HAPPY MONDAY!

Saffran - Blue In Ashes (1975)

Saffran were five musicians from Munich, whose sole album was recorded in 1975, but never released until 2004. Included is a single from 1974. These guys played a sophisticated brand of jazzy progressive rock, using sax, guitar, vocals, keyboards, bass, flute and drums. Very nice.

Bitrate 320 w/covers Download

Quicksilver Messenger Service - Lost Gold And Silver (1999)

Real nice two disc set of unreleased material from Quicksilver Messenger Service. Well unreleased in 1999 anyway! The star of the show is disc one, featuring live performances from 1968, including a couple blues classics, material from their first album, and live versions of Who Do You Love/Mona/Maiden Of The Cancer Moon that rival the versions on Happy Trails. The second disc has a dozen studio tracks recorded in 1967/1968, including a couple early versions of tunes that later made it to an album. These guys were undeniably awesome.

Bitrate 256 w/front & back covers Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Ash Ra Tempel - Schwingungen/Seven Up (1972)

This out of print two-fer has Ash Ra Tempel's second and third albums, both from 1972, on one disc. I've posted Schwingungen before, a long time ago, but not Seven Up. These are both great albums, and Seven Up is especially interesting for the involvement of Dr. Timothy Leary.

High VBR w/scans Part 1 Part 2

Frozen Ghost - Nature Of Magic (1979)

I haven't been able to find out much about this thing - all I know is that Frozen Ghost is actually a Swiss dude named Helmut Müller, who played all the instruments and did all the voices. Probably recorded in some remote Swiss village, this is a garagey heavy-duty guitar orgy - psychedelic and spacey! I don't have the back cover, I'm not really convinced this is the proper front cover, but this was released on Black Rills Records, who have put out some awesome vintage Swiss psych/prog.

High VBR w/front cover Download

Orange Peel - Orange Peel (1970)

Little is known about the origins of Orange Peel, though on their debut single the band featured Michael Winzkowski (also of Nosferatu and Epsilon), and they proved quite seminal, with Heinrich Mohn later following Winzkowski to Epsilon, Peter Bischof moving on to Emergency, and Curt Cress becoming amongst the most prolific of drummers. Orange Peel's LP was amongst the most psychedelic of heavy progressive albums, not least side one's opus "You Can't Change Them All", a veritable masterwork of heavy riffing organ rock, kind of Egg and Pink Floyd jamming Krautrock style, featuring vast guitar excursions, and Peter Bischof's gutsy blues vocals. And then there's "We Still Try To Change" encompassing half of the second side, which trips out beyond the realms of side one's opus, like a crazed Arzachel, close to Os Mundi at their freakiest. The odd track out is an unusual arrangement of "Tobacco Road". (The Crack In The Cosmic Egg).

Bitrate 32-w/covers Download

OK see ya! Comments in any language are appreciated!!

FROM THE ARCHIVES:

Pyramid - Pyramid (1976)

From the same label as that Nazgûl album I posted a few months ago. Same deal - very little information, virtually no liner notes, about all the back cover says is "personnel unknown". This consists of only one track, basically a long jam, coming in at 33 minutes. Two guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards. This is very trippy, stoned-sounding stuff, recommended for anyone that loves 1970's German space music.

Download

Alex Oriental Experience - Tales Of Purple Sally

Unfortunately there is very little in English about this band on the net, but as far as I can gather, this German dude named Alex Wiska is really taken with the "Turkish" sound. This is a compilation of tracks from the early 70's, and this is some very tasty Turkish-sounding stuff! Appearing on most if not all of the tracks are Holger Czukay, Jaki Liebezeit, and Michael Karoli of the band Can. The other musicians seem to be well-known in their fields too. This really needs to be checked out - wish I knew more about it.

Line-Up
- Holger Czukay
- Jaki Liebezeit
- Michael Karoli
- Gerd Dudek
- Alex Wiska
- Cem Karaca
- Huseyn Sultan Oglu
- Seyhan Karabey
- Ünol Buyükgönenc

Part 1 Part 2

Charge - Charge (1973)

Charge was a studio band that only did a few gigs to support this album, which did not sell well. Two of the better known musicians on this are Neil Hubbard and Ric Grech. My only complaint is that it is so short - half the album is a 17 minute piece called 'Child of Nations'. The second track, 'To My Friends' is maybe one of the coolest thing I've heard lately. One reviewer says this is a "loud, blistering sonic attack that rarely relents" - OK it's probably not all that 'blistering' but it's pretty damn good. My rip 320 w/covers.

Download

P2O5 - Vivat Progression Pereat Mundus (1978)

Great album of German hard rock, a little on the mystical side. I actually first posted this way back in December 2005! Well, blog visitor Franz from Deutschland thought the rip was a little lacking sonically, possibly due to a worn stylus, so he purchased the 180 gram vinyl reissue and ripped it himself @ 320. I have to say his version does sound better. OK way better! He also photographed the covers for us. Thanks Franz for this first-class share! Edit: forget all that, this is Franz's rip of the remastered CD with bonus tracks.

Part 1 Part 2

Moolah - Woe Ye Demons Possessed (1974)

This is a very strange album, the work of two guys - Walter Burns and Maurice Roberson. A variety of keyboards, percussion instruments, found sounds, studio funny business, tape loops, weird voices - truly a subversive underground classic. From an out-of-print Japanese 'gray-market' CD reissue. The reissue LP can still be purchased. One reviewer describes this as "America's Krautrock album"! The performers say this is a "a cosmic rock relaxation creation to elevate sensory awareness to include the aura of intuitive perception of higher realm of human/divine consciousness using the astral body projection experience vehicle to pierce time/space/logic dimension barriers on the return voyage to the ultimate concept."

Download