Saturday 26 December 2015

A Library Xmas: The 1976 Summits's Beat + Pop - Grundformen Und Tänze - Recommended!





A really unique little library, unknown and rare, from Germany 1976.  From Beatedelic:

Very rare german private press LP from 1979 [actually 1976- ed.] but the whole production has a late 60s, early 70s feel. The album contains a great mix of vocal and instrumental tracks and presents an impressive range of styles from Funk and Jazz to Latin and also one track in a psychedelic / progressive vein. Instrumentation includes e-piano, wah-wah guitar, scat-vocals and percussions.

The band did not release anything else, at least under this name.

Full information:

Summits  ‎– Beat + Pop - Grundformen Und Tänze
Label: Georg Kallmeyer Verlag ‎– 7102
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album

Tracklist

A1 Strange Exchange  2:00
A2 Como Un Helado Famoso  2:00
A3 Rumplestiltskin  1:55
A4 Sky High  2:00
A5 Shufflin' Around  2:03
A6 Flotante  1:46
A7 Naja  1:25

B1 Face Of Sadness  3:15
B2 Porfía, Por Favor!  1:45
B3 Spell Of A Passing Moment  1:41
B4 Canción Con Árbitro  2:27
B5 Drei Über Vier  9:30

Notes:
Released with a big map consisting of how to dance to the tracks.

This particular note is interesting, as my copy did not have such an insert.  On the other hand it's been pointed out there was an accompanying booklet, released separately, by the producer Marianne Ehrich.  You can see such a copy for sale here on abebooks.   Perhaps the book was the more important product, with the music as an audio illustration for its benefit?  Someone might be able to enlighten and if so please comment below.

The overall tone of this very interesting little document of those wonderfully inventive 70s, with the female vocals and upbeat tempos, is very similar to the Luna Set Art album I posted before, minus the synthesizers.  As in the review above, the band plays all kinds of different styles including bossa novas, swing jazz, funk, mellow library instrumentals, progressive songs a la Racaille, and a long psychedelic jam in the last position called three over five, presumably the dance steps or tempo measure.  I cannot say this is a masterpiece however, more of a curiosity.  For our purposes the most progressive or intricate and original pieces stand out as the A6 Flotante (very reminiscent of the Modern Sound Quartet stuff):





and the Spell of a Passing Moment:





What a lot of work put into such a lost cause (today)... but let us now return it to our collective memory.




7 comments:


  1. https://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/6cya03

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  2. Many Many Thanks for this ! Pure Dopeness !
    D.J. ChinaBlack

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  3. Totally unknown to me and what a surprise it is. Thanks!

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  4. A very happy new year to you and many thanks for this wonderful lp. I'm addicted to this kind of "cocktail fusion", and I'm very glad you posted this gem.

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  5. Thank you, Julian. Happy new year!

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