Hi everybody - another week has passed, bringing Spring a little closer. Where I live, anyway!

German Oak - German Oak (1972)

No, I haven't lost my mind, well not much of it anyway! I know I posted this back in November, but if you remember the rip that I uploaded had an error at the end of track one. Well after much searching and downloading, I finally found another rip of this album that has track one, "Swastika Rising" the way it is on the CD. Honestly it's not much different - the abrupt ending is intentional. But this is such a great album I thought I'd re-post it. Why did I go to all this trouble? Because I care! Edit: forget all that. I found a copy of the CD and this is a fresh rip - the breaks at the end of track 1 are on the disc itself.

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German Oak - Niebelungelied (1972-1976)

So while I'm at it I thought I might as well post this one too. This appears to be a collection of demos, outtakes, maybe practice sessions, I'm not sure - information is scarce. The tracks are named after characters from German folklore, and they are kind of spotty. Some are real good, some not so much. In the end though, this is a pretty cool album - not as cool as their self-titled release, but worth having nonetheless.

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Kraan - Kraan (1972)

The debut album by Kraan is as good as any and all of their later efforts. Smooth flowing jazz/krautrock/fusion is the sound established on this release that continues throughout all of the Kraan releases. Much of this one has a distinctive percussion sound that is almost latin! Check the cut "Kraan Arabia" for an example. As with all Kraan albums the recording and sound quality is flawless! Stand out cuts are "M.C. Escher" and the nearly nineteen minute long cut "Head! A proghead and krautrock lovers dream! (progarchives.com)

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Spermüll - Spermüll (1973)

Sperrmull's only album has all the musical variety you'll ever desire from an early 70's German album - the jolly mandolin tune on "Me And My Girlfriend", Floydian effects on "No Freak Out", Deep Purple-like guitar and organ lines on "Rising Up" and powerful solo work with dynamic arrangements on "Right Now" (the longest track). The rest, "Land Of The Rocking Sun" and "Pat Casey", were more conventional rock songs, and could very well have been the A and B sides to a catchy single (but weren't!). The recordings were done at the Dierks Studio, Stommeln, produced by a certain Chazadu, surely a more famous character appearing under a pseudonym. Sperrmull consisted of: Helmut Krieg (guitar, mandolin, vocals, he also wrote most of the songs), Harald Kaiser (bass, vocals), Reinhold Breuer (drums, percussion) and Peter Schneider (organ, electric piano, synthesizer). Their album is one of the rarest of the whole Brain 1,000-series, mint originals selling for more than 250 DM. In 1989, a limited edition of 1,000 copies (on black Brain) was made available through the influence of Second Battle. This edition sold out quickly, so the album is once again hard to obtain. (alexgitlin.com)

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Wild Turkey - Turkey (1972)

This second album from the band formed by ex-Jethro Tull bassist Glenn Cornick ("This Was", "Stand Up" and "Benefit"), is real good straight-ahead bluesy rock, with maybe some progressive leanings, though not many. The nice guitar-work and Cornick's sparse and tasty use of piano are the most dominating elements in their sound, together with Gary Pickford-Hopkins' (ex-Eyes Of Blue) vocals. The opener, "Good Old Days" and "Eternal Mother/The Return" are real good rock tunes as is the instrumental "See You Next Tuesday". "Universal Man" and "Telephone" are both good hard rock tracks, with nothing particular progressive about them. Tracks like "Tomorrow's Friend" and the boogie tune "Ballad of Chuck Stallion and the Mustangs" won't be of much interest if you are mainly a prog fan, but this is still a good example of early 70's rock.

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Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel (1971)

Simply one of the all-time great Krautrock albums, this is the original Ash Ra Tempel lineup with Manuel Göttsching, Hartmut Enke, and Klaus Schulze (who just left Tangerine Dream following the release of "Electronic Meditation"). Still at this point, Schulze was handling the drums, rather than keyboards that he's most famous for. There are only two side-length cuts. "Amboss" is a totally mindblowing guitar-oriented jam and "Traummaschine" (German for "Dream Machine") is a much more relaxed, spooky sounding piece, mostly relying on ambience, with the guitar only rearing its head occasionally. Another mindblowing piece for the total opposite reason as "Amboss". This is truly one of the first Ash Ra Tempel albums you should try, especially because there are no vocals (except for some wordless vocals on "Traummachine" which are rather pleasant). A true must have for all space rock and Krautrock junkies out there! (progarchives.com)

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Sunday - Sunday (1971)

Although recorded in London, this album of very atmospheric and melodic progressive rock by what seems to be a Scottish crew was only released in Germany. The music is generally very thoughtful and in quite a few places bluesy. Still there is your usual share of guitar solos and organ riffs, at times provoking Beggars Opera at their least arty. The album is undoubtedly as good as most in this class and it is hard to understand why they couldn't secure a UK release. The cover depicts a miraculous painting by Lyonel Feininger, a sure sign of good taste. The opener, “Love Is Life”, is a rambunctious rocker with a relentless drum beat, great dynamic breaks and an underlying organ riff, kicking the doors open in style. “I Couldn’t Face You” is a ballad with an interesting bluesy melody and a piano-organ arrangement reminiscent of Procol Harum. Following the slow melancholy of “Blues Song”, there’s the odd “Man In A Boat”, a psychedelic trip featuring once again Gary Brooker-like Hammond sound – slow-paced and majestic and set to an almost marching beat. Mid-song it resolves into an energetic mid-paced rocker. “Ain’t It A Pity” captures and preserves for posterity the freewheeling spirit of the times perfectly – complete with free-flowing organ, piano and guitar parts and uninhibited, commanding and attention-grabbing vocals. “Tree Of Life” takes the pace down a notch but continues on in much the same style; and tells a story. The most meandering track on this otherwise near-perfect album is “Sad Man Reaching Utopia” – clocking up at 10:51. Almost great, and a shame they didn’t go beyond this debut. The CD was “mastered” from a vinyl copy, as the original master tapes were most likely lost. (Tapestry Of Delights-alexgitlin.com)

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Blues Magoos - Psychedelic Lollipop (1966)

A Bronx-based quintet, denizens of the Greenwich Village club scene, and originally known by the tres psychedelic moniker the Bloos Magoos, the Blues Magoos made their mark in 1967 with a rousing, full-throttle, sub-literate, psychedelic garage rock single, "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet." It wasn't a spacy, pretentious song, nor did it contain vague attempts at hippie-era mysticism, but was rather the kind of simple, direct, infectious rock & roll you could imagine five guys from the Bronx making. With a snotty lead vocal from keyboardist Ralph Scala and some wild-eyed guitar playing courtesy of then-16-year-old Emil "Peppy" Thielheim, America made the Magoos' debut single a Top Ten hit, sending it to number five in January 1967. With this impetus, the band used all the trappings of marketable psychedelia to promote their second album, Psychedelic Lollipop, which, despite the title's obvious pandering, was a fairly cool chunk of psych-garage rock. The album featured trebly, crappy-sounding guitars, a whiny Farfisa organ, yelled vocals, and a rhythm section that shelved nuance for thudding simplicity. A great example of mid-60's American psychedelic garage rock.

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Arzachel - Arzachel (1969)

This spacey psychedelic album is notable for the involvement of Steve Hillage. Musically it's at times a little over the top. But, the opening cut, "Garden Of Earthly Delights" is of interest and "Azathoth" has a rich 'church' organ backing. On side two "Clean Innocent Fun" previews Hillage's fine guitar work and "Metempsychosis" opens full of weirdness and sound effects (which recur at regular intervals throughout) before pursuing a similar vein. The latter track, in particular, begs comparison with Pink Floyd around the Saucerful Of Secrets era. Arzachel is a very keyboard-dominated album, featuring some of the most explosive psychedelia by an English group. The sound of sustained keyboard and guitar passages are full blown drawn-out psychedelia of the highest order. (Tapestry Of Delights)

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Brainchild - Healing Of The Lunatic Owl (1970)

Lennie Wright from Web and Samurai produced Brainchild's first and only album, so it's no surprise that "Healing of the Lunatic Owl" is in a similar style to both "I Spider" and Samurai's self-titled album. That means early 70's progressive rock dominated by horns and organ. The opener "Autobiography" starts as a straightforward rocker, but turns in the middle into a complex instrumental section that lasts for the rest of the song. Although it's one of the shortest tracks on the album, it sums up nearly every side of the band's music very well. The swinging title-track is one of the highlights, and the structure is really not that far away from "Autobiography", but the track returns to the main part at the end again. The slow and bluesy beat of "Hide From the Dawn" is a bit more basic, but the long instrumental passages and complex arrangements make it well worth listening to. "She's Learning" is the catchiest song on the album, and has almost hit-potential. However, the longest tune is "A Time A Place", featuring dramatic vocal parts mixed with more intricate instrumental parts. "Two Bad Days" is for me the least good song, but the ballad "Sadness of a Moment" is really beautiful, consisting of nothing else than flute, guitar and vocals. And the album finally closes with the excellent instrumental "To "B"". I'm not sure if I would rate this album as high as "I Spider" or "Samurai", but it's still a very good LP worth finding if you enjoy the two mentioned bands or progressive rock with horns in general. (vintageprog.com)

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The Rolling Stones - Beat Beat Beat At The Beeb (1963-1965)

This 2 CD set comprises the long lost session recordings the Rolling Stones made especially for British BBC Radio between 1963 and 1965. They are in chronological order and as complete as possible. Every effort was made to track down the best sources, be it from the BBC archives or from avid fans who taped those shows off the radio in the early 60's. This was necessary since the BBC itself erased most of it's programmes as in those days they were not considered worthwhile enough for preservation! The tapes were equalized, de-noised, de-clicked and speed-corrected in order to make the overall sound quality as perfect as can be. (back cover)

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OK there it is. While you're downloading, take some time to check out some of the blogs on the link section on the right - I've found some pretty cool stuff on those blogs! See ya!