Please - Seeing Stars (1969)

"Please was a UK psych band that, well I think they had a lot going them, musically. The eleven cuts on Seeing Stars had never even seen the light of day until this CD was put out by Acme. Members of Please were apparently later in a couple of other bands, Bulldog Breed and T2. Some of these tracks remind me of early Pink Floyd, pretty much because of the keyboard arrangements, like "Words To Say", "Before", the wailing "Still Dreaming" (possibly the disc's best tune), "Secrets", "Who You Know" and "But". I thought "Time Goes By" had the characteristics of perhaps an early unreleased King Crimson B-side. Seeing Stars has nicely-done vocals, soaring mellotron, fluid guitar work and cleverly constructed songs to offer it's listeners. It's so good that on the first listen you'll fully understand as to why ' true psychedelia' has never really died, if you don't already.Truly great early British psych that gets better with each play. Should appeal to fans of early Floyd, Tomorrow, The Move, Yes, solo Syd Barrett and The Doors. A real keeper." (aural-innovations.com)

"Please were formed by Peter Dunton and Bernie Jinks in late 1967. They had just returned to Britain from Germany where they had played with Neon Pearl, which also included their third member Jurgen Ermisch. The fourth original member Adrian Gurvitz later co-founded Gun. Unfortunately this line-up left no vinyl legacy or unreleased recordings that have been located behind it. They disbanded in May 1968 when Peter Dunton joined The Flies for whom he wrote both sides of their Magic Train 45. When The Flies split up at the end of 1968, Dunton reformed the band (line-up 'B'). Rob Hunt had also been in The Flies. They recorded all the cuts compiled on this album. Please split again in April 1969 when Peter Dunton joined Gun. The remaining members recruited a new drummer and renamed themselves Bulldog Breed. They later cut the Made In England album. In the Autumn of 1969, Peter Dunton quit Gun to reform Please with Bernie Jinks and Nick Spenser (ex-Neon Pearl). This incarnation was relatively short-lived as they had difficulty recruiting a suitable keyboard player. In early 1970 Dunton, Jinks and a later Bulldog Breed member Keith Cross joined forces to form T2, who were responsible for the excellent It'll All Work Out In Boomland album. One of T2's tracks, No More White Horses also crops up in a radically different form on Please's 1968/69 retrospective." (Tapestry of Delights)

01 - Seeing Stars
02 - Words To Say
03 - Before
04 - Time Goes By
05 - The Road
06 - Rise & Shine
07 - Still Dreaming
08 - Secrets
09 - Who You Know
10 - But
11 - Steal Your Dreams


Peter Dunton - Keyboards, Lead Vocals & Drums
Bernie Jinks - Bass & Backing Vocals
Nick Spenser - Guitar, Backing Vocals

EAC-FLAC-LOG-CUE-SCANS 278 MB

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Later!

Lightshine - Feeling (1976)

"Formed in 1974 by four students, Lightshine originated from the town of Emmerich in the lower Rhein area. Slightly out of their time, negotiations with Sky and Vertigo came to nothing, they didn't fit in with the new smoother progressive sounds of the mid-1970's, so eventually they decided to publish an album themselves.

Unusually, Lightshine sounded very psychedelic for a band in 1976, their personalised brand of progressive rock was heavily inspired by British bands like Family and Genesis, along with touches of early Jane, Eloy, or Satin Whale, but with a touch of Teutonic eccentricity, their twist on Peter Gabriel type theatrics is highly original, and with complex arrangements and clever (sometimes very funny) songs, it all made for an enjoyable and inventive album. But, aside from getting enough interest to repress the album a year later, Lightshine never got above the ranks of support act to the likes of Hoelderlin or Scorpions. They disbanded in late 1977." (The Crack In The Cosmic Egg)

"This group released the impressive album Feeling (1976), a classic among small label releases. Unfortunately I'm not able to give you the full names of this crew, as the sleeve only stated their forenames. The band was from the Emmerich area near the Dutch border, recording their obscure album in an unknown studio named Trepita-Film-Ton-Studio (whose label was also responsible for the release). It's hard to give you an accurate impression of this album because of its great variety. They obviously loved to incorporate crazy elements into their music, as illustrated by the primal screams at the beginning of "Sword In The Sky" and the King's laughter in "King And Queen". There were also moments of great beauty: the cosmic, Ash Ra-like guitar style on "Nightmare" with soft vocal harmonics and synthesizer textures. "Lory" borrowed the bass pattern from Grieg's composition "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" and had gutsy, distorted guitars. The aforementioned "King And Queen" was a 13 minute opus, merging melancholic melodies, lyrics and dreamy instrumental parts with the sudden appearance of the insane king! The album concluded with "Feeling", a kind of acid-folk composition culminating in a final frenzy. Overall, an extremely good album, well worth hunting for! An original copy will cost you more than 250 DEM!" (Cosmic Dreams At Play)

01 - Sword In The Sky
02 - Lory
03 - Nightmare
04 - King And Queen
05 - Feeling

Olli - Synthesizer
Wolfgang - Bass, Vocals
Egon - Drums
Ulli - Rhythm Guitar, Flute, Vocals
Joe - Lead Guitar, Vocals

EAC-FLAC-LOG-CUE-SCANS (300-600dpi) 298 MB

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Wow - three whole comments last week. Gee.

Krokodil - The Psychedelic Tapes (1970 - 1972)

Well I wasn't able to find out much about this on the internet, and by that I mean I couldn't find a review to copy and paste! Oh well.

1970-1972 were the psychedelic years of the mighty Krokodil from Switzerland who made the stunning psychedelic kraut rock album "An Invisible World Revealed". During this early period the band recorded a lot of magical songs both live (3 tracks) and in the studio (5 tracks) which are now after more than 30 years released on CD. Long trippy space rock with a West Coast/Kraut Rock edge, featuring fluid acid guitar work, flute and effects. The CD includes a great version of Pharoah Sanders' "The Creator Has a Master Plan", which surprisingly doesn't sound all that jazzy, a live 30 minute version of "Odyssey In Om" from their landmark album "An Invisible World Revealed" - about a third of this is a bass/percussion extravaganza. On the hard rock side is a live version of "Marzipan" from the album "Getting Up For The Morning". The three "Stehaufmädchen" tracks are very interesting, but also real short. "You're Still a Part of Me" is a live version of the song from their 1969 debut album and has a great late 60's bluesy/psych vibe. The last track, "Raga" is some cool sounding Sitar work.

Anyway this is a very good CD and if you like "An Invisible World Revealed" this is a totally worthwhile addition to your collection.

1. The Creator Has a Master Plan - 1970 (9:22)
2. Stehaufmädchen Part 1 - 1970 (1:05)
3. Marzipan (Live) - 1972 (8:02)
4. Stehaufmädchen Part 2 - 1970 (1:04)
5. You're Still a Part of Me (Live) - 1972 (5:44)
6. Stehaufmädchen Part 3 - 1970 (1:06)
7. Odyssey in Om (Live) - 1972 (30:29)
8. Raga - 1971 (3:16)

Terry Stevens - Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Vocals
Hardy Hepp - Violin, Piano, Recorder, Vocals
Düde Dürst - Drums, Congas, Vocals
Walty Anselmo - Sitar, Guitar, Bass, Vocals
Mojo Weideli - Mouthharp, Flute, Percussion, Vocals

EAC-FLAC-LOG-CUE-SCANS (600dpi) 392 MB

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Next week, then! Comments appreciated.

Nutz - Nutz (1974)

If you like British hard rock from the 70's this first album from Nutz is hard to beat. Released last year for the first time on CD, I was shocked at the great sound - I'd had a version on mp3 that I'd been listening to that didn't do this thing justice at all. These guys recorded four albums from 1974 to 1977, and they got it right the first time out. Despite building a loyal fan base and touring at various times with Black Sabbath, UFO, and Budgie, these guys never had any commercial success, their albums didn't sell well at all.

Their first album was an interesting and varied affair in which the band played with several different styles without losing their identity. Many of the songs use acoustic or progressive rock introductions to lead into blues-rock pieces, sometimes in very inventive ways. There are also some very successful progressive folk songs, a direction the band dropped after this album. It's a shame, as the catchy, carnival-like "Round and Round" suggested that this band could have done some fine things with the style. It's a track that bears repeated listening, the parade-ground drumming overlaid by acoustic and electric guitars and a simple but urgent vocal line. Here and throughout the album the vocal harmonies are impressive, more so than on any of their later works. For me though the highlight is the second track, "Ain't No Thanks To You", it's fecken awesome. A brilliant album of hard but not too heavy 1970's rock. The four bonus tracks are from 1977's "Nutz Live Cutz", by this time they had added a keyboard player.

Tracks:

1. Poor Man
2. Ain't No Thanks To You
3. Spoke In A Wheel
4. I Can't Unwind
5. Can't Tell Her Why
6. As Far As The Eye Can See
7. Love Will Last Forever
8. Light Of Day
9. Round And Round
10. Joke
11. Seeing Is Believing (Bonus Track)(Live)
12. Loser (Bonus Track)(Live)
13. Pushed Around (Bonus Track)(Live)
14. You Better Watch Out (Bonus Track)(Live)

Personnel:

Dave Lloyd - Lead Vocal, Guitar
Mick Devonport - Lead Guitar, Vocals
Keith Mulholland - Bass Guitar, Vocals
John Mylett - Drums, Percussion
John "Rabbit" Bundrick - Piano & Organ, tracks 5 & 8
Chris Hughes - Brass, track 10
Kenny Newton - Keyboards, tracks 11 - 14

EAC-FLAC-LOG-CUE-SCANS (600dpi) 455 MB

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Comments have been real sparse lately, only one for that great album last week? WTF? Anyway, see ya.