EPSILON

I don´t usually write 3 star reviews, and that is not because I love everything - or find it difficult distinguishing diamonds from faeces, but rather to do with me having a huge record collection and wanting to highlight the albums that make me euphoric - tickle my spinal chord and send me packing in that special place where time evaporates and music is everything - all that exists. The 3 star albums I enjoy writing about is either obscurities that speak to me on a personal level - or albums that hold something unique and/or crazy. Ok, that was my small disclaimer - on to the Krautrock!!!

Errmm - sadly this is not a Krautrock record, let alone a prog one. In all honesty, I find little in this debut by German band Epsilon that justifies them being here on PA in a fully blown progressive category. Then why, if I just started out stating what I did earlier, do I concern myself with this album? Why then highlighting a record that clearly is a misfit in drag? Well my friends, it´s because it is a wonderful album - and a genuine honest one to boot. It´s got soul - soul as in Otis Redding, Paul Butterfield Blues Band and several of those early rhythm n´ blues based acts, those that wore their emotions on their sleeves and sounded like a storm of ashtray vocals, pelting Hammond organs and I´ll-put-my-wooden-clogs-up-your-backside tumbling and sweaty rock.

The lead vocals here are coarse, raspy and powerful soulful renditions of what you´d hear from a large quantity of bands at the time such as mark 1 Deep Purple and Free, but the cool thing about Epsilon is that, though Germanic in descent, there´s really no emphasis on words like "ze" and "bæybi" - the singing is wonderfully done and it fills much of this album with a warm and delightful atmosphere. Like a woollen sweater you keep to yourself... Apart from the wall to wall organs that swoop through the tunes like swarms of pelicans, the real meat and potatoes of this band is the combination of all the musicians involved - the way they roll, and I find it hard to believe, that this in fact was their first outing. It is that well done, and it rocks like your dad on a pogo stilt after a bottle of Johnny Walker!

All the blues boxes are ticked off here with lines like: "Woke up this morning" and "Set me free", and all in all, along with those captivating organs and emotive vocals, it is by far the soul feel that is sitting at the front-wheel of Epsilon´s self-titled debut, and I happen to love it like I love driving south in a rusty old piece of junk watching the trees and shimmers of white paint on the asphalt drift by - like some surrealistic moving painting. This kind of music holds a special place in my heart, and to some extent I feel like I´m betraying this album by giving it a 3.5 rating, because personally it feels like more - feels un-rateable so to speak. Like putting a price tag on an elbow - 5.99 and that´s a proper elbow I tell you!

I just realized something on this my 4th listening of said magnificent album today. Epsilon sound a lot like Danish beat band Beefeaters, which, if you´re wondering, was a cornerstone of the new musical direction in Denmark back in 1967, and helped introduce the sounds of both black America and the psych revolution that was in full bloom all over the Western world. This is a huge compliment by the way, as I adore this band.

This one should please all you old school hippies and rock n´ rollers, that still feel like something got lost somewhere along the line, and still feel like you´re flying effortlessly on warm healing winds, when you pop on a Procol Harum album. This is a time machine in sound taking you back to a place in our modern history, where the money was a bi-product of the experience and not in control of the buttons. 3.5 stars.

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