Thursday, November 1, 2012

Valhalla - Valhalla (1969 us, terrific heavy psych with blues and prog flashes)



Valhalla a symphonic rock band who recorded one record for United Artists. The album's cover is a sinking burning Viking ship. The drawing is pretty good. The name Valhalla is the 'paradise' of all the Vikings who died fighting honorably.

American "acid" hard rock - the concept is not typical, but it provides the most complete picture of music VALHALLA, team late 60s. Their only album, which appeared in the 1969, was crowded with "violent" organ and soulful melodies. The last general should be attributed to the apparent advantages of the group as well as things like the Ladies in waiting or Conceit could easily be a hit, they get the proper promotion. Best of what was needed - a memorable tune and expressive performance - was over. After all, if childish innocence in ballads and "militants" to give a very special charm, here the picture spoiled thorough. In any case, their album - a good example of the late 60s, which failed to fully realize their potential, but deserves a better fate than the total obliteration.

"Hard Times", the opener, is a fusion of strong guitar riffs and keyboards. If you dont like this song you wont like the album, because the followers are pretty much all in the same style. the guitar and keys are the basis of the sound. "Conceit", again this song is full of guitar solos while Hulling is singing, but when its only the guitar playing the solo turns into a monochordic dead sound, the chorus is quite good though. 

The strenght of the previous songs disappear in "Ladies In Waiting", im not saying its bad, it is actually one of the best songs in the album, a Keyboard/Drums only song. "I'm Not Askin" has alot of Blues influences. It also features a 4-minute guitar solo and Hulling's yelling vocals. "Heads Are Free" is almost Doors-like, the vocals, the keyboard, the rhythm, its almost like hearing them. "UBT" is even calmer than "Ladies in Waiting" using the same instruments. It's to long in my opinion, 5 minutes are too long for a song like this. The first time we can listen to the Bass clearly is on this song. The screams ar the end of "Overseas Symphony" are really delicious, to song could have some of its minutes cut-off. Enjoy it!
by Adamus67
Tracks
1. Hard Times - 4:24
2. Conceit (Don Krantz, Mark Mangold) - 4:38
3. Ladies In Waiting - 3:57
4. I'm Not Askin' (Rick Ambrose, Don Krantz, Mark Mangold) - 6:10
5. Deacon - 4:16
6. Heads Are Free (Rick Ambrose) - 3:45
7. Rooftop Man - 4:04
8. JBT (Rick Ambrose, Mark Mangold) - 5:33
9. Conversation - 3:21
10. Overseas Symphony - 6:14
All tracks by Mark Mangold except where indicated.

Valhalla
*Rick Ambrose - Bass, Vocals
*Bob Huling - Percussion, Vocals
*Don Krantz - Guitar
*Eddie Livingston - Drums
*Mark Mangold - Keyboards, Vocals

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6 comments:

  1. snz interesting, thx for the text adam!

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  2. "Doors-like, the vocals, the keyboard, the rhythm, its almost like hearing them. "
    Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. waay better, , better , im not into the doors anyway, but i love this cd, valhalla, the musicians, and the lyrics, always better than the mainstream, record companies, radio, and theres lots of more bands out there, from the sixties, and early seventies that will blow your mind, , no. 1 musically, no. 2 with intelligent honest lyrics, , jeronimo, ,self titled, alamo, self titled, , , goliath, 1971, , prog. rock, as they classify, , , , kahvas jute, australia, excellent all, just search , and listen for yourself, also a band called pirana, there very first, they only made 2 lps., the first one, pirana, i think self titled is the one, and forget frank santana, thats the record companies, version of so called , anything, the hardest latino, rock, and early 60s -70s and im not latino, , blow you away, as it should be, all these, mentioned,im sure theres more, , in the mostly unkwown, 60s and 70s,its been goin on, till this very day, the real arts, the musicians, better than tnhiers, the record companioes, and waay better lyrics, for common man, workin man, just sayin, thats why overall, most if not all of these gems never got wide known by the masses., other agendas. another 60s gem, early 60s, , called tommorow, , self titled, , , early 60s phychedelic rock, , cool, steve howe from yes, in that early band., lots of great tunes and lps. here listed, just the tip of the iceberg, what they ve been hidin, forever. peace out, and god bless.

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  3. Hi, could you please reup this, thanks

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  4. Trying to get some RA releases. Thank you. Does anyone have a working DL link as this one is broken.

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