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Birth Control - Birth Control [Aka: Gold Rock] CD (album) cover

BIRTH CONTROL [AKA: GOLD ROCK]

Birth Control

Heavy Prog

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Prosciutto
2 stars Well, this is not Birth Control's best. At this early stage the band were just an average late 60's rock band. The are some good moments though like the song "Recollection" which showcases the progressive elements that will often show up un future albums. The long jam in the track "Sundown" is nice too, but it's mostly plain classic rock not unlike Iron Butterfly. "Light my Fire" is a cover of The Doors' classic.

Progressively speaking, Birth Control will release far better albums than this one, however this record is not that bad for a debut.

By the way, Birth Control are from Germany but they're NOT a Kraut Rock band at all. IMHO it's a mistake to have put this band in this category.

Report this review (#42817)
Posted Sunday, August 14, 2005 | Review Permalink
Progbear
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Resonable heavy psych, with Nice-esque proto-prog tendencies on organist Reinhold Sobotta's two instrumentals: "Recollection" and "Sundown". The rest of the songs aren't terribly memorable, the band had clearly not found their voice yet. But speaking of voices, drummer Bernd Noske's authoritative yet surprisingly nuanced hard-rock voice is already a force to be reckoned with even at this early stage. Low point is the rather pointless cover of "Light My Fire".

Not a must-own, but far from bad. If you have some of their other albums already and are curious about the group's origins, I certainly see no reason why you shouldn't check this out.

Report this review (#44966)
Posted Wednesday, August 31, 2005 | Review Permalink
b77art@poczta
3 stars I like the debut from Birth Control, although I agree that it is not their best record. On the other hand, it isn't such bad as the notes suggest. I hesitate to rate it 3 or even 4 stars - three and a half would be the best option for me :) Finally: three stars mean it's "Good, but non-essential ", and I think it's most convenient.

"Light My Fire" is correctly performed, but I don't like it, as it seems to me to be only poor imitation of The Doors' charisma. The rest is original Birth Control - and is quite nice!

Report this review (#71310)
Posted Tuesday, March 7, 2006 | Review Permalink
Seyo
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars This is a somewhat interesting debut of BIRTH CONTROL from 1970, although much better works would come later on. Proto-progressive acid/hard rock with tons of Hammond organ could be worth hearing by the enthusiastic listeners of this type of music. However, apart from several nice moments - "No drugs", "Deep Inside" and their rendition of "Light My Fire" - this album is pretty much close to "fans only" recommendation. Still, I believe 3 stars is more appropriate!
Report this review (#71504)
Posted Thursday, March 9, 2006 | Review Permalink
philippe
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Sonic inspirations from late 60's psych music and early 70's heavy rock with a great dose humour. The music is largely dominated by epic Hammond organ sequences and fuzzing guitar sections. Not as heavy than the following efforts. According to me, the song "no drugs" culminates the album: a venomous, aggressive, dark composition with austere melodies, bluesy guitar lines and some pop accents. We pass throw different moods and grooves. The instrumental, almost symphonic "Recollection" is a fine technical, melodical exercise for Hammond organ. The rest of the album is a charming but not really original progressive pop musical session with some reminiscences from classic 60's bands, occasionally featuring lyrical keyboard parts...Birth Control's poppiest stuff!
Report this review (#119939)
Posted Friday, April 27, 2007 | Review Permalink
ZowieZiggy
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars First album for this German band which is playing a heavy psychedelic rock deeply inspired by Purple Mark I and to a certain extent the heavy keys play is rather similar to the one of Hensley (Heep).

The sound is a bit outdated of course, but there are some excellent numbers here. "Recollection" and the long "Sundown" are the highlights from their debut. Both feature great organ play and the latter has an excellent upbeat tempo. They are pure instrumentals.

This album also features some sung tracks like "No Drugs", "Deep Inside", "Foolish Action". And, surprisingly, the vocals are pretty decent which is not always the case with German bands.

The cover of "Light My Fire" fits perfectly well in their repertoire. The sound of the organ is of course not the Manzarek one, but I am keen to say that this version is quite good. Faster than the great original.

There is a CD version for this album. Released in 1997, there are four bonus tracks. They don't add anything extraordinary but these sixteen additional minutes are in the same vein than the original album. October is my preferred one.

All in all this is a good album. Very much from its time. Three stars.

Report this review (#162517)
Posted Sunday, February 24, 2008 | Review Permalink

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