Brainstorm were a band with 2 studio albums... and no less than 4 full posthumous archival releases. Between Garden of Delights and Long Hair, the group's backlog has been mined thoroughly. And yet, surprisingly, there's little repetition between them. Encore features not only Fashion Pink's earliest recordings from 1969 but also their last known show in 1975 as Brainstorm. Through it all, we hear their patented take on the Canterbury sound, without ever deviating into commercial realms. The first 8 songs compliment the SWF Sessions Volume 3 release, and are uniformly excellent. Best of all is the inclusion of a full EP that was released under the name T.A.C. (see Ownership section for some controversy). These tracks demonstrate early sketches of what was to be eventually released as Smile a While, and flow quite nicely together. If you're a fan of the collective, you'll want this, even if you have the other 3 archival albums.
Ownership: CD: 2005 Long Hair. Excellent archival release with fine sound and full historical liner notes. After the release of the SWF Sessions, original guitarist Helmut Rusch chimed in to clarify some of the history. Looks like I didn't get around to purchasing this until 2013.
Now for the promised controversy: T.A.C. There's no questioning the authenticity of the recording, the purpose of its recording, the moniker or anything else. It's an outstanding addition to the overall package. Some of you might recall my entry for a Dutch band called Crying Wood. I think we have a similar situation here. The liner notes indicate that an EP was released in 1971 by the corporate entity known as Beiersdorf. You can look them up on Wikipedia, and they remain a major provider of skin care products in Europe. The story goes that this album was given as a gift to customers. Pffffttttt. C'mon. Now we're not being harsh on Mr. Rusch, as it could have been misinterpreted what he said, or he may have been mistaken about it being actually released (you know musicians and their memories...). But I'm sure the recording themselves could have been made for such a purpose. All of that is believable, and again, these are authentic recordings.
But wait - there's a version on Discogs (see photo on right). See? You're wrong again ol' Mr. UMR! Sure - and so are the Psi-Fi releases and the Crying Wood. Remember Art Jackson's Atrocity on Columbia? Haha. Here's what we know: The image on Discogs was taken from an ebay auction in 2008. There's no label or back cover. Which mysteriously can't be found anywhere. 2 people claim ownership, and a whopping 13 want it (including us now lol). So I'm supposed to believe that a major corporation used this album as a giveaway, and only 2 copies are owned after all these years? And almost no one knows about it? So it's that obscure? Yea, right. You know the RT had a lot of these corporate albums in his collection. I had to throw most of them away and use the covers as mailer filler. There's 1000's of them in the marketplace, all more worthless than the last. Note the date of the auction: 2008. Perhaps taken from the CD? Ya think? Well anyway, none of this is proof it doesn't exist. No more than I can prove that original LPs by Pyramid or Galactic Explorers doesn't exist. But the evidence looks awfully fishy. But was there a band named T.A.C. who recorded an EP for Beiersdorf in 1971? I can believe that for sure, yes.
4//13; 7/21/22 (new entry)
