[The 60's-70's Vault] Psychedelic Rock in Spain (Barcelona chapter)

       

       Rock 'n Roll in Spain was developing in the 60s and by the end of the decade many bands and artists started to experiment and attach psychedelic elements on their music, obviously influenced by American and English acts quite popular at the time. Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain and can proudly claim that some of Spain's finest bands have emerged from this region. As the title suggests, we will only mention heavy psych and psychedelic rock bands given that there is a notable jazz rock and progressive rock scene as well. Already, by the late 60s, rock n roll in general was a big thing going on in Barcelona and bands like Brenner's Folk, Els 3 Tambors and Miniatura, had recorded full length albums, while some pop-rock acts indulged in releasing only singles. 5 albums will be presented here that according to me are the best and most interesting from 1970 to 1972. 

       One of the bands that embraced the psych folk sound was Agua De Regaliz, a band that released only one single before changing their name to Pan & Regaliz. The latter's self titled and only album, was released in 1971, clearly influenced by Jethro Tull and Sweet Smoke among others. The lyrics are in English, the music is quite varied, from psych rock to prog rock and the presence of the flute is very intense and frequent. Overall, a very enjoyable album from start to finish.

       A year before, Evolution recorded their self titled album. Formed in Castelldefels, a small part of Barcelona, its members came from Germany where they had a garage rock band called The Vampires. The album satisfies every rock fan. The mixture of hard rock and heavy psych is absolutely succesful but the band released only a couple of singles in 1971 and 1972 before disbanding.

       Maquina! is another example of a band with only one album released, in 1970. The songs on Why? are jammy and trippy, the keyboards have the lead and the two eponymous songs are the most interesting, with an almost krautrock feeling to them. 

       Psychedelic rock in its finest is Tabaco's Desintegracion album, released in 1971. Spanish and English lyrics are used on this one, as well as a couple of instrumentals. Piano, keys, harmonica and acoustic guitars fit well in the tracks and some blues elements are also present in  a couple of them.

       The last record presented here, is Tapiman's 1972 eponymous album. Perhaps the heaviest album of that period, it is a perfect example of heavy psych music. Just listen to the album and feel the powerful songs on it! Guitarist Max Sunyer was an established figure and later he would play in Iceberg, a jazz rock act, and would follow a successful solo career. 

       Many bands will follow in the years 1970 - 1979, most of them formed by previous members of the bands presented above. In the list below you may find some interesting albums coming from Barcelonian bands, of various styles of music.

Musica Dispersa - Musica Dispersa (1970)

Om - Om (1971)

Jarka - Morgue O Berenice (1972)

Max Sunyer - Babel (1978)

Iceberg - Sentiments (1979)

By Pijo

[The 60's-70's Vault] Hard Meat

Hard - psych rock music in the U.K. was quite popular in the late 60s, for many bands emerged from the underground, some of them succeeded in gaining even world recognition while most remained unknown to a wider audience. One of the cities that produced some of England's finest rock material was Birmingham. The city's bombed scenery and its factory hard jobs forced many youngsters to escape this low quality life by forming bands and playing as many gigs as possible.

Formed in 1969, Hard Meat was a heavy psych trio hailing from Birmingham. Mike Dolan (vocals, guitars), Steve Dolan (bass, vocals) and Mick Carless (drums) were the core members accompanied by Pete Westbrook on flute and Phil Jump on keyboards on the second album. The trio recorded a 7" single in 1969, on Island records, including a cover of the Beatles' song Rain on side A and as a B-side their original song Burning Up Years.

The debut self titled album was released by Warner Bros. Records in early 1970 and sadly remained unnoticed at the time. With a clear yet appropriate sound this album unfolds the musicians' talents in songs like the opener Through A Window, the fine acoustic Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow and the 10-minute masterpiece Run Shaker Life. Bob Dylan's Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine) closes the album just the way it should, adding piano bits making it quite an interesting cover. Mike Dolan's lead vocals are a combination of Rory Gallagher's and Phil Lynott's (well, according to my ears) avoiding useless screams and out of tune singing (a black spot in the singing back then). Also, the minimal approach in the drumming serves well the structure of the songs.

Through A Window, the second and last effort, was also released by Warner Bros. in 1970 and moved the sound to a more melodic direction with the addition of flute and keyboards. More acoustic oriented than the self titled, the band experimented more with psychedelia and folk. My favourite track is Love, a fantastic piece with Uriah Heep-ish guitars and perfect singing, but I  just can't forget to mention New Day with the acoustic guitar solo and the beautiful percussion, and the strictly guitar-vocals only From the Prison. I find this album on par with the first one and though it is less heavy and maybe more laid back, the songs are all very good indeed. But the band never had the attention of their company and without financial support they called it a day on the same year. Oddly enough, after the band's break-up its members didn't try anything else in music. 

Hard Meat never met with success, like many bands of the kind, but these two albums will always exist just to prove that there is good music regardless the band's population. And that's why most people like the underground scene (some will say "no", I won't argue with them).

By Pijo

[The 60's-70's Vault] Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser

The experimentation in music was just emerging in the late 60s in Germany but the music business chose to furthermore focus on the pop scene and its musical boundaries. A young man, Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser, was working as a journalist who traveled Europe and America and interviewed experimental and folk rock bands. He co-organised an important festival in 1968 with various experimental bands including Amon Düül and The Fugs and a year later founded Ohr records in Berlin. The label was against any trend, signing bands that were on their first steps, playing the kind of music to become widely known as Krautrock. Kaiser was also the first to bring Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention to Germany, a very important move in Krautrock's development. Tangerine Dream and Guru Guru were among the bands that had already participated in festivals that Kaiser had organised.

The label's trademark was an ear (Ohr) and the artwork of the first five releases that Reinhard Hippen had designed, featured dismembered body parts of a baby doll. Those were Floh de Cologne's FliesbandbabysBeatShow, Embryo's Opal,  Bernt Witthuser's Lieder von Vampiren,  Tangerine Dream's Electronic Meditation and Limbus 4's Mandalas. Gil Funcius was also a famous designer for Ohr, Trips und Träume by Witthüser & Westrupp and Osmose by Anexus Quam were two of his notable works. Many famous bands released their debut pioneering albums in the label such as Guru Guru's UFO, the eponymous albums by Ashra Tempel and Mythos, Anima's Stürmischer Himmel and the afformentioned album by Tangerine Dream. Ohr was active for 3 years and between 1970 and 1973 released 33 albums and 12 singles. 

Kaiser also replaced the director in Pilz records, a BASF sublabel founded in 1971, and his interest in Joan Baez and Pete Seeger led him to sign more folkish bands like Wallenstein and Holderlin. Pilz ceased to exist after the release of Popol Vuh's Hossiana Mantra in 1973.

Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser created the successor of Ohr, Kosmische Kuriere, soon to be renamed Kosmische Musik, in 1972. Popol Vuh and Klaus Shulze were the most famous acts signed by the label. His influence by esoteric spirituality and his meeting with Timothy Leary, drove him to experiment with LSD. Kaiser's idea to unite musicians in jam sessions, led to the formation of The Cosmic Jokers, an idea that crashed Kosmische Musik in 1974. Kaiser wanted to have full control of the whole project so tensions arose between members of the band and Kaiser was forced to abandon the music scene once and for all, hunted by lawsuits and musicians. He felt bitterness seeing bands he made famous in the underground scene, sign bigger contracts, making money while his own efforts were collapsing under the weight of lack of money. Since 1974, no one ever has heard of him and according to Klaus Shulze's manager, he lived in Cologne for some time, totally broke, begging for food and suffering from schizophrenia due to his excessive LSD intake.

Recommended releases

Ohr Records: 

Embryo - Opal (1970)

Guru Guru - UFO (1970)

Tangerine Dream - Electronic Meditation (1970)

Anima - Stürmischer Himmel (1971)

Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel (1971)

Tangerine Dream -  Alpha Cantauri (1971)

Klaus Schulze - Irrlight (1972)

Mythos - Mythos (1972)

Pilz Records:

Ardo Dombec -  Ardo Dombec (1971)

Bröselmaschine - Bröselmaschine (1971)

Popol Vuh - In den Gärten Pharaos (1971)

Rufus Zuphall - Phallobst (1971)

Hölderlin - Hölderlins Traum (1972)

Wallenstein - Mother Universe (1972)

Popol Vuh - Hossiana Mantra (1973)

Kosmische Musik Records:

Timothy Leary & Ash Ra Tempel - Seven Up (1972)

Klaus Schulze - Cyborg (1973)

The Cosmic Jokers - The Cosmic Jokers (1973)

The Cosmic Jokers - Galactic Supermarket (1974)

By Pijo

Acknowledgments: 

Krautrock, Cosmic Rock and Its Legacy

Wikipedia: Ohr Records

[The 60's-70's Vault] November

Musicianship and innovation, two words, two terms that specify one of Sweden's most successful hard rock bands of all time. November were a band from Stockholm, formed in 1969 by Christer Stålbrandt (bass, vocals), Richard Rolf (guitar) and Björn Inge (drums, vocals). They chose to have their lyrics written in their mother tongue, except for their first single "Mount Everest" that appeared on their first album. The song sat for two weeks on the Swedish charts. The power trio decided to call themselves November, after sharing the stage with Fleetwood Mac on the 1st of November 1969.

The band debuted with "En ny tid är här..." which was released in the summer of 1970 on the Swedish label Sonet Records. Produced by themselves, the album was commercially succesful and very well performed. The aforementioned single was a great opener, followed by the hard rock dynamite "En annan värld" and the flute driven hard blues track "Lek att du är barn igen". As the record flows, one can easily feel the excellence of the beautifully structured songs and the clever change of rhythms that give the tracks this extra push so you know you want to listen to the record again and again. 

November, entered the studio in early 1971 to record their second album "2:a November" which was released in the spring of 1971 by Sonet Records once again. Georg Wadenius, who a year later became the lead guitarist for Blood, Sweat & Tears, produced the album. The band in great form, offered an interesting record with a steady performance. Personal favorites are the album's lengthiest tracks "En lång dag är över" and "På väg" that show some fine psychedelic elements, but let's just not forget to mention the heavy ones "Men mitt hjärta ska vara gjort av sten" and  "Ganska långt från Sergel" and the album's instrumental with the beautiful piano sound "Och så en morgon...".  

The band's third and last album "6:e November" was released in 1972 by Sonet Records. The eight songs included here vary from hard rock (Starka tillsammans and Allt genom dej, both with prominent percussion) to mellower but nice pieces (Februari, Jorden gråter and the instrumental Så svårt att lämna dig). Another superb effort that sold much and had its place on the Swedish charts, along with the previous two albums.

November split up before the album was released. Björn Inge played on Energy's only album in 1974 and the same year Christer Stålbrandt performed on Saga's also only album. Sonet Records released in 1993 a collection of live performances from 1970 to 1971 on the album "Live". In 2007 the band reunited to play a few shows in Sweden and since no one has ever heard of them, leaving a legacy of three very good albums with qualitative hard rock-heavy psych music.

By Pijo

[The 60's-70's Vault] Silver Apples

Psychedelic rock was mainly an American thing. Some of USA's states provided many of the finest bands of the genre, including Texas and Massachusetts among others. New York can be proud of Silver Apples. They produced psychedelia in a more "progressive" way adding some fine electronic elements and experimenting with various sounds. The band was formed in 1967, after changing its name from The Overland Stage Electric Band, by Simeon Coxe and Danny Taylor on oscillator and drums respectively. Both of them also took on the vocal duties. Now, an oscillator is an electronic device that produces electronic signal and converts DC to AC. Since it is in no need to analyse its functionality furthermore, we can only say that it can produce frequencies in the audio range so it can be audible and musically useful with the appropriate treatment. 

Silver Apples signed to Kapp Records and released their first self titled album in 1968. Nine songs were recorded including the band's signature song and first track on the album, Oscillations. From the first notes of the song, the unique sound and the obsession with the electronic subject is evident, just read the lyrics: "Oscillations, oscillations, electronic evocations of sound’s reality". All sounds, apart from the drum kit, are produced by this miraculous oscillator, no samples, no real instruments. Many highlights on this one, Seagreen Serenades, Lovefingers, Velvet Cave, Program and the, let's call it, Krautrock driven Dust, are examples of the combination between experimentation and inspiration. Nine audio oscillators were used for the recordings, piled on top of each other and Simeon Coxe used his hands, elbows and feet to control 86 manual controls. The band also co-operated with a poet named Stanley Warren, to write the lyrics on seven of the songs.

The following year, 1969, the band released its second and last album for the 60s, Contact. Much in the same vein as the first one, but better produced, this album also includes banjo played by Coxe, on two songs, Ruby and Confusion. The minimal and some times innovative drum playing by Taylor, ideally suited their musical quests that seem to have been expanded producing even more sounds, trying to imitate electric guitars and flutes. My personal favourite is the song A Pox On You, but i can't resist in enjoying You And I, Waters, You're Not Fooling Me and a couple of others. Silver Apples began a big tour in the States, but their future was not so bright. The LP cover featured the two band members in a plane cockpit and this lead to a lawsuit from Pan American World Airways due to drug paraphernalia and the pictures of wreckage shown in the innersleeve. The band broke up as Kapp Records was also suited by Pan Am and didn't release a third record that was almost ready at the time.

Simeon Coxe revived the band in the 90s with a different line up and released 2 more records before reuniting with original drummer Danny Taylor in 1998. After a delay of 28 years, the lost tapes of the third album were found and "Garden" was released in 1998 in the band's label, Whirlybird Records. In 2005 Danny Taylor died of heart attack and Simon Coxe continues as a solo artist since then.

By Pijo

[The 60's-70's Vault] May Blitz

  

Formed in England, May Blitz was a hard rock band, with some prog and psych elements, having released only 2 albums. The band was formed in 1969 by Canadian guitarist and vocalist Jamie Black, bassist Terry Poole and drummer Keith Baker. Shortly afterwards, Terry Poole and Keith Baker left, with the latter joining Uriah Heep who were recording the Salisbury album. The also Canadian Reid Hudson took over the bass duties and Tony Newman was the new sticksman, who had previously been playing with The Jeff Beck Group.

The band started the recordings for their self titled debut in 1970, after signing to Vertigo Records, a label that had Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep at the time. The album was released in the late 1970 and was a fine mix of hard rock, blues, psych rock and it contained 7 tracks. The album opener is the 8 minute piece "Smoking the Day Away", with the notable wah guitar sound, the melodic and harsh vocals and the clever change of tempos. "I Don't Know" is a simple hard rock track with good guitar solos. One of the best  tracks on this album is unquestionably the acoustically driven "Dreaming", showing some psychedelic elements, as well as an influence from Arthur Brown, on vocals. A short note should be made about the  acoustic guitars that are all over the record, painting it with beautiful chords. "Tomorrow May Come" is another great track, more psych here, with a unique atmosphere. The album's last song "Virgin  Waters", is a fine piece close to prog rock, giving this album a fine ending. The production could have been better (the bass is almost inaudible) but that doesn't bother much, only makes the album a cult for its genre!

The band's second and final offering was the "The 2nd Οf May" album being reeleased in 1971. No line up changes here and a much better production is evident, the guitar sound is heavy and fuzzy and the bass and the drums pound even better. The album starts off with "For Mad Men Only" a straight-forward rocker and continues with one of its best tracks, the perfect "Snakes and Ladders" with the heavily distorted guitar, the odd rhythm and the weird vocals. Tony Newman proves his drumming skills in "In Part" which contains a fine drum solo from the middle and on. The second side begins with "Mad Grim Nits", a heavy instrumental that leads to "High Beech", a mellow but good acoustic track. In conclusion, this album is much in the same vein as the first one, with a better sound and more confident players.

Shortly after the release of their second album, May Blitz disbanded, due to lack of interest from the label and low sales. Tony Newman joined Three Man Army appearing on their first two records and has worked with many other bands as a session musician. Jamie Black and Reid Hudson disappeared from music after recording those two albums.

So, have a drink on them! They were a remarkable band and if luck was on their side, they might have conquered the scene as well.

 

By Pijo

[The 60's-70's Vault] Toad

The hard rock movement in Europe, during the 70s, was very popular and was played mostly in the U.K. and Germany, where there were the most known bands. But Europe covers a huge area and Switzerland hosted one of the best bands of that era. Toad were formed during 1970 by ex members of psych rock heroes Brainticket, Werner Fröhlich and Cosimo Lampis, on bass and drums respectively. The line up was completed with Benjamin Jaeger on vocals and Vic Vergeat on the guitar.

Toad's first eponymous album was recorded in 1970, released in 1971, and it is an excellent example of solid hard rock. The good production (the famous engineer Martin Birch guarantees the good result) provides a more pleasant listening. The songs are all equally good but most notable are the opening Cottonwood Hill (also the name of Brainticket's first album), the fast paced proto-metal A Life That Ain't Worth Living, the heavy instrumental Tank and the great acoustic The One I Mean. 

After the recordings Benjamin Jaeger left the band and guitarist Vic Vergeat took over the vocal duties along with Werner Fröhlich. 

As a three-membered band they released their second album Tomorrow Blue, in 1972. Also, Helmut Lipsky played the violin in three tracks. The guitar work on this one is more notable and a slight blues sound is more evident. The album starts with a powerful track named Thoughts and continues with the bluesy Tomorrow Blue that is followed by a beautiful acoustic song with violin, Blind Chapmans Tale. My personal favourite is the 12 minutes masterpiece Change in Time with the thunderous rhythm changes and the brilliant guitars. The whole album captures the feeling of the first one and is equal in quality. Martin Birch engineered it as well and the overall sound supports the band's efforts. 

After some performances where Toad have proven their ability to perform live, the band released their third and final album in the 70s named Dreams, in 1974.  Unfortunately, the album lacks the power and rawness of the first two, but it is a good album with some good tracks on it, including the Jimi Hendrix's cover of Purple Haze. 

After this album the band dissapeared, playing ocassionaly live shows with no success, during the late 70s and the 80s with various line-ups. In the 90s the band released two more albums and another one in 2003.

Toad have never met with success but their legacy is printed on those 3 albums, especially the first two brilliant ones. Switzerland's rock freaks are surely proud of them!

by Pijo

You can check all three albums in the playlist below:

[The 60's-70's Vault] Kosmik Echoes In The Dark Compilation

As promised here is the second compilation by Pijo, this time dedicated to Kraut rock featuring 55 tracks in four parts. A trippy 7-hour kosmik ride or a great introduction to the genre if you're not familiar with it...

Kosmik Echoes In The Dark Tracklist

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Echoes In the Dark On Facebook

[The 60's-70's Vault] Echoes In The Dark Compilation (The 70's)

Pijo, one of Downtuned Radio's djs and webzine's contributor in The 70's Vault created a big, fat hard/heavy/prog rock compilation from late 60's to '74/'75, featuring songs he played in his shows. The compilation consists of 4 parts or else 65 songs with a total duration of over 5 hours. A lot of really good music and if you ask me a great introduction to 70's quality bands. In other words, material for further research... Stay tuned for another comp by Pijo, dedicated to Kraut Rock...

Echoes In The Dark Compilation (The 70's) Tracklist

Pt.1 | Pt.2 | Pt.3 | Pt.4

[The 60's-70's Vault] Damnation Of Adam Blessing

The Damnation Of Adam Blessing were mainly a psychedelic rock band coming from Cleveland that never got the attention they deserved. The name was taken after a book of Vin Packer of the same name written in 1961. The band was formed in 1968 with Adam Blessing (real name Bill Constable) on lead vocals, Jim Quinn on rhythm guitars, Bob Kalamasz on lead guitars, Ray Benick on bass and Bill Schwark on drums. Bob, Ray and Bill were playing before in a garage band called Dust (not the known one) while Adam and Jim were together in an unknown band.

After a contract with United Artists in 1969, they released their self titled album the same year. The album was full of vocal melodies and beautiful guitars filling their mid-paced songs. I really like the bass and the drum sound on this one! Also, some jazz influences are thrown here especially in the guitar licks. Some songs that are particularly very good are the psych one "Le Voyage", the beautiful ballad "Lonely" and the blues rock "Last Train To Clarksville" which reminds me a bit of the great Grand Funk Railroad.

After changing the name to Damnation, the band recorded their second album called "The Second Damnation" in 1970. The sound became a little heavier maybe lacking part of the atmosphere the first album had. More hard rock oriented with Constable's vocals a little high in the mix, this one was more consistent and tight than their first and it is my personal favourite. Songs like the heavy psych Driver and In The Morning, the beautiful slow paced Everyone and the pure psych Money Tree were perfect examples of the band's great form.

A year later, Damnation recorded "Which Is The Justice, Which Is The Thief" and it was a step forward due to the band's decision to add violin and more acoustic parts to their songs. Drummer Bill Schwark was replaced by Adam's brother Ken Constable. Fans were dissapointed because of the change in the sound direction "accusing" the band for commercialism! A huge mistake in my humble opinion because many of the songs included here are very good and well played. Indeed, the sound was softer and maybe mainstream but i don't think the songs were intended for radio play! Just listen to "Fingers On A Windmill", "Running Away" and "Sweet Dream Lady" and you'll find out the band's inspiration at the time.

In 1973, the band changed their name once again to Glory releasing an album simply called Glory and shortly after this they dissapeared from the scene. In 2000, Damnation of Adam Blessing reunited and performed in front of fans at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum in their hometown Cleveland. The band should be memorised for Bill Constable's great vocals, beautiful and smart guitar playing and well constructed songs that maybe were ahead of their time.

Written by Pijo

Take a Damnation Of Adam Blessing taste from the playlist below: