VA - Living On the Hill-A Danish Underground Trip 1967-1974 [2020] (3 x CD's)

DANISH ROCK

Previously posted June 2, 2021

VA - Living On the Hill-A Danish Underground Trip 1967-1974 [2020] (3 x CD's)

As the counterculture movements of the late 1960s rippled across various parts of the globe, each region seemed to develop its own musical response based on a collision of outside influences, regional characteristics, and the creative spark of mind-expanding drugs. While America and Britain are generally considered to have filled psychedelic rock's high court, they are by no means its only vital contributors. Championed by prominent eccentrics like John Peel and Julian Cope, Denmark's underground rock movement was a particularly fertile one, producing an array of challenging acts like Young Flowers, Ache, and Burnin' Red Ivanhoe, all of whom get their due on Cherry Red's excellent Living on the Hill: A Danish Underground Trip 1967-1974. As with all the British label's archival sets, the scene's major and minor players are exhumed and copiously annotated, from the surprisingly heavy prog leanings of Copenhagen's Culpeper's Orchard -- check out Nils Henriksen's muscular guitar work on "Mountain Music (Part One)" -- to Day of Phoenix's sweet folk-rock yearnings on the dreamy "Tell Me," which sounds like a Scandinavian cousin to Fairport Convention's "Time Will Show the Wiser." The three-disc compilation deftly distributes its focus to the underground scene's assorted corners from deeply cerebral head trips (try Alrune Rod's trippy "Natskyggevej" or Secret Oyster's "Mind Movie") to groovy jazz-funk odysseys (Rainbow Band and Blast Furnace) and bluesy hard rock jams (Hurdy Gurdy and some of Burnin' Red Ivanhoe's less opulent cuts). Like a lot of experimental music, a little goes a long way, but even songs that tend to wear out their welcome retain the sense of freshness and youthful discovery that so defined this era. That music like this is still being re-examined decades later is a testament to it being one of rock's most exciting periods, and it seems the Danes had just as much to offer as other better-known cultures. (AllMusic Review by Timothy Monger)

The common thread among all of these artists was an emphasis on experimentation and a desire to push the perceived musical boundaries.

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Track lists

CD1

01 Beefeaters Night Flight 3:20

02 Day of Phoenix Tell Me 3:00

03 Young Flowers Overture / Take Warning 4:29

04 Savage Rose Long Before I Was Born 3:20

05 Burnin Red Ivanhoe Ksilioy 10:35

06 Alrune Rod Natskyggevej 10:03

07 Young Flowers Kragerne Vender 10:38

08 Delta Blues Band Opus 1 9:14

09 Day of Phoenix Wide Open N-Way 11:27

10 Rainbow Band B. M. 2:47

11 Burnin Red Ivanhoe Jingle Jangle Man 9:56

CD2

01 Ache De Homine Urbano 19:11

02 Pan To Get Along Alone 5:47

03 Rainbow Band Rainbow Song 3:45

04 Blast Furnace Toytown 4:18

05 Culpeper's Orchard Mountain Music (Part One) 6:27

06 Old Man & the Sea Living Dead 7:50

07 Savage Rose Tapiola 7:54

08 Rainbow Band Living On the Hill 15:05

09 Ache Shadow of a Gipsy 4:40

CD3

01 Ache Equatorial Rain 7:03

02 Burnin Red Ivanhoe Avez Vous Kaskelainen? 4:44

03 Day of Phoenix Paradox 6:35

04 Midnight Sun A La Turca 4:49

05 Thor's Hammer Mexico 6:22

06 Blast Furnace Ginger Cake 5:33

07 Old Man & the Sea Going Blind 10:28

08 Secret Oyster Fire and Water 5:35

09 Hurdy Gurdy Lost in the Jungle 9:55

10 Dr. Dopo Jam Spring Theme -Summer Theme 3:56

11 Culpeper's Orchard Classified Ads 4:13

12 Secret Oyster Mind Movie 9:18

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