Silberbart: 4 Times Sound Razing (1971)
The incomprehensible title -- 4 Times Sound Razing -- is your first warning to ... RUN!
Or stick around, if you don't fear the inexplicable, nor sounds esoteric and inscrutable, but I'd still suggest strapping on your helmet for a seriously unhinged sonic experience that's sure to rattle your brain, loosen your fillings, and challenge your receptivity to the unknown.
Here's what we DO know ...
Silberbart (German for "silverbeard") was an experimental Kraut-rock power trio based in the town of Varel, located roughly two hours west of Hamburg, and comprised of Hajo Teschner (vocals/guitar), Werner Klug (bass), and Peter Behrens (drums).
These four cuts (hence the title) were demoed live in April of 1971 (yes, almost 55 years ago), and for some reason Philips decided the world could handle an avant-garde freak show redolent of the Mothers of Invention with the deafening distortion holocaust of Blue Cheer.
The warning is clearly spelled out in this reissue's liner notes, helpfully printed in both English and German: "Unsere gruppe ist wirklich höllisch laut!"
Translation: "Our band is loud as hell!"
That they are: nonsensical opener "Chub Chub Cherry" introduces Teschner's trademark vocal schizophrenia, alternating child-like falsettos and lupine ravings, over pummeling power-psych, yet it only hints at the sanity-shaking experimental epics coming next.
Tipping the scale at a staggering 16 minutes, "Brain Brain" (said Technier, "the brain's brain, a scenario of absolute music") offers incongruent passages that juggle blasting distortion, folksy acoustics, tribal percussion, violin bow whale calls (!!!), and a metallic armageddon based on Holst's "Mars, the Bringer of War."
The far more focused (but still ten-minute-long) "God" seems ready to wind down amid much kit-bashing, string-snapping, and amp-melting mayhem, before tearing everything down to spare minimalism and building it back up again to near-explosive levels.
And though it travels the sound-waves, from Hendrix to Floyd, and a dozen other detours in a dozen minutes, the closing, impenetrable "Head Tear of the Drunken Sun" bears the distinction of actually finding its way back to where it began.
That being said, at first listen (and second, and third, and fourth ...), all of these pieces appear to be largely improvised, bound to no structure whatsoever, and fit for no function other than to demonstrate high-end stereo equipment with its vast and sharp dynamic extremes.
But -- wouldn't you know? -- much to my surprise, repeat spins eventually revealed that Silberbart did, in fact, have some kind of compositional game-plan, even if it came heavily camouflaged behind a fearless (even reckless) and adventurous mindset.
And why not? Some mysteries are best left unsolved ...
More Obscure Early '70s Heavy Rock: A.K.A.’s Do What You Like, Alamo’s Alamo, Ancient Grease’s Women and Children First, Asterix’s Asterix, Atlee’s Flying a Head, Bang’s Mother/Bow to the King, Birtha’s Birtha, Blackwater Park’s Dirt Box, Bloodrock’s Bloodrock 2, Blues Creation’s Demon & Eleven Children, Bolder Damn’s Mourning, Boomerang’s Boomerang, Buffalo’s Volcanic Rock, Bull Angus’ Bull Angus, Cactus’ Cactus, Captain Beyond’s Captain Beyond, Charlee’s Charlee, Copperhead’s Copperhead, Cradle’s The History, Crushed Butler’s Uncrushed, Curly Curve’s Curly Curve, Dies Irae's First, Fanny Adams’ Fanny Adams, Flied Egg’s Dr. Siegel’s Fried Egg Shooting Machine, Flower Travellin’ Band’s Satori, A Foot in Coldwater’s A Foot in Coldwater, Fuse’s Fuse, Gift’s Gift, Hard Stuff’s Bulletproof, Haystacks Balboa's Haystacks Balboa, Head Over Heels’ Head Over Heels, Heavy Cruiser’s Heavy Cruiser…
Even More Obscure Early '70s Heavy Rock: High Tide's High Tide, Highway Robbery’s For Love or Money, Incredible Hog’s Volume 1, Jericho’s Jericho, Jerusalem’s Jerusalem, Jody Grind’s Far Canal, Kahvas Jute’s Wide Open, Leaf Hound’s Growers of Mushroom, Lucifer’s Friend’s Lucifer’s Friend, May Blitz’s May Blitz, Night Sun’s Mournin’, Nitzinger’s Nitzinger, Orang-Utan’s Orang-Utan, Pink Fairies’ Never Neverland, Pluto’s Pluto, Poobah’s Let Me In, Power of Zeus’ The Gospel According to Zeus, Road’s Road, Rumplestiltskin’s Rumplestiltskin, Sir Lord Baltimore’s Kingdom Come, Sky’s Don’t Hold Back, Steel’s Steel, Stray’s Stray, Stray Dog’s Stray Dog, Tapiman’s Tapiman, Tempest’s Tempest, Thundermug’s Thundermug Strikes, Tiger B. Smith’s Tiger Rock, Tin House’s Tin House, Titanic’s Sea Wolf, Toad’s Toad, Trapeze’s Medusa, Truk’s Truk Tracks, Tucky Buzzard’s Tucky Buzzard, Ursa Major’s Ursa Major, Warhorse’s Warhorse, Warpig’s Warpig, Weed’s Weed, White Witch’s A Spiritual Greeting.
