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BIRTH CONTROL

Heavy Prog • Germany


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Birth Control picture
Birth Control biography
Formed in Berlin, Germany in 1968 - Disbanded in 1984 - Reformed from 1993-2014 - Active again since 2016

Psychedelic Krautrock to Heavy Progressive Rock with elements of Blues and Jazz

BIRTH CONTROL were formed at the end of sixties. In those early years they played hybrid jazz rock compositions, mainly instrumental. They recorded their first album for Metronome bringing to the fore an accent for humour and provoking thoughts (the name of the band and the album cover illustrate it as well). Their second album "Operation" shows a great improvement in sound, a kind of heavy rock based sound with subtle jazzy arrangements. This album had a great success for the Ohr label (specialised to promote the rise of the German underground rock scene). In 1972, "Believe InThe Pill" was also released for Ohr. After several replacements, the quintet recorded "Rebirth", a progressive heavy rock album. In 1976, "Blackdoor Possibilities" was a commercial failure due to a more mainstream sound and the inclusion of more jazz elements. "Increase" recorded in 1977 marked a return to the hard rock source. BIRTH CONTROL come back to light in the 90s for many reunion albums as "Jungle Life" or "Two Worlds".

: : : Philippe Blache, FRANCE : : :

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BIRTH CONTROL discography


Ordered by release date | Showing ratings (top albums) | Help Progarchives.com to complete the discography and add albums

BIRTH CONTROL top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.16 | 88 ratings
Birth Control [Aka: Gold Rock]
1970
3.67 | 160 ratings
Operation
1971
3.80 | 194 ratings
Hoodoo Man
1972
3.68 | 107 ratings
Rebirth
1973
3.69 | 174 ratings
Plastic People
1975
3.58 | 123 ratings
Backdoor Possibilities
1976
3.13 | 66 ratings
Increase
1977
2.60 | 50 ratings
Titanic
1978
2.85 | 40 ratings
Count On Dracula
1980
3.20 | 25 ratings
Deal Done At Night
1981
3.13 | 44 ratings
Bäng !
1982
3.23 | 29 ratings
Two Worlds
1995
3.34 | 34 ratings
Jungle Life
1996
3.25 | 29 ratings
Getting There
1999
3.81 | 43 ratings
Alsatian
2003
3.59 | 37 ratings
Here And Now
2016
3.84 | 25 ratings
Open Up
2022

BIRTH CONTROL Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.15 | 46 ratings
Birth Control Live
1974
3.19 | 22 ratings
Birth Control - Live '79
1979
3.15 | 8 ratings
Condominium
1994
3.04 | 4 ratings
Live Abortion
2000
3.20 | 5 ratings
Live in Lachendorf
2000
3.25 | 4 ratings
Live In Fulda - Alsatian Tour 2004
2004
4.00 | 7 ratings
35th Anniversary - Live At Rockpalast
2005
3.25 | 4 ratings
We Are Family - Live at 40th Anniversary Tour
2009
3.00 | 1 ratings
Live Harmonie Bonn 2018
2018

BIRTH CONTROL Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

BIRTH CONTROL Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.30 | 10 ratings
Believe in the Pill
1972
2.28 | 6 ratings
The Best of Birth Control
1977
3.75 | 4 ratings
The Best of Birth Control Vol. 2
1978
3.00 | 4 ratings
Rock on Brain
1978
2.12 | 5 ratings
Birth Control - The Very Best of
1990
4.13 | 7 ratings
Birth Control Definitive Collection
1996

BIRTH CONTROL Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

4.38 | 8 ratings
The Work Is Done / Flesh And Blood
1971
3.50 | 2 ratings
What's Your Name
1972
3.50 | 2 ratings
Nostalgia
1973
4.00 | 2 ratings
Gamma Ray Part 1+2
1975
3.00 | 2 ratings
Fall Down
1977
2.50 | 2 ratings
Pick On Me / Limelight
1980
3.00 | 2 ratings
Nuclear Reactor / Get Ready To Run
1982

BIRTH CONTROL Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Backdoor Possibilities by BIRTH CONTROL album cover Studio Album, 1976
3.58 | 123 ratings

BUY
Backdoor Possibilities
Birth Control Heavy Prog

Review by sgtpepper

4 stars I like this album much more than their first raw hard rock oriented and not well developed albums.

Backdoor possibilities showcases solid compositional qualities, much better vocals which were mediore in the beginning, and more sophisticated sounds.

Several keyboard instruments from Moog, Arps to organs and pianos (acoustic/electric). Focus instrumental moments such as in the exotic "La Ciguena de Zaragoza" with a keyboard-guitar tandem playing to saxophone solo are captivating. A Blues-Effect like solo does not stay behind in terms of quality, either.

"Behind grey walls" has majestic organ chords.

Definitely my popular album by Birth Control and if you aren't afraid of keyboards that dominate to guitar, then you should give it a spin.

 Plastic People by BIRTH CONTROL album cover Studio Album, 1975
3.69 | 174 ratings

BUY
Plastic People
Birth Control Heavy Prog

Review by sgtpepper

3 stars Birth Control streamline their sound to the progressive rock of mid 70's + other influences. The title track has some disco-influenced beat but thankfully, the majority of the song veers towards rock with Hammond runs, raw guitar and ARP.

Singing is an acquired taste as it sounds raw and not messy; moreover the vocals have a slightly operatic colour in echoes. Harmonies sound slightly more professional to me. Band strength, is however, in the instrumental power; less in the compositional area. Rare jazzy moments are underlined by saxophone.

My favourite tracks is "My mind" due to its enigmatic start and symphonic atmosphere -> acoustic & electric guitars, organ, violin and extended moog solo in the end. Still, the band clearly put more stress on live sound rather than sophisticated composition.

Rocking "Rockin' Rollin' Roller" has a catchy moog-guitar motive and piano led sung part.

The apalling last track "This song is just for you" with cried out male vocals and slick female vocals is a disappointment to be found here, although the instrumental part is quite good.

A non-essential album which has its strength and weaknesses.

 Plastic People by BIRTH CONTROL album cover Studio Album, 1975
3.69 | 174 ratings

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Plastic People
Birth Control Heavy Prog

Review by patrickq
Prog Reviewer

2 stars My opinion on this one is mixed. There's a lot to like here, particularly the keyboard playing. And the LP has more than a few moments of heavy-prog grandeur, some several minutes long. But here's what keeps Plastic People from being a three-star album: several songs are marked by inanities befitting RIO or avant-prog. Maybe this shouldn't bother me, but it does. I can appreciate some avant-prog (the Residents' Commercial Album, e.g.), but it's the sort of thing that works best as the framework for a piece of music. In other words, sprinkling some symphonic prog, heavy prog, prog folk, prog metal, etc. into an avant-garde piece sounds like a good idea. Maybe a great idea, actually. But while I appreciate the meta-avant possibilities of scattering some non sequiturs throughout an otherwise straight album, it just doesn't work for me, at least on Plastic People.

But those flashes of brilliance are pretty good, and the bursts of inanity are sufficiently infrequent to make parts of Plastic People enjoyable. In particular, the title song is pretty good. The keyboards on "Plastic People" remind me a bit of Tony Banks and a bit of Keith Emerson, but also a lot of Andy Tillison, possibly indicating an influence on modern progressive rock. And what, or who are "plastic people?" According to genius.com, the last verse begins "A plastic pachyderm could be their president." Ordinarily the elephant (pachyderm) would symbolize imperialism. But could this German band also be discussing US politics, in which the elephant (pachyderm) represents the Republican Party? (The then-US president was a Republican.) Or should we not bother trying to interpret the lyrics, which also include the line "Never mind / there might be a deeper sense / cracking silly jokes for idiots"?

Overall, Plastic People suffers as much from self-inflicted injuries than from a lack of quality material. It reminds me of an intentionally distressed but otherwise serviceable piece of furniture: I respect it as art, but in the case of Plastic People, I'd rather just have the plain old furniture.

Or something like that.

 Hoodoo Man by BIRTH CONTROL album cover Studio Album, 1972
3.80 | 194 ratings

BUY
Hoodoo Man
Birth Control Heavy Prog

Review by Tarcisio Moura
Prog Reviewer

3 stars I remember watching this album cover on a music store when I was a teenager. I did not really take it seriously: it looked lie a funny cover for a funny record. And I guess, after listening to it after several decades, itīs also easy to see why it didnīt make this band huge: German band Birth Control had, obviously,fine musicians, but their sound was definitely too derivative. Some sparks of originality do shine here and there, eventually: the classic hard rock anthem Gamma Ray is one. But for most part this band was doing exactly what most rock bands were doing at the time, and better. Here the main influence seems to be The Doors and Uriah Heep (Get Down to Your Fate, specially, sounds like a jazzy up early UH cut). The voice of guitarist and singer Bruno Frenze even sounds like a cross between John Lawton and David Byron, and thatīs a compliment! Few good instrumentalists had the gift of also having such fine pair of pipes.

Of course the jazz rock/fusion parts are, in the end, the most interesting ones, since on those bits they show they could do something really different. And different would make a big detail at the time. With so many new and exciting things happening at the time, it is no wonder Birth Control got little attention outside their native country. Nowadays you can enjoy this album much more, I guess, as long as you donīt compare them to their competition at that period. And the inclusion of a medley of folk themes on the last cut Kaulstoss was definitely a bad idea, sounding too appellative in a record in desperate need of original ideas. A good production helped here, and the excellent musicianship show they had potential to go much further. Fortunately they did.

Rating: 3 stars. A good heavy prog record with strong jazz influences that probably sounds better today than it did when it was originally released. If you like the style, go for it.

 Operation by BIRTH CONTROL album cover Studio Album, 1971
3.67 | 160 ratings

BUY
Operation
Birth Control Heavy Prog

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

2 stars A rough take on the bluesy hard prog that Birth Control would refine further on the subsequent Hoodoo Man - it even shares that album's style in grotesque cover art. Here, however, I feel like Birth Control's sound hasn't yet come together. Reinjhold Sobotta is OK on keyboards, but I feel like Wolfgang Neuser's performance on Hoodoo Man is superior - in fact, it was rather key to my enjoyment of that album, and I'm really feeling his absence here. This is OK if you really like the early Uriah Heep and Deep Purple style, but even then I'm not sure why you would put this album on if you had the better releases by those bands (or Hoodoo Man) to hand.
 Hoodoo Man by BIRTH CONTROL album cover Studio Album, 1972
3.80 | 194 ratings

BUY
Hoodoo Man
Birth Control Heavy Prog

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Though some prog fans may prefer later Birth Control albums such as Plastic People or Backdoor Possibilities, perhaps due to the more mannered, polished, and symphonic-leaning keyboard playing of Zeus B. Held, I greatly prefer the raw, dirty, Deep Purple and Uriah Heep- derived heavy psych-rock of Hoodoo Man, which derives much of its pleasures from the keyboard work of Wolfgang Neuser. This would be Neuser's sole album with the group, which is kind of a shame, because he's able to range from bluesy Deep Purple-esque playing to more classical-influenced organ work reminiscent of the more hard rocking moments of early ELP with ease. The distinctive Hammond organ sound would drain away from Birth Control beginning with the subsequent Rebirth, which is a shame because this album is pretty decent... shame about the horrible cover art, though.
 Hoodoo Man by BIRTH CONTROL album cover Studio Album, 1972
3.80 | 194 ratings

BUY
Hoodoo Man
Birth Control Heavy Prog

Review by Aussie-Byrd-Brother
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars Despite showing plenty of instrumental flair and smaller moments of musical ambition on their first two albums, Birth Control's third release, 1972's `Hoodoo Man', is where everything really started to come together for the group. Although a lot of the music was still bookended with vocal sections that simply provided a launching pad for frenetic and thrilling instrumental jams/improvisations, `Hoodoo Man' was one of their first albums to really start implementing progressive rock elements, perhaps in part due to new keyboard player Wolfgang Neuser. There's a very cool variety of combinations of the musicians playing off each-other, and along with a more expansive production, lengthier instrumental runs and more clever and exciting arrangements, the band delivered their best album to date.

Opener `Buy!' is all Bruno Frenzel's heavy plodding guitar riffs and Wolfgang's Hammond organ blasts with a trademark roaring vocal from lead singer/drummer Bernd Noske. You get a brisk up- tempo middle of spiralling synths/moogs with a chilled-out dusty bluesy guitar come-down before a thrashing finale. Although Bruno takes the lead vocals of `Suicide' in slightly uncomfortable English, some sprightly drumming and upbeat Hammond organ liveliness brings some infectious jazzy vibes for almost a touch of the English Canterbury bands. A Genesis-like charge races as if a battle-cry throughout `Get Down To Your Fate', and the extended jam in the middle delivers everything from rippling electric piano runs, E.L.P-style Hammond organ fury and serrated Black Sabbath-like guitar throttle.

Frequently driven by a variety of relentless percussion, `Gamma Ray' unleashes with all manner of Hammond organ slinging (jaunty and playful like Beggars Opera one second, swirling and attacking the next) and exhausting heavy, dirty and smouldering wailing guitar grooves. Especially nice is the lusty panning distortion and splintering guitar assault in the middle jam, an unhinged vocal from Bernd and Bernd Koschmidder's bass that seductively purrs away throughout. Be sure to listen out for the scat vocalizing with call-and-response fiery guitar fill duelling in the final minutes! The gutsy rocker title track brings plenty of danger and intensity. Dominated by a stomping beat over hell-bound brooding Hammond, the band show more daring than ever before with a psychedelic treated vocal from Bernd, ghostly creeping piano and even some booming and malevolent gothic organ! After that, you can probably skip the final two minute closer `Kaulstoss', a whimsical little album filler that has the band zipping through a Scottish bagpipe tune.

The next album `Rebirth' a year later would see the band growing even more in confidence and maturity, starting to move away from the more obvious Hammond-driven elements, so it just makes `Hoodoo Man' all the more special. If you like those early heavy Hammond-drenched proto prog bands like Atomic Rooster, Rare Bird and Bodkin, etc, this album is even more adventurous than most of them. A charismatic frontman, highly-skilled musicians and killer tunes - what more could you ask for?! The band had plenty more great albums to come, but this one is one of their best, and definitely my own personal favourite!

Four stars.

 Titanic by BIRTH CONTROL album cover Studio Album, 1978
2.60 | 50 ratings

BUY
Titanic
Birth Control Heavy Prog

Review by Aussie-Byrd-Brother
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars Birth Control are a German rock band that mix Hammond organ driven hard rock, with R&B, jazz and even psychedelic flavours. Fronted by the charismatic Bernd Noske, the band has always performed with great energy with a sound that constantly evolved. After a run of three albums which began with 1973's `Rebirth' that saw them embrace progressive rock, the band soon began to change their sound again, more than likely to do with the changing music tastes of the time. Funk and blues elements that had begun to emerge on their previous album `Increase' completely takes over on 1978's `Titanic', and it will likely test the patience of the more casual fans of the band. But if you just think they're a great rock band overall, chances are you'll find something on `Titanic' to enjoy.

Make peace with it right away - pretty much most of the tracks are powered by funky grooves and up-tempo energy, all crafted to very accessible verse-chorus arrangements. Catchy opener `The Last Survivor' actually has nothing to do with the `Titanic' of the album title, instead it's a cool groover with a biting lyric about a past love delivered with a raging vocal from Bernd. Right from the start, Horst Stachelhaus' bass pulses along the background nice and thick, and he instantly lifts the entire album. `Miss Davina' is a slinking chill-out that could almost be a tougher Roxy Music number, listen out for the droning chorus and cute synth trills. Slab thick bass and a howling vocal tear through `Seems Like Confusion', then Bernd is in loved-up form on the ballad `How Can I Live?'. It's the longest track on the album, confidently and sweetly sung, and a real showcase for Bruno Frenzel with his lovely heartfelt bluesy guitar soloing throughout.

The title track opens the second side, and it's a bit of a Birth Control classic, a brooding rocker with a catchy chorus, Hammond organ ripples and constant slow-burn bluesy wailing guitar fills. Be sure to check out the even better live version that appears on Birth Control's album `Live '79'! `Love Light' is a bass heavy sultry grooving dance-floor grinder, with a lusty vocal and dancing Hammond run in the finale, but the chorus is wretched and a bit too cute! `Don't Turn Back' is another classy romantic power ballad with powerful bluesy guitar runs and a warm swooning vocal especially strong in the stirring chorus, before the band close on the relentless chunky bass, lively drumming and fiery scorching electric guitar rager `Saturday Special'.

`Titanic' is a very well performed and catchy undemanding mix of rock and funk, with a handful of killer tracks and a few other worthwhile moments, with nothing actually terrible. First listen will be a bit of a shock, but give it more than one chance and take the time to listen closer, as you'll at least discover plenty of great playing from a talented band. Those only interested in their more progressive-related releases should stay well away, but anyone who likes the different styles of the band should look into it. Just make sure to check out their albums like `Operation', `Hoodoo Man', `Plastic People' and `Backdoor Possibilities' first!

Three stars.

 Count On Dracula by BIRTH CONTROL album cover Studio Album, 1980
2.85 | 40 ratings

BUY
Count On Dracula
Birth Control Heavy Prog

Review by TerryDactyl

4 stars I'm really surprised to see how unwelcome this album seems to be here. Why? Why? I ask as I shake my fists at the heavens and try to remember that there really is no place like home. But really such a low rating for Count on Dracula? I don't understand, but I do have a theory, and that is that very few people actually do the one thing that is required for a pure love bond with this record to occur: I can only assume the average listener doesn't REALLY *trust* the count. I suppose to make such an incredibly assumptive and arrogant statement like this means I must back it up, so I guess I will do that now.

Bullet Point One: This album is given most of it's incredibly heavy weight through the inclusion of three songs. These three songs of heaviness are:

1. Count on Dracula 2. The Rescue (Sometime in the Future) 3. Caterpillar

From the opening moment, the snarling organ, the awesome mixture of hard rock and funk, the absolutely bizarre lyrics that assure you that Bern really does trust the count, all the way through to the very end, this song just plain rocks. And maybe the plainness is what turns off many, I don't know, but I like the rocking rollicking quality of the song and the great vocals. A good opener that will soon be surpassed by probably the best song on the record...

And so the rescue went according to plan/ safe and sound safe and sound....The world is about to be blown up and someone somewhere is doing something to help someone get off it (maybe Ford and Arthur?) but it is a great tune, an excellent rocky almost danceable number that usually shakes my groove thing whether I want it to or not. It is true that the next couple songs are a little less exciting, but are they really? That, my friends, is not for my silly little self to decide because they do all rock nicely, groove ferociously and seem to be pretty wonderful in their own special way. "Pick on Me" was actually the single from the album and that they chose it as their single instead of either "The Rescue" or the (I'm about to talk about and gush all over) wonderful and quite gorgeous in its own way "Caterpillar" is a mystery to me and makes me think that Birth Control's lack of popularity had more to do with bad planning than any lack in the band itself! Because, whoa, what a song "Catepillar" is. Awesome lyrics, great music, a super fantastic better than anything Phil Collins ever made kind of song, that makes people who have never actually thought start smoking (from the ears) and people who have thought too much want to lay down on the ground and hurl donuts at the feet of the Virgin. Or that's what it would be like for me if I ever thought or didn't think.

The last two songs are rather nice if not the epic quality of the three I mentioned earlier. Plus, I mean, really it does have THAT cover...and nothing else really matters.

 Operation by BIRTH CONTROL album cover Studio Album, 1971
3.67 | 160 ratings

BUY
Operation
Birth Control Heavy Prog

Review by Aussie-Byrd-Brother
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars Although my first Birth Control album was the later proggy `Backdoor Possibilities', I initially fell in love with the band for their initial proto-prog works. I'm a total sucker for all those Hammond- drenched hard rock albums by bands that would later embrace their prog curiosities, so those early albums by Grobschnitt, Beggers Opera, Atomic Rooster and others - load me up! `Operation' by Birth Control sits alongside those sort of LP's, so we're talking melodic accessible rock with lengthy stretches of instrumental workouts and group jamming usually in the middle of each track. The 6 pieces here also frequently incorporate hard R&B, pop/rockers and even a bit classical grandiosity right at the end.

`Stop Little Lady' is such a classic opener, a stomping and relentless Deep Purple-like rocker that balances a memorable melody and chorus with extended jamming. The verses have a spacey keyboard shimmer that always reminds me of those early Eloy albums, and the insanely catchy chorus sung with manic power by the always charismatic Bernd Noske will be stuck in your head for days! I completely lose my mind during the uptempo instrumental electric piano and searing organ run over scratchy grooving electric guitars in the middle too! `Just Before The Sun Will Rise' has a Genesis-like organ drive throughout backed up by a very propulsive beat, Bernd's bellowing in fine throat-shredding form and there's plenty of dangerous acid-rock guitaring and glistening Hammond too. `The Work Is Done' is almost as good as the opener, a 60's inspired darkly grooving R&B rocker with a female chorus and a thoughtful lyric.

If a little less chugging and heavy, side B's `Flesh and Blood' wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Beggars Opera album, it's a shorter hip-swivelling pop/rocker that's also gently psychedelic. `Pandemonium' is a heavy slab of intimidating plodding rock for the howling vocal sections and prickly unhinged delirious instrumental outbursts for the rest, especially the Hammond plastered over every damn inch of it. Then questionable closer `Let Us Do It Now' takes a left turn and adds some unexpected classical grandeur, bordering on cinematic sophistication. There's constant reflective heartfelt piano throughout, gentle orchestratations and horns to carry the drama, and a restrained and purring crooned vocal from Bernd too. It's not a total success, but I think it just stands out more because it sounds like nothing else on the rest of the disk rather than being no good. For a heavy rock band, there's is no doubt it's very ambitious and surely a sign of the progressive rock leanings they would later take.

Housed in a baffling and attention-getting offensive cover, `Operation' is scorching hot to me. Sure, in many ways, most of the tracks have the same structure (verse, chorus, big instrumental jam, back to verse, chorus), and even the following album `Hoodoo Man' would start seeing them becoming more adventurous and interesting to prog listeners. But I guess I just love the slightly rough sound, and to my ears these kind of riff and burning Hammond-heavy foot-tappers are sweaty, dangerous and damn sexy - even if the final track makes you dress up in your Sunday best and waltz with your lady across the dancefloor instead!

Four stars.

Thanks to ProgLucky for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

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