LIVE!

Two years after Sixty-Nine's debut album, their concert material - called simply "Live!" - was released. This effort however sounded a bit different compared to the first work. It's still organ-driven prog-rock but unlike the debut, we can witness much more vocal parts (don't worry, still everything is sang in English) and Moog synthesizer's solos/weird effects. What's more important, is that they didn't play any tracks from their eponymous disk so all songs on "Live!" are completely new (maybe some of them are other artists' covers, who knows...), so we can treat it as 2nd & in the same time last "studio" recording (especially that sound quality of this concert is usually very good).

Anyway, let's check the songs one by one:

1. "Just Right Here And Now" - first song sounds like mix of heavy prog a la Atomic Rooster, joyful rock'n'roll and ... soul/blues style in the vain of Joe Cocker or maybe even more Ray Charles. Sounds strange? Surely! Overall nice, ultra-fast track full of wild organ rides and some high-pitched Moog moments.

2. "Red Guitar" - another fine track very similar to the previous one. Hammond organ chops are even heavier here but especially Moog solos are stunning here. Unfortunately more and more annoying Armin Stowe's vocal (seems he tries to sing like Elton John & Robert Plant in the same time...) with this horrible "Honey, honey!!" repetitions spoil fun quite much. BTW name of the song is "Red Guitar" but just like in the whole album, there is no sign of guitar tones here.

3. "Little Country Girl" - very mainstream sounding piece of childish rock'n'roll led by danceable electric piano & organ beats. Stupid screams & bike ring tones don't help at all. Honky piano is also not a thing I expect in my prog-rock collection. Bleh.

4. "7 Steps To Hell" - this composition brings drastic change of mood. After sloppy-happy "Little Country Girl", "7 Steps To Hell" delivers completely different entertainment: dark, atmospheric & deeply psychedelic piece which started with thrilling spoken part about entering the hell. Later on we can listen to fantastic set of highly energetic and melodic Hammond organ solos in the vain of Keith Emerson during his high-days. Everything is based on magic synth effects background and ultra-busy Roland Schupp's drum work. In the end there is also normal singin' section which doesn't add too much to overall impression but also doesn't spoil anything. One of the best tracks on the album and first truly progressive here.

5. "Frenzy Feelings" - very Atomic Rooster inspired composition, full of organ riffing, some rhythmic piano and so-so vocals. Sometimes they descend too much into mainstream rock'n'roll territory but in general it's not so bad. However some strange sound effects (once calmer - once louder, etc.) can be irritating for non-Krautrock lovers.

6. "Get Uno" - and here comes the first song which can be titled "an epic". 12 and half minute long mastodon called "Get Uno". It's a "standard" prog/art rock trip full of organ solos, electric piano solos and of course Moog solos + few average vocal sections. Surely good listening experience.

7. "The Confiscated Car" - okayish hard-prog song with standard-good organ work and lots of crazy synthesizer solos. Armin's voice sounds quite annoying here, very forced style of singing. But near the ending band sounds like unstoppable killing-machine of grinding organs and incredible Moog flights!

8. "Bach's Broken Trumpet" - it's a really strange track! At first we are "attacked" by grandiose pipe-organ like melody (Hammond created) which was surely inspired or maybe even written by J.S.Bach himself. And it would be fantastic idea, but unfortunately all this time somebody (probably drummer) makes completely unbearable noises of crashing/demolishing/dropping objects. It's a complete disaster 'cos this noises are truly LOUD! And we have to listen to this almost whole 5 minutes! After that Armin came starts to sing and composition metamorphoses to more "typical" prog-rock one. Some melodic Hammond solos in the second half of the song are also noteworthy. Overall it's a mixed bag and rather wasted opportunity of creating something better (if only not those ear-destroying rumbling noises in the first 5 minutes!!).

9. "7 Trouthers Walter" - beginning of the suite was clearly stolen from ELP's "Tarkus", but I don't blame them 'cos I always appreciate good-taste in stealing. After 3 minutes long "intro" Stowe starts to sings...and what a surprise, he actually sounds really melodic and overall convincing here. Surely his best vocal performance on "Live!". He also plays lots of astonishing organ and synth solos in the middle and the end of this epic. 100% pure progressive rock from 70s. That's what I like the most.

10. "Linkies Blues" - this one starts with some weird psychedelic noises created on electric organ. Something like Keith Emerson during his (in)famous stage antics. But after that guys starts to play very bluesy rhythm and this track evolves into something like weird, psychy version of "Green Onions". I can hear clear "Egg" (Canterbury rock group from England) influences in here too.

In few words: if you enjoy organ-led Emerson, Lake & Palmer/The Nice symphonic staff mixed with heavy prog a la Atomic Rooster, Bram Stoker, Frumpy, Quatermass or 2066 & Then, you simply need this second Sixty-Nine's effort. However I still recommend you to start with their debut staff, especially if you have allergy on dorky vocals.

4 starts from organ-maniac ozzy_tom (for anybody else it would be probably only 3 stars worth album, but who cares, it's my review after all :-)

SIXTY-NINE were a duo out of Germany in the early seventies who were quite popular as a live act. In fact it was this popularity that caused them to go in and record their only studio album in 1973. I had to smile when I saw Silly Puppy's review of their studio album a few days ago because I had been spinning this their live one and thought what are the odds that two people on this planet are playing their two recordings around the same time? These two formed in 1969 hence the band name. This live recording was recorded the year after the studio album was released and the album cover reveals their setup on stage with this array of keyboards plus all the drum equipment filling the stage.

This was recorded professionally by Conny Plank at a venue in Hamburg. To be honest the sound quality is a little hit and miss. The misses are early on in the concert on the first few tracks only. This was released as a double album at the time worth 72 1/2 minutes. Too long and the early tracks are too commercial sounding with lots of hammond and loud, rough vocals. For me the best music on here are the last three songs worth around 30 minutes. Man that clavinet kills but then he adds distortion to the keyboards at times making them sound filthy. So good. Even the vocals on these tracks are toned down thankfully, maybe his voice was dying(haha).

So a good album that surprisingly has no songs from the studio album, these are all new.