Birth Control

With the FDA’s approval of birth control pills in the '60s, contraception helped usher in the counterculture’s free-love movement. Subsequently, the German progressive rock band Birth Control introduced its eponymous debut album in 1970. The sarcastically titled “No Drugs” opens with trace elements of late-'60s psychedelia seeping into the three-part vocal harmonies and some heavy grinding Hammond B3 organ. Here, the work of keyboard wizard Reinhold Sobotta sounds similar to Keith Emerson’s pre-Moog exploits in ELP’s Leoš Janáček–inspired “Knife Edge.” In “Recollection,” Sobotta establishes himself as the band’s star player with a six-and-a-half-minute instrumental that places his dynamic organ in the position of lead singer. Fritz Groeger reclaims the microphone to front “Deep Inside,” a bouncy balance of groovy psych-pop and mind-melting prog-rock. The standout song “Foolish Action” boasts a hard-driving rhythm section laced with the album’s catchiest hooks. It’s also the first song that flirts with Krautrock's monotonous propulsion. Birth Control’s spastic cover of The Doors’ “Light My Fire” is easily the most inventive.