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Sindelfingen - Odgipig CD (album) cover

ODGIPIG

Sindelfingen

 

Prog Folk

3.62 | 30 ratings

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Sean Trane
Special Collaborator
Prog Folk
4 stars Out of the blue in the early-90's, emerged the Background label that proposed some early 70's UK rock music that nobody (or almost;-) had ever heard of. Some very obscure stuff that even an experienced proghead such as me (but being only 12 in 75) had never even so much as read about, and only Raw Material's debut album actually rang a bell from that series of 16 releases. It turns out that most of these records were privately released, and so unless you were a British national, you had not much chance to even hear about them, let alone see one of those records in record shop racks or much even less hear them. Most of these were now fetching a fortune among collectors and obviously there were greatly amplified rumours that those albums were superb. The range of those records presented in this series ranges from average rock groups to slightly progressive rock to (a good deal of the release) downright folk rock groups, all very amateurish in their songwriting/presentation: some (but few) were actually very rough gems only waiting for a refining. A few of these records are included in the ProgArchives such as Agincourt, Ithaca, Raw Material's debut and this rough gem.

Although clearly an amateurish record this little record is rather endearing and very enjoyable album with influences ranging from progressive folk to symphonic rock, the whole thing not being afraid to be largely instrumental and is of excellent sound quality (the Cd was lifted from the original master tapes). Many influences such as Pentangle (extensive use of the glockenspiel), Genesis (the voice intonations and guitar arpeggios), Yes (the booming bass), Focus (the frequent reprise of classical themes such as Greensleeves or Fur Eloise),

The two long tracks on side 1 (I do not have the vinyl, but let me dream I do) are easily the highlight and everything hints that these guys should've made it big and everyone of the four instrumentalists are all excellent at their respective crafts, however the almost 13 min Perpetual motion hovers a little too much around Classical themes and overstays its welcome just a tad, but it is still a tour-de-force. The title track is closing the album in odd folky fashion but not out of context.

Apparently the small text on the booklet, Sindelfingen was much more than a group as their shows involved dancers, visual artists, light engineers and even a string section (just before folding), making this even more odd that it is completely unknown. Overall the artwork depicting a pastoral mood fits well the musical contents of the disc, but it must be clear that the different Cd reissues do not bear the original artwork with the white cover, but a green modernized hedgehog artwork and crafted logo.

What I must really stress is that I thank Background Records for actually have existed and released this series of rather uneven albums, but that very release actually had for effect to let interested music lovers to hear those then-over-valued-and-over-rated albums (I repeat most of them are average) without dishing out a fortune for them. I am sure some collectors must hate this label, because the values of the original vinyls were greatly diminished. Nevertheless, this superbly naïve record was the needle in the haystack and is IMHO, the best of that Background series.

NB: the original vinyl is downright rare (and fetches fortunes) but there was a double vinyl reissue called Ogdipig - Triangle that came with a live record, not reproduced here on the Cd re-issue. Pity! Especially so, with the Cd clocking in 35 mins!! PS: There is a recent Cd re-issue of the album with the Triangle live tracks, on the Minority Records label (have no idea whether it's legit or not) and the sound quality of the 5 bonus tracks (3 of them well over the 11 minutes mark) is somewhat very very average, but you can hear that it's the same group and although live (and rawer) it gives a slightly different facet of the band, but just as good as the the studio facet. But if there was ever a true example of an unearthed gem, Sindelfingen is it!!

Sean Trane | 4/5 |

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