LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

CD reissue with one previously unreleased bonus track

Originally released in 1975, Vol. 1 is the sole album by Vikings Invasion, a power trio from the German-speaking part of Switzerland who spent part of the period living and performing in England. Charles Sterchi’s guitar and vocals are backed by Eric Eberhard on bass and Gerhard Burri on drums, creating a stripped-down but forceful sound.

The album combines hard blues-rock, heavy guitar riffs and extended progressive passages with an unusually literary streak, including songs connected with the writings of T. S. Eliot and Bertolt Brecht. Direct numbers such as “The Mirror” and “Shadow Boogie” alternate with longer pieces built around raw guitar improvisation and the firm interaction of the rhythm section. This Garden of Delights CD adds the previously unreleased “Across the Street,” an expansive performance lasting more than eleven minutes.

1. The Mirror – 3:00
2. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock – 6:15
3. Blues Special – 5:50
4. Listen to Four Guitars on Your Corner – 6:23
5. Shadow Boogie – 2:44
6. Rolling Times – 3:50
7. Dark Lane Child – 4:53
8. Moon of Alabama – 5:58
9. Rhapsody on a Windy Night – 3:49
10. Answer for My Life – 3:36

11. Across the Street – 11:22