-
Featured News
Patti Smith Upcoming Tour for 50th Anniversary of Horses
By Harvey Kubernik
“Horses was like the first cannon blast in a war – frightening and disorienting. I mean, she was so unlike the FM radio terrain in every way. She was literate, aggress -
Featured Articles
Chasing the White Light: Lou Reed, the Telepathic Secretary and Metal Machine Music
By David Holzer
Fifty years ago, Lou Reed released Transformer. In among “Walk on the Wild Side,” “Make Up” and “Vicious,” cuts that would launch a cartoon Rock N Roll Animal pers -
OMEGA – Ten Thousand Paces
(Jegrfa Productions/Moiras, Hungary) LP
Omega was one of Hungary’s most successful groups in the ’60s and ’70s. In fact, they’re still together, celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. This limited edition LP rounds up some of the very best obscure tracks from what is now considered Omega’s ‘classic’ period, 1968-70. Their progressive beat sound has a dark, epic feel, characterized by dramatic vocals, keyboard-dominated arrangements, and the type of cerebral, poetic lyrics that could only derive from living in an oppressed Eastern European country. “One day the sun / too tired to shine / Slept in the deep, green somber lake / And in the darkness the world did ail”—that sort of thing.
Several of the tracks here are superior English language versions of songs from their second (and best) album, 10,000 Lepes, including the superb “Petroleum Lantern” with its bouncy, upbeat groove and bluesy harmonica fills, the powerfully-charged ballad “Pearls in Her Hair,” and the title track, “Ten Thousand Paces,” a tense, drama-laden epic full of moaning Gregorian voices, and some manic, panicked guitar scribbling. Even better is “The Prodigal Son” (not the Beggars Banquet song), a thumping rocker with a killer fuzz guitar riff, blaring gladiator trumpets, and an uber-anguished banshee vocal.
The 1970 single “Dead Are the Flowers” has an attractive pop-psych arrangement, while the previously unreleased “Varakozni Jo” (one of the few Hungarian-sung numbers) is highlighted by some lovely, bendy guitar work. Meanwhile, “Vigyazz, Vigyazz ram” is a previously unreleased vocal version of a song from their ’68 debut album, Omega Red Star, its wailing Hammond and slightly hysterical vocal bringing to mind the Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
The set comes in a colorful psychedelic gatefold sleeve and includes a large foldout poster with photos, liner notes and all the lyrics (in English). It’s a splendid way to make the acquaintance of one of Eastern Europe’s most inventive and fascinating bands. (MS)
More info: http://moiras.somoskiado.hu/
Hola! I’ve been following your website for a while now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Porter Texas! Just wanted to mention keep up the excellent job!
Hey there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this website before but after checking through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back frequently!
Appreciating the dedication you put into your website and detailed information you present. It’s good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same outdated rehashed material. Excellent read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.
Hey just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your post seem to be running off the screen in Opera. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The design and style look great though! Hope you get the problem resolved soon. Thanks
I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your website. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Great work!
Hmm it appears like your website ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I as well am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to the whole thing. Do you have any tips for first-time blog writers? I’d really appreciate it.
Audio began playing any time I opened up this web site, so annoying!
This is a great blog, will you be interested in doing an interview about how you developed it? If so e-mail me!
Hey! Would you mind if I share your blog with my myspace group? There’s a lot of folks that I think would really appreciate your content. Please let me know. Thanks
Hello would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different web browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you recommend a good web hosting provider at a fair price? Thanks a lot, I appreciate it!