and nobody knows if it really happened: the galactic explorers were a a kraut legend completely unknown to all masters of kraut legends until the british psi-fi label unearthed these recordings in 1996. reputedly the album had been recorded in cologne in 1972 or 1973 and was released as a very limited edition on vinyl, that was sold exclusively in galleries deadicated to experimental art in these times.
there is a lot of hints that this story might be true (some of the musicians involved stemmed from cologne and can be found working with bands like dzyan or birth control), and a lot of hints that this and other psi-fi releases were a hoax in the wake of the kraut flood of the nineties that most of us survived one way or another. there is a twee discussion on discogs on this, and i'll leave it up to you to decide.
as this cd changes hands for some 40 euro i thought it was appropriate to let you hear what you might want to buy as an art object or an illusionary giant from the distance.
(all scans included / mp3 / direct download)
2 comments:
Thank you. Sounds like it's worth exploring in either case.
On a musical level, the three Psi-Fi albums I have heard - Cozmic Corridors, Galactic Explorers and Golem are just extraordinary and if it is a 'hoax' then whoever is behind it deserves the up-most kudos for creating what sounds absolutely authentic to my ears as there are no sonic tropes (musically and technologically speaking) that I can detect.
The other level is the fact that such a kosmische luminary as Alan Freeman would stand by the recordings as authentic - you would think if he had any doubts, he would be adopting a more agnostic position like your good self seems to do (if I have read your comments with this post correctly).
Also, given the fact nearly 20 years has gone by, you would have really thought by now that if it was a hoax, then someone involved directly or indirectly in the music or recording would have taken credit by now - the records have long sold and given the fact the two main guys, Trevor Manwaring and Toby Robinson have cut the mortal coil, then you would have thought any pacts of silence are now null and void.
I do so hope that one day an original copy of one of the album surfaces, just to see the look on the smug bastards who 'know' a priori the music is fake - though why no-one has asked Zeus B. Held who is still making music and if memory serves was involved with one of the releases is a bit of a mystery - unless I have got that completely wrong.
Anyway, great post - I need to track down the three releases I haven't heard at some point (not that I'm hinting or anything...)
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