Krokodil

Touched on Krokodil just briefly yesterday while discussuing Neu!, Krokodil hailed from Switzerland in the late 60's/early 1970's producing a fine blend of Groundhogs-like bluesrock and hard rocking, kraut/psychedelia.....I don't have ALL their albums, I think I am missing only one important one (the first), all of these are fairly hard to find, so check these out, they are very enjoyable.

OK, the first, self titled album, I do not have, I HAVE heard it, it's not really a good fit with the others anyway.....very bluesy rock, wrong with it, the album is nearly impossible to locate, so I'll put out a call for anyone who may have it......however, it is on the second disc, "Swamp", on which the more progressive/psychedelic touches begin to emerge, and it is at this point that they started to become a great band. The band throws in sitar, keyboards, violin, flute, and more......it's a pretty good album of decent, not quite yet hard rocking psychedelia, not a "great" album, but an important one, in light of what was to come.

1971's "An Invisible World Revealed" is a tremendous album, one of the best of it's type and era, a masterpiece of prog-psych......."Swamp"'s multi-instrumentalism continues, but this is a MUCH harder rocking effort. The epic long tunes, "Odyssey in Om" and "Looking at Time" are psychedelic masterpieces, mixed in are shorter, more folkish/blusey tunes like "Lady of Attracation" and "Green Fly"....this edition contains three bonus tracks, basically throwaways, (two are 11 minute, Grateful Dead-like jams)......nonetheless, this is a fine, 4.5 star effort and any fans of Krautrock, Psychedelia, and progressive rock will wonder how they managed to live so long without hearing this one (if, in fact, they haven't).

The follow-up, "Getting Up For the Morning", is a good effort as well, continuing their formula of skillfully blending blues/prog/and psych...."And I Know" is a good one, as is "Song No. 2 (Thoughts Under Bad Conditions), this is a perfectly respectable follow up effort to "World"....a solid four-star production.

The final effort that I have is "Sweat and Swim", a bit more "Song" oriented and not quite up to the standards of the previous albums.....not bad, but the course, pretty much, had been run.....I am unsure if there are any other albums out there, Lord knows they probably reunited years later or something, I think I recall someone having some live boots but I don't recall who it was......

So, help a brother out if you have the first album or any other odds and ends (specifically live albums), and if you are unfamilar at least do yourself the favor of checking "Invisible World" and possibly "Getting Up"......worth your time I promise!

Another Friday, another week of Strat o Matic baseball action as my seemingly unstoppable Kissimee Astros take on the lasat place Joliet Jailbirds in an 8-game series in which my squad should get INCREDIBLY fat!

See you tomorrow with.......something!

SWAMP-01 Get Your Personality Together/02 Light of Day/03 Sunlight's Beautiful Daughter/04 Tell Me What You Want (Tell Tale)/05 Blue Flashing Circle/06 Snow White and Blue/07 Human Bondage/08 Gipsy Man (Bonus)/09 That's What I Do (Bonus)/10 Stenhaufmadchen (Trailer) (Bonus)

AN INVISIBLE WORLD REVEALED-01 Lady of Attraction/02 With Little Miss Trimmings/03 Odyssey In Om/04 Green Fly/05 Looking at Time/06 Last Doors/07 Pollution (Bonus)/08 Krokodil-Session (Part 1) (Bonus)/09 Krokodil-Session (Part 2) (Bonus)

GETTING UP FOR THE MORNING-01 Marzipan/02 And I Know/03 Rabatz/04 Was There a Time/05 Schooldays//06 Song No. 2 (Thoughts Under Bad Conditions)/07 The 12th Of March

SWEAT AND SWIM-01 Talking World War III BLues/02 All I Ever Wanted/03 Daybreak/04 Skylab/05 Two To Twelf/06 That's Allright Mama/07 Linger/08 Little Girl/09 Billy Dee/10 There You Stand Entangeld

Just had to run a few errands and took along "An Invisible World Revealed"......MY GOD that is a tremndous album, sounds better than the last time I listened to it.....FANTASTIC album, hihgly, highly recommended. Do not hesitate!

Late edit: my copy of "Sweat and Swim" has a huge gash on it and will not.....it's not that great anyway, if you have a copy to contribute (along with album #1), please ado, if not, no great loss......"Invisible World" is the one that REALLY matters, do not miss it, at least