Agitation Free - Malesch (Amber Soundroom, ASLP 019) GER 1972

After a longer break and lots of new records i just wanted to share some words about two of the most beautiful albums which have emerged out of the progressive German Pop-Scene of the 1970's...both recorded by a group called Agitation Free

Among acts like Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, Agitation Free were one of the style-defining-formations of the so called "Berliner Schule" - these musicians created their very own sound by blending progressive music and psychedelia with a new electronic approach.

Agitation Free signed to Vertigo Records and released their first Album on the Swirl Label in 1972. The Music on "Malesch" is special in every Way....this Record (as well as it's successor) is one of those magical Moments in "Krautrock"-History. Fluent psychedelic Soundscapes pervaded by musical Influences gathered on various Trips to the Mashriq - this Album is unique and deserves to be in every "Best Of"-List featuring truly innovative Music from the Golden Age of German Rock.

Enjoy the whole Album right here:

01 You Play For Us Today
02 Sahara City
03 Ala Tul
04 Pulse
05 Khan El Khalili
06/07 Malesch/Rücksturz

Q 65 - Revolution (Decca 6454 412) NL 1966

What can one say about Q 65's Revolution? - well, this is probably as raw and dirty as it gets.
Q 65 play a blend of Rhytm+Blues, Blues, Rock and Beat - in many parts it sounds like uncompromisingly hard Garage Rock with amazing vocals and guitarwork played by a Band that seems to be bursting with energy (not really a surprise as these guys were about 20 years old at the time this album was recorded).
I would definitely recommend this album to every Rock, Bluesrock and Garage fan out there....this record deserves to be heard!

Check it out:

The Life I Live
I Got Nightmares
Just Who Is In Sight
Mr. Pityful
I'm A Man
Middle Age Talk
Summer Thoughts In A Field Of Weed
Down In The Bottom
Spoonful
(my personal favourite....what an incredible cover of this Willie Dixon classic - this should explain what i meant when i described the style of the early Q 65 as "raw" and "dirty")
Get Out Of My Life Woman
Sour Wine
Bring It On Home

Windmills, Cheese and amazing music!

It's been some time since the last signs of life on this blog but what can i say...an old man sometimes needs his rest. As you can see i'm back, ready and highly motivated to deliver all of my two or three loyal readers an amazing glimpse on the rocking and grooving music-scene of a country famous for it's beautiful tulips, baffled dopeheads, tasty gouda-cheese and those wonderful, wonderful grachts! ...yes, you are absolutely right: i'm talking about Holland, to the more sophisticated ones among you also known as The Netherlands!

The dutch rock and pop- landscape which developed during the 1960's was, as in almost every other country too, strongly influenced by the british beat-music. Despite all the admiration for the Beatles and their likes it did not take long and loads of more or less talented dutch musicians started playing and recording their own interpretation of beat. Various radio-startions started airing the new pop-music from holland which was soon tagged as Nederbeat. Clubs and rock-venues like the infamous Paradiso in Amsterdam gained their cult-status during this era.

Logo of the Decca "Nederbeat"-series

Similar to the German "Krautrock" there were many different musical-styles and approaches outlined under the term "Nederbeat". Many of my personal favourites and propably the most relevant Dutch releases from that period are characterized by strong blues-influences.

The reason for my recent enthusiasm for dutch contemporary music from the 60's and 70's was the find of a quite exotic 2Lp-box called "Blues from Holland" i picked up on a record-fair a couple of months ago.
Although i already knew and liked some of the bands featured on this sampler (specially Cuby & The Blizzards which have remained among my favourites for years now) listening to these two records was really a pleasure and introduced me to other great acts like Blues Dimension, Livin'Blues, Q 65 as well as some other noteworthy artists.
The funny thing about this sampler is that Philips obviously did not have enough real blues acts in their portfolio, so they included several blues-influenced tracks from artists who had blues references in their name or their music but were actually miles away from being real blues-outfits...the best example is probably an awful Dixieland track from the Endatteme Jugband or Blues Dimensions self titled track which is the only real blues song you can find on their first record while the rest is an amazing blend of garage, pop and beat (with the Nederbeat-typical blues inclusions here and there).

The Philips "Blues From Holland"-Sampler that started it all for me

To give you a clue of what i'm writing about and to give you some recommendations as well i will take you on a short trip through the music of holland's rocking 60's and 70's ....be prepared to meet Livin' Blues , Cuby & The Blizzards, Blues Dimension, Shocking Blue, Golden Earring , The Bintangs and The Outsiders as well as many other fabulous musicians.

Creative Rock - Gorilla (Brain Metronome, 1061) GER 1972

With "Gorilla" Creative Rock recorded one of the finest brass-powered Kraut-albums i have heard so far....remarkable because of the musical quality, the weird ideas (closing the album with a distorted, completely deconstructed variation of the famous march "Preußens Gloria" and calling it "Preußens Gorilla" is weird enough if you ask me) and the trippy freaked out lyrics - all these elements are typical for the contemporary German music-scene of the early 1970's....a record like that would have never been released in the States or the UK at that time.
Creative Rock worked out their own special blend of musical-styles but if you really want to compare them with other bands you could probably pick out Colosseum or Nucleus.
After releasing one more record called "Lady Pig" Creative Rock disbanded....some of the members went on to form a (completely uninteresting) band called "Flight" in the early 80ies.

Sorry but i ain't got no links to tracks from this album, as there are absolutely no streams available at the moment....try to find it somewhere else

Jeronimo - Cosmic Blues (Bellaphon, BI 1530) GER 1970

What we have here is the first lp recorded by Jeronimo, a couple of guys from germany with an obvious affection for the wild wild west (listen to songs like Heya and look at the artwork of the later albums...that should explain everything).

Jeronimo's first longplayer is definitely their most catchy one, being a collection of songs you could find on three early singles and on a split-lp (together with Creedence Clearwater Revival) which was released in 1969.
I honestly think that this album doesn't get the recognition it deserves, mainly because of the fact that this is not as progressive or sophisticated as their later, self-titled "masterpiece" (sorry, but not for me) with the famous indian-cover (this one has recently been reissued and should be available for a reasonable price if you want to pick it up....it's good!).

As stated above, Cosmic Blues is filled with tracks that stay in your head.....songs to listen and sing along until your neighbours tell you to shut the fuck up ;)

I really dig the sound of this record...dirty and raw all the way - specially Rainer Marz's guitar-playing which, on some tracks, sounds like the strings will tear at any moment. Definitely nothing for sophisticated progressive-guitar-connaisseurs, but who needs fancy schmancy when unpretentious guitar-riffing fits this record in such a perfect way?...this is hardrock the way i like it!

With Heya and Na-Na-Hey-Hey (a Steam-cover) this album contained two real hit-singles...if you click on the latter one, you will immediately recognize it, as it's been quite popular in hockey-halls or soccer-stadiums all over the world.

The other songs are also quite enjoyable...the only filler is a uninspired two minute-cover of "Let The Sunshine In", a song we all know from the Hair-soundtrack.
I don't know why they put that one on the album as it is completely irrelevant.

Here the other songs:

News
The Key
Hands
So Nice To Know
Highjack
Number 5
No No No (a personal favourite)
Never Goin' Back

Electric Sandwich - S/T (Brain Metronome, 1018) GER 1972

Electric Sandwich's self titled debut is another one of the so called "holy grails" of Krautrock, being one of the rarest Brain-releases and almost impossible to find.
Well, luckily things change and the recent Krautrock-revival finally led to another decent vinyl-reissue of this record.
Electric Sandwich were a four-piece combo, hailing from Bonn, where they started their short-lived career in 1969...all they ever recorded was one long-player and two singles until they finally called it quits in 1975.

Around 2001 the original-lineup reformed...today Electric Sandwich is still alive and playing concerts every now and then! - go check their website if you please.

Out of a musical-perspective this record is probable THE one you should get when you are new to Krautrock and want to catch a glimpse on that kind of music. The reason for this recommendation is based on the fact that Electric Sandwich's music is full of variety and covers more sub-genres of Krautrock than most other releases do....you can find brass-rock as well as crazy guitar freakouts, fuzz-orgies and even laid back ballads - all without sounding disjointed or diffuse.
Of course you've got to love that weird cover-artwork too! ...oh how i'd love to take a bite of that delishis Electric Sandwich! ;)

To give you a feeling of what i am talking about, here is the Track China

If someone would ask me to display that special flair of german rock-music from the 70's by playing just one track, the album-version of "China" might be the one.

Ladies and gentlemen, go ahead and enjoy!

I Want You

Breath Away (2009 live-recording of a song not featured on the album...)

Orange Peel - S/T (CMP 601-1) GER 1970

Do you like heavy, organ-driven rock with long psychedelic (sometimes Floydesque-sounding) jam-parts?....then this record might be something for you!

Originaly released in Germany on Bacillus/Bellaphon, the first pressing of this record is one hell of a rarity as well as a convincing musical-effort all the way.

You can't find that much info about Orange peel but what we know is that they were based in Hanau and released just one album and a single (which was released before with a slightly different lineup). Orange Peel still play concerts every now and then but it is said, that their sets don't include too many references to their psychedelic past anymore which is sad because they were great in what they did. Leslie Link, the band's guitarist is still regarded as one of the best guitar-players out of the Rhein-Main-Scene - today he owns a guitar-shop called "Link's Musical Instruments" in Hanau...specialized in everything around guitars.
It's also worth mentioning that Curt Cress, maybe the most famous drummer emerging out of the Krautrock-Scene, was a member of Orange Peel and played on this record.

Not much left to say for me at that point except that this is definitely an amazing album and deserves a listen!
Orange Peel are without a doubt among the best german acts from the 70ies i've heard so far and i ain't telling no lie when i write about the heavy organ-parts which shape the sound of Orange Peel....this features the feared teutonic-killer-organ!!!
...dedicated organ-afficcionados like BartBowles might shed one (or more) tear(s) of joy when listening to the beauty of this record ;)

Go ahead and listen!

Tobacco Road (what a nice cover-version we have here!)

Faces That I Used To Know

sorry, no more tracks available at the moment

Some words about NEU!

To celebrate the release of the whole NEU!-discography as well as the release of the fabulous NEU! Box-Set on Herbert Grönemeyer's Grönland-Label (i tend to forgive him his last few records as long as he keeps re-releasing decent stuff like the NEU!-discography) i decided to write a short note about this pioneers of modern music

NEU! was the brainchild of Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger, both early members of Kraftwerk.
Dinger was initially hired as a session-drummer for the recording of the first Kraftwerk-album and later turned into a regular band-member; Rother joined shortly after the release of the debut, only to stay for a couple of months. Both left the band in 1971 before the recording of the second album.
The only available footage featuring Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother as part of Kraftwerk is the Song "Rückstoß-Gondoliere" which was recorded and filmed live for the German Beat-Club.

Michael Rother (left) + Klaus Dinger (right)

After leaving Kraftwerk, Dinger and Rother founded NEU!, teamed up with Conny Plank and started recording their first album which was released on Brain Records in 1972.
The first NEU! turned out to be a highly influential masterpiece and the band continued to change conventional listening-patterns on the following efforts "NEU! 2" as well as on their final official-release "NEU! 75".


The music of NEU! was always characterized by Klaus Dinger's and Michael Rother's creativity and love of experimentation...both developed their own distinctive way of playing that can be recognized just after seconds of listening.
Dinger's robotic drumming inspired countless drummers and eventually even led to the creation of the musicial-term "Motorik".
Michael Rothers reduced style of guitar-playing stood in complete contrast to the hard-riffing, solo-addicted rock-guitarists, yet it was driving and exciting - even when playing tracks that would be tagged as ambient...you just couldn't hear something like that back then.

One year after the release of the first album, NEU! started recording their second LP but initially spent most of the record company's advance payment on new instruments....as a result of these investments the band had to cut down studio time and ended up with just enough material to fill one side of the album. Acting out of necessity they decided to play around with the existing material...they speeded tracks up, slowed them down, added some distortion, looped some parts and ended up with some of the first examples of sampling and remixing in music history....not only were these "new remixes" sufficient to fill side two of the album - some of them even sound good! ;)


Over the years the musical differences between Dinger and Rother grew and they started to drift away from each other in a musicial-sense. Their final album, "NEU! 75", turned out to be the manifestation of their different musical-approaches at that time: Side one contained Michael Rother's beautiful, laid back ambient-like-compositions while side two featured Dinger's raw and unpolished proto-punk-tracks with him singing coherent vocals......another thing unusual for NEU!-standards, as the only vocals to be heard on the other two albums are some screams or silent "lalala-parts" here and there.
NEU! 75 also featured Klaus Dinger's brother Thomas on the bass and Hans Lampe who did the drumming on side two of the record while Dinger played the guitar parts. The additional musicians should help to add a little extra variety especially when performing more complex-arrangements...sadly their services weren't needed much longer as NEU! went in a long phase of inactivity without ever releasing anything again (except "NEU! 4" which was put out by Klaus Dinger without Michael Rother's agreement and, according to Rother, can not be viewed as a real NEU!-album).

After the end of NEU!, Klaus Dinger and his brother Thomas went on to be quite successful with their new project "La Düsseldorf" (good stuff - give it a try) while Michael Rother released a couple of amazing solo-albums, often backed up by other musicians out of the german-scene (Can's Jaki Liebzeit comes to mind)....they are also highly enjoyable - just listen to "Flammende Herzen"!


Two years ago Klaus Dinger passed away, closing the chapter NEU! forever.
What remains is the beauty of their songs.



NEU! discography:

NEU! (Brain 1004) 1972













Tracklist:

Side 1

1. Hallogallo
2. Sonderangebot
3. Weissensee

Side 2

1. Im Glück
2. Negativland
3. Lieber Honig
   

NEU! 2 (Brain 1028) 1973













Tracklist:

Side 1

1. Für Immer (forever)
2. Spitzenqualität
3. Gedenkminute (für A+K)
4. Lila Engel (lilac angel)

Side 2

1. Neuschnee 78
   
2. Super 16
   
3. Neuschnee
   
4. Cassetto
   
5. Super 78
   
6. Hallo Excentrico
   
7. Super
   

NEU! 75 (Brain 1062) 1975













Tracklist:

Side 1

1. Isi
2. Seeland
3. Leb’ wohl

Side 2

1. Hero
   
2. E-Musik
   
3. After Eight