Alto Saxophone, Flute, Trombone – Emil Mangelsdorff
Alto & Tenor Saxophone – Heinz Sauer
Bass – Günter Lenz
Drums, Darbouka, Tambourine – Ralf Hübner
Soprano & Tenor Saxophone – Joki Freund
Vocals – Colin Wilkie
Vocals – Shirley Hart
Painting – Tilman Michalski
Recording date: February 19th, 1969, Walldorf, Tonstudio, Frankfurt
Awesome, unusual album which combines elements that would at first sight be completely incompatible: 1) British folk music, whaling songs, medieval German folk and 2) improvised fusion of free jazz & hard bop (I call it free bop, don't know if it's a common term, but describes the Mangelsdorffian kind of music quite well).
Definitely worth hunting, could be quite hard to find though. Open minded listeners will be rewarded with some unique and outstanding music that won't wear out even after repeated plays.
Free jazz encounters the English folk song. With his perceptive arrangements, Saxophonist-arranger-composer Joki Freund, a major force in German post-war jazz, captures and combines the atmospheres of both genres. English couple Colin Wilkie and Shirley Hart began as wandering troubadours, and traveled on to become a mainstay on the bourgeoning European folk scene of the ‘60’s. The core of the accompanying Hessen Radio Jazz Ensemble is trombone icon Albert Mangelsdorff’s Quintet, a group that changed the shape of German jazz in the 1960’s. Wilkie’s Icy Acres follows the tradition of English-Scottish whaling songs. Based on an old sea shanty, Fourth Flight features impressive solos by Mangelsdorff and tenor saxophonist Heinz Sauer. On the impressionistic Snowy Sunday a pulsing 6/8 rhythm propels Albert’s brother Emil’s flute, a vocal interlude, and Freund’s impassioned soprano solo. Willow and Rue has a processional feel before breaking out into a swinging Mangelsdorff solo. Played in quartet, Lament mourns the death of a child, with Shirley the solo vocal and Albert accompanying. Based on a 14th century folk song, Joki Freund’s Ich armes Maidlein klag mich sehr represents a tour de force of arranging. The traditional English love song Sweet Primroses receives affectionate treatment by Wilkie and Hart and a passionate solo by Sauer. With songs handsomely sung, sensitive arrangements, and an ensemble that includes Mangelsdorff’s quintet at its height, this album proves that folk and jazz are soul siblings at heart.
Not much is known about ARDO DOMBEC except that they were an early 70's German prog band who released an album with a heavy, bluesy, and slightly jazzy feel, ending up barely sounding German at all. Often compared to COLOSSEUM, their music features a lot of saxophone, often matched by electric guitar and flute. Their arrangements are upbeat and bright, yet the lyrics are rather dark and cynical in contrast. The band consisted of Helmut Hachmann on sax and flute, Harald Gleu on guitar and vocals, Wolfgang Spillner on drums and vocals, and Michael Ufer on bass.
Their only album, entitled simply "Ardo Dombec" (1971), collects just about everything the band has ever recorded. At times, their jazzy material flirts with pop and at other times, it sounds downright baroque. The band obviously enjoys strange and complex rhythms, SOFT MACHINE style. Although they seem to favour vocal tracks (which aren't exactly their forte), it is in the instrumental sections that they truly shine. Technically speaking, the musicianship is fairly good but the compositions may lack a little inspiration and excitement.
Ardo Dombec differs from other folk-blues-fusion-hard rock bands of the early 70's by the presence of omnipresent visceral saxophone arrangements that remain pretty structured, sometimes reminding the Dutch fusion band Solution. Because of the aforementioned subgenres, Ardo Dombec perfectly falls into the art rock category. The drums and bass are often very fast, rhythmic and complex, flirting with fusion elements, and reminding the early Camel without the keyboards. Despite their German origin, Ardo Dombec have nothing to do with the krautrock subgenre. The lyrics are sung in English. The tracks are pretty progressive for 1971. Many flute parts a la Jethro Tull, Focus and even Camel add some interesting variety; the track with the very pleasant visceral harmonica exhibition also shows how versatile the members can be. The music is quite addictive, disciplined and structured: this allows me to qualify the album as excellent. Some catchy tracks, combined with the typical lead vocals, should even slightly remind the listener a sophisticated Elvis Presley!
Spectaculum A set of truly fun(ky) grooves, infused with sax stabs that I would be very surprised if the Hip-Hop community had already exploited to death (if they haven't then keep this one to yourself!). The intial energetic groove is taken back a few gears to something altogether more slinky, before re-asserting itself after a subtle Can-styled strip-back. For fans of the more obscure, there's a passing similarity to Kaputter Hamster here.
There's no holding the grooves back in Supper Time, with quasi-operatic vocals suggesting Arthur Brown. Fun details expose themselves in the music, and the same tempo drop-back technique is used, bringing about a kind of harmonised Doors flavour. A searing dissonant guitar solo scorches its way across the musical landscape, bluffing wildly, but colouring effectively. The band, all the while, providing a some-nonsense, rock-solid boogie.
I'm again reminded of the Kaputter ones in A Bit Near the Knuckle, which is more of the same - solid jazzy, funky grooves, quasi-operatic vocals, time changes, wandering bass lines and fun details in the musical structure. Here, the slower section gets even slower and more laid-back, hinting at Pink Floyd, but with a jazzier, groovy edge and some fun chord leaps - and an even more fun build-up back to the verse. The vocals here are again a cross between Arthur Brown and Jim Morrison, featuring declamations with a core of anger, and the sax dominates proceedings without overpowering them. The solo, particularly is a wicked toe-tapping groove, around which the sax slithers and slides to tremendous effect.
A flute suddenly takes the sax's dominant position for the start of Clean-Up Sunday, a story about a girl halfway between Cinderella and Eleanor Rigby, it seems. Featuring the flute so heavily lends a natural Jethro Tull flavour at some points - but suddenly we drop into the jazziest, funkiest groove so far - around 1:36, and the flautists' vocalisations recall Ian Anderson very strongly indeed - but with something added in the humour department, comical without being ridiculous - a very good job indeed.
Some awesome jazz touches jump out of the groove before it suddenly dies, giving way to an acoustic guitar, which noodles around a little, appears to settle, fades out completely, then gives way to some parallel 5th chanting over tinkly bells, evoking a monastic kind of feel - suggesting the Sunday spirit of the piece, although not for too long. Another groove is laid down on us, with flavours of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit, and this grows, bar-by-bar back to the song and the story we've pretty much forgotten about by now!
No real surprises at the start of Downtown Paradise Lost - we're back to the sax dominated texture for an R&B flavoured number about the Red Light District. Despite some hugely emotive outpouring from the singer, and some very enthusiastic kit work from the drummer, there's not a huge amount of excitement to this song, despite its subject matter - although you can clearly hear RAP around 2:25 - to think that rap didn't take off as a genre until at least 10 years later (probably more)!
Here's where the song really hots up, as the story hots up - the music punctuates the action, before dropping into a sultry and suggestive harmonica-topped, hip-shakin' groove. Can't think why they didn't use the sax instead - but it does show up for a turn, before the story is resumed.
Heh - good job I've got a CD, instead of the vinyl (well, you try finding a vinyl copy!), or I might have been fooled by Oh Sorry, a vinyl owner's nightmare.
This is followed by the most progressive piece so far, 108, with a glorious acoustic guitar intro - really, this is how an acoustic intro should be written and played - none of your simple two-chord even-note picking rubbish here - PROPER guitar playing!
I could listen to an album of this, but then the flute joins in and makes it an even more pleasurable listen. OK, the chord sequence IS based around 2 chords here, but it's still fun and interesting, as the flute soars, warbles and chirps beautifully.
The album closes with the rockin' Unchangable Things, which, ironically changes persistently as it progresses over a solid bass groove, before dropping into the sax solo which sounds like it might have been lifted from a Gong album in terms of the overall sound produced. There's then another change to a new groove - and OK, I got the joke in the first sentence. Teutons and their musical jokes, eh?
Monster groove alert around 3:20 - this one's a killer, replete with psychedelic, noodly, wah-drenched guitar solo, which pulls out all the stops to avoid becoming predictable - and largely succeeds.
Despite the English words, a fantastic, fun piece of Krautrock, recalling many of the greats and the obscurites of that genre, but without truly going into full-blown Kosmische, a tremedous work of jazz/funk with wondrous grooves for all to enjoy and nice details in the arrangements to stop Proggers falling asleep.
A real pleasure to listen to and review - and nicely within this particular field of Progressive Rock. I even hung around for the bonus tracks, which are, yes, you guessed it, a lot of fun. Excellent addition to your collection - although maybe not if you don't like funky grooves (and who doesn't?
Hans 'Flute' Reffert / acoustic & electric guitars, bass recorder, wooden flutes
Hans 'Voice' Brandeis / sitar, electric guitar, Vocals
A German duet composed by multi instrumentalists, FLUTE & VOICE is totally devoted to "world" and acoustic experimentations combined to rock. The guitarist Hans Reffert "Flute" (whose reputation is strongly approved in Mannheim region) formed the band with Hans Brandeis "Voice" in 1969. They have rapidly shared their common interest for Indian sitar. At the beginning of the 70's this duet provided an inventive "ethnic" rock sound with an abundant use of sitar, raga ingredients. Their music is a fantastic cross section of different moods and playings: dancing flute lines, jazzy & folk guitars accompaniments, a mysterious tone provided by the sitar. The communication between the instruments is full of beauty and introspection.
They started to record their first album "Imagination of Light" in 1970. In 1973, they recorded the second album of their career "Hallo Rabbit". They made many performances in Germany for clubs or during special festivals (German Jazz Festival 1972 in Frankfurt). In 1974, the band disappears after Brandeis move to Berlin.
An impressive, innovative band whose music is an opened door to our inner perceptions. Really outside of time.
The opening track directly announces the colour of the whole album. We are introduced into a relaxed, peaceful, mystical universe full of "eastern" influences. This first composition is entirely improvised for sitar with an addition of melodic, emotional vocals. The second track "thoughts" is essentially composed for an electric guitars duet played with a beautiful jazzy felt, always mixed with an "introspect" sense of arrangement. "Resting Thinking about time" is a fantastic "ethereal" composition divided into long guitar interludes. A very beautiful song. "Hello rabbits" has an evident hippie accent with soft guitar parts and prominent vocals. "Scottish rock" is a great folk, "pastoral" ballad built around a classical guitar structure, well played with a bright, technical and "relaxed" solo. The song which closes the album is a dreamy, short tune played on electric & acoustic guitars with the presence of amazing lyrics. A very creative album and a delicious musical moment. A must to discover for every fan of "indo"folk rock and krautrock first years.
01. Introduction Pour Gestation Sonore À La Neï Contrebasse 3:00
02. Gestation Sonore Pour Neï Contrebasse 10:00
03. Gestation Sonore Pour Crystar 5:00
04. Gestation Sonore En Date Du 1er Octobre 1974 15:00
05. Tala 3:00
Goa Alloro
Franky Bourlier
Deeply tripped higher key sonic investigations from the Bourlier brothers, both known more from their work in the NWW-list and Futura label unit Horde Catalitique Pour Le Fin. All sounds included here are from self-made or modified instruments, the overall approach coming off like an acid informed Lasry/Baschet recording.
One of THE indie soul treasures of the 70s -- a wickedly funky record that blends together jazz, soul, and club -- and which stands out with a sound that's all its own! You may well know the tag "moods and grooves" -- as the record's had an influence on countless scenes, and has been referenced by many artists over the years. But nothing beats this original set, a sublime batch of electric grooves performed by a core combo of electric keys, bass, and congas -- augmented by sweetened strings and some occasional chorus vocals -- bad-stepping around the grooves in a mostly-instrumental mode that rivals (if not betters) some of the best funky soundtrack work of the decade!
In 1976, John "Juney" Garrett and Richard Parker launched Ju-Par Records in Detroit and immediately arranged for distribution to be handled by the giant Motown empire, an association that lasted through 3 albums before ceasing the arrangement. One of those albums was the one you see here converted to CD format with the same title - Mooves & Grooves - by an aggregation assembled by Garret and Parker they named The Ju-Par Universal Orchestra.
This assembly consisted of guitarist Phil Upchurch (who had a 1961 # 29 Billboard Pop Hot 100 hit with You Can't Sit Down, Part 2 as The Philip Upchurch Combo for the small Boyd label), trumpeters Art Hayle and Murray Watson, tenor/baritone saxophonist Ken Soderdlom, flutist Rich Rudoll, trombonist Ralph Craig, bassist Lou Satterfield, keyboardist (and producer-arranger) Dick Boyell, percussionist Derf Walker, drummer Quinton Joseph, and vocalists Kitty and Vivian Haywood and Bonnie Herman.
As a vinyl LP the contents were: A1. Funky Music (3:15); A2. Beauty And The Beast (3:00); A3. Time (3:08); A4. Chicago Calypso (3:22); B1. Mocha Velvet (4:18); B2. Is Anyone Listening? (3:12); B3. Flute Salad (4:47); B4. Gotta Get-A-Way (3:52). As a CD converted by Traffic Entertainment Group the same order runs 1 to 8. Sleeve notes are by John Edwards, WJLB Detroit radio host of "Jazz on A.M."
In June-July 1977 as single from the album saw Funky Music go to # 32 R&B and # 101 Hot 100 Bubble Under as Ju-Par 8002 b/w Time. That appears to be the only single released by the group, and since both sides are part of the CD, that will certainly please completist hits collectors. Short on lyrics, it most definitely is funky, but personally, I think if the Djs had flipped it over now and then, the B-side, Time, would have become a much bigger hit for the group. Beauty And The Beast and Flute Salad would have made another great paring as a single.
Vocals – Cyrill Hodari Small, Eddie (Sac) Small, William Bascom
The 1974 debut album Ojinga’s Own and single Basa Bongo/Black Pepper by Guyanese Afro-Folk band The Yoruba Singers has been remastered for vinyl and digital.
The Yoruba Singers formed in Georgetown, Guyana in 1971. Despite their name they were not from Nigeria, but identified strongly with the area from which so many of the African diaspora in Guyana and neighbouring regions were originally descended.
The group started adapting Guyanese traditional folk music as well as writing their own - blending a mixture of protest, social commentary, blues, and genres inspired by the times. Beginning with 12 people sharing vocal duties, most of the early repertoire was inspired by folk songs that started life on plantations or in religious settings accompanied by a few sparse musical instruments.
Integral to the Yoruba Singers’ sound are echoes of Obeah traditions which are very closely related to the Santería religion of Cuba and the Orisha and Shango traditions of Trinidad and Tobago. Calypso and steel-band culture from nearby Trinidad and Tobago was to some extent part of the musical DNA of the group, but they were naturally also influenced by the massive volume of rocksteady and roots-reggae coming from Jamaica.
Mega rare 1972 Chilean release and debut album recorded by this Brazilian artist. Progressive psych folk at its best featuring members of Los Jaivas, Amerindios and Congregacin. A sublime combination of acoustic guitar sounds, percussions and delicate songwriting that may remind you of some other Brazilian artists like Os Novos Baianos or even Caetano Veloso. First album by Brazilian musician, poet and plastic artist Manduka. Originally released in 1972 on IRT, the album is a sought-after collectors item, especially among those who seek in its cultural richness, fundamental episodes of Chilean popular musical history. An essential record almost entirely written by Manduka during his exile years in Chile, away from his home in Brazil. It includes improvised jams and songs about Brazilian history, his own exile and the new cultures he got exposed to. A sublime combination of acoustic guitar sounds, percussions and delicate songwriting that may remind you of some other Brazilian artists like Os Novos Baianos or even Caetano. It includes a special cover version of Violeta Parra's 'Qu dir el Santo Padre'
It may come as a surprise to many to know that the psychedelic rock and folk movement of the late 60s and early70s was not confined to the USA and Europe. In fact, the massivecultural upheavals of the 1960s had spread far and wide and by 1967-68, musicians, artistsand writers across the world were exploring new ways to express themselves. This was noless the case in South America and it was during the late 60s and early 70s that an explosion of psych rock and folk produced amazing music that still inspires half a century later. The most well-known and celebrated South American movement from this era was Tropicália (also known as Tropicalismo), a Brazilian artistic movement that arose in the late 1960s that embraced music, poetry, visual arts and theatre.
Musicians who were part of the movement include Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Os Mutantes, Gal Costa, and Tom Zé. But it wasn't just Brazil that experienced a flowering of artistic freedom. Chile too had a movement called la Nueva Canción Chilena (Chilean New Song), a movement that captivated and elated a country during a period of social change. This was a powerful musical style that combined poetic lyrics with a haunting mix of traditional native wind and stringed instruments. It was born of and expressed the aspirations of a rising social class and political consciousness concerned with social justice and freedom. It was a time in which psychedelic rock and folk bands of the late ’60s and early ’70s like Los Blops, Los Jaivas, Aguaturbia, El Congreso, and Congregación mixed American and European rock with native Chilean and other South American forms. However, by 1973, the creative freedoms expressed by Chilean musicians, poets, writers and artists was abruptly curtailed when there was a violent CIA-backed military coup that overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende and installed the fascist dictator General Augusto Pinochet. The event caused many leading figures of the political opposition to be arrested, imprisoned and tortured. Thousands disappeared and were killed. In the context of such violent suppression and intimidation, many musicians sought asylum in neighbouring countries or even further afield, like the USA or Europe. One such musician and writer was Alexandre Manuel Thiago de Mello, otherwise known as Manduka.
Manduka was born in 1952 in Brasil, the son of the journalist Pomona Politis and the poet Thiago de Mello, and nephew of the musician Gaudêncio Thiago de Mello. At the age of 18 he moved with his family to Chile, ostensibly to escape the increasingly oppressive atmosphere of the military government in Brazil. Just as many members and supporters of the New Chilean Song movement would soon go into exile after the 1973 coup, Manduka had escaped one dictatorship in Brazil to go and live in Chile, very soon to experience its own military crackdown. Manduka became involved with the Unidad Popular, a left-wing political alliance in Chile that stood behind the successful candidacy of Salvador Allende in the 1970 Chilean presidential election. During this time, Manduka also established close ties with important Chilean artists and began to foster interesting musical ideas, mixing his Brazilian heritage with the Chilean culture he found himself rapidly absorbing. In 1971, Manduka was still only nineteen years old and he was already a leading figure in the local left intelligentsia (his father was very close to notable figures such as Pablo Neruda and Violeta Parra, a musician who set the foundation for Nueva Canción Chilena) and was close to other exiled Brazilians, particularly the singer-songwriter Geraldo Vandré. It was with Vandré that Manduka co-wrote his first songs, quickly making a name for himself with 'Patria Amada Idolatrada Salve Salve', sung by Venezuelan singer Soledad Bravo, winning a prize at the 1972 Festival of Aguadulce, held in Peru. Upon his return to Chile, Manduka received an offer from Julio Numhauser to record a record. Numhauser was a key member of the Nueva Canción Chilena movement and founder member of the influential folk music groups Quilapayún. He was also artistic director of the IRT label and the result was an LP composed almost entirely by Manduka, with songs and improvisations that, somewhat inevitably, alluded to exile, Brazilian history and his own encounters with Chilean culture.
The resulting album, 'Manduka' was released in 1972 and featured vocalist Soledad Bravo along with contributions from some of the leading progressive folk and rock musicians in Chile at the time including Numhauser himself, Patricio Castillo (a close friend and creative partner of political activist, poet and singer Victor Jara), Baltasar Villaseca of leading Chilean psych folkrock group Congregación, and the brothers Gabriel and Eduardo Parra, from popular folk rock group Los Jaivas. The album is a wonderfully fresh and exciting collection of sounds that fizz with energy and hope; one minute a lilting folk ballad, the next an up tempo foot stomping attack on the acoustic guitar. It is the sound of a creative mind at the centre of a flourishing artistic movement just months away from being crushed.
After the coup in September 1973, many of the leading figures in the Chilean music scene fled for their lives. Those that stayed payed a heavy price. An associate of Manduka, Victor Jara, was a key figure in the Nueva Canción Chilena movement. Soon after the coup, he was arrested and tortured. The guards smashed his hands and fingers, and then mocked him by asking him to play the guitar. He was then killed with a bullet to the head, and his corpse riddled with more than 40 bullets wounds. His body was put on display at a sports stadium as a warning then thrown out on the street of a Santiago shantytown. The stark contrast between the themes of his songs— love, peace, and social justice—and the brutal way in which he was murdered transformed Jara into a potent symbol of struggle for human rights and justice for those murdered during the Pinochet regime. This was the political context in which Manduka found himself and he had no choice but to flee to Argentina with members of Los Jaivas. In the years that followed, Manduka would continue to wander the world, living and working in Venezuela, Germany, France, Spain and Mexico, publishing records and books, scoring films, and collaborating with artists such as Naná Vasconcelos and Pablo Milanés. Manduka returned to Brazil in 1988 where he remained until his death on October 17, 2004, due to cardiovascular complications.
Soulful sounds from 70s Chile – and a record that easily rivals some of the best acoustic work from the post-Tropicalia generation in Brazil! Manduka's got a heady sound that's very much in keeping with his image on the cover – a freer sort of approach to the music than the decade before – with these long-flowing tracks that intertwine folksy elements and regional touches, but always with some slight undercurrent of jazz – almost at a level that rivals the acid folk of the UK scene of the same time, but with a definite deeper South American vibe. The vocals are sublime – extremely haunting, even beyong the boundary of language – and often recorded with some echo around them and the guitar, in a manner that recalls some of the best Geraldo Vandre material. Instrumentation includes some light backing on flute, bongos, acoustic guitar, and harmonica – often used in a gentle, watery sort of way. Completely sublime – one of those lost global gems you'll treasure for years –
Occult themes in popular rock music were nonexistent until the year 1967 when The Beatles decided to include Aleister Crowley on the jam-packed but obviously symbolic album cover of 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club.' This mere reference that was most likely due to the official birth of Anton LeVey's Church of Satan in 1966 seemed to open the flood gates in the experimental themes of musicians of the late 1960s and in no time at all occult themes started to trickle in with each new stab at incorporating the darker aspects of reality becoming a bit bolder. After The Beatles epic album came the first shock rock of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown as well as The Rolling Stones playing keep up with albums like 'Their Satanic Majesties Request' all the way up to Coven's debut that included a black mass ritual which all continued with bands like Black Widow, C.A. Quintet and finally Black Sabbath launching completely new tritone evil sounds that would become known as heavy metal.
Included in this eclectic mix of occult themed bands is the relatively obscure Swiss band THE SHIVER which released its sole artifact WALPURGIS in 1969 and displayed the very first album cover to feature the macabre art of Swiss artist H.R. Giger. The title WALPURGIS is thought of as an ancient Pagan holiday or the spring equivalent of Halloween but in modern times is better known as the holy time of the year for the Satanic cults that worship Molech and other dark forces like Lucifer or Satan. They perform human sacrifices in order to pay the evil spirits so that they can do the bidding of those who seek greater powers from the evil forces. Like many of these early proto bands, THE SHIVER never explicitly engaged in such promotion of the occult but rather flirted with its existence through its lyrics and visual imagery in the context of the contemporary popular sounds of the era.
WALPURGIS is a strange but IMHO woefully overlooked album from the early nascent cradle of when the progressive rock world was taking its first steps out of the melting pot of 60s psychedelia. Formed in 1967 as Der Seiger in the Swiss city of St. Gallen by guitarist and singer Dany R'hle, this band actually has ties with another Swiss band with a Giger cover, namely Island through the connection of yet another contemporary band called Deaf. With a short stint under the moniker The Shivers, the final S was dropped with a final lineup of Dany R'hle (guitar, harmonica, vocals), Jelly Pastorini (organ, piano), Mario Conza (bass, flute, vocals), Roger Maurer (drums, vocals) and Peter Robinson (lead vocals). While the band was clearly edging toward the future with progressive rock tendencies, THE SHIVER was certainly no King Crimson or East of Eden and existed in a somewhat anachronistic psychedelic swirl of organs and blues guitar that were all the rage in 1967's Summer of Love.
This is a bizarre album in many ways but mostly musically because in its brief 34 minute run, the album displays many sounds that seem unrelated but yet somehow are cohesively tied by a mysterious atmosphere that permeates the various sounds on display. One of the first idiosyncrasies of the album is that it begins not with a heavy vocal driven rocker that was self-penned by the band but rather sets the tone with a lengthy seven minute cover of Procol Harum's 'Repent Walpurgis' which is psychedelic instrumental treat fortified with J.S. Bach's 'Prelude No. 1' from the 'Well-Tempered Clavier' only with a dreamy organ, lazy beatnik percussive drive and melodic soaring blues guitar riffs that find an independent bass groove independently set apart from the rest of the crowd. As the lengthiest piece and most progressive of the pack, is the likely reason that THE SHIVER has for so long been included on lists of some of the earliest examples of proto-progressive rock.
The rest of the album takes a different journey whether its the short second honky tonk track 'Ode To The Salvation Army' or the 60s beat psychedelic pop rock followup 'Leave This Man Alone.' While the blues rock returns on 'What's Wrong About The Blues' which displays a rather generic deliver, 'Hey Mr Holy Man,' a version of 'Dies-Irae' on the other hand delivers the goods of what one would expect to hear from an album with such an album cover. The creepy ethereal mix of organs, hazy percussive drive and dueling aspects of spaced out choral vocal utterances with spoken narration and a groovy free flowing melodic groove is the best track on the album and one of the highlights of all acid rock of the era.
Also included is a cover of the Animals' 'Don't Be Misunderstood' which keeps the album's overall feel in the 1966 / 67 timeline with its beat grooves and mid-60s pop sensibilities. 'No Time' follows suit and the closer 'The Peddle' ends with another lazy psychedelic organ driven blues rock groove. While admittedly not the best example of any style of the 60s, this album has become a cult legend for different reasons altogether. WALPURGIS is really sloppy in a garage band sort of way with crude performances and lo-fi production values, however coupled with the darkly themed album cover art and the mysterious nature of the band's history it somehow has become entangled within the history of metal music despite having nothing remotely metal in terms of musical origins. On the other hand it more than delivers an occult ritualistic feel with heavy psych freakiness that has inspired the stylistic approach of metal bands much like early albums by Venom hinted at black metal without actually being so.
WALPURGIS is an album that doesn't work on so many levels but yet i'm endeared to it for some reason, feeling like i shouldn't like it as much as i do but somehow find like an invisible planet on the other side of the sun, it exerts some sort of undetectable gravitational pull and while it utterly defies logical explanation, somehow this album has gotten under the skin of many over the decades but i do wonder if the effect would have held up as strongly as it has if it would've had pink elephants on the cover instead of the creepy Giger creations. Whatever the case, this is an album i don't want to like but do even upon multiple listens, i keep coming back for more. Utterly out of touch with its timeline and stubbornly unprofessional in every sense of the term, THE SHIVER has nonetheless weaseled its way into the hearts of the underground cult section of the record store and continues to do so even with the modern re-issues that contain bonus tracks. As far as i know, no life was sacrificed in the making of this album but in the mysterious world of occult rituals, one can never be sure.
This album must have one of the weirdest ever cover-texture (in its original German pressing) as it was a rubbery foam (not having aged well for the most part), but the music inside it was equally disturbed being a strange mix of what was the craziest music around. This very international group (saxman-flauter Earle is Irish, drummer Roscoe British, and the bassist is Austrian), NDW is one of those UFOs in terms of influences, and this album in its original version is worth a small fortune, and has been re-released with a different artwork too.
As much as I have been listening to this album, I always felt that it was rather impossible to describe the music succinctly without omitting a facet (or two, even three) of it, so would resume it as a bizarre cross of Beefheart's Zappa and a Crimson Machine with Purple Traffic. Only four tracks two of them multi-movement "suites", this is head-twisting dizzyingly-wild music, constantly changing with a few characters intervening here and there. All tracks and subsections are attributed to all the members and it hardly surprises once you heard it a few times.
As the group will fold soon after, John Earle left for England and eventually ended up in Gnidrolog, playing second sax on their classic Lady Lake.
This album must have one of the weirdest ever cover-texture (in its original German pressing) as it was a rubbery foam (not having aged well for the most part), but the music inside it was equally disturbed being a strange mix of what was the craziest music around. This very international group (saxman-flauter Earle is Irish, drummer Roscoe British, and the bassist is Austrian), NDW is one of those UFOs in terms of influences, and this album in its original version is worth a small fortune, and has been re-released with a different artwork too.
As much as I have been listening to this album, I always felt that it was rather impossible to describe the music succinctly without omitting a facet (or two, even three) of it, so would resume it as a bizarre cross of Beefheart's Zappa and a Crimson Machine with Purple Traffic. Only four tracks two of them multi-movement "suites", this is head-twisting dizzyingly-wild music, constantly changing with a few characters intervening here and there. All tracks and subsections are attributed to all the members and it hardly surprises once you heard it a few times.
As the group will fold soon after, John Earle left for England and eventually ended up in Gnidrolog, playing second sax on their classic Lady Lake.
Propulsive heavy rock jams including positive groovy arrangements and pastoral chanting flutes. This is an obvious obscurity from German underground and a major contribution in the 70's progressive rock scene. It's not clearly a krautrock experience but an amazing, damaged progressive fusion voyage which can be considered as a cross between Jethro Tull's first bluesy folk efforts, Black Sabbath ("Paranoid" era) The Incredible String Band, Gomorrah and Nosferatu (For the German side). "Delusion" starts as a pastoral introspective voyage with acoustic guitars and flutes, carries on a heavy rock'n roll trip with solid guitar riffs and 70's hard rocking vocals. "Dream of drummer" is an ultra rhythmical, dynamic, frantic drum set with guitar grooves and a fascinating echoing bluesy rock solo at the end of the improvisation. "Time is flying" is an evident hybrid between Black Sabbath heavy rock arguments and Jethro Tull's original sound (rustic bluesy folk) . Brilliantly composed and good technical performances. Highly recommended for 70's prog /psych/ heavy rock collectors.
Interesting cover art with the skull dripping with melted wax.These guys are from Switzerland and got the first part of their band name from their leader and vocalist / flautist Sandy McChurch (an alias actually as his real name is Sandro Ciesa). And the second part of their name from the "Soundroom" as they called it where they practised all the time, which happened to be the garage of Sandy's parents. I'm still having trouble getting totally into the first two tracks but the rest is fantastic.
Backing Vocals, Piano, Synthesizer – Helmut Zerlett
Bass – Rike Gratt
Bass, Grand Piano, Synthesizer, Zither – Matthias Keul
Congas, Drums – Stefan Krachten
Congas, Percussion – Olek Gelba
Guitar – Dominik Von Senger
Oboe, Saxophone – Wolfgang Schubert
Percussion, Timbales – Reiner Linke
Vocals – Damo Suzuki
Barely pausing for breath after 1983's Colours And Soul, Dunkelziffer delivered In The Night the following year, their revolving line-up prompting an evolving sound. Though the playful elements of their debut remained through a trio of sun-blushed dubbers, the album also housed the ensemble's most dense, intense and serious tracks to date. The core septet of Zerlett, Linke, Krachten, Von Senger, Keul, Gelba and Schubert returned as well as the new bassist Rike Gratt, each in their own flow state on this seven track LP. But it was all change behind the mic for In The Night, as Coco Claus and Josefa Martens moved on, while Rebop Kwaku Baah, whose deep and rhythmic vocals decorated most of their debut, had sadly passed away while on tour with Jimmy Cliff the previous year. Luckily a perfect reinforcement was waiting in the wings, and the unmistakable Damo Suzuki led the charge with Helmut Zerlett taking double duties on backing vocals. The loose limbed reggae of 'Watch On My Head' offers the warmest of welcomes on the A1, a swaying bassline underpinning breezy woodwind and synthetic fanfares with Suzuki's treated vocals forming the final instrumental layer. Things take a jazzier turn on 'Sunday Morning', in which cascading harps and glistening arps clearing the way for a snaking rhythm piano to take the lead. Twisting and turning through its four minute runtime, the track sees Wolfgang Schubert's sax sparkle while Suzuki's voice has never sounded so tender. Shifting through the gears as we approach the midpoint, Dunkelziffer drop into 'Retrospection', thirteen whole minutes of pulsating and powerful psych-rock retooled for the new wave era. Leaving the fuzzbox back in Haight-Ashbury, the group layer chorus-drenched guitars and bright keyboards into a sky-scraping groove. Yelped mantras and untamed horns add a new found intensity balanced by the limber bassline and nuanced percussion which steals the spotlight during the final quarter. The B-side brings a moment of breezy beachfront cool via 'Q', a sun-kissed stroll from Methaniac fusion into ska-tinged art rock before plunging headfirst into the abrasive psychobilly of '(Do Watch What You Can) Prof.', a sub-three minute headfuck of atonal horns, off kilter percussion and overlapping vocals from Suzuki and Zerlett. Invigorated after that short sharp shock, the group lay a love song on us, the sweet nothings of 'I See Your Smile' bobbing on a Caribbean tide. Pure, playful and hard to resist, this moment of pop perfection was the ideal candidate for the album's single. There's room for one more mood swing as we reach the finale, closing cut 'Oriental Cafe' upping the intensity to deliver ten minutes of tribal percussion and Eastern influence in the same vein as 'Still Der Neuen Zeit' on their debut. Slashing wah-guitars and tumbling toms form a dislocated rhythm beneath the haunting trio of eerie oboe, warped electronics and shamanic vocals, sustaining the tension until the mutant funk monster cometh.
Welcome to the world of Dunkelziffer - a hip hive mind who buzzed away in the post-industrial decay of K?ln's Stollwerck complex. Taking a radical approach to sound, style and group dynamics, this loose collective of musicians and artists blazed an experimental trail through the 80s, offering an alternative vision of German pop fit for a decade of constant change. Emerging in the wake of Can's late seventies supernova, Dunkelziffer became the centre of gravity for a new era of creativity in K?ln. Embracing the stylistic freedom of this fresh start alongside the time and space offered by their residency in the Palazzo Schoko, their jam sessions, often including associates from the Food Band, Phantom Band and Catalans Dream Band as well as anyone passing through, soon segued into a (slightly) more formal ensemble, though free-thinking and free-movement remained central ideologies. Leaving egos well outside the door, Dunkelziffer wrote and recorded with no hierarchy, offering each member an equal stake in songwriting and sonics. Unsurprisingly the result is a wild stylistic fusion, equal parts art-rock, dub, soul, and jazz which, to the eternal credit of the collective comes together with an unconventional brilliance.
On their 1983 debut, Colours And Soul, Dunkelziffer offered an hour long odyssey through the fringes of the pop landscape, creating a kaleidoscopic journey through sun-kissed skank, coastal funk, demented drum circles and tachycardic new wave. Appearing from the chaos of an outboard explosion, opener 'Kedema' lays the foundations for the seductive strangeness which follows, rewiring a lilting dub rhythm with skewed synth tones and curious percussion as late-Can man Rebop Kwaku Baah's unique vocals form a lopsided melody. Island undulations give way to angular excitations on 'Bleib Night So Lang Im Schatten Stehn', a propulsive piece of new wave alive with Wolfgang Schubert's skronking horns and some poised female vocals. From there the group bask in the light of their own miracle, surrendered to the seven minute groove of 'This is How You Came', a sublime psychedelic blend of hypnotic bass, frazzled guitars and jazz-rock interludes. 'Keine Python' signposts the way to Babylon by autobahn before tribal electronic trio 'Dark Number', 'Stil Der Neuen Zeit' and 'Zufall In Der Wirklichkeit' take us to the midpoint in a polyrhythmic trance. 'S.O. 36' opens the B-side with an overload of adrenaline as a lurching AKAI-ready half time transforms into the fast paced motorik stomp of a jazz-punk freakout. The dance-floor friendly 'Strom' follows, embracing a similar strain of sticky industrial funk as Unknown Cases' anthemic 'Masimba Bele', while 'Free' leads us back into the light, riding the thermals over a sparkling shoreline as the cannabis psychosis gives way to the purest reggae high. The playful 'Colours And Soul' serves some hip and horizontal diy-dub on the B4, beachballs splashing into the surf before interlude 'Arche Noah' nudges into
Almightily obscure when you consider that Jaki Liebezeit was drummer and Damo Suzuki contributed vocals and it's probably the most interesting record either made post the Future Days.
Very much in thrall to the post punk sounds coming out of the UK and Reggae, it's very mixed bag both musically and artistically. But it is rather fascinating. Damo definitely can't sing Reggae...but the most successful songs here are the Reggae ones particularly Python, a cut up female vocal enchanting on a sinuous post-punk type Reggae groove. The addition of 80s sax on many tracks will divide opinion.
Essential for CAN fans I reckon and seemingly one of the better 80s album by former CAN members.
Taking a radical approach to sound, style and group dynamics, this loose collective of musicians and artists blazed an experimental trail through the '80s, offering an alternative vision of German pop fit for a decade of constant change. Emerging in the wake of Can's late seventies supernova, Dunkelziffer became the center of gravity for a new era of creativity in Köln. Embracing the stylistic freedom of this fresh start alongside the time and space offered by their residency in the Palazzo Schoko, their jam sessions, often including associates from the Food Band, Phantom Band and Catalans Dream Band as well as anyone passing through, soon segued into a (slightly) more formal ensemble, though free-thinking and free movement remained central ideologies . . . On their 1983 debut, Colours And Soul, Dunkelziffer offered an hour-long odyssey through the fringes of the pop landscape, creating a kaleidoscopic journey through sun-kissed skank, coastal funk, demented drum circles and tachycardic new wave. Appearing from the chaos of an outboard explosion, opener 'Kedema' lays the foundations for the seductive strangeness which follows, rewiring a lilting dub rhythm with skewed synth tones and curious percussion as late-Can man Rebop Kwaku Baah's unique vocals form a lopsided melody. Island undulations give way to angular excitations on 'Bleib Night So Lang Im Schatten Stehn', a propulsive piece of new wave alive with Wolfgang Schubert's skronking horns and some poised female vocals. From there the group bask in the light of their own miracle, surrendered to the seven-minute groove of 'This is How You Came', a sublime psychedelic blend of hypnotic bass, frazzled guitars and jazz-rock interludes. 'Keine Python' signposts the way to Babylon by autobahn before tribal electronic trio 'Dark Number', 'Stil Der Neuen Zeit' and 'Zufall In Der Wirklichkeit' take us to the midpoint in a polyrhythmic trance. 'S.O. 36' opens the B-side with an overload of adrenaline as a lurching AKAI-ready half time transforms into the fast-paced motorik stomp of a jazz-punk freakout. The dancefloor friendly 'Strom' follows, embracing a similar strain of sticky industrial funk as Unknown Cases' anthemic 'Masimba Bele', while 'Free' leads us back into the light, riding the thermals over a sparkling shoreline as the cannabis psychosis gives way to the purest reggae high. The playful 'Colours And Soul' serves some hip and horizontal DIY-dub on the B4, beachballs splashing into the surf before interlude 'Arche Noah' nudges into the highlife heat beat of 'Don't Ask Me'. Finally it falls to 'Beside The Light' to close out the set, a hazy piece of ecstatic pop equally informed by each of the diverse influences which came before.
Guitar, Synthesizer, Keyboards, Flute – Dominik Von Senger
Percussion – Olek Gelba, Reiner Linke
Saxophone – Wolfgang Klangenbert
Synthesizer, Piano – Helmut Zerlett
Voice – Kelly Ancel (tracks: A3, A5)
Active in Cologne’s Krautrock scene in the early ’80s, Dominik von Senger was a member of the post-punk groups Dunkelziffer and Phantom Band, both of which also included Can’s Jaki Liebezeit, Damo Suzuki and Rosko Gee.
Right out of the '70s, Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit formed a new band, Phantom Band, obviously to carry on where a creativity-depleted Can had left. Yes, the group's eponymous debut, released in 1980, has the "Krautrock goes worldbeat in the cold wave" feel found on Can's last two or three records. Phantom Band would make three albums, and this first one is the weakest of them, mostly due to the presence of bassist/singer Rosko Gee. Once a member of Traffic, Gee contributes the blandest pop songs on the album, and his slightly androgynous vocals simply don't fit the dub-ish mood of the music -- however, his bass work does. For this project, Liebezeit recruited (in Cologne) percussionist Olek Gelba, keyboardist Helmut Zerlett, and guitarist Dominik von Senger. Can alumnus Holger Czukay makes an appearance on horn. The drums take center stage; it is obvious that each song has been assigned a carefully designed beat, and Liebezeit is exploring most of his interests in music here, from repetitive Krautrock pummeling to complex Afro-funk and reggae-dub patterns. The arrangements are dark but clear-cut. Liebezeit's songs are the most interesting, from the tense "No More Fooling" (although Gee's falsetto mars it) to the funky vamp of "Absolutely Straight." Zerlett also contributes strong compositions in the spacy "Pulsar" and "I'm the One," the most expansive song of the set at six minutes. The two songs penned by Gee, each opening an LP side, have forgettable melodies and mediocre lyrics (they are also the most dated tracks production-wise). Despite Liebezeit's long and strong experience by 1980, Phantom Band bears all the signs of a debut album by a band that still hasn't gelled. Can fans who diss the group's final albums will definitely not like this one. In any case, skip forward to the group's second effort, Freedom of Speech, a much stronger proposition recorded after Gee's departure.
A combination of spacey electro-pop, dub and dark avant-rock influences, Phantom Band is one of the most authentically weird, essential and yet surprisingly overlooked organisms orbiting the Can universe. This is the third and final album from the project, masterminded by Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit.
I totally dig this album, especially as it features 'Helmut Zerlett' who in his time, has produced some great music on the german ambient label; Recycle Or Die!...projects such as; '9 dream' & 'Baked Beans' just to name a few...are undeniably brilliant...though this project,(phantom band) i feel is targeted at the wrong audience, as people who enjoy 'CAN' probably arent going to get this release at all, however if your from the other side of the genre fence, and have an appreciation for german avant/amb electronica, then the 'Phantom Band' is well worth checking out!
Things changed a lot for Phantom Band in less than a year. Original bassist/singer Rosko Gee left and was replaced by spoken-word artist Sheldon Ancel, remaining bass-less. This lineup change made it possible for the band to align its actual sound with its experimental leanings. The situation can be summed up by comparing the first two albums' opening tracks. The lead-in track on the group's 1980 debut LP was the Gee-penned midtempo song "You Inspired Me," clearly meant as a crowd-pleaser and potential hit single. The lead-in track on "Freedom of Speech" is the title track, a vocodered rant on how the government knows what's best for us, presented over a disquieting rhythm track. The tone is set: Freedom of Speech is a darker, edgier record. It retains the Krautrock-gone-dub feel of the first album, but drops all pretensions of charting to present a more mature, better asserted group sound wrapped in a production that has aged much better than the debut LP. Ancel is not a rapper, but a spoken-word performer: he embodies characters, and uses effects to dress up his voice. It works very well, especially on the dub-laden "Brain Police," the angry "Gravity" (a love story at its sour end), and the electro-freak "Dream Machine." Freedom of Speech is a stunning avant rock record informed by the New York no wave scene and the European reggae/dub scene, with Can's history in genre-pushing repetitive rock serving as the foundation.
For fans of pioneering Krautrockers Can, the band’s later years can be a touchy subject. The final three LPs—Saw Delight (1977), Out Of Reach (1978), and Can (1979)—found the group embracing a much more radio-friendly sound than ever before. They even had something of a hit single with the disco track “I Want More.” Die-hard adherents to their early, arch avant-garde material abandoned them during this time, and it was all over by 1980.
One of the more obscure groups to rise from the ashes of Can were Phantom Band. Phantom Band were led by one of Can’s founding members, drummer Jaki Liebezeit. They recorded three albums in the early 1980s: Phantom Band (1980), Freedom Of Speech (1981), and Nowhere (1984).
In addition to Liebezeit, the initial incarnation of Phantom Band included vocalist/bassist Rosko Gee (who had also played with Can), keyboardist Helmut Zerlett, guitarist Dominik von Senger, and percussionist Olek Gelba. All were leading lights of the underground music scene of Cologne at the time, so it is surprising to hear the direction they took with the debut.
Phantom Band opens with “You Inspired Me,” which sounds like nothing so much as a contemporary R&B single. If a radio station had slotted the song in between some George Benson and Grover Washington Jr. at the time, nobody would have noticed it. Phantom Band is all about the rhythm, in fact. “Phantom Drums” is a short 1:21 showcase for Liebezeit, and acts as something of a prelude to his “Absolutely Straight.” I was more than a little surprised to recognize the bass line of “Absolutely Straight,” as a near-exact replica of the one from “Bad Luck,” by Harold Melvin And The Bluenotes.
Freedom Of Speech was released just a year after Phantom Band, yet it sounds almost like it's by a completely different group. Rosko Gee had departed by this time, leaving the quartet with no bass or vocals. They soldiered on without a bass, using keyboards at times in its place. For vocals, they used spoken-word performer Sheldon Ancel, with some unique results. “Freedom Of Speech” kicks things off in a typically bizarre way. The drumhead military beat is enlivened with some nearly indecipherable proclamations from Ancel, while wild sound effects fill in the empty spaces.
Repetition is a key quality of Freedom Of Speech, and is the driving force behind “Gravity” and “Brain Police.” The loss of Rosko Gee is most keenly felt on “E.F. 1” and “Experiments,” both of which nod toward reggae, and would have benefited greatly from an actual singer.
Brain Police has a fairly obvious antecedent in Frank Zappa’s “Who Are The Brain Police,” and even shares a musical mood of paranoia. One of the more interesting parallels occurs in “Experiments,” which at times sounds almost like a carbon of “Ghost Town,” from The Specials. Since both were released around the same time, I think it is just coincidence, but the similarities are somewhat striking. While Freedom Of Speech is certainly Phantom Band’s own work, I also hear elements of Funkadelic, Talking Heads and the great Afro-beat pioneer Fela Kuti at times. Which proves they had great record collections, if nothing else.
Phantom Band and Freedom Of Speech are both key pieces of the post-Can continuum. For obsessive fans such as myself, their release on CD is a cause for celebration. As always, Bureau B have done a great job, with plenty of information and pictures in the packaging. These are a couple of records that definitely merit a listen.
Released in 1981 on Sky Records, The second album by Phantom Band, By this point in the band's history, ex-Can bass player Rosko Gee (earlier Steve Winwood's bassist in Traffic) had left the band. The surviving quartet managed without a bass for the most part (or substituted a keyboard) and invited spoken-word performer Sheldon Ancel to step up to the microphone. And while the debut album revealed many Caribbean or African influences and a generally positive frame of mind, Freedom Of Speech is a somewhat darker avant-garde rock manifesto, interspersed with individual dub or reggae pieces. Regular Phantom Band members alongside Jaki Liebezeit included keyboarder Helmut Zerlett, known to a wider television audience in Germany through the Harald Schmidt Show, percussionist Olek Gelba and guitarist Dominik von Senger, all drawn from the deep pool of Cologne musical talent which has given rise to so many projects over the past thirty years: Dunkelziffer, Damo Suzuki Band, Unknown Cases ("Masimba Bele"), Club Off Chaos, and Trance Groove, to name just a few.
Who or what is the Phantom Band? Unknown, or unheard, by even the most die-hard CAN fan, this side project by founding CAN drummer Jaki Liebezeit and late-CAN era bassist (and ex-Traffic member) Rosko Gee finds them exploring the most trance-inducing part of CAN’s music – their reggae and African musical influences – to surprising results. It’s all these things: jazzy, funky as hell, and astonishingly accessible. Not everyone can go down into the keyhole of post-Future Days CAN tripped-out polyrhythmic music (think Soon Over Babaluma), but this can serve as a great gateway back to those headier days.
Featuring future members of CAN-influenced German New Wave band Dunkelziffer – Dominik V. Senger (lead vocalist and guitarist) and Helmut Zerlett (keyboards) – as Michael Karoli and Irmin Schmidt stand-ins, Phantom Band allowed Jaki Liebezeit, specifically, to sprawl out in rhythmic directions later-day CAN was struggling to fully integrate. Recorded by visionary producer Conny Plank in 1980, their whole self-titled debut bounces from one hypnotic number to another. The closest analog I can think of is this being a German Cedric Im Brooks The Light of Saba; reggae filtered through all kinds of more uptempo dance styles. Although, truth be told, the best numbers are the one’s where the band sidesteps their lead vocalist altogether and just stick to their CAN-in-Lagos sound.
If one could criticize this album for something, it’s that Dominik’s vocals seem to belong with another band altogether — maybe the Alan Parson’s Project? Although in “No More Fooling” this criticism actually works to his favor. So, don’t let what I’m saying deter you. Highlights like “For M.” featuring some of the deepest, most locked-in grooves of that era, blink and you’ll miss them ethno-experiments like “Phantom Drums” and “Latest News” – the latter being a track begging for someone to sample and take into the dance floor, or stuff that you could theoretically dance to – like “Absolutely Straight” – but end up sitting back and soaking in the atmosphere…simply scream of a band tapping into unexplored nooks and crannies still waiting for others to take the baton and run with. I mean, how many times in your life are you going to hear a Latin-tinged instrumental ballad, subsumed under the influence of modernist Cologne musical aesthetics?
Right out of the '70s, Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit formed a new band, Phantom Band, obviously to carry on where a creativity-depleted Can had left. Yes, the group's eponymous debut, released in 1980, has the "Krautrock goes worldbeat in the cold wave" feel found on Can's last two or three records. Phantom Band would make three albums, and this first one is the weakest of them, mostly due to the presence of bassist/singer Rosko Gee. Once a member of Traffic, Gee contributes the blandest pop songs on the album, and his slightly androgynous vocals simply don't fit the dub-ish mood of the music -- however, his bass work does. For this project, Liebezeit recruited (in Cologne) percussionist Olek Gelba, keyboardist Helmut Zerlett, and guitarist Dominik von Senger. Can alumnus Holger Czukay makes an appearance on horn. The drums take center stage; it is obvious that each song has been assigned a carefully designed beat, and Liebezeit is exploring most of his interests in music here, from repetitive Krautrock pummeling to complex Afro-funk and reggae-dub patterns. The arrangements are dark but clear-cut. Liebezeit's songs are the most interesting, from the tense "No More Fooling" (although Gee's falsetto mars it) to the funky vamp of "Absolutely Straight." Zerlett also contributes strong compositions in the spacy "Pulsar" and "I'm the One," the most expansive song of the set at six minutes. The two songs penned by Gee, each opening an LP side, have forgettable melodies and mediocre lyrics (they are also the most dated tracks production-wise). Despite Liebezeit's long and strong experience by 1980, Phantom Band bears all the signs of a debut album by a band that still hasn't gelled. Can fans who diss the group's final albums will definitely not like this one. In any case, skip forward to the group's second effort, Freedom of Speech, a much stronger proposition recorded after Gee's departure.
Originally released in 1980 on Sky Records, Bureau B reissues the debut album by Phantom Band, a Cologne combo assembled by Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit. In spite of continuing in the vein of the last three Can albums, the Phantom Band (recording three albums themselves) remained unknown to many who would count themselves fans of Can. All of their albums are quite different from each other, even though there was just a single change in personnel: while ex-Can bass player Rosko Gee (earlier Steve Winwood's bassist in Traffic, now with the Helmut Zerlett Band) played a significant part in both the music, vocals and the production of the first, he was absent from the next. Featured heavily here is Jaki Liebezeit's inimitable monotone polyrhythmic drumming and the Phantom Band's predilection for hypnotic (Jamaican) grooves. Regular Phantom Band members alongside Jaki Liebezeit included keyboarder Helmut Zerlett, known to a wider television audience in Germany through the Harald Schmidt Show, percussionist Olek Gelba and guitarist Dominik von Senger, all drawn from the deep pool of Cologne musical talent which has given rise to so many projects over the past thirty years: Dunkelziffer, Damo Suzuki Band, Unknown Cases ("Masimba Bele"), Club Off Chaos, and Trance Groove, to name just a few. The CD booklet features comments by Jaki Liebezeit, Helmut Zerlett and Dominik von Senger, bringing to life the creation and unique chemistry of the Phantom Band. Mixed by Conny Plank, guest appearance by Holger Czukay.
