Hello guys and gals - it's Monday again!

Chango - Chango (1975)

If you like the oldest Santana albums you should probably check this one out. A six member band, half the guys have percussion duty then there's bass keyboards and guitar. The lyrics seem a little weak but what the heck. This thing is a percussion fest with lots of screaming guitar leads and tons of great keyboards. These guys were an L.A. band I'm pretty sure, the album was recorded in Hollywood anyway.

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Frumpy - Live (1972)

Well I'm pretty sure everybody know who Frumpy was, they were probably German's best 'straight' rock band in the early seventies. The original double LP had the first seven tracks and the two bonus tracks are from a 1970 compilation called "Pop and Blues Festival". Great stuff. Kinda proggy maybe just a little, but mostly soulful, R & B based rock.

1. Keep On Going (12:06)
2. Singing Songs (8:54)
3. Backwater Blues (4:56)
4. Duty (17:35)
5. To My Mother (11:34)
6. Release (22:00)
7. Take Care Of Illusion (8:54)
Bonus Tracks
8. Duty (7:33)
9. Floating (12:14)

- Inga Rumpf / vocals, guitar
- Jean-Jacques Kravetz / keyboards
- Rainer Baumann / guitar
- Karl-Heinz Schott / bass
- Carsten Bohn / drums

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Guru Guru - Känguru (1972)

"Guru Guru's third album relied much more on their skills and abilities as musicians and had much more structure to it although the music was still heavily influenced by illicit drug experiences. The tracks remained long and experimental but were more polished and no longer sounded like they were recorded in a public washroom. Produced by top German recording engineer, Conny Plank and signed to the Brain record label,Guru Guru were by this time one of the top live acts on the German rock scene. The listener can expect to encounter many different stylings and textures throughout this unusual work. Diversity abounds with "pop" sounding vocals, jazz phrasings, power chords amid free-form audio experiments relying on a multitude of studio effects from echo boxes to phase shifted drumming. Mani Nuemeir's drum talents are much more in evidence here than on the two previous albums as is his ubiquitous (yet strange) sense of humour. This is the recommended starting point for those not yet familiar with Guru Guru. The Mani Neumeir/Uli Trept/Ax Genrich line-up of the early 70's was considered by many to be the pen-ultimate edition of this classic German group and should be listened to LOUD!" (Ian Gledhill progarchives)

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Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship - Blows Against The Empire (1970)

OK this isn't really a Jefferson Starship album, though the name does appear on the cover - that band didn't form until about four years later. This is a Paul Kantner/Grace Slick project that was recorded right after "Volunteers". They are helped by most of the people who appeared on David Crosby's "If I Could Only Remember My Name", which was being recorded at the same time. Jerry Garcia, Crosby and Nash, and sundry others. The album is a sci-fi concept story about a bunch of hippies who steal a starship and "establish a brave new world in some distant galaxy". The music is the thing this is an awesome album and everyone on it is at the top of their form. Lots of great interplay between Garcia and the piano player, not sure who it is. Four great bonus tracks on this.

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Tir Na Nog - Tir Na Nog (1971)

This is the first of three albums from a couple of long-haired Irish folkies (Sonny Condell & Liam O'Kelly) who were steeped in tradition yet very 'hip'. Intelligent, poetic and sometimes funny lyrics, well-crafted songs beautifully performed. Atmospheric and 'sensitive', as folky stuff goes this is incredible.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES:

Please - Seeing Stars (1969)

Recorded in 1969 and unreleased for over 30 years, this is a real lost gem of British underground rock. The players on this had been in or would be in such bands as T2, Bulldog Breed, The Flies, and Gun. Well-crafted songs, first-rate vocals, big Mellotron, fantastic guitar playing and all around excellent musicianship make this an album that gets better with each listen.

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Drum Circus - Magic Theatre (1971)

Only release from an obscure band from Switzerland, they apparently had some dealings with Timothy Leary, who wrote the lyrics for two of the tracks. Joel Vandroogenbroeck of Brainticket can be heard on keyboards, flute, and sitar. Jazzy, groovy, spacy and psychedelic - this is a real nice listen, highly recommended!

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Talix - Spuren (1971)

Way back in May, maybe June, I put out a call for this German rarity, and never heard a word until a little over a week ago, when I heard from "Dave K" who said he had a CDR of this and would rip it, scan the covers and upload it!! This has never been officially released on CD and the vinyl goes for big bucks - we all owe "Dave" a big thank you. The music - nothing here is going to shock anybody, but this is great vintage prog, very quirky, mostly based on guitar and saxophone with lashings of keyboard and flute. German vocals sound jarringly poppy at times - this may take a few listens to get into!! This was their only release as Talix - they renamed themselves Pinguin and released a real nice keyboard-based album called "Der Grosse Rote Vogel" (posted 7-5-06).

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Family - Anyway (1970)

This is the fourth release from one of Britain's best bands of the 1970's. Roger Chapman's vocals may be an acquired taste, but I think the music they made is nothing less than powerful. Charlie Whitney's guitar playing is remarkable - his solo on "Lives and Ladies" is so damn good right on the mark. The original LP release had eight tracks, four live and four studio. This reissue has three live bonus cuts, including a version of "Part of the Load" that is twice as long as the original.

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Can - Paris 12 May 1973

Disc One: 01 - Whole People Queueing (36:38) 02 - One More Night (9:08)
Disc Two: 01 - Spoon / Stars & Lines (32:09) 02 - Vitamin C (13:44)

Holger Czukay - Bass
Michael Karoli - Guitar
Jaki Liebezeit - Drums
Irmin Schmidt - Keyboards
Damo Suzuki - Vocals

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OK later.