Various Artist - Whaam Records 1981-84 (Very Rare Compilation UK 1984)

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Compliation albums! Never really given the same kudos as 'proper' studio albums or even 'Live' albums, and yet....there have been a few Compilation albums that have surpassed even the greatest of all studio albums; Lenny Kaye's 'Nuggets' of course, the magisterial 'Pillows & Prayers' and virtually anything on Sarah Records or Bam-Caruso.

But, as far as I am concerned, the most important Comp in my record buying lifetime simply has to be Dan Treacy's Whaam Records catch-all 'All For Art....And Art For All'. This record is one of the very few that ABSOLUTELY changed my life!!

'All For Art....' was released in the Summer of 1984, but I didn't find it till the December of that year. I was going through a 60s psychedelic phase at the time, and when I found this in the record racks I assumed with it's images of Andy Warhol, band names like The Laughing Apple, and song titles like 'Only The Sky Children Know' that this was a collection of obscure 60s tracks. On first play, when I realised it was a contemporary collection, I was a little disappointed, but very quickly the thrill of the music took me over.

This album is bookended by TWO of my Top 10 Favourite songs OF ALL TIME....two EPICS that still make my heart flutter and my head reel furiously....but we'll get to them later.

First, let's deal with The Mixers....their first track on the album, 'Never Find Time' thwacks along driven by a snapping snare that conjures up a tooth-coroding mix of The Jam and The Honeycombs...and is every bit as sweet. Later they serve up 'Love Hurts' laced through with acidic Lalala's....a song SO 1960s it's wearing Cuban Heels.

Next up, The Page Boys.....and a song called 'Honey'. Anachronistic contemporary drum machines and Casio-like keyboards are swept away by a recurring 'Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah' motif (starting to get the picture?). A song that manages to sound 60s and 80s in the same three minutes. 

Tangerine Experience's 'Only The Sky Children Know' probably sounds exactly like you imagine. Like some huge Prog Rock anthem played by sussed hep-cats....it's a gigantic, multi-hued explosion of psychedelic wibblery.
It's left up to The Pastels to follow it up. Aaaaah....The Pastels!!! Here sounding SO young, pale and undernourished it's a wonder social services weren't called. 'I Wonder Why' is a song so fey you want to give it a mug of soup! But it's beauty is every bit as comforting.

Ex-Swell Map Jowe Head follows up with 'Lolita', a weird melange of whistling, fractured vocals and erratic guitar playing. It's the kind of song that could probably give David Tibet nightmares. He appears later with a track called 'February' which is even stranger. Like an underwater medieval folk song....it took me YEARS to appreciate his contributions to the album, I was probably just too young at the time.
The Direct Hits contribute two of the very best tracks on the album, 'Girl In The Picture' and 'What Killed Aleister Crowely'. 'GITP' is a beautifully crafted pop song of pure unrequited love as the vocalist sits in his room fantasising about the titular Girl. It could also be about stalking!! I love the swooshy phasing effect on this track. '...Aleister Crowely...' is another perfectly produced mini-masterpiece which ends with the threatening "I can see through Aleister Crowely's eyes..." I have to confess I didn't know who Crowely was at the time I bought the album, and finding out obviously changed the entire song for me.

Dan Treacy's hand is, obviously, all over this record, from producing it, designing the sleeve, running the label, and being the main man in The Television Personalities and it is they who bring Side One to an end with the wondrous 'The Dream Inspires'. I've often wondered if this is a song about Oxford, but it is SO good that who really cares?

On to Side Two:
Kicking off with The Mad Hatters, 'Dancing With The Dead' is almost pure 1967...in fact the intro is reminiscent of (the then psychedelic) Status Quo's 'Ice In The Sun'. 

Acoustic strumming, a harp, and the most tremulous voice imaginable...yes, it's Jed Dmochowski and his beautifully fragile lament 'I'm Sad'.

Then comes The Laughing Apple and the brilliant, vibrant, amphetamine hit of 'Wouldn't You', featuring on vocals Alan McGee....yes, THAT Alan McGee. The Laughing Apple would later change it's name to Biff Bang Pow and re-record 'Wouldn't You' in a rather over-produced fashion. This is the better version.

The Gifted Children are next with the brilliant 'My Favourite Films', a song that manages to namecheck Malcolm MacDowell, Albert Finney, Tom Courtney, Oliver Reed, Carol White, Wendy Craig and Rita Tushingham. What? No Terence Stamp or Julie Christie?

Which leaves us with the BIG TWO!
The opening track on this album is 'In The Afternoon' by The Revolving Paint Dream; this is, as I've said, one of my favourite songs of all time. It begins quietly enough with what sounds like the oldest, tinniest drum machine, punctuated with occasional LOUD snare whacks. On top of this is a cyclical guitar pattern, and then the vocals kick in; "Dont Go..." they beg, DRENCHED in echo and reverb. 

The verse builds and builds until it collapses under it's own overwroughtness into the chorus "In the afternoon....we made love" The song is full of snatches of impassioned pleading, "Sometimes feelings go beyond words....and I don't feel real at all", "Maybe I could make it better?", "Now this lust was always love" "When she goes away....." Eventually the voices become so overlapping and echoey it begins to sound like a Gregorian Chant and becomes so loud in the mix, it distorts....or that could just be my copy! The Revolving Paint Dream would later release a proper album of their own with a re-recorded version of this track complete with female lead vocals....but THIS is the ABSOLUTE mutt's plums!!! It can still make me cry even just writing about it.

The album ends with another Television Personalities track 'Happy All The Time', and WHAT an incredible song!! "She paints an earthquake" Dan mutters at the start before we're off into another cyclical guitar pattern, heavy drums and weird keyboard effects. It's a song about unhappiness, maybe even depression; "Ha ha ha said the clown// As he fell down// And the audience laughed and cheered//But they never saw the tears" sings Dan before the mighty chorus; "And I'm just looking for rainbows//In a star filled sky//And I'm just waiting for the sun to shine//I remember somebody told me//That God is yours and mine//But nobody ever told me that pigs could fly".

After about three minutes the song ends, then comes a bunch of weird noises, the sound of a tape being rewound, and then three false re-starts before the song goes back into the chorus. If Jean Luc Godard ever produced a pop record, THIS is what it would sound like. The false starts and weird edits give the song a poignancy that has stuck with me for almost 25 years now.

This album would always make my list of Top 10 Albums Of All Time, even if it just had those two tracks on it.

The album has never been properly re-issued on CD, but a grab-bag of all of Whaam! Records output was released under the title of 'Whaam Bam Thank You Dan' which contains a good 75% of the tracks that appeared on this album.

01. Revolving Paint Dream - In The Afternoon
02. Television Personalities - I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives
03. The Mixers - Never Find Time
04. The Page Boys - You're My Kind Of Girl
05. Tangerine Experience - Only The Sky Children Know
06. Direct Hits - Too Shy
07. Television Personalities - The Dream Inspires
08. The Marble Staircase - Still Dreaming
09. 1000 Mexicans - The Art Of Love
10. The Mad Hatters - Dancing With The Dead
11. Jed Dmochowski - Part Of The World
12. Laughing Apple - Wouldn't You?
13. Television Personalities - Bike
14. The Page Boys - In Love With You
15. Direct Hits - Naughty Little Boys
16. The Gifted Children - My Favorite Films
17. The Marble Staircase - Dark Ages
18. Television Personalities - I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives
19. The Mixers - Love Hurts
20. The Gifted Children - Painting By Numbers
21. 1000 Mexicans - News Of You
22. Television Personalities - No One's Little Girl
23. Direct Hits - What Killed Aleister Crowley?

1. Whaam Records
or
2. Whaam Records
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3. Whaam Records

Video for today...Seasick Steve - Hell

And For Now, New Bands: Various Artist - Ripples Records (Hardrock, Retro-Rock, Stoner etc. 2015-18)

Size: 493 MB
Bitrate: 320
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The home to some of the world's best heavy rock

Ripple Music is a California-based independent record label founded in 2010 by Todd Severin and John Rancik. The company encompasses a record label, a music publishing business, a marketing, promotion and sales team, and a Distribution for independent heavy metal bands (Heavy Ripples Distro).

Ripple Music, the record label, evolved out of the highly successful music site, The Ripple Effect, which Severin and Rancik launched in October 2007. Baring a tagline of "The Best Music You're Not Listening To," the Ripple Effect concentrated on in-depth, expertly written (often humorous) music reviews of new, lost classic, and unheralded artists. 

Early in their existence, Severin (a former radio DJ) and Rancik (former lead singer of San Diego punk/metal cross-over band, Blind Justice) concentrated on reviews from their own extensive record collections. 

But within a short period of time, the Ripple Effect had gained significant recognition within the industry and the format expanded to include new reviews, interviews, streaming songs, video uploads, legal downloads, and previews/sneak peeks. Within a year, The Ripple Effect was ranked as one of the top music sites in the world by GuitarWorld Magazine and several other music sites. Most recently, The Ripple Effect was awarded the Recommended Reading Medal by Jemmsite, the home of Ibanez Guitars.

As the Ripple Effect's popularity grew, a radio show was added which was originally produced by Chris James Ripple Radio, on blogtalkradio.com. Shortly, Ripple Radio was recognized as one of the featured radio shows at blogtalkradio.com, and guests such as Marky Ramone, Fee Waybill, and Cy Curnin, amongst others, stopped by to chat with Severin (Racer) and Rancik (Pope JTE).

As both fronts of the Ripple enterprise continued to grow, Severin and Rancik were approached by legendary protometal heroes, JPT Scare Band, with the proposition of releasing several previously unheard JPT tracks. With that inspiration, Ripple Music, the record label was born. Shortly thereafter, several bands signed with Ripple Music, including two legendary 1970's protometal icons, Poobah and Iron Claw, plus newer, rising acts, Tripdavon, Fen, Modern Day Moonshine, and Kevin Beadles.

In 2010, the company debuted its initial releases "Acid Blues is the White Man's Burden" by JPT Scare Band, a re-issue of "Let Me In," the 1972 early metal classic by Poobah, and "Trails Out of Gloom," an album of dark, mysterious modern prog rock from Vancouver's Fen. Additionally, "You Can't Argue With Water," an album of rootsy americana rock from award-winning songwriter, Kevin Beadles came out on The Ripple Label. 

All titles were sold through international distribution and the Ripple Music website.  Ripple Music released albums in vinyl, colored double vinyl, CD, and digital formats. Due to the high quality of Ripple Music's initial releases, the label garnered immediate national media attention.

Websites: 
http://www.ripple-music.com/  
https://ripplemusic.bigcartel.com/
http://heavyripples.bigcartel.com/

Disc 1
01. Arcadian Child - Afterglow - 03.39
02. Arrowhead - Weed Lord - 07.12
03. Blackwulf - Sinister Sides - 04.53
04. Blackwulf - Colossus - 04.32
05. Bonehawk - Albino Rhino - 07.56
06. Craneium - Ceasing to Exist - 09.16
07. Doctor Doom - At War With Myself - 07.03
08. Fire Down Below - Universes Crumble - 08.30
09. Geezer - Superjam Maximus - 05.45
10. Kind - The Angry Undertaker - 09.13
11. Kingnomad - Lucifer's Dream - 05.40

Disc 2
01. Mothership - Crown of Lies - 05.41
02. Mothership - Serpent's Throne (Live) - 07.28
03. Mothership - High Strangeness - 03.06
04. Ozone Mama -Moon Pilot - 06.01
05. Ride the Sun - 5 On 4 - 05.24
06. Ride the Sun - Karma Wastes - 04.15
07. Ride the Sun - Get Bent - 03.29
08. Ride the Sun - Step to the Square - 02.33
09. Ride the Sun - Bail - 04.08
10. The Watchers - Alien Lust - 05.16
11. Pretty Thing - Sacred Shrines - 04.40
12. Salem's Bend - Balshazzar - 04.17
13. Salem's Bend - Queen of the Desert - 04.15
14. Salem's Bend - Sun and Mist - 05.16
15. Steak - Living Like a Rat - 04.00
16. Steak - Wickerman - 03.59
17. Steak - The Ebb - 03.53

Disc 3
01. The Hazytones - Free From Your Spell - 04.10
02. The Necromancers - Grand Orbiter - 07.04
03. The Trikes - Sordid Love - 05.07
04. The Trikes - Nowhere - 05.15
05. The Trikes - Forgotten Sins - 05.12
06. The Trikes - Be Yourself - 05.13
07. The Watchers - Call the Priest - 04.24
08. Wo Fat - Riffborn - 04.58
09. Wo Fat - Of Smoke and Fog (Live) - 10.40
10. Wo Fat - Of Smoke and Fog - 10.46

Part 1: Ripple Records
Part 2: Ripple Records
Part 3: Ripple Records
or
Part 1: Ripple Records
Part 2: Ripple Records
Part 3: Ripple Records
or
Part 1: Ripple Records
Part 2: Ripple Records
Part 3: Ripple Records

Heavy Chills - Selftitled (Retro Hardrock US 2017, Sounds Like US 1969)

Size: 90.3 MB

Bitrate: 320
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No information about this band, sorry. The Band Released this album in 2017 but sounds like a US Hardrock from 1969. I think you will like it. I bought at "Bandcamp" Link: https://heavychills.bandcamp.com/album/heavy-chills  

★ Nick McKillip - Guitar/Vocals 
★ Mikey Carrillo - Bass 
★ Scott Perrine - Drums

01. Heavy Chills 05:05
02. The Likes of You 04:23
03. Scarlet Night 03:45
04. Moon 03:11
05. On The Run 06:47
06. Lay It Down 06:06
07. The Devil's Answer 04:04

1. Heavy Chills

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2. Heavy Chills

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3. Heavy Chills

Agitation Free - Malesch (1st Album German Progressive Rock 1972) & Agitation Free - 2nd (German Progressive Rock 1973)

Size: 116 MB
Bitrate: 256
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Source: Japan SHM-CD Remaster

Having generated a cult following for years, since the late 60s, it was surprising that this relevant krautrock act had taken so long before they recorded and released their debut album; but again, better late than never. Agitation Free created an excellent first album, full of ethnic vibrations and exotic magic, which appears perfectly combined with the hard rocking guitar riffing and electric keyboard psychedelic effects, mandatory elements in the kraut context. Before the band achieved their first recording contract, they took a trip to Morocco, something that they seemed particularly interested in documenting and manifesting all throughout the repertoire. 

By then Agitation Free had a distinct sound based on the musicians' finesse, which would always show above the wall of psychedelic, blues-tinged noise that stands as a signature pattern of krautrock: their rocking jams always bore a certain magical aura, that made their music ethereal, besides, of course, energetic and trippy. It is not dueling as much as complementing what both guitarists (Ulbrich and Schwenke) recurrently do, while the organ parts create an ethereal wall of sound, confidently flowing in the background; the rhythm section uses lots of exotic cadences (plus the use of marimba) in order to keep on par with the ethnic stuff and, simultaneously, to found a solid pace for the other musicians' jamming. Bassist Gunther is a very skillful in his role (arguably, the most gifted musician in this combo), displaying some intricate, powerful lines that, at times, assume a prominent role in the mix - for example, 'Sahara City'. 

The opening track 'You Play for us Today' sounds really intense without getting overtly aggressive: 'Khan El Khalili' and the namesake track are the most energetic numbers in the album, but let's keep in mind that these guys' main musical concern is to lay out ethereal ambiences and sonic layers, instead of merely creating defying, explosive sonic electric storms (something that Ash Ra Temple or Guru Guru do happily and unabashedly). 

'Pulse' is an amazing jam that sees AF absorbing influences from their fellow countrymen Can and Tangerine Dream, while 'Ala Tull' displays lots of percussive stuff on the frontline. 'Rucksturz' is the shortest track: it closes the album with a recognizable line, something like a tender epilogue. A great album this is, indeed: "Melesch" is one of the definitive cornerstones of kraut. [progarchives.com]

01. You Play For Us Today (6:08) 
02. Sahara City (7:42) 
03. Ala Tul (4:50) 
04. Pulse (4:43) 
05. Khan El Khalili (8:10) 
06. Malesch (8:10) 
07. Rücksturz (2:09)

Bonus
08. Music Factory (15.14) 

Agitation Free - 2nd (German Progressive Rock 1973)

Size: 106 MB

Bitrate: 256
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Source: Japan SHM-CD Remaster

In some ways, Second is the logical successor to Malesh with its twin guitar "attack"; these two (Schwenke is replaced by Dietz following drugs problems) are so mellow that it seems a shame to call them an attack. But the name "attack" is now apt for the drumming since the group enlisted a second drummer (ex-ART Burmeister), thus giving an exacting edge that only the Allman Bros Band had before. Losing the second drummer just prior to recording their aptly-titled Second, AF retained all of the inertia and the album has a fantastic ABB fluidness wherever necessary. Graced with a drought, than rain season artwork, this second album lost all ethnic touches of Malesh, one passage excepted, proof that their debut's rep was indeed overdone. 

Starting on the First Communications, you can hear the Floydian cosmic/psych influences of Malesh will also be relatively absent as well. Dialogue & Random is an electronic free jazz improve leading into the two-part Leila, which is strongly reminiscent of the ABB's Elizabeth Reed and fades into Silence Of The Morning sunrise with electronic birds chirping along to tranquil electric guitars gliding along the organ mist layers. Superb music. The birds lead you to a slow Quiet Walk into a cosmic dark hole (Tangerine Dream's Zeit is not far away here) if it wasn't for an electric Indian-laced guitar (the only real ethnic moment of this album), before stretching itself out maybe a tad too long. The closing Haunted Island is the only sung track of the album, filtered, almost recitative over a superb mellotron, and once over, the two guitars take over and soar in the sky for a grandiose finale.

Although AF's second album holds some fairly different influences, trading in the Arabian and cosmic /psych Floyd ambiance, for a more pastoral west coast sound, both albums can be regarded as AF's crowning achievements, although neither reaches perfection.

Well, the second Agitation Free album is different to the first one. The Ethno influences are completely gone as well as the oriental impact. But with everything gone wich made the first album what it is, the second one doesn't weaken, far from it, I consider "2nd" to be even better than "Malesch". Yes it's not as playful but still isn't a slight fare. What makes this album so great is the symbiosis of Hoenig's electrical gadgetry and Keyboard playing (It might be helpful to mention that Hoenig later on gets a member of Tangerine Dream) and the guitar playing by the very talented and often underrated Lutz Ulbrich and Stefan Dietz. The guitar work mainly consists of long and beautiful improvisations wich either alternate or collude with Hoenig's Keyboard and Synth sounds.

"First Communication" is one of the best songs of this album. Here you can impressively experience what I meant with long guitar improvisations. It's Krautrock at it's best and IMO one of the best songs of this genre. In "Dialogue And Random" you get to hear some of Hoenig's nice gimmicks and electrical sounds, very typical for german prog music BTW. The both "Laila" parts feature nice guitar solos and improvisations paired with nice and atmospherical Keyboard and Organ sounds in the background. I think "In the silence of the morning sunrise" again features some really great guitar sounds as well as a talented Hoenig on keyboards. 

The whole tune is introduced by some nice electric sounds wich create the perfect atmosphere concerning the title of the song. Chirping crickets and twittering birds wich also linger throughout the whole song. "A quiet walk" is maybe the prime example for the perfect symbiosis of Hoenig and the guitar players. The first half of the song belongs to the electrical improvisations reminicent of Tangerine Dream or Klaus Schulze untill after some minutes the guitar and bazouki appear, first very muted and slowly, after a final bulky organ chord take over, terrific. "Haunted Island" is quite queer and features vocals, more recitative than singing. Very dark, I like it. And again, you get some fine guitar work here.

"2nd" by Agitation Free is, at least for me, one of the best Krautrock recordings. The guitar improvisations sound amazing and the symbiosis with the talented Hoenig really put you over the edge. This album is worth every penny and features no single bad song. If there's a Krautrock recoring I would recommend without concern this would be the one. It's an album with the possibility to get you into Krautrock, to discover the wolrd of germany's music from the seventies. It's highly recommended.

01. First Communication (8:10)
02. Dialogue And Random (1:51)
03. Layla, Part 1 (1:41)
04. Layla, Part 2 (6:47)
05. In The Silence Of The Morning Sunrise (6:33)
06. A Quiet Walk (9:15)
a) Listening
b) Two-not Of The Same Kind
07. Haunted Island (7:11)

Bonus
08. Laila '74 (7.41)

Shibuya Nights (Live in Tokyo 2007) (Bonus)

01. You Play for Us Today [Live 2007] - 06.12
02. Malesch [Live 2007] - 05.42
03. Rucksturz [Live 2007] - 02.57
04. First Communication [Live 2007] - 06.25
05. In the Silence of the Morning Sunrise [Live 2007] - 06.22
06. Laila [Live 2007] - 07.37
07. Shibuya Nights [Live 2007] - 06.15
08. Ala Tul [Live 2007] - 06.15

Biography:
In 1967 two beat groups from Berlin were on the verge of splitting up. The leading forces behind these groups were Lutz 'Luul' Ulbrich and Michael 'Fame' Gunther. They decided to join forces, and with some other remaining musicians they took the name Agitation Free. Agitation Free were probably the first German group to use slide projectors and a multi-media show during their live appearances. For this reason they were engaged as the household band at the Zodiac, Berlin's answer to London's U.F.O., where the psychedelic underground was literally flowering. Such later famous groups as Tangerine Dream and Curly Curve (well, not so very famous in this case...) also appeared at the Zodiac regularly. In early 1968 Agitation Flee were expanded by John L. on lead vocals. Not exactly a gifted vocalist, he sometimes entertained the audience by walking around naked with a painted penis on stage! He was fired about a year later, apparently the rest of the group had grown tired of this particular (peculiar) Stage Show. His voice was luckily preserved for later generations when he "sang" on Ash Ra Tempel's brilliant Schwingungen album in 1972.

1970 was a very erratic year for Agitation Free. Lutz Kramer quit, and was temporary replaced by Ax Genrich, soon to be a member of Guru Guru. Agitation Free shared a practice room at the Wilmersdorf music academy with Ash Ra Tempel and Tangerine Dream at (his time, and many experiences and ideas were swapped. There was also quite an exchange of members between these groups. Agitation Free's instructor was Thomas Kessler, a German avant-garde composer. He taught them to play with notations, composition and harmony learning. When Genrich joined Guru Guru, he was replaced with Jorg Schwenke. Chris Franke then accepted Edgar Froese's offer to be the new drummer in Tangerine Dream after Klaus Schulze quit. Gerd Klemke stepped in as Agitation Free's drummer for some months of the last half of 1970. Finally a quintet was stabilised in 1971. At the beginning of 1972 the group went on an expanded tour to Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Greece, sponsored by The Goethe Institute. Michael Gunther recorded local musicians they met and jammed with on the tour. Extracts of these recordings were included on Malesch (released Summer 1972), which collected the impressions from their eastern travels. This excellent album revealed a very talented and competent young group, and it was dedicated to their teacher Kessler. "You Play For Us Today" opened with a short dialogue, before a deep, majestic organ tone created a trance-like mood. Gunther came in with a great, steady bass riff, flavoured with eastern rhythms (Uli Popp guested here on bongos). "Sahara City" started with a long and floating guitar glissando, but had a fast, heavy finale. "Ala Tul" and some other tracks featured the leader of Between, Peter Michael Hamel, on hammond organ. "Pulse" was an early experiment with electronic sequencing. "Khan El Khalai", "Malesch" and the short 'Ruckzuck" gave plenty of time for Schwenke and Ulbrich to show off on guitar. An immaculate record!

In March 1973 Jorg Schwenke had to quit due to his increasing drug habits. His replacement was Stefan Diez. A second drummer was also added to the line-up: Dietmar Burmeister who had recorded on Seven Up with Ash Ra Tempel. A 90 minutes long production for radio, consisting of edited live performances (made during a ten days live session in a house in the German countryside) was broadcasted in April 1973. The six-piece group went on a very successful two months tour in France. Recordings for radio were also taped during this tour. Parts of these finally made it to vinyl on Last three years later, namely "Soundpool" (renamed version of "Ruckzuck" from Malesch) and a 17 minute long version of "Laila" (a composition included on their forthcoming second album).

With Diez, but without Burmeister, the band went in the studio to record 2nd in July 1973. This time music was more subdued and meditative in a sophisticated way. The eastern flavour was not so distinctive this time, but the musical quality was certainly intact! "First Communication'' started the album off with white noise, wind and a distant bouzouki played by Ulbrich. A harmonic melody line on guitar slides slowly in and builds up a really great track, almost predating some of Fichelscher's guitar work with Popol Vuh. "Dialogue And Random" was a short synthesizer experiment by Honig, not bearing any resemblance to his solo albums. The tuneful two part "Laila" finished side one. Electronic bird sounds on "In The Silence Of The Morning Sunrise" opened the other side. The track built up to fragile, jazzy rock almost in the melodious Terje Rypdal vein. "A Quiet Walk" included more atmospheric, electronically created environment sounds, before bouzouki and treated guitar introduced melody lines. "Haunted Island" finished the album in a dramatic vein with a heavy rhythm, mellotrons and Burghard Rausch's treated recitation of an Edgar Allan Poe poem.

Shortly after 2nd, Diez quit and the band's activities now decreased. For a last tour of France In January 1974 Gustav Lutjens was engaged as Agitation Free's new second guitarist. Their last studio work was a recording of a Erhard Grosskopf composition ("Looping IV") in February 1974. This would fill up the second side of the Last album, which was only released in France posthumously in 1976. It was a nice testament to a superb band. They performed a few concerts during the Summer of 1974 and then disbanded after a final goodbye concert in Berlin, November 1974.

Lutz Ulbrich teamed up with Manuel Gottsching in 1976 for several Ashra-projects. He has also made scene music for some theatres in Berlin. Michael Honig, as Franke had done five years before him joined Tangerine Dream, but was with them for just two months (including a tour in Australia) in the Spring of 1975. Before that he had a short collaboration with Klaus Schulze (doing concerts in Brussels, Zevenaar and Paris in November and December 1974). It was also planned that Honig should join Ashra for a tour in November 1976, but this didn't happen.


Agitation Free was one of the best groups to appear in Germany in the early seventies, and their albums are obligatory in any German rock collection!

Part 1: Agitation Free
Part 2: Agitation Free
Part 3: Agitation Free
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Part 1: Agitation Free
Part 2: Agitation Free
Part 3: Agitation Free
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Part 1: Agitation Free
Part 2: Agitation Free
Part 3: Agitation Free

Gold - Oregins S.F. 1970 (Great Heavyrock US 1970)

Size: 149 MB
Bitrate: 256
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Ripped By: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included

Gold, Oregins S.F. 1970 (World in Sound). With nine songs recorded in the studio at Golden State Recorders in San Francisco in 1969 and 1970, plus eight songs (in decent if imperfect fidelity) from a live show at the Fillmore West on March 3, 1970, this is a generous document -- lasting 78 minutes in all -- of a San Francisco band that only got to release one obscure single, never putting out an LP. 

(Both sides of that single, "No Parking"/"Summertime" -- the latter produced by Country Joe McDonald, who also plays clavichord on the track -- are here, though the notes don't make it clear if these were the same recordings used on the 45.) 

It's a decent slab of period late-'60s San Francisco rock, though Gold were neither top-tier when judged against the many similar bands from the time and region, nor possessed of a fully formed musical identity. Certainly you can hear bits and pieces of other major Bay Area acts -- "High on Love" and "When I Saw You" have the spacey languor of Quicksilver Messenger Service at their most folk-rocking wistful, and "Conquistadores" is very much in the spirit of Santana's first album (in fact both bands had "Fried Neck Bones," heard on the live portion of this CD, in their repertoire). 

Other tracks have a more macho, bluesy hard rock approach, and while eclecticism was a trademark of numerous San Francisco psychedelic acts, Gold were missing that something that might have elevated them to a notable rank. 

Despite their derivative nature, however, "When I Saw You," "High on Love," and "Colores" are all enjoyable songs for those who like the distinctively bittersweet sound of much gentler SF psychedelia. 

Other tracks indicate they could have done well with a Santana-esque fusion of rock, blues, and Latin rhythms had they wanted to go further down that route. The scattershot liner notes don't give you much of a coherent history of the band's life and times, however. 

The band were managed by Ron Cabral along with his brother Dennis from 1968 to 1973. They broke up after playing San Francisco shows at both the Fillmore and Winterland with groups such as: Big Brother and the Holding Company, Hot Tuna, Ten Years After, Malo, and Mike Bloomfield. They also recorded and appeared with Country Joe McDonald.  

01. No parking
02. High on love
03. Righteous road
04. Conquistadores
05. Heavy
06. When I saw you
07. PSB
08. Filet of soul
09. Summertime
10. When I saw you (live)
11. Filet of soul (live)
12. Colores (live)
13. PSB (live)
14. Conquistadores (live)
15. No parking (live)
16. Fried neck bones (live)
17. Heavy (live) 

1. Gold
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2. Gold
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3. Gold

Susan Christie - Paint a Lady (Very Rare UK Folkrock 1969)

Size: 60.4 MB
Bitrate: 256
mp3
Ripped By: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included

How rare can a rare record be? - medium rare? uncooked? how about unreleased? 

Susan Christie was a Philly based sophomore folk singer who had one novelty hit for a major label and never quite recovered - Afterwards, her psychedelic take on country standards and hand crafted tales of inner-city solitude backed by a break heavy folk-funk rhythm section was never accepted as a commercial viabilty by record company big-wigs - They obviously couldnt quite muster their nostradamus sensibilities to forsee what future hiphop producers and DJ's would be feeding into digital music-machines 30 years down the line! 

Luckily three -fifths of a handful (literally three!) privately pressed vanity copies were manufactured in early 1970 one of which became the source material for Finders Keepers 6th LP in their expanding library of obscure, obtuse, obsolete and obsessive vintage music from the 60's and 70's. Uber legend John Hill who penned the acid-rock floor-filler 'LOVE,LOVE,LOVE,LOVE,LOVE,' for 'Wool' and 'Pacific Gas And Electric' produced the LP which featues 9 tracks including a Johnny Cash cover and a 12 minute 'drugsploitation' epic called 'Yesterday - Where's My Mind' featuring Susan flipping vocal styles between Janis Joplin and Margo Guryan (...who was in fact a close friend of Susans at the time of recording).

30 years ago, a Philly based folk singer named Susan Christie was dropped by her record company. After one novelty song, the label bosses didn’t think her melancholy take on country and solitude would ever be of any interest. Five copies of her album were pressed and faded into obscurity. Skip forward to present time, and a small label, ‘Finders Keepers’ salvages three out of these five copies and decides to release it.

Susan Christie’s album is a beautiful piece of despondent tales and folky psychedelia. The fascinating thing is that it sounds very current. The title track is reminiscent of Portishead , while other songs incorporate break heavy folk-funk, current DJ’s would die for.

Don’t get me wrong, it is an obscure 70’s folk record at its heart, but highly worth listening to today.

01. Rainy Day 
02. Paint A Lady 
03. For The Love Of A Soldier
04. Ghost Riders In The Sky 
05. Yesterday, Where's My Mind? 
06. Echo In Your Mind 
07. When Love Comes 
08. No One Can Hear You Cry

1. Susan Christie
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2. Susan Christie
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3. Susan Christie

Asomvel - Knuckle Duster (Motörhead Alike-Rock’n’Roll UK 2013)

Size: 92.1
Bitrate: 320
Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included

Astonishingly, the fiery rampage of ASOMVEL’s metal-punk-rock’n’roll masterpiece Knuckle Duster marks 20 years since these British bruisers first started jamming on a pig farm with a load of Special Brew. Formed in 1993 by guitarist Lenny Robinson and bassist/vocalist Jay-Jay Winter, ASOMVEL’s first drummer was ex-Cathedral/Acid Reign man Mark Wharton, but “about ten” more came and went before the band recorded their first demo in 2001. 

After 2007’s Full Moon Dog 10″ the power trio managed to thrash out their raucous debut LP Kamikaze in 2009 to much acclaim, ASOMVEL firmly establishing themselves as underdog cult heroes of the UK HM underground. Barely a year later, however, the band was shaken to its core when Jay-Jay Winter was killed in a road accident. 

Although a devastating tragedy, Lenny knew that the band had to continue in tribute to the determined spirit of their founding frontman: “ASOMVEL could’ve died with him, but I was never gonna let that happen,” affirms the axeman. However, the initial post-Jay-Jay line-up was short-lived. “I had to stop the band until I could find somebody like Jay-Jay,” explains Lenny, “cos he’s still a part of this band, he never left. Whoever is in this band needs to know they have to do it the way he wanted it doing. Conan came along and he was perfect, plus he always admired Jay-Jay’s attitude.” 

With ex-Deathwing bassist/vocalist Conan onboard, ASOMVEL headlined their own inaugural Full Moon Dog Festival in Bradford in 2011 in honour of their fallen comrade, and have shared the stage with the likes of Carcass, Anvil and Orange Goblin. Asked how the band has changed with the new line-up, Lenny is unequivocal: “The band hasn’t changed from the day we started it,” he asserts. “It’s something we both believed in strongly; never change…ever! It’s the downfall of a lotta bands, they think they have to grow musically for some reason, but they just end up out-clevering themselves.” 

When Will Palmer started up Bad Omen Records in 2013, his formative ambition was to coax a new album out of ASOMVEL, sending them into the studio with producer James ‘Atko’ Atkinson (also frontman of Leeds rockers Gentleman’s Pistols). 

“We wrote all the stuff really quick, off the cuff,” says Lenny. “All the songs came together very easy, we didn’t have to force anything. I would say it took no longer than 10 minutes a piece to get the basic songs. We didn’t try to jazz ‘em up, we purposely kept them very basic, cos we like simplicity and we like it in the groove.” 

Consequently, Knuckle Duster is a focused and fat-free expression of pissed off, Tanked-up, Venomous Motörized fury, but Atko wraps it up in a first class ‘iron fist in a velvet glove’ production job, lending raw and dirty headbangers like Dead Set On Livin’, Cash Whore (featuring some of Jay-Jay’s last lyrics) and Shoot Ya Down a vital, resounding sonic heft, while powerhouse drummer Jason Hope pushes every song to the next level: “We really had to step it up, ‘cos he’s on it all the time,” Lenny enthuses. “There’s no way we could’ve even dreamt of doing this album if we didn’t have Jason, he plays like a demon on this record.” 

The band are featured on the forthcoming DVD Madder Than A Full Moon Dog (a souvenir of their 2012 Full Moon Dog Festival), and have been approached to write the music for a horror film starring Dee Snider, The Calicoon, but right now Knuckle Duster is their priority. 

“The album is really an answer to the scumbags who try to fuck your life up for no good reason,” snarls the guitarist. “We were angry when we wrote Knuckle Duster, we’ve always been angry and it’s a better album for it. All in all, I think it’s a very positive album, with songs to live your life by.” 

Firestorm coming closer…. stick your fingers in your ears. Now! 

01. Dead Set On Livin' 02:30
02. Cash Whore 03:09
03. Sheep In Wolf's Clothing 03:33
04. Trash Talker 04:11
05. Waster 06:13
06. Shoot Ya Down 04:37
07. Wrecking Ball 03:08
08. Knuckle Duster 03:02
09. Stranglehold 01:43
10. Final Hour 03:16
11. Hangman's Rope 04:36

1. Asomvel
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2. Asomvel
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3. Asomvel