Brainstorm (GFR)

[alucard]

I had listened recently to a couple of lesser known German bands with a jazz rock orientation like Out Of Focus , Zyan, Exmagma and Brainstorm.
I knew Brainstorm but its the first time I listened to their three of their four official releases.
The band was formed end of the 60s by two music teachers and two music students inspired mainly by Soft Machine and Zappa.
The first record 'Smile A While' 1972 was released on the Spiegelei ( Fried Egg) / Intercord label which specialised in German jazz rock. Btw The label with the fried egg spinning on the turn table was a nice gimmick.
Apart from the strange cover this is one of the best European Jazz rock records with a strong Canterbury orientation. The lyrics are a bit obscure and maybe inspired by Zappa.
The second record ' Second Smile' 1973 is my favourite with a better cover and more interesting compositions
In 1974 they did a concert for the WDR radio station which was recorded and released in 2001 as 'Last Smile'. Brillant playing showing the high level of musicianship and you feel the fun they take in playing but the overall feeling is more of a jam band and the compositional side gets a bit lost.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Second Smile is awesome, IMO - and way less derivative (Softs and SSister) than the debut. "Marilyn Monroe" has got to be one of the most tongue-in-cheek yet coolest pieces of campy vocal jazz-rock I heard from Germany, more so even than stuff like Eiliff and Joy Unlimited.

Good band.

[spacefreak]

Great band for sure... Second Smile is the one most oftenly revisited here.

[nosebone]

Fan here also!

I discovered them around twenty years ago while on a "everything Canterbury related" quest.

[Baribrotzer]

Heere are some musikcs froom farfarfar west of Yugoslaviatovitch

- Svetonio

[TheH]

Goody good stuff from my Homeland FRG (not GFR please)

[Progbear]

I only have Smile a While, which is definitely good stuff. One of the few times people say an album is “Canterbury-esque” and I can actually hear it. They bring their own identity to the table, though (I really can’t imagine one of the Canterbury bands producing a track as deranged as “Snakeskin Tango,” for example!). Guitarist/sax player Roland Schaeffer was later involved with Guru Guru (during their fusion phase).

Goody good stuff from my Homeland FRG (not GFR please)

Not BRD?

[TheH]

Not BRD?

Of course it's BRD (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) in German, the official English translation is FRG (Federal Republic of Germany). (RFA in French etc.)

[Scrotum Scissor]

Hey, this thread is totally TAKIN' OFF NOW!!

Brainstorm takin' over completely. No more threads on each month's subsequent Yes live album or box set. It's all Brainstorm from now on.

Of course I had to pull out both Brainstormin' studio offers last night, and while I stand by my position that Second Smile is the better of the two, the first one is certainly no slouch and the Musea CD from the mid-90s is mixed amazingly loud and clear, donning some quite forceful sound. The distorted organ was particularly biting here, and "You're the One's Gonna Make It Last" is insanely groovy.

My version of Second Smile however is a rubbish needledrop on Germanofon, worse even than the one they did on the second Eulenspygel. I think I need to get a better one.

[TheH]

^^

Wasn't there a Version on "Garden of Delights" on CD?

Germanofon where a poor pirate but sadly often the only Chance to get stuff like this...

[arturs]

Goody good stuff from my Homeland FRG (not GFR please)

lol... When I first clicked on the thread I thought GFR was meant to stand for Grand Funk Railroad. Maybe Brainstorm was a song by them?

I do own Second Smile BTW, I have the Garden of Delights pressing. It is a fun album but I don't really hear any Canterbury at all on it. A lot of horn-rock swagger and some Zappa.

[Scrotum Scissor]

fun album but I don't really hear any Canterbury at all on it. A lot of horn-rock swagger and some Zappa.

That's the point; they left the Canterburiana behind with the first record - Smile a While. Which is very good still.

[Zappathustra]

I feel a bit silly that I hadn't listened to this earlier. Second Smile is soooo cool. It's amazing when you hit upon a band that has completely its own sound.

I would never guess they're German by the way. The only German band that comes close as a sound - up to my knowledge of course - is ExMagma. But Brainstorm sound even more refined and breezy, if that says anything at all.

[GeneTull]

[Zappathustra]

Second Smile is plain and simple fantastic, one of the core albums in the canterburian whimsy-prog-fusion music of the time. I feel like a very lucky person to be able to find and appreciate this kind of music.

Thanks to the OP btw.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

I prefer the two posthumous release (especially Bremen) but all around a very good band.

[strawberrybrick]

Roland Schaeffer, 'nuff said