perspective will know that their classic from the good old days is well presented.

Tracks

1. Prejudice (Willi Klüter, Wolfgang Netzer, Harry Bowman) - 5:35

2. You Must Run - 7:30

3. All Things Are Fading - 5:10

4. Diluvium - 17:45 -

5. Thunderstorm - 4:58

6. Diluvium (Instrumental) - 17:45

All songs by Willi Klüter, Wolfgang Netzer except where indicated

Bonus Tracks 5-6

Ainigma

*Michael Klüter - Drums

*Wolfgang Netzer - Guitar, Bass

*Willi Klüter - Keyboards, Vocals

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Ted Mulry Gang - The Very Best Of Ted Mulry Gang 40th Anniversary (1975-90 uk / australia, exciting glam boogie classic rock, 2016 remaster)

TED MULRY first came to the attention of the music industry when he sent a demo of some of his own compositions to Albert Productions in Sydney. The company persuaded him to become a recording artist and he soon rose to fame as a solo singer/songwriter with his own composition, the pop ballad “Julia”, which made the Australian charts in 1970.

He followed that with “Falling in Love Again”, a song by The Easybeats songwriting team Harry Vanda & George Young, which was a major hit in 1971.Mulry was a prolific songwriter, and a number of bands and artists, including John Farnham and Alison MacCallum, recorded his songs. Most notably, rock band Sherbet had a hit with his song, “You’re All Woman”.

After getting tired of being backed by different backing bands, in 1972 he switched from acoustic guitar to bass and formed his own band, TED MULRY GANG (TMG), with guitarist Les Hall and drummer Herman Kovac. The band signed a recording deal with Albert Productions in 1974 and released their first album Here We Are. When that album didn’t do as well as expected, the record company wanted Mulry to go back to singing solo. Ronnie Clayton told them to stick to it and brought in a second guitarist Gary Dixon to complete the foursome. With his own band behind him, he adopted a more hard rocking style.

Their first major hit, and the biggest of their career, was the 1975 single “Jump in My Car” which spent 11 weeks at number one on the Australian singles charts in 1976 and was the first Australian act to knock Abba off the number one spot. It was the second single released from the Here We Are album produced by Ted Albert at Alberts Studios. Over the next few years, they achieved a string of hit singles including a rocked up version of the old jazz song, “Darktown Strutters’ Ball”, “Crazy”, “Jamaica Rum” and “My Little Girl”. Many of TMG’s songs, including “Jump in My Car”, were co-written with guitarist Les Hall. By late 1980 their chart success had ended but they remained popular performers on the Australian pub circuit. In 1989, after some time apart, the Ted Mulry gang reformed, releasing the album “Re-Union” for Albert, on Sony. This release also marked the first release of the Ted Mulry Gang on compact disc. Other CD reissues would follow in the early 90’s.

Ted passed away the day before his birthday on September 1st, 2001

Ted Mulry Gang

Tracks

1. Jump In My Car (Ted Mulry) - 2:56

2. Darktown Strutters Ball (Shelton Brookes) - 3:23

3. Crazy - 3:49

4. Steppin' Out - 2:36

5. Jamaica Rum - 2:35

6. Lady - 4:03

7. I'm Free - 3:54

8. Goodbye (Ted Mulry) - 2:44

9. Help Me Out - 3:59

10.Wanted Man - 3:21

11.Old Habits Die Hard - 4:04

12.Dinah (Traditional) - 6:01

13.My Little Girl (Ted Mulry) - 3:33

14.Naturally (Les Hall) - 4:22

15.Sha La La La Lee (Kenny Lynch, Mort Shuman) - 2:55

16.Lazy Eyes (Ted Mulry) - 3:03

17.Heart Of Stone (Les Hall) - 3:39

18.(You've Got The) Devil In You (Les Hall) - 3:15

19.Save Me (Ted Mulry) - 3:22

20.Can't Take It All - 2:56

21.Captured (Ted Mulry) - 4:09

Songs written by Ted Mulry, Les Hall except where stated

Tha Gang

*Ted Mulry - Guitar, Bass, Vocals

*Les Hall - Guitar

*Steve Hart - Guitar

*Gary Dixon - Guitar

*Herman Kovac - Drums

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Fools Gold - Fools Gold (1976 us, nice country soft rock, 2005 remaster)

American country rock quartet Fools Gold were originally the backing band for Dan Fogelberg and made this one, for Arista Records in 1976. Half the album was produced by Glyn Johns (Rolling Stones) and the other half by Glenn Frey (The Eagles)

Playing on this long lost country rock classic are Joe Walsh, Glen Frey, and Don Felder and has a distinct California/Eagles sound.

Guitarist Tom Kelly would go on to enjoy success as a songwriter co writing with Billy Steinberg hits for the likes of Madonna, The Bangles, The Pretenders and Whitney Houston. A gem of the California Sound which still sounds fresh some forty years on.

Tracks

1. Coming Out Of Hiding (Tom Kelly, Denny Henson, Doug Livingston) - 3:59

2. Rain, Oh, Rain (Denny Henson) - 4:42

3. Choices (Tom Kelly, Denny Henson, Dan Fogelberg) - 2:52

4. Rollin' Fields And Meadows (Tom Kelly, Denny Henson) - 4:21

5. Sailing To Monterey (Tom Kelly) - 3:38

6. I Will Run (Tom Kelly, Denny Henson) - 3:15

7. Old Tennessee (Dan Fogelberg) - 2:42

8. One By One (Tom Kelly, Denny Henson) - 4:13

9. The One Way Love Grows (Tom Kelly, Denny Henson) - 3:39

10.Love Me Through And Through (Dan Fogelberg) - 4:23

Fools Gold

*Tom Kelly - Bass, Vocals

*Denny Henson - Electric Guitar, Lead, Backing vocals

*Ron Grinel - Drums, Percussion

*Doug Livingston - Steel Guitar, Electric Piano, Piano

With

*Joe Walsh - Electric Guitar (Track 1)

*Duncan Cameron - Soloist, Slide Guitar, Vocals (Tracks 1,7)

*Don Felder - Guitar (Track 2)

*Jimmie Haskell - Strings (Tracks 8,10)

Monday, July 22, 2024

Aqua - Aqua (1972/78/81 germany, spectacular organ drivin' prog krautrock, 2008 release)

In the 70s, Krautrock was not only played in the big cities, not only in Berlin, Munich and Düsseldorf, but also in the provinces. Krautrock wasn't just Tangerine Dream, Amon Düül or Kraftwerk, it was also Dom, Electric Sandwich, Join In, Kalacacra, Mammut, Morpheus and whatever they were all called... There were young musicians all over Germany who were infected by the spirit of Krautrock and dared to create their more or less own version of progressive rock music.

Even though there was a Krautrock boom at the record companies in the early 70s, not every band was signed. This didn't necessarily have anything to do with musical quality. There were just a lot of bands. And some are still being unearthed...

One of these bands that simply didn't make it back then was Aqua from the provincial metropolis of Kassel in northern Hesse. The roots of Aqua go back to 1968. In 1972, musicians from the bands Inaction and Praeludium Magnum came together to form Aqua. In the 70s, Aqua were one of the most popular live acts in Kassel, alongside such illustrious names as Rattengift and Hugo's Rockhoppser. It wasn't enough to get a record deal, but Aqua recorded a demo tape with four songs on a 4-track tape recorder in their founding year. These form the core of this Garden of Delights release. In addition, the only single from 1978 is also included, although single does not mean that Aqua were represented in the charts with it, but that they sold it at their concerts. Finally, the CD also contains two tracks from the 1981 LP Sexy Boy. The band broke up in 1984.

However, these two songs from their 1981 LP are the least interesting for Krautrock fans. When the LP was released, the disappointment among Aqua fans was also quite big, as the sound - as with many other bands of those years - had become much flatter in comparison to the 70s and the jazz-rock, herbaceous, psychedelic elements of the Aqua sound had given way to a more pleasing, slightly proggy soft rock. However, the two tracks on the album represent the best of this “musical misstep”.

The single (released 1976) reflects the band's previous phase, which was characterized by organ-heavy hard rock and may bring to mind Uriah Heep. The band certainly gave this impression in their live performances towards the end of the 70s.

The real jewel of this CD, however, are the first four tracks, which are the complete demo from 1972! The sound quality here is a little muffled, but still easy to hear. And what you hear here is also musically convincing, not inferior to the more successful bands of the early 70s: a krautrock sound, sometimes dominated by organ, sometimes by guitar, with elements of jazz rock and psychedelic. Klaus Borucki's vocals come across as somewhat whiny.

Due to the different years of origin of the collected material, it is difficult to give a unanimous verdict. This CD colors another blank spot on the map of 70s Krautrock. For me personally, however, this release was a particular pleasure, as I had previously only known the LP Sexy Boy. Unfortunately, it presented a rather sterile picture of the band, which I personally got to know as a rousing live act at a few concerts at the end of the 70s. So it's all the more pleasing that Aqua's story has finally been edited in a way that is convincing both musically and in terms of the design of the booklet. Here, too, Garden of Delights remain true to their standard and provide detailed background information on the band's history, illustrate record covers and offer a successful selection of band photos. A recommendation for the collector!

by Christian Rode, 30-8-2008

Tracks

1. Bolero (Martin Ulrich, Martin Großkurth) - 5:24

2. Soul Of My Soul (Martin Ulrich, Martin Großkurth) - 7:09

3. Tempest (Martin Ulrich, Martin Großkurth) - 5:53

4. There Is A Place (Martin Ulrich, Martin Großkurth) - 9:37

5. Going My Way (Martin Ulrich, Klaus Borucki, Jörg Wiesner) - 3:20

6. Teenage Feelings (Martin Ulrich, Mandy Turner, Jörg Wiesner) - 3:35

7. No Use To Live On (Martin Ulrich, Jörg Wiesner, Mike Fajgel) - 6:05

8. No More Love (Martin Ulrich, Jörg Wiesner, Mike Fajgel)- 5:58

Tracks 1-4 from 1972

Tracks 5,6 from 1978

Tracks 7,8 from 1981

Aqua

*Martin Ulrich - Guitar

*Martin Großkurth - Organ (Tracks 1-4)

*Klaus Borucki - Vocals (Tracks 2-6)

*Georg Röber - Bass (Tracks 1-4)

*Bernd Billhardt - Drums (Tracks 1-4)

*Jörg Wiesner - Keyboards, Vocals (Tracks 5-8)

*Wolfgang Eckhardt - Bass, Vocals (Tracks 5-8)

*Roy Kaleve - Drums, Vocals (Tracks 7-8)

*Mike Fajgel - Lead Vocals (Tracks 7-8)

*Jürgen Steinbrecher - Bass, Vocals (Tracks 7-8)