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IRENE SCHWEITZERIrene Schweitzer is a renowned jazz pianist from Switzerland. Up to 1967 her band featured future Guru Guru members Mani Neumeier and Uli Trepte and played a very spontaneous kind of free jazz. The album Jazz Meets India was recorded in October 1967 and featured Manfred Schoof (trumpet, cornet), Barney Wilen (sax), Uli Trepte (bass), Mani Neumeier (drums), Dewan Motihar (sitar, vocals), Keshav Sathe (tabla) and Kusum Thakur (tambura).
SCORPIONSThis well known heavy rock band is listed here mainly due to the significance of their first album Lonesome Crow (1972), released on the green Brain label. From the album's catalogue number, you will see that this was the first album on the Brain 1,000 series! Their debut was way better than those albums that brought Scorpions international fame - much more experimental and 'progressive' in sound! Their ace guitarist Michael Schenker left soon after this album for international adventures with the heavy metal group U.F.O. (their first albums were also great!). He'd met this group when Scorpions supported U.F.O.'s German-tour. This left Scorpions under the command of Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker, who re-launched the band with Fly To The Rainbow on RCA in 1974. Their new guitarist Ulrich Roth provided some interesting moments on their albums up to 1978. Scorpions gradually established themselves as the leading heavy metal band in Germany as their creative energy decreased and horrible «heavy ballads» (their trade mark) became their trademark.
SECOND LIFEA heavy blues-progressive power trio. They recorded (in Windrose Studios, Hamburg) one interesting, self-titled album for Metronome in 1971. Best cut was the 20 minute long suite "Second Life". It started as a folky, acoustic song, building into a heavy guitar solo section similar to Jimi Hendrix or Ten Years After followed by a long drum solo. Side two had four fine hard rock songs. Second Life's album is now very rare, fetching prices in excess of 150 DEM. After more than twenty years, the cover lamination is peeling off on every copy I have ever seen, so don't expect to find a mint cover even if you're lucky enough to trace the record! In 1972 the group changed their name to Tiger B. Smith and recorded two inferior albums for Vertigo and Bacillus.
SECOND MOVEMENTA late seventies keyboard and guitar-based progressive band from Coburg, with roots back to the late sixties. Blind Man's Mirror was privately pressed. Just 700 copies were released. It featured typical, melodic late seventies style progressive rock with symphonic touches.
SEEDOGAnother of those spacious Delta Akustic albums, attempting to make the listening pleasure of headphones a 360 degrees 3D-delight! This album was dedicated to the first explorer of the electronic universe: Klaus Schulze!
SESSELBERGThis duo released a rare private pressing in 1973. Synthetic Space was an album full of experimental electronics, to file along Kluster and Conrad Schnitzler. In contrast to these, Sesselberg's compositions were relatively short. It is a curiosity for fans of the pre-industrial, experimental rock.
PETER SEILERHeavily influenced by the classical rock of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Peter Seiler led the symphonic rock trio Tritonus through their whole lifespan from 1973 to 1979. Before recording the first Tritonus-album. Seiler released his solo album Keyboards And Friends, helped by Tritonus bass player Ronald Brand and saxophonist Gerd Kothe. The album received bad press, as it was recognised as an ill-fated free music experiment.
S.F.F.This trio was the leading German band of the instrumental symphonic rock genre of the late seventies. Their music can he compared to a more easy-going King Crimson or Shylock. Instrumentally the mellotrons, string ensembles and moogs were given more space than the guitars, a quite typical trademark of such bands. Their Symphonic Pictures (1976) was recorded with Dieter Dierks at the Dierks Studio. It was planned that Frank Zappa was to produce the band, but he had to record his own album (Zoot Allures) at the same time as Symphonic Pictures was to be recorded. Arguably, this was SFF’s finest achievement and indispensable for lovers of the mellotron - Fuhrs and Frohling both played this instrument! Frohling also had a self-built double neck Les Paul guitar and Rickenbauer bass combination.
SIDDHARTAThis group recorded a melodic and almospheric album with some nice guitar parts in 1975. Certainly a very rare progtessive rock album!
SILBERBARTAn underground heavy progressive power trio that recorded a legendary collector's item titled 4 Times Sound Razing. This album contained just four songs: "Chub Chub Cherry" (a short heavy rock song like a freaky Cream), "Brain Brain" (16 minutes of acid nightmares, continuously shifting tempo in an amphetamine-driven mayhem), "God" (a much more melodic attempt with powerful guitar arrangement, sounding like Black Sabbath meet Hendrix with a collective paranoia) and "Head Tear Of The Drunken Sun" (finished it all with 12 minutes of hazardous power trio pyrotechnics). As you will have gathered, this is an extreme album in many ways: the raw power, the cranky vocals, the restless arrangements, not forgetting the ugly silver gnome on the front sleeve! All trace of Silberbart disappeared after this album, which in itself gained them no recognition at all. A real shame, as some of their ideas were quite remarkable. Silberbart were a true power-trio. Now, go out and hunt for their album - you'll need about 250 DEM!
SILOAHBoth albums were re-released on CD by Lost Pipe Dreams in 1993.
Siloah came from Munich and were the brainchild of one Thom Atgauer. They made two extremely rare private pressings, regarded as among the most frenzied on the German underground scene. Some dealers have described their first album Saureadler (1970, the title means 'acid eagle') as 'being even wilder than Kalacakra', and it isn't difficult to agree with this after listening to the six tracks. This is an acoustic ethno-psychedelic head trip. Guests play drums, flute and guitar on certain tracks. Apart from the short introduction and ending, the album had "Aluminium Wind" (18:00). There are some rumours that members of Amon Duul were involved in these recordings. Their second album
Sukramgurk Playin’ (1972) was definitely an underground classic - a mostly instrumental album with lots of primitive, psychedelic organ sounds. "Milk Blue Mind" (16:15) covers side one with stunning jamming. This really sounds like a late sixties organ combo freaking out on solid doses of acid! Siloah must have been inspired by some rambling American sixties punk rockers. The sound balance is a bit strange, the lyrics are almost inaudible. Side two starts off with "Magic Carpet Ride To The Alps" (2:38), a short number in the same vein and continues with "Feast Of The Pickpockets" (8:39), slow meditative organ chords gradually incorporating bass and drums, and "Stony" (4:26), which bears up its name. "A Landlady's Dessert" (0:46) is the short conclusion of the album. Siloah on this record were: If you want to check out Siloah, save up 500 DEM to purchase each record.
SITTING BULLA quartet, probably originating from the Hamburg-area. In 1971 their album Trip Away, containing 10 tracks in all, was recorded at the legendary Windrose Studio in Hamburg. Most of them had a laid-back, American West Coast feel, in some ways comparable to the music of Quicksilver Messenger Service. Their sound was dominated by electric and acoustic guitars with occasional keyboards. I haven't got the names of the group members, as they weren't mentioned on the record sleeve! An original copy should be yours for about 75 DEM. The group also released three singles: "Hopeless Love" coupled with "Indian Fate" (1971) was taken from their album, "Sleepy Tom-Tom" coupled with "Raindrops" (1972) and "Motorcycle Mama" coupled with "Your Lovin' Man" (1972) were two rarities released on Phillips.
SKYLINEThis was a short-lived group, formed by several ex-members of Virus. Skyline also appeared on the festival sampler Urnsonst & Draussen 1976. Their album comprised jazzy hard rock with some fine guitar parts.
SNAKE IN THE GRASSAnother of those vanished rarities. Judging by the title and year of release, this is an album of the late beat-age. Its musical value is open to question! The Opp-label also released the first Hairy Chapter album Eyes in 1970.
SPARIFANKALA strange and freaky Bavarian political folk group led by Carl-Ludwig Reichert and Tillmann Obermaier. With third member Florian Labor Sparifankal gave their first concert in 1972. Three years later Sparifankal founded the alternative label (releasing mainly jazz-rock and polit-rock) April, along with musicians from Embryo, Ton Steine Scherben, Missus Beastley and Checkpoint Charlie. Sparifankal recorded a live show in February 1976. It was released as Bayern Rock (1976) - the first release on April. By this time the band had expanded to a quintet with Gunther Sonderwald and Stefan Liedke. They played raw and unpolished music, polit-rock that left a lot to be desired, especially the vocals. The rather weird lyrics were sung in a Bavarian dialect.
SPERRMULL Sperrmull’s only album has all the musical variety you'll ever desire from an early seventies German album - the jolly mandolin tune on "Me And My Girlfriend", Floydian effects on "No Freak Out", Deep Purple-like guitar and organ lines on "Rising Up" and powerful solo work with dynamic arrangements on "Right Now" (the longest track). The rest, "Land Of The Rocking Sun" and "Pat Casey", were more conventional rock songs, and could very well have been the A and B sides to a catchy single (but weren't!). The recordings were done at Dierks Studio, Stommeln, produced by a certain Chazadu, surely a more famous character appearing under a pseudonym. Their album is one of the rarest of the whole Brain 1,000-series, mint originals selling for more than 250 DEM. In 1989, a limited edition of 1,000 copies (on black Brain) was made available through the influence of Second Battle. This edition sold out quickly, so the album is once again hard to obtain. Probably a CD-release of this classic will appear sooner or later!
DIRK STEFFENSDirk Steffens was for a short period (from 1973 to 1974) guitarist in Birth Control. In Autumn 1975 he began work on his first solo album The Seventh Step (1976), a powerful collection of hard rock songs, well performed by Steffens (guitar), Rainer Baumann (guitar on some tracks). Ian Cussick (bass, vocals, who'd also worked with Lucifer's Friend) and Rolf Kohler (drums, percussion, who previously worked with Achim Reichel). Steffens revealed himself as a technically competent guitarist.
STREETMARKStreetmark were a highly talented group led by Dorothea Raukes, one of the few female characters of German progressive rock. Unfortunately, her group was constantly crippled by personnel changes. This crew recorded Nordland (1976), an astonishing debut dominated by keyboards with classical references. The album included a remarkable symphonic version of "Eleanor Rigby", completely different from both The Beatles and Vanilla Fudge!
STRINXA relatively unknown group and album, I'm afraid. Could it be progressive jazz-rock?
STUDIKERThis is really something to avoid for all of you: Studiker were an awful German soft country-rock combo! Their album was generously filled up with 11 examples of musical garbage. Organist Werner Seeker later became a member of Randy Pie.
SUBA counterfeit vinyl re-issue also exists (limited to 300 copies).
The group Sub were long thought by collectors (including myself) to be Swiss, but the liner notes on Penner's re-issue finally confirmed they were German (from Munich)! Katel, Wilhelm and Stimmel had previously played together in a beat band named The TBC Ltd. Sub In Concert (1970), released in Italy in an edition of 1,000 copies without the band's knowledge or approval, has fetched astronomical prices lately (1,000 DEM plus), popping up on every progressive collector's want-list. Side one featured the raunchy "Sub Theme I" (18:17) full of furious organ and guitar work. Side two included six shorter tracks; two of these, "Ma-mari-huana" and "Off", also appeared on a German single in 1970 (Rex Records 2027). The A-side also appeared on a British compilation named The Magic Rocking Horse (Bam-Caruso KIRI 106, 1988) This is pure acid freak-beat music with heavy guitars, dense atmosphere and echo effects, great stuff! As a whole, the album is good but do not fork out for an original copy! The CD re-issue of their album also featured an acetate single by The TDC Ltd., alternate versions of "Off" and "Ma-mari-huana" and a cover version of Spencer Davis Group's "I'm A Man". Lutz Ludwig later joined Amos Key and he played the drums on their album First Key (1972).
SUBJECT ESQ.The band began its life in the mid-sixties as The Subjects, playing beat music. In 1969 the name was changed to Subject Esq. They managed to make a great album with complex arrangements, rich instrumental textures and multi-voice vocals - a real fusion of jazz, rock, classical and blues. Instrumentally their sound was dominated by organ, multi-tracked sax and guitars. Highly recommended! The band returned to the spotlight in 1974 with a slightly changed line-up as Sahara.
SUNBIRDSThe band of Klaus Weiss, who was later to found the percussive jazz rock-project Niagara. In the early sixties, Weiss played drums in the Doldinger's Quartet. Phillip Catherine played guitar on both albums by Sunbirds - which I unfortunately haven't heard! Reputedly they comprised a typical German type of jazz- rock fusion.