Bachdenkel – Lemmings

Details:- 2007, ORK Records, CD

The best thing about doing this blog is that it forces me to listen to more than the usual suspects in my current collection, seek out records I haven’t heard about, and occasionally get obscure stuff like this album landing on my doorstep for my opinion.

I’d never heard of Bachdenkel before and would hazard a guess that the vast majority of people that visit this site haven’t either. A Birmingham band that broadly fit into either of the psych-rock or progressive-rock genres of the late sixties/early seventies they recorded the majority of this album in 1970 with three other tracks featured coming from the preceding two years, yet it didn’t get issued originally until 1973. Add to that the fact that the band relocated from the Midlands rock heartland that produced Zeppelin, Sabbath, Priest, Slade, Moody Blues, The Move et al and relocated prior to the original release of this album to er.. France of all places! Hardly the breeding grounds for rock notoriety whether on a global scale or at an underground level.

However, for all the reasons why they didn’t succeed, the music does not disappoint. Delivered on this remastered cd as one continuous piece of music as originally conceived rather than the separated as on the original vinyl it’s quite a musical journey, although there is a hell of a lot going on here and on each listen more reveals itself. Overall the main two similarities I drew listening to it were harmonies ala The Beatles against a musical landscape very much in the early Pink Floyd field however there is considerably more in here than just similarities to those two.

The two real highlights of the album come fairly early. Track three, “An Appointment With The Master” is a superb piece of psychedelic rock where some of the guitar work playing behind the vocals is mesmerising. This song possesses the drama of the Abbey Road medley coupled with a poetic lyric worthy of comparison to Syd Barratt, and the guitar solos courtesy of the Colin Swinburne are simply outstanding. Immediately following this is an eleven and a half minute epic entitled “The Settlement Song” which moves from a drone of organ and sparse, almost avant-garde initial instrumental phase through to swirling soundscapes and acid rock passages fighting for attention against more melodic and accessible sections. It’s a real work of progressive rock finery with a rip roaringly heavy conclusion and would have made a superb conclusion to the album (although judging by the short silence that follows it I’d guess it concluded the vinyl issues first side).

Elsewhere much is on a comparably high scale too as the band deliver the likes of “Translation” which combines similarities to “Us And Them” with a bass line that reminds in place of “Sun King”, and another epic in the shape of “Come All Ye Faceless” which opens with a music-box quality before snapping into a speaker shaking march.

“The Slightest Distance” is an accessible piece of late sixties melody crossed with seventies heavy rock displaying yet further diversity. Something magnified by inclusions like the reflective and all too brief “Equals“, a track that if I heard in isolation I would have tagged as Roger Waters perhaps.

Only the funereal “Long Time Living” and the albums low point “Donna” fail to maintain the high standard. “Donna” sounding like an attempt at something more likely to get airplay lyrically yet musically seemingly ideas recycled from earlier in the piece – maybe purposeful given the thread of alienation running through the album but not as impressive anyway I look at it. Overall though two that don’t hit the mark on an album of 10 tracks (now boasting 3 bonus tracks too) isn’t at all bad.

Given an excellent packaging once again by ORK, the extensive liner notes make for fascinating reading. The “Tales From The Front Line” section this time features some period press cuttings, although unfortunately they’re too small to read much bar the headlines where it’s interesting to note that one of them refers to Bachdenkel as “Britain’s Greatest Unknown Group”. On the basis of the music it’s hard to understand why they remained unknown although the sleeve notes give the reasons. Hopefully 1975’s “Stalingrad” album will follow shortly .

Highlight:- An Appointment With The Master

Score:- 4/5

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Unsurprisingly there is no video footage of Bachdenkel on YouTube however I was shocked to find “An Appointment With The Master” combined with footage from an old Stanley Baker film which at least allows anyone to sample the albums stand out track.

for more information and sound samples visit ORK’s website.

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BL

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