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PENTAGRAM (First Daze Here - The Vintage Collection) 2LP+7"/CD

This is one of the most important releases of the last years.Especially the early years in the 70`s of PENTAGRAM are still a very big secret for a lot of people, so the time is now for making this timeless stuff available for everyone.Everybody is aware of the footprints that the mighty Sabbath had left in the Heavy Rock history or Blue Cheer, but PENTAGRAM were another proto Psych Doom band. Due to the fact, that this band had released no album in the 70's and only three very rare singles they had never received the attention they have deserved for their powerful and honest music. And they were much better, than most of the other heavy acts at this time. Another problem was, that these early tracks were only available on over-priced and rare bootlegs or the "Human Hurricane" compilation, but the sound-quality wasn't the best. But a big praise goes out to Relapse for changing it.

This album contains classic stuff like the beautiful "Be Forewarned" (better check out the original version only on vinyl!), the ultra-heavy "Forever My Queen" , the melancholic "Last Days Here" and so on. All tracks were played by the early line-up (1971-1976), consisting of Bobby Liebling on vocals, Vincent McAllister on guitar, Greg Mayne on bass and Geof O'Keefe on drums plus Randy Palmer and Marty Iverson on three of the twelve songs. And they were one of the best Heavy Psych acts of this time. Some of the tracks are well-known in the re-recorded versions on other PENTAGRAM albums. They were one of the heaviest acts in their early days, but more psychedelic than on the other albums. Just listen to the original version of "Be Forewarned" , and compare it with the version on the "Be Forewarned" album and you know what I mean. The sound-quality of "First Daze Here" is definitly very strong, modern and powerful and in some moments it's hard to believe that you're listening to 70's recordings. All songs were remastered by Chris Kozlowski assisted by Bobby Liebling and together with the informative liner-notes of Geof O'Keefe, some amazing photos of the band and all lyrics in the booklet I just need to say: BUY OR DIE! A must-have for all Pentafans, but also highly recommandable for everyone who wants to check out the roots of the music this e-zine is about. You can order it from Relapse Records or every good distribution. And please overwrite all books about music-history and add the name PENTAGRAM to it. Now you can't say that you haven't known them!

(KK)

www.relapse.com

www.ramshead.org