Leslie West ‎– The Great Fatsby

Leslie West ‎– The Great Fatsby

Release date:March 1975

Genre: Hard Rock

'The Great Fatsby' is the second album by Leslie West.
It was released on Bud Prager's Phantom Records in March 1975 and distributed by RCA Records. The album features Mick Jagger on rhythm guitar.
The album  opens with a nice and bluesy Paul Kelly tune, "Don't Burn Me," and for the post-Mountain work here, that direction works best.
"The House of the Rising Sun" features a duet with Dana Valery and is an interesting read on the traditional tune made famous by the 'Animals'.
The instrumental "E.S.P." might be the strongest statement here (isn't that the name of label owner Bud Prager's management firm, E.S.P.?). With 12-string guitars and superb musicianship, it's the best of West on display.
Gary Wright makes an appearance on this album on piano, and 'The Great Fatsby' emerges as a unique look at an important rock & roll artist with some surprises tucked inside.

1. Don't Burn Me
2. House Of The Rising Sun
3. High Roller
4. I'm Gonna Love You Through The Night
5. E.S.P.
6. Honky Tonk Women
7. If I Still Had You
8. Doctor Love
9. If I Were A Carpenter
10. Little Bit Of Love

• Leslie West - Guitars, Vocals
• Gary Wright - Piano
• Corky Laing - Drums
• Mick Jagger - Guitar
• Kenny Hinckle - Bass
• Don Kretmar - Bass
• Nick Farrentella - Drums
• Marty Simon - Piano
• Joel Tepp - Guitar
• Howie Wyeth - Piano
• Dana Valery - Vocals
• Jay Traynor - Vocals

The Crack In The Cosmic Egg (Part I)

'The Crack In The Cosmic Egg' is a definitive Krautrock Encyclopedia, a guide to all the artists of the original Krautrock scene, written by Steven and Alan Freeman.
The book has a wider scope (1968/69 up to 1985) and also incorporates worthwhile releases in the late 70s early 80s experimental weird new wave/industrial genre.
The book led to an in-depth survey, with full discographies, pictures, extra bonus pages (compilations, archives, galleries, concerts, film) etc.
This is a challenge for anybody in Krautrock interested in this material to write an encyclopedia about this era.
We would like to present to you 35 artists from the book.

Albatros - Garden Of Eden

Albatros - Garden Of Eden

Release date:1978

Genre: Progressive Rock

'Albatros' were formed in Hagen in February 1974. Despite reputedly winning a number of local talent contests over the years, they never managed to secure a record contract. I gather these were to be signed to Sky, but got turned down due to a glut of too many such German hard-rock progressives at the time.
Eventually the band decided to produce an album themselves recorded at a friend's studio near Frankfurt. To me it's obvious why 'Albatros' never scored a record contract, as they were not great musicians, and Sky already had far superior acts like 'Streetmark' and 'Ramses'. But, it should be said, for an amateur band with very limited resources 'Garden Of Eden' is ambitious in that features just three long complex tracks. I'm not so keen on the singer, but as a big band with a penchant for instrumental drives and solos he doesn't get given too much room.
These had the potential to do an excellent album, based on this. It's a pity they didn't.

1. A Man Like Me
2. Sundriver
3. Garden Of Eden

• Peter Breitbarth - Guitar
• Thomas Büscher - Drums
• Achim Hubricht - Bass
• Harald Hubricht - Keyboards
• Christian Köppen - Piano
• Hansi Köppen - Vocals
• Jürgen Polzin - Congas

Ashra - New Age Of Earth

Ashra - New Age Of Earth

Release date:1977

Genre: Progressive Electronic

Essentially the same project as 'Ash Ra Tempel', 'Ashra' was Manuel Göttsching continuing solo, adding synthesizers to his instrumentation. Manuel also worked in collaboration with many other musicians, including sessions with ex-Agitation Free members Lutz Ulbrich and Michael Hoenig, and in concert with ex-Wallenstein drummer Harald Grosskopf.
Some sessions from this period have only appeared as official releases recently, namely the ethereal Le Berceau De Cristal film soundtrack, the RIAS radio session Dream & Desire, and the Hoenig · Göttsching jam Early Water.
The first two albums released as Ashra at the time were entirely solo, showcasing Manuel's great talent as a multi-instrumentalist, firstly with the cosmic and sequential 'New Age Of Earth' which showed much Klaus Schulze influence along with unique new way of using sequencers.

1. Sunrain
2. Ocean Of Tenderness
3. Deep Distance
4. Nightdust

• Manuel Göttsching - Keyboards, Synthesizer, Guitar

Birth Control ‎– Birth Control

Birth Control ‎– Birth Control

Release date:1970

Genre: Krautrock

Amongst the longest running of German rock bands, 'Birth Control' were formed way back in 1968 as a Cologne student rock-band.
They chose their rather controversial name as a stab at Pope Paul's anti birth control policy. The original band consisted of Bernd Koschmidder (bass), Reinhold Sobotta (organ), Rolf Gurra (saxophone, vocals) and Egon Balder (drums).
In their early days, dogged by military service commitments, and ideological differences, the line-up was in flux for many years. In fact, only two original members remained by the time of their debut single, at which time they had moved base to Berlin for a while. By this time, the new core of the band Bernd Noske (drums, vocals) and Bruno Frenzel (guitar, vocals) had joined, both rapidly taking over the lead.
The Noske/Frenzel/Sobotta/Koschmidder line-up debuted with the (now rather dated sounding) pop single "October" which defined the early 'Birth Control' sound, as a hybrid of 'The Nice' and 'The Doors' really, a sound which they would push on with and make entirely their own.
Their debut album was released with a special mock birth control "pill case" type cover, and introduced them as an original hard-rock band with a classical edge, extensively featuring the keyboards of Reinhold Sobotta. Highly progressive (with a psychedelic edge) and with an original sound, they also paid homage to one of their influences with a highly creative version of The Doors' "Light My Fire".

1. No Drugs
2. Recollection
3. Deep Inside
4. Foolish Action
5. Sundown
6. Change Of Mind
7. Light My Fire

• Bernd Koschmidder - Bass
• Reinhold Sobotta - Organ
• Bernd Noske - Drums, Vocals
• Bruno Frenzel - Guitar, Vocals

Bullfrog ‎– Bullfrog

Bullfrog ‎– Bullfrog

Release date:1976

Genre: Blues Rock

'Bullfrog' originated from Cologne circa 1976, as the amalgam of musicians from various local bands. Gerd Hoch came from 'Sound Edge' (who also featured Zeus B. Held, later of Birth Control), Vincent Trost had played with 'The German Four', and Sebastian Leitner was with 'Lazarus Round'.
They were unusually a rather heavy-handed hard-rock and melodic progressive on their albums, notable for their unusual 'Rod Stewart' like gravel-voiced vocalist Gerd Hoch, but with little in the way of a distinctive style or originality.
Really, they sounded British, not at all Krautrock, and only really of interest to hard-rock fans and Sky label collectors!

1. Movin' On
2. Bad Game
3. I Came From The Sky
4. I'm Comin' Home
5. Get Away
6. Desert Man

• Sebastian Leitner - Guitars
• Gerd Hoch - Vocals
• Harald Kaltenecker - Keyboards
• Vincent Trost - Bass
• Bruno Perosa - Percussion
• Ute Hellermann - Choir
• Jane Palmer - Choir