The Day After The Sabbath 148: Heads Of Our Time [Instrumental 60s-70s Heavy Psych & Hard Rock]

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As a similar theme to volume 69 (link), here is a collection of instrumental tracks discovered during my searches, an idea that has been brewing since I started the blog. One thing I notice regarding this subject is that without vocals, which have changed in popular style so much throughout the history of rock, the music itself doesn't date as much. Some of these tracks are from albums that may not be so suitable for TDATS in general, but had one instrumental track on them, and musician's mindsets seem to change when a song structure isn't based around a singer, making for more intensity and adventure in pure musical expression, leading to heavier results. There are of course plenty of bona fide hard rock bands included here too, and we have a diverse lineup of bands from the UK, USA, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Austria, France, Italy and The Netherlands, which round-up twelve acts that are new to the blog.

I had some later-recorded tracks lined up for possible inclusion, that may be from albums more suited to TDATS in general, but when listening through to make the picks for this one, I decided the set worked best keeping them all within the close time frame of 1969 to 1973. I think this one works great standing on its own....we've got some flute from Spring.....some violin from Cat Mother....plenty of Hammond and Farfisa....a bunch of weird studio tape effects....more fuzz and wah guitar than is probably legal....funking drums on every track....wailing blues from Three Man Army and Charlee....hopefully this one will preserve any listener's mind in that sweet '60s-early'70s psychedelic fug for one blissful hour.....

TRACKS

01. Andromeda (UK) - Return To Exodus (1969)

                from album Andromeda (Angel Air Definitive Edition)

02. Fläsket Brinner (SE) - Räva (1971)

                from album Fläsket Brinner

03. Three Man Army (UK) - Nice One (1971)

                from album A Third Of A Lifetime

04. Heads Of Our Time (CA) - Airhed (1970)

                from album The Subtle Art Of Self Destruction

05. Sounds Nice (UK) - Why Do I Do It? (1970)

                from album Love At First Sight

06. Spring (CA) - Sprung (1971)

                single b-side

07. Cat Mother And The All-Night Newsboys (US) - Albion Doo-Wah (1970)

                from album Albion Doo-Wah...

08. Thomas Natschinksi Und Seine Gruppe (DDR) - Kosmos 354 (1970)

                from album Geschichten

09. The Underground Set (IT) - Tanto Per Cambiare (1970)

                single a-side

10. Triangle (FR) - Fonction Binaire (1971)

                from album L'intégrale 1969/1973

11. Vita Nova (DE) - Lacrimosa (Death Of The World) (1971)

                from album Vita Nova

12. Gipsy Love (AUT) - Moon Song (1972)

                from album Here We Come

13. Iconoclast (US) - The Rock (1973)

                single b-side

14. Blue Forest (NL) - Have You Ever Been There Before (1972)

                single a-side

15. 18 Karat Gold (DE) - Goldrush (1973)

                from album All-Bumm

16. Charlee (CA) - Wizzard (1972)

                from album Charlee

Andromeda

Andromeda - Return To Exodus (1969)

We open with a galloping proto-metallic marvel, as were many Andromeda songs. This is John Du Cann's adaptation of the theme music from the historical epic "Exodus", starring Paul Newman (youtube: 1 , 2). This is a great example, like Holst's "Mars" influencing Black Sabbath, of something older being respected by forward-thinking musicians. According to John, it was played as the encore at shows during the peak of their popularity, which was pretty high at the time. They were playing with bands such as The New Yardbirds (soon to become Led Zeppelin), and topping bills with Black Sabbath.

From Angel Air's "Definitive Collection"

Andromeda existed for a short time, up until 1970 when guitarist John Du Cann left to join Atomic Rooster. The other main members were Ian McLane (drums) and Mick Hawksworth (bass - Fuzzy Duck, Ten Years Later). Being something of an early hard rock originator, John is a regular mention on this blog, and was in bands The Attack, Hard Stuff, Atomic Rooster and others that have appeared here. "Exodus" is a non-album track that was first published on Angel Air's 2-CD "Andromeda Definitive Collection", which has a large number of demos and live tracks which make for a great listen. There is also a good interview with John in that set.

Fläsket Brinner

Fläsket Brinner - Räva (1971)

Here's a short and sweet wah guitar rocker from a band that otherwise tended towards long jazz prog workouts. Fläsket Brinner was formed in Stockholm in May 1970 by Per Bruun (bass), Bengt Dahlén (guitar), Sten Bergman (organ), Gunnar Bergsten (sax) and Erik Dahlbäck (drums). Several of the members had previously played together in the band Atlantic Ocean. Although they only released two studio albums in the early '70s, the band's first period of activity lasted up until 1981, during which time it appears their preferred work method was playing live on stage and radio.

Three Man Army

Three Man Army - Nice One (1971)

Here's a funky little number with a guitar tone that sounds good enough to eat, from UK three-piece Three Man Army, who have received a lot of attention on this blog, including the Gurvitz Brothers special volume 125: Race With The Devil (link). Like Andromeda, Adrian and Paul Gurvitz's previous band Gun is retrospectively regarded as one of the UK's earliest heavy metal bands, and Three Man Army (with the addition of Mike Kelly & Tony Newman on drums) was the brothers' next band to carry on the hard rock sound, with three studio albums. 

Heads Of Our Time
The Subtle Art of Self Destruction

Heads Of Our Time - Airhed (1970)

Here's a curio from Canada, a great fuzzy-riffed groover with a slew of strange sound effects. Heads Of Our Time was the creation of two guys from Toronto R&B Soul band The Majestics, Jay Jackson and Rick Robertson. The album this is taken from is a mixed bag of covers (Hendrix, Beatles etc) and soul rock with horns. From some reading it seems this may have been some kind of studio-only exploito-disc which was attempting to do a bit of everything and use a load of studio sound effects. There is not much to find about the band but you can read what there is at Citizen Freak (link).

Here's the the blurb from the back cover: The knowledge that one begins to die a split second after birth is a cringing scream that echoes throughout your body. And as you breath the poison in the air around you, your expanding mind turns on its originator to begin the cold, calculated destruction of itself. Slave becomes Master and the awesome power of it makes nerve endings quiver and creates a burning desire for a woman with a blank look on her face who will assist you in "The Subtle Art Of Self Destruction".

Sounds Nice
Love At First Sight

Sounds Nice - Why Do I Do It (1970)

When Decca Records A&R man Tony Hall discovered that Serge Gainsbourg’s heavy-breathing hit "Je T'Aime… Moi Non Plus" had been banned in the UK, he rushed to get together some associates to make a quick cash-in instrumental cover for the UK, which became a minor international hit itself. On the strength of this he arranged the instrumental album "Love At First Sight" using the same musicians. So this was an exploitation record in every sense of the term, and is where track six in this comp comes from. The name "Sounds Nice" was apparently inspired by a passing comment from Paul McCartney at Abbey Road studios where they recorded. Among many working musicians used, Chris Spedding (Nucleus, Sharks) played some guitar for the record, and Tim Mycroft (Rupert's People, Thursday's Child) was the keyboard player, who was also briefly in the fore-mentioned Gun with the Gurvitz bros. (link). 

Spring

Spring - Sprung (1971)

Here's a b-side tucked away in the catalogue of Canadian band "Spring". There's some excellent flute in this one and it really gets jamming by the end. They only made a few singles, ranging from 1970-75. They were not a heavy band, on record at least. Polite FM radio-friendly rock was their bag, and possibly the most interesting thing I can find about them on a quick search is that Kat Hendrikse drummed on the first album from Heart. Another guy who drummed for Spring, Paul Burton, was also in Painter at one time, who appeared way back in volume 13 of TDATS (link).

Cat Mother And The All-Night Newsboys - Albion Doo-Wah (1970)

Here's a band that originated in Greenwich Village New York, with four albums, all of which have one and precisely one, hard rocking instrumental jam, where the band cuts loose from their usual bar-room country rock, and the results are always great! In chronological order, these tracks are "Track In A" (1969), "Albion Doo-Wah" (1970), "Hebbiejeebies" (1972) and finally "Bottle O'Dog" (1973), on their final LP. Knock yourself out and make a nice little comp of those if you like! Of note, guitarist Charlie Prichard was in Conqueroo, who appeared on TDATS 138 (link) and the band's first album, "The Street Giveth.. And The Street Taketh Away" was produced by Jimi Hendrix.

Thomas Natschinksi Und Seine Gruppe - Kosmos 354 (1970)

Here's a band that I discovered while making the recent TDATS volume based on forgotten bands of post-war communist Germany (link). Kosmos 354 is a wild freakout of epic proportions which highlights the band's multi-instrumental skills. With that song title, and what sounds like a rocket taking off at the beginning, maybe this is some early DDR space rock? If you know what the lyrics convey feel free to leave a comment! Thomas Natschinski's group started out as successful beat band "Team 4", and made three LPs on the Amiga label. They morphed into a prog band that played a variety of pop to hard rock. Thomas Natschinski later become a music producer for soundtracks of many movies and TV shows, and has a website (link). More can also be read at deutsche-mugge (link) and ostmusik (link).

The Underground Set - Tanto Per Cambiare (1970)

Here's a great track from a mysterious Italian library music act, called The Underground Set. I'll say more about this subject in further episodes, Italy produced a lot of remarkably heavy and fantastic music in this vein. A genre unto itself, some of which has already appeared here, Blue Phantom in volume 20 being one of them (link).

Triangle – L'intégrale 1969/1973

Triangle - Fonction Binaire (1971)

Coming up now is one of France's first successful progressive rock bands. I listened to a lot of them when concocting the recent (2nd) French volume (link). This is a previously un-released track which was first included in a 1997 4-CD set called "L'intégrale 1969/1973", which includes all their albums, along with comprehensive singles and bonus track rarities. Triangle produced three solid albums, with many heavy moments and a variety of sounds of largely British influence (Gentle Giant, Genesis) which are all done well, and accessibly free of self-indulgence. 

Vita Nova

Vita Nova - Lacrimosa (Death Of The World) (1971)

Here's an absolute head-trip from a German-based band that made one eponymous album, which is now one of the most sought-after Krautrock rarities. The album has a lot of short and reasonably accessible tracks among the more experimental material, with a wide range of styles, instrumentation and percussion. There's a few heavy prog tracks with the kind of jarring riffs and time changes that I like, but "Lacrimosa (Death Of The World)", an un-released bonus track from Garden of Delight's 1995 re-issue, is a brooding instrumental which starts off slowly and ends in a heavy organ wig-out. The keyboard player in question is Serbian Sylvester Levay, who lived in Hollywood later and composed music for Elton John, and the Airwolf theme, one of the best of the "man and machine" TV shows of the '80s, with the best music!

Gipsy Love
Here We Come LP

Gipsy Love - Moon Song (1972)

This is another track draped in heavy atmosphere, with an amazing production quality that really accentuates its ethereal soundscape. This is from an Austrian band that made two albums. Most of their music was very US influenced, so much so you might think they were American just from listening, and this made for an unusual mix of US country flavoured rock with some big band brass section stuff going on too, plus a sprinkling of European prog here and there. The guitarist Harri Stojka was in Novaks Kapelle, an Austrian band that made some excellent heavy psych singles and has appeared here before. Keyboardist Peter Wolf played for Frank Zappa and became a producer, working on albums from Starship and Lou Gramm, and scoring films in the NeverEnding Story and Weekend at Bernie's series. I realised a couple days after posting this that I had used a Gipsy Love track from the previous, eponymous album, in the Austrian TDATS vol 107 (link).

Iconoclast - The Rock (1973)

Here's a ripper of galloping pace with a load of great wah guitar. This is an obscure single on the Counterpart label, which Discogs describes thus: "Founded by WCPO Radio disc jockey Shad O'Shea in 1963, Counterpart released singles aimed at the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana region, focusing on Cincinnati and Columbus in Ohio; Louisville and Lexington in Kentucky; and Indianapolis and rural parts of Indiana."

"The Rock" is actually the b-side, and in my opinion is superior to the a-side "Hung Up" (thanks to Dan's Garage for the youtube), which is a lot more upbeat, especially in the vocal department, detracting a little from the heaviness...

Blue Forest - Have You Ever Been There Before (1972)

Thanks to Mark, one of the moderators of the TDATS facebook group (link) for bringing this one to my attention some years ago, and I've been waiting to use it here. This is a Dutch single, which melds melody and hard rock in the addictive way that so many records from The Netherlands do. Blue Forrest include the guitar and bass skills of brothers Hans & Jan Hollestelle, both prolific session musicians and players for bands, some of which have appeared here before such as Tower (vol86) and Sandy Coast (vol64).

18 Karat Gold - Goldrush (1973)

Nearing the end now and here's a nasty cut from an early super-group of the prolific Munich early 1970's scene, fronted by American-German Klaus Ebert. This one has a tense undercurrent that would be great for a movie car chase! 18 Karat Gold had a lot of US country/blues influence with occasional forays into more typical German prog, similarly to Gipsy Love before. All band members at some time played in Amon Düül II, including Englishman Keith Forsey who played in Hallelujah (vol22) and later wrote the Simple Minds hit "Don't You Forget About Me". Also included were two guys from Krautrock name Embryo, Jörg Evers (guitar) and Lothar Meid (bass).

Walter Rossi of Charlee

Charlee - Wizzard (1972)

Closing this set is a band that I haven't mentioned since their inclusion way back in 2009's volume 5 (link) and they certainly deserve more attention now, as Charlee's album is one of the first and best albums I've discovered since going down this obscure rock path. Easily one of Canada's heaviest early '70s albums, Walter Rossi's god-tier blazing guitar skill speaks for itself, with the power of Leslie West and Jimmi Hendrix at their peaks. Charlee were a three-piece which surely would be regarded on a level with Mountain and Budgie if they had lasted longer. 

Walter did continue with a successful career and I have also used solo tracks of his in volume 23 (link) and volume 105 (link) but unfortunately for us heavy-heads, this success meant turning to a much more commercial sound, and there really is no other album in his catalogue that matches Charlee for sheer heaviness. Walter, born in Italy before moving to Montreal, was at one time in Luke & The Apostles, a band that comes up frequently in Canada's history of heavy rock, that I have included and mentioned a few times here before, and in the 1960s he played for Wilson Pickett and the Buddy Miles Express. Recent sad news came that he died in 2022, but i'm glad to read that he was acknowledged with a number of Canadian music awards (link), and the rock will live for ever....

Until next time......happy (heavy) listening! Rich

Related listening:
The Day After The Sabbath 69: No Troubled Sky [instrumental #1]

The Day After The Sabbath 73: Hammond Lord [John Lord tribute / Hammond organ special]

The Day After The Sabbath 87: Do I Look High? [first Space Rock special]

The Day After The Sabbath 99: Isolation Waltz [first violin special]

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The Day After The Sabbath 146: HALLO Nr. 1 - DDR Rock part 1

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Welcome to TDATS volume 146: Heavy rock of communist East Germany. This is the first part, as I was able to find around 30 bands that made fitting music for the blog, and part 2 will follow some time in the not-too-distant future! Edit: As of June 2023, Part 2 is now available too! [LINK]

This is a great collection featuring all-new acts apart from one, Puhdys, who appeared once before on vol 48 (link). In making this set I came across almost exclusively bands that I had never heard before. The quality of the music here is undeniably world-class, with excellent musicianship, as we have come to expect from German rock in general, and surely these bands would have been better-known if they hadn't been playing within the bubble of the DDR. 

The "Lipsi"
A dance invented by the authorities to
replace "vulgar" western rock'n'roll
dancing. Apparently it failed to catch on... 

The musicians of post-war East Germany suffered the same heavily-imposed restrictions and controls that artists of many other communist states did. Some bands like the Klaus Renft Combo (later "Renft") were at one time banned out-right, and their entire back catalogue on the state-controlled "Amiga" record label was deleted from history. There's a concise article at Messy Nessy Chic (link) and I recommend reading that in conjunction with this volume, as it highlights the difficulties of being a rock band in the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR, aka GDR) and also references a few of the bands I used in this and the next DDR volume.

At one point, bands required licenses just to exist and be allowed to play at the government-authorised music venues of the time. Their image and musical / lyrical output was continuously scrutinised by the authorities in order for them to keep the licenses. Many of the bands had to find new and inventive ways to continue making great music with worthy lyrics, while still being permitted to play.

There's a great cross-section of all the styles of rock you'd expect from the period, regardless of point of origin, with some obvious inspiration from western bands of the time, even down to particular song parts, but in this case it shouldn't be regarded as plagiarism. In a way these bands were doing a service for rock fans in the DDR who had difficulty in hearing the originals any other way, as so many western rock records that we take for granted now, were banned.

If you want to go deeper on the scene I must give props to deutsche-mugge.de (link), a fantastic DDR rock fan site which has in-depth profiles on all the bands in this volume, plus many more, and just as importantly, many exclusive interviews with members of the bands. 

TRACKS

01. Thomas Natschinski-Gruppe - In Der Vierten Stunde (1972)

                from album Wir Über Uns

02. Electra - Bemuhe Dich (1975)

                single

03. Gisela Dreßler - 48 Crash (1974)

                single

04. Berluc - Hallo Erde, Hier Ist Alpha (1978) 

                single (78) and album Reise Zu Den Sternen (79)

05. SOK - Sok-Oriental (1971)

                from retrospective SOK feat. Anders, Forsthoff, Gumpert, Sommer

06. Karussell - Ehrlich Will Ich Bleiben (1979)

                from album Entweder Oder

07. Stern-Combo Meißen - Hat Der Tag Sein Werk Vollbracht (1975)

                from collection Beatkiste Vol. 6

08. Puhdys - Ikarus (1974)

                from album Die Puhdys

09. Express - Leben, Um Ein Mensch Zu Sein (1973)

                from collection Hallo Nr. 8

10. Reform - Drachentoter (1979)

                from album Reform

11. Lift - Neuer Tag Bricht An (1976)

                from collection Beatkiste Vol. 3

12. Thomas Natschinski-Gruppe - Auf Dem Bau (1972)

                from album Wir Über Uns

13. Joco-Dev-Sextett - Stapellauf (1971)

                single

14. Peter Holten-Septett - Weiter Weiter (1975)

                from collection Beatkiste Vol. 2

15. Klosterbrüder - Lied Einer Alten Stadt (Weimar) (1975)

                single

 

"Wir Über Uns" LP

Thomas Natschinski-Gruppe - In Der Vierten Stunde (1972)

This is a stately piece of keys-lead prog that makes for a good opener before the heaviness begins, and the band make another appearance in this comp for track 12. Thomas Natschinski's group started out as successful beat band "Team 4", and made 3 LPs on the Amiga label. They morphed into a prog band that played a variety of pop to hard rock. Thomas Natschinski later become a music producer for soundtracks of many movies and TV shows, and has a website (link). More can also be read at deutsche-mugge (link) and ostmusik (link).

Electra - Bemuhe Dich single

Electra - Bemuhe Dich (1975)
Here's an excellent hard-rocker with great guitar. This was a single in 1975 and can be found on the 2004 retrospective "35 Jahre Electra", which has lots of heavy tracks of equal quality. They were also well know for making prog rock adaptations of Classical pieces. The last time the band appeared live was in 2015. One of the longest-running of East German prog bands, they changed completely throughout their history. Established in Dresden in 1969, and although quite popular, they were considered too radical to get an album released, instead they spent much of their time as backing band to various pop singers. 

Their 1974 debut album amounted to an early history of the band, followed by 3 other albums that are considered to be their definitive progressive rock era. In the 1980s they adopted a more mainstream pop rock style and became very popular in the DDR. There's an interview with Bernd Aust of Electra at ostmusik (link). Some more biography can be read at ostbeat (link), deutsche-mugge (link) and ostmusik (link).

Gisela Dreßler - 48 Crash (1974)
Here's a fun Suzi Quatro cover. Gisela was a member of the Rainer Bloß Combo and jazz rock group SOK, which also appears in this comp. According to Discogs this single was made in conjunction with Electra, Karl-Heinz Ringel (of Electra and Sander-Formation) has arrangement credits.

Berluc-
Hallo Erde, Hier Ist Alpha

Berluc - Hallo Erde, Hier Ist Alpha (1978)

Here's a track with stomping riffs, from a good hard rock album by Berluc. They derived their name from Berlin and Luckenwalde, the region of East Berlin where they originated. They made three albums of hard rock into the 1980s, and some singles after, but they have continued to play live right up this year, 2022 (youtube). Berluc have a website (link) and some biography can be read at deutsche-mugge (link) and ostmusik (link).

SOK feat. Anders, Forsthoff,
Gumpert, Sommer

SOK - Sok-Oriental (1971)

This is a killer funky jam with the jazzy drumming just making it totally addictive, and the fuzz guitar isn't doing any harm either! The guarantors of the high musical level of the band, founded in 1971, were musicians such as Ulrich Gumpert (of Klaus Lenz Big Band, Synopsis - piano, organ, vocals, composition, arrangements, band leader), Günter Baby Sommer (of Modern Jazz Big Band 65 - drums), saxophonist Helmut Forsthoff (of Klaus Lenz Big Band) and Ernst-Ludwig Luten Petrowsky (of Klaus Lenz Big Band, Synopsis). These musicians had a solid, mostly classical, music education.

Gumpert and Sommer also had their first steps in previous acts, such as the Manfred Ludwig Sextett and the groups of Klaus Lenz and Friedhelm Schönfelddid. The founding members also included guitarist Günter Dobrowolski, Gerd Lübke (bass guitar), Robert Tornev (trumpet, violin), Rainer Paschy (saxophone) and Hermann Anders (tuba, composition, arrangements). Lübke and Dobrowolski came from the beat scene. For a time, Hans-Joachim Graswurm also played as a guest musician with SOK. The group presented at Jazz in der Kammer on June 7, 1971.  In 1972 the line-up of the band was supplemented by the singer Barbara "Bärbel" Folz. She was replaced in mid-1973 by Gisela Dreßler, who had a distinctive blues voice. (wikipedia). Some more biography can be read at wikipedia (link) and ostmusik (link).

Karussell – Entweder Oder

Karussell - Ehrlich Will Ich Bleiben (1979)
Here's another piece of stately prog. Karussell was founded in 1976, from members of the Leipzig amateur band "Fusion" and former members of the band Renft, who appeared in vol136 (link) and will appear again in part 2 of TDATS DDR Rock, who had recently been banned by the GDR authorities. Founding members of Karussell were Wolf-Rüdiger Raschke, "Cäsar" Peter Gläser, Jochen Hohl, Reinhard "Oschek" Huth, Lutz Kirsten, Claus Winter and Bernd Schumacher. In 1978, they became professional thanks to a sponsorship agreement with the central council of the FDJ (wiki), the concert and guest performance directorate (wiki) and the band. The first positive side effect of this change was participation in the "Rhythm 78" festival. For many fans of the banned group Renft, Karussel was the legitimate successor. Some more biography can be read at deutsche-mugge (link) and ostmusik (link).

Stern-Combo Meißen - Hat Der Tag Sein Werk Vollbracht (1975)

Stern-Combo Meißen was founded in 1964 by Martin Schreier, Norbert Jäger and Bernd Fiedler in Meißen, near Dresden. One of the longest-serving bands in Germany, they first performed in 1964 at a party for pensioners in the "Luftbad Meißen-Spaar". In the early years, the band played covers of their influences, including Blood Sweat & Tears and Chicago, which is why three horns played in the group until 1973. Around this time the group turned professional, the musical style changed and influences changed. They now played songs by Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake & Palmer or Genesis and began to write their own songs in this style. Still playing is 2022 as "Stern Meißen", a recent show was reviewed at ostmusik.de (link). Some more biography can be read at deutsche-mugge (link) and ostmusik (link).

Puhdys – Die Puhdys 1974

Puhdys - Ikarus (1974)

Puhdys emerged from the Udo Wendel combo founded in 1965. The band name consists of the initials of the original line-up, Peter Meyer, Udo Jacob, Harry Jeske and Dieter Hertrampf. The "ys" was added to the end and Puhdys were born. The group first played songs from their favorite bands Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep and others. Even though the original Puhdys had been active since 1965, the band's concert in Freiberg's "Tivoli" on November 19, 1969 is considered the official founding of Puhdys. This day was celebrated regularly as the band's 'birthday' until the band dissolved in 2016. Puhdys first appeared in vol48 (link) and are one of the most famous DDR rock bands and their earlier albums contain a lot of good hard rock. Some more biography can be read at ostbeat (link) and deutsche-mugge (link).

Gruppe ,Express' Berlin

Express - Leben, Um Ein Mensch Zu Sein (1973)

This Berlin band was active until 1990, but never released an album, and had only a few songs released on single, that were recorded for radio. The band was formed around 1971-2 as an amateur band . They first gained notoriety appearing at the 10th "World Festival of Youth and Students" (link) in 1973 in East Berlin. At the 1974 Workers' Festival in Erfurt, the band was awarded for successful original compositions. In the same year they received the title "Excellent Amateur Dance Orchestra". In 1974, along with Puhdys, they provided music for the film "…Verdammt, Ich Bin Erwachsen" (link). Some more biography can be read at deutsche-mugge (link), ostmusik (link) and wikipedia (link).

Reform - Drachentoter LP

Reform - Drachentoter (1979)

When Klosterbrüder (from Magdeburg, appearing at the end of this comp) broke up, two new bands emerged: some of the members founded the group Magdeburg (appearing in the next DDR volume), and guitarist "Matze" Blankenburg founded Reform in 1975. In addition to Jörg Blankenburg, the first line-up included Mike Demnitz on bass, Peter Piele on drums, Werner Kunze as second guitarist/keyboardist, and Frank Schönfeld as singer. Frank was the leader and frontman of Reform until 1977. He was followed by Stephan Trepte (Electra, Lift), who was the band's singer from 1977 until the band broke up in 1986. Some more biography can be read at deutsche-mugge (link) and ostmusik (link).

Lift - band

Lift - Neuer Tag Bricht An (1976)

Lift emerged from the "Dresden-Septett" and gave their debut concert on January 28, 1973 in Dresden. In the early days, the personnel carousel turned very quickly. In 1973 after Wolfgang Scheffler's departure, Franz Bartzsch joined on keyboards, and Stephan Trepte as singer. Bartzsch's affiliation was short-lived and he left the group after only a year and a half to go to Veronika Fischer's Band. Wolfgang Scheffler then returned. Werther Lohse, who is still the only remaining member from the early days, joined Lift in 1974, while guitarist Jürgen Heinrich and singer Christiane Ufholz left. Trepte then left in '76 and formed Reform. Henry Pacholski replaced him. During Scheffler's time in the army from May '75 to 1976, Michael Hausdorf and Peter Sandkaulen (guitar) came in for him first and Michael Heubach for Hausdorf from October '75, during which time the guitarist left and Scheffler, together with Pacholski, rejoined the band from October '76. Lift played recently in 2022, you can read a review of that at ostmusik (link). Some more biography can be read at ostbeat (link), deutsche-mugge (link) and ostmusik (link).

Joco-Dev-Sextett

Joco-Dev-Sextett - Stapellauf (1971)

In 1965 founding JDS members Jörg Schenkel and Detlef Lüpke were playing with Conny Hassbach and Dieter Szredzek as the "Joco-Dev-Quartett". Soon there were changes in personnel, partly because Conny Hassbach wanted to study. Jörg and Detlef joined forces with former musicians from the group The Brightles, who had just been banned, and founded Joco Dev.

At the end of the 60's the group got the chance to make songs for radio, and new TV show "Notenbank". This is how the song "Stapellauf" came into being. Lyrics and music were written by Reiner Schubert, and the group developed the arrangement together. The first version of the song did not pass the editor's office because the lyric "Black ships came over the sea" was apparently classified as "reactionary and decadent". The director of Notenbank, Bernd Maywald, contributed alternative lyrics. An interview with Bernd can read at deutsche-mugge (link). The Amiga label released "Stapellauf" as a single in 1971, however, the radio version was not pressed, it was re-recorded for the single. Many Joco Dev members were in the '80s heavy metal band "Formel 1" later. Some more biography can be read at deutsche-mugge (link) and ostmusik (link).

Peter Holten-Septett

Peter Holten-Septett - Weiter Weiter (1975)

Nearing the end now and here's an incendiary track from this group that was founded in 1970 by band leader, singer and keyboardist Peter Grasnick. The band name changed over time: Peter Holten-Sextett, Septett, also the Peter Holten Band. The name Peter Holten was invented, because at the time Peter Grasnick was not allowed to appear as an amateur or professional musician, since he was studying law, and working as a musician was not allowed for students of this discipline.

The first line-up included Grasnick's wife Brigitte (vocals), singer Bernd Bangel, bassist Dieter Wiesjahn, guitarist and singer Victor Heyse, keyboardist Michael Peglau and drummer Bernd Schwitzke. The group used sophisticated lyrics, and was only on the road as a live act for a small proportion of its existence. In 1972 the group made its first radio performances, that were recorded for inclusion in various Amiga period compilations, but unfortunately the band doesn't appear to have had any of its own singles or albums released.

In 1975 almost all the members left the Septett. While the former members founded Babylon in 1975 (appearing in the next DDR TDATS), Peter and Brigitte Grasnick re-formed with newcomers Thomas Friedrich (singer), Wolf-Dieter Bienge (bassist), Julius Krebs (keyboards) and Peter Lucht (drums). In addition, former Joco Dev guitarist Peter Nehls joined, but left in 1978 and was immediately replaced by two new guitarists: Roland Wolter and Michael Otter. The newly formed band could not build on the old successes. There were no more album releases with the band's titles, although the new line-up produced more of their own songs. In 1979 the Holten Band disbanded. Some more biography can be read at deutsche-mugge (link), ostmusik (link) and wikipedia (link).

Klosterbrüder - Lied Einer Alten Stadt (Weimar) (1975)

This is a song that was released via the Amiga label on a split single with Lift, who appeared earlier in this volume. Klosterbrüder existed in various forms from the remnants of early '60s beat band The Big Town Boys. Their religious name (Friars or "monk brothers") and their tendency to draw big crowds seemed to attract unfavorable attention and even performance bans from the authorities and in 1975 they dissolved, with members immediately forming two new bands, Magdeburg (in next DDR volume) and Reform (in this volume). An interview with Klosterbrüder / Reform guitarist Jörg "Matze" Blankenburg is up at deutsche-mugge (link), where there is also an interview with Klosterbruder's Dietrick Kessler (link), and some more biography can be read at deutsche-mugge (link), ostmusik (link) and the band's website (link). 

Thanks for listening, part 2 of DDR rock is now published and available HERE

Happy Holidays! Rich

Related listening:
The Day After The Sabbath 149: HALLO Nr. 2 - DDR Rock part 2

References 

ostmusik.de | ostbeat.de | deutsche-mugge.de | thomas-natschinski.de

ddr-tanzmusik.de | berluc.de | klosterbrueder-band.de | ostbeat dt-64-musikstudio 

messynessychic.com

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