Achim Reichel - Echo - 1972

A variant on the Ash Ra/Cosmic Couriers sound, with basically the same line-up as Seven-Up, the first three sides are sublime.

Julian Cope has said a lot about this recording and Achim Reichel, including:

"But, if artists themselves are uninspired by a particular period of their earlier work, as Achim Reichel has been shown to be, it becomes up to others more motivated to make that work available. And when that work could be utilised by major heads for some serious shamanic endeavour, instead of lying unloved in some freezing and damp corporate catacomb, then it is time for the forward-thinking motherfuckers to shine a light in the darkness and scream out: “Navigation! Navigation! Navigation!”

Some Favorite Interesting Recordings

Ramases and Selket-"Crazy One"/"Mind's Eye" (1968) -- If you want to read a really interesting wikipedia entry, go look up Ramases. Jesus. "Mind's Eye" is one of my favorite psychedelic tracks and one of my favorite b-sides, possibly behind only "The Warmth of the Sun" by the Beach Boys and "Brainbox Pollution" by Hawkwind (though this itself is in a tie with "It's So Easy", b-side of "Psychedelic Warlords")

Tangerine Dream-"Thief" (1981) -- A soundtrack for a movie starring James Caan as (you guessed it) a thief, or a safecracker to be more specific. But who cares about the movie, the music is just so awesome. Very catchy, dramatic synth melodies. Edgar Froese's guitar lines steal the show, especially on "Beach Scene and "Beach Theme." The review of the album on allmusic.com just proves how stupid and humorless the reviewers on that site are, have always been, and likely will continue to be in the future.

Giorgio-"From Here to Eternity" (1977) -- My favorite electronic dance LP. Though I'll admit I don't listen to many electronic dance LP's. Giorgio Moroder had been cranking out shining examples of disco/dance records for years, but with this his craft came to full fruition. And his vocoder work is unparalled. Makes Kraftwerk look like a bunch of twits. Later he would do the awesome soundtracks to "Midnight Express", "American Gigolo" and "Scarface" among others. He was the king of funny album covers--see his "Knights in White Satin" release for more of what I'm talking about.

Walter Wegmuller-"Tarot" (1972) -- Walter Wegmuller is a Swiss Gypsy/mystic who recorded his sole LP with the help of German hippy freak people Ash Ra Tempel/Cosmic Couriers amongst others. Never has an entire album been more "far out" in such a legitimate sense of the expression. Well maybe this one ties with Ash Ra's "Seven Up" release recorded the same year along with acid leader in-exile Timothy Leary. "Tarot" was released with a deck of Tarot cards painted by Wegmuller himself. In the 1980's Wegmuller designed a Swatch watch.