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Carol of Harvest — Carol of Harvest
(Garden of Delights CD187, 1978/2020, CD)

Carol of Harvest Cover art

Carol of Harvest’s self-titled album appeared in 1978 as a privately pressed LP. Stylistically, this German quintet’s music is in the spirit of folksy Krautrock and British psych-folk. Emtidi’s Saat comes to mind as an obvious German comparison, with Mellow Candle, Loudest Whisper, and Axe being useful reference points on the UK side. Still, it would be a mistake to overstate the folksy elements here. The instrumentation is vocals, guitar, keys, drums, and bass, with nary a traditional instrument in sight. Also, with the exception of two short vocal-and-acoustic-guitar duets, the songs on this album rock hard, with lots of electric guitar, thumping bass, intermittent swirls of Moog and organ, and plenty of drum kit. Proggish aspirations are unmistakable in the 16-minute album-opener, “Put On Your Nightcap,” as well as in the other two tracks from the original LP. Certain moments of these suitelike compositions, in fact, attain a quasi-symphonic grandeur that reminds me a bit of Renaissance, although I attribute that as much to Beate Krause’s expressive vocals as much to anything else. (She doesn’t actually sound like Annie Haslam, however — in fact, her voice is probably closer to that of Pentangle’s Jacqui McShee.) This reissue includes three live bonus tracks, although two of these, including an unrecognizable cover of Jane’s “River,” are brief instrumental excerpts from what appear to have been longer pieces. The sound quality on these bonus tracks is mediocre, but they are perfectly listenable. For folks who enjoy proggy psych-folk, this may well be the most exciting reissue of 2001.

by Jim Chokey, Published 2002-04-01

Formed in 1976 in the German town of Fürth, Carol of Harvest was a band that played what might be called acid-folk. Their only LP came out in ‘78 on a local label, Brutkasten Records, in a micro-quantity of 200 copies, which the band sold at their gigs and distributed among their friends. Much of what one hears on the album proper, which consists of only five tracks, two of which approach or exceed the ten-minute mark, could easily pass for a sound produced almost a decade earlier, with acoustic guitars and harmonized male and female vocals dominant, but with drums, electric guitar, keyboards, and a bassist in the band, they are able to show their capacity to rock with the best of them, especially in a live setting, which we have some evidence of here among the seven bonus tracks. At the core of the band was guitarist and songwriter Axel Schmierer, joined by singer Beate Krause, bassist Heinz Reinschlüssel, keyboardist Jürgen Kolb, and drummer Robert Högn. Throughout their few years together, they only played around seven gigs. The first was with a different singer, and Kolb and Krause left the group at the end of ‘78; both were replaced for a brief time, but the writing was on the wall. The album opens with the astonishing sixteen minute “Put On Your Nightcap,” which begins in folky territory but wanders all over the psychedelic rock map by the point of its conclusion, an impressive opener if there ever was one. The album closer, “Try a Little Bit,” follows a similar path, a gentle and folky beginning later followed by plenty of psychedelic fuzz and buzz, with every player giving it their all. It should be noted that their lyrics are all in English — Schmierer felt that English language to be more expressive than their native German. Three live tracks follow the album proper: “River,” “Sweet Heroin,” and a little bit of “Brickstone.” These are audience recordings, but provide some idea of the original band’s ferocity in a live setting (and these three have no studio counterparts on the LP). Four more studio bonus cuts feature the replacement singer Iris Meyer, as well as an uncredited saxophonist, presumably demos for a second album recorded before the group disbanded; these are superb, especially “For My Little Ones” and “Bringing Light on Earth,” and show a slightly new direction for the band. This is the definitive version of the album, and the four extra bonus cuts make it far superior to any CD versions that preceeded it.

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-10-26

Filed under: New releases, Issue 24, 2020 releases, 1978 recordings

Related artist(s): Carol of Harvest

 

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