The Blackbirds - from the Saarland (buy a map!) learned to fly in 65 and had a couple of singles (Opp again) till 69. Usually inclined for the softer sides of noise, brothers Koop, W. Breinig and H. Vigneron went over the top a bit on the flip of this one from 68. Prophetically entitled "Space", they gave the world a taste of what was to come. But, obviously, the world didn't listen.

The Bats - from Hamburg. Appeared first on an Ariola Star Club Sampler, doing covers of R & B standards. Various singles and 6 LP's on their (probably) own Summer label followed, the last one from (hold on to your hats!) 1989, called "Timeless". Countless line-up changes, the treue believer being one Waldemar Kropp, who sang "Nicht zu alt fuer Rock n'Roll in 1988. Too young to die, indeed.

The Dakotas / The Rags / Dave Gordon - sorry, nothing. A group from Stade, called the Rags, fought about 20 other obscure outfits in a Battle of the Bands '65 at the Star Club, but that's it. The 3 tracks are the originals on a sampler of German Bands playing cover versions. (SR-Records)

Mercy: This odd single on Vogue is all we've got. Boring A-side (not the same Band, I'd say) with a tremendous psychedelic-surf Intro (if such is