Редкие группы

Akasha (1977)

Akasha must have been the most unlikely entity to emerge from a small town in Northern Norway - an internationally oriented space rock band with . an impressive light and multivision show. In an air-raid shelter they recorded an album's worth of tapes on a semi-professional TEAC 4-track machine. A few hundred copies of it were released on a local label. Their music sounds like a lost demo for an album by Amon Düül II (adding a synthesizer player) circa 1971. It consists of ambitious long tracks with lyrics dealing with space, time, death and the void. They also inserted a live broadcast from a foreign radio station in the best "I Am The Walrus" tradition!

Aunt Mary (1971)

Aunt Mary came from the small town of Fredrikstad in Østfold, but were one of the best Norwegian bands of the early seventies. Their first album was recorded and released in Denmark, as they lived there at the time. Aunt Mary lacked distinction at this early stage with various imitations of Jethro Tull, Traffic and Led Zeppelin among the short tracks. In late 1971, they recorded a dreadful ballad with gospel overtones named "Jimi, Janis & Brian" (included on Best Of). Luckily Groth left soon after and took the gospel with him.

Loaded (1972) saw the arrival of Bengt Jenssen, who brought in some classically-inclined organ style to counterbalance the progressive blues of the others. The songwriting was much better, as evident on the tough "Joinin' The Crowd" and "G Flat Road", but many people forget Aunt Mary's softer side (influenced by the 1968 version of The Beatles ) on "Delight" and "Farewell My Friend". "Blowin' Tiffany" represented Aunt Mary at their most progressive, hinting at things to come. This track also revealed a hitherto hidden Emerson, Lake & Palmer and King Crimson influence (spot the tightly echoed, manipulated vocals and compare it to "Indoor Games" from Lizard).

Janus (1973) was no doubt their most accomplished album with some tracks forming mini-suites and more extended instrumental segments. The Beatle-esque folkish songs merged in with impressive electric guitar and organ creating different textures to each track. This heavy progressive plus folk formula has similarities to the Danish groups Culpeper's Orchard and Old Man & The Sea, giving the impression that Aunt Mary adopted the Danish vibes of the Summer of '71! Unfortunately they disbanded at the end of 1973 for the usual reasons (an indifferent public and lack of both money and motivation). Their 1980 Live Reunion was a very good one with no Clapton imitations. Indeed it was their most powerful work, recorded as a trio.

Déjà-Vu (1976)

A group formed by Svein Rønning and Knut Lie after they had left Høst. Their demo album was unknown even among Norwegian collectors before Research Records re-issued it in 1995. The material is in a style quite similar to the first Høst album, but with even longer tracks and a vocalist with different qualities than Geir Jahren.

Junipher Greene - Friendship (1971)

This Oslo group did what The Mothers Of Invention had done in 1966 and Magma had done in 1970: they started their recording career (in 1971) with a double album! Junipher Greene were the first Norwegian group to release a double album, although among the Scandinavians they were preceded by Burnin' Red Ivanhoe's M144 (dating from 1969). The album Friendship is an ambitious effort and a milestone in Scandinavian (if not European) progressive rock, bridging the hippie idealism of the sixties to the growing instrumental aspirations of the seventies. Junipher Greene started performing under this name in 1967 and the content of Friendship spanned several years. Many of the songs on the first album of the set echo the slow rock of The Beatles and Pretty Things circa 1969/70 with vocals treated with Leslie effects (as favoured by John Lennon) and clever guitar riffing. "Try To Understand" embraced the sentiments of "Come Together" and the young generation's movement. It's the excellent songwriting that lifts Friendship above many of its rivals. Still many parts of it proved they had learned from contemporary Deep Purple, Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd. The more 'progressive' parts (full of electric guitars, organ and flute) are most notable on the second album's "Friendship Suite" - a masterwork of progressive rock lasting for over 25 minutes.

Lothar & The Hand People - Space Hymn/Presenting... (1968/69) тоже редкая группа

Lothar & The Hand People - This Is It, Machines

This was one of the most interesting groups to emerge from America in this era. Originally from Denver, Colorado, they moved to New York to record their two albums. Lothar was actually the name they gave to the theremin, which, together with two moog synthesisers, Ampex tape decks, keyboards and a linear controller characterised the group's sound.

Their debut album was reissued in the U.K. a few years ago and is consequently not difficult to obtain. On most tracks like This May Be Goodbye and That's Another Story, the theremin's influence is confined to short intros to fairly conventional two or three minute compositions. However, three exceptions to this are the weird Machines, the unusual Sex And Violence and final track It Comes On Anyhow - which is a foretaste of some of the psychedelic craziness which appeared on their follow-up album.
On Space Hymn, the theremin and other electronic gadgetry is generally used to better effect. The album is composed of a mixture of weird material and more commercial numbers, such as Yes, I Love You, Heatwave, and Say I Do. The lyrics are often full of the usual hippie cliches. For example, What Grows On Your Head? is, as one might expect, romanticising about the freedom and virtues of long hair, while Midnight Ranger sounds like the story of a ranger who has had one trip too many! Some of the other material is particularly weird, notably the keyboard instrumental Wedding Night For Those Who Love, Sdrawkcab and Today Is Only Yesterday's Tomorrow. The title track, however, reaches new heights of craziness when the vocalist sets about hypnotising his audience! Certainly an interesting album, this is recommended. Apart from Heatwave, all the material was written by the band and you won't hear anything more unusual from this era than that title track.
Kim King went on to become a producer and sound engineer, notably working with Steeplechase, Holy Moses and Colin Winski. He also toured with Zephyr, being the first replacement for Tommy Bolin, but did not record with the band. It's not clear if Tom Flye is the same Tommy Flye who was recording engineer for, among others, Zappa's Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar albums

Люблю их.

2havefun69:
>2yellow submarine:
>Да что вы докопались до топикстартера? Все это
>субъективно - редкая, не редкая. Если вам кажется,
>что в этой теме маловато редкостей, то вам никто
>не мешает подбросить дровишек самому. Чем больше
>материала - тем интереснее всем.

Субъективное - это нравится или не нравится. А редкость издания - вещь как раз объективная, ее можно оценить по объему тиража или редкостью издателя или страны издания. Я вовсе не считаю, что в этой теме мало редкостей - даже наоборот, вижу, что их много. Но встречаются и такие, которые редкими никак не назовешь, т.е к этой теме они не подходят. Сам я выкладываю музыку на другом форуме, и в ней есть немало редкостей, но я ими не хвалюсь, так как предпочитаю, наоборот, популярную музыку, в ней гораздо больше той, что мне нравится.

2round:
>2yellow submarine:
>> Я вот не одну сотню альбомов групп
>>60-х годов годами не могу найти ни на одном
>трекере,
>>хотя тогда они были ну очень популярными, у
>меня даже записи сохранились.
>А напишите, пожалуйста, названия этих групп,
>очень заинтриговали.

Как-нибудь. Их не пять и не даже сто, а целый каталог, охватывающий музыку с 1964 года по 1975-й. Начиная с 1975-го, мне удалось найти и переписать в новом качестве не больше половины той музыки. В 70-80-е годы, когда у меня была уже хорошая звукозаписывающая аппаратура, на пластиночном рынке такие виниловые пластинки встречались чрезвычайно редко, их переиздавали очень мало, потому что покупатели гонялись за новинками, а не за прошедшей эпохой. Но в свое время эти пластинки вовсе не были редкостью.

2havefun69:

Déjà-Vu (1976)
Lothar & The Hand People
Akasha (1977)
Aunt Mary (1971)
Junipher Greene - Friendship (1971)

Очередные редкости, достойные внимания.

Английский звукоинженер и продюсер, сделавший много интересного для Британской поп-музыки 50-60х.

Joe Meek - I Hear A New World (RPM 502)

2Жидков Сергей:
>2havefun69:
>Déjà-Vu (1976)
>Lothar & The Hand People
>Akasha (1977)
>Aunt Mary (1971)
>Junipher Greene - Friendship (1971)
>Очередные редкости, достойные внимания.

Вот с этим списком полностью согласен.

Кстати, хотел бы уточнить свой пост чуть выше. Когда я в 75-м году принялся искать и заново переписывать музыку, записанную на плохой аппаратуре 60-х - начала 70-х годов, то музыку первой половины 70-х я частично нашел еще тогда, а остальное - уже в наше время. Это 60-е найти и было, и остается трудно: переиздают на CD только самые известных исполнителей тех лет, причем чаще не в оригинальных альбомах, а в сборниках. А менее известных не переиздают вовсе. Вот их я и имел в виду, когда написал, что удалось найти лишь половину. Причем в поиске не столько сами исполнители, а их конкретные альбомы. Вот они действительно редкость (повторяю: сейчас, а не тогда).

Steve Gibbons Band - Any Road Up (1976)

http://rockfaces.ru/s/stevegibbonsband.htm

Steve Gibbons Band - Down In The Bunker (1978)

Ronnie Lane - Anymore For Anymore (1974)

Ронни Лэйн из Small Faces. Обожаю его!

Greg Kihn - Next Of Kihn (1978)

The Honeycombs (1964)

The Honeycombs - All Systems Go! (1965)