Freedom to Music
Posts tagged Gila
Gila – Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (1973) (@256)
21 Aug 2010
(Review from progarchives.com)
A year after the band’s live recording, Veit returned from Popol Vuh, bringing Florian Fricke with him.
If Gila’s first album was a psych masterpiece, this one is much more progressive. With this album, the band denouces the North American Indian massacre of Wounded Knee.
This album is surely strongly inspired by Jefferson Airplane and very progressive for sure. With classically trained keyboardist Florian Fricke from Popol Vuh (he visited a conservatory being a disciple of Hindemith), Conny Veit found the perfect supplement for his own talents and as well Fichelscher’s high skills on drums and bass and Sabine Merbach with her pleasant vocals contributed a lot to this excellent outcome.
The seven beautiful tracks of this album are dominated by a folksy and more acoustic mood mainly created by the use of 12-string guitar and grand piano with some occasional flute. Combined with the highly poetic lyrics these intense soundscapes generate a merely haunting atmosphere. Two of the tracks, “Young Coyote” and “Little Smoke” are all instrumental and presented by Conny Veit solo on guitar.
Line-up:
- Conny Veit / guitars, vocals, vibes, bass, flute, Moog
- Florian Fricke / piano, Moog, Mellotron
- Daniel Fichelscher / drums, percussion, bass
- Sabine Merbach / vocals
Track List:
01. This Morning – 5:44
02. In a Sacred Manner – 4:39
03. Sundance Chant – 4:09
04. Young Coyote – 3:17
05. Black Kettle’s Ballad – 7:12
06. Little Smoke – 4:25
07. The Buffalo are Coming – 5:05
Link in comments.
Gila – Night Works (Live 1972) (@256)
20 Aug 2010
(Review from progarchives.com)
Although this album was never officially released at the time, this should be the second Gila album and even if only played as a radio broadcast, all of the tracks were brand new and not available on their other albums. Since this is not a studio album, so the sound is not perfect, but it is rather good given the conditions and the complicated story of the tapes.
The tracks are mid-tempo, allowing for great mood swing and many semi-improvised instrumental interplay while the lyrics are generally open enough to allow flexibility. Most of the tracks have a feeling as if they were the extended versions of Pink Floyd’s More soundtrack and you could easily glide through the skies with a doobie at your disposal.
After this concert, Conny Veit left for Popol Vuh.
Line-up:
- Conny Veit / guitar & vocals
- Fritz Scheyhing / keyboards
- Walter Wiederkehr / bass
- Daniel Alluno / drums
Track List:
01. Around Midnight – 5:50
02. Braintwist – 7:45
03. Trampelpfad – 6:11
04. Viva Arabica – 5:24
05. The Gila Symphony – 13:46
06. Communication II – 3:04
07. The Needle – 0:48
Link in comments.
Gila – Gila (1971) (@256)
19 Aug 2010
(Review from progarchives.com)
Hailing from Stuttgart, Gila impress us with a dynamic, intense and imaginative communication between spacey rock improvisations, lengthy psych guitar solos accompanied by luminous electric organ chords.
“Agression” is a cosmic krautrock jamming, strictly instrumental (as the rest of the album), dominated by subtle and technical guitar / organ combinations. “Kollaps” is a dark and creepy instrumental piece with moody organ parts and weird, plaintive noises. “Kontact” starts with a variation of different sound collages to finally turn into an acoustic, folk guitar trip with an obvious “eastern” flavour. The track directly carries on “Kollektivitt” for a full-on guitar / organ jam with some folky, mellow accents. “Individualitat” is a strong hypnotic-tribal jam for percussions and guitar experimentations. A serious, intricate mixture between free rock, spacey-psych effects and discreet eastern influences.
As usual with the German bands of the era, the sound on record is raw, never really refined. Do not look for symphonic orchestration or over-production. Gila’s debut is a real gem in the space rock genre but very intimate climate.
Line-up:
- Daniel Alluno / drums, bongos, tabla
- Fritz Scheyhing / organ, Mellotron, percussion, electronics
- Conny Veit / guitars, voice, tabla, electronics
- Walter Wiederkehr / bass
Track List:
01. Aggression – 4:38
02. Kommunikation – 12:56
03. Kollaps – 5:33
04. Kontakt – 4:27
05. Kollectivitat – 6:41
06. Individualitat – 3:38
Link in comments.
