RETURN TO ANALOG Archives - Guerssen Records https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/label/return-to-analog/ Guerssen Records Wed, 26 Mar 2025 15:03:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.5 https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/cropped-isotip-32x32.png RETURN TO ANALOG Archives - Guerssen Records https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/label/return-to-analog/ 32 32 Collected Singles: Super Deluxe Edition https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/collected-singles-super-deluxe-edition/ Wed, 06 Sep 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/collected-singles-super-deluxe-edition/ Not many albums can get you in the mood to blow out your speakers quite like Kath "1", the hideously rare and expensive 1974 low-fi, semi-ramshackle DIY psychedelic LP made by members of Maryland band Badge, recorded in the home of band leader Val Rogolino (and, yes, dedicated to his girlfriend and their pet monkey!). What Patrick the Lama said in Acid Archives about Kath, is equally applicable to Badge: "Obscure and impressive melodic basement garage/psych with a lo-fi atmosphere that would have most purveyors flip out... at times the vibe is almost like Mystery Meat or Index, and that's not something you run across every day... Nuts lo-fi recording quality and impossible-to-figure production values gives this a nicely zonked almost real-people vibe. Keyboards, fuzz, heap of amateur avant spirit."

 

The fact that Badge had been a going band for awhile, and that they released several singles and EPs (written by Val and his best friend Cheese Sollers and recorded the same way, on the same equipment as the Kath album, seems to have been overlooked) until now. Here are those singles and EP tracks, lovingly remastered and presented as a coherent LP compilation.

 

Badge formed 13 March 1970, a Friday: Cheese Sollers (guitar/vocals); Jim O'Dell (bass/vocals); Val Rogolino (drums/vocals). Badge played on into the 1970's with several band member changes, adding at one point female vocalists and horn players. Cheese and Val remained the core of the group at all times. "In 1970, Cheese and I started recording original songs with two stereo tape recorders, using PA systems for mixing. That was the beginning of the recording bug for us. We purchased a professional tape recorder, a TEAC 2340 four-track machine. This really opened up our recording process." --Val Rogolino

 

Comes with an eight page insert with liner notes by Kath leader and Badge co-leader Val Rogolino and a bevy of photos from his personal stash.

 

Includes the following:
*Transparent orange gold vinyl LP
*Kath "1" + Unreleased 2xCD (LION 651)
*Original copy of rare Badge 'As I Look' b/w 'Keep Tryin')45rpm single (Pilot Master Records 7043-16)
*Super Deluxe Edition limited to five hand-numbered copies (hand-numbered A5 - A9)

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]]> Not many albums can get you in the mood to blow out your speakers quite like Kath “1”, the hideously rare and expensive 1974 low-fi, semi-ramshackle DIY psychedelic LP made by members of Maryland band Badge, recorded in the home of band leader Val Rogolino (and, yes, dedicated to his girlfriend and their pet monkey!). What Patrick the Lama said in Acid Archives about Kath, is equally applicable to Badge: “Obscure and impressive melodic basement garage/psych with a lo-fi atmosphere that would have most purveyors flip out… at times the vibe is almost like Mystery Meat or Index, and that’s not something you run across every day… Nuts lo-fi recording quality and impossible-to-figure production values gives this a nicely zonked almost real-people vibe. Keyboards, fuzz, heap of amateur avant spirit.”

The fact that Badge had been a going band for awhile, and that they released several singles and EPs (written by Val and his best friend Cheese Sollers and recorded the same way, on the same equipment as the Kath album, seems to have been overlooked) until now. Here are those singles and EP tracks, lovingly remastered and presented as a coherent LP compilation.

Badge formed 13 March 1970, a Friday: Cheese Sollers (guitar/vocals); Jim O’Dell (bass/vocals); Val Rogolino (drums/vocals). Badge played on into the 1970’s with several band member changes, adding at one point female vocalists and horn players. Cheese and Val remained the core of the group at all times. “In 1970, Cheese and I started recording original songs with two stereo tape recorders, using PA systems for mixing. That was the beginning of the recording bug for us. We purchased a professional tape recorder, a TEAC 2340 four-track machine. This really opened up our recording process.” –Val Rogolino

Comes with an eight page insert with liner notes by Kath leader and Badge co-leader Val Rogolino and a bevy of photos from his personal stash.

Includes the following:
*Transparent orange gold vinyl LP
*Kath “1” + Unreleased 2xCD (LION 651)
*Original copy of rare Badge ‘As I Look’ b/w ‘Keep Tryin’)45rpm single (Pilot Master Records 7043-16)
*Super Deluxe Edition limited to five hand-numbered copies (hand-numbered A5 – A9)

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]]> Collected Singles: Mega Super Deluxe Edition https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/collected-singles-mega-super-deluxe-edition/ Wed, 06 Sep 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/collected-singles-mega-super-deluxe-edition/ Not many albums can get you in the mood to blow out your speakers quite like Kath "1", the hideously rare and expensive 1974 low-fi, semi-ramshackle DIY psychedelic LP made by members of Maryland band Badge, recorded in the home of band leader Val Rogolino (and, yes, dedicated to his girlfriend and their pet monkey!). What Patrick the Lama said in Acid Archives about Kath, is equally applicable to Badge: "Obscure and impressive melodic basement garage/psych with a lo-fi atmosphere that would have most purveyors flip out... at times the vibe is almost like Mystery Meat or Index, and that's not something you run across every day... Nuts lo-fi recording quality and impossible-to-figure production values gives this a nicely zonked almost real-people vibe. Keyboards, fuzz, heap of amateur avant spirit."

 

The fact that Badge had been a going band for awhile, and that they released several singles and EPs (written by Val and his best friend Cheese Sollers and recorded the same way, on the same equipment as the Kath album, seems to have been overlooked) until now. Here are those singles and EP tracks, lovingly remastered and presented as a coherent LP compilation.

 

Badge formed 13 March 1970, a Friday: Cheese Sollers (guitar/vocals); Jim O'Dell (bass/vocals); Val Rogolino (drums/vocals). Badge played on into the 1970's with several band member changes, adding at one point female vocalists and horn players. Cheese and Val remained the core of the group at all times. "In 1970, Cheese and I started recording original songs with two stereo tape recorders, using PA systems for mixing. That was the beginning of the recording bug for us. We purchased a professional tape recorder, a TEAC 2340 four-track machine. This really opened up our recording process." --Val Rogolino

 

Comes with an eight page insert with liner notes by Kath leader and Badge co-leader Val Rogolino and a bevy of photos from his personal stash.

 

Includes the following:
*Transparent orange gold vinyl LP
*Kath "1" + Unreleased 2xCD (LION 651)
*Original Rockadelic LP reissue of Kath, released in 2005 -- A1, A2, and A3 are signed by Val Rogolino of Kath and Badge.
*Original copy of Badge 'As I Look' b/w 'Keep Tryin') 45rpm single (Pilot Master Records 7043-16)
*Mega Super Deluxe Edition limited to four hand-numbered copies (hand-numbered A1 - A4)

The post Collected Singles: Mega Super Deluxe Edition appeared first on Guerssen Records.

]]> Not many albums can get you in the mood to blow out your speakers quite like Kath “1”, the hideously rare and expensive 1974 low-fi, semi-ramshackle DIY psychedelic LP made by members of Maryland band Badge, recorded in the home of band leader Val Rogolino (and, yes, dedicated to his girlfriend and their pet monkey!). What Patrick the Lama said in Acid Archives about Kath, is equally applicable to Badge: “Obscure and impressive melodic basement garage/psych with a lo-fi atmosphere that would have most purveyors flip out… at times the vibe is almost like Mystery Meat or Index, and that’s not something you run across every day… Nuts lo-fi recording quality and impossible-to-figure production values gives this a nicely zonked almost real-people vibe. Keyboards, fuzz, heap of amateur avant spirit.”

The fact that Badge had been a going band for awhile, and that they released several singles and EPs (written by Val and his best friend Cheese Sollers and recorded the same way, on the same equipment as the Kath album, seems to have been overlooked) until now. Here are those singles and EP tracks, lovingly remastered and presented as a coherent LP compilation.

Badge formed 13 March 1970, a Friday: Cheese Sollers (guitar/vocals); Jim O’Dell (bass/vocals); Val Rogolino (drums/vocals). Badge played on into the 1970’s with several band member changes, adding at one point female vocalists and horn players. Cheese and Val remained the core of the group at all times. “In 1970, Cheese and I started recording original songs with two stereo tape recorders, using PA systems for mixing. That was the beginning of the recording bug for us. We purchased a professional tape recorder, a TEAC 2340 four-track machine. This really opened up our recording process.” –Val Rogolino

Comes with an eight page insert with liner notes by Kath leader and Badge co-leader Val Rogolino and a bevy of photos from his personal stash.

Includes the following:
*Transparent orange gold vinyl LP
*Kath “1” + Unreleased 2xCD (LION 651)
*Original Rockadelic LP reissue of Kath, released in 2005 — A1, A2, and A3 are signed by Val Rogolino of Kath and Badge.
*Original copy of Badge ‘As I Look’ b/w ‘Keep Tryin’) 45rpm single (Pilot Master Records 7043-16)
*Mega Super Deluxe Edition limited to four hand-numbered copies (hand-numbered A1 – A4)

The post Collected Singles: Mega Super Deluxe Edition appeared first on Guerssen Records.

]]> Black Sun Ensemble (Volume 2) (Black) https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/black-sun-ensemble-volume-2-black/ Wed, 06 Sep 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/black-sun-ensemble-volume-2-black/ Black vinyl version is a Return to Analog International exclusive
"The music here still sounds as gorgeous to me as it did when I first stumbled across it. The magnificent weight of Jesus' guitar work is always a surprise. From the midst of the most gently-drawn sand waves, he rises with his scimitar gleaming black in the hot desert sun to fulfill a mission whose orders only he can hear. What more could you ask for? I mean, really?" --Byron Coley
Lion's second volume of the Black Sun Ensemble's recordings for their classic first album contains an alternate version of that album, including the tracks from the Camera Obscura label CD (c. the year 2000) version of that album -- well, sort of.

The post Black Sun Ensemble (Volume 2) (Black) appeared first on Guerssen Records.

]]> Black vinyl version is a Return to Analog International exclusive
“The music here still sounds as gorgeous to me as it did when I first stumbled across it. The magnificent weight of Jesus’ guitar work is always a surprise. From the midst of the most gently-drawn sand waves, he rises with his scimitar gleaming black in the hot desert sun to fulfill a mission whose orders only he can hear. What more could you ask for? I mean, really?” –Byron Coley
Lion’s second volume of the Black Sun Ensemble’s recordings for their classic first album contains an alternate version of that album, including the tracks from the Camera Obscura label CD (c. the year 2000) version of that album — well, sort of.

The post Black Sun Ensemble (Volume 2) (Black) appeared first on Guerssen Records.

]]> Release the sunshine (Black) https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/release-the-sunshine-black/ Wed, 06 Sep 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/release-the-sunshine-black/ A newly remastered edition of this Canadian folk/psych classic -- perfect dreamy, sunshine-infused pop psychedelia with a folk bent, originally released by independent Canadian label Allied Records in 1968. When we first issued this terrific album many years ago, our booklet featured the few scraps of information on the band we could find. We challenged "anyone out there" to find some information on this elusive and intriguing band. Well, we're pleased that someone took us up on that offer, and that the specific someone was band leader Tom Waschkowski (credited on the album as Tom Martin). He graciously offered us a band history, lyrics, and some terrific photos. This allows us to offer up as perfect a reissue of this album as humanly possible. The Folklords "Release the Sunshine" is a captivating album, a notion shared by the many collectors world-wide who fight for original copies, which are few and far between. Strange thing is, if someone were to say to us that the Folklords album was released by Creation Records in 1987, it would be difficult to argue. You may well ask, why? Our answer: the chiming guitars, the rattle of tambourine, the dreaminess, and the meandering harmony vocals of Martha Johnson place the Folklords closer to Biff Bang Pow, the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Revolving Paint Dream, or even My Bloody Valentine's debut, "Ecstasy and Wine" (granted, at a much slower speed, and without the rampant fuzz guitar) than it does to sunny 1960's poppiness. Glorious remastered sound, as the twelve LP tracks were taken directly from the master-tapes.

The post Release the sunshine (Black) appeared first on Guerssen Records.

]]> A newly remastered edition of this Canadian folk/psych classic — perfect dreamy, sunshine-infused pop psychedelia with a folk bent, originally released by independent Canadian label Allied Records in 1968. When we first issued this terrific album many years ago, our booklet featured the few scraps of information on the band we could find. We challenged “anyone out there” to find some information on this elusive and intriguing band. Well, we’re pleased that someone took us up on that offer, and that the specific someone was band leader Tom Waschkowski (credited on the album as Tom Martin). He graciously offered us a band history, lyrics, and some terrific photos. This allows us to offer up as perfect a reissue of this album as humanly possible. The Folklords “Release the Sunshine” is a captivating album, a notion shared by the many collectors world-wide who fight for original copies, which are few and far between. Strange thing is, if someone were to say to us that the Folklords album was released by Creation Records in 1987, it would be difficult to argue. You may well ask, why? Our answer: the chiming guitars, the rattle of tambourine, the dreaminess, and the meandering harmony vocals of Martha Johnson place the Folklords closer to Biff Bang Pow, the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Revolving Paint Dream, or even My Bloody Valentine’s debut, “Ecstasy and Wine” (granted, at a much slower speed, and without the rampant fuzz guitar) than it does to sunny 1960’s poppiness. Glorious remastered sound, as the twelve LP tracks were taken directly from the master-tapes.

The post Release the sunshine (Black) appeared first on Guerssen Records.

]]> African day https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/african-day/ Sun, 07 Jan 2024 23:00:00 +0000 https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/african-day/ "It's dark and still in the chief's village protected by mountains of the great southern regions of Africa..." so begins the seventeen minute epic 'African Day' that kicks off the greatest Afro-psychedelic concept album ever made -- first released on Parlophone in 1971. Hawk's music on this epochal album is a fusion of tribal African rhythms with acoustic hippie music elements -- long solo jams, saxophone breaks, percussion -- sounding at times like an African version of Embryo fronted by Tim Buckley!
In Johannesburg, bursting, like Durban, with musicians aeons ahead of their time, Hawk added the sunburnt, brown prairies of Africa to the genre of the concept album -- the heady, steady beat of drums, and enough cross-rhythms to make you dizzy. Add the mesmerizing voices - and the telling of a story. Tuck in the ranging flute, the saxophone. The deep bass buzz. And the hypnotic talking drums. Music the African way: earthy stuff - virile, extraordinary, substantial.
Hawk were listening to a lot of Hugh Tracey tapes (the Afro-musicologist who travelled Africa capturing sounds and music on tape for posterity). They went to Swaziland and came back with their own sounds: drums and a burning desire to make their own brand of African music. From all of this came "African Day." Our Lion/RTA reissue comes with an LP-sized 12-page booklet which includes a complete band history by music writer Owen Coetzer, packed with photos, plus the story of the re-discovery of the multi-track master tapes and the transfer of those newfound tapes that resulted in this very reissue.

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]]> “It’s dark and still in the chief’s village protected by mountains of the great southern regions of Africa…” so begins the seventeen minute epic ‘African Day’ that kicks off the greatest Afro-psychedelic concept album ever made — first released on Parlophone in 1971. Hawk’s music on this epochal album is a fusion of tribal African rhythms with acoustic hippie music elements — long solo jams, saxophone breaks, percussion — sounding at times like an African version of Embryo fronted by Tim Buckley!
In Johannesburg, bursting, like Durban, with musicians aeons ahead of their time, Hawk added the sunburnt, brown prairies of Africa to the genre of the concept album — the heady, steady beat of drums, and enough cross-rhythms to make you dizzy. Add the mesmerizing voices – and the telling of a story. Tuck in the ranging flute, the saxophone. The deep bass buzz. And the hypnotic talking drums. Music the African way: earthy stuff – virile, extraordinary, substantial.
Hawk were listening to a lot of Hugh Tracey tapes (the Afro-musicologist who travelled Africa capturing sounds and music on tape for posterity). They went to Swaziland and came back with their own sounds: drums and a burning desire to make their own brand of African music. From all of this came “African Day.” Our Lion/RTA reissue comes with an LP-sized 12-page booklet which includes a complete band history by music writer Owen Coetzer, packed with photos, plus the story of the re-discovery of the multi-track master tapes and the transfer of those newfound tapes that resulted in this very reissue.

The post African day appeared first on Guerssen Records.

]]> Dreams Of 75 (Black) https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/dreams-of-75-black/ Wed, 06 Sep 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/dreams-of-75-black/ Lothar Jahn's "February '75" single was released by the German label Sound Records in 1977. It was a very unusual record, somewhere between psychedelic, folk and Krautrock. It was reviewed thus on Discogs: "A mysterious journey through Cosmic Psych Folk Kraut, whatever you may call it. Fantastic, from beginning to end. Another Kraut on 45 milestone." This newly recorded album, "Dreams of '75," is an extended riff on the original single, taking that smaller vision as a starting point and then launching into a weirder and wilder psychedelic/progressive stereoscopic headspace than was evident (or possible) on the original single.
So, who is Lothar Jahn? he is a singer/songwriter, presenter and multi-instrumentalist who has been active in the German music scene since the early 1970s. Since 2020, Jahn has his own television show, Lothar's Liedertreff. And what were Jahn's dreams of '75? "They were wistful dreams of boundless love, community and peace, boundless sex, boundless freedom and a lot of wonderful music. What better time to grow up than back then, in the middle of works like Oldfield's "Ommadawn" and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here"?" says Jahn.
*Comes with an 8-page booklet giving Jahn's thoughts on his life and the dreams which provoked this album.
*Includes the bonus track 'Merseburger,' recorded with Olaf Casalich, the singer of famed German band Ougenweide.

The post Dreams Of 75 (Black) appeared first on Guerssen Records.

]]> Lothar Jahn’s “February ’75” single was released by the German label Sound Records in 1977. It was a very unusual record, somewhere between psychedelic, folk and Krautrock. It was reviewed thus on Discogs: “A mysterious journey through Cosmic Psych Folk Kraut, whatever you may call it. Fantastic, from beginning to end. Another Kraut on 45 milestone.” This newly recorded album, “Dreams of ’75,” is an extended riff on the original single, taking that smaller vision as a starting point and then launching into a weirder and wilder psychedelic/progressive stereoscopic headspace than was evident (or possible) on the original single.
So, who is Lothar Jahn? he is a singer/songwriter, presenter and multi-instrumentalist who has been active in the German music scene since the early 1970s. Since 2020, Jahn has his own television show, Lothar’s Liedertreff. And what were Jahn’s dreams of ’75? “They were wistful dreams of boundless love, community and peace, boundless sex, boundless freedom and a lot of wonderful music. What better time to grow up than back then, in the middle of works like Oldfield’s “Ommadawn” and Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”?” says Jahn.
*Comes with an 8-page booklet giving Jahn’s thoughts on his life and the dreams which provoked this album.
*Includes the bonus track ‘Merseburger,’ recorded with Olaf Casalich, the singer of famed German band Ougenweide.

The post Dreams Of 75 (Black) appeared first on Guerssen Records.

]]> The Silverbeats (Black) https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/the-silverbeats-black/ Wed, 06 Sep 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/the-sillverbeats-black/ "The first time I saw the SilverBeats... the band took the cramped stage at the window near the front door. Fronted by James Tessier, who appeared to be the missing link between The Standells, the band's sound was simple, fuzzy and perfect. These cats were no strangers to reverb. Tess' original compositions came to life with electrical transmissions from Dan Mullen's lead guitar. The primal garage rock sound of 'Over and Over' was balanced by Tess' soft-spoken vocals. 'You Did Here Wrong' could have been plucked from any top shelf album of lost nuggets. 'In the Sound Room' points to endless possibilities of mind expansion. This is the good stuff. LSD before it was cut with strychnine. -- Blaine Schultz
First reissue of rare cassette-only underground neo-psychedelic punk steeped in Pebbles-era rock, from this Milwaukee band which featured Dan Mullin (Plasticland) on guitar and the talents -- songwriting and otherwise -- of iconic underground maven Tess (James Tessier). 'I Want Speed' shows The SilverBeats' affinity to West Coast psychedelia. And it's no coincidence that they cover the Human Expression's 'Calm Me Down,' rich with harmony vocal, and The Pretty Things' 'Midnight to Six (Man),' replacing the original's rough R 'n' B-edge with a slight psychedelic tinge -- a real showpiece for drummer Mike Hughes. Another killer is 'Over And Over,' penned by Tess (like all the other originals on this album). It layers beautiful, trippy guitar, a catchy vocal melody, lots of echo, strange effects, and weird sounds before it closes, and we move on to the jolly, jumping 'Love Comes Knockin.' Comes with an 8-page booklet featuring a description by journalist David Luhrssen of the Milwaukee underground music scene which produced Plasticland, Daszu, the band Ör, and the Violent Femmes, among others.

The post The Silverbeats (Black) appeared first on Guerssen Records.

]]> “The first time I saw the SilverBeats… the band took the cramped stage at the window near the front door. Fronted by James Tessier, who appeared to be the missing link between The Standells, the band’s sound was simple, fuzzy and perfect. These cats were no strangers to reverb. Tess’ original compositions came to life with electrical transmissions from Dan Mullen’s lead guitar. The primal garage rock sound of ‘Over and Over’ was balanced by Tess’ soft-spoken vocals. ‘You Did Here Wrong’ could have been plucked from any top shelf album of lost nuggets. ‘In the Sound Room’ points to endless possibilities of mind expansion. This is the good stuff. LSD before it was cut with strychnine. — Blaine Schultz
First reissue of rare cassette-only underground neo-psychedelic punk steeped in Pebbles-era rock, from this Milwaukee band which featured Dan Mullin (Plasticland) on guitar and the talents — songwriting and otherwise — of iconic underground maven Tess (James Tessier). ‘I Want Speed’ shows The SilverBeats’ affinity to West Coast psychedelia. And it’s no coincidence that they cover the Human Expression’s ‘Calm Me Down,’ rich with harmony vocal, and The Pretty Things’ ‘Midnight to Six (Man),’ replacing the original’s rough R ‘n’ B-edge with a slight psychedelic tinge — a real showpiece for drummer Mike Hughes. Another killer is ‘Over And Over,’ penned by Tess (like all the other originals on this album). It layers beautiful, trippy guitar, a catchy vocal melody, lots of echo, strange effects, and weird sounds before it closes, and we move on to the jolly, jumping ‘Love Comes Knockin.’ Comes with an 8-page booklet featuring a description by journalist David Luhrssen of the Milwaukee underground music scene which produced Plasticland, Daszu, the band Ör, and the Violent Femmes, among others.

The post The Silverbeats (Black) appeared first on Guerssen Records.

]]> Up from the sewers (Black) https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/up-from-the-sewers-black/ Wed, 06 Sep 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://wpguerssen-test.odoo.rgbconsulting.com/product/up-from-the-sewers-black/ Quintessential underground anarcho-Hippie, anti-establishment private press blast by a band (and commune) from Chicago c. 1970, with poetic, sometimes vicious lyrics (Dylan-esque, or Arthur Lee and Love? you decide), and funky, hard-edged bones. Yama & the Karma Dusters (a.k.a. the Euphoria Blimpworks Band) were inter-racial, anti-war, Stop the Bomb, free love Hippies, the wildest of the wild kids. They really cook on the up-tempo tracks, sounding like a cross between The Blues Project and Dylan's early electric period band circa 1966, augmented by a violin player. On the hard rockers, founding member Howard Berkman spits out protest without becoming precious, while the band simmers and sizzles. There are melodic folky ballads too, culminating in the gorgeous 'Hello Big City.' The band's ability to mix these elements into a coherent statement -- recorded in surprising fidelity -- solidify this an overlooked gem of the period. Need to know more? Check out the the massive 16-page gonzo memoir of their Hippie commune -- you can find out what happened when when Crazy Steve spiked the Gallo jug with acid!
*First legitimate reissue of this anti-establishment private press gem
*Comes with an 16-page booklet gonzo memoir of their Hippie commune, w/ tons of photos.

The post Up from the sewers (Black) appeared first on Guerssen Records.

]]> Quintessential underground anarcho-Hippie, anti-establishment private press blast by a band (and commune) from Chicago c. 1970, with poetic, sometimes vicious lyrics (Dylan-esque, or Arthur Lee and Love? you decide), and funky, hard-edged bones. Yama & the Karma Dusters (a.k.a. the Euphoria Blimpworks Band) were inter-racial, anti-war, Stop the Bomb, free love Hippies, the wildest of the wild kids. They really cook on the up-tempo tracks, sounding like a cross between The Blues Project and Dylan’s early electric period band circa 1966, augmented by a violin player. On the hard rockers, founding member Howard Berkman spits out protest without becoming precious, while the band simmers and sizzles. There are melodic folky ballads too, culminating in the gorgeous ‘Hello Big City.’ The band’s ability to mix these elements into a coherent statement — recorded in surprising fidelity — solidify this an overlooked gem of the period. Need to know more? Check out the the massive 16-page gonzo memoir of their Hippie commune — you can find out what happened when when Crazy Steve spiked the Gallo jug with acid!
*First legitimate reissue of this anti-establishment private press gem
*Comes with an 16-page booklet gonzo memoir of their Hippie commune, w/ tons of photos.

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]]>