Carol Of Harvest ~ Germany

---8/21/01

Carol of Harvest are one of the legends of the progressive rock collecting world. Released on the ultra-private Brutkasten label, Carol of Harvest were destined to be a big collectors item. Frequently praised as the “best prog folk group ever”, the foundation was laid for dealers to fetch four-figure sums. “Acid guitar, long tracks and gorgeous female vocals”. All things considered, Carol of Harvest are a competent late 1970’s German progressive rock band with a slight folk edge. I hear similarities to fellow-countrymen like Rebekka and Werwolf, both considerably less expensive in the day before the CD reissue. Basically, Carol of Harvest blend female vocal-led folk melodies with drawn out prog rock arrangements featuring Moog synthesizer and some complex meters. Throw in some loud acid guitar solos and you have the makings for a super-imaginative record dealer to hype this puppy through the roof. This is no lemon mind you. Plenty of good ideas and original playing to entice the most cynical prog rock fan.

---8/22/26

Ha - look at that, I'm hearing this album again almost 25 years to the day of that review. Totally random. There was another listen mixed in there, as noted on the bottom line. You can sense from my original review a bit of the cynicism of my view of the record collecting world at that time. To correct one thing I said above, Brutkasten wasn't really a label, but one of those DIY imprints like Century, Rite, FLVM, and others. Essentially a private release from a known pressing plant. I'm also dialing back the prog rock tag towards folk rock.

For the music itself, one can appreciate the enthusiasm it garnered back in the day, as the music fit the UK psychedelic folk rock genre like a glove. And the additional synthesizers only add to the allure. For whatever reason that particular strain of folk was extremely popular with record collectors back then. In particular Trees was a leading light. And Carol of Harvest "avoids" the Krautrock sounds of the Pilz era bands like Emtidi and Broselmaschine. The music is very much what one would expect to hear in England from 1972. So the original date puts it out of time and place, yet another bit of excitement for collectors.

For my tastes, it's a rather basic folk rock album with shrill female vocals, excellent psychedelic guitars, and fine synthesizers. Brass tacks I realize, but I never derived much out of the album. I could probably "force" myself to love it, but I could do that with many albums if I tried hard enough. If you're tastes run towards folk rock, I would highly suggest you consider hearing this album. It is a cut above the norm.

As for its rarity, it's truly scarce. Discogs alleges that 69 people own it. That's nonsense. Most of those are the 1994 reissue for certain. Even the copies that sold were either that reissue, or missing the record altogether. The guy who has the $11,000 copy, while high, isn't crazy. So yes, buy the reissue. I'll probably let this go, but I just realized I never added to UMR, so here it is.

Ownership: 2001 Second Battle (CD). Digipak. Booklet with lyrics and photos. Acquired in 2001.

First copy: 1994 Brutkasten (LP). Acquired in 1994.

1994; 8/21/01 (review); 5/23/18; 8/22/26 (update / new entry)