THIS IS #3 IN A SERIES OV CDs:
PRESENTING RARE OR NEVER RELEASED MUSIC:
BY THEE CHILDREN OV COCA COLA AND BAADER/MEINHOF:
GERMAN KIDS:
RAISED ON THEE AFTER-EFFECT OV THEIR PARENTS'
NAZI-PROPAGANDA AND THEE FIRST LIGHTNING OV THEE DAWNING OV A NEW ERROR:
1968:
HENDRIX REPLACED HITLER AND VIETNAM CAME TRUE
IN BERLIN:
NEW MUSIC HAD TO BE CREATED FOR A NEW WORLD:
AFTER THEE FIRST COMING:
KRAUT! DEMONS! KRAUT!
AND THEE SECOND COMING:
HUNGRY KRAUTS: DADDY
AND WITH DEEPEST REGARDS TO THEE PRELIMINARY WORKS OV THEE EVERLASTING PRAE-KRAUT PANDAEMONIUM VINYL SERIES: THEE ALPHA OV ALL THINGS BEAT AND THEE OMEGA OV ALL THINGS KRAUT:
WE ARE HAPPY TO GIVE YOU:
OBSCURED BY KRAUTS
ANOTHER ONE WAY TICKET INTO
THEE ABYSS
OV THEE UNEXPLORED TEUTONIC
UNDERGROUND 1968-1974
Welcome back to another journey to the centre of the Kohl. After some
short words from FAUST we´ll dive deep into the strange brew and meet
STAFF CARPENBORG´S ELECTRIC CORNONA, a still mysterious band that should
be familiar from "Hungry Krauts" and "Kraut Demons". Here´s yet another
take from their 1970 LP on Maritim, which isn´t, but should be called:
"While the sound engineer was totally stoned", seems like we have to reissue
this monster bit by bit. SEFFIL are from Kempen, a small town between Mönchengladbach
and the Dutch border. The three brothers Nikolaidis - sons of Greek immigrants
- and Ralf Leupers recorded this grammatically remarkable piece of dadart
at the turn of the decade for the tiny Trefiton-label and thus became labelmates
of Fox & Company (see A Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium #10). THE JAM (no, not
Weller & Co.) from Münchsmünster in Bavaria released their
only single in 1970 (no label), probably after an overdose of the first Black
Sabbath-LP. Overdoses must have been a speciality of these guys, as this
7" - one of the rarest in history - came in with a handwritten bill that
substracted 100 of 150 DM from a gig for beer consumption. That´s about
20 pints each. They were a trio. INNER SPACE, as we had always suspected,
was the name of our heroes before David Johnson decided to quit and they
changed name to CAN. But now we can prove it! A copy of the "Kama Sutra"
(68) sexploitation movie showed up at last and it features the original band
playing "Hiding My Nightingale" (their 2nd single, the first was
"Agilok & Blubbo") live in a disco with the Inner Space-logo printed
fat on the bassdrum. We´ve dubbed the most interesting sequence (well,
the only one that´s not spoilt by silly chatting, while an Indian couple
walks in silent awe through a Monument Valley of copulating ancient sculptures)
directly from the soundtrack (which explains the somewhat wobbly sound quality).
MOTHER SUNDAY released their sole 45 in 1971 on Moon, a Swiss label operating
at the Kraut border. And, yes, we dug the fuzz and asked permission to use
this Nosferatuesque killer in digital form (Ta, Greg). BLACKMANN LANE had
this 7" on Studio Ton (Hannover) and rumour has it that labelmates "The J.P.´s"
(pre-Jane) are involved. Could as well be Cotch Blackman (of Niagara-fame)
and friends, but no-one knows for certain. It´s a wonderous, wonderful
piece of plastic, recorded by yet another wannabe-producer doing funny things
with the VU-meter and fading out soon as the singer sets in. PROUD FLESH
flashed their pride on the rare comp "Wir im Scheinwerfer" (69, see A Prae-Kraut
Pandaemonium #5) and finished their recording career in 1970 with this single
for the Resono label, a surprisingly good example of "Hard Prog".
LIVE EXPERIENCE was one of the fantasy names for a bunch of loonies who tried to cash in with a number of "Tribute to..."-LPs (in this case Hendrix) on the Double-T-label in the late 60s. Among a couple of hideous executions of Jimi´s standards, we found this truly inspired original, which showed up later as "Cry For Betty" on Ken Records. SWINGING SAFARI from Dortmund were S. Rademacher, M. Schilling, G. Langer, M. Klisa and G. Jucho, who was in the Atoms, the first band of Florian Schneider-Esleben. Their highly amateurish 7" was released privately (no label) in 68 and is a marvelous example for the earnest of being German (see Oscar Wilde). Rare as bikinis in Afghanistan... Oops, we´re slipping out of our time frame!... TYLL from Stuttgart released their "Sexphonie"-LP (Kerston) in 75. They claim to be the "development of Tyll Eulenspygel", the monicker of the better known band Eulenspygel before they dropped the Tyll. Actually it´s the project of Günter Klinger, Eulenspygel´s drummer on the first two LPs, and an acquired taste (speak: indigestible). But lack of direction sometimes leads to fabulous results like this unique instrumental, one of two great tracks on an album that could have been a killer-single. TRAFO ist just another (clever!) fantasy name for one of those studio projects that tried to produce 1:1 copies of current hits for cheapo labels sold at Woolworth. Their remake of Kraftwerk´s greatest hit is just amazing. Like trying to play "Saucerful of secrets" on a one-string banjo and succeed. Not much is known about YET except this 7" for the Steag label from 71. The cover shows two youngsters smiling like they´d found the Holy Grail (or a pound of comparable pot). Multi-instrumentalists or something. ANIMA SOUND were of course Limpe and Paul Fuchs, two classically trained improvisors trying to forget more than their comrads Friedrich Gulda and Johann Anton Rettenbacher had ever learned. On this 1972 recording for the NWDR (one of the very last broadcastings the north-west german radio ever submitted...) they were joined by Zorro Babel on drums. Steve Stapleton used sampled snippets of this on Automating Vol. III. LONE & THE MISFITS LTD. from Dillenburg with their 1970 single on Gaston Boutique are another result of constantly deeper ditch-digging and a fine example of Proto-Kraut. Dilettantism is the most immaculate incarnation of art, perfection is artificial. And like all true geniuses they can´t resist to have a little fun now and then (as the "Fish Market Cheer" at the end of the opus proves).
TOMORROW´S GIFT are best known for their collectable, but somewhat
ropy and tedious Double-LP on Plus Records (which could have been a classic
if stripped down to one album length). Their contribution to the "Love &
Peace Festival 70" ist another 20 minute monolith that tends to tire the
patience of the listener and we´re bold enough to give you a break
after the first part of the "At the Earth/Indian Rope Man" medley. Break
as in crash, crunch of pulverise, cause here comes SLUT with their 73 single
on Slut records! Ha, "her hair was long and soft and the bitch was the place
to go". Now you know why Brian Wilson retired from the public to practice
upside down levitation in his lonely rubber room. Hey slut, come back, we
need you, cover Robbie Williams, shelter Madonna, prevent the resurrection
of U2, run AMOK! Michael Anton & Amok´s LP for Stern/Metronome
(71) was a Gorilla production (which means Achim Reichel and/or other ex-Rattles
can´t deny a certain responsibility) and a horribly piece of crappy
Jesus Rock, ten times worse than the always miscredited "Hamartia Rockatorium"
(which was the title of the album of christian rockers "light of life Group",
no matter what your pseudo-bible says). Thank God, the engineer of Amok was
Conny Plank (R.I.P.) who couldn´t resist to smuggle some moments of
weird sound collage right into the middle of the 10 minute title track of
"Jesus Makes You High", an album you´d like as much as Lucifer appreciates
Holy Water. THE DAVE PIKE SET was the Munich-based band of vibraphonist Dave
Pike (born in Detroit) with a constant line-up of Volker Kriegel, Johann
Anton Rettenbacher and Peter Baumeister between 68 and 72. Not unlike labelmates
Et Cetera they used their jazz roots for experimentation rather than fusion
and cleverly avoided brass. Their most adventurous work for MPS were the
first two LPs, both released in 69. "Mathar" was on their first album "Noisy
Silence", but we chose the tight sitar groove of the much rarer 7"-version.
The Conny Plank-produced "Goldball" (74) was EXMAGMA´s second LP and
is one of the toughest to find in Germany, as ist only exists as a French
release on Urus Records. "Marylin F. Kennedy" is just a little taster of
it and announces bigger things to come. Both their official LPs plus an unreleased
double album will be back in the stores soon. The band´s homebase was
Stuttgart, were Goldner and Balluff lured Braceful away from Et Cetera, but
they spent most of their career touring through continental Europe, especially
France. Influenced by Hendrix, Soft Machine, Miles Davis and various chemical
substances, they often demanded too much intellectual capacity from the average
audience raised on Yes and Eloy, even in their most "commercial" moments.
The TREDE SELECTION concludes our trip with a pseudo-tribal instrumental
recorded in 72 for the soundtrack of a movie that never happened. Select
released parts of the music a year later on a split-LP and, though just a
one-off studio project, it shows a capable band with ideas not too far from
the way Can used to handle film music.