Tuesday, 7 May 2013

Captain Beyond – Captain Beyond (1972)

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(on the left)
Capricorn – CP 0105

 

well, this one is pretty heavy stuff – i dont listen to it very often, mostly because i am more into psych and garage rather than heavy or hard rock, but on the plus side, the heaviness of such albums when listening to them doent ‘wear off’ as soon as if you listened to them all the time, and they still really shake your bones.
theres one interesting thing about this album and about this band, as their vocalist was rod evans, who was the singer of deep purple on their first three albums (which by the way arent hard rock at all, interestingly). as i had been a great deep purple fan at the time, this is how i got to know this LP. while deep purple’s music became really heavy compared to their previous stuff, once evans had been replaced by ian gillan, and they started to define what we would eventually call hard rock, rod evans did the same thing in his new group captain beyond. no more covers of neil diamond or ike & tina turner (YES, deep purple did that. they covered a lot in their early days.), no more touching ballads (although i must admit i like ‘anthem’ a lot, for instance), but instead heavy prog rock like it became typical in the early to mid-70s; i would even call it space rock in some places, not only because of the fantasy/space-like theme they chose for their debut album. speaking of that theme, i must mention the cover art. personally, i find it a little trashy, but as i dont plan to put it on my wall as a giant poster thats ok, it still is a nice LP cover. the original US issue has a slightly different cover than my australian one, it has some ‘fancy’ 3D or cats-eye effects on it (see here), which makes it even more trashy than just the painted picture, so i deliberately chose a copy from a different country than where the band came from, to have a version of the cover i like better.

 

A1 Dancing Madly Backwards (On a Sea of Air) 4:01
A2 Armworth 1:48
A3 Myopic Void 3:30
A4 Mesmerization Eclipse 3:48
A5 Raging River of Fear 3:47
B1 Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Intro) 1:19
B2 Frozen Over 3:46
B3 Thousand Days of Yesterdays (Time Since Come and Gone) 3:56
B4 I Can’t Feel Nothin’ (Part I) 3:06
B5 As The Moon Speaks (To The Waves of the Sea) 2:13
B6 Astral Lady 0:15
B7 As The Moon Speaks (Return) 2:13
B8 I Can’t Feel Nothin’ (Part II) 1:13

 

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(on the left)

 

theres no really quiet or slow number on this record (except for some short filler tracks) – most songs blend into one another so that the album is one continuous freak-ride through progressive space land. apart from rod evans the personnel of the band consisted of former members of iron butterfly, most notably larry reinhardt and lee dorman (unfortunately both deceased meanwhile.. theres no information like this about rod evans though, he seems to have disappeared from earths surface decades ago), and they did a pretty solid job in creating this goddamn masterpiece. they put out a second album a year later, called ‘sufficiently breathless’, but i dont like it very much; it lacks the fierce power and pace of the debut, and it has some latin influences i dont like at all (thats because i dont like latin music, not because they did something wrong with it).
anyway, here are my two favourite tracks from the album – sorry for the dull sound quality of the videos, there were not many to choose from as the music is blocked in a lot of countries; you might need this to play them (worked for me at least). i must admit that i love rod evans’ deep and powerful voice (i would even say some deep purple numbers sounded better when he sang them than when ian gillan sang them), but thats just one facet of this awesome music:

 

 

 

 

 

in the likely case that you cannot see these videos, heres one with the full album which is working for me: youtube

 
this album has been rereleased numerous times, for instance this one, and theres a vinyl reissue out on tapestry. the original vinyls are also not very expensive and not very scarce, just look for them on ebay or discogs.

 
interesting links:
captain beyond on rateyourmusic
captain beyond on last.fm
 
 

Posted on May 7, 2013 by anyonesdaughter
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Tuesday, 7 May 2013

Floating Bridge – Floating Bridge (1969)

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(on the right)
Vault – 124

 

this is another one of my very favourite albums, which i had been looking out for for quite a while and i had finally bought an original US copy in february on discogs. it shipped from australia so i had to wait some weeks until it arrived. but the waiting was totally worth it, but record and cover are in a really beautiful condition and the disc plays almost like new.

this album is the groups only output next to two 45s they released. it is a mixture of a handful of genres, certainly not meant for people who love concept albums, but i think the different styles fit well together and its nice to have a little variation while listening to an LP even if its not various-artists. there are some nice covered instrumentals that range from melodic to psychedelic, some real nitty gritty blues stuff, some really killer heavy psych fuzz numbers and some late 60s rock typical for the time to fill the gaps between all these.
although the whole album is superb in my opinion, there are four tracks i think are outstanding from it: first of all the two instrumentals i mentioned before, the first one being a cover of the beatles ‘hey jude‘. i am a big big beatles fan and usually i am almost kind of allergic to beatles covers because, well, because you dont touch a perfect masterpiece by the greatest heroes in music history, do you? NO, you just DONT, end of the story. but not in this case. maybe its because hey jude doesnt rank among my favourite beatles songs (that would be stuff like ‘lucy in the sky’, ‘i am the walrus’ and the white album as a whole, and so on), and maybe also due to the fact that it is an instrumental version which doesnt make your brain go ‘ah, no, thats the wrong voice! thats the wrong voice!’ all the time. anyhow, floating bridge treated this song really gently and with the right kind of respect, the result is a sweet, laid-back anthem, far more delicate than the cheery sing-along ballad the original ends up in. its one of those numbers you get really quiet when listening to to enjoy the uplifting effect it has on your mood.

 

A1 Crackshot 7:00
A2 Hey Jude 6:12
A3 Watch Your Step 4:00
A4 Three Minute & Ten Second Blues 3:10
B1 Brought Up Wrong 3:47
B2 Medley: Eight Miles High / Paint It Black 5:35
B3 You’ve Got the Power 3:40
B4 Gonna’ Lay Down ‘n Die (Slow Blues) 7:26

 

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(on the right)

 

the other instrumental track on this album is a medley of ‘eight miles hight‘ and the stones ‘paint if black‘, which is also laid-back, but more psychy than sweet. although this is a medley of two songs it runs for only 5:35 while hey jude alone runs for 6:12; im pretty sure they could have done a longer version with some extra thrills or just more epicness, but instead they chose to extend the closing blues number to 7:26 – which isnt bad of course, but in my humble opinion five minutes would have done it alright here.
the other two awesome tracks on this LP are ‘crackshot‘, the opening number, and ‘watch your step‘. they are my favourites from this album and i like them so much that i embedded them from youtube here, so you can listen to both of them below! both are very heavy fuzz-loaded psych shockers, and thankfully both are quite long tracks, in the case of crackshot the band even granted us seven minutes of psychedelic blues rock epicness. i must admit that when i listen to this record i often listen to the b-side first because the a-side has all the heavy, powerful stuff and i like to listen to best stuff last!
so here they are:

 

 

 

 

 

 
as always, heres a link for the not-so-vinyl-freaks to the CD reissue. there has also been a CD reissue on repertoire, so maybe give it a try on ebay or so.
if you are a vinyl buff though, the original pressings are not all too expensive. i paid about a hundred bucks for mine wich is extremely close to mint, and there should be some available for less money.

 
interesting links:
floating bridge on rateyourmusic
floating bridge on last.fm
 
 

Posted on May 7, 2013 by anyonesdaughter
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Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Psychedelic Intermission 3

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alright folks, here i am back again. i am relieved to announce that i passed my final exam at university about two weeks ago, this means that after three and a half years of studying plus working full time in my job, for the first time i have all my free time for myself again.
just two days later i had the pleasure to spend a day at the great record fair in jaarbeurs, utrecht, where i acquired some very nice additions to my collection, and made the acquaintance of hans kesteloo, whos online radio station beyond the beat generation saves me every day from the bleak and annoying burbling of the public stations we have in this area (thanks!!!).
last saturday of course was record store day (on the same day as international marijuana day, haha…), on which i paid a visit to a nice little store named black plastic, where i usually get my records cleaned.

now, after some technical difficulties with my wordpress installation, i want to get back to writing some new posts for twenty flight rock – cheers!
 
 

Posted on April 23, 2013 by anyonesdaughter
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Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Wizard: The Original Wizard (1971)

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Peon – P 1069 ST

 

right now i call this one the jewel in the crown of my collection. i scored it one on ebay earlier this year and i was quite lucky, because although the sleeve looks a bit tatty (which to me doesnt matter at all taking its rarity into account) it looked far worse on the picture the seller had provided (see here), where it seemed all yellowish-brownish, almost like water-damaged. that way the eventual price was somewhat lower than it might have been if the cover looked alright on the pictures. yet, if you have a look at for how much this obscure gem sold just two or three years ago, it just makes one cry, as its often less than half of what i paid and for even ‘mintier’ copies. its a tough market, especially for late-borns like me.
there has been a nasty re-release some years ago using the same catalogue number as the original (how i hate this… it should be forbidden if you ask me), luckily they were friendly enough to use a different design for the labels (have a look here), so distinguishing the knockoff from the real deal is quite easy again. the label should be in a bright and soft baby-blue, just like the PYE labels of the late 60s (im not good at taking photos, the actual color is even lighter and goes less into turquoise):
 
 
click to enlarge 
 

the cover, however, has this rough and bumpy texture you often find in 45s sleeves of the 70s. ive never seen this in an LP cover from that time, and to be honest, i dont like it at all. it makes the sleeve look used and dirty sooner, and considering the minimalistic beauty of the cover art i think a plane and matt finish would have suited it better.
although my copy is a DJ copy, unfortunately it did not contain any promotional material as ive seen on popsike a couple of times – on the plus side, it still has the original inner sleeve, as you can partly see in the first picture.
the disc itself is very very close to near mint, you can only see that it has been taken out of its cover a couple of times, but it certainly has only been played a handful of times, a truely marvelous copy. it virtually has no visible marks and there are clicks or pops or what so ever. yet there is some distant background noise to be heard, but from the kind of noise you can tell it is not produced by scuffs or scratches, i rather think it is due to the pressing quality. first of all, this is a US-pressing and every collector will know that US-pressings sometimes have certain imperfections compared to UK- or european pressings in general. and second, its a private pressing, so it might be that quality control hadnt been as professional or meticulous as with major labels, who have the means for that.
however, me hearing this noise is also partly due to the fact that the wizard LP was the first candidate to be played on our new turntable (after using some rubbish ones to get it adjusted properly), which is a vintage Thorens TD 160B with an SME 3009 II improved tonearm. the turntable must be from around 1976, and the tonearm, which was added later, was produced from 1972 to 1980, so thats the most precise dating i can offer.

 

click to enlarge 
 

(not my picture, taken by the seller. more pictures that are not mine). the turntable itself is less sophisticated than our old Thorens TD 125 MK II, but the tonearm is far more high-tech as its no original thorens one. SME tonearms were very expensive back then, and for a good reason obviously (even apart from the sound quality. it looks so fancy and nifty, doesnt it? and, cmon, it has a hydraulic lifting-and-lowering system, how damn awesome is that?! more awesome pictures i did not take myself). the sound is so clear and sharp compared to what any other turntable i had ever used could do, it really blew my mind.

that way i was able to enjoy this album in superior quality right away. most tracks are just awesome, maybe i would call ‘ride‘ a filler and ‘come and see the bride‘ is also not among my favourites, but there are several real killers on this record!

 

A1 Freedom 5:15
A2 Come and See the Bride 3:56
A3 What Do You Know About Mary 2:24
A4 Opus Ate 3:25
A5 Goin’ Away 2:48
B1 Killing Time 4:57
B2 Got to See My Way 2:37
B3 Ride 3:00
B4 Seance 3:46
B5 Talkin’ to God 2:32
B6 Evergreen 3:50

 

click to enlarge 
 

as you can see on the rear cover wizard was only a trio, and i am just amazed at what they achieved (sadly, this is their only album – i dont even know if there has ever been an ‘actual’ release or if all existing copies are promotional ones). the opening number ‘freedom‘ sure is one of the highlights from the tracklist, thus i put the respective youtube clip below. it is strong and solid late 60s / early 70s-style rock with a bluesy touch and certainly some psychedelic influences, but it is also kind of laid-back; in a sense that it doesnt burst out into some wild and chaotic psych jam with lots of all too well-intentioned special sound effects, as had been fashionable in the years before. it is not monotonous or boring though (mind you, there are some really great solos now and then), its all well composed and you just get the feeling that these guys were really knowing what they were doing.
but, well, theres also stuff like ‘opus ate‘ which has some really weird lyrics about eating really weird stuff. but that already is as experimental as this album gets, mostly it appears well thought-out and deliberate. it also has its quiet and delicate moments – i already mentioned ‘come and see the bride’, it has a lot of soft vocals and such, and then there is the closing number, ‘evergreen‘, which is kind of a hymn on humble but everlasting things. it is a nice and unobtrusive closing number to let the album gently fade away, but still my very favourite track from this record is ‘seance‘ which comes almost directly before ‘evergreen’. it is a lot more lively than the latter, has nice riffs and vocals, and it also plays with the religious and/or spiritual imagery common to the last three tracks of the album. i guess its the most psychedelic (and rocking) number on this record, and its just awesome. well, i wont bother you with talking about it anymore, just listen to it below!

 

 
‘freedom’:

 

 
‘seance’:

 

 
most likely you dont necessarily want to buy an original pressing like i did, they dont turn up very often and as i said before, prices are just skyrocketing. vinyl re-releases are also rather scarce, but luckily there has also been a CD release on gear fab records.

 
interesting links:
wizard on rateyourmusic
 
 

Posted on April 3, 2013 by anyonesdaughter
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Wednesday, 27 March 2013

Morgen: Morgen (1969)

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ABC / Probe – CPLP 4507 S

 

hi folks! i finished my studies (with a paper on vinyl records, woohoo!) and now i have some free time after work again (havent had this for more than three years…). as i will post no more download links (things got really rough in the last couple of months/years, and i dont want to spend my life in jail, so far away from my record player…), i was thinking about what to post on this blog, as of course i dont want to take it off the net. i eventually decided to blog about new additions to my rapidly growing record collection, and here we go, this is the first post!


i won this baby on ebay shortly after christmas for a pretty fair price. as you can see it is a DJ copy, so the cover has been scribbled on to prevent the DJs or radio staff from re-selling it (what does it say, ‘beaker’? any idea anyone?). thus the cover itself has a poor grading only (i called it VG(-); depends on how much the scribbling matters to one), but the vinyl is a stunning M-, so i was very happy when the parcel with the record arrived and i took it out. i wasnt just even more happy but completely taken aback when suddenly a sheet of paper fell out of the cover, which turned out to be the original insert from this album in perfect condition, there wasnt even any yellowing on the paper:
 
 
click to enlarge 
 

click to enlarge 
 

i have seen copies with original insert selling for three to four times the price i paid for mine, so that really was a lucky strike. the insert contains the tracklisting, lyrics and a couple of pictures of the group. ‘morgen’ was actually the last name of the groups founder, steve morgen.
he also provides the lead vocals on the entire album, which get really weird and trippy – just as the music itself. thus i think picking edvard munchs ‘the scream’ for the album cover is a good choice, it perfectly expresses the dark and twisted psychedelic moods of this late 60s gem, though its by far not as depressing as the album cover might suggest – instead you could sometimes even call it groovy.
 

A1 Welcome to the Void 4:42
A2 Of Dreams 5:32
A3 Begging Your Pardon (Miss Joan) 4:47
A4 Eternity in Between 4:30
B1 Purple 4:00
B2 She’s the Nitetime 3:28
B3 Love 10:50

 

click to enlarge 
 

click to enlarge 
 

all tracks are rather long, ‘shes the nitetime’ being the only exception with 3:28. this one was also released on the groups only 45 as the b-side of ‘of dreams’ (shortened version).
its hard to pick outstanding tracks from this album, as they are all pretty amazing. this is one of the few records i gave full five stars all along the tracklist, but if i was to choose id say i particularly like ‘welcome to the void‘ and ‘purple‘. unfortunately not my own rip (as i said, i dont want trouble with the law), but here they are, straight from the vinyl!

 

 

 

 

 

 
so, in case you like the album as much as i do but dont want to spend a fortune on an original pressing (just have a look at the prices on popsike), it has been re-released on probe with the same catalogue no as a 180g edition. and if you dont own a turntable or are not into vinyl at all, there are CD releases on radioactive, phoenix and sunbeam records.

 
interesting links:
morgen on rateyourmusic
morgen on last.fm
 
 

Posted on March 27, 2013 by anyonesdaughter
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Wednesday, 6 March 2013

R.I.P. Alvin Lee

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Alvin Lee (born Graham Alvin Barnes)

19th December 1944 – 6th March 2013

 

 
i have seen ten years after live several times, but never alvin lee. of course i now regret that, but seemingly no one could see this coming. gosh, i cant really think of anything useful to write here right now because the news about his passing really shocked me, just that i really love his work with ten years after and that i havent paid enough attention to his solo work yet, which i will work on sometime soon.
this has been a sad day…

 

Posted on March 6, 2013 by anyonesdaughter
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Tuesday, 5 February 2013

R.I.P. Reg Presley

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Reg Presley (born Reginald Maurice Ball)

12th June 1941 – 4th February 2013

 

 
what a loss… he will be dearly missed, a true icon of the 1960s. i love almost every one of the troggs songs, and also regs early solo stuff (those three 45s released around 1970; hear one of them below!).

the troggs most famous hit ever was a cover version, but their original songs are not to be underestimated. they are amoung the groups i have the most 45s of, so they definitely have a special place in my music-loving heart.

 

 

Posted on February 5, 2013 by anyonesdaughter
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Wednesday, 12 December 2012

R.I.P. Ravi Shankar, the great sitar maestro

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Ravi Shankar (born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury)

7th April 1920 – 11th December 2012

 

 
it was yesterday that we lost the man who initially brought the sitar into western, and especially into psychedelic music. the man who influenced the music of the 1960s and afterwards, notably that of the beatles, like no other.
ravi shankar reached the biblical age of 92 years, but his musical heritage will live on many times his lifespan.

read about his passing here.

 

 

 

Posted on December 12, 2012 by anyonesdaughter
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Thursday, 4 October 2012

R.I.P. Lord Sitar

 click to enlarge 

Big Jim Sullivan (born James George Tomkins)

14th February 1941 – 2nd October 2012

 

 
one of the best and most underrated session guitarists there ever was. not only was he a great idol to and influence on people like ritchie blackmore and many more, he played on more than a thousand (!) charting hit singles through the years.
hats off to big jim!

 

 

 
click to enlarge

 

Posted on October 4, 2012 by anyonesdaughter
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Monday, 20 August 2012

He Wore Some Flowers in His Hair

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Scott McKenzie (born Philip Wallach Blondheim)

10th January 1939 – 18th August 2012

 

 
how sad, i just read it on twitter although he already died on saturday. i followed him on facebook for quite a while and he had a lot of meaningful things to say, which i really liked to read. originally i was looking for the song “no, no, no, no, no” – which is less known but i really like it – but i couldnt find it on youtube, so i will give you his unavoidable (in a positive sense) hit single:

 

[EDIT] i found it:

 

 
 

Posted on August 20, 2012 by anyonesdaughter
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