Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Hairy Chapter "Can't Get Through" 1971

 

     1970 and early '71 was such an interesting time.  Rock had found a heaviness never before heard, thanks to Black Sabbath and others, but things hadn't quite solidified yet.  The music hadn't become formulaic,  thus giving rise to unique and original interpretations of the new heaviness by bands like Sir Lord Baltimore and Germany's own Hairy Chapter.    This is one of those albums that often pops up on the obscure 70's holy grails lists, as it should, but it certainly didn't turn out to be quite what I expected.  I don't know what I expected - maybe some straight ahead bluesy riff rock, I don't know. This is definitely not that.  Hairy Chapter's "Can't Get Through,"  much like Sir Lord Baltimore's "Kingdom Come,"  is one maniacal,  wheels-off affair. 
"Can't Get Through," released in 1971 on the German Bacillus label, was the third album from the tripped out, acid-blown, neanderthal-intellectual quartet.  I haven't heard the first, "Electric Sounds For Dancing," but the second, 1970's "Eyes," despite occasional glimpses of the alien beasts gestating within and waiting to rip out of their Hairy chests, is primarily bluesish 60's psych.  
 
  November 1970:  enter the great Dieter Dierks (producer of Orange Peel, Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream and who would later engineer the rise of the Scorpions).  Producer and Vision Quest guide, Dierks simultaneously unleashed the psychedelic beast and reined it in enough to help Hairy Chapter  realize the post modern rock and roll heights of madness that is "Can't Get Through."  The mix is urgent, electric and feels live:  guitars upfront, angry and heavy, overdriven bass,  Mitch Mitchell-esque drumming and desperate, pained vocals.  While it's not an album full of heavy guitar riffs,  it does have it's share and it's full of out of control guitar solos and cool dark grooves with lots of unexpected changes of direction. 
    Comprising only 5 songs, "There's a Kind of Nothing" opens the album with some innocent enough bass/guitar vamping with a lighthearted Allman Brothers-ish guitar lick.  The vamp continues, guitar fills becoming darker as Harry Unte attempts to belt out his vocals over the roiling rhythm section, all the while, the repetition  building to some unknown climax that never comes.  Then suddenly it stops, and we're at scarborough fair for a brief dreamy medieval interlude before being transported back to the menacing vamp.  We realize very quickly that this is not conventional song composition.  
The apex of the album is the next 2 songs, "Can't Get Through" and "It Must be an Officer's Daughter," both of which are epic sonic landscapes stretching over 8 minutes each.  "Can't Get Through" starts with an intro that's like a cross between Yes and Sabbath.  After a couple of hard rockin' verses, we're into a smoldering groove for a harmonica solo followed by Harry Titlbach's guitar workout over Rudolf Oldenburg's Jack Bruce-infused bass playing. Then suddenly a wacky slide guitar interlude comes out of know where, leading to a Led Zeppelin-ish riff that devolves into a slowly dissolving swing feel topped with dazed and confused guitar freakouts, Titlbach suffering from a momentary loss of sanity until finally it all crashes back to Earth with the Zep riff again. Like I said, not conventional songwriting.
     "It Must Be an Officer's Daughter" continues on the road to the mountains of electrified post-blues madness with 8 more minutes of erratic groove changes,  demented stalker lyrics like "I want to hold your luscious breasts in my hand" sung over a dark Sabbath-like riff,  and a heaping helping of on-the-edge guitar solos over wicked drum/bass vamps.  
   The only song that doesn't rock pretty hard is "As We Crosssed Over."  For this one we've got acoustic bass, acoustic guitar, mariachi trumpet (yes you read that right) off in the distance and haunting, trippy choir vocals swirling around in the background.  It sounds almost like Radiohead in an odd way.  Strange, melancholy little tune here.
    The album closes with "You've Got To Follow This Masquerade."  The Cro-Magnon prog motif is revived for this one.  Evil Sabbath riffs alternated with straighter Zeppelin and proggy sections that just come to an abrupt halt after 4 minutes or so, leaving you wandering what the...? 
   This is a great record, but something that you definitely must be in the mood for.  It's somewhat enigmatic and unapproachable and took me a couple of listens to really start digging it. Who knows what was going through these Krautrocker's off center brains to create a monster like this?  Post modern, proto metal, bluesish, Cro-Magnon Man Prog rock.
Second Battle has reissued this album along with the second album "Eyes" on 1 cd.

And here's my rating:
Riff Density- 7
Riff Caliber- 7
Post Blues Factor- 10
Groove Factor- 10
Dig It-7(This number is a little low only because I don't end up listening to this very often even though I dig it very much)



4 comments:

Zischkale said...

Have heard their songs on the Heavy 70's compilation and others, but never the whole album. That art has always stuck with me though--visceral and weird.

Thanks for postin', man.

Ed said...

Great work on all these reviews. I also dig your rating system, being such a old fart i have been listening to these bands for decades but its awesome to see them getting some long overdue reviews. Keep up the great work. I will put a link to this blog on my site.
ed

Rockspeny said...

Love that album cover - superb!
Thanks for the blog, got a list of old stuff to track down as well as recent Cd's now, thanks!

Anonymous said...

i heard hairy chapter many times,when i grew up in bonn in 69/70.harry unte was a great singer and guitarrist.loved the group.
burkyturky