Sonic Flowers - Beatitude (Private Label, No Ref. Number, 2003)

 

Another brilliant album right out of the city of Nuremberg around organist / singer Peter Kern and bassist Jo Munzert, both of whom already played with Mark Lee (see Surfadelics + Honey Machine) with the excellent Pickles in the 90s.

This is the 2nd Sonic Flowers CD after the 1st one titled “The First Case” two years ago. These Germans also appeared in Swamp Room split 45 with The Splashdowns, performing their garage punker “Out Of My Mind”, which appears in their 1st CD too. The “Beatitude” includes a variation of sounds like garage punk, beat and pop that they match perfectly together and the result is a wonderful record that will accompany me along the hot summer of 2003. The CD opens with an organ-drenched tune, titled “Reason To Love” that reminds me a lot of the sounds of the Norwegian garage tree of the Cosmic Dropouts, The Lust-O-Rama and The Kwyet Kings. “Reason To Love” is not the only garage punk song in this CD (”Phantom” is one more tight punker) though the highest moments in here are the perfect pop gems that the long year experience of Peter Kern and Jo Munzert, ex-members of The Pickles, guarantee to be such. You will be at least pleased to listen to songs like “Searching”, “Lager And Lime”, “Not Too Late” and “The World Is Not Enough”. The whole CD is great with very good production and it’s pity that it hasn’t been released from a well-known label.

8 out of 10    -Source

Sonic Flowers - Beatitude (Private Label, No Ref. Number, 2003) FLAC   320

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The Honey Machine - Buzzin' (Zabozodiac-Lonestar Recordings 2009)

On New Year's Eve 1966, shortly after the last concert of their "Hip in the Himalayas Tour", they disappeared in a mysterious way ... without a trace! For 40 years the real reasons for what happened to "the Honey Machine" remained an unsolvable mystery. That means 40 years ... until today! They are back! Accompany "Sparky", "Prof. Wasiliev", "Groovi Oovi" and the rest of the gang on their return to reality .... "Shake and Shout´till you pass out!"
The new band of the London / Nuremberg sixties legend Mark Lee is extremely dangerous - in a musical sense. In the meantime they appear very rarely, but always leave an amazed audience behind. Their music is wild beat action somewhere between the early "kinks" and the "small faces". Their sound blazes and burns and can hardly be captured - a spectacle in the end.   -Source

MARK LEE started in the early 80's with the East London garage beat band THE SURFADELICS and became a well known act in the garage and mod scene in England. They were among a circle of bands like THE MILKSHAKES, THEE HEADCOATS a.o. In the 90s he continued with several solo releases with BRUCE BRAND (HEADCOATS/MASONICS) and HOLLY GOLIGHTLY. Taking an authentic garagerock style and the incomparable performance of MARK LEE as their starting point, they add in some traditional r'n'b, some organ-based soul or some psychedelic sounds - somehow it all fits together perfectly. Make what you will of this, what they really have is a groovy sound, that makes you dance and shout immediately."   -Source

The Honey Machine - Buzzin' (Zabozodiac-Lonestar Recordings 2009)   FLAC   320

Enjoy!