Bokaj Retsiem - Psychedelic Underground (1968)
Album: Bokaj Retsiem - Psychedelic Underground (Remastered Edition)
Released: 1968 (2000)
Genre: Psych-, Prog-Rock
Tripped out 1968 German release reissued by the guys from Gear Fab. A kind of prog/psych exploitation album it's a trippy mixture of wailing guitars, reversed phasing, chunky Hammond organ fills, strange lyrics and distorted effects. Everything is panned all over the stereo spectrum and the lyrics are teen-drug weirdness. If you love Blue Phantom, Ugly Custard, and early '70s European psych then check this out. It's awesome.If you can get passed the LSD inspired cover, then you have passed the test! - Freak Emporium
Mr. Rainer Degner, previously the guitarist of the sixties beat group German Bonds, had a passion for the old German children's song "Meister Jakob". In fact, this is also the real name of this studio project (with session musicians), but due to the arrival of psychedelia, strange things were happening, and the letters 'bokaj retsiem' must be reversed to make any sense! Degner's album included some absolutely perverse arrangements of "Meister Jakob", but also some great acid guitar parts in the typical late sixties style. One of the few German psychedelic albums in existence, and for this reason a quite interesting and uncommon item! Members of The Rattles also contributed to this album. It is also worth mentioning that his old fellows in German Bonds, Peter Hecht and Dieter Horns, also made several strange albums under pseudonym beside their normal career in Lucifer's Friend. - "Cosmic Dreams At Play"
This CD release thrusts Gear Fab into some unchartered waters: Not only is it our first Mainland Europesn release, but it is also a project which we could not involve either the musicians or producers in, because we literally could not find them.
A few months ago, I had asked a collector friend of mine, Ashley Johnaon, to send me a tape of a band I was interested in releasing. When he asked what to put on the other side of the cassette, I said Ashley, just surprise me and throw something in that is on the wall stuff....well, he did. That side ot the tape was Bokaj Retsiem: Psychedelic Underground“.
When I first saw the name on the tape, I was both confused and interested...... Clark Faville told me he thought is was Meister Jakob or Jakob Meister spelled backwards..... no one really knows.
What we do know is that lt was released in 1968 on the German exploit label FASS and featured Rainer Degner as the composer and musician, although, obviously, other musicians assisted on keyboards, bass, and that great B3 Hammond Organ and Leslie sound. Herbert Hildebrandt was Ihe producer.
We tried unsuccessfully through our friends in Europe to locate Rainer and the producer of credit to no avail. We even searched the various music societies ASCAP, GEMA, BMG, SESAC, etc. but couldnt find anything on the publishing for the songs or composers herein. We made inquiries 10 other labels thought to maybe have information on the original FASS label but heard nothing back.
But this music is just fantastic evan though it was obviously released to ride the coat tails of the psychedelic sound permeating throughout Europe in the late 60s. Looking at the cover art, it was probably done by some high school student trying to give lt the appearance of a deep and dark mystique, or something like that. If you can get past LSD-inspirad artwork, then you have passed the test!!
This LP starts out with the hard-driving track “So Bad“. Taking the beginning of this song from the Animals classic “Dont Let Me Be Misunderstood“, Degnar dwells deeper into the song with the fuzzed oul sound of Iron Butberfly and Jimi Hendrix, obvious influences of his during the year 1968.
Track 2 is a stab at Degners acoustical lalents, as he toys with the ages-old nursery rhyme “Three Blind Mice“...probably just need s tew extra seconds ol time 10 linish ott the lirst side of the LP.
Track 3 is actually a beautiful West Coast influenced ballad, albeit it is sprinkled with a touch of off-beat idle chatter now and then. But it does feature some fine guitar and harmonies and the ever so present teenage angst!!
Track 4 is another of the obvious choices for an exploitative label of its day- that is, the strong and prevalent mood of the youth of this day concerning their strong anti-war sentiments. The sounds of helicopters firing their 5OMM guns, coupled with the cry of a child screaming “Mama drives home this sentiment.
Track 5- soso sad Jakob this song has his guitar and some background instrumentation performing an almost operatic-style, mood depressing, bummer sound....probably because of a long lost love, but perhaps she lost her pill?? (see track 9).
Track 6....well, 1 guess something is scaring is Bokaj but we are not sure what it is... .something‘s wrong to make him so alraid?? Sounds to me alot like the political and social climate has Bokaj on the run. ..great use of the B3 here and the injection of a Hendrix-styled fun guitar works well with the blues/fusion/jazz rhythm background
Track 7 ah, at long last, we know get to the theme song and try to figure out just what makes Bokaj ticks ....... well, grow your hair long. drop some Orange Sunshine, fire up the hash bong, and lay back the first 40 seconds sounds like some sort of jam, but then the organ kicks in and the new sound of the phase shifter distorts the vocals .... back and forth the tempos change hands but the bottom line here is we find out nothing about Bokaj. ..the only spoken words are the name...nothing else only the next song!
Track 8....bossa sounds alot like classic (Three Blind Mice...part 2 of filler material
Track 9- Now here is a wild idea: young boy‘s hormones are building, almost exploding, and he comes up almost worshiping the Birth Control Pill?? Just a little pill can kill, so you don‘t have to worry when you, um, um, do a girl?? The infusion of the flamingo guitar here is just great not sure what Bokaj was afraid of, what with all the free love around in those days, werent all the girls on the Pill?? Finally, we get a texte of the Cream‘s popularized gadget - The Wah-Wah pedal!! The original LP had track 7,8, and 9 reversed in order on both the LP jacket and LP label...wonder what the typist had ingested the day they did the credits??
Track 10- The finale for the blind mice, only a bit penkier version with some more accompaniment.....
Track 11 -This is in my opinion. the best track on the LP. The reason is lt is a spectacular take-off on 1968‘s classic LP sound of “Super Session. The tight and crisp blues guitar sound of Mike Bloomfield just jumps night oou at you, and the use of the bellowing Hammond B3 and Leslie Speekers is just great ..... now, I?m not sure what the hell the guys is screaming in Carmen for over 30 seconds (someone please translate this for us?), but it fits well behind the guitar break ..... moo moo the cow is a great finishing touch.....!!
This was a review by Gear Fab in lieu of an actual biography of the band. Oher listening to thix record, you might walk away with a feeling that it was something like an opera of sorts, like a Tommy, with some sort of message to us all??? Only the real Bokaj Retsiem knows the answer. ...where are you???? - Roger Meghio
Rainer Degner - Guitars
1) So Bad - 6:04
2) Classic Bokaj {Reiner Degner) :29
3) It's Over - 4:21
4) Only A Child - :53
5) Sad Bokaj - :50
6) I'm So Afraid - 3:38
7) Bokaj Retsiem - 5:43
8) Bossa Bokaj - :30
9) Pill - 4:49
10) Something's Wrong With Bokaj - :45
11) Drifting - 4:39
No comments:
Post a Comment