To the Westcoast / My Fate, by Ara Pacis

To the Westcoast / My Fate

by Ara Pacis

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
7" vinyl single with picture sleeve. 350 copies, limited edition.

Includes unlimited streaming of To the Westcoast / My Fate via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Purchasable with gift card

€9.90 EUR
Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

€2.90 EUR
Limited Vinyl 7" Single AUTOGRAPHED!!!
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Autographed by singer and guitarist Töns Brautlecht! Only 3 copies! 7" vinyl single with picture sleeve. 350 copies, limited edition.

Includes unlimited streaming of To the Westcoast / My Fate via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Ultra limited bundle with original LP pressing from 1979 + the new limited 7"!
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Super limited bundle containing of an unplayed archive copy of the original privately pressed LP (THESE VERY LAST COPIES OF THE ORIGINAL LP ARE SIGNED BY LEAD SINGER TÖNS BRAUTLECHT!) from 1979 plus the brand new 7" vinyl single. Only 1000 copies of the original album were made back then. Of the new single only 350 copies were made.

Includes unlimited streaming of To the Westcoast / My Fate via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out

1.	To the Westcoast 02:46	lyrics
Home again to the Westcoast, I was waiting long enough. My welcome is the water and the wind is what I love. The shore-belt smells so salty and life is everywhere, I want to feel the water, I want to breathe the air. Go down, go down! Go down, go down! To the sunny sky of the Westcoast. Home again to the Westcoast, we can meet our friends again. Home again to the Westcoast, it will never be in vain. The shore-belt smells so salty and life is everywhere, I want to feel the water, I want to breathe the air. Go down, go down! Go down, go down! To the sunny sky of the Westcoast.
2.	My Fate (Revisited) 03:23	lyrics
When I was ten years old, it was in 1968, I got a guitar from my parents and that was my fate. I could not play at all because my hands were much to small, but I tried it again and again for I could here you call: Play some music, well I need it for my soul. So please play some Boogie, play some Blues or Rock’n Roll. Well I want to hear it ev’ry night and day Now I got it and I’m lucky, so I play. I found some friends to play with and I got a new guitar. We did a lot of shows and I dreamt to be a star. Had lots of stormy nights and I had a lot of fun, now I know the way my life is got to run. Play some music, well I need it for my soul. So please play some Boogie, play some Blues or Rock’n Roll. Well I want to hear it ev’ry night and day Now I got it and I’m lucky, so I play.

about

With a loudly pressed vinyl single “To the Westcoast / My Fate” by Ara Pacis we are proud to officially release two of the most exciting AOR tracks hailing from Germany.

Ara Pacis, a group from the island Föhr in the North Sea, was originally founded in 1971. Initially influenced by blues and classic rock by The Rolling Stones, The Who, and the like, they were also inspired by bands such as Steely Dan as well as the German/British group Lake. However, Ara Pacis created a style of their own when their privately pressed and self-distributed “To the Westcoast” LP was released in 1979. The songs were mainly characterized by two-part guitar riffs by Töns Brautlecht-Deppe and Wolfgang Schiffner, who also were the core songwriters of the band.

The freshly remastered single starts with the title track “To the Westcoast”. Due to its sunny and yacht-y vibe it is easily amongst the best and most authentic tunes out of the “Westcoast rock” genre recorded in Germany. With family connections in California, lead singer Töns Brautlecht-Deppe was able to create and capture the feeling of the Pacific sea shore just perfectly.

The single is backed with a revised studio version of “My Fate”. Here, lead singer Töns Brautlecht tells his story about getting into playing guitar as a young boy. The track is also featured on the album but the version we present on the 7" vinyl is an unreleased, even quite funky and more powerful take. It was recorded in 1981 at the Rüssl studio in Hamburg where Brautlecht had just started to work as an engineer.

On the digital EP versions we are happy to offer two additional tracks off of the highly collectable LP as well as four tracks from the studio sessions in 1981 which have been remastered from tape. Three of these are alternative takes of album tracks while “I Don’t Know” is exclusive to the EP.

As the "To the Westcoast" LP was released during a time when styles like New Wave, Synth Pop and Punk became popular in Germany and the interest in organic and soulful rock declined, Ara Pacis’ debut remained relatively unnoticed until today and even the Krautrock collector’s scene does not seem to be fully aware of this hard to find gem yet of which only 1000 copies were originally pressed. The band is still kept in good memory by their fans as a quite legendary live act and although they officially split in 1982, the group still served their fan base with revival concerts in 1990 and 2002 plus a website with full band story and lots of images from the early days.

We hope this single sheds new light on this great band. It is limited to 350 copies and released in a beautiful picture sleeve which shows the original LP artwork.

credits

released June 7, 2019

ARA PACIS is:
Töns Brautlecht-Deppe: Guitar, Lead Vocals
Wolfgang Schiffner: Guitar, Keyboard, Vocals
Steffen Brautlecht-Deppe: Bass Guitar
Erk Braren: Guitar
Helmut Winkler: Drums (on To the Westcoast)
Reinhard (Otze) Ott: Drums (on My Fate)
Axel Jensen: Keyboard, Vocals (on My Fate)

Mastering by Alex Klier

Cover painting: Günther Piezconka
Band picture: Bernd Löhrer

Additional Layout: John Raincoatman

Published by Rüssl-Musikverlag, Hamburg

More info: www.ara-pacis.de

Reissue production by The Artless Cuckoo. Special thanks to Nikolas Vegaz of Dustyloops.

license

about

The Outer Edge Berlin, Germany

The Outer Edge is a label by German record collector DJ Scientist aka John Raincoatman. The label merges the former imprints The Artless Cuckoo (2015-2022) and Boogie On The Mainline. It now pools all strength to a new and exciting force in releasing music on the edge, free of genre boundaries, yet mostly with a groove. ... more