ROXY ELEPHANT

This is a lost-in-time German band,widely unknown in progressive rock circles.They were found in 1974 in Winnenden,a city near Stuttgart,emerging from the psych band Nyrvana Pancake.They debuted in 1975 with ''Roxy Elephant'',an LP released by Blubber Lips Label,later re-released in CD format by Garden of Delights.What is trully of prog interest is the presence of future ANYONE'S DAUGHTER drummer Gunther Konopik behind the drum kit...

...unfortunately this seems the only thing related to prog contained in this album.''Roxy Elephant'' is (to my ears) a combination of psych and hard rock,fully-guitar oriented,but I cannot find just a single memorable moment in this one after six or seven listenings.Additionally I find the vocals to be awful and very amateur,even sometimes the members seem to sing out of tune...when the gears are a bit down I can detect rare and slight CAMEL-influenced guitar melodies,but do not expect something above average.My final feeling is that I will not return to listen to this album in the near future...might be of little interest for psych/hard rock collectors...Prog fans should simply avoid...1 star...

I guess I wouldn´t be so harsh to this obscure band as Psarros, but he´s got a point. Besides, the name doesn´t help. To me, the band is interesting. Their sound definitly is more hard rock than prog, and it´s rare to find a german band at the time that has no mellotron, in fact, they dont´have any keyboards at all on this album. The musicians are good, of course, but really their songwriting here is below par. Even the best song (the title track) is spoiled by a drum solo. The remaing tracks are not bad, just plain common and full of cliches. For 1975, they were already dated with this kind of style. The band reminds me, vaguely, of a cross between early Eloy and Wishbone Ash (the dual guitar solo and vocal harmonies are especially evident on the opener Heartfire), but without the talent of either group. The results are nice most of the time, but never exciting or memorable.

It´s clear that Pancake should have taken their time to hone their songwriting skills and look for a personal sound. Certainly they had the chops, but they also had a dire need of a good producer and a better vocalist. I guess the follow ups might be better, but this one is just for fans of early 70´s hard/psychedelic rock obscurities.

Final rating: Two stars (barely).

Not bad for me (both as for their sound essence and the album sleeve itself) but it's a pity there's almost nothing Neues and innovative like Pinguin's "Der Grosse Rote Vogel' released three years before. One of obscure Krautrock combos PANCAKE have made their debut in 1975 upon the German Rock scene, with their first album 'Roxy Elephant'. This stuff is filled with bluesy guitar-oriented psychedelic rock seasoned with progressive rock-ish spice, maybe inspired by 70s British Rock Invasion. Sadly nobody (but themselves) knows what they wanted to play in those days nor whether they could have done what they wanted to do via this creation, but what they've not done more of novelty than psychedelic blues / rock can be heard currently. It's not wrong for me also that every material of theirs has vague, mysterious charm, anyway.

Honest to say such a progressive rock tendency can be found here and there, for example in a tad improvised shot 'Rolltreppe', the longest one 'Aeroplane', or the last titled track), but basically no rhythmic weirdness, melodic confusion, nor atmospheric weirdness like 'authentic' Krautrock / German psychedelic progressive. Plus their instrumental / play technique cannot be as deep nor heavy like the elephant upon the sleeve pic. Let me say their soundscape cannot get over the music area of psychedelic rock appreciated in late 60s or early 70s. Personally their improvised phrases all around the album should be fascinating for me, though. This obscurity cannot be recommended for every Krautrock fan but for a part of psychedelic bluesy rock freaks. My love, especially impromptu instrumental battles upon the last 'Roxy Elephant" nonetheless.