Gila. 1971 Germany

Of late, I've been talking about the Essence of Krautrock. If Erna Schmidt represents the ultimate example of that sound from an archival perspective, then one could make a similar argument for Gila's debut in real time. There are few albums out there that capture that magical time and place (1971 Germany) as well as Gila. It may not be the best example, or have the extreme highs of Ash Ra Tempel, Agitation Free, or Embryo, but it's still a 5 star masterpiece, once again showing what a strong bench the country harbored back then. There's an energy and an atmosphere that is hard to capture in words, but Gila writes a complete novel on how it's done. The baby crying on 'Kollaps' sends me goosebumps. Every time I hear this album, I'm transplanted back to an era that I was alive in, but obviously didn't experience (I was a 6 year old living in Texas then). But we have the historical record, so I can go there anytime I want. Gila is one more ticket to that place.

Ownership: LP: 1971 BASF. Gatefold with poster. Yep, this is the real deal first pressing. I splurged online in 2015. I think I got a deal, but it's a relative term. Believe me, it was still expensive. But finding a clean copy with the poster is hard to do. It was a top want and took me many years to accomplish this (without overpaying of course). My first LP was the 80s release on Peak, which is an excellent straight-up reissue, that I purchased new from a well known mail order dealer in 1989. This was my introduction to the band and album. After obtaining the original, I still kept this copy for the memories. Finally I decided to release it. Ironically it sold this past weekend, coincidental to this post and relisten.

CD: 2017 Garden of Delights. Recent online acquisition (2022). This is the copy I listened to for this posting. Ever since GoD reissued it, I made a note to upgrade the basic Second Battle CD I already possessed. For this album I will maintain both formats. I really bought it for the booklet, and the history, which is thorough as always (even though they have a parallel (but different) history on their archival Night Works release). The sound is excellent, but requires a sound boost. There are no bonus tracks. If you already have the Second Battle CD, there's really no need to upgrade, I just tend to be obsessive that way.

1989; 2/20/07; 2009; 8/8/22 (new entry)