Danny Ben-Israel

Israeli psychedelic pioneer Danny Ben-Israel was born and raised in Tel Aviv, beginning his music career while serving in the Israeli Defense Forces' Northern Command alongside future pop stars Gadi Yagil and Koby Oshrat. While still in the IDF he enjoyed a series of Israeli pop hits, and following his discharge he continued his music career, appearing in several musicals in addition to writing and recording for films. In 1968 Ben-Israel toured Europe, briefly settling in Austria and recording an LP, Happy Birthday, Rock'n'Roll; according to legend, while in Austria he experimented regularly with drugs and immersed himself fully in the burgeoning countercultural movement, returning to Tel Aviv in early 1969 intent on spreading the psychedelic gospel. Upon his arrival home he befriended guitarist Shlomo Mizrahi -- acclaimed in some quarters as "the Israeli Jimi Hendrix" -- who led the power trio Ha'Bama Ha'Hashmalit (the Electric Stage). Together they recorded 1970's Bullshit 3 1/4, one of the first and most acclaimed Israeli psychedelic efforts -- a singular document wedding Ben-Israel's soaring, dramatic vocals (recorded in Hebrew) with distorted guitars, tape loops, and other studio experiments, the album was harshly criticized by the local media, making a negligible commercial impact despite its esteem among latter-day collectors. Ben-Israel and Ha'Bama Ha'Hashmalit then reunited for an English-language session -- intended for release on a small American label that went bankrupt prior to the album's release, the resulting tapes languished in the vaults for over three decades, finally seeing release via the Merry Records label as The Kathmandu Sessions. Ben-Israel's subsequent creative pursuits, if any, remain unknown as of this writing. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music...