Sandra Haas - ... Und Dann Spiel'n Wir Der Dummheit Einen Streich (Germany 1973)

Another strikingly beautiful woman, I think we can all agree, perhaps one that should have been added to Oscar Rocchi's Ladies, or then again maybe she was, and this is her second record as it seems.  Sadly she has no wikipedia entry.  I was obviously hoping for another major songwriting find like this time last year's Uschi Bruning (and indeed it's quite similar), but this would have been too much happiness for me for god to accept.  And notice the compositions are handled by the famous songwriting team of Rigoni und Schoenherz (drums and keys, respectively).  Each song seems to recall another.  You will notice Track A2 recalls Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade (please not again!), A3 recalls Bridge on Troubled Waters (oh, god!) and then many other tracks recall other hits which I probably don't even know about...

An acceptably listenable track for us would be their A5 Meditation, with its orchestral softness and slight calorific qualities along the lines of the What a Night album from Schoenherz (which I can't recommend).





Well, upon listening to this again, I would go so far as to say I wish the songwriting team had spent as much effort on the remainder of the compositions as they did on this one, though this too still evokes a big indebtedness to songwriting genius Jimmy Webb's stylistic tricks.

The cover of the first album shows what a beauty she was, of course today she would be a 65-year old grandmother:

For more uptempo material with flutes you can hear B3's Der Reisende (Rigoni - Schönherz):

Nino's No Identity

This is a great little guitar-driven album from Germany which obviously is utterly unknown.  The sides are divided into Red (presumably a) and Blue (b).  Most progressive compositions are on the latter, and there are some real beauties.  His style really reminds me of the best days of David Gilmour in Pink Floyd with his Les Paul sharp like an exacto knife in its pure and sustained sounds that are hallmarks of that maker (though I thought Gilmour played Fenders, I could be wrong).

Note the utterly abhorrent presence of a cover version of  the criminally awful song "Lady Madonna" on side 1.

I have, however, personally played the B2 track called Raining something like thirty-seven times since I first bought this record from the growing bin, and I still could listen to it some more:





The beauty of this song lies in its many modulations, clearly.


To give you an idea of what I mean by David Gilmour-like, listen to his absolutely soaring and mathematically pure solo slide guitar sound on B3 Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island):





Do peacocks love Pink Floyd too? I should hope so: Dark Side of the Moon is usually rated one of the greatest albums in all rock history, and for good reason.

Polish Crash Crashes back with Something Beautiful But Not Expensive, 1983

First of all, I hope everyone has already heard them wonderful 1976 first album with the absolutely magnificently gorgeous cover painting, a genius work of Eastern European vocal progressive fusion:

I saw this particular item (obviously) when referencing recently the Debreceni group and realized I didn't have it yet, just their first record.  Now given the late year we are always nervous about the leanings towards danceable fuzak with the slapped bass, fakish guitar sound, etc.  Now reach for the xanax because we have good reason to be nervous here.  Side one is the kind of eighties fusion that ruined the whole style for any kind of respectful listener or fan and probably is the main reason the word is anathema to the average music critic, even today.

Gotta love the title of "The Happy Sanitary Man" (B1) though:





However not to disappoint you completely, I will throw in a new rip of their first LP and guess what, there's more, here's a bonus cassette that I think everyone will really love, from the late seventies, and this is truly a classic:

Check out this poster!!  WOW!

Now check out a track from the 1977 cassette, a3. Nocna zabawa-- Notice how after building up momentum beautifully with sax quickies and bass thumping over a 16th note percussion in the stanza, the chorus smoothly transitions into an emotional unison melody with sax and bass, moving into minor second melancholy sounds, before returning to the 16 note pattern.  Now that's the kind of fusion I dig!!





And let me ask, in the few years between the above and the latest record at the top, how did art progress, and in what direction? Oh how far the mighty fell, especially in the 80s...

Charles and Morgan - Homework (Germany, 1974)

Gift of a rip from a kind friend again, this is usually described as folky psych or acid rock, though to me it sounds simply like slightly bizarre straightforward folk rock, I know the term 'psych' is often applied to these sorts of albums without to me bearing any significant meaning if the whole word implied is "psychedelic".  Anyways, reviews are all over the map on this one, as you can see from rateyourmusic where the two luminaries disagree somewhat:

ashratom Aug 28 2010    2.00 stars  

The first part of the album is horrendous rural country blues and is unbearably bad. However, it switches gears into a freaky avant garde acoustic psych folk about 2/3's of the way through. Worth one listen, but stick with it. Very rare album, though it doesn't sound German at all. Honestly, it sounds like a couple of pot heads from Kentucky.

 levgan Jan 10 2009    3.50 stars  

Undoubtedly this could have been a highly touted item in the Acid Archives book, but alas, despite their americanized names and tunes, Charles & Morgan were a German duo and their sole album has been recorded somewhere in West Germany, rather than in Ohio or Michigan. As such, this is a nearly forgotten, but really cute little record, which is full of inoffensive rural singalong ditties and delightfully ends with an extended, almost acid-folk tour-de-force.

Between the two I think I agree with Tom's former, except the second side is a little less interesting than implied.  As you can see, member's names are Charles [Charly McLion] (guitar), Morgan [Dieter Kaspari] (vocals, guitar, bass, harmonica),  Here's an instrumental from that famous second side:






Given the description of side one as "horrendous"  I will be back tomorrow with a better record, promise...

Christoph Kemmler & Friends from Germany 1984 - Another great Osurec discovery

Fusion in the Kjol style, not as good obviously, still recommended...