GIFT

Formed as Phallus Dei in 1969, this German outfit from Augsberg featured British guitarist Nick Woodland along with singer Helmut Treichel, guitarist Rainer Baur, bassist Uwe Patzke and drummer Hermann Lange in the original line-up.As Phallus Dei they reputedly recorded an album, which was never released, and afterwards the band changed its name to Gift and secured a deal with the Telefunken label, but at the time Woodland had already departed and joined Sahara, although his name appeared in the original vinyl version of the first album.Recorded at the Union Studios in Munich, Gift's self-titled debut was released in 1972.

Obviously influenced by the British Hard Rock bands of the time, Gift played a powerful Hard Rock with strong progressive flourishes and lots of jamming parts in the Kraut Rock tradition of many German Hard/Psych Rock acts, despite their tracks being actually rather short.The music is very energetic and edgy all the way with a pounding rhythm section and numerous impressive guitar leads, while Treichel prooved to be an excellent singer with his quite British-accented voice.While the negative point of the album tends to be the similarity between the pieces of the album, the combination between these angular Hard Rock riifs with the inventive grooves and the tyipcal Kraut-styled middle-part jams is mostly working well.Expressive vocals with good choruses, fiery solos and a good dose of changing tempos result a bunch of dynamic and adventurous compositions.Often the album retains a grandiose, emphatic and haunting atmosphere, based on Baur's classy guitar exercises, while a couple of tracks feature some good flute parts of unknown origin.

Guitar-based Hard Prog of good quality.The alternation between down- and uptempo grooves along with the standard Kraut Rock atmosphere in the instrumental parts are sure to satisfy all listeners of trully dynamic rockin' vibes.Recommended.

The birth of Germany's progressive Krautrock scene took many roads with some bands focusing on the farthest out psychedelic trips possible, others tackling the technicalities of jazz-fusion, some more engaged in catchy crossover pop hooks while others merged the heavy psych 60s with the hard rock 70s. The Augsburg based GIFT was one of those bands that took the last option and crafted an interesting take on the heavier aspects of the earliest sounds of what would be called heavy metal. GIFT is actually the German word for "poison" and what you get with the band's first of two albums that emerged in the early 1970s is a venomous sting of infectious early heavy metal that cranked up the speed, volume and prog complexities of the heavy psych sounds that flooded the latter part of the 60s.

This band was obviously inspired by Amon Duul II's classic debut album "Phallus Dei" because the then school band formed in the same year of 1969 and took on Phallus Dei as its band name. After a few years of practice and the recruitment of new members the lineup featured on the band's eponymous debut was Uwe Patzke (bass, vocals), Helmut Treichel (vocals), Rainer Baur (guitar) and Hermann Lanze (drums, percussion) after being discovered by Munich producer Otto Hartmann who signed the band to the Telefunken label. Considered one of the more adventurous heavy Kraut bands of the German scene, GIFT wasn't exactly the most popular on the scene but gained a loyal cult following for its dedication to dexterous compositional flow that adopted the excesses of progressive rock without sacrificing the heft of a bantering display of guitar, bass and drums. It's also notable that guitarist Nick Woodland was listed on the credits but actually quit the band before recording began.

GIFT's debut is an excellent display of no nonsense hard rock with a brilliant juxtaposition of cleverly crafted compositions that feature strong melodic hard rock hooks with heavy guitar riffs and an excellent rhythm section that features hairpin turn time signature changes and unexpected twists and turns in the musical flow without sacrificing the underpinning of what makes a hard rock song work so well. The Krautrock scene was filled with heavier bands but not all of them could pull it off but GIFT did so with seeming ease with a particularly strong emphasis on the drumming and percussive accoutrements that give the album that extra special something. Add to that the strong confident vocal ability of Helmut Treichel and it's easy to declare GIFT's debut release as one of the most competent heavy psych releases of the early 70s.

Perhaps not quite as heavy as contemporaries such as Lucifer's Friend, GIFT certainly took the established heavy psych sounds of the late 60s to their limits before the scene moved on to the hard rock and heavy metal that would soon become the more popular style of the 1970s. While compared to the fellow German band Hairy Chapter, GIFT was similar to many other bands such as Captain Beyond and Twenty Sixty Six and Then but due to the talented members on board managed to stand out as an original all its own without deviating significantly from the established heavy psych sounds of the era. This one doesn't seem to get as much love as the more psychedelic Kraut bands of the era and gets lost behind the harder bands from England and the USA but for my tastes GIFT successfully cranked out a wild ruckus of an album for their debut. The band would change its sound by adding keyboard sounds for its sophomore album "Blue Apple" but for this first offering GIFT was a powerful beast of heavy guitar driven rock music.

4.5 rounded down

GIFT was a German band who released two studio albums in the first half of the seventies. They were birthed out of a band called PHALLUS DEI which most of these guys were a part of when they were still in high school. Clearly fans of AMON DUUL II but they would eventually change their name to GIFT and release this self titled album in 1972. A five piece of two lead guitarists, bass, drums and vocals. This is hard rocking material at times but man this band was innovative for being lumped with those heavy, hard rocking psychedelic bands of the late sixties and early seventies. In fact the best band I've heard in this style is LUCIFER'S FRIEND and while I wouldn't put this band at that level they at least can compete with the way they play and their compositions.

This is a very consistent album as well and I'm not surprised at Mike's 4.5 star review. The best song might be "Don't Hurry" with the wordless vocals and the guitars ripping it up. A lot of those vocal melodies on this album which I really enjoy along with the dual guitars. The closer "Bad Vibrations" seems like a shot at THE BEACH BOYS. It chugs along with vocal melodies over top. So catchy and I like when the guitar mimics the vocals as themes are repeated. The track before it is so good called "Your Like" with that killer start and how about the attitude. Love the guitar after 2 minutes and the calm that is interesting.

Dark and experimental to open "Game Of Skill" then drums only before guitars and bass kick in then vocals. I really like the sound of this one. The calm again is has my attention before it kicks back in. Cycling guitars with vocals late. The only song that didn't resonate with me like the other tunes was "Time Machine". A lot of wordless vocals and flute on "Groupie". How about that instrumental section on the opener "Drugs" ripping it up. This is followed by the proggy "You'll Never Be Accepted" the longest piece at almost 7 minutes.

A great debut and the followup "Blue Apple" will also impress big time even though there was a couple changes in the band.