David Gilmour (Photos)

PELL MELL (symphonic rock / Germany)

Pell Mell was a symphonic band from Marburg, Germany (Marburg is also the name of the debut album). The band (not to be confused with a 1980s American band of the same name)   was formed in 1971 by keyboard player Otto Pusch, bass player Jorg Gotzfried, Rudolf Schon on vocals, recorder, and guitar, drummer Mitch Kniesmeijer, and Thomas Schmitt on violin, guitar, and vocals. 

Pell Mell were often compared with Ekseption, Hawkwind, HP Lovecraft, the Nice and Emerson Lake and Palmer; they often borrowed classical themes and their sound much closer to the English progressive sound from the seventies than the typical Krautrock sound from that era.
The band released 5 albums, the last album “Moldau” was released in 1981, after that the curtain fell down for Pell Mell.





The first album is characterized by a rough edge, especially in the vocals. 

Subsequent albums would smooth out the edges.  Mellotron and classical themes are abundant. 

Over the next releases they would explore the realm of Mike Oldfield, and then settle into keyboard dominated symphonic. The old psychedelic sounds completely gone. Much of the music is considered some of the best German symphonic ever recorded. 


The usual lineup changes occurred over time, and the band began to disintegrate after 1978's "Only a Star." 
Thomas Schmitt formed the '80s style rock band Skyrider, with former band mate Otto Pusch. They released one self-titled album, and then took back the name Pell Mell. This incarnation released "Moldau" in 1981. However, the old magic was gone, and that is where the Pell Mell story ends.

The just released beautiful boxed set is a real historical document, it contains all 5 Pell Mell albums and also the 2 Skyrider albums, so the second Skyrider album (“the lost album”) finally gets its release.


Members:

Thomas Schmitt (vocals, violin, flute, Mellotron, 1971-) 
Otto Pusch (piano, organ, 1971-75) 
Bruno Kniedmeijer (drums, 1971-) 
Rudolf Schön (vocals, percussion, guitar, 1971-) 
Jörg Götzfried (bass, 1971-75), 
Mitch Kniesmeijer (drums)
Dietrich J. Noll (organ, piano, 1973-75) 
Andy Kirnberger (guitar, 1971-72)
Ralph Fricke (guitar, 1979-81) 
Ralph Lippmann (keyboards, vocals, guitar, 1975-79) 
Cherry Hochdörfer (keyboards, 1975-79) 
Götz Dräger (bass, 1975-79)


Marburg (full album, 1972):  http://youtu.be/vFIrYcG5BNw

Discography:

Marburg - 1972
From The New World - 1973 
Rhapsody - 1976 
Only A Star - 1978
Moldau - 1981

Mars Red Sky (stoner rock, psychedelic rock / France)

Biography:

Mars Red Sky is a French stoner/psychedelic rock from Bordeaux;

On a winter night in 2007, Julien Pras and Jimmy Kinast met at a tiny club in Bordeaux for the Berlin Vs Brooklyn show, a repetitive math-rock duet. The surprise that awaits them is huge: behind his drums, Benoit Busser is a perfect fusion of John Bonham and Todd Trainer. Blown away by his technic, Julien and Jimmy will imagine on their side the band they could form together and finally achieve their musical fantasies.

By this time, Julien Pras was currently promoting the 5th album of his band Calc and was dreaming of a noisy psychedelia with Big muff pedals and plenty of reverberated guitars. 
On his side, Jimmy Kinast who held his bass during the 90’s in several noisy pop bands is feeding the same desire.
It won’t take long before Benoit and Julien will start working together.
After three jubilant and productive rehearsals ( two tracks are then developed) Jimmy join them behind the bass. Obssesed by the 70’s, from Black Sabbath to Led zeppelin, and more recently by Dead Meadows and the band witch, the three of them will form Mars Red Sky…

The alchemy is here and they will soon be writting many songs together. Jimmy and Julien are sharing the microphone, their universe is heavy and aerial at the same time, especially based on the use of a particular tuning, a good half-dozen semitones below normal.

Encouraged by the first concerts they played in Bordeaux and the response they received from a well surprised audience, they decided to record their songs properly, in the stones of this magical Spanish place called the Bardenas desert.

Pierre Fillon, in charge of the recording and the mixing, will help to shape and colour the whole project.

In 2011, Mars Red Sky was finally ready to conquer the clubs all over Europe.

Members: 

Julien Pras
Jimmy Kinast
Benoit Busser



Way To Rome: http://youtu.be/Ry3upbtpmK0

Discography:

- Mars Red Sky
- Be My Guide

Quotes

“When we feel, a kind of lyric is sung in our heart. 
When we think, a kind of music is played in our mind. 
In harmony, both create a beautiful symphony of life.” 
- Toba Beta


“Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words. ” 
- Robert G. Ingersoll


“If you're going to play it out of tune, then play it out of tune properly.” 
- Mark E. Smith


“For the record, folks; I never took a shit on stage and the closest I ever came to eating shit anywhere was at a Holiday Inn buffet in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1973.” 
- Frank Zappa


“There is an hour of the afternoon when the plain is on the verge of saying something. It never says, or perhaps it says it infinitely, or perhaps we do not understand it, or we understand it and it is untranslatable as music.” 
- Jorge Luis Borges


“Music has power to create a universe or to destroy a civilization.” 
- Katherine Neville


“My first wife said, 'It's either that
guitar or me,' you know -- and I give
you three guesses which one went.” 
- Jeff Beck


“Now I am going to reveal to you something which is very pure, a totally white thought. It is always in my heart; it blooms at each of my steps... The Dance is love, it is only love, it alone, and that is enough... I, then, it is amorously that I dance: to poems, to music but now I would like to no longer dance to anything but the rhythm of my soul.” 
- Isadora Duncan


“Music is what tell us that the human race is greater than we realize.” 
- Napoleon Bonaparte


“Our biological rhythms are the symphony of the cosmos, music embedded deep within us to which we dance, even when we can't name the tune.” 
- Deepak Chopra


“The Universe is making music all the time.” 
- Tom Waits


“Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music” 
- Sergei Rachmaninov


“You know what punk is? a bunch of no-talent guys who really, really want to be in a band. Nobody reads music, nobody plays the mandolin, and you're too dumb to write songs about mythology or Middle-earth. So what's your style? Three chords, cranked out fast and loud and distorted because your instruments are crap and you can't play them worth a damn. And you scream your lungs out to cover up the fact that you can't sing. It should suck, but here's the thing - it doesn't. Rock and roll can be so full of itself, but not this. It's simple and angry and raw.” 
- Gordon Korman  (Born to Rock)

Black Widow (prog rock, rock / England)

Black Widow are a rock band that formed in Leicester, England in September 1969. The band were mostly known for its early use of satanic and occult imagery in their music and stage act. The band were often compared with the better-known Heavy metal band Black Sabbath, but the bands were only superficially similar.

Years active: 1966–1973, 2007–present

History:

The band originally formed in 1966 as Pesky Gee! with Kay Garrett (lead vocals), Kip Trevor (lead vocals, guitar and harmonica), Chris Dredge (guitar), Bob Bond (bass guitar), Clive Box (drums and piano), Jess "Zoot" Taylor (organ), Clive Jones (saxophone and flute). Jim Gannon (guitar, vocals and vibes), replaced Dredge in Spring 1969. 
The band split in September 1969.

The band released one album for Pye Records as Pesky Gee!, 1969's Exclamation Mark, before Garrett left the band. The remaining band members continued on as Black Widow and released their debut album Sacrifice in 1970. 

Perhaps better known than their music was the band's use of occult references in their music and their live performances, which were made more controversial with the mock sacrifice of a nude woman. These acts at time were very shocking but now a common use in the underground music scene, black metal. The band attracted further controversy by consulting infamous witch Alex Sanders for advice.
Controversy aside, Sacrifice reached No. 32 on the UK Albums Chart. 

The band also performed at the Whitsun Festival at Plumpton, UK, and at The Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. 

By 1971, the band had moved away from its darker occult imagery in an effort to gain a wider audience, which was unsuccessful. Having replaced Bond and Box with Geoff Griffith and Romeo Challenger, Black Widow released the self-titled Black Widow album in 1971 and Black Widow III in 1972 (by which time Gannon had left, replaced by John Culley) to general disinterest before being dropped by CBS Records. The band recorded an album, Black Widow IV, later in 1972 without a recording contract. It was not released then due to the band breaking up, shortly after replacing lead vocalist Kip Trevor, with another singer known as Rick "E" (born Frank Karuba; formerly of 'Plum Nelly').
The album was finally released in 1997 on the Mystic Records label. In 1999 the original recordings of their debut album, made before Garrett left the band, were released as Return to the Sabbat. In 2000 Black Widow Records (an Italian label) released King of the Witches: Black Widow Tribute featuring bands such as Death SS and Church of Misery as well as tracks featuring original members Kip Trevor and Clive Jones. In 2003 Sanctuary Records released an Anthology 2xCD.
In 2007 Mystic Records released an unreleased concert film Demons Of The Night Gather To See Black Widow - Live as a DVD. The film included Black Widow's entire Sacrifice album show from 1970. The interest towards Black Widow has been growing and because of that Clive Jones and Geoff Griffith started to work on new Black Widow music. 
Paolo "Apollo" Negri from an Italian hard rock band Wicked Minds agreed to join the project on keyboards. The latest Black Widow studio album has a title Sleeping With Demons. Tony Martin is featured on the album as a guest vocalist on the song Hail Satan.

Black Widow's most popular song Come to the Sabbat has been covered by many bands and artists including Timberjack (Top 10 hit in New Zealand in 1971), Jon the Postman, Bewitched, Death SS and Propagandhi. Clive Jones of Black Widow together with Mark Pollard & Kevin Brooks wrote an Abba tribute song "Hey You Ring Me Tonigt" recorded by the Swedish band The Airwaves and released 2008 on their 3 tracker CD with the same name (Riverside Records Bonnier Amigo Distribution).
In 2012 guitar player John Culley appeared on a cover version of an old Black Widow song You're So Wrong on Corvus Stone's debut album.


Members:

Kay Garrett
Clive Jones
Geoff Griffith
Paolo "Apollo" Negri


Past members:

Kay Garrett
Kip Trevor
Bob Bond
Clive Box
Jess "Zoot" Taylor
Jim Gannon

Romeo Challenger




Sacrifice (full album, 1970): http://youtu.be/LPlTP6p4vrI

Discography:


Albums:

Exclamation Mark LP (1969) as Pesky Gee
Return to the Sabbat LP (1969)
Sacrifice LP (1970)
Black Widow LP (1971)
III LP (1972)
IV LP (1973)
Sleeping with Demons CD (2011)


Albums after the break-up:

IV CD (1997), recorded in 1972
Return to the Sabbat CD (1998)
Demons of the Night Gather To See Black Widow - Live CD/DVD (2008)

See's The Light Of Day LP/CD (2012), unreleased live and studio performances recorded in 1971

Psychic Ills (psychedelic rock, experimental rock / USA)

Psychic Ills are an experimental rock/psychedelic rock band from New York, USA. The current line-up consists of Tres Warren (guitar, vocals), Elizabeth Hart (bass), Chris Millstein (drums), Scott Ryan Davis (Guitar), and Scott Davis (keyboard).

Years active: 2003 - present


History:

Psychic Ills released their first full length album, Dins, in early 2006. The album's cover art is German Fluxus artist Wolf Vostell's painting Three Hairs and Shadow.
The Village Voice named Psychic Ills "Best Psych Rock Band" in their 2006 Best of NYC issue.
In early 2008, Psychic Ills performed in Marfa, Texas for the opening of the Hello Meth Lab in the Sun art installation and at the Contemporary Art Museum in Bordeaux, France for the IAO festival. 
In 2009 they released Mirror Eye and toured the US with Butthole Surfers. For 2011's Hazed Dream, the band moved to Sacred Bones Records and opted for a more streamlined, accessible approach.
In Spring 2013 the band released their fourth album One Track Mind and toured Europe afterwards.


Members of Psychic Ills have been involved in various other projects. Elizabeth Hart plays bass with Effi Briest and performs with the improvisational dance and music ensemble Skint. Tres Warren collaborates with visual artist Taketo Shimada as Messages and with Drew McDowall of Coil as Compound Eye. Former drummer Brian Tamborello participated in the Boredoms Boadrum projects and played drums on Mike Wexler's record Sun Wheel.


Members:

Elizabeth Hart
Tres Warren
Chris Millstein
Scott Ryan Davis
Scott Davis


Past members:

Tom Gluibizzi
Brian Tamborello

Jimy SeiTang


Mind Daze:

Discography:

Albums:

(2006) Dins, The Social Registry
(2009) Mirror Eye, The Social Registry
(2011) Hazed Dream, Sacred Bones Records
(2013) One Track Mind, Sacred Bones Records

Singles & EPs:

(2003) Mental Violence I 7-Inch Single, Self Released
(2005) Mental Violence II: Diamond City 12-Inch EP, includes a remix by Sonic Boom The Social Registry
(2006) Early Violence CD compilation of hard-to-find singles The Social Registry
(2010) Astral Occurrence 12-Inch EP, The Spring Press
(2010) Catoptric 12-Inch EP, The Social Registry
(2010) Telesthetic Tape C40 Cassette, Skrot Up
(2010) FRKWYS VOL. 4: PSYCHIC ILLS 12-Inch Remix EP with remixes by Juan Atkins, Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers and Hans-Joachim Irmler of Faust RVNG INTL.
(2011) Telesthetic Tape 12" (vinyl reissue of Telesthetic Tape Cassette) Skrot Up

(2012) Zoned/Take Me With You Split 7-Inch Single with Moon Duo Sacred Bones Records

Ramases (psych. garage prog rock / England)

Biography:

Ramases was the creation and alter-ego of Barrington Frost (not Martin Raphael as has been erroneously reported). He was inspired to assume the mantle of the Egyptian Pharaoh of whom he believed himself a reincarnation, and take up a musical career. Early singles (recorded with his wife, Dorothy Frost aka Selket) failed to make any impact.

Of all the artists who passed through the cult-filled portals of the Vertigo label during the early '70s, few have attracted more attention than Ramases. 
His first album for the label, Space Hymns, was recorded with the nascent 10cc as backing musicians, but even more importantly, it represents one of the most spellbinding releases in the label's entire catalog, a conceptual epic that actually leaves you believing that what Ramases himself believed was true -- he really was the reincarnation of the Egyptian deity whose name he had adopted.

Born in Sheffield, England, Martin Raphael was working as a central heating salesman when he and his wife, Selket, emerged onto the late-'60s psychedelic scene, with an act that was as eye-catching as their legend. A one-off deal with CBS saw them cut the single "Crazy Eye"/"Mind's Eye" in 1968. According to Ramases, the A-side was actually called "Quasar One"; it was retitled by a crackling telephone line.
Released under the name Ramases & Selket (conjuring images of some kind of bizarre Sonny & Cher), the single did little, and the pair moved on to Major Minor, which released "Love You"/"Gold Is the Ring" later that same year, this time under the name Ramases & Seleka. Again the record fared poorly, but Ramases' musical vision continued expanding and, in 1970, the duo signed with Vertigo.
Recorded at Strawberry Studios in Manchester, the ensuing Space Hymns LP remains one of bassist Graham Gouldman's favorite sessions, out of all those that the future 10cc undertook during the early '70s. "It was great. It was a really fine album to make. We would sit down on the floor with acoustic guitars, that kind of vibe, very hippy and mystical."
The album retains that vibe, both across the music and via a majestic sleeve painting from Roger Dean. But Space Hymns sold no more than most of Vertigo's other releases (two singles, "Balloon" and "Jesus Come Back," disappeared likewise), and Ramases slipped from view for the next three years.

He and Selket resurfaced in 1975, releasing the astounding Glass Top Coffin album and, thanks to the 10cc connection, looking set to enjoy at least a degree of success. Unfortunately it didn't work out like that, and the pair returned to obscurity. Ramases died by his own hand at his Felixstowe home in 1978. His death was not widely reported in musical circles until the early 1990s.


Space Hymns 1971 (Full Album):

Discography:

Space Hymns (1971)
Glass Top Coffin (1975)

The Orange Alabaster Mushroom (psych rock, psych pop / Canada)

The Orange Alabaster Mushroom is a one-man band project by Ottawa, Ontario-based singer/songwriter Greg Watson. While a member of the Fiends (not the Los Angeles punk group, but a group of Ottawa-based garage rockers), Watson began recording his own, more psychedelically influenced solo material in early 1991. Although Watson continued his home recordings for a number of years and even placed a few on obscure psych compilations, the first Orange Alabaster Mushroom release was a four-track EP, The Psychedelic Bedroom, in 1996. That EP, which included the theme song/statement of intent "We Are the Orange Alabaster Mushroom," wasn't followed up for nearly three years, until the single "The Slug," backed with "Ethel Tripped a Mean Gloss," appeared in 1999. The limited-edition LP compilation Space and Time: A Compendium of the Orange Alabaster Mushroom was released by Earworm Records in 2000. Hidden Agenda reissued Space and Time in October 2001 with three new previously unreleased tracks.

This one-man band reproductions of classic circa-1967 psych-pop are so dead-on perfect in every detail that one could play this collection of 1991-1998 recordings for any fan of Nuggets-era obscurities and they’d think it was authentic circa 1967 psych-pop. Farfisa organ, gloriously fuzzy guitars, and rattlesnake percussion (plus occasionally the obligatory sitar and trippy backwards tapes) support Watson’s deliciously whiny vocals, but this is no mere period recreation. Unlike a lot of contemporary artists who try to work in this style, Watson doesn’t forget what made the best psych-pop singles work so well: strong melodies and immediate hooks. Songs like the “Itchykoo Park”-like music hall amble “Sunny Day” and the statement of intent “We Are the Orange Alabaster Mushroom” capture the listener through their unabashed catchiness. Leaning more toward the fanciful side of British psychedelia than the comparatively drab San Francisco style (much more Syd Barrett than Grace Slick), this is an utterly charming collection likely to delight any psych-pop fan.


Ethel Tripped a Mean Gloss:

Albums: 

Space And Time: A Compendium of the Orange Alabaster Mushroom (2002)

Jim Morrison (Paris, July 3, 1971) R.I.P.

This is in Paris, Rue Beautreillis 17,  where Jim died! 

Tame Impala (psych rock, neo-psychedelia, dream pop, space rock / Australia)

Tame Impala  is a band from Perth, Australia. It is the psychedelic rock project of Kevin Parker. They are signed to Modular Records. The band came to prominence in 2010 with the release of their debut album Innerspeaker, and received critical acclaim for their 2012 album Lonerism. 





Their name refers to the impala, a medium sized antelope. They like to see themselves as "a steady flowing psychedelic groove rock band that emphasizes dream-like melody."

Years active 2007–present

Biography:

Early career:


Tame Impala was formed from Kevin Parker's original blues/jazz/psychedelic band, the Dee Dee Dums. The Dee Dee Dums consisted of Parker (guitar) and Luke Epstein (drums). The band achieved second place at the 2005 AmpFest and won third place that year in the state final of The Next Big Thing. In October 2006 Epstein was replaced by drummer Sam Devenport, Epstein going on to play with Sugarpuss. The Dee Dee Dums went on to win the Western Australia state final of the National Campus Band Competition. In late 2007 the band renamed to Tame Impala unveiling another new drummer and replacing the two-guitar attack for the more traditional guitar/bass/drums format. Devenport went on to pursue an acting career.

Members:

Live:

- Kevin Parker – vocals, guitar & kazoo (2007–present)
- Jay "Gumby" Watson – drums & backing vocals (2007–2011), synth, backing vocals & occasional additional guitar (2012–present)
- Dominic Simper – bass (2007–2010), guitar & synth (2010–present)
- Cam Avery – bass & backing vocals (2013–present)
- Julien Barbagallo – drums & backing vocals (2012–present)

Studio:

- Kevin Parker – vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keys (plays all instruments on almost all recordings)
- Jay Watson – drums, keys, guitar
- Dominic Simper – percussion, bass, guitar, effects

Past members:


- Nick "Paisley Adams" Allbrook – guitar & keys (2009–2010), bass (2010–2013)

Discography:

Albums:

Innerspeaker (2010)
"Lonerism" (2012)

EP's:

Tame Impala [H.I.T.S. 003] - Hole in the Sky (2008) (12" vinyl)

Singles:

"Sundown Syndrome"/"Remember Me" (2009) (7" vinyl)
"Solitude Is Bliss" (2010)
"Lucidity" (2010)
"Expectation" (2010)
"Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind" (2011)
"Apocalypse Dreams (2012)

"Elephant" (2012)