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Aynsley Dunbar - Blue Whale (1970)

Aynsley Dunbar, since his start drumming for John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and the Jeff Beck Group, not to mention his own great band The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, has played with some of rock's greatest acts - he's on about 15 different Frank Zappa albums. So he's a pretty good drummer I guess. Anyway, in 1970 he formed Blue Whale which put out one album, which features four jazzy progressive pieces, and a 16 minute version of Zappa's Willie The Pimp. It's not all about percussion, though, there's two lead guitarists, a keyboard player and a brass section all struggling to be heard.

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Copperhead - Copperhead (1972)

Two and a half years after exiting Quicksilver Messenger Service, of which he had been the primary instrumentalist, lead guitar player John Cipollina resurfaced at the front of a new rock quartet, Copperhead. The group had come together slowly, but by the time of their debut album, they were ready for action. Second guitarist Gary Philippet contributed the more straight-ahead rockers, like leadoff track and first single "Roller Derby Star," while bass player Jim McPherson tended to write more discursive numbers, though he was capable of strong rock & roll shuffles such as the Rolling Stones-like "Wing-Dang-Doo." But both players took a back seat to Cipollina, whose distinctively high-pitched, slightly dissonant lead guitar work defined the band's sound, just as it had in Quicksilver. One should perhaps amend that to say "early Quicksilver"; Copperhead recalled the earlier band's heyday of the late '60s on their own self-titled debut and the gold-selling Happy Trails more than the early-'70s edition of the group, especially on the extended instrumental passages in songs like "Pawnshop Man" and "They're Making a Monster." By rights, then, Copperhead should have taken off to become one of the major second-generation San Francisco rock bands of the '70s, but it was not to be. In the wake of Columbia Records president Clive Davis' firing shortly after this album's release, his signings were given the company's lowest priority, and few people ever found out there was a band and an album called Copperhead.

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Krokodil - Swamp (1970)

A most tuneful and infectious album forever hampered by its unfortunate position within the discography of these Swiss krautrockers. This 1970 release shows a band in flux between the scorching boogie-blues workouts of their eponymous debut and the massive stoned psych action of their third album masterpiece "An Invisible World Revealed". Many German groups attempted to sing in English to broaden their audience and virtually all failed miserably. "Swamp," on the other hand, reveals itself to be one of the more interesting examples of this phenomena, venturing into Van Morrison, Fairport Convention, and even Wailers territory. Meanwhile, the rest of the band was experimenting with sitars, flutes and avant percussion.

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Various Artists - The Krautrock Archive Vol. III

The last volume in the Unknown Deutschland series, and faithful 8 Days-ers will likely already have the tracks by Galactic Explorers, Temple, Golem and Nazgul. The remaining three tracks, by Neil Andersen, Baal, and Chronos make this worth downloading even if you already have the other tracks.

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Pell Mell - Marburg (1972)

This album is a masterpiece of heavy, complex, unusual, highly imaginative, and powerful organ dominated heavy symphonic progressive rock. Unlike what some write ups say this is not at all mostly instrumental. The vocalist (Rudolph Schon) is prominent on every track except the lovely instrumental "Moldau" and his raving, manic, strong, and commanding approach is awesome. He sounds like no other vocalist I can think of and when there are harmonies it is really impressive. Aside from the astounding first track there is no guitar here, and one of the things to truly make Pell Mell's first album exotic is the violin and organ dominated instrumentation. The songs are fantastic- full of atmosphere, energy, contrast, and imagination. When I am hearing the longest tracks on this album none of them drag a bit and there is constantly something new and different going on. Classical influences are prevalent, but I would disagree that the band are ripping off famous classical composers. I see the few very easy to pinpoint references as a homage rather than a rip off. I have trouble understanding the lyrics to a lot of these songs. They are in English, but heavily accented and rather strange! Perfect example is "City Monster." The title alone tells you these guys were a little bit different in their very European (namely German) take on progressive symphonic rock. The musicianship here is something to be marvelled at, but ultimately it is the raw and unusual vocals that make this album so great when they are combined with how good each individual player in the five piece band is. The drummer is excellent, and so is the bass player. The organist and violin player are never self indulgent and always exciting. For long tracks full of symphonic overtones and heavy psychedelic rock lurking in the shadows this is one of the best albums I've heard. Every track is outstanding (There are only 5), and this one is highly recommended! (progarchives.com)

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Edgar Broughton Band - Keep Them Freaks A Rollin' (1969)

Previously unreleased live album from the proto punks recorded at Abbey Road in December 1969.The choice of material on the disc is representative of the band's live set at the time like "Out Demons Out", an early version of "What is a Woman For" the biting "American Soldier Boy" and best of all their explosive ten minute version of "Smokestack Lightening".

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Agitation Free - 2nd (1973)

Excellent atmospheric German space rock with some pretty trippy interludes. A very young and talent Michael Hoenig (later with Tangerine Dream) plays a wonderful array of keyboards which when combined with the acid washed guitar solos takes your mind into another world. This music is not for the novice and should not be taken on an empty stomach! Agitation Free is very similar to sh Ra Tempel in many ways bringing perhaps a more cultural feel forward in their music. I love the insturmental excursions on this album and find it a great recording to lay back and listen to. "2nd" never gets too loud or frenzied and always seems to maintain a dark, but warm atmosphere. Lutz Ulbrich also joins on guitar better known for his later work in Ash Ra. On the back sleeve we are told that THIS RECORD SHOULD BE PLAYED LOUD and I would 2nd that notion. Spacey but absolutely brilliant recording... essential!

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Vita Nova - Vita Nova (1971)

Vita Nova was a studio project that never played live, and their one and only recording is a fantastic album full of high quality progressive tendencies and originality. An interesting feature of this band was the original use of the Hohner Clavinet (pre moog synth) and considering that they were a German band, the sparse vocals are sung in Latin! The band was trio of Eddy "Ugly Ugly" Marron (vocals, bass and Turkish zaz), Sylvester Levay (keys, perc) and Christian von Hoffmann (drums, percussion). Musically these guys were fantastic with some killer guitar, bass, keyboard and drum work. Their music is full of energy and full of progressive time signature changes and instrumental prowess. Overall a great album and one of the true treasures of the 70's German underground.

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Alrighty then! See you next week!!