Ya Ho Wha 13 - Penetration An Aquarian Symphony (1974)

An US hippie cult commune based around a long bearded guru out in California. The ideology was free love, peace and flowers in the hair. Their album covers was slightly on the wrong side of perversion with this old guru having intercourses with a young girl. The type of behaviour which raises my eyebrows well beyond my reclining hairline.

The music is improvised psychedelic rock. Some would even call this kraut rock. The basis is on discorded guitars with some thumping drums in the background. The bass rumbles on and the there is thankfully no vocals here. Nothing here seems planned and the phrase "symphony" on this album must be a tongue in cheek joke.

The music is not too bad though. It is obvious Agitation Free is a reference here. But where Agitation Free succeed, Ya Ho Wha 13 does not really manage to carry this off.

Ya Ho Wha 13 is a very obscure cult group with a limited appeal. But they are still worth checking out. MP3 files without the very distasteful artwork is the saftest bet, though.

2.5 stars