LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Arktis’ self-titled album is a rare German underground rock recording from the Bonn area, originally privately released in the mid-1970s. The band’s sound is direct and guitar-driven, with a raw hard-rock edge, psychedelic looseness and a strong amateur-private-press atmosphere that gives the record much of its charm.

The original album is dominated by four tracks, especially the long Rare Girl, where Arktis stretch out into heavy progressive and psychedelic jamming. Shorter pieces such as Student's Idyll, Outcasted and Jeff The Fool show the band’s more compact side, while this Garden Of Delights CD edition adds three bonus tracks recorded later with Conny Plank: Is It Real, Sky Drive and Don't Hang Around.

1. Student's Idyll – 4:02
2. Outcasted – 5:34
3. Jeff The Fool – 3:25
4. Rare Girl – 20:08

5. Is It Real – 2:45
6. Sky Drive – 4:27
7. Don't Hang Around – 4:21