Thursday, January 17, 2008

Olympic - Želva (1968)

One of the most prolific bands that came out of Czechoslovakia. This Prague group started out as a singles band in the early sixties and are still active. Their debut album "Želva" was released by Supraphon in 1968 and it mixes R&B, Beat and at times Psychedelic. The whole LP is pretty strong throughout and they keep the standard on their followup "Ptak Rosomoak", where they continue to explore the psychedelic world. In the seventies their sound heading towards the progressive genre. Supraphon reissued a CD version of "Želva" with seven bonus tracks (Supraphon SU 5534-2 / 2004).

Tracklist:
- Želva
- Vzpomínka plíživá
- Línej skaut
- Dám zejtra zas flám
- Modravé mámení
- Nikdo neotvírá
- Nebezpečná postava
- Snad jsem to zavinil já
- Dědečkův duch
- Jen Bůh ví
- Telefon
- Psychiatrický prášek

[bonus tracks]
- Mary (I Must Play)
- Smutne Rano
- Bloud Král
- Zahoď Lásku
- Nejím A Nespím
- Dej Mi Klín Na Oči Unavený
- Dej Mi Víc Své Lásky

Personnel:
Petr Janda (lead gtr, vcls) [ABCDEFGHIJ]
Jiří Laurent (rhythm gtr) [AB]
Pavel Chrastina (bs, vcls) [ABCD]
Miroslav Berka (keyb'ds) [ABCDEFGHIJ]
František Čech (drms) [ABC]
Jaromír Klempíř (jonika) [A]
Miloslav Růžek (sax) [A]
Josef Smeták (contra bs) [A]
Ladislav Klein (rhythm gtr) [CDEF]
Jan Antonín Pacák (drms, vcls) [DE]
Jan Hauser (bs, vcls) [E]
Jiří Korn (bs, vcls) [FG]
Petr Hejduk (drms, vcls) [FGHIJ]
Ladislav Chvalkovský (bs, vcls) [H]
Pavel Petráš (bs) [I]
Milan Broum (bs, vcls) [J]


Band origin:
Prague (Czechoslovakia)

Discographie:
Albums:
1. (D) Želva (Supraphon 1 13 0412) 1968
2. (D) Pták Rosomák (Supraphon 1 13 0589) 1969
3. (E) Jedeme jedeme (Supraphon 1 13 0994) 1971
4. (F/H) Olympic 4 (Supraphon 1 13 1475) 1973

45's:
1. Adresát neznámý/Roň slzy (Supraphon 0 13 165) 1964
2. Oh Boy/Hey Paula (Supraphon 0 13 166) 1964
3. Sweet Little Sixteen/Sealed With A Kiss
   (Supraphon 0 13 168) 1964
4. That's All You Gotta Do/Orange Blossom Special
   (Supraphon 0 13 170) 1964
5. Espado/? (Supraphon 0 13 553) 1964
6. Olympic Rock/Hully Gully (Amiga 450462) 1964
7. Pickwick Tea/Bingo (Amiga 450476) 1964
8. Čaj Pana Pickwicka/Olympic Rock
   (Supraphon 0 13 816) 1965
9. Memphis, Tennessee/Rave On (Supraphon 0 13 817) 1965
10. Hvězda Na Vrbě/? (Supraphon 0 13 825) 1965
11. Trezor/ (Supraphon 0 13 828) 1965
12. Fůra Chyb/Lyrická Ze Středních Čech
    (Supraphon 0 13 829) 1965
13. Měsíc/Podzimní Nálada (Supraphon 0 13 834) 1965
14. Mary/Nebuďte Kůzlata (Supraphon 0 13 847) 1965
15. Dej Mi Víc Své Lásky/? (Supraphon 0 13 857) 1965
16. Never Mind/? (Artia 0 13 671) 1966
17. Bloud Král/Zahoď Lásku (Supraphon 0 13 0153) 1966
18. Snad Jsem To Zavinil Já/Želva
    (Supraphon 1 43 0303) 1967
19. Dej Mi Klín Na Oči Unavený/Nejím A Nespím
    (Supraphon 1 43 0357) 1967
20. Krásná Neznámá/ (Supraphon 1 43 0520) 1968
21. Z Bílé Černou/Zbytečná Holka
    (Supraphon 1 43 0561) 1968
22. Pták Rosomák/Svatojánský Happening
    (Supraphon 1 43 0861) 1969
23. Kufr/Anděl (Supraphon 1 43 0860) 1969
24. Dynamit/Otázky (Supraphon 1 43 0948) 1970
25. Strejček Jonatán/Sluneční Píseň
    (Supraphon 1 43 1020) 1970
26. Čarodějka/Aeroplán (Supraphon 1 43 1135) 1971
27. Strážce Majáku/Inzerát (Supraphon 1 43 1155) 1971
28. Agáta/Planetář (Supraphon 1 43 1186) 1971
29. Tony/Závody Lodí (Supraphon 1 43 1227) 1971
30. Měsíc/Detektiv (Supraphon 1 43 1247) 1971
31. Když Lola Pila Pátý Drink/Hedy
    (Supraphon 1 43 1252) 1972
32. Co Tě Napadá/Dobré Ráno (Supraphon 1 43 1262) 1972
33. Kroky/Lhář (Supraphon 1 43 1359) 1972
34. Prý/? (Supraphon 1 43 1480) 1973
35. Únos/Gramofon (Supraphon 1 43 1483) 1973
36. Don Quijote De La Mancha/? (Supraphon 1 43 1504) 1973
37. Slzy Tvý Mámy/Vrať Mi Moji Hořkou Lásku
    (Supraphon 1 43 1530) 1973
38. Nebe Nad Hlavou/? (Supraphon 1 43 1546) 1973
39. Slunce/Jdou, Děti, Jdou (Supraphon 1 43 1605) 1973
40. Klára/Už Je Jí Líp (Supraphon 1 43 1652) 1974
41. Samá Voda, Přihořívá/Už Je Čas
    (Supraphon 1 43 1686) 1974
42. Já Tam Byl/Poslouchej Mou Píseň
    (Supraphon 1 43 1717) 1974
43. Pojď Blíž, Pojď K Nám/Mám Chuť Žít
    (Supraphon 1 43 1786) 1975
44. Hůl/? (Supraphon 1 43 1840) 1975
45. To Znáš/Zázračný Lék (Supraphon 1 43 1884) 1975
46. Na To Znamení Stůj/Až Se Zítra Probudíš
    (Supraphon 1 43 1916) 1975
47. Nehoda/U Přepážky Č. 306 (Supraphon 1 43 1948) 1976
48. On/? (Supraphon 1 43 1990) 1976
49. Černovláska/Dva Klauni (Supraphon 1 43 2004) 1976

[11. flip-side by Jaromír Mayer & Karel Duba]
[20. flip-side by Karel Černoch]

E.P.'s:
1. Oh, Boy/Hey Paula/That's All You Gotta Do/
   Orange Blossom Special (Supraphon 0231) 1964
2. Memphis, Tennessee/Rave On/Olympic Rock/Pickwick Tea
   (Artia 33614) 1965
3. Smutný Holič Z Liverpoolu/Smutné Ráno/Tak Už To Nejde
   Dál/Vzpomínka Plíživá (Supraphon 0286) 1966
4. Mary/The Story Of Bass Guitar/
   O'Darling, Lieb Mich Mehr/Cinderella (Artia 33638) 1966
5. Story Of A Wonder/I'm Stupid/Midsummer Night/
   Pohreb Sue Vlastni Duse (Vega 2329 M) 1969
6. Fan-Club 1970 (Supraphon 0499836) 1970
7. Fan-Club 1971 (Supraphon 0499883) 1971

[5. as Five Travellers]

Get it here (Artwork included)

Listen to Telefon

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Mr Billycan, Thank you for posting this great Czechoslovakian band from the 60's, my last request for you is very rare band from Norway 1 2 6 Curtains Feeling.

Do you know this band?

Buffalo Billycan said...

Hi Mr. Márquez,

I know the band and I have a double CD including their album and all the singles between 1966-68. I will post it soon.

Anonymous said...

This record is new for me!! Thanks for this fantastic blog.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, I've been looking for this a long time

aldo said...

Thanks a lot for this one!
I love this band I have a Czech CD of their singles mostly or all before this LP...some are here in a re-recorded version.
There used to be some clips on youtube, incl. a great one of Zelva...i re-uploaded one:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=8209068

i also listened to that Sofia Beat Groups comp...some interesting stuff,i have one excellent comp that came out in the 90s...not with me right now though, called something like A Psychedelic trip thru Bulgaria...very good!
do you know it?
what about the great ILLES?

mattshank said...

Is there ANY WAY you could get a hold of that Psychedelic Trip Through Bulgaria that "aldo" is talking about.

unka kreepy said...

Zelva rocks! Excellent audio quality - better than the live 1967 Festival video I had prior to getting this - but that's great too - it's blowin' my mynde to have even more of this great band!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this great album!

caveman78 said...

you have the comp 'A Psychedelic trip thru Bulgaria'? . i SEARCH IT FOr a LONG TIME.