Monday, December 24, 2007

Whatever Holiday you celebrate, or don't celebrate, at this time of year, I wish you and yours the very best!


Paris - Paris (1975)
After making 5 albums with Fleetwood Mac, where he was known for writing such schmaltzy songs as "Sentimental Lady", Bob Welch hooked up with bassist/keyboardist Glenn Cornick (ex Jethro Tull, Wild Turkey) and drummer Thom Mooney (ex The Nazz) to make an album that showed that Welch knew how to rock also. This is very much in the vein of Led Zeppelin, there were even rumors at the time that the album had been produced by Jimmy Page. The second and last Paris album, Big Towne, 2061, was made with different sidemen and lost the Led Zeppelin worship angle. Anyway this is some great 70's sleaze-rock, play loud!

Bitrate 320 w/scans Download

Ax Genrich - The Best Of Ax Genrich 1971-1996
As I'm sure everybody knows, Ax Genrich was the ex-Agitation Free guitarist who was a founding member of Guru Guru, and played on that group's first four albums. This really isn't a "Best Of" album - it has all eight tracks from Genrich's hard-to-find 1971 solo album "Highdelberg". The remaining four tracks consist of two unreleased Guru Guru recordings and two Ax Genrich recordings from the 90's. Great stuff.

Bitrate 320 w/scans Part 1 Part 2

Spooky Tooth - Spooky Two (1969)
Spooky Two is far and away the best album Spooky Tooth ever made, a masterpiece of late 60's early 70's rock. This is the reissue with four bonus tracks, taken from singles. Awesome.

High VBR w/scans Part 1 Part 2

Join In - Kentalope Island (1974)
Join In was a German band that enjoyed a long career, but left behind only this album, the CD has a bunch of bonus tracks from the mid 70's. During this phase (they started out as a hard rock outfit) they are playing primarily instrumental jazz-rock. The album was produced by EROC of Grobschnitt. Very nice.

Bitrate 256 w/covers Part 1 Part 2

Stoneground - The Last Dance (1973)
Stoneground's last show ever, recorded at Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium in January 1973. Awesome sounding mono soundboard recording, what a party that must have been!

1. Alligator Man
2. Love's Made A Fool Of You
3. You Better Come Through
4. Ajax
5. Passion Flower
6. Medley: Black Sheep Boy/Highway 61 Revisited/Don't Make Promises
7. Bad News
8. Super Clown
9. Dancin'
10. Feel So Bad
11. Butterfly
12. Total Destruction To Your Mind
13. Queen Sweet Dreams

Bitrate 256 w/scans Part 1 Part 2

FROM THE ARCHIVES:
The Monks - Black Monk Time (1966)
This may be the greatest rock album ever made! Or maybe the best punk album ever, 10 years before punk. The Monks weren't so much "ahead of their time" as they were "outside time" like they were from another universe or something. Recorded in the waning months of 1965, while the rest of the world was singing about love, the Monks were singing about how much they hated their girlfriends! Instead of growing their hair long and wearing beads and colorful clothes, they shaved tonsures on the tops of their heads and dressed all in dark colors, like medieval monks. This music was created in a vacuum - when this album was made there was absolutely nothing to compare it to. I mean you really have to hear it to get an understanding of how insane these guys were. What is it? Punk? Noise Rock? I remember reading somewhere that the Monks possibly influenced the pioneers of Krautrock (the Monks were American ex-G.I.'s in Germany)! This is the version with 19 tracks. It's Black Monk Time!

Bitrate 320 w/covers Part 1 Part 2

Ram - Where? (In Conclusion) (1972)

"Ram is yet another band in those long line of nameless bands that made one awesome album and then vanished into smoke. Almost nothing is known about these guys. Presumably (from their name and album design) there is some preoccupation with the zodiac and astrology. The songs themselves are a blend of spacey psychedelia and hard-rock: with these guys it is not uncommon to blend saxophone or flute solos with power chords. The opening track, "The Want In You" is an excellent rock song moved along by a catchy sax riff. "Stoned Silence" has an almost siren-like vocal moved along by some funk riffs and a pretty decent guitar solo. "Odyssey" is a softer, more esoteric instrumental that features a nice flute workout. "The Mother's Day Song" is my favorite track. It's a wicked, down and dirty rock song: hard rock, blues and Hendrix (!) are all influences on this track. The last song, "Aza" is what pushes these guys over into progressive rock territory. It is a side-long suite about a spiritual journey for enlightenment. It begins with `Spiral Paths', very seductively with soft sax and flute solos intertwined around an almost whispery vocal beckoning the listener to venture out into the stars; then with `Bound' it practically leaps into a loud crashing bass and guitar duet; "Peril and Fearer" is the hard-rock section of the suite that features chaotic, almost Robert Fripp-like soloing while the same vocal-sax motif is repeated in the background; the final part, `Where? (In Conclusion)'-the title track-tries to evoke an out there feeling with some phased vocals, a disjointed sax solo, and another loud bass workout, and builds to a conclusion that wouldn't have sounded out of place had there been a Funkadelic/Sun-Ra collaboration album. In all, Where? is an album that is worth every bit the while to listen to. They just don't make good rock like this anymore." (devil doll, Amazon.com review)

Download

Second Coming - The Second Coming (1970)

Doinada from Norway sent this to me a while back, and he did a nice job of ripping the LP and photographing the cover. I never heard of this band, and the guy from "Fuzz, Acid & Flowers" really slagged it, calling it "below-par horn-rock". Whatever. It sounds pretty good to me, though there's not anything psych/prog about it. Horn rock in the vein of "The Ides of March" - both bands share Chicago as a home town. The Second Coming apparently migrated to San Francisco, where they were active in the 'Second Generation' scene. All in all, not the greatest album ever, but worth a download if you like horn rock. As far as I can tell this has never made it to CD, so thanks again to Doinada for this rarity.

Download

Country Lane - Substratum (1973)

Country Lane's only album was initially released in 1973. This Swiss band led by the keyboardist/guitarist/singer Raymond Amey, helped by keyboardist O.Maire, guitarist F.Von Kaenel, bass player G.Duella and drummer J.F. Donze, created an original rock music, mixing heavy influences like Deep Purple and progressive ones (like Nice and the others english progressive bands). Straight rock moments, dreamy atmospheres, nice vocals (in English) are the base of an excellent seventies album, full of freshness and sincerity. (Martin Pruckner)

Download

Mythos - Mythos (1971)

The debut album by Germany’s Mythos is a pure unadulterated classic space-prog album draped over 5 lush tracks. There are truly many cosmic charms to this space bracelet with some wild nubulas, space vibes and jams. Vocals are slightly distorted when used and somewhat modulated giving the listen a real outer worldly space feel. Mythos are clearly lost somewhere in the Cosmic Jokers / Ash Ra Temple camp with dreamy psych/folk/prog landscapes. Mythos manages to create some pretty heavenly space atmospheres with some fantastic synthesizer, flute, spacey guitar and mellotron work throughout. For me this album ranks as a complete album and one of my personal faves from the space-prog category. (Wonderful World Of Progressive Rock)

Download

OK then - Happy Holidays!!

23 Comments:

Blogger Rochacrimson said...

Merry Christmas and happy new year 2008 Garcolga!
Cheers from Portugal ;-)

3:20 PM, December 24, 2007  
Blogger Man Erg said...

Merry Christmas to everybody!!

Congratulations for this fantastic blog

This is my blog, please visit it

http://pigsandsheeps.blogspot.com/

6:18 PM, December 24, 2007  
Blogger space88 said...

Merry Christmas and happy new year 2008 also from me,and Thanks for all your good Work.I love the Stoneground.
Andre8859

12:57 AM, December 25, 2007  
Blogger Roderick Verden said...

I thank you very much, Garcolga.
Happy xmas and happy new year.

3:55 AM, December 25, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas. I am sooooo grateful for your endless depth and knowledge in all things Awesome!!! You should start you own Internet Radio Station. I'd listen 24 hrs a day. Or maybe start blogging. Your gift needs to be shared with the world. Look at whatshisname, the guy who wrote krautrocksampler. You COULD be him. Please for all of us. Take a leap of faith!!!

Vader

3:12 PM, December 25, 2007  
Blogger frumious bandersnatch said...

Happy Xmas & Happy New Year, Garcolga ! And thanks a lot for this week's awesome post : the only Stoneground album I don't have, splendid reissues of the Monks & Spooky Tooth (nice upgrade for me), and the mysterious one, Ram, that gets a nice nice review in Acid Archives, & that's rather unusual there for a heavy/prog album... Thank you again for quality rips & covers !
I usually don't do that, but if ever you have the 1st Spooky Tooth Lp, that would be very nice. Don't know why, this one always eludes me. Not so rare, that's true, but pretty expensive here in France (23 euros, I just checked !).
Well, see you & take care !

3:56 PM, December 25, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

dig the ax genrich, great stuff!! super holiday greetings liam!! and a happy new year... anthony from canada...

7:06 PM, December 25, 2007  
Blogger Bilek said...

this week's post is a real Christmas holiday, indeed! (though I personally don't celebrate Christmas...) Real gems for a kraut-freak like me; even the archive material are very promising. Thanks for all these stuff; hope to see you next year ;)

12:04 PM, December 26, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you very much for Paris and Country Lane.
Great stuff.

I wish you a Happy New Year, Garcolga
and a good 2008.

Nils

2:21 PM, December 26, 2007  
Blogger Unknown said...

From Portugal, a merry christmas and an amazing new 2009.

feel free to ask for music.
here is my mail
agostinho3679@gmail.com

millions and millions

keep on the good work

8:08 AM, December 27, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fab stuff, that Monks album! Rock on and happy days and new year...

3:58 PM, December 27, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

no paro de flipar con esta pagina, mil gracias!!!
mis mejores deseos para el nuevo año desde Catalunya!

5:29 PM, December 27, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for another great post, and I wish you - Der Kaiser of kraut, a happy new year!

6:32 AM, December 28, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot for the Paris - shame they couldn't sustain this quality for their disappointing second album.

Have a rockin' 2008!

11:40 AM, December 28, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the music and the effort, and for going on for so long. Happy New Year!

5:23 AM, December 30, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for another great Stoneground Album! The more i hear from them the more i like them. What a fantastic music. Is there any chance to hear more of them besides the 3 albums you already posted?

6:54 AM, January 06, 2008  
Blogger GarColga said...

Hi Rochacrimson - Cheers!

Hi man erg - I linked to your blog.

Hi Andre8859- You're welcome.

Hi Roderick Verden- You're welcome.

Hi Vader- I already spend too much time on the computer, but thanks for the kind words.

Hi frumious bandersnatch - I'll see what I can do about that Spooky Tooth.

Hi anthony from canada - Yeah Ax is great!

Hello Bilek - You're welcome.

Hi Nils - Thanks.

Hi Baptist@Kortez - Thanks, I'm not looking for anything in particular.

Hi likedeeler - Thanks.

Hi anonymous - Best wishes to you too, from USA.

Hi dr Qi - Happy New Year to you too.

Hi jm - You're welcome.

Hi - Yeah it's been a long time now! Thanks.

Hi anonymous - sorry those are the only ones I have.

7:54 AM, January 06, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the Paris, never heard of them somehow. Guess I'll have to look forward to hearing their "disappointing second album" now, 'cos I'm hooked. Had the GF come in asking about "just WFT Zep outtake is this" while playing it earlier. Not bad.

Will check a few others as well, but just wanted to comment now while this was still fresh in my ears. "Beautiful Cage" is my favorite song ever.... til I track a different album that is! Funny, the rhythm guitar reminds me of Scratch Acid! Whatever.

Thanks a bunch!

~Z

2:17 PM, January 08, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, and while I'm still here, I should point out that that Monks album is must listening for anyone who likes, well, music. Fucking awesome re-ish here, worth adding to one's shopping list for sure!

~z

2:21 PM, January 08, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

One of the happiest moments in my life was getting to see Spooky Tooth and Rhinoserous at the old world's fair's grounds in Queens New York. After the fair they left the New York Pavilion up for summer rock concerts; and they rocked out. That particular concert went on and on. This album is great. Unfortunately the shows only lasted two years as the building wasn't maintained.

9:37 PM, January 31, 2008  
Blogger fritz the cat said...

Man, that Monks album is something else. Why on earth everyone keeps banging on about the Doors and Jefferson Airplane when stuff like this exists, is beyond me.

3:55 PM, February 21, 2008  
Blogger GarColga said...

hello zoom, anonymous and fritz the cat - thanks for taking the time to comment!

7:25 PM, February 21, 2008  
Blogger gyula said...

Hi, for long time now this link does not exist. Please!!!!!!Thanks.

4:31 AM, April 15, 2008  

Post a Comment

<< Home