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

http://rockasteria.blogspot.gr/2011/02/phantasia-phantasia-1972-us-fantastic.html wrote:Reissue of US psychedelic ultra rarity recorded 1971/72. The original albums (a complete one and a one-sided) are legends for all psychedelic/garage collectors, only 25 copies pressed of each -- not many people have the pleasure of having seen a copy.

The music is creeping slowly and sensitively in your mind, whether stoned or not φ it takes you wherever you want. Those are the complete sessions, 55mins in mastertape quality presented the first time to the public -- extremely informative booklet (20 sided), with outstanding artwork and colour photos.

One of the best Psychedelic albums, playing in the same league as Fraction, Music Emporium, Hunger, Mystic Siva, Damon. Later the band changed into Trizo 50! !

https://www.lpcdreissues.com/item/barock-2 wrote:.......Consistently the musicians followed their course to the 2. and final album of 1973. "BaRock" was a perfect blend of progressive folk, art rock and classical elements. The musicians had also looked for reinforcements for the recordings. The Aachener Zeitung (German daily paper) wrote after the release: "This is not only worth listening to music of the 70s, that's almost a chore to listen to. Here different influences merge into a warm convincing sound.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vejtables wrote:The Vejtables were a mid-1960s rock group from Millbrae, California. They recorded for the Autumn label and found limited success with such songs as "I Still Love You" and a cover version of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind". Lead singer Jan Errico also played drums for the group's recordings, making her one of the relatively few female drummers at the time. The Vejtables began their career playing bars and nightclubs along the El Camino Real on the San Francisco peninsula, even though they were still in high school at the time. Jan Errico actually changed her last name to Ashton because she thought it sounded British. She later left the group because their sound was evolving into a harder psychedelic sound, joining another San Francisco group, the Mojo Men, for which she sang a very audible harmony vocal on their biggest selling single, the Stephen Stills-composed "Sit Down I Think I Love You" from 1967. The Mojo Men eventually shortened their name to Mojo, and released an album and several singles on the GRT label before disbanding.

In 1995, a compilation album was published titled Feel the Vejtables. The compilation includes tracks released in 1965 and 1966.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2789 wrote:Fläsket Brinner biography
Fläsket Brinner was a Swedish band during the 70's who released two albums and had ties to Bo Hannson.

The first s/t album was released in 1971 and is an instrumental album which was recorded live. It is composed of jams of jazz-rock, heavy rock, psychedelic and some folk tunes in a somewhat free-form in the two first longer tracks and there are also the shorter tracks (which composed side B of the LP and one of which was with Bo Hansson). They play an excerpt of Bo Hansson's Lord of the Rings on Tysta Finskan. The band features Sten Bergman (keyboards) and Gunnar Bergsten (saxes) who played with Bo Hansson. Hansson himself appears on the track Bosses Låt which he wrote. All in all, a very dynamic record that gets the listener hooked.

The second album Fläsket is different from its predecessor. This is a double album which has been reissued on CD in 2003. LP 1 is the studio release and LP 2 is a live recording. It is a mixture of sounds. Mainly instrumental, LP 1 starts out as full blown fusion with great keyboards work. It then goes on to explore more styles. On the live LP, the spirit of the first album is regained in the jams and the style, but it is not as even and good as the first album. In 2003, when the second album was reissued, the band was reunited.

This band is recommended for their energetic performance and enthusiastic live shows in both albums.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Blondel wrote:Amazing Blondel are an English acoustic progressive folk band, containing Eddie Baird, John Gladwin, and Terry Wincott. They released a number of LPs for Island Records in the early 1970s. They are sometimes categorised as Psych folk or as Medieval folk rock, but their music was much more a reinvention of Renaissance music, based around the use of period instruments such as lutes and recorders.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1972 wrote:SIDDHARTHA from Korntal in the neighbourhood of Stuttgart existed for nearly four years. Formed in 1973 and named after a novel by Hermann Hesse the band was a five-piece line-up consisting of Martin Mörike (organ, piano, vocals), Klaus Hermann (drums), Gerhard Kraus (violin, vocals), Eberhard Müller (guitar) and Klaus Scharff (bass). The band's trademark is a special obscure blend of styles like jazz and art rock, folk, psychedelia with unique vocals in german and english.

The debut and single album was produced with three additional musicans which delivered further colours due to female voice, flute and tuba. 'Weltschmerz' (literally translated 'World's Pain') was released in 1975 and limited to 400 copies what makes it a rare collectors' item today. It's an impressive work, approximately hard to digest and therefore needs time to come in. The songs are experimental, full of surprising variations, often with an orchestral mood. Total time is not more than 38 minutes. No recordings from live performances were known and unfortunately another tape with 30 minutes got lost and has not been found yet.

SIDDHARTHA is recommended to collectors of weird kraut albums of the early german prog phase.

Rivertree (Uwe Zickel)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaleidoscope_%28U.S._band%29 wrote:The group was formed in 1966. The original members were:

David Lindley (b. March 21, 1944, Los Angeles, California)
Solomon Feldthouse (b. January 20, 1940, Pingree, Idaho)
Chris Darrow (b. July 30, 1944, Sioux Falls, South Dakota)
Chester Crill (a.k.a. Max Budda, Max Buda, Fenrus Epp, Templeton Parcely) (b. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
John Vidican (b. Los Angeles, California)
Lindley was an experienced performer on a variety of stringed instruments, notably the banjo, winning the Topanga Canyon Banjo Contest several years in a row. While studying at La Salle High School in Pasadena, he formed his first group, the Mad Mountain Ramblers, who performed around the Los Angeles folk clubs. There, he met Darrow, who was a member of a rival group, the Re-Organized Dry City Players. Soon afterwards, around 1964, the pair formed a new group, the Dry City Scat Band, which also included fiddle player Richard Greene (later of Seatrain), but Darrow soon left to set up a new rock group, The Floggs. Lindley also began forming his own electric group. In the course of this he met Feldthouse, who had been raised in Turkey and, on returning to the US, had performed flamenco music and as an accompanist to belly dancing groups. Lindley and Feldthouse then began performing as a duo, David and Solomon, when they met Chester Crill. They invited him to join their band, and by the end of 1966 added Darrow and drummer John Vidican, so forming The Kaleidoscope.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaleidoscope_%28UK_band%29 wrote:Kaleidoscope is an English psychedelic rock band that originally were active between 1967 and 1970.[1] The band's songs combined the elements of psychedelia with lyrics.[2][3] The band were also known at various times as The Sidekicks, The Key, I Luv Wight and Fairfield Parlour.[4]

http://www.last.fm/music/%27Igginbottom wrote:Igginbottom were an english band, another Allan Holdsworth’s project. Consist of Steven Robinson (guitar), Allan Holdsworth (guitar, vocals), Dave Freeman (drums), Mick Skelly (bass). They were managed by a company called “Mimo”, that is Mick Jackson, Mo Bacon, Ronnie Scott and his business partner Peter King.
They released on album ‘Igginbottom’s Wrench in 1969 on Deram Records

http://www.allmusic.com/album/edge-of-time-mw0000553783 wrote:Edge of Time combines cosmic folk, psychedelic freeform, and electro-acoustic avant-garde in a unique mix that is strange and surreal. With just four long tracks, the album is dark and brooding, at times even haunting, as the music wends from hypnotic psychedelic folk to bizarre soundscapes of drones and clankings. Though much of the vocals consist of wordless trills similar to the first Ash Ra Tempel record, a couple of tracks, "Silence" and the title cut, have spoken word in English that only adds to the bleak beauty of the sound.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Attack_%28band%29 wrote:The Attack were a freakbeat/psychedelic rock band formed in 1966 around singer Richard Shirman (born 26 April 1949, London). The first line-up featured drummer Alan Whitehead from Marmalade, guitarist David O'List (later of The Nice) and John Du Cann (later of Andromeda and Atomic Rooster).[1] Their first single "Try It" had also been recorded by The Standells and Ohio Express.[1] They also released a version of "Hi Ho Silver Lining", a few days earlier than Jeff Beck.[1] Richard Shirman was invited to be singer with Andromeda but he declined.

In 1979 Shirmam reunited The Attack. Two years later he founded another band Hershey and the 12 Bars who released an album in 2000: Greatest Hits Volume II (A New Day Records, AND CD43).

http://www.last.fm/music/Hard+Meat wrote:Hard Meat was a Birmingham, UK, progressive folk-rock trio led by brothers brothers Mick (guitars, vocals) and Steve Dolan (bass, vocals) and joined by schoolmate Mike Carless (drums, percussion).

The trio released two records for Warner Brothers Records in 1970, the eponymously titled Hard Meat (WS 1852, released ca. February 1970) and Through A Window (WS 1879, released ca. September 1970). Their first 45 side was a reworking of The Beatles’ song ‘Rain’. Wretchedly bad sales ended the band’s career, although they now enjoy a cult status among period vinyl collectors.

http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2009/03/05/george-jefferson-worlds-biggest-gong-fan/ wrote:This is one of the most mind-blowingly weird anecdotes MAGNET has ever published. Ten years ago, writer Mitch Myers profiled prog-rock legend Daevid Allen (Soft Machine, Gong), who told us of his strange encounter with actor Sherman Hemsley (a.k.a. George Jefferson). Here is the story of Hemsley’s obsession with flying teapots and his alleged den of iniquity that housed an LSD lab, a harem of naked girls and crack/freebase depots on every floor.....

http://www.sergent.com.au/music/cruiselane.html wrote:One Of Many Line-Ups:
Murray Grindley (Vocals)
Red McKelvie (Guitar)
Paul Hewson (Keyboards)
Mike Wilson (Drums)
Alan Hunter (Guitar/Vocals)

There were quite a few different combinations of Cruise Lane during their time. The original line-up was formed around 1971 by bass player Gerry Biggs. Gerry had previously played in Roger Skinner's Motivation. Others in Cruise Lane at that time were Alan Hunter on guitar and vocals, Paul Lee on keyboards and saxophone, a guy named Tui on guitar, and Claude Radics on drums. Tui was soon replaced by Tony Pilcher and Gerry Biggs by Peter Kershaw. Kaye Wolfgramm, previously from the Fair Sect, was added as vocalist. They were the first band in Auckland to hook onto the whole Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Leon Russell, Southern Rock thing, and gigged regularly at the Embers Night Club.

Another combination in 1972, included Murray Grindley, after he had worked with the Underdogs and the Brew. Other people to have been in the group were Red McKelvie who had spent his earlier days with the Dark Ages and Chelsea Beats from 1965 to 1966, before joining Ray Woolf's Avengers, but was gone before Ray actually arrived. Mike Wilson had been with the Apple and the Layabouts, before leaving to have a small stint with the Action in its dying stages in Australia. Al Hunter was the vocalist in Killing Floor from 1968 to 1970. Bruno Behrens from the Layabouts also had a go.

A combination that played at a downstairs club in High St opposite Le Brett's included Steve Wilson on guitar, Kaye Wilson (nee Wolfgramm), Tony "Eddie" Rayner, later of Split Enz, Mike Wilson and Dennis Ryan on drums. Tony was replaced by Paul Hewson on keyboards. Paul Hewson had begun his career with Marble Arch. He was in my class at Blockhouse Bay Intermediate school and his exceptional music and keyboard talents were already evident at that young age. His greatest success was still to come, when he went on to join Dragon. This combination played a lot of Rufus and Steely Dan music. Brett Neilsen was also a member of the group for a while. He had previously been with the La De Da's and the Action.

Cruise Lane were not known for their recordings, even though they did a couple of singles, but more for their live spots around Auckland, where they received quite a good following.

Their only released singles were "Death Is In The Air"/"Ego" in 1972 as Kaye Wolfgramm and Cruise Lane. In 1973 "We All Have To Find Our Own Way Home" as Cruise Lane, with a Lou Rawnsley recording "Waiheke" on the reverse and finally "School"/"Ain't No Need", also in 1973.

http://cdreissuewishlist.blogspot.gr/2014/12/news-audio-archives-releases-archival.html wrote:"One of the rarest previously unreleased heavy psych album from the early '70s UK underground by the original five-piece band. Painstakingly re-mastered from the only surviving acetate, you get long, tripped-out tracks with an early Hawkwind feel, toughened by dark vocals that combine to make this a cosmic-doom classic. Highlights include the atmospheric 'Ice Maiden', the spaced-out 'She Paints Strange Pictures' and their notorious tour de force, the lengthy three-part 'McAlistairess Phantoms'.

Plenty of rare band shots, items of memorabilia and detailed sleeve notes included in this long lost forgotten classic."

http://abitlikeyouandme.blogspot.gr/2013/07/john-wonderling-man-of-straw-1968.html wrote:Johnny Wonderling was of French ancestry, born and raised in Queens, New York. In 1968, he wrote “Midway Down” (recorded and released by The Creation in April 1968) and released a version of the song in September 1968 on Loma Records, a sublabel of Warner Bros. His single was the last single to be released on Loma just before their absorption into the Warner Bros. Records label. Although “Midway Down” and its flip-side, heard below, were great songs, they weren’t promoted by the closing recording sublabel. Contributing to his own failure, Wonderling took an additional five years to record enough material to release a full-length album. By that time, 1973, his psychedelic music was antiquated and his album, Daybreaks, failed to make any impact on pop culture or the public. Wonderling remained in New York, living in Woodstock. In the late 2000s, he passed away in Paris, France while away on his honeymoon.

This song was the B-Side to Wonderling’s “Midway Down,” the last single to be released on Loma Records. It was written by John Wonderling, Carey Allane (real name Carey Budnick), and Eddie Goldfluss. Released in September 1968, the song never charted.