'60s German Psychedelic, Beat, Pop: Wonderland - The Best Of 1973 (2001 Repertoire)

When pop music was in upheaval at the end of the 60's, Achim Reichel had left the Rattles and completed his military service. When he had finished his military service, his place at the Rattles was occupied and he was looking for a new band. "I couldn't go back to the Rattles", he told the "Hamburger Abendblatt" in 1968, "there were already five people. And also the image of the band was too strong. I had to start over. With a new concept, new sound."
   
    So he founded a new band, whose name was determined by the BILD newspaper. But it also means that Ritchie Blackmore, who brought the band name Wonderland into play with his former band Mandrake Root (predecessor of Deep Purple). Whatever the case, Achim (bass), the two Rattles members Frank Dostal (vocals) and Reinhard "Dicky" Tarach (drums) as well as Helmuth Franke (guitar) and Les Humphries (keyboards) gathered around them a group that was planning the big throw.

As producers, this quintet had brought on board none other than James Last, who had become famous for his big band sound since 1965. Last had already done some top-class productions before.

With great effort the music machinery was set in motion to present a new super group. The first single "Poochy" made it to rank 15 of the charts, but not with the A-, but with the B-side "Moscow". More singles followed, but they did not bring the desired success and brought the group quite early, in October 1970 to the official dissolution of the band. After their dissolution the record company released an album under the title "No. 1" and later the carousel label released "The Best Of Wonderland". The record contained all 12 singles.

On 26.07.2009 "The Best Of Wonderland" will be released again with 20 tracks (the twelve singles plus eight bonus tracks), including a cover version of Heintjes "Mama", which was originally supposed to be sung by the Bee Gees at the end of the 60's, but was then recorded by Wonderland and disappeared in the poison cabinet for many years. When you hear this good 1:21 minute long song, you know why it wasn't released. But it is quite nice as a bonus and time document. Furthermore, with "Hey Willie" and "Mighty Pudding", there are two more tracks, the Reichel / Dostal with a large pick-up formation under the name Hamburger Blues-Vang-Verein from 1970 n. e. V. produced.

The CD begins with "Moscow". This piece combines the music of The Doors with Beat elements. Most of the songs on the CD are beat music, but they also have some psychedelic, prog and pop elements. "Countdown" mixes beat, pop and orchestral music in a very beautiful, driving form. The wind instruments fit very well to the music. "Gas Balloon" seems like a mixture of Beatles, Pink Floyd and a kind of anticipation of Glamrock, while "Burdon" is a Bluesrocker. And also the energetic bonus title "Heya Donna Leya" sounds a bit like upcoming Glamrock.

The original tapes were remastered very well by Eroc (former member of Krautrock band 'Grobschnitt'), which catapults the listener between the musicians and their instruments.

"The Best Of Wonderland" is a contemporary document that shows the end of beat and the beginning of new musical styles. The sound of most of the songs is also very good, even if some of the 20 songs don't really carry you away. (Stephan Schelle, musikzirkus-magazin.de, 2009)

It's still a mystery to me who had the idea back then to make 'Poochy' the official single. In my opinion maybe the weakest song they had in the ring. Anyway, some real interesting songs here and worth to give them a listen. Enjoy.(Frank)

Flac (zippy)                                                  Flac (M)

mp3 (zippy)                                                  mp3 (M)