Thirsty Moon – s/t. 1972. 13+14. For me, quite possibly the reissue of the year (along with their second “You’ll Never Come Back”). Long Hair surprised everyone with these reissues I think – complete with unique liner notes from the band and a reviewer, bonus tracks (in this case a 5:42 minute number that’s highly relevant to the release) and a high quality production. They also plan on releasing a live concert from 1975, which could be enlightening (there’s no recorded material from that period). I’ve had this for many years on LP, and never tire of it. Thirsty Moon play a favored style of Krautrock for me – jazzy, improvised, heavy, intense, creative. They sound like no one group, but elements of similar German groups like Brainstorm, Kollektiv, Embryo, Emergency, Xhol Caravan and Missing Link are apparent. Six piece band with added percussion, two keyboardists (one dedicated to electric piano) and a reeds player. The band gels on a number of fronts, especially in energy and passion – something that is rarely captured in a bottle like this. Conny Plank’s engineering is all over this too (phasing, panning, gadgetry galore). And 21.5 minute ‘Yellow Sunshine’ is a classic for the ages – like Missus Beastly playing in the production of the Cosmic Jokers series of albums. Yes, this is in the Top 75 albums of all time for me. Maybe even Top 50. That’s a 14.

Warpig – s/t. 1970. D: 11. Well, forget the name. This isn’t a Black Sabbath clone, though they do have a couple of similarities. One is that they actually use riffs similar to how Sabbath did (not as heavy, but the style is there). And that they shared some of the same blues and rock influences as the Sabs. But Warpig is more in line with the typical UK “heavy progressive” movement. Warpig quite simply should’ve been on Vertigo (as were Sabbath), and most would know what to expect. Somewhere between May Blitz, early Nektar, Odin, Clear Blue Sky and Atomic Rooster one will find the sound of Warpig. Keyboards are a big element of their sound (harpsichord, Clavinet, piano, organ). With long tracks named ‘Advance in A Minor’, ‘The Moth’ and ‘U.X.I.B.’, I think it’s pretty clear this isn’t just a typical booze, dope, broads and rock and roll kind of album. There’s also ‘Tough Nuts’, ‘Melody With Balls’ and ‘Rock Star’, so it’s not totally pretentious artsy fartsy. What impresses me most is the time and place. This just wasn’t the kind of progressive rock done in Canada in 1970. A nice surprise this was and nice to see Relapse tackle this for a reissue.

Los Jaivas – El Volantin. 1971. D: 10. I have been wanting to hear the first Los Jaivas since an article appeared about it in Eurock around 1987. So I broke down and forked over a good sum of money for the Shadoks LP reissue (figuring it had a cool cover anyway). I can now see why Pinochet’s dictatorship was scared of this album (and group). This is a long way from the measured progressive rock of  “Alturas de Machu Picchu” that would arrive a decade later. “El Volantin” is what I would call freak rock, maybe along the lines of Denmark’s Furekaaben commune or even the political wing of Amon Duul. Most of the material is tribal drumming with wild vocals chanted or screamed on top, not very well recorded either. There’s some indigenous acoustic guitar strumming and pan flute so you don’t forget this is indeed a band of the Andes. The last track is really something – with wild fuzz guitar and frantic vocals. The whole thing is a mess… had it come out today I wouldn’t be impressed at all (fake counterculture doesn’t work for me). But for the time and place, this just reeks of the real underground – you can feel it. A cool cultural artifact and glad I picked this one up.