Missus Beastly - Missus Beastly

Year of Release: 2002
Label: Garden Of Delights
Catalog Number: CD 061
Format: CD
Total Time: 34:40:00

Missus Beastly are a German blues-psychedelic band who took their name from a "negro doll from a TV show." Over the course of their 10 year career - though not with the entirely same line up - released four albums, this Missus Beastly being their 1970 debut. Their second album was also self-titled and released in 1974. Their third, Dr. Aftershave And The Mixed-Pickles, was released in 1976 and their fourth, Space Guerilla, with an entirely different line up, was released in 1978. The line up that recorded this first CD was Atzen Wehmeyer on guitar and vocals, Petja Hofman on bass and vocals, Wolfgang Nickel on organ and Lutz Oldemeier on drums. Guests included Xhol Caravan's Hansi Fischer and members of Amon Düü II - Chris Karrer, John Weinzierl, and Dieter Serfas.

Once past "XOX," the mostly spoken-word first track, we get "Uncle Sam," which is a dark rumbling piece with a sparkling guitar solo from Wehmeyer that will recall immediately Jimi Hendrix, even while the remainder of the track recalls Cream. Though there are drums and percussion in the mix, it is the swirling mix of guitar, bass and driving organ that are out front. If you keep these artists' sound in the back of your mind, you'll have rough idea of what the band sound like. In fact, "Decision" sounds very much like Cream's version of the Robert Johnson track "Crossroads," which is now fixed in my mind.

"Shame On You" is a piece that sounds like authentic American blues right down to the deep toned vocals absent of any hint of German accent. To this is added a to me uncharacteristic lilting flute (Fischer) to part of its length, before entering into a noodly jazz piece for a good 3 or 4 minutes of its 8 minute length. Whichever direction the band take, it's a pretty good track. The acoustic guitar intro to "Mean Woman" reminded me of Chicago's "Wishing You Were Here," before we get a slow blues number that again reminds us of Hendrix sans the fiery electric guitar - here the soloing instrument is organ. Wehmeyer does launch into a guitar solo, here more Clapton than Hendrix though. "Aphrodisiakum" is a laid-back, mid-tempo show case for Oldemeier, Hofman and, especially, Nickel, as organ is the lead instrument here on this entirely instrumental piece. Even though the band recorded set pieces, by this time their live performances were improvs. Hofman, in the detailed liner notes in this edition, refers to this latter piece as their "weird jazz piece." It's not weird, though may have been for them as it moves away from the Cream/Hendrix sound of the earlier tracks.

The one piece that proves to be quite annoying, though is thankfully quite brief, is "Chinest Love Song" which consists solely of the words "eine" and "nine" (or so it sounds) being repeated successfully -- e.g. "eine nine" -- endlessly. While that sort of thing worked for Lennon on the Beatles' "Revolution 9," here it's just... annoying.

While Missus Beastly were an above average band, and could do the Hendrix/Cream thing well - even if that wasn't their intention - there's nothing that's truly exciting here. It does not have the fiery immediacy of Hendrix, though they did play quite skillfully. Recommended because it is well done, but it's not essential for those that aren't avid collectors of German psychedelic progressive rock. It is notable that it is an early example of the genre, and so I don't want to discount its importance in that regard, but from a purely objective "does it grab you" perspective, it didn't. Not enough to wow me at least.

First released by CPM (CPM LP S 002) in 1970

Tracklisting:
XOX (1:24) / Uncle Sam (5:37) / Shame On You (8:55) / Decision (2:54) / Chinese Love Song (0:59) / Mean Woman (7:55) / Aphrodisiakum (8:56)

Musicians:
Lutz Oldemeier - drums
Atzen Wehmeyer - guitar, vocals
Petja Hofman - bass, vocals
Wolfgang Nickel - keyboards

Guests:

Hansi Fischer - flute (3)
Chris Karrer - guitar
John Weinzierl - guitar
Dieter Serfas - drums

Discography:
Missus Beastly (1970/2002)
Missus Beastly (1974)
Dr. Aftershave And The Mixed-Pickles (1976)
Space Guerilla (1978)

Genre: Fusion/Jazz Fusion

Origin DE

Added: August 3rd 2003
Reviewer: Stephanie Sollow
Score:
Artist website:
Hits: 1804
Language: english