The Legendary Pink Dots are an Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band formed in London in August 1980. In 1984 the band moved to Amsterdam, playing with rotating musicians and having, as core members, singer/songwriter/keyboardist Edward Ka-Spel and keyboardist Phil Knight aka The Silverman. The band was originally called "One Day..." but subsequently changed the name to The Legendary Pink Dots, apparently inspired by pink dots on certain keys of the band's main recording studio piano. In the 1980s the band released albums on Mirrodot and In Phaze; in 1985 they signed with Play It Again Sam for the release of The Lovers.
Their music touches on elements of neo-psychedelia, ambient music, electronic music, tape music, industrial, psychedelic folk, synthpop, post-punk, progressive, jazz, noise, pop, and goth rock, with a distinctly experimental/avant-garde bent; their sound has evolved over time and remains distinctive, making it difficult to place the group into a concise style or genre.
The group's overall sound combined with Ka-Spel's distinct lyrics and singing have earned comparisons to Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett; the group also has links to the sounds of krautrock bands such as Can, Faust, Brainticket, Magma or Neu!
The first cassette “Only Dreaming” was an edition of 9 copies, two of which had beautiful three-dimensional handmade covers. “Only Dreaming” was abandoned rather than deleted as the recorded output by The Dots expanded massively within months of the band’s inception.
This increased activity led to the beautifully packaged “Chemical Playschool Volumes 1 & 2." 32 copies were made of this, and the hugely supportive Eurock magazine & mail-order service bought 30 of them in an exchange deal for exotic goodies in their catalogue. It wasn’t meant to end there but the 2 track masters for CP 1 & 2 were largely erased by accident - and “Kleine Krieg” represents the music that survived plus a lot of fresh material that just had to be unleashed on an unwary planet in the month or so following the double tape release.
This edition has all tracks of both editions/versions of "Kleine Krieg", plus a couple of bonus tracks, and is the first time this is being released on double CD. It is a brand new and much better re-master than what was used on the CDR edition some time ago.