Classic Rock 383 Items

Giacomo “Mino” di Martino started his musical career in several early 1960s Italian beat bands. By 1968 he had found enormous success with pop superstars I Giganti. After a brief split in 1970 –during which Mino formed Il Supergruppo with Ricky Gianco and other greats of the Italian scene– he came back to I Giganti in 1971. With them and with new advanced ideas that set the band pretty far away from the sophisticated pop and beat sounds they had been so successful with, they would record the amazing Terra in Bocca conceptual LP, an adventurous experimental album that explored the obscure connections between the Italian state and the mafia. A delicate topic full of political criticism which also found them having to fight censorship –it was played only once in the radio. This fact, along with the advanced new sound probably being too far ahead from the mainstream audience’s taste, turned the record into a commercial flop. Nowadays Terra in Bocca is a highly regarded album among critics, afficionados and collectors, and a pretty seminal one for the Italian scene of the seventies, since it can even be seen as a precursor to the works on the Cramps label. Gianni Sassi, producer and photographer who founded Cramps was involved in the release of Terra in Bocca –his is the amazing cover concept.

After the Terra in Bocca experience, Mino’s will was to keep exploring new musical paths and free his mind to experimentation. Along with his wife, actress and singer Edda “Terra” di Benedetto, they formed the Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale, just after the brief post-Giganti project Telaio Magnetico (with Franco Batiatto, among others) was over. The Albergo was a venue where artists from diverse disciplines, mainly musica and theatre, could meet and create works together.

On the musical side of the community, Mino and Terra explored the cosmic sonorities that were coming from Germany and mixed them with the Italian experimental scene of names like Franco Battiato, Luciano Berio or Roberto Cacciapaglia. It is from the sessions that took place in the Albergo from 1974 onwards that the Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale LP came out. Originally released in 1978 the compositions had been made during those years of exploration, the goal not being the release of an album but the aim to explore new sounds and experiment with music. Eventually it was decided to present a sample of all that work, and a few copies of the Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale LP were privately pressed.

The record sleeve and notes on the insert reivindicate the fight against nuclear power. The music is dominated by Mino’s keyboards, creating amazing space sounds reminiscent of those from 1950s and 1960s science fiction B movies brought to the most avantgardist experimentation of the moment, exploring new sounds with the newest keyboards available. This intriguing background sets the athmosphere for Terra’s voice to improvise all over.

This is a 500 copies only reissue, housed in its original artwork with the addition of a bonus 7" EP, a reproduction of a giant original poster and 3 inserts.

Neil Young finally releases his 1975 album "Homegrown" which was shelved back then due to him feeling uncomfortable with it being to personal.

Here's a collection of rare psychedelic/freakbeat tracks from such bands like The Kinetic, The Factory, Steerpike, State of Micky & Tommy, Cain, Nimrod and more. This is for fans of these 80s and 90s cult psych comps like the ones on Tiny Alice Records, the Justafixation series, Voyage Through the Sugarcube etc.

Famous for their freaked out ride down “Tobbaco Road” (included on the now legendary “A Fistful Of Fuzz” comp), Peabody Co. were a mysterious US band who left behind a set of 10” acetates, collected here for the first time. Late 60s acid-punk / garage-psych, featuring seven self-penned songs plus three terrific cover versions of “I Can’t Explain” (The Who), “Let’s Live For Today” (Rokes / Grass Roots) and the aforementioned “Tobbaco Road” (based on the Blues Magoos cover but including an extended crazed theremin/drum freak out!).
NYC psych collector Mike Ascherman recalls how he came to acquire the acetates:
"Pyramid Records was a classic small used record store that opened in 1982 or 1983 and was open for about ten years. It was a gold mine for psych and private press LPs in a time when there was virtually no competition in the City for those. On the day it opened, psych collector/dealer Paul Major walked in and found a copy of Gandalf the Grey. That was but the tip of the iceberg."
"Not long after, I made my first trip there one day after work, and it immediately became my favorite store. Over the years, I became friends with both owners. As a result, I was often given the opportunity to see the new psych arrivals before they were placed in the bins in addition to my usual digging through the store. This led to me being able to buy the first known copies of such gems as Daybreak on RPC (offered to me) and the first BLO LP (2 copies, one the same day as I found my only copy ever of Spirits & Worm - all for $15 each)."
"One day in 1990, I came into the store and was shown a set of 10" acetates that one of the owners had just unearthed in one of his well-guarded secret digging spots. He asked me if I'd ever heard of a band called Peabody Co., to which I replied I had not. He then played their cover of Tobacco Road and I was instantly hooked. He then offered the set to me at a moderately hefty but very reasonable price. It took me about two seconds to hand him the cash. The rest is, as they say, history, leading up to now, when they are finally being given the LP release they should have had over 50 years ago. Many thanks to Alex and Out-sider for making a dream become reality."

Türküola proudly presents a brand new Cem Karaca album where most of the songs made their premieres inside this release. From the original masters of Türküola, we will be hearing Apaşlar, Ferdy Klein and even Dervişan era of Cem Karaca with English lyrics. As the opening track, we hear “Mutlaka Yavrum” which he recorded with Dervişan in 1975 which is really a political piece also with English lyrics. Karaca tells the stories of the children in refugee camps because of the Palestine and Israel conflict. The English versions of “Kendim Ettim Kendim Buldum”, “Emmioğlu”, “Muhtar” and “Baba” have the same playback with their Turkish versions but this time directly and faithfully transferred from their original masters. These tracks were recorded with Ferdy Klein Orchestra in 1970. The Turkish versions of these songs were previously released but the English ones were in the treasure box till now. “Tears”(Resimdeki Gözyaşları), “No No No” (Emrah 1970), “Why” (Oy Babo) and “Istanbul” (Istanbul’u Dinliyorum) are the recordings of Apaşlar with the support of Ferdy Klein Orchestra dated 1968 and the English versions were also released in the same era as two separate singles. In this album, we also hear instrumental tracks played by Apaşlar with the support of Ferdy Klein Orchestra namely “Memories of Marmara” (Emrah 1970) where vocal parts are replaced with strings, “Laila’s Dream” (Resimdeki Gözyaşalrı-Tears) where vocal parts are given with brass and solo sax, “Oy Bana Bana” where vocal parts are replaced with electric guitar and sax. These three songs were previously released in the LP of The Bosporus Sound Orchestra named “Laila’s Dream” which had been released by United Artists, Liberty, and Türkofon before. The Bosporus Sound Orchestra was, of course, Ferdy Klein’s pseudonym for his orchestra. Thanks to Türküola for making these legendary recordings meet its collectors and Anatolian Pop fans via faithfully transferred master recordings.

Melancholic and mysterious, but at the same time strangely familiar. Combining surreal soundscapes with a distinct sixties-style songwriting, Emile’s psychedelic loner folk debut comes together like a weird dream. A dream that shows a side of reality, too strange to observe in any other way. Driven by acoustic guitar and haunting arrangements, the frontman of The Sonic Dawn presents a unique backdrop, on which songs about death, life, loss and fear of growing old melt together with a dystopian look into the near future of our civilization.

Enter the Mirage is arguably the most blazing and powerful album yet by The Sonic Dawn. It has an unusual live feel for a studio album, packing much of the raw energy and electricity that has made The Sonic Dawn’s psychedelic concerts famous in the rock underground. Enter the Mirage’s overall theme is freedom. It is about visions that may seem too distant to be real, but only those who take the trip will ever really find out. Frontman, Emil Bureau, explains about the album’s inception: “First I lost my father, then I lost my job and finally I lost my will to be a servant of anything that isn’t peace, love and freedom. It should be simple, but in this world it isn’t. Instead of getting back on the so-called career path, which is generally a dead end, I took a leap of faith, with the band’s support.” Bureau spent half a year in a songwriting frenzy, spawning not only Enter the Mirage by The Sonic Dawn, but also a solo album in the folk genre (available via Heavy Psych Sounds). To give form to these song ideas, the Danish trio rented a space in the gloomiest part of Copenhagen, set up a studio there and rocked out for two months. You hear that roughness, present as a determined attitude from a tightly knit band. With three past albums and some 200 shows under their belt, The Sonic Dawn is a psychedelic group to be reckoned with. However, at the end of their long and laborious creative process, the band was completely broke. Fortunately, friend and former producer, Thomas Vang, allowed them to mix the album in The Village Recording at night, after his own sessions. Thanks to this, and a skillful mastering by Hans Olsson Brookes (Graveyard et al.) Enter the Mirage puts the HIGH back in high fidelity. Turn up the volume and experience The Sonic Dawn.

Enter the Mirage is arguably the most blazing and powerful album yet by The Sonic Dawn. It has an unusual live feel for a studio album, packing much of the raw energy and electricity that has made The Sonic Dawn’s psychedelic concerts famous in the rock underground. Enter the Mirage’s overall theme is freedom. It is about visions that may seem too distant to be real, but only those who take the trip will ever really find out. Frontman, Emil Bureau, explains about the album’s inception: “First I lost my father, then I lost my job and finally I lost my will to be a servant of anything that isn’t peace, love and freedom. It should be simple, but in this world it isn’t. Instead of getting back on the so-called career path, which is generally a dead end, I took a leap of faith, with the band’s support.” Bureau spent half a year in a songwriting frenzy, spawning not only Enter the Mirage by The Sonic Dawn, but also a solo album in the folk genre (available via Heavy Psych Sounds). To give form to these song ideas, the Danish trio rented a space in the gloomiest part of Copenhagen, set up a studio there and rocked out for two months. You hear that roughness, present as a determined attitude from a tightly knit band. With three past albums and some 200 shows under their belt, The Sonic Dawn is a psychedelic group to be reckoned with. However, at the end of their long and laborious creative process, the band was completely broke. Fortunately, friend and former producer, Thomas Vang, allowed them to mix the album in The Village Recording at night, after his own sessions. Thanks to this, and a skillful mastering by Hans Olsson Brookes (Graveyard et al.) Enter the Mirage puts the HIGH back in high fidelity. Turn up the volume and experience The Sonic Dawn.

Türküola releases maybe the most outstanding piece of Cem Karaca & Apaşlar in their adventure in Germany. Cem Karaca was a new born Anatolian Pop star from rock’n’roll roots and Apaşlar was a surf band when they united in 1967. In the end of 1967 they toured Germany and began to record with Ferdy Klein Orchestra (which was a version of Werner Müller Orchestra) between 1968-1969. “Gılgamış-Ayrılık Günümüz” is one of the singles recorded as a cooperation between the band and the “big band” . Therefore the A side of the single “Ayrılık Günümüz” (Our Day of Departi reflect this cooperation between Werner Müller Orchestra and CK & Apaşlar with a feeling of mod scene, a rock ballad with polyphonic arrangements. On the other hand the flip side of the single gives out the band’s own groove and performance with the instrumental psychedelic rock peace “Gılgamış” (Gilgamesh). Gılgamış is inspired by the Epic of Gılgamesh and the band plays a powerful groove with a Mesopotamian mood and riffs. The Apaşlar line-up playing in this piece was Mehmet Soyarslan (electric guitar), Seyhan Karabay (bass), and Leon Habib (drums). Beginning with Seyhan Karabay’s solid bass riffs which is followed by drums of Leon Habib serving an energetic groove; Soyarslan plays his Epiphone guitar with psychedelic effects which sometimes take the main theme to a micro tonal scale. Today we have the opportunity to hold this unique piece in compliance with the authentic cover coated with gelatine and its vinyl produced from the master tapes. Thanks to Türküola for this generous reissue for the collectors of Turkish psychedelia.

LIMITED TRANSPARENT BLUE 180G VINYL ... GATEFOLD ... 2000 numbered limited edition

Mixed by the man who brought you Wu-Tang vs. The Beatles, Tom Caruana.

Mixed by the man who brought you Wu-Tang vs. The Beatles, Tom Caruana.