THE COSMIC JOKERS - SCI-FI PARTY

Kosmische Musik 1974

01. Im Reich Der Magier
02. Der Herrscher
03. The Cosmic Couriers Meet South Philly Willy
04. Kinder Des Alls I
05. The Electronic Scene
06. Kinder Des Alls II
07. Interplay Of Forces
08. Planeten Sit-In

So this is probably the cheekiest of the Cosmic Jokers L.P.'s. It's essentially a label sampler drawing mainly from the previous three Cosmic Jokers albums, which, don't forget, were all released in 1974! This man could exploit!

It's an uneven listen and sounds very cobbled together. A more successful stab at roughly the same idea would come with the fifth and final Jokers album.

STERNENMÄDCHEN - GILLES ZEITSCHIFF

Kosmische Musik 1974

01. Tim Bleibt Bei Uns
02. Downtown
03. Lord Krishna
04. Power Drive
05. Bei Tim
06. Right Hand Lover
07. Cosmic Courier Bon Chance
08. Swiss Hight Lands
09. Der Magier
10. The Electronic Scene
11. Electronic Rock Zeitalter
12. So Beautiful
13. The Queen Of Sunshine
14. Meine Kosmische Musik

And so it ends.This final record is a far better representation of the Dieter Dierks studio scene. Including tracks from the classics mentioned in the first post, plus some choice Cosmic Jokers cuts, this is a kind of sampler, greatest hits and a remix all in one.

Tracks are remixed and mixed together with Kaiser's girlfriend's stoned warbling over the top.

An interesting idea and a good listen but the game was up. Kaiser was being sued, the label folded and as 1974 ended, so did The Cosmic Jokers.

ROBBIE BASHO - VISIONS OF THE COUNTRY

Windham Hill Records 1978

01. Green River Suite
02. Rodeo
03. Rocky Mountain Raga
04. Variations On Easter
05. Blue Crystal Fire
06. Orphan's Lament
07. Leaf In The Wind
08. Night Way
09. Elk Dreamer's Lament
10. Call On The Wind


One of my absolute favourite Basho L.P.'s. The style is generally American primitive with multi ethnic influences. A couple of piano tracks and the occasional emotive yodel.

Here's Basho himself from the liner notes :

“Visions of the Country is simply an L.P. of Guitar Paintings of the Americas and other joys. It uses the folk ballad style of some and the flowing Raga style of Hindu music to express the feeling and texture of the American Wilderness…Panoramique.”

Inexplicably still not reissued, Robbie Basho's first of two Windham Hill releases is a fine example of the need to reappraise his later period.

ÄLGARNAS TRÄDGÅRD - FRAMTIDEN ÄR ETT SVÄVANDE SKEPP, FÖRANKRAT I FORNTIDEN

Silence 1972

1. Two Hours Over Two Blue Mountains With A Cuckoo On Each Side Of The     Hours...That Is
2. There Is A Time For Everything, There Is A Time When Even Time Will Meet
3. Children Of Possibilities
4. La Rotta
5. Viriditas
6. Rings Of Saturn
7. The Future Is A Hovering Ship, Anchored In The Past
8. 5-4
9. The Mirrors Of Gabriel

Aside from having some of the most awesome song titles ever, this is one of the best Swedish psychedelic albums from the seventies. Like a lot of Swedish bands of similar ilk, it's a take on krautrock, but with a better incorporation of folk than their German brethren.

The album drifts through medieval folk, sitar tinged eastern and synth ambient before arriving at full on space rock. There are some proggy concepts going on here, but in a good way.

Originally released in 1972, this is the 1995 C.D. reissue, with English titles and track index markers.

Parts of this album are crazy, it's ace.

VARIOUS ARTISTS - LAMMAS NIGHT LAMENTS VOLUME 02

01. Paul Giovanni & Magnet - Willow's Song
02. Bread, Love And Dreams - Brother John
03. Synanthesia - Peck Strangely & Worried Evening
04. Comus - Song To Comus
05. Mellow Candle - The Poet & The Witch
06. Donovan - Voyage Into The Golden Screen
07. Duncan Browne - Chloe In The Garden
08. Loudest Whisper - Pied Piper
09. Flibbertigibbet - My Lagan Love
10. Principal Edward's Magic Theatre -Sacrifice
11. The Moths - The Heron's Daughter
12. The Sweeny Men - Dreams For Me
13. Famous Jug Band - A Leaf Must Fall
14. Tudor Lodge - Willow Tree
15. Shirley Collins - The Cruel Mother
16. Robin Williamson - Songs In The Earth And Air


The second in Mark Coyle's 'Lammas Night Laments' series. Every volume begins with a piece of music from The Wicker Man, but it should be noted that these albums were compiled before the film's soundtrack was remastered. The versions presented here are the movie edits complete with sound effects, dialouge, etc.

Expect more wyrd / acid / pagan / whacked out folk. Favourites on this : Mellow Candle, Comus, Bread, Love And Dreams and, of course, the wonderful Donovan.

Enjoy.

FAR EAST FAMILY BAND - PARALLEL WORLD

MU land 1976

01. Metempsychosis
02. Entering /Times
03. Kokoro
04. Parallel World (Amanezcan/Origin/Zen/Reality/New Lights/In the Year 2000)


Despite what Julian Cope says, the music of Fumio Miyashita's Far East Family Band always left me a little cold. The first album, "Nihonjin", had a nice hippie commune folk feel (then known as Far Out) but the next record "The Cave Down To Earth" was just too Moody Blues. Bland ballads on the wrong side of prog.

However, something interesting happened when German record label Vertigo requested that electronic pioneer and kosmiche hero Klaus Schultze oversee a German only L.P. using pre-released material. Schultze had heard "Nihonjin" and was interested in producing the band.

"Nipponjin" was an interesting remix/re-imagining of the first two records. Essentially guitars and vocals were turned down (or in some cases, off) and the synths and drums pushed up. Still not amazing but it foreshadowed what came next...

In November 1975 producer and band met up in the Virgin owned Manor Studios in England to begin work on "Parallel World". Abandoning the carefully constructed ballads of the past, Schultze orchestrated the band through drawn out electronic space music. There are 'songs' but this is essentially two half hour long pieces of music. Cosmic synth and percussion epics stretching far out into the ether with minimal but effective guitars and vocals. 

A wonderfully natural hybrid of German and Japanese space music.

Far out, epic and mind blowing.

VARIOUS ARTISTS - LAMMAS NIGHT LAMENTS VOLUME 01

01. Paul Giovanni & Magnet - The Wicker Man (Main Theme)
02. Anne Briggs - Standing On Your Shore
03. C.O.B. - Spirit Of Love
04. Water Into Wine Band - Waiting For Another Day
05. Forest - Bluebell Dance
06. Dulcimer - Caravan
07. The Trees - Garden Of Jane Delawney
08. Tir Na Nog - Time Is Like a Promise
09. Dr Strangely Strange - Frosty Morning
10. Midwinter - Waters Of Sweet Sorrow
11. Stone Angel - The Bells Of Dunwich
12. Third Ear Band - Fleance
13. Vashti Bunyan - Rainbow River
14. Tea And Symphony - Winter
15. The Sun Also Rises - Tales Of Jasmine & Suicide
16. Mark Fry - The Witch
17. Pearls Before Swine - Images Of April


This is the first in a series of CDR albums compiled by Mark Coyle through the now defunct website The Unbroken Circle. Something of an underground cult, finding information on these compilations (including original release dates) is difficult. They pop up on blogs from time to time but they found their original audience through collecting and trading.

If you are familiar with acid / psychedelic folk you will no doubt be familiar with many of the artists here. Or, if you're like my friend Marc, you will own all of them. However, even for those well versed in the wyrd, these are outstanding compilations. Each one should hopefully throw up a couple of unknown jams for you. It's here that I discovered one of my favourite artists, Mark Fry.

Dry your mushrooms, polish the maypole, sit back and psyche.