Agitation Free - Last, Fragments & Live '74 [At The Cliffs Of The River Rhine] : 3 x CDs + DVD
SKU
21-MIG01660
Agitation Free were an instrumental, dual guitar oriented, somewhat 'jammy' oriented psychedelic/Krautrock outfit. In addition to the guitar, they are best known for giving the world synthesist/keyboardist Michael Hoenig.
At their best, they combined spacey Krautrock with the most 'out' moments of the Grateful Dead at their most cosmic.
The band only managed to release two studio albums during their lifetime and a number of archival releases.
"Last" was a posthumous live release of 1973 material that was originally issued in the mid 1970's. For my money, this was their best 1970's - released album, as they really stretched out here, with beautiful soaring guitar leads on top of a solid rhythm section, along with the wild card of Hoenig's electronics. A great album.
"Live '74" was first released by Garden Of Delights in the 80s and it was a revelatory, fantastic legitimate release from the master tapes of a famous German radio broadcast from 2/2/74. This features the group at their peak, with dueling dual guitars, Michael Hoenig's electronic backdrops, bass & drums. Similar to 'Last', but even better - and that's REALLY saying something! Here they really do come across as the Cosmiche Music's version of the Grateful Dead (& I mean that in a totally complimentary sense). Utterly essential.
"Fragments" is the very final studio sessions by Agitation Free. This is a big psychedelic jam from a lot of different members of the group from the different lineups of the band, including Christopher Franke, Michael Hoenig, Lutz Ulbrich, Jörg Schwenke, Mickie Duwe and more. It is looser than their classic albums, which may strike you as a plus or a minus, depending on your tastes. In any event, it's a very decent release & does not besmirch their great reputation in any way.
None of these three releases are currently in print on CD!
And even more amazingly, there is a reunion DVD from a show in Berlin, recorded on April 23, 2013 that is 90's long!
This is an extraordinarily good buy if you don't already have these albums.
- Format TypeNTSC
- Region CodingAll Region
- LabelMade In Germany
- UPC885513016607