Red Devils - 12 Top Hits (Sonocord, 1969, Switzerland)

Red Devils, known before as Les Diables Rouges, were a Beat pop group formed sometime in the mid sixties in Basel, Switzerland. They were the first Helvetic band to play at the mythical Star Club in Hamburg.

The main attraction of this LP is its rarity, mainly because was never issued in their native country and has been kept as a guarded secret until recently. The copy of today was only edited in Spain and in Germany, on the Intercord label.

Musically speaking is an appealing record, containing catchy tunes in the vein of the soft beat/psychedelic pop, with some splashes of barroquism, reminiscent to what practiced groups such as the earlier incarnations of The Bee Gees.

Sober arrangements, angelical harmonies, delightful 60’s organ, gentle drumming and a bit of horns and flutes here and there can only whet my appetite of poppy sugar. And even I ignore what my doctor says about my diabetes I’m a good kiddo.

A full covers album, they made a very decent rendition to the original tracks. Starting with a delightful execution of Barry Ryan’s seminal classic “Eloise”, it continues with the lovely lovely “Sweet Inspiration”, proceeds to the instrumental exoticism of “Soul Coaching” and explodes into the most psychedelic track of the LP: “Why”. A treasure of contemplative lysergia. Other interesting cuts are the moody “Where do you go to my lovely” and the tender Bee Gee’s “First of May”. There’s also time for a goofy interpretation of “Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da”.

Don’t be fooled by my attitude towards my doctor. I balance my levels of insulin with a heavy dose of histrionic punk. Enjoy!

Tracks

A1. Eloisa (Ryan)

A2. Sweet Inspiration (Dennington/Holdham)

A3. Soul Coaxing (Polnareff)

A4. Why (Staple)

A5. You Don’t Know Like I know (Hayes/Porter)

A6. I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You (B.R. & M. Gibb)

B1. Where Do You Go to My Lovely (Starstedt)

B2. Mr. Pitiful (Redding/Cropper)

B3. Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da (Lennon/MacCartney)

B4. First of May (B.R. & M. Gibb)

B5. Hold On I’m Comin’ (Hayes/Porter)
B6. Atlantis (Leitch)

Personnel

Markus Schaub: Lead vocals, guitar

Michel Koeb: Bass, guitar, vocals

Hans-Peter Schweizer: Drums, vocals

Peter Wütrich: Organ, piano, trombone

Benny Bopp: Sax, flute, trumpet, vocals

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Five Man Electrical Band – Five Man Electrical Band (Capitol/Pickwick, Canada, 1969)

Five Man Electrical Band hailed from capital city Ottawa and were originally named The Staccatos in the period comprised between 1963-1969. They achieved national fame with that name releasing interesting singles (“Half Past Midnight” was a Top 10 Hit in 1967) and even recording a split disc with The Guess Who. Later in 1969, they renamed themselves Five Man Electrical Band, noting they were five components. Worldwide fame arrived in 1971 with their seminal single “Signs”.

The record of today is the first they released under his second name and is located in between national and international fame. What is found inside is a delightful set of catchy pop tunes mixed with soft psychedelic elements. They remember a lot bands like Procol Harum, The Beach Boys, early Bee Gees or The Beatles, which is always a nice cover letter.

The hearing experience is very pleasant and is certainly a rotation favorite –I am a sucker of well crafted soft psychedelic pop-. It is in the exquisite harmony voices mixed with the delicious arrangements the album has its staple. The instrumentation includes enjoyable organ and piano, some quality string section, pleasing guitar and soft rhythm section. Anecdotally there are two drummers and they were both brothers.

The repertoire is fantastic. The chain of the four five songs is absolutely outstanding but there’s certainly nothing left in the whole LP. The delicate majestic psychedelia of “Private Train” and “Maple Lane”; the anthem “Half Past Midnight” with its acoustic guitar, marvelous string arrangements and angelic vocals; or the psychedelic excursions of the opening track are just few examples of the high quality found inside.

A delicious proposal for a sunny spring day!

Tracks

A1. Five Man Electrical Band (Les Emmerson)

A2. Last Time I Saw Memphis (Les Emmerson)

A3. Private Train (Les Emmerson)

A4. Half Past Midnight (Les Emmerson)

A5. Black Sheep of the Family (Les Emmerson)

B1. Maple Lane (Les Emmerson)

B2. Fancy Dancin’ Man (Gordon-Bonner)

B3. We Go Together Well (Les Emmerson)

B4. Didn’t Know the Time (Les Emmerson)

B5. Running Back (Les Emmerson)

Personnel

Les Emmerson: Guitar, vocals

Brian Rading: Bass

Ted Gerow: Keyboards (piano, organ)
Rick Belanger: Percussion
Mark Belanger: Drums
Production: Max Hoch and John Gross

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The Underneath - Cosmic Noise (Lost records, USA, 1996?, Limited pressing, copy 604/800)

The Underneath was a heavy space psychedelic band from Dallas, TX formed in the early nineties.

This one is their second album and it’s quite easy to know what is crafted in that monster of LP by just looking at the title and knowing where they came from: a crazy dose of stoner fuzzed-out marshy spatial psychedelia.

The pressing is undoubtedly indie, limited to 800 copies and the cover is hand crafted by spray.

The songs are very dense, atmospheric, loaded with effects where guitar is certainly the protagonist, creating killer multi-layered surrounding effects. Most of the cuts contain muffled and synthesized drugged vocals, with the exception of the last songs of each face (song with no name in the A side and “Space Needle” in the B), which are very experimental yet enjoyable. Almost every track is essential with the exception of “The Pain Won’t Last”, very generic and tiresome in my opinion. “Shivers and Chills” is the most conventional track, containing a catchy easy chord progression riff while “No Words” is very minimalistic and enjoyable. The holy grail is the cosmic blast of a jam “Fifteen”.

Hope you digest this piece of plastic without jamming with demented ectoplasm aliens as a side effect!

Tracks

A1. In a Zone

A2. Her Alien Dream

A3. Freakin' Out

A4. Free My Mind

A5. Get Out of Here

A6.

B1. The Pain Won't Last

B2. Shivers and Chills

B3. No Words

B4. Fifteen

B5. Fly on the Wall

B6. Space Needle

Personnel

No personnel is credited

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Yellow Sunshine Explosion - Yellow Sunshine Explosion (Love’s Simple Dreams, Germany, 1987)

Today’s update is about getting high with some quality psych-kraut music. You can tell it by the simple look at the handcrafted art cover: fisheye views, garage-psych revival looks, some big cacti, explosions, pink floyd colours…and if this details aren’t evident enough, just look at the label acronym. 

This record has all the ingredients to get hipped about: it’s very spacey, primitive, raucous, dense and loopy, reminding a lot the likes of the Elevators, the Velvets or the criminally obscure masterpiece ‘Troubled’ by The New Creation.  

Featuring extra-cool repetitive guitar riffs and effects, monotonous drums, raw and drugged vocals, flute, rusty moutharp, and also some eastern influences provided by the sitar, the flutes and the tabla. 

Certainly a grower. So be prepared for enjoying this addictive journey to the depths of this acid monster.

Tracks

A1. Ballad of Dan

A2. Sorry

A3. It's not my fault

A4. Yellow Sunshine Explosion

A5. Feminine Animation

B1. Kaleidoscope

B2. Take it Acid is

B3. Sing Ba Ba Ba

B4. Sun my love

B5. Isabelle

All songs written by Bert Schlexer

Personnel

Bert Schlexer: Lead vocals, Bass

Paul Hadley Langley: Harmonika, Flute, Percussion

Thomas Hopl: Drums, Percussion, Tabla

Georg Schulte: electric and acoustic Guitars, Vocals

Gerd Neumann: Sitar and flute on “Take it Acid is”

Hugggy Borkhardt: Organ on “Feminine Animation”

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