MISSUS BEASTLY

Found in 1968 in Herford,Westfalen,MISSUS BEASTLY begun as a psych/jazz rock band,who recorded an eponymous album in January 70',featuring Hansi Fisher of ''Xhol Caravan'' on flutes and Dieter Serfas of ''Amon Duul II'' on percussions,they even extended their line-up to seven members,but soon they run out of money and disbanded.Surprisingly a new formation returns at the end of 1973,touring around Germany and finally releasing a new LP on Nova in 1974,entitled ''Missus Beastly'' as well (in 2005 the album was reissued by Garden of Delights on CD with four extra tracks)!

Their sound was very far from their debut and had nothing to do with the German kraut/jazz scene either.No stretched compositions,no ever-lasting improvisations.''Missus Beastly'' contains seven rather short-length tracks with a pleasant sound and a funky and spacey edge,influenced among others by PASSPORT, WEATHER REPORT,NUCLEUS or even PERIGEO.Saxes and flutes are on the front in here,delivering weird solos, dreamy, almost psych passages and soft interplays with the rhythm section.Dieter Miekautsch'es (later to be found on EMBRYO's line-up) keyboard parts play also a prominant role...some organ solos are so tasteful,but it's especially his electric piano that recalls heavily CHICK COREA of WEATHER REPORT.Actually what comes closer to jazz/fusion in this album is the tight and strong delivery of the rhythm section,featuring heavy and groovy bass lines by Norbert Doemling and impressive drumming by Lutz Oldemeier.Compositionally the album stands quite good next to monster bands like PASSPORT,KRAAN or EMBRYO with its rhythmic parts lasting as much as the individual solos in here.

Not the album of the decade,but nevertheless ''Missus Beastly'' is an enjoyable listening from the start to the end.Recommended and should easily appeal to followers of the aforementioned groups.

4.5 stars.This was professionaly recorded by Radio Bremen back in 1974 and the sound quality is excellent.One of the big differences between this release and their studio albums is the addition of the great Eddy Marron on guitar.He played with them for less then a year while at the same time playing for DZYAN and FREE SOUND.Yes he was a busy guy playing a lot of live dates, this is the only document we have of him playing with MISSUS BEASTLY.Eddy mentions in the liner notes that this band never took drugs,it was all about the music.I would describe the music on this recording as being Free Jazz and i have to say right away that i contemplated giving this album 5 stars that's how impressive it is. Things get started with the 27 1/2 minute "Free Clinic" which is definitely my favourite track on here.It sounds like vibes to open as other sounds come and go in this atmospheric intro.The guitar sounds are getting louder 4 1/2 minutes in until a minute later he's lighting it up.Nice bass and flute as well.The guitar stops after 8 1/2 minutes.Check out the bass after 10 1/2 minutes.Nice.Sax takes the lead 12 1/2 minutes in.Organ after 15 minutes and then it settles right down to an experimental section with sax and other sounds.The tempo picks up as we get a melody after 19 1/2 minutes,love the drumming here.The guitar is back after 22 1/2 minutes and he just starts to rip it up.Flute before 25 1/2 minutes as guitar backs off.Drums and percussion continue to impress.Bass takes over for flute then sax comes in to end it.What a ride that was. "Green Girl" opens with sounds that come and go including vocal expressions.It all starts to come together to form a melody.Very cool.Sax takes the lead until it ends the way it opened.Brilliant! "Steel's Electric" is an Eddy Marron composition.It's fairly laid back with the guitar the sole focus early.Light drums join in.Sax and flute help out around 4 minutes.The sax gets dissonant.The tempo picks up after 6 minutes with some good bass a minute later.Sax after 8 minutes returns. Highly recommended to fans of Free Jazz.

This is MISSUS BEASTLY's second album, and only the drummer remains from the first recording.They've added EMBRYO's keyboardist but he would return to EMBRYO after this album.Dieter Dierks would produce and record this album at his studio.The band would have a falling out with the record label and would leave them because the label insisted on the cover art of the ape with the banana, instead of what the band wanted to use.This album is just a wonderful example of how good jazz can be.Lots of sax and flute here with the bass and drums really standing out.The keyboardist is incredible as well. "Julia" opens with cymbals as percussion and other sounds come and go.It kicks in after a minute with piano and drums leading the way. "20th Century Break" is an uptempo and fun tune.The drums are very active.Alto sax after a minute with lots of soprano sax to follow. "Geisha" has some fuzz in it as flute,drums and keys join in.This is a great sounding mid-paced tune.The flute is a treat. "Vacuum Cleaners Dance" is dissonant to start out(those crazy vacuums) and it kicks into a higher gear 2 minutes in with flute and drums leading the way.This is great! Sax before 3 1/2 minutes as it settles.Flute is back 5 minutes in with some killer drumming. "Paranoidl" features a fantastic soundscape of sax,piano,drums and bass.Check out the organ before 2 minutes.Chunky bass 2 1/2 minutes in with sax,keys and drums.Incredible section! I like this song. "Fly Away" builds until sax arrives 2 minutes in.Keys become prominant until sax returns before 4 minutes. "Talle" was the name of a village where the group was sharing an old house.Drums open the song as sax joins in. Flute comes in and takes over with keys and drums.Sax is back though leading the way.The last minute of this track is fantastic. In the book "The Crack In The Cosmic Egg" they describe this album as "more jamming and livelier than PASSPORT,more groove-oriented than EMBRYO..." All i know is that this record is an excellent example of all instrumental jazz.

This is the (first) nameless album of MISSUS BEASTLY - a band from my little hometown Herford. When they produced it in 1970 I was 14 years old - a litte bit too young to follow up the first steps of the band. Later I had closer contact to guitarist Atzen Wehmeyer for some time - but not related to music primarily. We worked together in a social project for children and he had formed another band named EINHORN in the meanwhile after he left MISSUS BEASTLY. So to review this album is something special for me because reminding a lot of experiences from that time.

They had chosen a psychedelic painting for the cover which was absolutely reflecting the music they played at that time. Their gigs often worked like happenings though, differing to what normally would be considered as a concert. They simply played what came into their minds in an intensive stirring mood - breaking all rules - and that finally caused the band's special reputation and success. They had been invited to play at two important german music events - at Burg Waldeck Festival and the Essener Pop & Blues-Festival. It is also known that someday the audience catcalled the main group THE MOVE at the Herford Jaguar-Club because they wanted to hear more from their favourite band.

It is fairly applicable to say that this is krautrock. MISSUS BEASTLY offers a blend of different music styles based on the blues - sometimes psychedelic coloured, sometimes jazz influenced and decorated with some weird insertions. The song material was worked out by accident in the same way as the gigs happened. It didn't match with what the band played live. Some of the songs never were presented on a stage. Hansi Fischer, the flute player of XHOL CARAVAN, appears on one song and the sessions were additionally supported by the AMON DÜÜL II members Dieter Serfas, Chris Karrer und John Weinzierl.

The short opener XOX is presented in a weird krautrocked mood - a short jam with distorted organ and guitar later fading into a backward spoken word part contributed by Atzen Wehmeyer. The textual content is harsh as it was usual at that time and defends the hippie subculture. Uncle Sam follows as a more blues inspired song - composed by Petja Hofman when the soundman was justifying the microphones! Vocals are rare and then the band jams once more in free form returning back to the main theme at the end.

Shame On You comes much more hippiesque first with acoustic guitar, percussion and flute. And then the band suddenly switches to a jazzy atmosphere whereas Wolfgang Nickel and Atzen Wehmeyer are swirling around nicely with their instruments. Another song which was composed spontaneously during the recordings was Decision - heavy rocking this time and one of the most accessible songs of the album. Chinese Love Song belongs to the highlights by all means because very weird - the vocals are a pun somewhat with rhyming words in german and this could be used at Halloween for eample - to frighten a lot of people without any problem. The deep bluesy Mean Woman and the instrumental and more grooving Aphrodisiakum are finally usual proper played songs with some improvised portions here and there.

Generally MISSUS BEASTLY is associated with jazz rock/fusion. And considering the whole discography this suits by the way. But this band has an eventful history with some changes and a lot of musicians. And they started with a krautrock album as many other german bands did in the same way. Definetely recommendable if you are searching for early german output reflecting the transition from the 60s to the 70s with a special spirit of optimism and pleasure to experimentalize - 3.5 stars.

This album contains three instrumental jazz rock jams recorded by Radio Bremen in September 1974 shortly after the band had produced the second LP. Keyboarder Dieter Miekautsch had left the band towards EMBRYO and Eddy Maron, also known from contributions for VITA NOVA and DZYAN, brings new aspects to the music - it's quite a new impression of the band. The sound quality leaves nothing to be desired by the way.

The twentyseven minute Free Clinic is known as a (way shorter) bonus live track from the digitalized version of the second MISSUS BEASTLY album. Sometimes even with a free jazz touch they are jamming all the way through with excellent interaction. Lutz Oldemeier is much more than a drum machine - he plays varied even using his instrument for solo excursions when backing the others on the way to what destination ever. Norbert Dömling acts impressing as usual with his funky bass and the brass instruments are swirling around all over there.

Green Girl is quite more accessible - canterburiesque with a fusion oriented guitar. Dömling surprisingly changes his style right in the middle from somewhat angular to funky. On Steel's Electric Eddy Maron gets the chance to shine with his guitar skills completely - no wonder - a song which was composed by himself. The band once again plays near to a free jazz style with weird flute and saxophone contributions.

A very good show documenting a new facet of the MISSUS BEASTLY band and a highlight for fans of improvised jazz rock. 4 stars are well deserved.

The band has changed beyond recognition a little bit - it's jazz rock respectively fusion by all means but somewhat more in a classic straightforward way - not that weird and with krautrock leanings as shown by the earlier band incarnations. Keyboarder Burghard Schmidl and Friedemann Josch are left from the former line-up. Locko Richter plays a solid part but cannot really manage to be an equal alternative to Norbert Dömling.

The excellent fusion track Space Guerilla as the highlight is performed with much dynamic dominated by Burkhard Schmidl who substitutes the (missing?) rhythm guitar with his keyboard. And therefore not missing a guitarist they are able to offer the Guitar for Sale starting in the wellknown MISSUS BEASTLY or EMBRYO style but drifting into 'shallow waters' in the second half with a decent piano solo. Rahsaan Roland Kirk is a solo flute performance by Josch and then the album developes into a weaker average direction more and more. For Flü appears as a noticable exception with some breaks and changing moods. Cose Dola is not more than a nice pun. 'Dose Cola' in german means a Coke tin. The closing King Garlic is proper most certainly but not really recognizable as a common MISSUS BEASTLY output though.

So as for a conclusion 'Space Guerilla' contains nice jazz rock songs with flute contributions - but I'm missing this special MISSUS BEASTLY flair.

— First review of this album —

Dr. Aftershave is coming back ...

One of the rare albums from which I still possess the original vinyl. I sold almost all the others about ten years ago. They used to be unhearable in the meanwhile because of my carelessness (oh - if I ever could withdraw that!). First of all - I'm not sure if band and album title have changed the places! The back cover contains such informations like 'produced by Dr. Aftershave And The Mixed-Pickles' and 'this record is dedicated to Missus Beastly'. But I don't want to enhance the confusion which the band must have intended for sure.

Nevermind - as I told before I kept it - this is still mine though as a vinyl. Maybe it was the crazy cover art - maybe because MISSUS BEASTLY hails from my little hometown. But this is still history in 1976 anyhow. The line-up which produced this album is totally differing from the original band. The only remaining Herford citizen Lutz Oldemeier (drums) had left and they were hold up furthermore by Norbert Dömling (bass), and the brass section consisting of Friedemann Josch and Jürgen Benz.

The musical style however hadn't changed quite much compared to the eponymous foreunner album. It's a special krautrock fusion which is also known from EMBRYO for example. And some members of this band are present here indeed - Roman Bunka, Christian Burkhard and Butze Fischer - the new drummer. It was the same year when both bands founded the music cooperative APRIL (later renamed to SCHNEEBALL) together with SPARIFANKAL and TON STEINE SCHERBEN. 'Dr. Aftershave And The Mixed-Pickles' is known as the first production of this label.

The first song Miles all along the Watchtower immediately brings up the unique style of the band. Dömling's extraordinary funky and deep toned bass playing and Fischer's impelling drums are serving a special drive. The jazzy note is worked out by saxophone and Burkhard Schmidl's keyboard. Roman Bunka adds an excellent decent rhythm guitar with a slight asian touch. Can't detect references to Jimi Hendrix - more to Miles Davis - but they also could have meant Buddy Miles RIP with the title. So far so good - this song is a wonderful opening act.

If one song ever could be recommended to be extra accessible for more people High Life seems to be a candidate. Nice floating composition near a ballad with vocals by Maria Archer but dominated by synthesizer and electric piano - unfortunately faded out because of the restricted vinyl length I assume. Morning Sun seems to be a passage from a longer band jam and is an example for the obvious krautrock leanings. The funky Gurus for sale contains a jazz rock guitar solo by Roman Bunka - again faded out - what a shame!

Nothing again is devided in two parts seperated by cosmic synth soundscapes. The first segement sounds like a reminiscence to RETURN TO FOREVER with acoustic guitar and the calm second part shines with a bass solo appearance. Funky ethnic with percussion, flute and wonderful sparkling e-pianoPatscha Menga underground follows. The short and modest For Erie closes the album with a classical touch only celebrated by bass and piano.

An album with an excellent mix of arranged and improvised elements. Until today not digitally released what I know and I'm quite sure this would have been done in the meanwhile if the original tapes were still existing. A great pity. Highly recommended to everyone who is looking for jazz rock/fusion albums keeping apart from the average and who is able to reach for one of the vinyl copies (but not mine!).

One of the first underground German psych groups around, MB was known as Psychotic Reaction then Reaction before changing their name to an afro American TV show doll. They experienced quite a success live, but by the time they came to record their debut album, they had nothing ready for it, so they had to dig up old live songs, and according to bassist Hofman, the album is absolutely not representative of their stage sets.

Indeed this first album might appear quite deceiving compared to the band's future jazz- rock albums, because it is a full-psyched-out rock often delving in jazzy-blues-rock. The four main tracks (ranging from 5'30" to 9 minutes) of the album are all in this genre, and while enjoyable and well played, there is nothing extraordinary which would really interest most progheads, outside the psych flavour: they even sound like early TYA. The three shorter tracks (max 3 minutes) are even more psychedelic, but are amounting to being almost negligible. Indeed this album is really not that much essential to progheads, but can be a curiosity to Missus Beastly fans and to those psych-minded progheads as well.

This album will then be pirated (straight from the vinyl, therefore of inferior quality) quickly under the name Nara Asst Incense, and a group named MB with no link with the legit one will then live off the reputation of the name and even record two albums of their own. On the other hand, obviously the real MB was completely disorganized and only partially existed, but at one point the group will align seven musicians (including two wind players). The group will eventually fold, before being reformed on the request of ex-Missing Link Dieter Miekautsch, and former MB Jurgen Benz who asked the only remaining original drummer Lutz Oldermeier to reform. But this is another story.

Quite turned out rebirth ...

This is the first rebirth of MISSUS BEASTLY - the most famous band of my hometown - in 1974. Here we have a complete different line-up matched with the debut - excepting drummer Lutz Oldemeier who has been one of the founding members in 1969. The musical orientation changed to Jazz Rock/Fusion. A comparison with EMBRYO's music is permissible because Dieter Miekautsch plays very jazzy keys in the same way as he did before with EMBRYO on the release 'We keep on'. Norbert Dömling acts with a funky bass and we have a lot of good sax and flute work by Friedemann Josch and Jürgen Benz.

All the studio songs are very interesting to hear without an exception and without boredom. Julia has a crazy start with good percussion work and then Miekautsch is dominating the song in best form with his electric piano. After 4 minutes the song ends by a sudden death. With 20th Century Break flute and sax are getting a more important role - very good. Geisha with a matchless fusion groove is one of my favourites. This song was later also remixed by drum&bass/downbeat acts. Fly Away the longest track with wonderful psychedelic sparkling keys and some jamming is another highlight.

The quality of the live songs is OK - but nothing to get excited about. I was a litte bit disappointed when I listened to this for the first time. Could see MISSUS BEASTLY live in some cases at that time and so I can remember more exciting experiences. The live tracks are differing to the studio output - IMO they are lacking because of the absence of Miekautsch - for example to hear in the comparison of the studio and live version of Paranoidl.

A great document of early german Jazz Rock - recommended.

Wow. I am really the first one which writes a review of this record. Besides, was Missus Beastly one of the big German krautjazz bands, at one level with Embryo or Doldinger. The band and this LP has still almost fallen into oblivion what is a pity because on it excellent music is to be found. Influencees of Mahavishnu, Miles Davis or also Zappa is not to be denied, but the band mixes from it a brew with own taste. The musicians control her craft and bring jazzrock on the highest level. With this LP once more the German dominance was indicated in this genre which there has been at this time undoubtedly. At that time I was a big fan of this krautjazz, and still I am. Recommendable. 4.5 stars really.