The Surprise Package, USA

The Surprise Package - Free Up. 1968 LHI

I was reminded of this title as I was researching The Aggregation two nights ago. The Surprise Package were also on Lee Hazlewood's label. I bought the album in the late 80s but sold it about 10 years after that. And completely forgot about it. And like The Aggregation, pirate editions abound, so time to enter into the CDRWL. Since I don't possess any copy of this album, off to YouTube I went for a refresher. And it's what I recalled. A varied "kitchen sink" type of psych album on one side, and a side long jam on the other. The jam itself features some great psych guitar, Iron Butterfly styled organ, and the song itself reminds me of Rare Earth. But of course it has an insufferably long drum solo to take a nap to. Not a bad album (I probably should have kept it), but one that doesn't need a reissue unless there's some superb archival material sitting in the vaults.

Priority: none

The Aggregation, USA

The Aggregation - Mind Odyssey. 1968 LHI

This one came up via the CD-R revisit project. I hit a few psych titles last night that are in need of a legit CD reissue, or at the very least, one that isn't 20 years OOP. So I'll be getting these into the CDRWL the next few days (some are in the main list already).

I had a bit of fun last night with my notes on this title (might have been the Sixpoint Hi-Res I was enjoying), but it would be nice to hear a clean master tape version of this - especially if there are any additional bonus tracks to add. This album just screams late 60's sunny Southern Californian goodness.

Notes: It's pure fantasy of course: Industry veteran Lee Hazelwood signs up Disneyland's resident psychedelic group The Aggregation. A band that makes their daily bread by playing to the kiddos wired on ICEE's and Cotton Candy. This is tripped out music for the family from Topeka who experience a literal trip to Oz.

Since Hollywood already made an insufferably cute square movie about Mary Poppins - how about "Saving Mr. Mind Odyssey", with Tom Hanks taking a tab and costarring Kate Upton in a Laugh-In era outfit with white thigh high go-go boots. No plot necessary. I'm first in line.

Priority: 3

News: Esoteric to reissue Burnin' Red Ivanhoe's WWW album

I don't typically announce reissues of albums that have already been reissued before, but I make exceptions where I see fit. And Burnin' Red Ivanhoe's "WWW" has been forever off the shelves. It was reissued by Repertoire in 1992, and that version is tough to source. No worries now, as Esoteric will have this out in March, and no doubt will include some historical notes, photos, etc... I'll definitely be picking this one up as soon as it becomes available.

One housekeeping note. There is now a title and cover for The Fields announcement we made a week ago. I'm too lazy to link it in.... just go down a couple of posts :-)

News: Soul Jazz to reissue archival recordings from Popol Vuh

Thanks to a tip from Gnosis Mike, we learned about this new set of archival recordings from the great Florian Fricke. Soul Jazz plans to release this on March 16th under the title "Kailash" (a few places below spell it Kailish, but it appears Kailash is correct).

Label says: "The posthumous collection serves as an informal career retrospective, largely comprised of solo piano recordings made by Popol Vuh's Florian Fricke. Present are sketches which led to influential early works by the krautrock band (such as Hosianna Mantra) as well as unreleased improvisations and recordings found after Fricke passed away. The material spans from 1972 through 1989.

Fricke, who soundtracked four films for director Werner Herzog, made three films of his own over the course of his career. The 1995 documentary Kailish gives the collection its name and is included on DVD for the first time. The movie was made in collaboration with original Popol Vuh member and filmmaker Frank Fiedler and documents the duo's ascent of the holiest mountain in Asia, known as Kailish or "The Throne Of The Gods." An audio version of Fricke's soundtrack is included.

Tracklist:
CD 1 - Piano Recordings 01. Spirit Of Peace 1 02. Spirit Of Peace 2 03. Spirit Of Peace 3 04. Mahayana (Karuna) 05. The Heart 06. Earth View 07. Moses 08. Garden Of Pythagoras

CD 2 Kailash – Pilgrimage To The Throne Of Gods (Original Soundtrack) 01. West Tibet - Land Of The Nomads 02. The Garden Morya 03. Manasarowar – The Turquoise Lake 04. Nomads Move 05. Last Village 06. West Face – Place Of Death 07. The Kora – Ritual Circuit Of The Sacred Mountain 08. Valley Of The Gods 09. Buddah’s Footprint 10. Transhimalaya

DVD Kailash – Pilgrimage To The Throne Of Gods"

Mark Pierson Band, USA

Mark Pierson Band - Songs for the Sirens. 1976 Gothic

Moved to UMR

Priority: 1

News: Esoteric to issue archival second album by Fields

Excellent news here!

Over at PE, Vicky Powell made the following announcement: "Esoteric will be releasing a "never released" second album from the artist "Fields" , a follow up to the self titled album. This album had been consigned to the vaults and will be released on Esoteric in March 2015."

Other tidbits include:

"Line up is: Graham Field organ; Frank Farrell vocals and lead guitar; Andy McCullock drums"

"Mark (Powell) thinks this is at least as good as the first, maybe better. I know Sid Smith who is doing notes really likes it too , having now heard it."

The title is set to be "Contrasts - From Urban Roar to Country Peace" 

Zeljko Kovacevic / Toranj 77, Croatia

Zeljko Kovacevic / Toranj 77 - Miting. 1980 RTB

Here's the second in the latest series from The AC. Since they were on the same CD-R, I heard this along with the Jayar three times straight without any context. For certain, this one caught my fancy a bit more than Jayar. A fine period piece.

"Saxophonist Kovacevic leads his group through a mixture of spacey, funky and more aggressive tracks in this fusion outing that typifies the style of the era. Unfortunately, the sound quality and pressing are not exactly state of the art here, somewhat dampening the experience. Still, it's an enjoyable album for genre fans, heavily influenced by the usual suspects (Weather Report and Return to Forever in particular) and possessing that certain eastern European jazz-rock flair." 

As always, The AC nails it. There's an infectious groove the band catches on occasion, and it's just at the point they seem ready to leap into an amazing sequence, they hop backwards into a pedestrian jazz styled motif. It's a bit frustrating, and it definitely keeps this one from the high echelons. Still, it would seem a quality reissue may scrub off the grime on this one. As we've learned, many of the Eastern European albums were meticulously recorded, only to be released on cheap vinyl, that ultimately sounds muddy. Would be interesting to know if this one follows a similar pattern. One I'd buy for sure, if a legit version surfaced.

Priority: 3

Jayar, USA

Jayar - Foreign Soil. 1980 Windlord

We heard from The AC in the Fall of last year, and he sent in a few albums, that I've taken forever to preview. But I finally had a chance to listen to a couple that I'll be featuring here.

The AC informs us: "Jayar was the stage name of guitarist/vocalist Jesse Boleyn, who recorded this album (with a full backing band) in Santa Barbara, California. What we have here is a mixture of singer-songwriter, folk-psych and progressive rock, with an atmosphere somewhat reflective of the late hippie/early new age subculture that permeated California from the mid 70s through the very early 80s. Frankly, it can be hard to keep a straight face through all of the plaintive guitar strumming and quavering, overwrought vocals spinning tales of magical wizards and alien abduction/invasion (a major concern of Mr. Boleyn at the time, it would seem), but there are a few moments of interest, especially in the handful more overtly progressive tracks. "R.E.M." in particular is effective, with its synths, psych-tinged guitar soloing and female vocals. A bit silly overall, but worth a spin for US underground completists."

I listened to this 3 times before actually reading his own synopsis, and I had hoped he would have a review similar to the above. There's a clear Yes like sound to the synthesizers and acoustic guitar chord structures, played over a strange vocal tone, almost like Johnny Cash in its earnestness - as sung by David Gates (Bread). But with varying high and low pitches. There's a bit of a Broadway Play feel to it all. It's a very odd album, though interesting for certain. For a US underground completest is a great way to summarize here. Of which I'm afraid both of us tend to be. No need for a reissue, but a mild curiosity piece for those similar amongst us.

Priority: none

News: Michal Urbaniak Group's "Inactin" now out on CD

Two News items in two days! Perhaps we'll have 365 reissues this year? Haha, actually I'd been sitting on this one for a week. Reader Achim informed me of this reissue which we had in the main list under the "Gnosis Mike" section. These are albums I hadn't heard personally, but were recommended for reissue. The general consensus is this is a very good violin driven early jazz rock album.

The CD comes from the UBX label of New York City, which turns out to be run by Urbaniak himself. Apparently the CD also includes a booklet with liner notes describing the making of the album. This is one I'm sure to investigate for my own collection.

News: Gebärväterli's sole album out on CD!!

Happy New Year everyone! I did not expect we'd start the year off with great news, but here we are. While doing some weekly searches, I came across this wonderful news! At first, I was uncertain of its origin, but it turns out the band is still active, and looks to be released in conjunction with a store in Nuremberg. The first photo shows that it comes in a fine digi-pak and with two bonus tracks totaling over 25 minutes.

What a great way to start out the new year! Our feature here.