Andy Votel - Well Hung
(2008)
Tracks
1 Ringasd el Magad No. 2 Anna Adamis, Gabor Presser 3:52
2 Egy Lány Nem Ment Haza Omega Redstar 3:19
3 A Pénz Metro 2:55
4 Végállomás Hungaria 4:55
5 Add Már Uram Az Esöt! Kati Kovacs 2:52
6 A Tüz Corvina 4:54
7 Nóra Neoton 3:12
8 Azt Mondta Az Anyukám Tamas Somlo, Omega 2:29
9 Kívánj Te Is Nekem Szép, Jó Éjszakát Meteor, Demjen Ferenc 3:01
10 A Bolond Lány Illes 3:54
11 Kérgeskezü Favágók Omega 8:11
12 Hadd Mondjam El Sarolta Zalatnay 3:27
13 Kérgeskezü Favágók Locomotiv GT 3:40
14 Kínai Fal Nemenyi Bela, Atlantis 2:38
15 Nem Biztos Semmi Katie Kovacs, Gemini 4:10
16 Mondj Egy Mesét Piramis 4:10
17 Szevasz Haver Skorpio 4:11
18 Félbeszakadt Koncert Omega 3:57
19 Nekem Oly Mindegy Illes 5:24
20 Hétköznapi Balladák Bergendy 2:49
It’s safe to say that
The Cellar Tapes would not exist if it was not for those enthusiasts who spend most of their time at the back of record and charity shops trawling through the dustbins looking for the discarded, the forgotten, the overlooked, the records declared pointless and pulpable. One such saviour of many an obscurity is fellow Mancunian and Twisted Nerve founder, Andy Votel.
In 2008, Andy Votel on his
Finders Keepers label continued his form for unearthing gems from near nothingness by releasing
Well Hung – Funk Rock Eruptions from Beneath Communist Hungary – Volumes 1……that’s right……. Hungary. Contained within are some of the most spectacular examples of obscurity compiled together since the appearance of Nuggets in 1972. 20 tracks in all are to be had here, dating between 1968 and 1975, all Hungarian, all Communist and all marvellous.
Hungarian musicians in the Communist 1960’s and 1970’s were not your typical musicians from the period. Because they were fed on a diet of mostly illegal and scarce drips from the West, their interpretation of Rock n Roll music is quite truly unique due to the need to fill in the gaps with their own input whilst in relative isolation. What followed was quite literally an explosion of creativity and very often, sheer genius.
The album begins with one of the best entrances you could ever imagine from an act you’ve never heard of;
Ringasd El Magad No.2 by
Anna Adamis & Gabor Presser, really does set the listener up for the rest of the album, from its brilliant drum solo opening to its funky riff throughout, superb.
Track 2 takes us to 1968 and to a band called
Omega Redstar and their number
Egy Lany Nem Ment Haza (which translates as
She Did Not Come Home). Omega Redstar (later to be known as just
Omega) were one of the few Hungarian acts who managed to beat restrictions and tour outside of Hungary, playing in countries both in the East and the West alike. They have three tracks in all on this compilation, with track 18,
Felbeszakadt Koncert from 1969 being the most thumpingly brilliant.
More wonders from 1960’s Hungary comes with Track 3;
A Penz by one of Hungary’s most talented yet sadly one of the country’s biggest “could have beens”
Metro from 1969, as well as Track 14; which comes from 1968 by
Nemenyi Bela & Atlantis with
Kinai Fal (or
The Wall of China in English), almost certainly a classic if brought to you by a band from England from the same year.
All these sixties groups from Hungary came from a boom in all things Beat in Budapest’s freakishly vibrant club scene in the mid sixties, what a scene it must have been. As this compilation proves, members of these groups would go on into the seventies dancing to their own tunes and setting a new standard for Rock n Roll.
What Andy Votel has brought to us with this compilation is the story of a whole generation of musicians who were never known let alone remembered, yet with their spirit for adventure, their perfect and well structured grooves, matched with an air of rebellion, they really were a group of talented musicians who can no longer be ignored,
Buy this today and be prepared to be amazed.