Before the name was even coined, Legendary D.C. outfit PENTAGRAM was helping to invent the beast called heavy metal. For over thirty years the band, led by eccentric founder and vocalist Bobby Liebling, has remained true t... more »o its vision of songcraft in the macabre art. This unwavering dedication has influenced scores of renowned musicians some three decades on, and the legacy grows stronger with each passing year. First Daze Here Too is a brand new 2-disc set containing rare and unreleased studio recordings and live rehearsals from the early 70's. A deluxe 28-page booklet includes lyrics, detailed historical liner notes by drummer Geof O'Keefe and scores of never-before-seen PENTAGRAM photography! First Daze Here Too is 22 tracks of vintage PENTAGRAM classics from the vaults of the influential and critically-acclaimed D.C. legends!!! The legend lives on!« less
Before the name was even coined, Legendary D.C. outfit PENTAGRAM was helping to invent the beast called heavy metal. For over thirty years the band, led by eccentric founder and vocalist Bobby Liebling, has remained true to its vision of songcraft in the macabre art. This unwavering dedication has influenced scores of renowned musicians some three decades on, and the legacy grows stronger with each passing year. First Daze Here Too is a brand new 2-disc set containing rare and unreleased studio recordings and live rehearsals from the early 70's. A deluxe 28-page booklet includes lyrics, detailed historical liner notes by drummer Geof O'Keefe and scores of never-before-seen PENTAGRAM photography! First Daze Here Too is 22 tracks of vintage PENTAGRAM classics from the vaults of the influential and critically-acclaimed D.C. legends!!! The legend lives on!
CD Reviews
Ah, the wonder and the beauty of Pentagram...
HeavyGuitarSunn | 03/07/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Unlike "First Daze Here," this collection tends to be less Sabbath-influenced, less Sir Lord Baltimore-influenced. This is not to suggest that the collection is anything but wonderful. It is wonderful. It is great. It is eminently listenable. But the Pentagram sound -- as you'd hear it on "First Days Here" -- is somewhat different. This album is rockier, more balls-to-the-wall funk, more strongly influenced by Zeppelin and Deep Purple.
That said, this is still undeniably Pentagram. Bobby Liebling's vocals and lyrics give the package a kind of choppy kick, a twisted, leering funk that all Pentagram material inevitably has. The guitar and drum work gives the whole thing a diesel vomit dirge. Damn. I think these tracks were recorded under the influence of Leaf Hound, Funkadelic's "Super Stoopid," the Stooges' "Little Doll," High Tide's first album, and Bang's first two albums, rather than "Lord of This World" or "The Wizard."
You can't go wrong with this package. Pentagram gave me the incentive to seek out obscure, early 70's heavy rock, and those bands gave me the incentive to seek out obscure, late 60's acid and heavy prog rock. Pentagram's influence continues to be heard in bands like the Obsessed, Saint Vitus, Place of Skulls, Spirit Caravan, and the like. But if "First Daze Here" shows us all where bands like Witchcraft and Burning Saviours came from, then "First Daze Here Too" shows us where the Blood Farmers, Ogre, and Death Row came from. If you want a stronger Black Sabbath sound, then you might pick up Bedemon's "Child of Darkness," which sounds more like the first "First Daze Here" package, and which features the oh-so talented Randy Palmer formulating some of the most deliciously doomy riffs that side of Saint Vitus; and it features Geof O'Keefe and Bobby Liebling besides!
But whatever you do today, you should plan to buy this album. And you should listen to it all the way through. And you should pray to the gods of metal, prog, and acid-fuzz that they bestow a third "First Daze Here" package on us all. Folks: here's to Buffalo, Josefus, and Blue Cheer.
And, of course, to Pentagram."
Stoners of the World Rejoice!!!
T. Olson | Scandinavia WI USA | 08/05/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Awesome release of early Pentagram material. Not as good as "First Daze Here", but helluva lot better than any output from most heavy rock bands today. Fans of Leaf Hound, Stooges, early Blue Cheer and of course Black Sabbath should check this out. Also you should check out Witchcraft for that early 1970's sound."
GOOD BUT NOT AS GOOD AS FIRST DAZE ONE
JDWILLY JIM | COLUMBUS,GA USA | 06/07/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"THIS BATCH OF EARLY SEVENTIES HARD ROCK, IS AS I SAID WAS NOT AS CONSISTENT AS VOLUME ONE, BUT BEATS MOST OF WHAT'S PUT THESE DAYS."
This is awesome
Keneth Stein | 03/23/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I'll be honest, I don't know what doom is but this doesn't sound like it to me. This is some of the best Rock n Roll I've ever heard. It sounds like Love, the Stooges, and Black Sabbath all rolled into one. I cannot think of anything cooler than that."
First Dazed, Then Confused
heavy | greece | 04/15/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"What if this fine band from Virginia would have recorded a bunch of albums at the appropriate time, just when they should have? What if they had recorded, mixed and produced in a decent but still heavy way these heavily riffed gems for the release of a couple complete albums? Would they then be as big as Sabbath or so?
Demos, rehearsals and some other raw stuff make this a lot different than the Pentagram we have known. This is much closer to the psychedelic hard rock sound of 70s bands like Jerusalem, T2, Sir Lord Baltimore or even Hendrix and Zeppelin. It includes a cover of the Stones' "Under My Thumb" for Christ's sake! It's an essential purchase not only for heavy metal or doom fans but also for all those who keep looking for that marvelous underground 70s hard rockin gems like the ones i refered to before. This is our chance to listen to that much influental band being influented by others.
Once again Relapse Records did an excellent work with the packaging. 28-page booklet, lyrics, photos, what else would you expect?
So, to answer that previous stupid question of mine, maybe Pentagram would never become as huge as Black Sabbath but they surely deserve a lot more than they ever got. Too vintage, too pure to be famous."
Track Listings (7) - Disc #1