The Old Man And The Sea - The Old Man And The Sea (1972)

 

Surprisingly good rock with shades of prog from Norway. Another one of those highly sought after one off records. 

Obvious nods to Atomic Rooster and Uriah Heep abound, to name but a few. The Monk Song Part 1 is like a cross between Beggars Opera and Crosby ,Stills,Nash....i kid you not!.... cool! Lots of tasty guitarwork,thick Hammond organ, especially on 'Going Blind' and the vocals are really good and more importantly undestandable.

Well worth checking out and for the most part well above average.

PLAYLIST LINK

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Living Dead (7:51)
2. Princess (6:02)
3. Jingoism (6:54)
4. Prelude (1:12)
5. The Monk Song 1 (5:54)
6. The Monk Song 2 (3:36)
7. Going Blind (10:31)

Total Time: 42:00

Line-up / Musicians

 - Ole Wedel / lead vocals
- Benny Stanley / electric guitar
- Tommy Hansen / organ, piano, vocals
- Knud Lindhard / bass, vocals
- John Lundvig / drums

Klaus Doldingers Passport - Rmx Vol1 (2002)

Somewhat of a hit and miss remix album of many well known Passport songs.I believe Klaus had a hand on some of these tracks with the addition of some more instrumentation.

Best songs which work pretty well are 'Kat from Katmandu' 'Yellow Dream' 'Puzzle' and 'Albatross Song' Excellent production and probably more for Passport completists. Quite enjoyable though!

PLAYLIST LINK

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Ataraxia

2. Ju Ju Man

3. Yellow Dream

4. Ball The Jack

5. Snake

6. Cat From Katmandu

7. Fairy Tale

8. Puzzle

9. Will O' The Wisp

10. Quiet Man

11. Things To Come

12. Albatros Song

Birth Control - Birth Control (1970)

First album for this German band which is playing a heavy psychedelic rock deeply inspired by Purple Mark I and to a certain extent the heavy keys play is rather similar to the one of Hensley (Heep).

The sound is a bit outdated of course, but there are some excellent numbers here. "Recollection" and the long "Sundown" are the highlights from their debut. Both feature great organ play and the latter has an excellent upbeat tempo. They are pure instrumentals.

This album also features some sung tracks like "No Drugs", "Deep Inside", "Foolish Action". And, surprisingly, the vocals are pretty decent which is not always the case with German bands.

The cover of "Light My Fire" fits perfectly well in their repertoire. The sound of the organ is of course not the Manzarek one, but I am keen to say that this version is quite good. Faster than the great original.

There is a CD version for this album. Released in 1997, there are four bonus tracks. They don't add anything extraordinary but these sixteen additional minutes are in the same vein than the original album. October is my preferred one.

All in all this is a good album. Very much from its time. Three stars. Review from Pogarchives.com

PLAYLIST LINK

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. No drugs (4:01) 

2. Recollection (6:24) 

3. Deep inside (4:40) 

4. Foolish action (4:32) 

5. Sundown (10:02) 

6. Change of mind (4:42) 

7. Light my fire (5:40)

Total Time: 40:01

Line-up / Musicians

- Bruno Frenzel / guitar, vocals 

- Bernd Koschmidder / bass 

- Bernd Noske / drums, vocals 

- Reinhold Sobotta / organ