With “To The Westcoast Revisited (The Studio Sessions 1981)” by Ara Pacis we are proud to officially release four basically unreleased songs which previously were only available on a self-issued Anthology CD and now have been remastered from the original tape rips.

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 EP starts with “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 here is an unreleased, even quite funky and more powerful take. It was recorded, just like the other three tracks, in 1981 at the Rüssl studio in Hamburg were Brautlecht had just started to work as an engineer. “I Don’t Know” is next – a brilliant and charming rock tune with a slight West Coast vibe, which had been one of the newer compositions and could not be found on the 1979 vinyl release. We continue with a quite different and lengthier alternative take of “To the Westcoast”. 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. Last but not least, the EP ends with “Let’s Keep On Going On” – another great song with the distinct sound of Ara Pacis.

Together with the previously released EP with selected original album versions we hope that these unheard studio sessions will please the new and the old fans and will shed new light on this great band.