News: Garden of Delights reissues the Pancake - No Illusions album!

Today we learned that Pancake's "No Illusions" has been released on CD by the great Garden of Delights label. They had announced long ago their intention to reissue this album. In typical Garden of Delights fashion, first they removed it from consideration, and as we reported earlier this year, put it back on the docket. And now it has been released - ahead of other anticipated reissues like Sunbird's "Zagara" and Missus Beastly's "Space Guerillas". A quirky label for sure, but despite these eccentricities, there still is no better reissue concern today.

We featured "No Illusions" about 3 years ago. This link includes that review plus the re-listing news earlier this year. For my money, this is the best of their 3 albums, and is a most welcome reissue.

Official blurb says this: "The group from Winnenden near Stuttgart started as Nyrvana Pancake and released a very good psychedelic 7" single in 1973. In 1974, they shortened their band name into Pancake, and instead of psychedelia they now played symphonic rock. The first Pancake LP, "Roxy elephant", was released in 1975, and the second one, "Out of the ashes", appeared in 1977. The band later veered away from their symphonic style as the people lost interest in this kind of music at the time. Their third and last LP, "No illusions" from the end of 1979, is thus somewhat coarser and tougher than its two predecessors. There was now a female singer for the first time in Pancake's history, in addition to some other changes in line-up. The CD edition on Garden of Delights includes six bonus tracks and has a booklet of 32 pages."

For LP fans, Garden of Delights continues to plunder their own back catalog, with announcements that Siddharta and Missus Beastly's debut will be coming out on vinyl shortly.

Pancake ~ Germany ***REISSUED***

No Illusions. 1979 Blubber Lips

***Reissued by Garden of Delights Jan 2013

UMR review

Priority: 3

1/19/10 (new entry); 12/17/12 (complete)

News: The Fents albums available on CD-R via the band

We recently heard from The Fents' keyboardist Adam Holzman, who informs the CDRWL that both "The Fents" rare EP and "First Offense" are available as a CD-R straight from the band. As you know, the CDRWL doesn't count CD-R's as fully realized CDs, but since they come from the band direct, we will always alert you to these opportunities. At least they're legit! And many times, such as this case, they are done with great care.

Adam says: "The CD-R's are burned directly from my master pro-tools file individually, so the audio is very clean. Folks can email me about this at adamhjaneg@aol.com." More details can be found at www.adamholzman.com

Toshiyuki Miyama & His New Herd ~ Japan ***REISSUED***

Tsuchi No Ne (Nippon Densetsu No Naka No Shijou). 1973 Columbia.

***Reissued by Columbia Dec 2012

UMR review

Priority: 3

12/14/11 (new entry); 12/5/12 (complete)

Notes from The AC:

"Nippon Columbia: NCB-7023 (Adventure In Sound series), 1973, Japan

Toshiyuki Miyama - Conductor
Yasuhiro Koyama - Composer
Kozaburo Yamaki - Electric Guitar, Composer
Masaaki Itoh - Electric Bass
Isao Yomoda - Drums
Kiyoshi Takano - Piano, Electric Piano
Kazumi Takeda - Trumpet
Shin Kazuhara - Trumpet
Yoshikazu Kishi - Trumpet
Shuji Atsuta - Trumpet
Teruhiko Kataoka - Trombone
Masamichi Uetaka - Trombone
Tokura Seiichi - Trombone
Takehide Uchida - Trombone
Kazumi Oguro - Alto Sax, Soprano Sax
Eiji Toki - Alto Sax
Mamoru Mori - Tenor Sax
Seiji Inoue - Tenor Sax
Shigeru Hirano - Baritone Sax

Side 1:

1 - Youkai Kappa Konnichi Izuko Sumi Ya
- Kappa Torai No Tsuchi
- Mokuhi No Yotabi
- Bourei No Numa
- Okugidenjushiki
- Neneko No Nakibushi
- Senshouiwaiutae Shinkokka

Side 2:

1 - Kurozuka

Band leader Toshiyuki Miyama and his New herd orchestra were a ubiquitous presence in the 70s Japanese music scene, churning out album after album of mainly straight big band jazz, along with some typical pop-covers/exploitation fare. However, during the heady days of the early 70s "New Rock" boom, they did find themselves experimenting on a few interesting LPs. There was the relatively well-known "Yamataifu", a collaboration with famous pianist Masahiko Satoh, as well as the more obscure "Eternity?/Epos", working once again with Satoh along with drummer Masahiko Togashi and a percussion ensemble. They were soon to abandon this adventurous direction (along with most of the many seasoned jazzmen, studio musicians, and bewildered major label executives who had been temporarily sucked into the psychedelic vortex of New Rock Japan), but not before leaving behind one more dark jewel in the rubble. "Tsuchi No Ne - Nippon Densetsu No Naka No Shijou", roughly translates to "Sound of the Earth - The Poetry in Japanese Legends", and like a number of other classics of the era, it attempted to draw on the essence of ancient Japanese folklore and mythology as inspiration for a new and radical kind of music. But "Tsuchi No Ne" is somewhat different from its musical peers, choosing to dwell on the dark, sinister side of these myths and legends. This is quite evident in both the striking cover art and the track titles themselves, referencing ghosts, grotesque monsters (the Kappa, a hideous river-dwelling creature thought to drag unsuspecting victims to a watery grave) and a macabre Noh drama about a vile man-eating ogress. Most importantly, this theme infuses the music, a fascinating mixture of electric big band jazz-rock and what can only be called avant-prog, despite the seeming incongruity of applying that term to an early 70s Japanese jazz album. Two mammoth side-long pieces are on offer here, the first a suite divided into six smaller sections, composed by regular New Herd guitarist Kozaburo Yamaki, the second a monolithic opus penned by film and television soundtrack composer Yasuhiro Koyama. Certain comparisons can be drawn to the more rigorous side of early British jazz-rock (Soft Machine circa 5/6 and the best of Ian Carr's Nucleus) and perhaps also to the most complex horn rock works of the era, due to the heavy brass presence of the big band. But interestingly, what I'm reminded of most is classic French avant-prog/jazz-rock of a slightly later vintage. In particular, I'm thinking of Vortex's shadowy masterpiece "Les Cycles de Thanatos", as well as some of Yochk'o Seffer's great works with Zao and Neffesh Music. The strange, dark tension and compositional complexities are very similar, and quite unmistakable to my ears. However, these comparisons can only go so far. Distinctly Japanese atmospheres are palpable, and Yamaki's wicked fuzz/wah guitar-work will not let you forget what era we are truly in here. This is a special album, in my opinion, and certainly deserving of a much wider audience. Unfortunately, as is often the case with these things, it's by far Miyama's rarest LP, until now only known and cherished by the small group of Japanese collectors aware of its quality. Miyama's back-catalogue has not seen much action in the CD reissue market, so I'm afraid this album might be doomed to spend eternity trapped in its own dusky realm. Here's to hoping that I'm wrong."

And would you believe? He was wrong! And I'm sure he's happy about it too!

Silberbart ~ Germany ***REISSUED***

4 Times Sound Razing. 1971 Philips

***Reissued by Long Hair, Dec 2012

UMR review

Priority: 2

8/1/09 (new entry); 12/3/12 (complete)

News: Silberbart to be reissued on CD by Long Hair!!

Well, I think it is anyway. Via Shiny Beast's weekly newsletter, it mentioned that an LP reissue is coming out. But when you drill down to their site, they also mention it will be reissued on CD as well (not sure why they didn't advertise it). Complicating matters further, they are reissuing two other albums on LP (Dull Knife and Midnight Circus), and those do not appear to be coming out on CD. It does make sense to me, though - as the other two albums have already come out on CD (legit)! But this will the very first legit reissue of Silberbart on CD, fortunately eradicating the need to own or buy the Germanofake reissue. And, for me personally, I'm glad to see this one come out on LP as well. I'll buy both. I did own the original once, but it had one of those annoying BB-hole cutouts. I probably should have kept it anyway. Now originals have become extremely expensive, and I've been unwilling to shell out for it. Release date has been set for December 15.

As you know, the CDRWL is a huge Long Hair label supporter, so this is great news for us. Here's the label's description: "First official reissue of this legendary collector's item,  recorded by a heavy progressive underground power trio from Hamburg. The album contained just four songs, 'Chub Chub Cherry' (a short and heavy rock song sounding like a more freaky Cream), 'Brain Brain' (16 minutes of acid drenched nightmares, continuously shifting tempo in amphetamine-driven mayhem), 'God' (a much more melodic composition with powerful guitar arrangement, sounding like Black Sabbath meets Hendrix and collectively going paranoid) and 'Head Tear Of The Drunken Sun' (the closing piece that offers 12 minutes of hazardous power trio pyrotechnics). This is an extreme album in many ways: the raw power, the cranky vocals, the restless arrangements, and of course that ugly silver gnome on the front of the sleeve. Includes many rare photos and the story of Silberbart as told by leader Hajo Teschner. Fans of '70s prog, psych and kraut rock will love this album." Though I have to disagree with them on the "ugly" comment. It's way too cool for that.

Our Silberbart feature can be found here, where I appropriately beat myself up for selling the original 17 years ago.

As for the other albums: Dull Knife was reissued by Second Battle in 1994, but has become fodder for pirates in the last decade or so. I sold the CD years ago, but I recall the album as being pretty dull blues rock. I'll probably pull out the CD-R for a fresh listen just in case my tastes have changed.

Midnight Circus is a cherished album for me - having lucked into an original LP copy in the 1980s. Musically, it's a decent folk rock album with one monster Krautrock/folk track called 'November Church'. As such, I never bothered to supplement the LP with the CD. This CD came out on CMP (City Music Productions) in 2003. CMP had rights to the Bellaphon catalog - and reissued most of the important progressive albums from the label at that time.

So if you're curious about either, you will now have a chance to buy LP reissues of both for a fraction of the price.

But for me, the gem of this announcement is the Silberbart CD/LP reissue news!