Kind of picking up where I left off with the 1971 Krautrock parade…

Pan y Regaliz – s/t. 1971. If someone blindfolded me and asked where this band was from, I’d say “Oh, that’s easy. Germany around 1971 or so.” At least I would’ve gotten the date right. There’s almost nothing here to point to its Spanish heritage, not even towards other bands operating in those days under the Franco regime. Nope, this is squarely in the Krautrock school of music, with flute as the lead melodic instrument, some droning-almost spoken vocals, and at least one freaky jam. A mixture of Ruphus Zuphall, first album Mythos, Haze and even some early Amon Duul II can be heard here. I had an LP reissue of this sometime in the early 90s, and it made little impact. I’m appreciating much more now. While I’m not here to tell you this is essential, I will say it’s worth hearing and maybe picking up, especially if you’re a big fan of the 1971 German sound.

Second Life – s/t. 1971. I remember when I first scored this LP sometime in the early 90s. I was pretty excited when I saw the cover: Four long tracks including one that took the whole side; German; 1971; creepy looking long hairs. No way this could go wrong! And, really, the first 10 minutes or so of the side longer jams pretty hard. And then it comes….. the album killer of the day – the dreaded drum solo, which seems to never end. I can deal with an inventive percussion piece, but some bozo pounding aimlessly on his 5 piece isn’t likely to inspire anyone but a caffeinated monkey. In a way, it’s a shame that drum piece has to discolor this work. The four 5+ minute tracks on Side 2 deliver an almost perfect set of basic hard rock tunes. The kind of sounds and riffs that every current stoner rock band would give their Marshalls for. I sold the LP within the year and this is my first revisit since. There are plenty of better albums from the 1971 German pool, but Second Life is worth at least one second chance.

Sudden Death – Suddenly. 1971. Another one of those Rockadelic discoveries that was put on LP in the mid 1990s. Who they are is anybody’s guess. The story goes that Sudden Death were from Long Island and even Jimmy Page was involved. Sure, and Big Foot did the mixing… on the grassy knoll. Probably the real story is an unlabeled masters tape was discovered that had great music on it. The rest was made up (explaining the lack of anyone surfacing to claim they were the authors…) Not the first time, and won’t be the last time that happens. Anyway, for fans of underground and under-produced hard guitar rock with a Plant like vocalist, this one is better than most. Rockadelic’s cover is awesomely creepy and whoever does put it on CD should leave that intact.