Psychedelia / Prog / Kraut / Space / Psychedelic Folk (60s-70s)

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-deviants-mn0000818593/biography wrote:In the late '60s, the Deviants were something like the British equivalent to the Fugs, with touches of the Mothers of Invention and the British R&B-based rock of the Yardbirds and the Pretty Things. Their roots were not so much in the British Invasion as the psychedelic underground that began to take shape in London in 1966-1967. Not much more than amateurs when they began playing, they squeezed every last ounce of skill and imagination out of their limited instrumental and compositional resources on their debut, Ptooff!, which combined savage social commentary, overheated sexual lust, psychedelic jamming, blues riffs, and pretty acoustic ballads -- all in the space of seven songs.

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Art_Boys_Collection/Stoned_Wall/ wrote:Truly rare Austrian psych-rock with a unique flavor that crosses folk, prog and freak beat sounds with even a Beatle’esque sound, great vocal harmonies and a heavy dose of psychedelic vibes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dantalian's_Chariot wrote:Dantalian's Chariot were a British psychedelic rock band that formed in 1967.[1] Led by keyboardist and bandleader Zoot Money, and also featuring Andy Summers (later of The Police),[2] they are best remembered for their single "Madman Running Through the Fields",[3] and for their live performances, which featured early psychedelic light shows.[4] The band would all wear white robes and kaftans in concert, with all of their equipment painted white, to heighten the effect of these light shows.[4] The group disbanded in April 1968,[5] with Summers going on to join the Soft Machine and Money joining Eric Burdon & The Animals.[1]

http://therockasteria.blogspot.gr/2012/10/ora-ora-1969-uk-wondrous-psych-folk.html wrote:Beautiful British folk-psychedelia from 1969, UK original private pressed 12-track LP on the label: Tangerine (OPLOP 0025), also issued in Germany under the name Knick Knacks (Metronome SMLR 332) 1971,and reissued on Background (HBG 122/14) 1993.

Originally very few copies were pressed ensuring its status as an ultra rarity. Musically it features a number of whimsical, haunting songs and one piece of frenzied psychedelia entitled 'Whitch', the main reason behind this album's immense collectability. All tracks contain vocals, some feature just acoustic guitar and gentle percussion while 'Fly' this is based on a fast Take Five (Dave Brubeck) rhythm with electric guitar accompaniment and some good electric guitar leads.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1624 wrote:RAW MATERIAL is a British band that released two albums in the ealy 70's that are now highly collectible. The group consist of your standard prog quartet plus frontman Mike Fletcher on wind instruments. They developped a slighly jazz-tinged progressive rock so typical of that era and their debut album had some great moments (the longer tracks on side1) but was also partially flawed but ends in a bizarre poem recitation to string arrangements. Most progheads will prefer the much more even Time Is.. Rare album that appeared on the RCA prog label called Neon records. This album (with the line-up augmented by a second guitarist Harewood) was much more 70's-sounding and left loads of space for instrument interplay and hold many fine moments that every proghead looking for rare late proto-prog should investigate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda_Triangle_Band wrote:Bermuda Triangle Band's wild psychedelic and delicately nuanced electric autoharp and transcendental vocals grew out of the late 1960s folk rock scene. With an independent attitude, eccentric style and highly unusual instrument lineup, the group was unprecedented. Psychedelic rock autoharp was then-unknown, and at the time (with the notable exception of Carol Kaye), there were very few women playing bass guitar. Since the formation of the band in 1967, its only constant members have been Roger Penney and Wendy Penney.

http://www.last.fm/music/Bar%C4%B1%C5%9F+Man%C3%A7o+&+Kayg%C4%B1s%C4%B1zlar wrote:Kaygısızlar (The Carefrees) was formed by Barış Manço, featuring Mazhar Alanson and Fuat Güner, future members of the band MFÖ. He recorded several singles and toured with the band, both domestically and internationally, until the band members revealed that they did not want to live abroad.

http://www.last.fm/music/Bruce+Haack wrote:Bruce Haack started picking out melodies on his family’s piano at age four; by age 12, he gave piano lessons and played piano with the Swing Tones while attending the University of Alberta. The Swing Tones were a popular local band based out of Edmonton, Alberta, and they played in venues in the city and surrounding area. The band played primarily modern and old-time music, and they introduced him to Eastern musical motifs and themes, as they played quite a bit of Ukrainian folk music. While with The Swing Tones, Bruck Haack was known for his uncanny ability to hear music and then play it back immediately from memory, and he could compose innovative riffs while the band was on break during a job. His talent was legendary, and he owned a tremendous record collection of music from around the world prior to moving to New York. In later years, Haack’s painting of St. Basil likely is reminiscent of his earlier years with The Swing Tones in Edmonton.
Haack was also invited by Native Americans to participate in their pow-wows, experimenting with Peyote, which influenced his music for years to come. His upbringing in the isolated town of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada, gave him plenty of time to develop his musical talents.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2394 wrote:Facing Morning
Fleur De Lis

Review by Tom Ozric
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Danish band Fleur De Lis put out this interesting piece of psychedelia in 1971, a mega-rare, privately pressed album, lovingly re- issued by the wonderful vinyl specialists 'Amber Soundroom' (with a shuffled track-listing, to one's chagrin), hopefully to reach a wider audience and give this largely uknown group some well earned significance.
The music is more 'psych' than 'space' and can be compared to Hawkwind's debut, with hints of early Krautrock, maybe even West- Coast acid-rock (Moby Grape comes to mind for some reason). Songs are sung in both English and Danish, and the main features are fuzzy guitars and clean tone organ, with the vocals quite up-front in the mix. The overall mood is up-tempo, but some tracks are quite sombre - 'Har I Set ?' is just beautiful. Listen to it late at night with the lights out ! Some of the songs show great potential, like Gensyn I and Gensyn III (two tracks not listed here, and there's no Gensyn II...), displaying ever growing confidence and stronger prog tendencies. All in all, quite an album that's worth the effort.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Wrath wrote:Jasper Wrath was a progressive rock band from New Haven, Connecticut that was active throughout the 1970s. They were founded by Jeff Cannata, who would later go on to form the 1980s band Arc Angel. The band also featured James Christian, who would later go on to front the notable glam metal band House of Lords.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2467 wrote:The German band 'Satin Whale' was founded around 1971 in the region of Cologne by Thomas Brück (bass, vocals), Gerard Dellmann (keyboards), Dieter Roesberg (guitar, sax ,flute, vocals) and Horst Schöffgen (drums). Their first record 'Desert Places' was released in 1974 on the green 'Brain' label, musically a typical example of German Seventies rock not unlike their stablemates 'Grobschnitt' and 'Jane' for the harder edge, with guitar and organ jams.

During a rock contest in 1974 ('Rocksound 74') 'Satin Whale' was elected the most popular German band. For the second release 'Lost Mankind' 1975 new drummer Wolfgang Hieronymi joined and the band changed to the 'Teldec' label, continuing musically in the same direction as their first record, with 'Jethro Tull' inspired flute-work. The band then went on tour as a support act for 'Barclay James Harvest'. This had a direct influence on their music and their third record 'As A Keepsake' was inspired by BJH, less rock and more symphonic influenced pop.

Their consequent tour served for the double live 'Whalecome', which showed the good musicianship of the band, giving room to extended improvisations, especially on the 17-minute long 'Hava Nagila. In the same year 'Satin Whale' released 'A Whale of Time', a good record especially the title track, an instrumental with a great string arrangement. In 1979 the band composed the soundtrack for the German movie 'Die Faust In Der Tasche' by director Max Willutzki. As the film was a popular and with their popularity rising the band released the same year 'On Tour'. In 1980 'Satin Whale' released 'Don't Stop The Show',their last and commercial record, together with Ex Triumvirat singer Barry Palmer and the band split up in 1981.

http://www.last.fm/music/Far+Out wrote:Far Out were the percursors of the japanese prog/space-rock band Far East Family Band, guitarist/vocalist Fumio Miyashita being the only link between the two. Miyashita would later join other musicians on FEFB which included among their ranks Masanori Takahashi, better known as “Kitaro”. Under the name Far Out, they released one album in 1973

http://www.last.fm/music/+noredirect/Kebnekaise wrote:Headed by guitarist Kenny Håkansson, this early 70’s Swedish band, named after the highest mountain in Sweden, tried their hands at a number of different styles over the course of six albums, including blues rock, jazz rock, even African music. However, it is for a couple of Scandinavian folk LP’s that they are remembered for. By the end of the 70’s, and after a slow disintegration of the band, they more or less successfully tried their hands at symphonic rock and then disappeared. Their albums are mostly instrumental.

Their first, a basically blues-rock album, really bears no resemblance to the rest of their répertoire. The hiring of six new members after its release proved to be the turning point of their career, as they churned out their two excellent folk prog albums, “Kebnekaise II” and “Kebnekaise III”. Both take Swedish folk melodies and rock them up/dress them up with a prog sheen. Often played in minor keys, the violin along with the guitar carries the melody, enlivened with congas, bass and drums plus a few assorted traditional instruments. If not spectacular, the musicianship is fairly good and the material fresh and original, making for an exciting listening experience. By their fourth, fifth and sixth albums, the band had abandoned their folk roots for African music, jazz rock and symphonic rock respectively, none really possessing the charm and allure of numbers II and III. Thankfully, a 1993 compilation CD featuring many interesting tunes from II and III has been released under the title “Electric Mountain”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Dawn_(American_band) wrote:The Golden Dawn are an American psychedelic rock band formed in Austin, Texas, in 1966. The band released one album, titled Power Plant,[1] before breaking up soon after the album's release in 1968. The record company, the infamous International Artists label out of Houston, had made a decision that seems to have "shafted" the career of the vibrant Golden Dawn. This is what happened: a few months after the release of the 13th Floor Elevators' "Psychedelic Sounds" debut, the Dawn had finished Power Plant in mid-1967 and were ready to let it fly; but, by that time, the Elevators were beginning to record their second album, Easter Everywhere, which the record company management thought, for unknown reasons, should come out first, much to the dismay of George Kinney (voc, guitar), Tom Ramsey (lead guitar), Jimmy Bird (rhythm guitar), Bill Hallmark (bass), and Bobby Rector (drums)--collectively, The Golden Dawn. When Power Plant was finally released in 1968, it was largely panned as the work of an Elevators knock-off band and was unjustly snubbed in a way that was big enough to discourage the development of the band. Through the years, Power Plant climbed in "cult" status to the point where recognition of its music drew out George Kinney once again to reform the band in 2002 and perform live all over the States.