was HW: Live 79, now Cosmic Jokers

[Doug Pearson]

On Wed, 24 Mar 1999 10:49:09 -0500, Keith Henderson <henderson.120 at OSU.EDU>
wrote:

>Doug said...
>> ... check out Julian Cope's 'Krautrock' book
>>which is a great starting reference (although it does contain a few
>>inaccuracies and some very opinionated statements of the YMMV variety).
>
>Yeah, some things he says are downright stupid.  But still, a book about
>Krautrock is better than no book at all.  But then, I'd recommend the fine
>work done by the Freeman brothers first and foremost.  Their articles from
>Audion, and their Krautrock encyclopaedia, 'The Crack in the Cosmic Egg.'
>Wonderful reference.

Yes! That's a great book ... an essential Krautrock reference, and
certainly more rigorously academic than Cope's book (which in some ways is
a glossy fanzine in book format).  I still like Julian's book a lot, but I
have to roll my eyes when he makes statements (which I paraphrase) like
"'Dance of the Lemmings' is a crappy album" (so it's not as good as 'Yeti'
- BFD) or "'Amboss' is even better than 'Sister Ray'" (it's great - it's
amazing - but it's not THAT great).

>>>Got a recommendation for a first Cosmic Jokers CD?
>
>There are several.
>My recommendation for material of this sort would be (especially for
>Americans) the 2CD "Best of the Private Tapes" - M. Gottsching & Ash Ra
>Tempel put out by Purple Pyramid a year or so ago.

The 1971/73 recordings from the Private Tapes set are incredible!  If it
was up to me, I would have put those out as a 2CD set and scrapped the rest
(it definitely has its moments, but too much of Gottsching's later
recordings are waaaay to laid back/new agey for me).  The Purple Pyramid
set is a great bargain compared to the original 6-CD set, though!

>The Cosmic Jokers stuff is only on Spalax (France), and it a touch more
>costly. (I do like their more rigid/durable digipacks though.)  Of the three
>I've heard, I quite liked 'Sci-Fi Party', which wasn't even a true 'Cosmic
>Jokers' album (if there were any).

All five Cosmic Jokers albums are pretty darn good, and the Spalax imports
are usually not excessively pricey (I usually see them for around US$18),
especially when you compare them to imports on, say, Captain Trip!

>>However, the "best" Cosmic Jokers album (IMO) is the Walter
>>Wegmüller 'Tarot' double album.  Unfortunately, it's only available as a
>>deluxe box set with a pack of tarot cards (imagine that!) that will set you
>>back about US$80 (ouch!).
>
>Are you talking vinyl or CD??  I see that Spalax has reissued this (1995) as
>a double CD box set...is this what you're talking about?  Presumably, they
>reproduced the tarot set for this item also?

I'm referring to the 1995 CD reissue.  I cringe to think what an original
vinyl copy (box set w/cards) would go for.  One of my housemates is of
Swiss origin and knows quite a bit about art history; when she noticed the
Tarot cards that came with the CD, she was already familiar with
Wegmüller's art and was surprised to find out that he had included an album
with some of his cards!

        -Doug
         ceres at sirius.com