OFF: some musical assistance

[Doug Pearson]

On Thu, 17 Jan 2002 19:17:00 -0500, Tim <ma-paharper at IOPENER.NET> wrote:
>Now i've got some more choices, and a shortage of money,so i need your
>votes,please:
>amon duul 2 -live on bbc radio 1
>gong - live on tv 1990
>ozric tentacles - pungent effulgent
>      "                  - erpland

I'm probably the wrong person to ask, since I would strongly vote against
all four.  Although you can probably ignore my vote against the Ozrics
discs, just 'cause I personally don't like 'em (remind me too much of the
Grateful Dead, and not enough of Gong - YMMV).  Even if you DO like them,
buying an Ozric Tentacles album before owning all of Gong's best albums
would be sort of like buyinga bunch of Farflung & MQB albums without
owning 'Doremi Fasol Latido' and 'Quark, Strangeness & Charm'.

For the other two bands, you'd do MUCH better to start with their albums
that include Hawkwind members.  Amon Duül's first two albums (with Dave
Anderson), 'Phallus Dei' and 'Yeti' are BRILLIANT!  And the next
three, 'Carnival In Babylon', 'Dance of the Lemmings' and 'Wolf City' (all
without Anderson) are also very good.  The Radio 1 show was recorded a
couple years after those.

The top Gong albums are 'Flying Teapot', 'Angel's Egg' and 'You', all of
which feature Tim Blake; there are also numerous live albums from that era
(c.71-73) that are all much better than the 'TV 1990' one.  The first two,
pre-Blake, Gong albums ('Magic Brother/Mystic Sister' & "Camberet
Electrique') are also great.

    -Doug
     jasret at mindspring.com