(KrautRock) GOD 067) Freak Out - 1971 - Life, Germany - 1971, FLAC (tracks+.cue)

Freak Out were a relatively short-lived German rock band and were Robert Musenbichler on guitar and background vocals, Peter Musenbichler on guitar and lead vocals, Max Wei?enback on sax, Charly Dienes on drums, Mike Gartner on bass, and Ivan Miholić on percussion.

This, their live release, is also their only album released. Filled mostly with covers, Life does feature two pieces that the band composed, "Jamming Brother" and "Crazy Colours Of Life." "Jamming Brother" appeared on the band's 7" single, as "Jaming Brothers," and is included as a bonus track here along side the single's flip, the above mentioned "Crazy Colours…." The first of these is an energetic piece with a distinctive, funky bass riff, though it's the guitar that stands out.

It may be the Ike & Tina Turner version of "Proud Mary" that I'm thinking of with that bass riff. The second of these originals is a dreamy, upbeat piece that recalls "Traces" by Classics IV, a 1969 soft-rock hit, which almost makes it seem like another cover. Gentle vocals, light sound… quite unlike the jam-rock of the rest of the album.

The set, performed before an audience of 1000 at Klangenfurt Concert Hall, April 24, 1971, opened with the Santana classic "Evil Ways." Interestingly, the set featured many Blodwyn Pig tunes, though only two were included on the actual release. In fact, only half of the band's set is included here, and now the other 9 tracks are lost (having been recorded over). A Rolling Stones tune in the form of "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" is also featured, and it's here that Dienes gets his drum solo spot, and does quite well with it. They do become a bit possessed in a psychedelic kind of way, but you do suddenly think that maybe you've stepped into the Twilight Zone.

The set did include a cover of "Paint It Black," too, but it's one of the lost tracks. We get some neat guitar interplay during the jam section of "Fresh Garbage," a piece that recalls Santana though it was originally recorded by Spirit. And then there's sax, which can be heard all over this release, most notably in a lead role on the Zappa piece "Son Of Mr. Green Genes." The band took their name from a Zappa album, so it's fitting that a Zappa track appears here.

There is no quest this is a live recording, the sound alone tells you that. The GoD reissue is clean as the original masters were used, so this reissue of a rarity doesn't suffer from being taken from a secondary source. The two bonuses were, however, taken from well-preserved LP and de-noised using the Cedar NoNoise system;The original production was only slightly muddy at times… in other words, don't expect a "modern" live sound, it is very much a product of the 70s. What the album does demonstrate is that this band could play. My favourite aspects are the sax and guitar playing here, which do come across very clear. In the broad sense, more of interest to collectors, given the rarity of the original LP (only about 200 were pressed), but it's pretty good release besides.

EAC extraction logfile from 6. December 2007, 13:23 for CD
Freak Out / Life

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVD-ROM GDR8163B Adapter: 1 ID: 1
Read mode : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache
Read offset correction : 102
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No

Used output format : C:\AplyRAF\Audio\EAC\flac.exe (User Defined Encoder)
320 kBit/s
Additional command line options : -5 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=EAC Flac 1.1.2 -5" %s

Other options :
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Track 1
Filename C:\WAV\Ripeos\Freak Out - Life (1971) [FLAC]\01 - Evil Ways.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC ED195774
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Track 2
Filename C:\WAV\Ripeos\Freak Out - Life (1971) [FLAC]\02 - See my Way.wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 56EDB4BD
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Track 3
Filename C:\WAV\Ripeos\Freak Out - Life (1971) [FLAC]\03 - Sing me a Song that I Know.wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 4
Filename C:\WAV\Ripeos\Freak Out - Life (1971) [FLAC]\04 - Leaping Beauties for Rudy.wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 5
Filename C:\WAV\Ripeos\Freak Out - Life (1971) [FLAC]\05 - Jamming Brother.wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 6
Filename C:\WAV\Ripeos\Freak Out - Life (1971) [FLAC]\06 - Son of Mr.Green Genes.wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 07DE5F6F
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Track 7
Filename C:\WAV\Ripeos\Freak Out - Life (1971) [FLAC]\07 - Fresh Garbage.wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 8
Filename C:\WAV\Ripeos\Freak Out - Life (1971) [FLAC]\08 - Everybody Needs Somebody to Love.wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 9
Filename C:\WAV\Ripeos\Freak Out - Life (1971) [FLAC]\09 - Ramadhan Part III.wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 10
Filename C:\WAV\Ripeos\Freak Out - Life (1971) [FLAC]\10 - Jamming Brother (Bonus).wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 11
Filename C:\WAV\Ripeos\Freak Out - Life (1971) [FLAC]\11 - Crazy Colours of Life (Bonus).wav

Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
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