Hardy's Jet Band etc: Blue Butterfly LP

Reissue, originally released in 1971. Blue Butterfly, one of the absolute stunners on the revered Selected Sound, is finally available for all the beat-heads. Heavyweight library funk with a psychedelic touch, the super in-demand Blue Butterfly features Hardy's Jet Band, Orchestra Klaus Wuesthoff, Jan Troysen Band, and Orchestra Gary Pacific. For many aficionados, this is the best Selected Sound release. Loaded with fuzzy wah-wah guitar, deep flute-lines atop soulful psych-rock breakbeats, and huge organ action, its uncompromising funk will blow you away. Sampled for many hip-hop beats and dropped by well-known rare groove DJs around the world, one jewel in particular from this glorious German vault needs little introduction. The intro to Orchestra Gary Pacific's mesmeric "Soft Wind" rides the crispest drum break you've perhaps never heard alongside a smooth, deep bass line from the heavens. It featured notoriously on the beloved Dusty Fingers comps of the '90s and was brilliantly sampled by Pacewon for his eternal "Sunroof Top". Beyond this mini-masterpiece, the other killer tracks offer brilliance in abundance. Hardy's Jet Band take control of the full A side, and it's full of dynamic psych-funk bombs. Hard, "big city" industrial groovers. In particular, the initial one-two of "Sorry, Doc!" and "Wind It Up" provide thrilling funky-blues rock instrumentals showcasing relentless guitars, flutes, sax, and organ, the latter containing gorgeous, hypnotic breakdowns. The title track, "Blue Butterfly" is a real deep strut of a track with fantastic soloing from guitar and flute over crisp drums whilst the highway banger "What You Call To Be Free" certainly sounds a lot like unbridled, rhythmical liberty. On the flip, the ghost-riding "Lady In Space" is a string-drenched acid-western foxtrot. "Pop Happening" by Jan Troysen Band is a heavy, druggy psych-fuzz organ groover whilst their slow beat-organ-flute gem "A Blue Message" is a gorgeous psych floater conjuring deeply strange frontier lands. Preceding their monster "Soft Wind", the soulful, up-tempo groover "Ghetto Gap" by Orchestra Gary Pacific contains solo piano and flute whilst closing out the set is the free-and-easy samba beat of "So Far". Founded in the late '60s by German composer and musician Klaus Netzle (who recorded under the alias Claude Larson for Sonoton) Selected Sound began as a production music company specializing in jazz, orchestral and electronic recordings. You can't miss those early LPs in their iconic glossy metallic copper sleeves with minimal German typography. Remastered for vinyl by Simon Francis. Richard Robinson reproduced the glossy metallic (iconic) original Selected Sound sleeve.