The Petards – A Deeper Blue (1967) + 4 bonus tracks [German LP]

The Petards – A Deeper Blue (1967)

1982 German reissue (Golden Glass) with 4 bonus tracks
Bear Family Records BFX 15086 (Discogs)
~ThePoodleBites rip at 96 kHz / 24 bit + full hi-res scans!~

While Germany's music scene from the late 1960s and early 1970s is perhaps most well-remembered today for the diverse slate of 'krautrock' bands that emerged from various centers across the country, there was an earlier wave of US- and UK-influenced German beat-rockers which actually ascended the more popular circuits. One such band, the Petards, managed to release a handful of great records in the '60s-'70s, beginning with this one, A Deeper Blue. Recorded just one month after the release of Sgt. Pepper, the band's debut finds them building off of these pop-rock and beat biggies with an admixture of psychedelic influence, scant as it may be. The group was very popular in Germany, with their 45s even unseating the Beatles and Rolling Stones for the #1 spot regionally (source). A Deeper Blue is hardly the Petards' best album, but it nonetheless has a few stand-out tracks which warrant an entry in the annals of acid-rock history -- and hints at the amazing direction in which the group was heading.

Original front cover album artwork

The original German-language sleeve notes for the album read thusly (click on the blue button to toggle the language between the original German text and an English translation):

Liner notes (English / Deutsch)

It was a hot Thursday in June of this year. At Südwestfunk in Baden-Baden, a jury of press, record labels, and celebrities were sweating out their verdicts on up-and-coming talents who alternately sang like Tom Jones, Roy Black, Manuela, and Sandie Shaw. Or at least tried to. Even occasional interludes by comedians and magicians dashed the connoisseurs' hopes of talent in the heat.

At I don't remember how many places, a group was called up, whose name was initially debated. They called themselves "The Petards." Today I know that "petard" has the accent on the second syllable and means "firecracker." And their performance was a blast! At first, a tall guy provoked politely suppressed hilarity as he set up a drum kit that would normally have been ample for at least three drummers. That was Arno. Later, as he unleashed his fireworks, our hilarity turned into tremendous enthusiasm. Not only we judges, but also the competing artists were captivated by the vitality, the tempo, the hard-hitting sound of these four guys.

Six weeks after the TV competition, we met again in the studio in Hamburg to produce this EUROPA record. It took us two nights and one day, and then the recording "died," which is remarkable in every respect: It contains the brand-new tracks by the "Petards," with which they had already enjoyed success on stage and on television, and – it only costs 5 DM! This isn't a double-edged sword, but rather a contractual concession from the group. And I'd like to see the fan who doesn't like that. – "The hard beat will live on and resonate as long as we play and resonate," the "Petards" say very confidently. And resonate they do. At a time when many groups are closing down and countless band members are returning to their old jobs, the "Petards" are booked solid six days a week. They owe this to their fragrant music, a stage show that sweeps the audience off their feet, and, last but not least, to the consistent management of their organizational leader and rhythm guitarist, Horst.

His brother Klaus, a true musician, determines the repertoire, style, and sound of the four. Brimming with ideas, an incorruptible critic of his own performance, he has extensive jazz experience. He's a showman like Roger, the bassist. His show, however, appeals most to the girls. His hobby. Arno had a difficult start with the record production. He can never fall asleep before 5 a.m. For him, the start of the session was 10 a.m., quite early. But then he got going and embarrassed the technical staff with his enormous shooting gallery.

The production of this record was a real joy for everyone involved: sound engineer Horst Andritschke, the band, and me. I hope some of that will pass on to you when you listen to the record. Musicality and an incredible show are the assets of the "Petards," which I personally consider to be among the best bands. And I know groups, both international and German. The "Petards" are fantastic! I hope we agree?

Bert Varell, Producer

Es war ein heißer Donnerstag im Juni dieses Jahres. Beim Südwestfunk in Baden-Baden schwitzte eine Jury aus Presse, Platte und Prominenz Urteile über Nachwuchstalente aus, die abwechselnd wie Tom Jones, Roy Black, Manuela und Sandie Shaw sangen. Oder sich wenigstens bemühten. Selbst gelegentliche Einlagen von Humoristen und Zauberkünstlern ließen die Hoffnung der Kenner auf Könner in der Hitze schmelzen.

An ich-weiß-nicht-mehr-wievielter Stelle wurde eine Gruppe aufgerufen, über deren Name erst einmal debattiert wurde. Sie nannte sich »The Petards«. Heute weiß ich, daß »Petard« auf der zweiten Silbe betont wird und »Knallfrosch« heißt. Und ihr Auftritt wurde ein Knaller! Zunächst erregte ein langer Kerl höflich unterdrückte Heiterkeit, als er ein Schlagzeug aufbaute, auf dem normalerweise mindestens drei Drummer ausreichend Beschäftigung gefunden hätten. Das war Arno. Später, als er sein Feuerwerk abbrannte, wandelte sich unsere Heiterkeit in enorme Begeisterung. Nicht nur wir Juroren, auch die konkurrierenden Künstler waren hingerissen von der Vitalität, dem Tempo, dem knallharten Sound dieser vier Burschen.

Sechs Wochen nach dem TV-Wettbewerb trafen wir uns im Studio in Hamburg wieder. Um diese EUROPA-Platte zu produzieren. Wir brauchten zwei Nächte und einen Tag, dann war die Aufnahme »gestorben«, die in jeder Hinsicht bemer-kenswert ist: Sie enthält die brandneuen Titel der »Petards«, mit denen sie auf der Bühne und im Fernsehen bereits erfolgreich waren und - sie kostet nur DM 5,–! Das ist kein Trick mit doppeltem Boden, sondern ein vertragliches Entgegenkommen der Gruppe. Und ich möchte den Fan sehen, der das nicht prima findet. – »Der harte Beat wird solange leben und ankommen, wie wir spielen und ankommen«, sagen die »Petards« dazu sehr selbstbewußt. Und sie kommen an. In einer Zeit, in der viele Gruppen eingehen und zahllose Band-Mitglieder in ihre alten Berufe zurückkehren, sind die »Petards« an sechs Tagen der Woche ausgebucht. Das verdanken sie ihrer duften Musik, einer Bühnenschau, die das Publikum von den Schemeln fegt und, last not least, dem konsequenten Management ihres organisatorischen Leiters und Rhythmus-gitarristen Horst.

Sein Bruder Klaus, urmusikalisch, bestimmt Repertoire, Stil und Sound der vier. Randvoll mit Ideen, unbestechlicher Kritiker der eigenen Leistung, hat er fundierte Erfahrungen vom Jazz her. Er ist ein Show-Talent wie Roger, der Bassist. Dessen Schau zieht allerdings am besten bei den Mädchen. Sein Hobby. Arno hatte bei der Plattenproduktion Startschwierigkeiten. Vor 5 Uhr morgens kann er nie einschlafen. Für ihn war der Beginn der Sitzung 10 Uhr vormittags, reichlich früh. Aber dann kam er in Fahrt und brachte die Technik mit seiner riesigen Schießbude in Verlegenheit.

Die Produktion dieser Platte hat allen Beteiligten, dem Tonmeister Horst Andritschke, der Gruppe und mir, wirklich Freude gemacht. Ich hoffe, daß sich ein Teil davon auf Sie überträgt, wenn Sie die Platte hören. Musikalität und eine unwahrscheinliche Schau sind das Kapital der »Petards«, die ich persönlich zu den besten Gruppen zähle. Und ich kenne Gruppen, internationale wie deutsche. Die »Petards« sind fab! Ich hoffe, wir sind einer Meinung?

Bert Varell, Produzent

Original back cover album artwork

The album's story is elaborated by experts at Bear Family Records, who have shared some information on their website along with the recent reissue [with translation to English]:

In their early days, The Petards (French: "Firecrackers") were considered the third force in the German rock scene, behind The Rattles and The Lords – with the crucial difference that, unlike their competitors, they didn't come from a metropolis like Hamburg or Berlin, but from the tranquil village of Schrecksbach in Upper Hesse. They had no big-city media behind them, no urban club scene around them, and no record label anywhere in sight, let alone professional artist or tour management.

The Petards stood for the provinces, the deepest provinces, and it's often overlooked that the majority of the population still lives in rural areas. This was no different in 1964, when the two brothers Klaus and Horst Ebert (both vocals, guitars, keyboards) set out with Roger Waldmann (bass) and Hans-Jürgen Schreiber (drums) to shake up the West German rock world. The band compensated for their geographical disadvantage with incredible ambition, hard work, and determination. No village pub or festival tent was left out in the years to come; The Petards worked hard to build their audience, and this ultimately paid off.

Furthermore, the band boasted two exceptionally talented musicians in the Ebert brothers. Klaus, in particular, stood out as the composer of almost all Petards songs, while Horst contributed most of the lyrics and otherwise handled the band's management. In 1966, the band traveled to Osnabrück to record the two singles "Baby Run, Run, Run / Pretty Miss" and "Right Time / She Didn't" for Hans-Werner Kuntze's CCA label in two sessions, one in August and one in December. These singles were released nationwide via Metronome and brought the band its first national recognition.

1967 saw the decisive turning point for The Petards. With new drummer Arno Dittrich, the band performed in front of an audience of millions on ZDF's Drehscheibe in March; a month later, The Petards already had 58(!) registered fan clubs. Their television appearance on SWF's Talentschuppen in June 1967 brought the band their final breakthrough. The jury of this extremely popular music show included producer Bert Varell.

The recording of A Deeper Blue took place from August 15-18, 1967, under the direction of Varell. The band was well prepared and quickly recorded the 12 tracks written by the two Ebert brothers. The songs reflected the Beatles-like pop sound typical of the era, with slight psychedelia influences. They were short and very catchy. Varell placed the record with the low-budget label Europa, which resorted to a marketing ploy that was sensational at the time: A Deeper Blue was released in the fall of 1967 at the unbeatable price of 5 DM per record [equivalent to €11.58 in 2025] and quickly sold over 100,000 copies. An incredibly high circulation for a German band's debut album!

In ihrer Anfangszeit zählten The Petards (franz.: Knallfrösche) hinter den Rattles und den Lords als als dritte Kraft der deutschen Szene - mit dem entscheidenden Unterschied, sie stammten nicht wie ihre Konkurrenten aus einer Metropole wie Hamburg oder Berlin sondern aus dem beschaulichen Flecken Schrecksbach in Oberhessen. Keine Großstadtmedien hinter sich, keine städtische Clubszene um sich herum, weit und breit keine Plattenfirma, ,geschweige denn ein professionelles Künstler- oder Tourmanagement.

Die Petards standen für Provinz, tiefste Provinz, wobei gerne übersehen wird, dass der größte Teil der Bevölkerung nach wie vor in ländlichen Gegenden wohnt. Das war auch 1964 nicht anders, als sich die beiden Brüder Klaus und Horst Ebert (beide Gesang, Gitarren, Keyboards) mit Roger Waldmann (Bass) und Hans-Jürgen Schreiber (Schlagzeug) aufmachten, die bundesdeutsche Rockwelt aufzumischen. Den geografischen Nachteil glich die Band durch unglaublichen Ehrgeiz, Fleiß und Zielstrebigkeit aus. Keine Dorfkneipe und kein Festzelt wurde in den den nächsten Jahren ausgelassen, The Petards erarbeiteten sich geradezu ihr Publikum, und das sollte sich letztendlich auszahlen.

Ausserdem besaß die Band mit dem Brüdern Ebert zwei ausserordentlich begabte Musiker, vor allem Klaus als Komponist fast aller Petards-Titel stach heraus, während Horst die meisten Texte beisteuerte und sich ansonsten um das Bandmanagement kümmerte. 1966 fuhr die Band nach Osnabrück, um in zwei Sessions im August und im Dezember die beiden Singles Baby Run, Run, Run / Pretty Miss und Right Time / She Didn't für das CCA-Label von Hans-Werner Kuntze aufzunehmen, die über Metronome, deutschlandweit in den Handel gelangten und der Band erste überregionale Bekanntheit bescherten.

1967 fand dann die entscheidende Weichenstellung für The Petards statt. Mit dem neuen, Schlagzeuger Arno Dittrich trat die Band im März in der ‚ZDF-Drehscheibe’ vor einem Millionenpublikum auf, einen Monat später hatten The Petards bereits 58(!) registrierte Fanclubs. Der Fernsehauftritt im ‚Talentschuppen’ des SWF im Juni 1967 brachte der Band den endgültigen Durchbruch. Zur Jury dieser äusserst beliebten Musiksendung zählte auch der Produzent Bert Varell.

Die Aufnahmen von ‚A Deeper Blue’ fanden vom 15.-18. August 1967 unter der Regie von Bert Varell statt. Die Band war bestens vorbereitet und spielte die 12 Titel aus der Feder der beiden Ebert-Brüder zügig ein. Die Songs entsprachen dem für diese Zeit typischen an die Beatles gemahnenden Pop-Sound mit leichten Psychedelia-Anleihen. Kurz und sehr eingängig. Varell brachte die Platte bei dem Low-Budget-Label Europa unter, die zu einem damals sensationellen Marketing-Trick griffen. ‚A Deeper Blue’ erschien im Herbst 1967 zum unschlagbaren Preis von DM 5,00 pro Platte [entspricht 11,58 € im Jahr 2025] und verkaufte sich im Handumdrehen über 100.000 mal. Für die Debütplatte einer deutschen Band eine schier unfassbar hohe Auflage!

 

Musically, the album has a few stand-out tracks. "Sun Came Out At Seven" is a standard 1960s-rock shuffle, but is nonetheless quite catchy. "If You Want To Go Away" starts off with cymbal rolls leading into a drone-influenced verse which resembles (yet predates) the psychedelic self-titled July LP to these ears, though the chorus is a bit more traditional. The title track "A Deeper Blue" is a slightly-funky jive with dual guitars, piano, backing vocals, and is clearly well-suited for 1967 pop radio. But the best track to these ears is the burning closer, "Confusion All Day," whose ripping fuzz lead points towards the melodic highs the band would reach on their later albums, especially Hitshock (1970) and Pet Arts (1971).

While the original release may have been cheap to acquire, its 'cheepnis' was also plainly audible. These original pressings, like all Europa LPs, were manufactured with high levels of background surface noise, especially in the lower frequencies. It's no surprise, then, that when the album was reissued from tapes in 1982, the mastering sounded just as good as the originals, but the pressing quality was much improved. This reissue, now appearing on the Bear Family group label, was redesigned with a vintage photo of the band, and was retitled "Golden Glass," the name of one of the band's early singles. That single, along with the space-aged "Shoot Me Up To The Moon" and the accompanying B-sides, were tacked on as bonus tracks.

Front cover design for the 1982 reissue on Bear Family Records

The album then went out-of-print again for another 35+ years until, in 2018, the Bear Family label remastered and reissued it for digital streaming and repressed the vinyl; however, the mastering was no longer transparent as on the older issues. The treble was boosted and noise reduction had been applied to the upper frequencies, making the sound anemic. A few tracks were also issued on an earlier CD compilation, though the mastering was not much better. As such, vintage vinyl pressings remain the best way to experience this old German rock LP.

I decided to source this remaster from the 1982 reissue for the reasons mentioned above. The four bonus tracks included on this reissue correspond to two non-LP singles. The first two tracks, "Golden Glass" b/w "Tiger Rider," are sourced from the original vinyl 45, and are in mono. Their sound quality can only get as good as the original 1980s rip, which is not great, but still better than what was distributed in 2018 (also a vinyl rip). I may rip the original 45 in the future, which would certainly result in better sound quality, but for now it's not in the works. The rest of the tracks, including the other single tracks that open side 2, are sourced from tape, are in stereo, and sound phenomenal.

---

The Petards:
- Klaus Ebert: vocals, guitars, keyboards
- Horst Ebert: vocals, guitars, keyboards
- Rüdiger "Roger" Waldmann: bass
- Arno Dittrich: drums

Track Listing:
1) "Golden Glass" [mono single / bonus track] -- 3:03
2) "Tiger Rider" [mono single / bonus track] -- 2:47
3) "Sun Came Out At Seven" -- 2:13
4) "Firetree" -- 2:24
5) "Summerwind" -- 2:55
6) "If You Want To Go Away" -- 2:41
7) "Drive" -- 3:30
8) "I Won't Come Back" -- 2:26
9) "Shoot Me Up To The Moon" [single / bonus track] -- 2:47
10) "Lazy Moon" [single / bonus track] -- 2:16
11) "A Deeper Blue" -- 2:47
12) "My Little Hear" -- 2:45
13) "Love Is All Around" -- 2:27
14) "Baby" -- 3:04
15) "Roses For Kathy" -- 2:45
16) "Confusion All Day" -- 2:39

Equipment Lineage:
– Audio-Technica VMN40ML stylus on AT150MLx dual moving-magnet cartridge
– Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB direct drive professional turntable (internal stock preamp/ADC removed)
– Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 Ultra preamp with dedicated Zero Zone linear power supply
– Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 MkII (96kHz / 24bit)
– Adobe Audition CC 2024 (recording)
– iZotope RX 11 audio editor (manual declicking, EQ subtraction, additional adjustments)
– Audacity 3.7.5 (fades between tracks, split tracks)
– Foobar2000 v2.25.2 (tagging, dynamic range analysis)

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German newspaper clipping about the "Shoot Me Up To The Moon" 45 (source: Hersfelder Zeitung, July 2019)

Moon Hit from Northern Hesse

It was a breathtaking moment when Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the moon on July 21, 1969. Numerous musicians were inspired by it. One of the hits from the moon landing came from Hesse's most successful beat band, The Petards (translated as "firecrackers"). With "Shoot Me Up To The Moon," Rüdiger Waldmann, Horst Ebert, Arno Dietrich, and Klaus Ebert (photo from left) reached number one in several radio charts, including the "Schlagerbörse" (hit market) on the German public broadcaster HR. "It had around two million listeners and received 85,000 responses," recalls Walter Simon from The Petards' club Mylord in Schrecksbach. The song was included in the charts on Radio Luxembourg, featuring Camillo Felgen and Frank Elstner. "But then they were disqualified because people in Luxembourg thought it couldn't be that this band received more chart entries than the Beatles," Simon said.

Es war ein atemberaubender Moment, als Neil Armstrong am 21. Juli 1969 als erster Mensch auf dem Mond spazieren ging. Zahlreiche Musiker ließen sich davon inspirieren. Einer der Hits zur Mondlandung kam von der erfolgreichsten hessischen Beatband The Petards – übersetzt „Knallfrösche“. Mit „Shoot Me Up To The Moon“ landeten (auf dem Foto von links) Rüdiger Waldmann, Horst Ebert, Arno Dietrich und Klaus Ebert in mehreren Radio-Hitparaden auf Platz eins – auch bei der „Schlagerbörse“ des HR. „Sie hatte um die zwei Millionen Hörer und bekam 85 000 Zuschriften“, erinnert sich Walter Simon vom The Petards-Club Mylord aus Schrecksbach. In der Hitparade von Radio Luxemburg, mit Camillo Felgen und Frank Elstner, sei der Song platziert gewesen. „Wurde dann aber disqualifiziert, weil man in Luxemburg der Meinung war, es kann nicht sein, dass diese Band mehr Hitparaden-Zuschriften bekommt als die Beatles“, so Simon.