Morgen – Morgen

These original Gilbert Kong cuts sound fantastic! Morgen sounds as if he is singing in my living room, the drums are crisp and the searing fuzz drenched guitar lines are sublime. Welcome to the void’s proto punk, of dreams breezy fuzzy acid psych ballad, eternity in between’s wicked early who like psych rock right from the who sell out playbook. Love it and that is only side 1. Side 2 starts out just as promising with Purple’s heavy meditation acid psych thanks to the smooth dreamy vocal lines, propulsive drums and searing fuzz lead.
This one deserves to be in your collection price be damned

The self-titled album from the rock band Steve Morgen on original pressings -- is, without a doubt, one of the heaviest, wildest, most fuzzed-out acid-psych artifacts from the 1960s. Apart from perhaps the last track, every song is a stone-cold killer. The opening track, "Welcome To The Void," might be the most proto-punk thing to escape from the decade, with references to classic children's literature howled in dark poetic form. The thundering drums of Bob Maiman strike the eardrums like a taser, and Steve's screaming guitar rips open a time portal inside your brain. "Of Dreams" features uniquely edited vocals, perhaps sped up slightly from when they were recorded, which sounds angelic and frightening at the same time. One of the best tracks is "She's The Nitetime," whose opening 10 seconds of distortion and drum blasts is some of the most powerful in rock-and-roll history. If you like psychedelic music, or heavy rock music of any type, you absolutely need this.

The original pressings were mastered extraordinarily loud -- completely in tune with the style of the music -- and as such are non-audiophile pressings. Nonetheless, no CD reissue has ever done this album justice, though the 1992 French CD (from vinyl) is closest. The Guerssen, which compares very favorably to the original pressings... in fact, it may be even better.

I’ve listened to this entire record and honestly not sure what all the fuss is about, it’s really just ok, some cool guitar sounds but not really all that great, really overrated imho

A brilliant hard psych masterpiece, every track is a winner, surely in the top 100 for best sixties psych.

Based on a single only, mistakes are often made …

Originally calling themselves Morgen’s Dreame Spectrum, before shortening the name to Morgen, methinks the record is far more treasured for its rarity than for the heavy psychedelic rock held within its grooves. Though that being said, the album is laced with fairy tale and folkloric references that were part of most children’s lives, those who were raised during the 1950’s … or Morgen could have simply been capitalizing on the success the Jefferson Airplane had with their revisioning of “Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland.”

This reviewer seems to be standing alone when it comes to heaping praise on this record, feeling that the only truly worthy and artistic number was the track “Of Dreams,” a delightful remarkable song that embraced the times and flowered with a musical vision that didn’t beat your head against the wall, a song that was far better than the rudimentary garage psych and groundless studio experimentation laid forth on the remaining tracks, where the record seemed to be designed as one marooned sophomoric freakout. Sure, I get it, one can make references to many other bands of the day, yet still, for me this remains an entirely unlistenable album in the realm of psychedelic rock, where if one other person smiles with the suggestion, “I wonder if Robert Plant ever listened to Morgen?” I’m gonna smash this record. Allow me to assure you, the answer is no, Led Zeppelin created albums that were very good, worthy of re-listening. To my ears Morgen is not worthy of a single re-listen, and I doubt many praisers of this album do, it’s an album that for one reason or another just happened. Others have gone on to suggest that the record was fashioned to be played while tripping, where I can’t imagine anything much worse, even the album artwork would not inspire a pleasant acid induced evening.

Then there are those who express delight and wonder at the phenomenal guitar work and delightful introspective lyrical achievements, to which I can only suggest that ‘if’ the guitars and lyrics were that good, Morgan would have put out a second record … but they didn’t; and I haven’t even commented on the atrocious amateurish singing, or that the mix is entirely top-heavy and frontal. I find myself nearly rolling on the floor with laughter when still others, with a straight face imply that Morgen is the single greatest album too few people have actually heard, and again, people haven’t heard it for a reason, nor is the album shaking with raw sexual energy, nor does it carry within its seams an exuberance of urgency and excitement, as say Love, the Doors, or even the Rolling Stones managed to convey. This was a record that was a product of its time, a time when musician and record companies were throwing anything and everything at the walls to see if something would stick.

In all honesty, I can not imagine a time when I would consider playing this record for friends, and of course hearing it once for myself, was entirely enough. Yes, I imagine that many people purchased this record based only on the great hype and accolades the single “Of Dreams” was receiving, only to get the album home, drop it on their turntable and have a profound “What the f@&k was I thinking!?” moment; which was exactly what happened to me.

*** The Fun Facts: The band titled themselves Morgen, after founder and lead singer Steve Morgan.

The album art was taken from a painting casually titled ‘The Scream’, a composition created by Norwegian Expressionist artist Edvard Munch in 1893. The original German title given by Munch to his work was ‘Der Schrei der Natur,’ with the Norwegian title being ‘Skrik.’

Review by Jenell Kesler

Formed in Long Island in 1968, MORGEN (fronted by vocalist/guitarist Steve Morgen) released its unique album in 1969, one that is considered a major heavy psychedelic rock record, mixing fuzzy garage and freaky hard rock, covering Summer of Love flowers under furious guitars and a massive rhythm section.
Absolutely essential.

Hello, this is Barry Stock,rhythm guitarist of Morgen. If Steve
Morgen is out there,, please call me at 347 879 3404 anytime.

intense heavy acid psychedlic record. music for drugs. low on self-restraint, high on intensity of focus and musicianship and taking risks. works really well as a cohesive album; start to finish amazing and worth your faith in your guides.

one of the best heavy psychedelic from the 60's. shame they didnt do anymore

perfect in every way