Cloud Nine - Evolution of a psychedelic Band (6): The Best of the ELEDIL Tapes (GER. 1991/92)

Probably the musical highlight of my little series about the German neo psychedelic band CLOUD NINE (& THE VITAMIN C)...

CLOUD NINE - Official Bootleg Archives O.B.A.

Vol. 11-12

The Best of the ELEDIL Tapes

(mp3 zip of 2 CDR, 23 tracks, 158 min, art + info incl., 218 MB)

CD 1 (12-28-1991)

1. I'm Lost - 6.23

2. Rainfrontier - 2.50

3. Angel Of Mine - 5.03

4. Draw Down the Distance - 18.41

5. Empty And Cold - 9.39

6. Tracks Of My Tears - 4.46

7. Sunspots - 8.57

8. My Sunday on A Friday - 4.59

9. Call - 4.54

10. Black Queen - 12.07

CD 2 (02-22-1992)

1. Call (faded in) - 3.53

2. Walking My Road - 3.09

3. Tracks Of My Tears - 3.40

4. I Don't Care - 4.07

5. On An Ordinary Day - 6.14

6. Empty And Cold - 8.11

7. I'm Lost - 6.42

8. Death Blues - 5.25

9. (It Makes) No Difference - 3.22

10. Sunspots (Part 1) - 4.02

11. Draw Down The Distance - 12.31

12. Black Queen - 10.59

13. Der Sandmann ist tot - 6.38
Get it here (CD1) and here (CD2)!

CLOUD NINE was the sixth incarnation of CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C, lasting from about June 1991 until February 1992 (the name was shortened before playing the ELEDIL gigs).

CN(VC #6) played only two live gigs, both at the small ELEDIL Club in Darmstadt, Germany, before the band broke up. Between the 1st gig there in December 1991 and the 2nd one in February 1992 lay many weeks of rehearsals and also the first (and only) "proper" recording session in a semi-professional studio (in fact held on only 2 days, recording 6 backing tracks live in the studio and some overdubs, until the band ran out of money – so the mixing was never really finished and the mastertapes sadly seem lost. – But finally: in December 2023 the Band released those studio recordings remasters on vinyl. Recommended!.

 

Get the LP at discogs.

Digital download from Bandcamp.

 

On these recordings here you'll find live versions of all the songs that were recorded in the studio earlier/later – and they differ very much! Just compare the live version of their psychedelic masterpiece "Draw Down The Distance" from the first gig (nearly 19 minutes spaced out jamming – b.t.w. my favourite version of that song) to the much more structured version from the 2nd ELEDIL gig (much more in the style of the studio version and much shorter).

Pete Hergo (live at the ELEDIL): g., voc.

Also of note are the relativly heavy/punk-ish sounding newer songs like "Call", "My Sunday On a Friday", "I Don't Care" or "No Difference" as well as the rearrangements of older "classics" like "Rainfrontier" or "I'm Lost" – all played pretty heavy and in strong contrast to the more psychedelic jam tracks, e.g. "Sunspots". It seems that the band, featuring the new, very competent guitar player PETE HERGO, was looking for a new direction around that time and the results sound quite promising with the newer songs showing a clear influence of bands like THE CURE ("I Don't Care"), GREEN ON RED ("Walking My Road") or even THE CHARLATANS' rave sound ("My Sunday On A Friday"). Clearly a new evolution and a welcome addition to the more Sixties oriented older CNVC sound with tracks like "I'm Lost" or "Car Car" or "Rainfrontier" (more in the mood of 60s Garage bands like THE ELECTRIC PRUNES or the acid rock of THE DOORS or early PINK FLOYD psychedelia ("Brainstorm", "Black Queen")).

Many of those songs featured here have only been played once or twice live, e.g. "Der Sandmann ist tot" (= The Sandman is dead"), a very strange song, written by keyboard player Dominik E., that wouldn't have sounded out of place in the WIM WENDERS movie "HIMMEL ÜBER BERLIN". The only CLOUD NINE song, by the way, ever sung in German...

But after that 2nd ELEDEL gig not only the sandman was dead; "Der Sandmann ist tot" was the last song the band ever played live together, afterwards the band was dead as well...

Enjoy this Requiem and check out the official vinyl recordings of CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C: https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/13014570-Cloud-Nine-The-Vitamin-C

https://cloud-nine-and-the-vitamin-c.blogspot.com/

 

Cloud Nine - 1992 (GER.) (UPDATE 2023)

Dominik


Mike

CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C (the name was shortened to simply CLOUD NINE for the last two concerts) was a band founded in the Rhein-Main-Area nearby Darmstadt and Mannheim, Germany, in 1983 and existed until 1992 in various line-ups, always centered around keyboard player Dominik Engel and bass player Mike Schröder.

CLOUD NINE recorded some demos culminating in this one from 1992, for the first time using a semi-professional 8-track recording studio. But during the recording session the band split and the demo was never really finished. The master tape was lost and sadly only some rough mixes of those sessions survived.

UPDATE (December 2023): After more than 30 years the album was finally released as: DRAW DOWN THE DISTANC (see info below). Read the first review here: https://timemachine-productions.gr/2023/11/30/cloud-nine-vitamin-c-draw-down-the-distance-2023-lp-cloud-nine/ 

The basic tracks of those 6 songs were all recorded live in only two days (!) and only some vocal and guitar parts were later added. 

Dominik and Mike (1989)

CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C played some kind of neo psychedelic rock, heavily based on late Sixties/early Seventies bands like The Doors, Pink Floyd or the old Krautrockers Amon Düül 2 or Can, but one can also find a slight Wave influence of bands like The Cure or even some UK rave acts like The Charlatans. They were famous for their free form improvisations or "take off" parts mostly in the middle of songs like Draw Down the Distance, Survivor or Sunspots. The psychedelic light show of the band (mainly consisting of selfmade Super-8-movies and art/ink-slides) was also legendary and quite unique in the late 80s and early 90s in that area: The first psychedelic light show since the one of their famous colleagues Nektar, who came from the same region in Germany some years earlier.

Mike S. later went on to play in ORANGE, another experimental psychedelic band based in Frankfurt and also recorded some solo stuff as ANYONE'S DREAMCOLOUR.

   

The cover artwork for HLFP before there was an official cover

CLOUD NINE - 1992

(8-track demo, rough mix - slightly remixed version) (mp3 zip, 6 songs (36 min), 52,3 MB, covers included)

1. (It Makes) No Difference (3.13)

2. My Sunday On A Friday (3.33)

3. Call (4.18)

4. Draw Down The Distance (10.19)

5. Sunspots (7.28)

6. Empty And Cold (6.40)

UPDATE (December 2023):
This version is no longer available since there now is an official release of the remastered songs in much better sound quality (December 2023).

 

You can order your Copy directly at Musikgarage Bensheim: unser_kleiner_musikshop@t-online.de
or at Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/13014570-Cloud-Nine-The-Vitamin-C 

https://cloud-nine-and-the-vitamin-c.blogspot.com/ 

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