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XHOL, "CARAVAN/MOTHERFUCKERS LIVE"
Every once in a not so great while David Tibet of Current 93 and StevenStapleton of Nurse With Wound join their respective Durtro and UnitedDairies labels as United Durtro for collaborations and to reissue theforgotten or nearly impossible to obtain work of late '60s/early '70s'Krautrock' bands they admire. Sand were the first to receive suchtreatment and now fellow Germanic collective Xhol (pronounced 'soul',aka Soul Caravan and Xhol Caravan) are next with two nicely recorded,previously unreleased live performances. Disc 1 is entitled "FreedomOpera" from 1968 and disc 2 is a Frankfurt WDR radio set from 1969,both discs somewhat annoyingly indexed as one 57 minute track. Thetapestry of sound includes vocals, electric guitar, bass guitar, organ,saxophones, flute and drums. First and foremost Xhol are a rock androll band with a soul center, but they also take in a number of otherstyles, and this is no exaggeration: psychedelic, freeform jazz andnoise, rhythm and blues, progressive, '60s pop and rock and even a bitof funk. But vocalist James Rhodes defines it best mid disc 1 simply as"black music". Long, meandering solos and instrumental excursionswander on and off the path of hippie bliss as Rhodes belts out theblues rather nicely or recites timely poetry. Loose covers of VanillaFudge's "Poems" and Donovan's "Season of the Witch" (which was alsocovered by Vanilla Fudge) are among the six originals on disc 1. Disc 2comes with no tracklisting and I think I know why. It seems to be onelong, often spontaneous instrumental jam by just four members, forwhatever reason - bass, tenor sax, organ and drums - it's just as goodand at times reminiscent of recent live explorations I've witnessed byThe Legendary Pink Dots. After hearing Xhol, for the first time might Iadd, I really have to wonder why I haven't seen their name mentionedbefore in the annals of late '60s rock. As a special treat for c93, NWWand Christoph Heemann fans, a third limited edition disc entitled "HotButtered Xhol" showcases superb Xhol 'covers' by each, c93's "Memories"being particularly mesmerizing. The packaging is also fantastic with a12 page insert, beautifully covered up by Stapleton, that contains anon-stage photo of the band, show posters and liner notes, all in Germanunfortunately save for Stapleton, Tibet and Heemann's virgin Xholexperiences. Good job guys! Through the magic of shiny polycarbonatediscs, "Motherfuckers Live" is like an amber encrusted insect preservedfor all eternity to admire.
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