Saturday, March 1, 2008

V.A. - Visions Of The Past #1

This compilation was also released on vinyl. On the CD edition (AS 711 350 / 1991) the compilers added a fine psychedelic number by "Magic Spirit". The remainder of this collection of german bands is pretty much in the "Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium" mould with "Psychotic Reaction", "Petards", "The Ooze", "Jonah & The Whales" or "United Five" (from Netherlands, I know) on the winner side. The best song however comes from "The Klan" (actually a belgian group), represented here with a damn good psych/pop effort. Of historical interest will be the tracks by the "Five Torquays" (a year later known as "The Monks") and "Goin' Sad" (with Wolfgang Niedecken, later frontman of the horrible but successful BAP).

Tracklist:
1. Dom - Dom
taken from the single Dom/Devil's Grandma (Newcomer 45-002) 1972
Line-up: Eberhard Häger (gtr), Werner "Ede" Wolf (bs), Wolfgang Häger (drms). Band origin: Stuttgart (Germany)
2. Ooze - We're Living Now
taken from the single Free/We're Living Now (CCA 4048) 1970
Line-up: Lothar Weidele (vcls), Gerhard Wardius (gtr), Ulrich Dreckmann (bs), Christoph von Blumröder (organ), Hans-Christian Ketscher (piano), Dieter Henze (drms).
Band origin: Northeim (Germany)
3. Sub - Off
taken from the single Ma-Ma-Marihuana/Off (Rex 2027) 1970
Line-up: Christian Wilhelm (vcls), Klaus Kätel (gtr), Peter Strimmel (bs), Johannes Vester (keyb'ds), Lutz Ludwig (drms).
Band origin: Munich (Germany)
4. Klan - Nobody Will Ever Help You
taken from the single
Nobody Will Ever Help You/Alone In The Night (Palette PB 25.647) 1967
Line-up: Luc Hensill (gtr, vcls), Christopher John Lühr (bs, vcls), Bob Valtin (bs, organ, piano), David Dandoy (gtr), Garcia Morales (drms).
Band origin: Brussels (Belgium)
5. Goin Sad - Satin Rose
taken from the V.A.-E.P.
Hans Daniels präsentiert Bonner Beat Bands
(7 PAL 60.163 Carl Lindström Pressung) 1969

Line-up: Wolfgang Niedecken (vcls, gtr), Hein Pelzer (bs, flute), Karl Nücken (keyb'ds, vcls), Roland Fischer (drms). Band origin: Rheinbach (Germany)
6. Ooze - Free
See Track 2
7. Dom - Devil's Grandma
See Track 1
8. Untouchables - Explosion C3H5 (ONO2)3 Part 2
taken from the single
Explosion C3H5 (ONO2)3 Part 1/Part 2 (Bellaphon BL 1080) 1969

Line-up: Hans Watzl (gtr), Emil Winnige (vcls, bs), Karlheinz Kressmann (trombone, piano), Christel Kressmann (sax), Gerhard Burk (drms).
Band origin: Melbach/Bad Nauheim (Germany)

9. Petards - Baby, Run Run Run
taken from the single Baby Run Run Run/Pretty Miss (CCA 5021) 1966
Line-up: Klaus Ebert (gtr, organ), Roger Waldmann (bs), Horst Ebert (drms, rhythm gtr). Band origin: Schrecksbach (Germany)
10. Jonah & The Whales - It's Great
taken from the single It's Great/It Ain't Me Babe (Vogue DVS 14511) 1966
Line-up: Sonny Hennig (vcls), Wolfram Stumm (lead gtr), Ernst Schulz (rhythm gtr), Günter Gast (bs), Roland Multhaupt (drms).
Band origin: Nuremberg (Germany)
11. Rackers - Please Be Mine
taken from the single Love Is Lavish/Please Be Mine (Paletton SCH 5) 1966
Line-up: unknown. Band origin: Kassel (Germany)
12. Psychotic Reaction - Psychotic Reaction
taken from the single
Psychotic Reaction/Mandrake Root/Prelude In C
(Dr. Rolf Binder BI 180) 1968

Line-up: Kösch (vcls), Hans-Willi Blatzheim (gtr), Reginald Ernst (bs), Martin Ernst (organ), Hans-Peter Schwalen (drms).
Band origin: Aachen (Germany)
13. United Five - Go Go Mojo
taken from the single Just A Little Bit Of Love/Go Go Mojo (MPS 8006) 1967
Line-up: Jan Blom (vcls, gtr), Nico Biersteker (gtr), Jan Heukels (gtr), Paolo Rosabian (bs), Wim Nijveld (drms). Band origin: Beverwijk (Netherlands)
14. G-66 - I Feel Alright
taken from the single I Feel Alright/Sunday Evening (Vogue DVS 14585) 1966
Line-up: David Sporn (lead gtr), Willi Schulte (rhythm gtr), Helmut Winterberg (bs), Ronald Sporn (drms). Band origin: Cologne (Germany)
15. Five Torquays - Boys Are Boys
taken from the single
Boys Are Boys/There She Walks (Scherer SCH 73/74) 1965
Line-up: Gary Burger (lead gtr, vcls), Eddie Shaw (bs, vcls), Larry Clark [Spangler] (organ, vcls), Dave Day [Havlicek] (banjo, vcls), Roger Johnston (drms). Band origin: Gelnhausen (Germany)
16. Magic Spirit - I Miss The Light
taken from the V.A.-E.P.
Hans Daniels präsentiert Bonner Beat Bands
(7 PAL 60.163 Carl Lindström Pressung) 1969

Line-up incl.: Frank Böttcher (vcls), Jörg Müller (drms).
Band origin: Bonn (Germany)

Get it here (Artwork included)

Listen to Goin Sad - Satin Rose

Listen to Rackers - Please Be Mine

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thankx for this comp. Great work in this blog.

Anonymous said...

both comps are great
i 'm waiting for other volumes
thanks a lot

Soulagent79 said...

Thank you for this awesome compilation! It'd be great if you could also post the original Pre-Kraut Pandaemonium series.

Anonymous said...

great to see the work of one of the pioneers (XL Beaver) of the resurrection of German unknown beatbands on your fabulous blog. You're right with every word of your liners, but the 45 of the Dutch United Five was a German-only release, (as far as I know, and i know a bit), and thus a considerably agreeable inclusion here, I guess. And by the way: the track by Wilde Reiter GmbH actually is the Bellaphon 7" by The Untouchables "Explosion 3H5(ONO 2),Part 2" . An EP from the soundtrack of that movie does exist, but hasn't got anything to do with this track. That was just a case of mixed-up confusion back in the old days, when we still had to do mastertapes for LPs and used to have a drink or five while working. Humbly yours, Lolly.Thanx

Buffalo Billycan said...

According to the liner notes of the "Downbeat"-CD the United Five had no releases in Holland but an earlier German-only release on the CCA label. And sure it makes sense to include them on that platter 'cause they've played a lot in Germany.

I have seen the "Wilde Reiter GmbH" movie only once (and that must be "don't ask how many years" ago) and I couldn't remember the Soundtrack. So it was just a guess and I knew the song couldn't be from the EP you've mentioned (it's listed on discogs and the lenghts of the tracks didn't fit). Thanks that you've put me on the right track. Further information of The Untouchables is available here:
http://www.krautrock-musikzirkus.de/de,Untouchables_Explosion-C3H5-ONO23-Part-und-2_2742,N.html

Anonymous said...

Sure. That's not your mistake, but Axel's. What's worse: I know that I got that soundtrack-EP from "Wilde Reiter" somewhere, but can't seem to find that little bugger in all that mess of my collection spread all over the house. Anyway: it's much more in an experimental form of Krautrock than the track presented here.