Taste Of Blues

Swedish psychedelic rock band formed in 1967 in Malmö. Formed around Claes Ericsson, who would later perform in the 70's band Lotus (18), Taste of Blues challenges their listeners with a saucy concoction of the late 60s psych sound as well as something entirely original and free. It might just be a stretch to call this one Krautrock, but when one jumps in at the deep end here, the overt improvisations beyond the relative blues banner up front, is downright uncanny. Loads of Can reminding moments, and this is before they even developed their legendary monotonous rhythm based structure. Schizophrenia opens with the title track, which is a feast of krautocking hypnotising rhythms and then flips over to a more bluesy style on the 2nd side whilst still retaining a sonic playfulness. Maybe this band is obscure beyond recognition, but it (two of the musicians that is)later evolved into the hard and heavy hitting Asoka (2) that sounded like a psychedelic take on Atomic Rooster. American Don Washington provided the vocals that are eerily similar in style and delivery to Malcolm Mooney, and even the repetitiveness and fiery motorik stuttering drumming recalls a certain Jaki Liebezeit.