essen 1970

Xhol's sound was a mix of jazz-rock and psychedelia. The band from Wiesbaden and former Xhol Caravan stood out for their pretty lengthy improvisations holding barely any vocals. The band became quite well-known with their two LPs released on Ohr. On Saturday, October 24, 1970, they performed at the third Essen Pop & Blues Festival at the Gruga hall. At that time, Hansi Fischer, one of the founders, had already gone on to Embryo. The whole festival had been recorded semi-professionally on soundboard by Roland Verheyen, an assistant to the promoter Konrad Mallison. The event's master tapes are partly preserved. Lavishly remastered the CD provides a quite acceptable sound, although the drums seem to be too loud. Xhol's gig had been divided into four pieces blending perfectly into each other."