Lucifers Friend

S/T from 1970

From progarchives.com

URIAH HEEP certainly comes to mind when you hear LUCIFER’S FRIEND, as do LED ZEPPELIN, DEEP PURPLE and BLACK SABBATH to some extent, although you can’t accuse the FRIEND of cloning them as none had attained their notoriety as yet. The band started off as ASTRIX in 1970, with frontman and future URIAH HEEP vocalist John Lawton teaming up with guitarist Peter Hesslein, keyboardist Peter Hecht, bassist Dieter Horns and drummer Joachim Rietenbach. Through various personnel changes over the course of twelve years – including Lawton exiting in ‘76 and then returning for a last gasp in ‘81 – the band released nine studio albums and two compliations. In ‘82, they split up but reunited in ‘94 for a night album.

Their earlier releases are aggressive and raw, not unlike The SCORPIONS, JANE or LONESOME CROW. Living up to their sinister name, they performed heavy, mean, keyboard-based rock that should please LED ZEP, SABBATH or PURPLE fans. Then came their absolute masterpiece, “Banquet”, in 1974, which focusses on epic prog numbers with complex instrumentation, complete with string and horn arrangements, and Lawton giving his full-throttle vocal performance. This album perfectly pulled together the many different elements of their sound: prog, soul, jazz and hard rock. If you want to sample some LUCIFER’S FRIEND, you could try their compilation albums; if you want to hear LUCIFER’S FRIEND at their proggiest, go for the “Banquet” – their subsequent releases received mixed reviews, particularly “Sumogrip” in 1994.

Fans of URIAH HEEP or those interested in the roots of heavy metal definitely ought to get their hands on some of these items.

http://www.mediafire.com/?m2wnyxjzmri

Weed..!

To celebrate my lucky day when i found this record for 50 kr (approx 5 us dollars) on original philips 1:st press, im posting this badboy. For those who dont know Weed is Ken Hensley (Uriah Heep) and some german dudes who later formed kraut band Virus. Anyhow, its a execlent slab of 70's hardrock/proggressive.



http://www.mediafire.com/?zimyhyfmigm

Silberbart - 4 Sounds Racing

Only album from german krautband Silberbert released in '71, ultra heavy psych.
Review from www.progarchives.com

SILBERBART were a power trio from Germany who released one album back in 1971.These guys are twisted man,i mean they aren't normal! When the singer screams and shrieks he sounds like a young Geddy Lee,and the music here is very psychedelic and "out there" at times,while at others it's heavy and raw. Some great ideas from these guys though as they take us on a trip far from what is sane and normal.Yes this is vintage krautrock. The first song "Chub Chub Cherry" is my least favourite and the most straight forward of the 4 tracks.It's the shortest(4 1/2 minutes) too as the others all clock in at over 10 minutes.Aggressive guitar and raw vocals lead the way until the chorus where he whispers "chub chub cherry" a few times.That's the part i don't like. "Brain Brain" is haunting to begin with as softly sung vocals come in.A sudden unexpectant explosion of sound erupts 3 minutes in with a chilling and deranged scream for good measure.It kicks into an uptempo melody 5 1/2 minutes in and vocals come in before 6 minutes.I really like the guitar 7 minutes in and the psychedelic freak outs that follow.A "far out" calm settles in and then he starts singing in a reserved manner before 12 1/2 minutes.A heavy beat arrives before 14 minutes and the guitar starts to make some noise. "God" is heavy and kind of dark to open.Nice.It turns psychedelic before 2 minutes before kicking back in a minute later with an awesome guitar solo that lights it up.Vocals are back before 4 minutes.It turns gloomy with almost spoken vocals then it kicks back in again. Fantastic sound 8 1/2 minutes in.Several times this song seems to end but then starts up again. "Head Tear Of The Drunken Sun" is where he reminds me of Geddy when he screams,and he does that a lot.Haha.A nice heavy sound here and it's kind of catchy.It turns spooky almost alarming really before 6 minutes.Dissonant sounds follow or maybe insane is the word i'm looking for.It kicks back in before 9 minutes.Nice bass here with some blistering guitar a minute later.Vocals are back again 10 1/2 minutes in. An adventerous trip into the bizarre and unknown awaits for all who are willing to take the chance.

HERE