Gäa from the German state of Saarland have become quite known in collectors’ circles thanks to their LP "Auf der Bahn zum Uranus” from 1974. In early 1975 they recorded three tracks for a, however, unfinished second album. They are simply brilliant and show how mature and inventive the band was at that time. The tracks have been rediscovered only recently and form the heart and major part of the CD, which also contains four minor bonus tracks from the 80s. Although these tracks are no longer progressive in the strict sense, they have been added for the sake of completeness and because there was time left. The cover artwork is again by Eduard Bell and shows the Alruna, a legendary earth spirit from Germanic mythology and a rough counterpart to Gäa, the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth.
Gäa , named after the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth, was a band from the German state of Saarland, founded in 1973 and completely devoted to German progressive rock. The founding members Helmut Heisel (*02/26/1953 in Wadern) on guitar, Peter "Bello" Beil (*05/20/1954 in Pьttlingen) on bass and Stefan Dцrr (*11/04/1952 in Pьttlingen) on drums knew each other from school and from the Phantoms, a band, however, which had little originality and was mainly playing cover versions. Singer of the Phantoms was, by the way, Uwe Peter, who was later to join Mr. Grabstein, a band whose only recorded track Smog" is included in the compilation "Psychedelic gems 3" (Psychedelic Gems PGCD 03).
To come back to Gäa : Further musicians who were won for the band were Gьnther Lackes (*07/06/1 949 in Pьttlingen) on keybords who had already enjoyed a thorough education on this instrument when he was a child and who came from the beat band Non Plus Ultra, Werner Frey (*02/28/1951 in Magdeburg), who had a predilection for folk music, on guitar and as singer, as weil as Werner Jungmann (*11/22/1952 in Vцlklingen) on congas.
Helmut Heisel left the band after only a short time, a decision which annoys him today, and so they went on playing with five members, confining themselves to songs of their own composition with German lyrics. On one of their first (of altogether eighty) gigs, they attracted the notice of Alfred Kersten whose Kerston label was already quite successful at that time and who invited them to his studio in the viilage of Forst near Stuttgart for recording sessions. In the summer of 1973 the band set out for that place, with tents in their luggage for lack of money. On arrival, however, they were told to come back the next day, for in the studio were standing the Flippers, in high-necked suits in the stifling heat. Yet on the following day, there was again another band they had to let go ahead because Fred Kersten's initial enthusiasm for Gдa had seemingiy waned a bit. He could not send them back, though. And so he did the recordings in great haste and in a pretty uninspired mood. The band was, accordingly, dissatisfied with the result. Nevertheless in 1974, the songs came out on the LP "Auf der Bahn zum Uranus" (i.e. On the track to Uranus) (Kerston 65014) in a mini edition.
The cover artwork was done by Bello's brother Eduard and shows Gäa , or Gaia, the goddess of the Earth who gives birth to all life. By the way, it is not true that part of the records ended up on the garbage dump. In 1992 the meanwhile much sought-after LP was re-released on CD on the label Ohrwaschl. Since in the Saarland the unconventional band was only accepted with hesitation, they were mainly playing gigs in the Eifel area, in the Hunsrьck and in Rhineland-Palatinate. However, they were not tobe discouraged and in 1975 they eventually won the Saar-Rocky award. Werner Jungmann left the band, Helmut Heisel rejoined it and took on the second guitar and then, after Bello had gone to Mr. Grabstein, the bass. In the meantime, they had written three new songs, namely "Heilende Sonne" (i.e. Healing sun), "Morgendдmmerung" (Dawn) and the outstanding "Autobahn" (Freeway). To have a good basis for their second LP, they recorded them in Michael Leistenschneider's Leico studio in the town of Schmelz in early 1975, this time under better conditions than with Kerston. Yet before the LP could be completed, Gдa split up in 1978. Werner Frey followed BelIo to Grabstein who renamed themselves Elaine at the end of 1978. Gьnther Lackes signed up with the Blackbirds where he is still playing cover versions of weIl-known songs today. Helmut Heisel played in lots ofdifferent bands before, in 1991 he and Stefan Dцrrjoined Saartana, who am working on their own CD these days. Werner Jungmann and BeIIo are no longer working as musicians. Nowadays, Werner Frey works as a teacher, Gьnther Lackes is employed in a bank, Helmut Heisel runs a pub, Stefan Dцrr works as a haulier, Werner Jungmann as an orderly and BeIIo as a civil servant. They are all still friends.
COSMIC DREAMS:
This band was from Berlin and regularly appeared at the Zodiac club between 1968 and 1970. Probably their music was more psychedelic in those early days than revealed later on vinyl. The Brain album, recorded at the Dierks studio in July 1973 with Frank Oeser producing, had a nice fold-out cover but sadly wasn't particularly impressive musically. Standard rock songs with a slight heavy blues touch and the key changes and guitar solos you have all heard before. Very American sounding music with the tendency to get trapped in boogie-mode. I would compare it to the Gash album, a contemporary green Brain release.. The album of 'forgotten tapes' was compiled from rehearsal recordings on a TEAC four track tape machine in 1974. For this reason, the sound quality isn't very professional. There were plans for a second album, which never saw the light of day. The music, as revealed on a limited private release in 1981, was more heavier but didn't hint at anything outrageous. Brain apparently lost interest in Curly Curve. Strange to note that Herkenberg was a member of the 1967 Tangerine Dream line-up!
Style: prog
Country: germany
Audio: lossless (ape, cue, log, scans)
Size: 358mb
Issue: Long Hair Music LHC00004 (2001)
Crack inthe Cosmic Egg:
From just outside Baden-Baden, Coupla Prog were typical of the type of organ-fronted bluesy rock band you'll have found in almost every European city at the time. Little in the way of imagination, they adapted themes from others and added copious amounts of classical music. Despite all this, and that they never made any impact on a wider front (no record contracts, nothing, remaining totally unknown) Coupla Prog were rather privileged with no less than four SWF radio sessions in 3 year history.
The recent CD releases documenting those radio sessions are as follows: SPRITE, which documents sessions from February 1970 and April 1971 and shows their roots in British blues-rock and Vanilla Fudge, largely relying on the keyboard player to hold it all together. Not bad, it's all let down somewhat by a rather embarrassingly off-key vocalist. My favourites here are the classical numbers towards the end. EDMUNDO LOPEZ, a big conceptual suite involving the life of a reluctant soldier, all performed live in the studio with no possibility of correcting errors or adding overdubs, they were brave. Very often I'm reminded of Procol Harum, during their progressive phase, with a little Jane, Epsilon, and such like.
DEATH IS A GREAT GAMBLER compiles later sessions, after Rolf Peters had died, with a new guitarist and drummer. This finds them in a much more keyboard fronted classical rock mood.
Style: beat Country: us Audio: mp3 (320k) Size: 134mb Issue: Ace Records Year: 2003 (recorded 1966)
Fuzz Acid & Flowers: This San Jose high school/student band reached the U.S. Top Ten with the title track of their only album, now a collector's item. Their album also made No 122 in the U.S. Album Charts, and the group toured the U.S. performing with the Hollies, Beach Boys, Rascals, Byrds, Dave Clark Five, Sony and Cher, The Doors, Them, and Peter and Gordon to name but a few. Psychotic Reaction is also included on the Nuggets compilation, We Have Come For Your Children, Highs Of The Sixties, Nuggets, Vol. 1, Wild Thing, Tough Rock and Best Of Psychedelic Rock (CD). Their album was full of driving rock songs, of which Double Decker Bus was the next best. A German Line compilation Dynamite lncidents 1983 contains some of their non-LP 45's. One side plays at 33 r.p.m. and the other at 45 r.p.m. Also Edsel have released a 13-track compilation, Psychotic Reaction (Edsel ED 225) 1987. Other compilation appearances have been You Must Believe Me on Eva's Sound Of The Sixties and Teeny Bopper, Teeny Bopper on Sound Of The Sixties: San Francisco: Part 1. Psychotic Reaction has become something of a classic. It was well covered at the time by the like of Fire Escape, Leathercoated Minds, Positively 13 O'Clock and Underground.
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Oldish Psych & Prog offers progressive psychedelic rock music mp3 lossless downloads
