Papa Zoot Band-SWF Session´73 (1973)

This obscure German band never even released an official album, and it's hard to believe (or perhaps not, considering the sheer number of talented groups at the time) that they didn't manage to secure a record deal. Hailing from Frankfurt, they formed in the early 1970s and consisted of bassist Robby Matthes, organist Reinhard Grohe, drummer Christian Engel, guitarist Lutz Sommer, and singer Ernst Nadler. Their only recorded recording is this "SWF Session", taken from a 1973 recording session on the German radio station SWF. Their style, a blend of British hard rock and the German avant-garde krautrock, earned them some popularity, leading to performances alongside more established bands like Creation, Can, and Guru Guru. After performing on the aforementioned German radio station, which received widespread airplay throughout the country, they secured a spot at one of the biggest festivals of the era, held in Essen, in northwestern Germany. Their style, a blend of British bands like early Pink Floyd, merges with elements of the German avant-garde, resulting in dramatic and theatrical sounds reminiscent of their compatriots Eloy, Nektar, and Jane, but with a more melodic instrumental edge. Tracks like the suite "Fly Away" offer an extraordinary, lysergic, and spacey journey through progressive sounds, reminiscent of masterpieces like Pink Floyd's "Echoes". Other tracks like “Driving High” or “Hear Me When I’m Crying” are closer to the hard rock of Uriah Heep or Deep Purple, with an imposing heavy organ that delivers powerful, scorching, and dark rhythms, while the psychedelic “All The Girls” resembles the sounds of the late sixties, ending with the bluesy and Doors-indebted “Can’t Be Myself”.