Irmin's Way - Opus; Destroy (1976)

"A rediscovery in the mid-1990's, Irmin's Way were an obscure mid-1970's Anglo-German band who recorded an LP in 1976, that remained unreleased and lost until 1995. There's a good deal of mystery about them, except that the band were originally known under a different name, and at the request of the musicians the original name and identity of the musicians has never been disclosed. If this all turns out to be a hoax, it's certainly a convincing one.

For the album release they took on the name Irmin's Way, after the Saxon God that slew a dragon, a name that befitted the album as a conceptual opus steeped in mythology. In the classic tradition of Krautrock bands of the era, Irmin's Way notably drew on the cosmic side of Pink Floyd, close to Belgian's Dragon, or towards Gäa's psychedelic space-tripping. A touch amateurish, i.e. rough 'n' ready, and not that well produced, it is nonetheless a classic of the genre.

According to info from Martin Heide, he says that the real name of Irmin's Way was Tin Pan Alley. Apparently the Ege Sound Studio still exists, and resident engineer Dieter Ege still works there." (Crack In The Cosmic Egg"

Past & Present
Eremite
Alone
Opus; Destroy

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Not my rip - thanks to the original uploader/releaser.

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Deaf - Alpha (1970-1972)

"The Swiss import LP reissue of Alpha brings one of the most interesting, obscure German progressive albums of the early '70s back into print, with all its excitement and intrigue intact. Side one, recorded live between 1970 and 1972, offers some of the wickedest, most chaotic Krautrock moments ever, aside from the one rather conventional (and, by comparison to the rest of the music, rather blasé) blues-based rock number. "No Time" is built out of hypnotic, tribal Can-like beats and free jazz freakouts, while the highly melodic prog keyboards keep the song moving forward. The vocals on "The Galactic Pack of Fönds Kari" are virtually indecipherable (not unlike Damo Suzuki's with Can), but the song speaks volumes on its own, with jump cuts between pop melodic moments and a section stripped to minimalistic Middle Eastern flair. The mammoth title track that takes up the whole second side of the LP (appropriately labeled "The Psychedelic Journey") is where the band turns especially ambitious. At an astounding 22 and a half minutes, the track does its inspiration -- Ravel's Bolero -- proud. It is psychedelic in the true sense of the word, conjuring up an imminently strange wind. The jam sets and maintains an acid-inoculated tone that meanders through demonic medieval chants, exotic Arabic rhythms, strains of organ exorcised from a dark Christian fugue, harnessed feedback, Renaissance orchestration, some progressive Brit-folk strumming, spacy sound effects, and accelerated circus music. Although it does occasionally drift out of focus and is virtually without melody or motif, the song is surprisingly deliberate. By creating a wealth of space, it even provides a sort of disorienting, long-form narrative that a lot of music passing for psychedelia never manages. Since Alpha was only pressed in a limited run the first time around, even most devotees of Krautrock have probably never heard this music. Needless to say, if you can find the 1994 Black Rills reprint, it's well worth it." (Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide)

A few years back I was lucky enough to get a mint copy of the 1994 LP issue from Black Rills Records, and last year I had it professionally transferred to CDR. Aside from one small private forum this is the first time that a quality lossless version has ever appeared on the internet - this is a special gift to my visitors, some of whom have followed this blog for almost five years! I'd still like to keep this kind of rare so I'll delete this post in one week.

1. No Time
2. Run You Off The Hill
3. The Galactic Pack Of Fönds Kari
4. Alpha

Dany Rühle - Guitars, Vocals
Bert Buchmann - Bass
Jack R. Conrad - Flute, Vocals
Jelly M. Pastorini - Organ, Vocals
Güge Jürg Meier - Drums, Percussion

EAC-Separate FLACs-Log-Cue-Covers (Photos) 270MB

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Haze - Hazecolor-Dia (1971)

"Historically undocumented, there's not a lot we can tell you about Haze. However, Bacillus Records must have deemed them as important, in that they presented the LP in a unique cover - an LP size transparency slide (known as a "dia" in Germany) in the style used by Agfa!

Haze were amongst the first to present the uniquely German "hard-rock" sound, into which they mixed a complex variety of progressive elements, featuring guitars to the fore and quite a bizarre vocalist. They were also typical of the Bacillus Records sound, if more song based than most, venturing on to psychedelic and blues realms.

The sole album released by Haze featured another of those extraordinary artwork sleeves designed by Walter Seyffer of Nine Days' Wonder fame. It was made to look exactly like a slide picture, complete with die-cut cover and an attached transparency picture center of the group Haze on both its front and back covers. What you get here is a photo reproduction of that artwork. Hazecolor-Dia was a Hauke & Dierks production, recorded during April 1971 at the Clerks Studio. All five tracks were written by Dietmar Low. Slow, cleverly-arranged heavy progressive rock numbers, psychedelically fueled with a faint blues tinge, featuring humorous lyrics: A Way To Find Paradise told about a hippy's struggle to get his hashish to smoke! Scherler really had a strange and wild voice (he usually screamed as loudly as he could), adding much to their gutsy freak rock style. Several tracks also featured flute (the flute player is not identified on the cover). Haze, in part, seem to draw inspiration from The Edgar Broughton Band, Arthur Brown, and Captain Beefheart. Their album is recommended for all freak rock fans!" (Crack In The Cosmic Egg)

Kurt Frei - Drums
Christian Scherler - Vocals
Hans-Jürg Frei - Guitar, Organ
Dietmar Löw - Bass
Heinz Schwab - Lead Guitar

01. Peaceful nonsense
02. Fast career
03. Be yourself
04. A way to find the paradise
05. Decision

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Sameti - Sameti (1972)

"A collection of Munich musicians fronted by Christian "Shrat" Thiele (born 29/3/1946, in Unterpolling) the former Amon Düül II vocalist/percussionist. The band was originally known as Konsameti, and existed over a year before the debut LP, with a constantly changing line-up. In fact, with the two albums billed as Sameti, only Shrat was in common, and as such they amounted to two very different bands...

The original band produced a music with trippy Amon Düül II and bluesy Hawkwind stylings, and in fact the whole album sounds as though it was made in an acid haze. It is especially notable for the stunning tripped-out improvised LP side-long work "Anotherwaytoseeimprovisation". Shrat's vocals, only heard rarely in Amon Düül II, come across as most strange, adding a unique touch to a highly derivative, but most enjoyable, blend of Krautrock styles." (Crack In The Cosmic Egg)

"After the recording of Amon Duul's "Yeti", Dave Anderson leaves the band to join Hawkwind. Dieter Serfas and Christian Shart do the same and decide to form their own project called Sameti in Munich in 1971.. Their first album released for Metronome in 1972 is a great mixture of Hawkwind and Amon Düül II trippy styles with long psych improvisations and a couple of more structured heavy rock songs. For this first musical essay the band features members of Embryo and Amon Düül II with special guests as Robert Eliscu (Popol Vuh) and Jurgen Benz." (progarchives.com)

1. Get Up
2. The Useless Appendix
3. Big Fat Brother Joint
4. To My Confidential Lady
5. Anotherwaytoseeimprovisation

Klaus Götzner - Drums
Walter Bratengeier - Guitar
Eckart Voggenreiter - Bass
Shrat - Vocals, Congas
Bob Eliscu - Oboe, Flute
Jürgen Benz - Saxophone

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Don't remember where I got this - thanks to original releaser/uploader!

Bye!

Cornucopia - Full Horn (1973)

"Here is a real nugget from the golden underground German Krautrock era. Fans of AMON DUUL II will likely very much dig this recording with its big sound and heavy progressive tendencies. Musically this album is areal stonker with great bass and guitar lines, keyboard wizardry and a strange overall presence. Album ''Centerpiece'' is the epic 20 mins "Day Of A Daydreambeliever" which mixes VAN DER GRAAF darkness and borrows the musical wierdness from cousins AMON DUUL II. Lead vocalist Wolfgang Kause (Gurker The Goat) has a great voice and very much fits the music. This album also offers a great big and wide sound with fantastic production qualities and excellent speaker seperation. Overall a fantastic album and I would highly recommend to anyone who is into the Krautrock thing! " (loserboy progarchives.com)

1. Day of a Day-Dream Believer (19:50)
- a. Humanoid Robot Show
- b. Hope - Part One
- c. Disillusion
- d. Hope - Part Two
- e. Death of a Clown
- f. D-d-daily Review
- g. Night, Night - Mankind's Motor-Dream
- h. The Sound of National Caughing
2. Morning Sun (version 127) (3:07)
3. Spots On You, Kids (12:37)
4. And the Madness... (4:05)

Wolfgang Bartl - Bass, Backing Vocals
Wolfgang Gaudes - Drums, Percussion, Acoustic Guitar
Christoph Hardwig - Keyboards, Guitar, Backing Vocals
Rudy Holzhauer - Percussion, Troot
Wolfgang Kause - Lead Vocals
Harry Koch - Effects, Percussion, Voice
Kai Henrik Möller - Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals
Jochen Petersen - Saxophones, Flute, Guitar

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Bye!