This heavy progressive rock album is an important item among collectors, (though some would say it's overrated hype!). The band were almost certainly from Jacksonville, Florida.
Lama :
Pretty late in the game but rooted firmly in the late 60s sound, with female vocals and hippierock moves mixed with heavy riffing and spacerock ambitions. Has some pretty good tracks, the reissue might be worth checking out. Never seen an original but suspect the sleeve's been altered for the re (ditto for the CD).
Frumpy were one of the few progressive bands to receive considerable commercial success in their own lifetime. The band was formed on the initiative of Carsten Bohn in November 1969. They had all departed from the Irish-German folk band City Preachers which had existed since 1965 and also included the later famous Slapp Happy vocalist Dagmar Krause. Frumpy performed their first concerts in France in March 1970. In August they recorded their first album in Hamburg (though some parts were recorded in Holland with the producer Rainer Goltermann. All Will Be Changed (1970) was a fine example of vintage German progressive rock. Kravetz' very long solo passages of spacey organ excursions and Bohn's inventive percussion work-outs was both impressive and innovative. Albums recorded without guitars were quite rare in this musical field! lnga Rumpf's forceful voice also made the shorter blues and soul influenced rock songs a delight. These songs were comparable to Traffic or Spooky Tooth. There were five tracks in all, if one discounts the solo sections of "Rosalie" and "Floating". Two of the short tracks were also issued as a single: "Life Without Pain" coupled with "Morning". The album had a very uncommon gimmick fold-out cover: a semi-transparent printed plastic exterior picturing a chameleon on the front and back. Inside, line patterns form a picture of the group if the plastic exterior is drawn out in the right way. Indeed the packaging of their wonderful second album, simply entitled 2, was spectacular: a round, six part fold-out cover (with portraits of all members) put in a plastic bag. The record was even pressed on multi-coloured vinyl! Guitarist Rainer Baumann had joined in time for the recordings in 1971. The four tracks revealed a heavier and more mature progressive rock with classical overtones in Kravetz' organ (occasionally mellotron) work. Rainer Baumann also got his share of the limelight with his stunning blues-based guitar solos. Frumpy's best ever track was the closing number "Duty" (12:09) - with organ and guitar solos galore! The album is highly recommended. Due to musical differences Jean-Jaques Kravetz left Frumpy in the Spring of 1972 (and made a good solo album), but rejoined halfway through the recording of By The Way (1972). The other keyboard player on the album was Erwin Kama, the leader of the recently defunct Murphy Blend. By The Way was a more straight forward rock album, released on the legendary "swirl" Vertigo label and including a poster. In the Summer of 1972 Frumpy gave their last concerts, now with Thomas Kretschmer on guitar. A double live set was released posthumously in January 1973, containing a good selection of their live repertoire, but the technical quality was disappointing. For those of you who are keen to hear more Frumpy, there are two contributions ("Duty" & "Floating") on the live sampler Pop & Blues Festival '70. Rumpf, Kravetz and Schott formed Atlantis in 1972, a group that released several albums in a more mainstream style. Carsten Bohn recorded an album with Wolfgang "Zabba" Lindner (the drummer from Tomorrow's Gift) and the group Dennis.
A very important band that would have deserved much more success than they really had at the time, Jumbo were formed in Milan at the end of 1969 around singer-songwriter Alvaro "Jumbo" Fella.
Their debut came with two pop singles in 1970 on Numero Uno, sharing the same B-side and containing two cover versions, with Montego Bay and an italian version of In the summertime called In estate.
First LP arrived in 1972 (but recorded earlier) on Philips, rather thin, conceived as an Alvaro Fella solo album (his nickname then became the name of the group) and mostly based on acoustic guitar compositions with little space for electric group parts. There are some good moments like Amore sono qua and Dio è (re-recorded on second album), but the result is not impressive and on a lesser level than their following works.
Later that year came their second album, DNA, an incredibly mature work, and especially when compared with the previous one this is their real first album as a group.
It's composed of four extended tracks, with the long Suite per il Signor K taking the whole of side one. The beginning is in the same style as on the first album, based on acoustic instruments (guitar, flute, piano) but suddenly a distorted electric guitar introduces a much more aggressive sound, led by Fella's harsh voice and strong lyrics. One of the best italian prog albums for sure!
Last album in 1973, after a drummer change with Tullio Granatello replacing the original member Vito Balzano. Vietato ai minori di 18 anni? is their most ambitious work, containing strong lyrics and fragments of avantgarde-inspired music, with the help of Franco Battiato. Come vorrei essere uguale a te and Specchio deal with difficult subjects as homosexuality and social alienation and the result is intriguing and rewarding even if less immediate than DNA. The strong contents of the lyrics caused the band being banned by radio programs.
The band was very popular live and kept playing for some years, in 1975 they released a last commercial single, playing at Milan Parco Lambro festivals in 1975 and 1976 (this time with Roberto Biancone on sax and Valter Frazzi on keyboards, replacing Guidotti and Conte).
Flutist Dario Guidotti was briefly involved as singer with the supergroup Track in 1974, along with former members of Nuova Idea and I Giganti for their sole album Track rock.
After a not successful reunion attempt in 1983, documented on the I violini d'autunno CD, the band reunited again in late 1989 with original members bar Sergio Conte (replaced by Paolo Dolfini) for a one-off concert in Paris with IQ and Magma, organized by a french fan of theirs, and the very nice evening is documented on the brilliant Live in Paris CD.
2001 has seen the release of another CD, called Passing by, containing 1991-2001 recordings by guitarist Daniele Bianchini (always the driving force behind the reunion attempts) aided by some of the band original members, like Alvaro Fella, Dario Guidotti and Tullio Granatello, more new age oriented and mainly instrumental, but containing some very good moments.
01. jungle fever 4:49 02. candy man 4:31 03. spirit in the dark 4:24 04. can't judge what you miss 4:12 05. whiskey woman 4:02 06. going down 4:03 07. the hunter 3:55 08. got the need 3:15 09. let loose 4:21
Contacts
1. Rudiment 4:27
2. Connection 1:30
3. That's the Key 2:32
4. For You and Me 1:40
Manifestations
5. Suppression 2:56
6. Rankness 2:37
7. Face of War 3:28
8. Free 2:08
9. Sensual Impressions 7:14
10. Quintessence 2:35
Emotions
11. Eden Park 2:58
12. Metamorphosis 3:08
13. In Search for the Last Word 1:59
14. Rising Mind 2:55
15. Eden Park Again 1:44
bonus: 16. Neckarbrгcken Blues (Bonus) 3:23
17. All Heaven And All Earth Are Silent (Bonus) 8:14
18. Silver Gun (Bonus) 4:23
19. Peace Train (Bonus) 3:51
Joy Fleming / vocals
Hans W. Herkenne / drums, percussion
Albin Metz / trumpet, bass
Roland Heck / organ, piano, vibes, marimba, percussion, vocals
Dieter Kindl / bass, guitar, percussion
Gerd Köthe / saxophone, flute
Klaus Nagel / guitar, woodwind, percussion, flute
Hans Lingenfelder / guitar
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Oldish Psych & Prog offers progressive psychedelic rock music mp3 lossless downloads
