Gibraltar: Group 1850 formed in The Hague in 1964 as The Klits, but chose their new name in January 1965 when Hugo Gordijn became their manager. They signed a deal with Phonogram and soon they were ready for their first album and "Agemo's Trip" was the result. It just happens to be massively psychedelic, even though not very widely known. The original sleeve notes tell of a trip of a mythical being whose spiritual father sends him on a search for enlightenment. He goes to a place (Earth) where people follow organised religion without knowing why. He enlightens the people of the world and leads them to the place (and state of mind) that he came from.
It was released in 1968, sank without a trace, and gradually became an expensive collector's item.
There are echoes of Chocolate Watchband and Misunderstood on the opener (Steel Sings), which climaxes in a stunning Airplane-like guitar solo. 'Little Fly' compounds the influences even further, sounding a bit Canterburyish in places. 'I Put My Hand On Your Shoulder' is a 13-minute epic with tremendously heavy phasing, and insistent voices talking alternately in Dutch and English. The totally surreal vocals and the drum phasing getting deeper and deeper make the track extremely freaky, but there's a reassuring quality in the midst of all the psychedelic mayhem. This track really is a psychedelic classic that make "Agemo's Trip" a must for any collection of psychedelia.
'You Did It Too Hard,' is a bit of an oddity with spaced-out hippy improvised spoken bits at the end. The album continues in similar insane style on 'A Point In This Life' with harpsichord and sliding distorted guitar. Things calm down for 'Refound" and "Reborn" the final two tracks on the original album, with gentle flutes and female vocals asking us to "look inside and find the inner light", not to mention sitar-like guitar solos and twittering birds.
There are a dozen bonus tracks on the CD reissue, mostly singles. 'Misty Night,' their first single has a tremendous garagey feel, and on 'Mother No-Head' incredibly, there is an overdriven guitar playing 'Frere Jacques' Unexpected to say the least, but it really works! From the value-for-money standpoint, it's a good idea to include these songs; whether it works artistically to include them with the concept album is doubtful. -- Andras Sumegi
01. Steel Sings 3:04
02. Little Fly 4:29
03. I Put My Hands On Your Shoulder 13:27
04. You Did It Too Hard 2:12
05. A Point In This Life 5:05
06. Refound 3:06
07. Reborn 3:29
bonus: 08. I Know (Bonus Track) 3:13
09. I Want More (Bonus Track) 2:06
10. Mother No Head (Bonus Track) 3:29
11. Ever Ever Green (Bonus Track) 3:19
12. Zero (Bonus Track) 3:30
13. Frozen Mind (Bonus Track) 3:41
14. We Love Life (Bonus Track) 4:32
15. Mother No Head (French Version) (Bonus Track) 3:30
16. Mother No Head (Instrumental) (Bonus Track) 3:36
Peter Sjardin / guitar, flute, keyboards
Daniël Van Bergen / guitar
Ruud Van Buren / bass
Beer Klaasse / drums
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