Pancake - Roxy Elephant. 1975 Germany

Pancake's debut is a good representative of the German rock sound of the mid 1970s. So it's not really Krautrock per se, nor Deutschrock, but it definitely has a progressive mindset, with plenty of good ideas. There are no keyboards, and the songs are driven by dual guitars. From a composition perspective, mid 70s Jane and Birth Control would probably be a good guidepost here, but other obscure references would include Poseidon, Madison Dyke, and Prosper. Obviously, Pancake is not where you start your German progressive collection, but for deep divers like myself, this is worth owning. They were to improve from here.

CD: 2003 Garden of Delights
LP: 1978 Blubber Lips

My first copy was the Blubber Lips LP. I didn't realize the Blubber Lips version was a reissue! In any case, this album became a victim of my "great LP purge" of 1995-1996. No regrets really (as is the case with 95% of what I sold via catalog back then), but I have since gone back and picked up the excellent Garden of Delights CD, with complete liner notes, photos, etc... I wish they'd included the two Nyrvana Pancake singles as bonus, rather that putting them on one of GoD's Psychedelic Gems' series of albums. I haven't heard these singles myself, but will check them out on YouTube when I get a chance. One fun fact: Back in the early 90s, when we had a weekly radio show here in DFW, I asked the host how he would describe the album cover. He dutifully started to do so, until he heard myself and others in the studio start busting out laughing. Yea, I know, sophomoric humor right out of Porky's or American Pie. Who said the UMR was highbrow anyway?