Monday, August 06, 2007

Hello boys and girls -

Masters Of The Airwaves - Masters Of The Airwaves (1974)
Never having had an official CD reissue, this is an album I have been on the lookout for ever since I got my first internet connection. Well last month I found it ... twice! I found a low bitrate vinyl rip on a p2p program, then when looking for info on the band (hardly any!) I found a professional vinyl to CD-R transfer available for purchase. This is it. Anyway, very little info on this band that seems to have been from Northern California, USA. A great album of 70's melodic rock, good songs, well played and produced. What makes this band a little different is a homemade guitar played by Jimmy Berick. Different websites say this was a 12, 14, and even 28 string double-necked (pedal steel) guitar. Whatever it was, it lends the already good original material an exotic, soaring, majestic feel. You know how sometimes when you look for something for a long time and when you finally get it you wish you hadn't, because it's not really as good as you remember? Well that didn't happen to me here - this thing is pretty damn good.

High VBR w/artwork Download

Brainstorm - Last Smile (1974)
This was the last album from an excellent German jazz-rock group fronted by Roland Schaeffer, who would go on to be a mainstay of Guru Guru. An excellent live recording of complex, inventive jazz-rock, sounding somewhat like a Canterbury band ... that had Frank Zappa for a leader!

Bitrate 192 w/artwork Download

Faust - Faust (1971)
First album from Faust, another German band that seems to have taken inspiration from Zappa's Mothers Of Invention! One of the first German groups to use the recording equipment itself as an instrument, this is full of studio wizardry, eerie sound collages, tape edits, unusual songs/not-songs. Highlight is 16 minute "Miss Fortune" which was taken from a live performance that must have left the audience bewildered.

Bitrate 256 w/artwork Download

The Chambers Brothers - Love, Peace And Happiness (1969)
The Chambers Brothers were early purveyors of "psychedelic soul", but this double album was kind of schizo - the only psych is the side-long title track which is a full on psychedelic epic. The rest of the album is conventional gospelly R & B, done very well.

Bitrate 256 w/artwork Part 1 Part 2

Joy Unlimited - Schmetterlinge (1971)
German band Joy Unlimited's first release was supposedly an album of blues covers, and after hearing vocalist Joy Fleming sing, that would seem to be a natural. This second album, though, is a step in the progressive, or at least not-blues-based, direction. A complex concept album, this is supposed to have been a suite of some kind I guess. What sounds like a huge ensemble puts out a versatile and ambitious album, ranging from raunchy blues to psychedelic rock to free jazz.

Bitrate 320 w/artwork Part 1 Part 2

Van Der Graaf Generator - H To He, Who Am The Only One (1970)
Van Der Graaf Generator's 3rd album. Powerful prog, mostly dark and doomy sounding, with expressive vocals.

High VBR w/artwork Part 1 Part 2

OK see you!

18 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good choice as always. thanks much!

4:12 PM, August 06, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the Van Der Graaf Generator. They're one of those popular prog rock bands that I never checked out.

7:43 PM, August 06, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hello!thx for the Brainstorm - Last Smile ,this is great!!!
Sithlord from Hungary

11:42 PM, August 06, 2007  
Blogger Sadness said...

you are the master of the internet waves..many thanks for the Airwaves album..neen 28 yrs since last heard the songs..all best sadness

5:33 AM, August 07, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you very much for the Masters Of The Airwaves album.

Last time I heard that album was in 1975...

Keep up the good work with your excellent blog.

Nils

P.S. Do you have the album with Hounds - Unleashed from 1978 ?

9:53 AM, August 07, 2007  
Blogger space88 said...

Hello Gargolca
Masters Of The Airwaves is a beauty.Many Thanks
Andre

11:21 AM, August 07, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm just going to echo what the others have said. Thanks for MotA!
gordon

11:36 AM, August 07, 2007  
Blogger frumious bandersnatch said...

thanks a lot !! especially for the Chambers Brothers !!!

11:57 AM, August 07, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear CarColga.

Great post. This one, for me, is the beginning of the great works of progrock, I have it in both, LP and CD, and Robert Fripp playing guitar is very well in the context of the work, together the classic formation of the group.

Gambini/Rio de Janeiro/Brasil

2:37 PM, August 07, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Garcolga,

Is there any problem with the link to Faust - Faust (1971)?

Thank you very much for your blog. Great posts, very good stuff, always.

Pepe

7:26 AM, August 08, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thx for great uploads.Aspecially for Faust and Brainstorm

11:09 AM, August 09, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the excellent work.

Is there any chance for posting the Album of the Krautrock band VINEGAR?
The version that I have got sadly is of very bad quality.
Would be great!
mike-floyd

3:45 PM, August 09, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks again for a nice collection of fantastic music, master Garcolga. My favourite - so far, is the psych-prog suite created by Joy Unlimited.

dr. Qi

12:34 PM, August 12, 2007  
Blogger fuzztunnel said...

Canterbury with Zappa for a leader?!?! I guess I better give this a listen toot sweet.
Thanks, my friend.

2:12 PM, August 13, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks fro the Masters of the Airwaves. They are good.

6:07 AM, August 14, 2007  
Blogger Prowler said...

Just grabbed the Faust album.
A band I had forgot about over the years and still have fond memories of,hope this lives up the memories.
Thanks for your time and effort.

1:57 PM, August 21, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Didn´t download anything but just wanted to say thanks anyway. I´m glad, that someone puts on "Schmetterlinge" by Joy Unlimited, which is a favourite of mine since the seventies. Everyone interested in prog should here this.

Manfred

10:16 AM, August 22, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you for Brainstorm. They are very interesting.
Marco

9:18 AM, September 13, 2007  

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