Originally a 60's pop group known as Fashion, Abacus started their career as support to many British progressive bands touring Germany. Influenced by such music, and with the addition of English vocalist Chris Williams, they became Abacus in 1971. We've never encountered their debut LP (which is reputedly very good), but later on they still had a borderline pop sound - hints of Bonzo's and The Move in a bluesy rock with a 60's beat feel, and some psychedelic touches - occasionally mad or eccentric. Rarely would you know that Abacus were German, and in fact another English musician later took over the drum stool on their final (but still patchy) album MIDWAY. At their best, Abacus could surprise and be really creative, yet they were generally too unfocused and schizophrenic.

Hans-Rolf Schade (guitar, percussion, sitar, vocals), Felix Hans (drums, percussion, vocals), Chris Williams (vocals, guitar), Klaus Kohlhase (bass, percussion, harmonica), Christoph Barutzky (piano, organ)

ABACUS (8/71)
LP Polydor 2371 215 (1971)

Seasong / Love You Till The Cows Come Home
7" Polydor 2041 266 (1972)

JUST A DAY'S JOURNEY AWAY (2-3/72)
LP Polydor 2371 270 (1972)

EVERYTHING YOU NEED (6/72)
LP Zebra 2949 002 (1972)

Fly With Us / The Big Moody
7" Zebra 2047 006 (1973)

MIDWAY (8/73)
LP Zebra 2949 013 (1974)

Indian Dancer / Be That Way
7" Bellaphon BF 18256 (1974)

An early supergroup borne out of the prolific Munich scene fronted by American-German Klaus Ebert. The idea behind 18 Karat Gold seems to have been to present Krautrock in a commercial dilute form to the pop public, but not surprisingly, the idea didn't work on any level, and the band barely lasted a year. Much of the time Achtzehn Karat Gold made their living by working as pop singer Peter Maffay's backing band. Their sole album contained a few minor surprises, but considering the calibre of the musicians, it is generally a disappointing and rather average record, hinting at the direction Amon Düül II were to take in the late-70's.

Jörg Evers (guitar), Keith Forsey (drums), Klaus Ebert (guitar), Lothar Meid (bass)

ALL BUMM (6/73)
LP United Artists UAS 29559 (1974)

Aera come from the great tradition of Bavarian jazz-rock oriented progressive bands like Embryo, Missus Beastly, Munju, Moira, etc., with a style unique to that area, originating as a highly inventive fusion band, with strong percussion, driving rhythms and lots of space for solos from guitar, sax and flute. Whilst lead by Muck Groh they recorded two albums: HUMANUM EST which presented a most proficient instrumental band with a strong identity, with multi-tracked guitar riffing and near on ever-present wind solos, and then HAND UND FUSS, which was a touch more varied, due to the addition of violin and with Lucky Schmidt dealing more forceful rhythms in a jazzier concoction. As happens with most bands, Aera lost many members to other groups, and the third album TÜRKIS, saw a big change in personnel, with wheelchair-bound Klaus Kreuzeder taking over as leader. Fronting a more symphonic band featuring lots of keyboards and also multi-percussives from almost everyone involved, a new Aera sound was forged. Interestingly, being touted as a German Brand X or Turning Point, there were rumours of a UK tour, and an LP release on the Gull label was announced, but unfortunately this came to nothing, no doubt due to changes happening in the band. The LIVE album, recorded with (ex-Embryo regular) Roman Bunka, was an odd follow-up indeed. Roman's songs didn't really hit-off with the Aera style, especially with a funky focus to the music. And then, TOO MUCH lost the magic even further. But, all was not lost, finally, they got their act back together with AKATAKI, which saw another change in style, partly a step back to the energy of HAND UND FUSS, though the high-tech setting of Achim Gieseler's computer keyboards against a heavy jazz-fusion base led to unusual and often startling results. Whilst being Aera at their jazziest, it's also their most experimental and shows a band still striving for the ideals set a decade before.

Wolfgang Teske (drums), Klaus Kreuzeder (sax, flute), Dieter Bauer (bass), Muck Groh (guitar), + Peter Malinowski (bass), Jonas Porst (keyboards)

HUMANUM EST (8-10/11/74)
LP Erlkönig ERL 2001 (1975)

HAND UND FUSS (14-18/9/76)
LP Erlkönig ERL 2002 (1976)

featured on: LIVE NÜRNBERGER SZENE 1976
featured on: POP NACHWUCHS-FESTIVAL '78
featured on: UMSONST UND DRAUSSEN PORTA WESTVLOTHICA 1978

TÜRKIS (1-2/79)
LP Erlkönig INT 148.409 (1979)

LIVE (11/79)
LP Erlkönig INT 148.415 (1980)

TOO MUCH (2/81)
LP Spiegelei INT 145.625 (1981)

AKATAKI (11/81)
LP Spiegelei INT 145.633 (1982)

The full name of Ag A.M. is Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ante Meridiem, (which means something totally weird like "The Anti-Meridian Study Group"). They were a varied kind of folky politico band with a very German sound, and a music that drew in an extremely wide range of styles, ranging from theatrical Floh De Cologne territory, via trippy psychedelia, all sorts of progressive rock styles, and on to country rock even! Oddball stuff indeed, certainly their music was an acquired taste and original too.Nothing historical whatsoever is known about Ag A.M., no, not even the musicians full names! All that they left behind is an odd album that is full of surprises, yet doesn't really fit into any genre comfortably. It's a curiosity, and aptly it's one of the most obscure of 70's self produced obscurities.

P. Deltlaff (vocals, guitar), G. Westenberger (vocals, guitar, accordion), B. Gausloser (vocals, bass), G. Müller (clarinet, flute, organ)

ERINNERUNGEN AN EINE POSITIVE PHASE (5-6/77)
LP private release 1377 (1977)

One of the most legendary, formative and seminal Berlin bands of the 60's, whose early incarnations featured the likes of Christoph Franke (drums) who went on to Tangerine Dream, Ax Genrich (guitar) who after three months was nabbed by Guru Guru, and John L. "the mad-man of Berlin" a notorious eccentric who also played with Ash Ra Tempel. The full history is quite complex. Although in the spirit of Ash Ra Tempel and Pink Floyd, they had their own individual identity, with a largely improvised music that was predominantly instrumental, featuring lots of electronics, keyboards and dual guitars, and a great flair for invention. MALESCH documents their trip to North Africa and the Middle East, blending location recordings together with their own compositions and improvisations, and is still quite a unique experience even today, combining cosmic, avant-garde and ethnic musics with great invention. Much more a proper studio album, and also more typical of the patent Agitation Free sound, 2ND took them more towards the realms of progressive rock, whilst also stretching out the cosmic elements even more. It contains what was their only "song" documented on LP, the powerful Mellotron driven "Haunted Island" based on Edgar Allan Poe's "Dreamtime".

It's unfortunate really that Agitation Free only really gained success in France, being barely noticed in their homeland, and totally ignored by the British media. Still, two studio albums were not the end of Agitation Free, and they kept on recording right up to their final session. The album LAST was posthumously released (only in France), it contains recordings from two concerts and is certainly the best document of the improvisational capabilities of this most innovative group of Teutonic pioneers, developing the Agitation Free sound beyond the guitar based music of Ash Ra Tempel onto purely cosmic floating realms. The more recently released FRAGMENTS was recorded at the final Agitation Free sessions, where they attempted to recapture the early free-form jamming psychedelic sound, and is also notable for featuring original members Chris Franke and Micky Duwe. Many more musicians passed through Agitation Free's ranks than are mentioned here, including members of Os Mundi and Metropolis. Synthesist Michael Hoenig went on to work with Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, and later established himself as a successful soloist. Rhythm guitarist Lutz Ulbrich went on to Ashra, and also has recorded some new-wave styled pop albums under the guise of Lüül.

Lutz Ulbrich (guitars, zither, organ), Jörg Schwenke (guitar), Burghard Rausch (drums, marimba, vocals), Michael Hoenig (synthesizer, electronics, steel guitar), Michael Günther (bass, tapes)

MALESCH (6/72)
LP Vertigo 6360 607 (1972) «gatefold cover»

2ND (7/73)
LP Vertigo 6360 615 (1973) «gatefold cover»

LAST (3/73+2/74)
LP Barclay 80.162 (France, 1976)

An obscure early band that gained recognition as one of the darkest of heavy German progressives. Little is known about Ainigma, except that they existed for some time before making their sole album DILUVIUM, and the truth is that Ainigma were actually quite typical of the more mainstream Krautrock of the era. Ainigma played a raw and slightly messy kind of hard-edged bluesy rock, sometimes recalling Frumpy, but with a more psychedelic underlying Vanilla Fudge type sound. Lyrically though Ainigma weren't too hot, and it would have been better if they had sung in German, as the lyrics do come across as somewhat naïve. Featuring chunky organ and guitar, the instrumental feel and production style (or lack of production) draws comparisons with Necronomicon, with a similar stoned feel, featuring long tracks, extensive instrumentals, and a really gloomy atmosphere.

Willi Klüter (organ, vocals), Wolfgang Netzer (guitar, bass, choir), Michael Klüter (drums), + Michael Freise (acoustic guitar)

DILUVIUM (4-5/73)
LP Arc ALPS 151715 (1973) «pirate issues also exist»

As far as we recall (having only heard their album once several years back), these were some sort of radical experimental rock outfit. Their album was a self-produced and home-made affair, recorded live in concert.

Alfred Leil, Winfried Koch, Angela Weber, Hans Kumpf, Helmut Grab

AK MUSICK (11/72)
LP private release (1973)

Obscure melodic hard-rock band comparable to Harlis, Epitaph and other bands of the era. Just 3 long tracks.

Peter Breitbarth (guitar), Thomas Büscher (drums), Achim Hubricht (bass), Harald Hubricht (keyboards), Christian Köppen (piano), Hansi Köppen (vocals), + Jürgen Polzin (congas)

GARDEN OF EDEN (1978)
LP Lipstick CSM-10005-LS (1979)

A mysterious band, Alcatraz recorded just the one album at the notorious Wümme Studio (as used by Faust) and then promptly disappeared. Nothing at all is known of their history. But, what an album they left behind! With that unmistakable Faustian Kurt Graupner recording sound, their music featured fuzzed guitars and effects overdose in a heavy and bluesy over-the-top Krautrock akin to Frumpy and Nosferatu. Rüdiger Berghahn sounds like a male Inga Rumpf by the way! Though barely known, Alcatraz were remarkable in that they bridged and mixed together genres that no one else did. In fact, they pulled out all the stops to come up with one of the finest slabs of eccentric heady Krautrock. It's a masterpiece beyond doubt, right down to the deranged guitar blitz finale "Piss Off!"

Rüdiger Berghahn (pianett, vocals), Klaus Holst (guitar), Klaus Nagurski (flute, tenor sax), Ronald Wilson (bass), Jan Rieck (drums, bongos)

VAMPIRE STATE BUILDING (9-11/10/71)
LP Philips 6305 128 (1972)

ENERGIE PROGRAMM IN ROCK
LP private release AL 19377 (1978)

TROCKENEIS ZUM FRÜHSTÜCK (1981)
LP private release LMP 002 (1987)

NO. 4 (12-13/9/82)
LP private release ? (1990)

These were typical of German late-70's melodic rock, with an indistinguishable Anglo-American style, made at least a little unique with the singer's German accent and some nice arrangements. We have only heard their LP, which is pleasant, but only marginally progressive or of interest.

Phil Dreher (vocals), Leslie Förster (bass), Dagmar Horn (guitar, vocals), Joe Schäfer (guitar, vocals), Tommy Vieweg (drums), Randy Kwizorowski (keyboards, vocals), + Ludwig Götz (trombone), Jörg Seemann (trumpet), Martin Urigshardt (sax)

Marplot / Magic Man
7" private release (1974)

featured on: KLANGSTADT

DREAMS
LP Cain CL 4793 (1979)

Alto was the name for the short-lived rock and fusion project fronted by former Kraan saxophone player Johannes "Alto" Pappert. They were never really a proper band, as Alto (check the LP covers) was really more of an ego trip for Johannes Pappert, showing off his talent as a multi-instrumentalist, and featuring a hoard of top musicians and Kraan friends as guests. Typical of many such late-70's productions, despite all the talent involved, the results were nothing special, just a lighter more varied twist on the Kraan of the era. Better than most such projects, but very dilute all the same.

Johannes Pappert (saxes, percussion, 12-string guitar), + Andy Göldner (vocals, guitar), Lou Marignan (bass), Bernd Kiefer (bass), Micky Stickdorn (drums), Hellmut Hattler (bass), Zabba Lindner (drums, percussion), Ellen Meier (vocals), Peter Wolbrandt (guitars, banjo, vocals), Wolfgang Grasekamp (keyboards), Jan Fride (percussion, drums)

ALTO (11/77)
LP Spiegelei INT 160.609 (1978)

HAPPY AMBROSIA (1979)
LP Spiegelei INT 145.608 (1980)

With their roots as ex-Thrice Mice members, Altona wisely chose this new name (Altona is a town on the edge of Hamburg) when dropping the former band's classical edge in preference for a jazzier front. On their debut Altona played a lively fusion that crossed many boundaries, but kept the Blodwyn Pig feel that dominated the early Thrice Mice recordings. Notably, they sounded almost like a hybrid of Birth Control and Creative Rock, occasionally hinting at Eiliff, with songs and instrumentals that were full of surprises! In contrast, their second album CHICKENFARM, disappointed as it saw a mellowing of style, to funky edged jazz-rock with blues and soul tendencies, and an indistinctive Anglo-American type brassy-rock sound. A few Altona members later reappeared in the obscure band Dirty Dogs.

Fritz Kahl (bass), Karl-Heinz Blumenberg (vocals, bass/soprano saxes, bass), Klaus Gerlach (guitar), Wolfgang Wulff (tenor sax), Karl-Heinz Gossler (drums), Werner von Gosen (guitar), Michael von Rönn (tenor sax)

ALTONA (1974)
LP RCA PPL1-1049 (1975)

CHICKENFARM (1974)
LP RCA PPL1-4129 (1975)

The original Munich commune group, formed in 1967, Amon Düül were not your normal outfit of political activists or hippies, they were much more than that. Living together, they were constantly attempting to create or explore new genres in music. Psychedelic drugs, free-love, and a shared community were all factors, as was the new psychedelic music from Britain and the USA, especially so Hapshash & The Coloured Coat. Inevitably, due to political and musical differences, tempers got frayed and just before a legendary concert they split into two separate bands. Founder members, including Chris Karrer and others, went on to front the internationally successful Amon Düül II.

In sharp contrast, the original Amon Düül (who were more concerned with being politically active) recorded on very few occasions. A great part of their work was all recorded during the very same early sessions in 1969 within a matter of days. Typical of commune bands, Amon Düül were often quite wild and free-form. They played a high-energy bare-bones aggressive rock that was totally over-the-top in the percussion department, with raw grating guitars and wailing vocals. Their debut AMON DÜÜL (originally untitled, but generally referred to as "PSYCHEDELIC UNDERGROUND") and its follow-up COLLAPSING: SINGVÖGEL RÜCKWÄRTS & CO., both also displayed an eccentric use of studio effects, sound manipulation and sonic gags (like jumps, stuck-grooves, scratches, etc.), which gained them a curious notoriety. A total of four albums (two of them double LP's) were eventually released from those early sessions, and all are essential listening for fans of aggressive 60's rock.

The later incarnation (which grew out of an association with the "Berlin Commune 1") were different, and only recorded one album and a single. Still a touch hippy-political in concept the album PARA DIESWÄRTS DÜÜL was a more relaxed, albeit unusual, folky rock with the accent on multiple guitars, featuring lengthy improvised instrumental sections, closer to Quintessence or Popol Vuh, yet still quite unique. Members of this version of the band also guested on the similarly styled "Sandoz In The Rain" on Amon Düül II's YETI. The actual history of this incarnation of Amon Düül is virtually undocumented, though we do know that Karl-Heinz Hausmann of the "Berlin Commune 1" passed through and followed Peter Leopold to Amon Düül II. They also played live quite extensively when based in Berlin, and even Klaus Schulze is reputed to have played in concert with them!

Rayner Bauer (guitar, vocals), Ulrich Leopold (basses), Helge Filanda (congas, vocals), Peter "Krischke" Leopold (drums, piano), Ella Bauer (drums, vocals), Angelika Filanda (drums, vocals), Uschi Obermaier (maracas)

AMON DÜÜL "PSYCHEDELIC UNDERGROUND" (1969)
LP Metronome MLP 15.332 (1969)

COLLAPSING: SINGVÖGEL RÜCKWÄRTS & CO. (1969)
LP Metronome SMLP 012 (1969)

Eternal Flow / Paramechanical World
7" Ohr OS 57.000 (1971)

PARA DIESWÄRTS DÜÜL (11-12/70)
LP Ohr OMM 56.008 (1971)

DISASTER (1969)
2LP BASF 29 29079-4 (1972)

EXPERIMENTE (1969)
2LP Timewind MDB 950142 (Switzerland, 1984)

Amon Düül II were instigated in Autumn 1968 out of a loose collection of musicians who were involved with the Munich Amon Düül commune. As the story goes, Amon Düül (the original band/commune) were booked to play at the Essener Songtag Festival, but due to differences the commune split into two and both versions of the band played. The split was instigated by Chris Karrer, who was much more interested in making music than getting into politics. In their early days a number of other Amon Düül members migrated to Amon Düül II, as well as the likes of Christian Burchard and Edgar Hofmann (who both went on to form Embryo), Holger Trülzsch (of Popol Vuh), Dieter Serfas (who formed his own band, then later resurfaced in Embryo) and...

Their debut album PHALLUS DEI contained a charged and purely innovative music, with bizarre structures, almost operatic and crazed (male and female) vocals, with lots of distinctly Teutonic angst, tons of percussion, duelling violins, Eastern-scale guitars, and all really tripped-out to the point of excess. This was especially so on the side-long title track, which featured improvisation of such complexity that even the likes of Pink Floyd only hinted at. Like a hybrid of High Tide, Hawkwind and Third Ear Band, the connection may have been coincidental, yet bassist Dave Anderson did later return to England and join Hawkwind! The following two albums, both doubles, are regarded by many as the finest Amon Düül II music, extensively featuring lengthy tracks and side-long segued suites, full of musical invention, surprises throughout. Not least is the phenomenal 11/2 sides of "Yeti" and "Yeti Talks To Yogi", which are space rock of the utmost invention, and the curious cosmic space-out "The Chasmin Soundtrack" (on TANZ DER LEMMINGE) which pre-empted The Cosmic Jokers. There's lots of other classic material on these doubles (naturally!) and not least the second side of YETI which has some of the most mind-bending psychedelic music on record. And, let's not forget the weirdly twisted songs that were as surreal as the music they were contained in! As with any big band, personnel changes were a regular feature of Amon Düül II, amongst them: Shrat had gone to form the Hawkwind-like Sameti, Karl-Heinz Hausmann had joined from the "Berlin Commune 1", and a wealth of other top Munich jazz and rock musicians passed through the band. This variety of talent from the likes of Jimmy Jackson (and his amazing choir organ) or eccentric singer Rolf Zacher, and numerous others, makes the Amon Düül II canvas of sound even more diverse.

CARNIVAL IN BABYLON was a single LP with shorter song-based tracks. A disappointment to most at first, , it's still a fine and well-crafted album, though of the more subtle kind. But, hereon, with the onset of international recognition and tours abroad, Amon Düül II became an even much more unstable entity, with a steady flow of musicians passing through the band (amongst the more obscure were Reinhold Spiegelfeld and Reiner Schnelle of Weed). As evidence of this, on WOLF CITY (and its sister alter-ego album by Utopia which took the Amon Düül II sound to jazzier realms), no two tracks featured the same musicians, yet despite this WOLF CITY was a surprisingly varied, fresh and highly inventive album extensively featuring Daniel Fichelscher, the percussionist/multi-instrumentalist who was to become the main musician of Popol Vuh, and much more Renate Knaup. As a "thank you" to their British fans, the excellent LIVE IN LONDON (actually recorded in Croydon) was released here at budget price. It featured radically different versions of classic tracks, mostly from DANCE OF THE LEMMINGS, again with Renate more to the fore. The last true (and really creative) Amon Düül II album is often quoted as VIVE LA TRANCE, which continued this trend of musical simplification. Although being an album of songs VIVE LA TRANCE still had lots in the way of radical invention, not least some really witty songs and pacey complex instrumentals. After Amon Düül II left United Artists, the label issued the singles collection LEMMINGMANIA (United Artists UAG 29723).

When the acid-haze faded, further Amon Düül II albums moved to ever more accessible mainstream rock realms, becoming increasingly patchy. HIJACK lived up to its title, and "hijacked" from various different types of music, tango's and Bavarian folk music amongst them. It was a more trendy side-step from the songs on VIVE LA TRANCE. Then, even more wide ranging, was the double opus MADE IN GERMANY, lyrically Amon Düül II's ultimate stab at German society, attitudes, the media, the record industry, etc. The great shame was that musically much of it wasn't too inspired. Even before the departure of Renate Knaup (she moved on to Popol Vuh) there had been hoards of changes in personnel. And, now again, it was all-change time!

As Lothar Meid left, in came a number of new members: Jörg Evers, Keith Forsey and Klaus Ebert, all ex-members of an earlier Lothar Meid band Achtzehn Karat Gold. And then there was also pop singer Stefan Zauner! Not surprisingly, all of this tore the Amon Düül II sound apart, losing their identity entirely. Yet it must be said that all later 70's Amon Düül II albums contained at least something of excellence. Even after proverbially disappearing up their own arses on ONLY HUMAN, there's been constant attempts to resurrect Amon Düül II. VORTEX sounded like a MOR return to VIVE LA TRANCE, and more recent attempts have been even more embarrassing, a couple of almost disco-styled new numbers appeared on the compilation SURROUNDED BY THE BARS (Spalax 14810).

Note: John Weinzierl also established a British incarnation of Amon Düül in 1979 along with former Amon Düül II member (also of Hawkwind and Groundhogs) Dave Anderson and a collection of impromptu musicians. Their releases confused at first, being billed as "old recordings" when they were no such thing. Of their four releases, the largely improvised albums HAWK MEETS PENGUIN (Thunderbolt TB 102) and FOOL MOON (Magnum TL 011) are highly recommended to all fans of the early Amon Düül II. A compilation AIRS ON A SHOESTRING (Thunderbolt TB 043), also features an excellent unreleased work.

Dieter Serfas (drums, cymbals), Peter Leopold (drums, percussion, piano), Shrat (bongos, vocals, violin), Renate Knaup (vocals, tambourine), John Weinzierl (guitar, bass), Chris Karrer (violin, guitars, soprano sax, vocals), Falk Rogner (organ, synthesizer), Dave Anderson (bass), + Christian Burchard (vibes), Holger Trülzsch (Turkish drums)

PHALLUS DEI
LP Liberty LBS 83279 (1969) «gatefold sleeve»

YETI
2LP Liberty LBS 83359/60 (1970), Liberty LSP 101 (UK, 1970)

Rattlesnakeplumcake / Between The Eyes
7" Liberty 15417 (1970)

TANZ DER LEMMINGE
2LP Liberty LBS 83473/74 (1971)

Light / Lemmingmania
7" Liberty 15458 (1971)

CARNIVAL IN BABYLON
LP United Artists UAS 29327 (1972)

WOLF CITY (7/72)
LP United Artists UAS 29406 (1972)

LIVE IN LONDON (16/12/72)
LP United Artists UAS 29466 (1973), United Artists USP 102 (UK)

VIVE LA TRANCE
LP United Artists UAS 29504 (1973)

HIJACK
LP Nova 6.22056 (1974), Atlantic K 50136 (UK, 1975)

MADE IN GERMANY
2LP Nova 6.28350 (1975)

PYRAGONY X
LP Nova 6.22890 (1976)

ALMOST ALIVE
LP Nova 6.23305 (1977)

ONLY HUMAN
LP Strand 6.23561 (1978)

VORTEX
LP Telefunken 6.24874 (1981)

A little-known band, of whom we know nothing historically, Amos Key were one of the few early German bands to play a fiery classical rock with such creativity and invention, and even parallel the excellence of the Italians! Much more so than fellow organ-rock pioneers Sixty Nine, Amos Key owed great debts to Bach, Beethoven and Schumann, adding a heavy Krautrock twist to a music more closely resembling Egg or The Nice, full of angst and weird psychedelic and space-rock touches. They apparently also released a single, but we've no idea whether the tracks are taken from the LP.

Thomas Molin (keyboards, vocals), Andreas Gross (bass, guitar, vocals), Lutz Ludwig (drums)

FIRST KEY
LP Spiegelei 26.413-5U (1973)

The Italian's may claim Analogy as a classic band from their 70's scene, though the truth is that they were actually German! Their debut LP (which became quite notorious because of the nude group scenes on the cover) was recorded and only released in Italy, which would be the reason for such confusion. Analogy were of that genre some suggest as being inspired by US West Coast bands, though really they were very European, combining classical and space-rock elements, and fronted by a powerful unusual female vocalist. If they could be compared to anyone, Earth & Fire and Sandrose would be favourites, not forgetting to point out an added Floydian spaciness, with lots of organ and guitars. Despite being an oddly balanced album, its reputation is certainly deserved.

After this various different incarnations of the band, under various names, existed. Whilst known as Earthbound (reputedly a new-wave band) they completed an ambition of Martin Thurin's, in the form of a lengthy symphonic opus. So, due to recognition of the Analogy album upon its CD reissue, this later recording was released under the guise of Analogy in 1993. A pleasant work, again notable for Jutta's vocals, but more laid-back, like early Renaissance.

Jutta Nienhaus (vocals), H-J. "Mops" Nienhaus (drums), Mauro Rattaggi (bass), Martin Thurin (guitars), Wolfgang Schoene (guitar, bass), Nicola Pankoff (keyboards)

Sold Out / God's Own Land
7" Produzioni 28 ? (Italy, 1971)

Credited to: Yoice

ANALOGY
LP Ventoto PRV 2204 (Italy, 1972)

Andromeda started in the 60's as session musicians, and members of the Cologne pop band The Tony Hendrik Five. On their LP, however, they were hardly a proper band, but merely a duo aided by guests. They only made the one album (and also a single culled from it) which is very varied, at its lightest resembling late-60's The Beatles, though mostly it's heavy and psychedelic rock. As it's often fronted by chunky organ, with blues and classical elements, hints of Brian Auger or The Nice are notable. Note: The album forgets to list who does the vocals. There's also a guest brass-section on some tracks as well as female backing vocalists!

Peter Schild (keyboards), Günther Steinborn (drums), + Gerry Fleming (bass), Tony Hendrik (guitar)

ANDROMEDA
LP Vogue LDVS 17205 (1970)

This Androméda (from Berlin) were one of many bands from the late-70's wave that lurked in obscurity. On their debut they played a lyrical and varied rock with blues and fusion elements. Admittedly the vocals are most odd, yet the music is often inventive and unique, though notably inspired by earlier bands like Jane or Epitaph.

Bernd Jahnke (guitar, vocals), Alexander Hensel (bass), Rainer Bergmann (drums, percussion), Karl-Heinz Engelhardt (flute, sax, vocals, harmonica, percussion), Thomas Lüdemann (keyboards), Rainer Lingk (vocals, guitar)

ANDROMÉDA
LP Resco 66.21801 (1979)

KARLIBURR
LP Resco 66.21998 (1980)

ANDROMÉDA 3
LP Resco 66.22199 (1981)

The duo of Paul and Limpe Fuchs (aka Anima or Anima Sound) were amongst the most experimental to emerge out of the late-60's and become involved in the Munich underground rock scene. Elitists, and pure avant-gardists at heart, they worked with all manner of conventional and home-made instruments, performing wild and demanding music. Somehow they were adopted by the experimental rock label Ohr, despite their music being barely rock at all! STÜRMISCHER HIMMEL, recorded at a "thousand year old cottage on a windy hill" with their children, is amongst the oddest of albums. Bizarre creative music it certainly is, but Krautrock it is certainly not! Soon they became friends of the Austrian jazz avant-gardist Friedrich Gulda, and were invited to perform at his "Ossiach" festival. With Friedrich Gulda guesting on ANIMA a long association began with them touring together and being featured on many of each others albums. Some of their later LP's run very close to free-jazz or the serious avant-garde. Also, Limpe Fuchs has recently been working as a soloist.

Paul Fuchs (Fuchshorn, voice, cornet, bass), Limpe Fuchs (voice, drums, Fuchszither, Fuchsbass)

STÜRMISCHER HIMMEL
LP Ohr OMM 56 011 (1971)

featured on: OSSIACH LIVE

ANIMA SOUND
LP Melocord ST-LP-NB 0.027 (1971)

ANIMA
LP Pilz 20 29097-2 (1972)

featured on: HEIDELBERGER JAZZTAGE '72 (1972)
LP BASF/MPS 29 21655 1 (1972)

IT'S UP TO YOU!
2LP Preiser SPR 3268 (Austria, 1974)

MONTE ALTO (1977)
LP Alter Pfarrhof ST-A-33 (1977)

DER REGT MICH AUF/A CONTROVERSY (12/79+10/82)
2LP Ohr Today OMM 580.001 (1982)

featured on: AN AFFLICTED MAN'S MUSICA BOX
LP United Dairies UD 012 (UK, 1982)

BRUCHSTÜCKE FÜR ILONA (7/85)
2LP Loft 1010/11 (1985)

Amongst the most innovative of underground Krautrock bands, who, like Organisation, built the foundation for a new type of music. Their roots stem back to 1967 as the band Ambition In Music, from Kamp-Lintfort near Düsseldorf, and by 1970 they'd expanded, took on all sorts of influences and ideas, and moved well away from their hippy-rock roots, becoming Annexus Quam. The earliest morsel of Annexus Quam (recorded during the sessions for their debut LP) is the uniquely ethnic "Kollodium", featured on the excellent OHRENSCHMAUS compilation. It's now a rarity worth seeking out, showing their roots, tripping-out like a cosmic Third Ear Band. Their debut album OSMOSE (issued with a novelty multi-fold cover) is most fascinating, even more cosmic, than "Kollodium", featuring much guitar and unusual use of jazz instruments in what is really a rock based music. A really spacious fusion of avant-garde, rock, jazz, and unusual use of psychedelic studio effects, somewhere between Ash Ra Tempel and Kollektiv maybe, it is considered by many as one of the finest Ohr albums. After a change in personnel, and much playing at jazz festivals, BEZIEHUNGEN dived head-first into the realms of free-jazz. Admittedly one of the best examples of the genre, it still had its moments, though there are parts that jar and grate, with much experimental improvisation akin to early Iskra or Music Improvisation Company.

Uwe Bick (drums, vocals, percussion), Jürgen Jonuschies (bass, vocals, percussion), Werner Hostermann (clarinet, organ, vocals, percussion), Peter Werner (guitar, vocals, percussion), Hans Kämper (trombone, Spanish guitar, vocals, percussion), Ove Volquartz (sax), Harald Klemm (flute, vocals, percussion)

featured on: OHRENSCHMAUS (9/70)
2LP Ohr OMM 2/56.006 (1971)

OSMOSE (9/70)
LP Ohr OMM 56007 (1970)

BEZIEHUNGEN (5/72)
LP Ohr OMM 556.028 (1972)

One of the many progressive rock bands to appear in the late-70's inspired by the likes of Genesis, Gentle Giant, Jane, et al., Anyone's Daughter were far better than most. Their early albums featured English vocals, ADONIS being a very accomplished debut of refined progressive rock, with strong symphonic elements, jazzy touches and a notable debt to Eloy. Obviously intent on trying to get international fame their second LP, tried for an even more direct style, but paled next to ADONIS. A radical change from hereon, especially on their third album PIKTOR'S VERWANDLUNGEN, a conceptual opus (live in concert) featuring mainly spoken German texts along with vast instrumentals in the realms of Novalis and Grobschnitt, and only a couple of actual "songs", it is arguably their most successful, and certainly their most experimental. IN BLAU returned to a more accessible style, almost like mid-70's Genesis sung in German. A good album, but from hereon the Anyone's Daughter sound paled significantly, with shorter compositions on an ever more melodic song based level. The LIVE double was thus very disappointing.

Harald Bareth (bass, lead vocals), Uwe Karpa (guitars), Kono Konopik (drums, rototoms, cymbals), Matthias Ulmer (pianos, synthesizers, organ, vocals)

ADONIS (9/78)
LP Brain 60.186 (1979)

ANYONE'S DAUGHTER
LP Spiegelei INT 145.612 (1980)

PIKTOR'S VERWANDLUNGEN (18/1/81)
LP Spiegelei INT 145.624 (1981)

IN BLAU (12/81)
LP Spiegelei INT 145.632 (1982)

NEUE STERNE (2/83)
LP Spiegelei INT 145.640 (1983)

LIVE (1983)
2LP Corona CMC 018001 (1984)

LAST TRACKS (1979-84)
LP private release 86007 (1986)

An obscure Berlin jazz-rock band (formed 1975) with the accent on percussion, of whom we know very little, except having heard their contribution on the BERLIN FUSION compilation.

Michael "Willy" Wilke (guitar), Dieter Anker (guitar), Gerard Batrya (bass), Andreas Hommelsheim (keyboards), Lutz Halfter (drums), Tommy Goldschmidt (percussion), Michael Tybus (percussion)

featured on: BERLIN FUSION

LIVE AT THE QUASIMODO
LP Blackbird BD 102 (1981)

Very little is known about Ardo Dombec, though they were quite untypical of the Pilz label, being a heavy, bluesy and slightly jazzy rock with the accent on songs rather than instrumentals, and barely did they sound German. Undoubtedly they were inspired by the late-60's work by American bands like Chicago Transit Authority or Blood Sweat & Tears (as obviously were Creative Rock and Emergency), and admittedly the album ARDO DOMBEC had its moments, combining blues, soul and jazz styles into a song-based rock music, all with surprising depth in the arrangements for a four-piece band. Obviously a great deal of multi-tracking was going on! But, ARDO DOMBEC became most notorious for featuring the painful "five second scratch" joke track "Oh, Sorry" and its rather dangerous looking "bloody cactus in an ice-cream cone" cover! Contrastingly their contributions to the HEAVY CHRISTMAS concept sampler showed them at their best - instrumental, radical and full of invention, towards the realms of Thirsty Moon or Kollektiv.

Harald Gleu (guitar, vocals, harmonica), Helmut Hachmann (sax, flute), Wolfgang Spillner (drums, vocals), Michael Ufer (bass)

ARDO DOMBEC (8/71)
LP Pilz 20 21095-2 (1971)

featured on: HEAVY CHRISTMAS

An obscure ethnic fusion band from Nürnberg, that we only discovered very recently and know nothing of historically. Aptly being with Schneeball Records, the album NIMDIRSI is a step aside from Embryo, drawing on Asian and North African cultures, blending in a wide variety of classical and rock elements too, and despite being mostly percussive, it is quite relaxed and moody, with rich textures occasionally reminding of quieter Third Ear Band, with diversions from Between through to Oregon or Codona realms. The more recent IDJO is much more Afro-fusion styled, akin to Dissidenten or Embryo's AFRICA album, with a very modern highly produced sound, and features an international cast of musicians (most notably Ramesh Shotham).

Stefan Lederer (dolgi, pianos, percussion, gong), Dieter Weberpils (quena, flutes, percussion, piccolo), Achim Schmidt (darbouka, drums, marimba, congas, vibes, horn)

LIVE
MC private release (1979)

NIMDIRSI (4/83)
LP Schneeball 1036 (1983)

Although mostly a straight hard-rock band, Arktis did however have their moments. They were certainly not professionally trained musicians, and their amateurish edge gave them a very different feel. Not being with a major label they also took chances, especially so on their debut which featured numerous lengthy instrumentals, especially rewarding is the side-long "Rare Girl". Arktis had hints of early Jane, Harlis or even Pancake in their music, but they never really seemed to know exactly what they wanted to do. This is especially notable on the session recorded with Conny Plank in December 1974, where they come across as totally deadly bland. But there again, Arktis could be seen as innovators, with unusually early new-wave touches. But most rewarding of all is the bonus material found on the CD reissue of their second album ARKTIS TAPES, two lengthy instrumental jams in the manner of Cargo or Man that proved Arktis had much more potential than the original LP's insinuated.

Karin Töppig (vocals), Klaus Blachut (guitar), Klaus Göllner (bass), Harry Kottek (drums)

ARKTIS (16-19/10/73)
LP private release R 4040 (1974)

ARKTIS TAPES (1974-75)
LP Bon-bons-records BBR 7502 (1975)

ON THE ROCKS
LP private release ARK-76-1 (1976)

Fronted by prolific guitarist Frank Diez, Armageddon were one of the foremost Berlin exponents of Anglo-American inspired rock, and much better than most of their contemporaries, yet until the CD reissue hardly anyone had heard of them! With their influence clearly defined, the album contained excellent versions of Jeff Beck's "Rice Pudding" and Spooky Tooth's "Better By You, Better Than Me", Armageddon should have been an international hit, as they had an accessible sound with lots of complex and highly progressive elements. But, as with most Kuckuck releases, nobody noticed. Nowadays it's revered as one of the finest heavy rock albums in the early-70's. Unfortunately short-lived, Armageddon only made the one album and then split.

Frank Diez (lead guitar, vocals), Manfred Galatik (electric piano, bass, vocals), Michael Nürnberg (bass, rhythm guitar), Jürgen Lorenzen (drums)

ARMAGGEDON (7-8/70)
LP Kuckuck 2375 003 (1970)

On the late-60's Berlin underground scene, there was a growing trend for radical innovative bands. One band was the embryonic Ash Ra Tempel, then known as Steeple Chase Bluesband (formed June 1969), who played a freak-out blues rock with John Mayall influences. The original line-up was: Manuel Göttsching (guitar), Hartmut Enke (bass) and Wulf Arp (drums), with Volker Zibell (harmonica) joining in August 1969. Arp was momentarily replaced by Wolfgang Müller, at which time they gained wide exposure with an appearance in concert on TV. A document of Steeple Chase Bluesband can be found on THE PRIVATE TAPES, which is just the sort of stoned blues-rock underground we expected.

Having left Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze met up with Manuel and Hartmut and hatched the idea of Ash Ra Tempel. At this time all three were also involved in Konrad Schnitzler's Eruption project. In August 1970 they started rehearsals and also played concerts, becoming notorious for improvisations that could exceed 30 minutes yet be most fascinating and invigorating. Documents from various concerts can be found on THE PRIVATE TAPES, revealing the innovation of the band, in which Klaus was much more than just a drummer (playing steel guitar, organ, electronics, etc.), but as a drummer he was something else!

After a couple of aborted demo's Ash Ra Tempel decided to go to Hamburg and record an album proper, with the aid of Conny Plank. This resulted in their debut, which was housed in a mystical elaborate centre-opening gatefold cover. As with their live jams, Ash Ra Tempel on record was a unique twist on the space-rock music as pioneered by Pink Floyd and Hawkwind, with elements of both yet devoid of songs, free-rock in the truest sense. Just one track per side: firstly with the power-drive storming "Amboss" (close to Klaus' work in Tangerine Dream) and in contrast, the shimmering timeless "Traummaschine". A yin-and-yang type concept that made for an extraordinary album. But, not too long after this, with a yearning for greater things in life than just playing drums, Klaus left Ash Ra Tempel, saying to Manuel "You keep the name, I'm going to do other things" and went on to pursue a most fruitful solo career as one of the pioneers of synth music.

After this, the former Steeple Chase Bluesband drummer Wolfgang Müller returned. The next album SCHWINGUNGEN ("Vibrations" in English) returned to their bluesy origins, and again (like their debut LP) it had contrasting sides. "Light And Darkness" exists as the closest any German band have got to early Hawkwind, a wild acid-rock cum cosmic-blues music fronted by eccentric vocalist John L. spouting rather than singing his LSD induced visions. It's intense, powerful, and for some - too dark and unnerving. In stark contrast, "Suche & Liebe" owed a huge debt to Pink Floyd's "A Saucerful Of Secrets", complete with shimmering vibes, a hazy electronic mist, and an overdose of Dave Gilmour style glissando guitars, stretching out to cosmic bliss.

Hereon, Ash Ra Tempel history becomes a mite complex, with involvement from Timothy Leary and numerous other projects, like the jam sessions released as The Cosmic Jokers. Ohr boss Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser had a vision of making the ultimate psychedelic trip, and naturally Timothy Leary being in nearby Switzerland lead to the opportunity of a lifetime. Hartmut was very keen on this idea, and went to Switzerland to meet Leary, and work out a concept based on "the seven steps to a better karma of consciousness". The results were SEVEN UP, a crazed trip with Leary at the helm. Timothy Leary had spiked the 7 Up that the band were drinking with LSD. The trip was set, and obviously too, was the title! On the tongue-in-cheek "Space", stoned 50's styled blues fronted by Leary, Brian Barritt and sexy backing singers, fused with Krautrock, psychedelia and an overdose of electronics. In true Ash Ra Tempel tradition, "Time" contrasted greatly, returning to the spacey realms of "Schwingungen" and moving the closest Ash Ra Tempel got to the cosmic Gong sound. The SEVEN UP experience caused the disintegration of Ash Ra Tempel as a proper band, "Gedanken" (on the KOSMISCHE MUSIK sampler) showed how much in flux Ash Ra Tempel had become. A huge band one moment, and next they were but two!

Such was the unpredictability of Ash Ra Tempel's line-up, that the next album JOIN INN resulted from an impromptu jam, recorded while Manuel, Hartmut and Rosi were waiting for everyone else that was supposed to turn up for the Walter Wegmüller TAROT sessions. It saw the return of Klaus Schulze to the band, and again an album of stark contrasts: "Freak And Roll" being the raunchiest relentless wah-wah guitar rock freak-out ever, and the cosmic drifting Schulze synthesizer-dominated "Jenseits" which featured Manuel's girlfriend Rosi Müller reciting her story of the Timothy Leary experience. After this, the trio toured for a while, playing at the Actuel Festival in Paris in February 1973, amongst other venues. But, two weeks on, after a concert in Cologne, as Manuel put it "Hartmut was too spaced out to play any more", Hartmut left Ash Ra Tempel. Though Klaus had been playing in the band, he wasn't an official member, he was more into developing his solo career.

So, Ash Ra Tempel became Manuel Göttsching and whoever was handy at the time. STARRING ROSI, recorded with Rosi Müller was very varied, sometimes comparable to Gong and Camel, and there's even a cosmic tango! Yet, still there's many classic touches. Also featured was Harald Grosskopf on drums, whom Manuel had worked with on The Cosmic Jokers sessions. After this, alone, Manuel went on to record his most innovative album INVENTIONS FOR ELECTRIC GUITAR, entirely created with guitar and echo devices, though you'd hardly believe it! Akin to Günter Schickert's SAMTVOGEL or more recent Robert Fripp, yet more sequential, cosmic and floating, awash with those typically Göttsching guitar licks. Almost like synthesizer music, yet purely guitar!

Continuing solo, adding synthesizers to his instrumentation, he eventually adopted the guise of Ashra. Manuel also worked in collaboration with many other musicians, including sessions with ex-Agitation Free members Lutz Ulbrich and Michael Hoenig, and in concert with ex-Wallenstein drummer Harald Grosskopf. Some sessions from this period have only appeared as official releases recently, namely the ethereal LE BERCEAU DE CRISTAL film soundtrack, the RIAS radio session DREAM & DESIRE, and the Hoenig/Göttsching jam EARLY WATER. The first two albums released as Ashra at the time were entirely solo, showcasing Manuel's great talent as a multi-instrumentalist, firstly with the cosmic and sequential NEW AGE OF EARTH which showed much Klaus Schulze influence along with unique new way of using sequencers, and then the energetic guitar riffing BLACKOUTS.

Soon Ashra became a proper group. Yet, as a trio, Ashra became far less easy to pin down, CORRELATIONS had an uneasy commerciality, and they almost bordered on disco music on one track of the unevenly balanced BELLE ALLIANCE, yet Ashra still ventured onto more experimental realms. Unique documents of Ashra live in 1979 feature on THE PRIVATE TAPES, showing how many different ideas were at play, attempting an uneasy balance between commercial accessibility and experimentation. This schizophrenic incarnation split and reformed numerous times, and all musicians have recorded solo works and worked in collaboration with other people since. Of the later Ashra albums, the most innovative was WALKIN' THE DESERT which ventured onto new uncharted territory of systemic and weird sound-sampling music, proving Ashra to be just as innovative as they ever were.

Hartmut Enke (bass), Manuel Göttsching (guitar, vocals, electronics), Klaus Schulze (drums, percussion, electronics)

ASH RA TEMPEL (9-11/3/71)
LP Ohr OMM 56013 (1971) «centre-opening gatefold cover»

SCHWINGUNGEN (9-13/2/72)
LP Ohr OMM 556020 (1972)

SEVEN UP (9-10/8/72)
LP Die Kosmischen Kuriere KK 58001 (1973) «gatefold cover»

featured on: KOSMISCHE MUSIK (7/72)

JOIN INN (12/72)
LP Ohr OMM 556032 (1973)

STARRING ROSI (7-8/73)
LP Kosmische Musik KM 58007 (1973)

INVENTIONS FOR ELECTRIC GUITAR (7-8/74)
LP Kosmische Musik KM 58015 (1975)

NEW AGE OF EARTH (3-6/76)
LP Isadora ISA 9003 (France, 1976)

BLACKOUTS (9/77)
LP Virgin 25686 XOT (1978), Virgin V2091 (UK, 1978)

CORRELATIONS (1978)
LP Virgin 200 431 (1979), Virgin V2117 (UK, 1979)

BELLE ALLIANCE (7/79)
LP Virgin 202 284 (1980)

WALKIN' THE DESERT (1988-89)
LP Navigator NAV 8901-1 (1989)

Association PC were an international free-jazz and rock-fusion band lead by Dutchman Pierre Courbois. By basing themselves in Germany and signing to the Munich jazz label MPS they inevitably became part of German the scene. Partly this was due to German guitarist Toto Blanke. Many of their releases featured a wealth of invention, covering a lot of new ground, stretching the boundaries of jazz. SUN ROTATION and ERNA MORENA were their boldest statements featuring lengthy tracks of great power and aggression, showcasing the talents of Toto Blanke and Jasper van't Hof. In the mid-70's Association PC disintegrated. Toto and Jasper went on to successful solo careers, as well as forming the Electric Circus together. Pierre Courbois returned to jazz realms.

Toto Blanke (guitar), Siggi Busch (bass), Pierre Courbois (drums), Peter Krijen (bass), Jasper van't Hof (keyboards)

EAR WAX
LP Munich 6802 634 (1970)

SUN ROTATION
LP BASF/MPS 21 21329-3 (1972)

ERNA MORENA (4/72)
LP BASF/MPS 21 21542-3 (1972)

ROCK AROUND THE COCK
LP BASF/MPS 21 21763-9 (1973)

MAMA KUKU
LP BASF/MPS 21 21840-6 (1974)

featured on: HEIDELBERG JAZZTAGE '73
LP BASF/MPS 21 21913-5 (1974)

Though never confirmed beyond doubt, Asterix would seem to be an early version of Lucifer's Friend (the album credits Hecht, Hesslein, Horns and Lawton as composers), with the addition of a second vocalist, playing a more mainstream 60's styled hard-rock. Their sole LP was only of marginal interest, and never hinted at the more experimental facets of early Lucifer's Friend proper.

George Monroe (vocals), Peter Hecht (organ), Peter Hesslein (guitar), Dieter Horns (bass), Joachim "Addi" Rietenbach (drums)

Everybody / If I Could Fly
7" Decca D 29048 (1970)

ASTERIX (1970)
LP Decca SLK 16695 (1970)

Now these are a band I'm sure should have remained lost! Though, as a mid-70's act, their basic rockin' Hawklords type "Interstellar Shortwave" was way ahead of its time!

Alex (vocals), Gunther Dorn (guitar), Wolfgang Willhauk (guitar), Herbert Metzger (guitar), Otto Bretnacher (drums)

featured on: UNKNOWN DEUTSCHLAND: VOLUME 1

Basically, Atlantis were Frumpy reformed and repackaged, but with a more commercial hard-rock style. Fronted by Inga's un-feminine vocals Atlantis' debut was the ideal vehicle for her poignant lyric, with a selection of shorter more varied tracks than on the Frumpy albums, more rock and ballad oriented, though still with some classic tracks. After the ironically wrongly titled IT'S GETTING BETTER, subsequent albums repeated the same formula on an ever more commercial pop and soul level. Really, none of these later albums are of anything but historical interest. Eventually Inga established a solo career, and more recently a reformation under the name Frumpy paled even more so.

Inga Rumpf (vocals, percussion), Jean-Jacques Kravetz (piano, organ), Frank Diez (guitar), Karl-Heinz Schott (bass), Curt Cress (drums, percussion)

ATLANTIS (13-22/11/72)
LP Vertigo 6360 609 (1973)

IT'S GETTING BETTER (7/73)
LP Vertigo 6360 614 (1973)

OOH BABY
LP Vertigo 6360 621 (1974)

LIVE (1973-74)
2LP Vertigo 6623 900 (1975)

GET ON BOARD
LP Vertigo 6360 630 (1975)

TOP OF THE BILL (12/75+3/76)
LP Venus V78 AT-F 1002 (1978)

Not to be confused with the much later neo-progressive band Baba Jaga, this obscure mid-70's duo were quite aptly named after the fabled fictional magician, being multi-instrumentalists of great invention. Ingo Werner is also known for his earlier work with My Solid Ground and nowadays as a session musician/synthesist. In Baba Yaga, the mixture of ethnic instruments, percussives and multi-keyboards, makes for a music that steps beyond early Between or Deuter, steering clear of any pretty or melodic noodling, moving to darker more abstract realms like the most mysterious Third Ear Band. Largely, this also adds up to a sound close to the later Brainticket albums ADVENTURE and VOYAGE. This one album seems to be the only document of Baba Yaga, and nothing historical is known. An excellent unknown obscurity.

Nemat Darman (santur, sitar, tablas, congas, cymbals, gongs, kettledrums, drums, vibes), Ingo Werner (synthesizers, string ensemble, clavinet, pianos)

COLLAGE
LP Phonola LP 7014 (1974)

These were a marginally interesting folk band formed by Frank Baier (ex-Kattong) along with Walter Westrupp (after a couple of years with Die Walter H.C. Meier Pumpe). Though much less engaging and not at all as progressive as the Witthüser+Westrupp albums, their sole LP featured traditional folk melodies and was very heavily laden with strange German lyrics. The LP cover never gave any musician details.

DAT MUß DOCH AUCH WAT SPÄßCKEN BRINGEN!
LP Pläne S 66601 (1976)

A new discovery, not in the original book, and an excellent cross-culture fusion from an unknown Krautrock underground talent.

Herbert F. Bairy (percussion, drums, piano, windharp, zither, harmonium, voice, sounds), + Manfred Kniel (percussion, drums), Jürgen Bräuninger (synthesizer, sounds), Georg Heinen (dilruba, tamboura), Martin Klenk (cello), Bernd Konrad (clarinets, soprano sax, flutes), Michael Körber (voice), Dietburg Spohr (voice), Rob Terstall (guitars, bass), Thomas Stabenow (basses), Ulli Süsse (organ), Dizzy Pandtli (tabla), Frédéric Rabold (horn), Rudolf Reindl (trumpets), Jeff Beer (synthesizer, bass, drums, guitars, voice, harmonium, percussion), Jeanette McLeod (voice), Michael Weilers (guitars)

TRAUMSPIEL (1979)
LP Sandra SMP 2019 (1979)

Along similar lines to the Alan Parsons Project, as a late-70's dilution of progressive musics in a conceptual opus, Carsten Bohn's Bandstand were ill-fated and certainly not what one would expect from a former Frumpy, Dennis and Kickbit Information musician, with such a luminary cast of helpers. Of curiosity and historic interest only (and be warned, the album's steadily get worse as they go along), Bandstand were the crap total commercialisation of Krautrock.

Carsten Bohn (drums, guitar, vocals, percussion), Frank Fischer (bass), Manne Rürup (piano, synthesizer), Bob Reed (percussion), + Rainer Baumann (guitar), Roman Bunka (guitar), Muck Groh (guitar), Günter Reger (sax), Micho Corea (guitar), Peter Wolbrandt (guitar), Lee Kantzmann (trumpet), Lawrence Elam (trumpet), Hans Uwe Reimers (sax), Egon Christmann (trombone), Linda Fields (vocals), Freya Wippich (vocals), Jackie Carter (vocals)

HUMOR RUMOR (7-11/77)
LP Erlkönig ERL 2007 (1978)

MOTHER GOOSE SHOES (1979)
LP Erlkönig INT 148.407 (1979)

C.B. RADIO (5/80)
LP Erlkönig INT 148.417 (1980)

Peter Baumann, like many synth soloists, had a chequered start to his career as a musician, being in many Berlin bands during his youth, including Burning Touch, The Ants and various other unknowns. But, as a member of the most famous and successful Tangerine Dream incarnation (from 1972 to 1978) Peter had a sure footing for a solo career.

His debut as soloist, ROMANCE 76, was recorded whilst he was also at his most active within Tangerine Dream. Actually, when comparing ROMANCE 76 to Tangerine Dream's STRATOSFEAR, this revealed his own influence within the Tangerine Dream style of the era, with a sequencer based and sparse electronic music, putting the accent on melody and intricate structure. The orchestral complemented suite that covered side 2 "Meadow Of Infinity/The Glass Bridge" is his finest creation, taking synth and rock musics to more classical avant-garde realms. At this time Peter also established the short-lived but prolific Paragon Studio, presenting innovative albums by Cluster, Conrad Schnitzler, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Asmus Tietchens and various others. Upon leaving Tangerine Dream, subsequent Peter Baumann solo albums saw him move on to the realms of Kraftwerkian electro-pop. A strange move.

In the early-80's Peter quit his Paragon Studio and moved base to America, recording the abysmal STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT before disappearing from the music scene for some time. He then later reappeared as the owner of the Private Music Record Company promoting light instrumental and new-age music, but has never released an album of his own music since STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT!

ROMANCE 76 (7-8/76)
LP Virgin 28311 XOT (1976), Virgin V2069 (UK, 1976)

TRANS HARMONIC NIGHTS (7/78-1/79)
LP Virgin 200 578-320 (1979), Virgin V2124 (UK, 1979)

REPEAT REPEAT
LP Virgin 204 014-320 (1981), Virgin V2214 (UK, 1981)

STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT
LP Arista 205 970-320 (1983)

Despite what media and many collectors would try to have us believe, Baumann/Koek were nothing whatsoever to do with Peter Baumann. In fact, it would seem that the Baumann/Koek album was a cleverly conceived con-job issued just as Peter announced his departure from Tangerine Dream! With a music based on the Tangerine Dream sequencer style, and often comparable to Michael Bundt's early solo material, it made for a pleasant if simple melodic synth album, and was amongst the first independent Teutonic synth releases to get noticed internationally. As to who exactly Baumann/Koek were - one could guess - though the name Baumann is very common in Germany!

BAUMANN/KOEK (11/78)
LP private release BAU-KE (1979)

These were an obscure heavy blues-rock band, but with little individual identity, nor any real Krautrock touches, being much more English styled. Their privately issued album is sought after in collectors circles due to its scarcity, more than for its musical content. Despite what Dag Erik Asbjørnsen says about these - which seems to describe a completely different album - in his book "Cosmic Dreams At Play", we weren't impressed, as ON TOUR sounds much like an average late-60's British hard-rock album.

Ulrich Klawitter (guitar, vocals), Michael Lobbe (guitars), Volker Wobbe (bass), Gerhardt Meyer (drums, percussion)

ON TOUR
LP BMF BS 6232 855 (1972)

The origins of the DDR band Bayon go back to 1971 and a collection of like-minded students at universities in Weimar who got together to form an amateur band. By 1972 the group had stabilised as two Germans, a Kampuchean and a Cuban, and of course the music from such a cross-culture foursome was unique. Blending folk musics with rock and jazz, it made for a wide range of styles, from psychedelic rock onto pure ethnic music.

Some of their earlier weirder psychedelic type concoctions, as heard on the HALLO series, hint at the Third Ear Band, but are quite original in the use of Oriental touches, blues, psychedelia and 60's pop elements. Their debut LP plunged deeper into oriental musics resulting in what sounded like a Chinese band attempting European fusion, whereas SUITE, probably their most refined and esoteric album, blended in more classical and European folk styles, drawing comparisons to Between and Continuum. As time went on, the band tended to disintegrate on EL SONIDO, and much of their earlier innovation was lost in favour of an odd blending of jazz and Latino elements. But, it must be said that, of all DDR bands Bayon were certainly the most original and intriguing. It's a great shame that they weren't given more freedom in their early days.

Christoph Theusner (acoustic guitar, flute), Sonny Thet (vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion), Reiner Pätzold (bass), + Tobias Morgenstern (accordion), Norbert Jäger (percussion, marimba)

featured on: HALLO, NR. 1, 2, 8, 9

BAYON
LP Amiga 8 55 570 (DDR, 1978)

SUITE
LP Amiga 8 55 772 (DDR, 1980)

EL SONIDO (12/82-8/85)
LP Amiga 8 56 139 (DDR, 1985)

These were an early blues-rock band from Hamburg whose only recorded output seems to be on the POP & BLUES FESTIVAL album. Their contributions had lengthy instrumental sections and classical touches, showing promise that they could have become a major league band. Who exactly they were, we've no idea!

featured on: POP & BLUES FESTIVAL '70

Although Dutch born, Jerry Berkers was very much a part of the Krautrock scene. He was the original Wallenstein bassist and second vocalist (often taking the lead on MOTHER UNIVERSE), and was also a collaborator in the early Cosmic Courier sessions. Jerry also recorded an album of his unique folky, psychedelic spiced rock (as hinted at in softer Wallenstein songs) showing much influence from acoustic Pink Floyd, in fact British and German folk-song in general. But, be warned, Jerry's deeply intoned Dutch accented German vocals can be a little hard to take at times!

After this, Jerry disappeared into obscurity. Rumour has it, that when on an LSD trip he announced to his friends that he was walking back to the land of flowers: Holland (not really that far from Monchengladbach), and he was never seen again. Whether this is true, or just a fanciful tale, we may never know!

Jerry Berkers (guitars, bass, percussion, vocals), + Jürgen Dollase (keyboards), Thomas Engel (drums, percussion, choir), Bill Barone (guitar), Walter Westrupp (harmonica), Bernd Witthüser (acoustic guitar), Dieter Dierks (choir)

UNTERWEGS (6-7/72)
LP Pilz 20 29131-6 (1972)

Na Na Tschu Tschu / Es Wird Morgen Vorbei Sein
7" Pilz 05 19128-6 (1972)

Unlike most DDR progressives who served a long apprenticeship before making an album, Berluc were virtually catapulted onto the scene in early 1979, only a few of months after their formation. Their debut REISE ZU DEN STERNEN was quite remarkable for its invention and originality, especially as a space-rock album with lots of synthesizers, heavy rock and ballads, almost a cross between Stern Meissen and Hawkwind, with typically East Euro touches akin to Omega and Progres 2. Unfortunately, further albums (with a different guitarist and bassist each time) paled each in succession to a rather ordinary indistinguishable song-based 80's DDR rock mediocrity.

Dietmar Ränker (drums), Alexander Stehr (keyboards), Manfred Kähler (vocals), Gerd Pöppel (guitar), Günter Briesenick (bass)

REISE ZU DEN STERNEN (1979)
LP Amiga 8 55 692 (DDR, 1979), Pool 6.24959 (1979)

HUNDERTTAUSEND URGEWALTEN (1981)
LP Amiga 8 55 934 (DDR, 1982)

ROCKER VON DER KÜSTE
LP Amiga 8 56 090 (DDR, 1984)

A most unusual and unique group, the Munich combo Between (formed in 1970 as Between The Chairs) were the brainchild of musical theorist and experimentalist Peter Michael Hamel. As such, Between drew together a wide range of international musicians into a musical and cultural melting pot. Between were aptly in between everything, both musically and culturally.

Featuring avant-garde tendencies within a music that blended the medieval, the ancient and the futuristic, with jazz and rock musics, the initial results on their debut EINSTEIG were most inspiring. Arguably a step on from The Third Ear Band (sans the mantric rhythms) Between were invention in the extreme, in a music that was melodic yet challenging. Not surprising for a band that featured such acclaimed musicians as James Galway, Roberto Détrée and Robert Eliscu. There are some extraordinary cosmic excursions here too, all amounting to a revolutionary mixture of psychedelic and world musics. EINSTEIG is still as remarkable and fresh now as when it was created. Further albums developed the Between sound on an increasingly ethnic level AND THE WATERS OPENED with its atmospheric dronings from Détrée's moto-cello is probably Between's most innovative and fascinating, it's an album that oozes beauty and mystery. It's almost chilling! DHARANA and CONTEMPLATION were the most ambitious on a cross-cultural level, and were much more serious in their attitude. Both of these combined Indian and African musics into a larger more symphonic sound, notably so the lengthy excursions that encompassed the second side of each. Finally, with SILENCE BEYOND TIME Between moved both closer to esoteric ECM jazz realms, notably because of Roger Jannotta's presence and other influences, and also moved closer to traditional ethnic musics.

It's a great shame that Between split after this. Peter Michael Hamel has been quite prolific since, going on to work solo in systemic/new-age music and also serious avant-garde. Also, Roberto Détrée has continued his work with novel instrument creations. During Between's history Peter Michael Hamel also worked with Agitation Free, Bob Eliscu worked on and off with Popol Vuh in tandem with Between, and Cotch Black was also in the rock group Sinto, and the jazz/percussion ensemble Niagara. An oddity in Between's discography is the album HESSE BETWEEN MUSIC, which wasn't really a Between album as such, but a radio-play project of one Gerd Westphal with Between and guests. Its message is lost to non-German ears, and musically only some of it is real Between. Approach with caution!

Roberto Détrée (guitar, moto-cello), Jimmy J. Galway (flute), Bob Eliscu (oboe, flute, crumhorn, voice), Cottrell Black (tympani, congas, drums), Ulrich Stranz (viola), Peter Michael Hamel (organ, piano)

EINSTEIG
LP Wergo WER 1001 (1971)

AND THE WATERS OPENED
LP Vertigo 6360 612 (1973)

DHARANA
LP Vertigo 6360 619 (1974)

HESSE BETWEEN MUSIC (6/74)
LP Harvest 1C 062-29 546 (1975)

CONTEMPLATION
LP Wergo WER-SM 1012 (1977)

STILL ÜBER DER ZEIT/SILENCE BEYOND TIME (1979)
LP Wergo SM 1023 (1980)

Formed in 1968 as a Cologne student rock-band, Birth Control chose their name as a stab at Pope Paul's anti birth control policy. In their early days, dogged by military service commitments, and ideological differences, the line-up was in flux for many years. In fact, only two original members remained by the time of their first album, at which time they had moved base to Berlin for a while.

Their debut was released with a special mock birth control pill case type cover, and introduced them as an original hard-rock band with a classical edge, extensively featuring the keyboards of Reinhold Sobotta. Highly progressive (with a psychedelic edge) and with an original sound, they also paid homage to one of their influences with a highly creative version of The Doors' "Light My Fire". Comparable to many British bands of the era, Birth Control were accessible and creative, yet rarely on their studio albums did they ever show how talented they really were. The album OPERATION was much more conventional than their debut, and they also released a lot of singles at this time. This was Birth Control the underground pop band, with a hard-rock based style. Birth Control were the straightest of rock bands on the Ohr label!

Strangely, after moving to CBS, the third Birth Control album HOODOO MAN took them to very different realms. It's surprising that the same album that spawned a hit single could also be their most experimental, the creativity in HOODOO MAN ranges from sublime to outrageous. But, ever unpredictable, the album REBIRTH was not so hot. It seemed that CBS wanted Birth Control to become a German Chicago type brass-rock band. Yet, the double album LIVE revealed their talent as superb musicians and improvisers, showcasing Zeus B. Held as a major new asset.Moving away from 60's influences, the concept album PLASTIC PEOPLE had its moments, with a move to more sophisticated mid-70's progressive styles, and complexly composed works featuring synths, winds and guitars. It was BACKDOOR POSSIBILITIES that saw their final creative peak, being a surreal concept work, with a move into more instrumentally complex progressive-rock, like a hybrid of all they had done before, embellished with Gentle Giant type multi-vocal cannons and keyboard stylisms. All change in 1977, adding two ex-Message members, and subsequent albums moved to a funky pop-rock, becoming less interesting with each release. A minor highlight was the LIVE '79 album, which recaptured some early magic. Since this, Birth Control have reformed many times without any real success.

Bernd Koschmidder (bass), Reinhold Sobotta (organ), Bernd Noske (drums, vocals), Bruno Frenzel (guitar, vocals)

October / Freedom
7" Amadeo AVRS 21560 (1969)

No Drugs / All I Want Is You
7" Metronome M 25204 (1970)

BIRTH CONTROL
LP Metronome MLP 15.366 (1970)

Hope / Rollin'
7" Ohr OS 57003 (1970)

OPERATION (2/71)
LP Ohr OMM 56015 (1971)

What's Your Name / Believe In The Pill
7" Ohr OS 57007 (1972)

HOODOO MAN (9-10/72)
LP CBS S 65316 (1973)

Nostalgia / Kaulstoß
7" CBS 1682 (1973)

REBIRTH (11/73)
LP CBS 65963 (1974)

LIVE (6/74)
2LP CBS 88088 (1974)

PLASTIC PEOPLE (5-6/75)
LP CBS 80921 (1975)

BACKDOOR POSSIBILITIES (7-8/76)
LP Brain 60.019 (1976)

Fall Down / Laugh Or Cry
7" Metronome 30.036 (1977)

INCREASE (7-8/77)
LP Brain 60.066 (1977)

TITANIC (5-7/78)
LP Brain 60.149 (1978)

LIVE '79 (6/79)
LP Brain 60.240 (1979)

COUNT ON DRACULA (10-12/79)
LP Ariola 201 299 (1980)

DEAL DONE AT NIGHT (11-12/80)
LP Ariola 203 423 (1981)

BÄNG (5-6/82)
LP Ohr Today OMM 560.002 (1982)

Amongst the earliest of Krautrock bands, The Blackbirds (like Xhol) started elsewhere before venturing on to experimental realms. In fact, they were originally a 60's pop band typical of the soul-beat era, but with a touch of the Mothers Of Invention type satire and some progressive touches. Although their debut NO DESTINATION had its moments, it is generally very dated and only of marginal interest. Curiously it only ever gained a UK release.

By the time of their second album TOUCH OF MUSIC, the three year gap had made a lot of difference. In fact, only one member (Werner Breinig) remained from the original line-up, and they had moved on to a classical spiced rock music of great invention, blending heavy and spacey styles with great finesse. Strong songs form the basis of most tracks, all of which are sufficiently long enough to give plenty of room for solos from flute, violin, guitar and keyboards. Stylistically The Blackbirds here come pretty close to Italian bands of the era like New Trolls, Panna Fredda, Hero, at al, (a hint of Xhol Caravan and Vanilla Fudge even more so) and they also had much in common with British bands like Skin Alley or Jody Grind. It's a shame they never made a third album!

Werner Breinig (guitar, vocals), Heinz Koop (bass), Hubert Koop (organ), Helmut Vigneron (drums)

NO DESTINATION
LP Saga FID 2113 (UK, 1968)

TOUCH OF MUSIC
LP OPP 5-34 (1971)

One of many obscure bands on the little-known independent label Brutkasten, Black Spirit were of Italo-German origins, and may actually have been Swiss. Their style was a basic heavy progressive, with some Cream, Man, Quicksilver influences, and some saving moments, but were largely uninspired, and of only marginal interest.

Salvatore Curto (keyboards, vocals), Giovanni Granato (bass), Nicola Ceravolo (guitar), Johnny G. Peske (drums), + Gianny Piras (percussion)

BLACK SPIRIT (1969-78)
LP Brutkasten 850 006 (1978)

Amongst the most obscure of Berlin bands, Blackwater Park's sole album was nothing remarkable, being mainstream Anglo-American styled heavy rock with blues touches, with no real individuality or experimentation. They were very basic Edgar Broughton Band type stuff really, nothing more. But, despite this, DIRT BOX still gained a reputation in collectors circles amongst those liking gutsy heavy rock. This said, the album only has one track of any real merit for Krautrock fans, which reflects Andreas Scholz's origins in Murphy Blend.

Michael Fechner (guitar), Richard Routledge (vocals, guitar), Andreas Scholz (bass), Norbert Kagelmann (drums)

DIRT BOX (17-20/12/71)
LP BASF 20 21238-6 (1972)

Toto Blanke was originally the guitarist in the German-Dutch avant-garde/jazz-fusion band Association PC. With them he served a long apprenticeship, and made friends with many international musicians, achieving fame as one of the most dazzling fusion guitarists in Europe. His work as a soloist, as group leader, and with his own experimental band Electric Circus, has indeed been most varied. With the aid of top international session musicians (John Lee and Gerry Brown were both previously in Dutchman Chris Hinze's band) on his debut SPIDER'S DANCE, he took the Association PC sound into rock realms (as hinted at by his composition "Spider" on Association PC's SUN ROTATION), and came up with fiery fusion akin to Mahavishnu Orchestra, playing some dazzlingly fiery guitar against Charlie Mariano's flute and sax. Since then, Toto's ventured onto creating all sorts of fusions, from simple classical and jazz musics through to groundbreaking avant-garde, both as a multi-instrumental soloist and in collaboration with other musicians. Sometimes Toto embraces technology and pushes it to the limits, and at other times he ignores it altogether. Such is his schizophrenic personality as a musician. Apart from numerous albums with Electric Circus (see entry elsewhere) his most interesting release since the 70's is the more recent, and very bizarre, adventurous classical/electronic-fusion of FOOL'S PARADISE.

Toto Blanke (guitars), + Joachim Kühn (electric piano), John Lee (bass), Charly Mariano (soprano sax, flute), Gerry Brown (drums)

SPIDER'S DANCE (7-8/74)
LP Vertigo 6360 623 (1974)

TALES OF TOMORROW (2/78)
LP Bacillus BAC 2054 (1978)

SOMEWHERE IN TIME
LP Aliso 1012 (1981)

These were originally a fully fledged band on their debut album DIE ZEIT STEHT STILL, playing a lightweight progressive rock, stylistically close to Novalis or DDR bands like Karat or Electra, with folky phrased lyrics in German. Later releases however (not listed here) saw the rest of the band scarper, leaving Blonker as the vehicle for guitarist Dieter Geike with the aid of various session musicians (Peter Franken, Dieter Horns, Jochen Petersen, etc.), playing a lightweight guitar fronted instrumental music, even softer than Michael Rother, akin to Sky or Hank Marvin. Really, these albums are so wet and pretty, that they are not musically within the scope of this book!

Kay Jessen (vocals, percussion), Thomas Grützmacher (bass, percussion), Nicolas Stallard (keyboards), Helge Tillmann (drums), Dieter Geike (guitars, percussion), + Gaby Borowski (choir), Rolf Köhler (choir), Heiko Effertz (choir), Bernardo Ball (percussion)

DIE ZEIT STEHT STILL (11-12/77)
LP Brain 60.104 (1978)

featured on: BRAIN FESTIVAL ESSEN II

This was the project of one Rainer Degner (ex-German Bonds and Rattles guitarist), creating a psychedelic rock and beat theme music all based on the song "Meister Jakob" (note: Bokaj Retsiem is Meister Jakob backwards, or what we know as "Frère Jacques"). Hardly "psychedelic underground", of minor curiosity interest only.

PSYCHEDELIC UNDERGROUND
LP Fass 1532 WY (1969)

An obscure band, fronted by singer Marcel L. Bongers, of whom we know virtually nothing historically. Comparable to many other fellow late-70's progressives: Second Movement, Rousseau, Pancake, et al., the strangely named M.L. Bongers Project had a slightly different angle, in that they made that spacey type of progressive, often more akin to the French band Pulsar. They were a lot better than most, with thick wedges of keyboards, guitars and lots of flute, especially the lengthy suite covering side 1 of the LP.

Jacques Thysen (bass, acoustic guitars), Günter Heinz (drums, percussion), Joe Grande (guitar), J. Georg Kobeck (keyboards), Marcel L. Bongers (vocals), + Georg Michels (flute)

PACIFIC PRISON (7/78)
LP private release F 666 372 (1979)

Brainstorm originated from Baden-Baden (in South West Germany), as the eccentric Mothers Of Invention inspired combo with the unlikely name Fashion Prick. Later, wisely changing name and becoming Brainstorm, they still attempted to shock with their debut album SMILE A WHILE, which caused such a scandal due to its outrageous cover that it was apparently withdrawn from release! The music on both Brainstorm albums was a highly inventive blend of songs and instrumentals, with a touch of Zappa, and Canterbury inspired certainly, akin to Caravan, Hatfield & The North, Soft Machine, etc., but also with a style all of their own. Highlighted by quality musicianship, notably a dizzying array of winds and keyboards, with complexly arranged instrumentals and, like the Dutch band Supersister, a penchant for eccentric tongue-in-cheek humour. Brainstorm lived up to their name, and both albums are classics of the genre. Roland Schaefer later became a bastion of Guru Guru, and Joachim Koinzer has fronted numerous fusion bands since.

Eddy von Overheidt (organ, electric piano, vocals), Joachim Koinzer (drums, percussion), Roland Schaeffer (guitar, soprano/tenor saxes, clarinet, electric piano, percussion, basses, vocals), Rainer Bodensohn (flutes, bass, vocals)

SMILE A WHILE (8/72)
LP Spiegelei 28 505-6U (1972)

You're The One / Das Schwein Trügt
7" Spiegelei 22 319-8N (1973)

SECOND SMILE (3-6/73)
LP Spiegelei 28 596-5U (1973)

The history of Brainticket is virtually undocumented, and their origins are also very confused. And, although they are considered by many to be a Krautrock band, they were really a nomad troupe, going wherever the scene took them. Basically, Brainticket were born out of the 60's jazz and soul scenes, and a variety of groups featuring Belgian born keyboardist Joel Vandroogenbroeck. Their origins can be traced back to 1968, as the nucleus of Dee Dee Barry And The Movements, with Joel Vandroogenbroeck (organ, flute), Ron Bryer (guitar), and Wolfgang Paap (drums), though this was far away from the music they were later to create. Joel, along with a few like-minded musicians active in the South of Germany, inevitably got caught up in the fertile Krautrock scene, and like many other bands from the area they formed an international combo that drew on a wide range of influences.

Their debut COTTONWOODHILL (sometimes just referred to as BRAINTICKET or "SAME") has long been one of the most revered and quoted of psychedelic albums. All but for the two short dreamy surreal tracks that open side 1 of the album (which hint at the later Brainticket sound), the majority of the album is a long repetitive funky groove opus, propelled along by chunky organ and percussion. It has the spirit of Can, the outrageousness of Funkadelic, and pre-empting Faust, and for 1971 it's certainly nothing less than revolutionary. Over this musical mantra, Dawn Muir recants vividly the experience of an extraordinary LSD trip, acting it out for us, including all the paranoia, visions of ecstasy, power and confusion, the pure surreal buzz of the experience. This is topped off by extraordinary use of special effects, sound-collage and electronics. And, if that weren't enough, they also resort to all manner of trickery and surprising diversions. It all adds up to a strange and unique album that's still surprisingly startling and fresh over 25 years on, and as a result it's also been the subject of numerous homage's.

Moving base to Italy, some of the band split off and formed the Swiss hard-rock band Toad, and thus a new version of Brainticket evolved. Though Brainticket were never quite so radical or eccentric again, the second album PSYCHONAUT, being by a transitional band, covered a wide range of styles. It was more your typical trippy progressive, with actual songs and compositions, sometimes in the vein of early Hawkwind, yet often closer to Quintessence and Group 1850. There are many facets to the music here, especially when venturing on to trippy folk territory, with female lead vocals, akin to Emtidi or Pentangle (a little). New members: Swiss percussionist Barney Palm and American singer/multi-instrumentalist Carole Muriel, were to become the nucleus of the third version of Brainticket recording CELESTIAL OCEAN, a bizarre mystical concept based on Egyptian mythology. It's an album that saw a diversion to weirder more electronic realms, with strong use of ethnic instruments and a wealth of surprises. Strangely, in a way, it pre-empted Nik Turner's similarly conceived SPHINX XITINTODAY project, and its influence can be heard in much of 80's space-rock. Though very different to the original Brainticket, they were still proving to be innovators. This trio apparently existed for some time touring Germany, Switzerland and Italy in the mid-70's.

We know that Brainticket carried on through the late-70's, as concert tapes have been advertised by some dealers, though nothing was released again until 1980. This later incarnation, who issued the albums ADVENTURE and VOYAGE, seemed to be purely a studio project, based in Basel Switzerland, making a highly experimental music, with lots of jazz and diverse ethnic influences. For the first time, Brainticket were a totally instrumental combo, leaving the music to speak for itself. Apart from a proliferation of electronics, these albums strongly feature percussion and flute, and in the established tradition of Brainticket, these were groundbreaking stuff, again radical innovative albums, though far from the psychedelic realms of the 70's releases. (Note: the Purple Pyramid CD releases feature the wrong LP's, ADVENTURE is actually VOYAGE, and visa-versa!) In parallel, during the late-70's and through on to the 90's, Joel Vandroogenbroeck has also fronted other projects, he had is own jazz-rock band Joel, and has also done much solo work, as well as travelling the world researching obscure ethnic music cultures. It seems that he is currently earning a living by recording music for film and TV. See Joel Vandroogenbroeck entry for more information.

Ron Bryer (guitar), Werni Froehlich (bass), Hellmuth Kolbe (potentiometers, generators, sound effects), Cosimo Lampis (drums), Dawn Muir (voice), Wolfgang Paap (tabla), Joel Vandroogenbroeck (organ, flute)

COTTONWOODHILL
LP Hallelujah X 606 (Switzerland, 1971), Hallelujah/Bellaphon BLPS 19019 (1971)

PSYCHONAUT
LP Bellaphon BLPS 19104 (1972)

CELESTIAL OCEAN (8-9/72)
LP RCA Victor DLISP 34158 (Italy, 1973) «gatefold cover plus poster»

ADVENTURE (5/79-1/80)
LP private release BT 80-1 (Switzerland, 1980)

VOYAGE (6/2/82)
LP private release BT 80-2 (Switzerland, 1982)

Female vocalist and band, with hints of Frumpy.

Chris Braun (lead vocals), Elmar Krohn (guitars, flute, percussion, vocals), Horst Schreiber (guitars, percussion, vocals), Jochen Bernstein (bass), Bill Bakine (drums, percussion)

BOTH SIDES (3-4/72)
LP BASF 20 21399-4 (1973)

FOREIGN LADY (11/73)
LP Pan 87586 (1973)

JEDE MENGE KOHLE
LP CBS 70208 (1981)

ULTRABRAUN (1982)
LP EMI 1C 064-65050 (1983)

A short-lived Hamburg based project, featuring Irishman John O'Brien-Docker (formerly of City Preachers and Marcel) and jazzer Herb Geller, along with a few top local rock and pop musicians. Brave New World's whole oeuvre was the concept of the Aldous Huxley science fiction novel. An unlikely "supergroup", and remarkably the music they created was unprecedented and original. On their LP, Brave New World blended styles, in such an unlikely manner, hinting at the music later created by the likes of Art Zoyd or Univers Zero. Virtually instrumental, blending medieval musics, electronics, jazz and rock in a dazzlingly complex fusion, a big step beyond early Between, with the Krautrock feel of Annexus Quam, Achim Reichel, Tomorrow's Gift, et al. And, dig that over-amplified stylophone! An all-time Krautrock classic.

Dicky Tarrach (drums, percussion), Lucas Lindholm (bass, bass fiddle, organ, piano), Herb Geller (flutes, cor anglais, alto/soprano/tenor saxes, organ), Reinhart Firchow (recorders, flutes, ocarina, stylophone, percussion, vocals), John O'Brien-Docker (guitars, organ, percussion, vocals, wind chimes), + Esther Daniels (vocals)

IMPRESSIONS ON READING ALDOUS HUXLEY (5-6/72)
LP Vertigo 6360 606 (1972)

An obscure mid-70's rock band, of the more mainstream type with notable American influences. Their album had its moments, with hints of Thirsty Moon and Karthago. Only of marginal interest.

Ferdi Kühnel (vocals, flute, percussion), Horst Schreiber (guitars, vocals), Guntmar Feuerstein (organ, piano, synthesizer, vocals, percussion), Eberhard Voelz (bass, vocals), Bill Bakine (drums, percussion), Jürgen Kampert (acoustic guitar, vocals)

IT'S TIME FOR BREAKFAST (12/75-1/76)
LP Sky 004 (1976)

Originating from traditional folk music, Bröselmaschine were formed in Duisburg in autumn 1968, and were fronted by renowned guitarist, theorist and writer Peter Bursch. The original band, who were inspired by Pentangle (their quote, not ours) and European folk musics, played a mixture of all sorts of cultures. They wrapped vibrant songs in a hybrid of folk, Indian music, psychedelic rock and cosmic musics, all fused together to form a delicate spacious folk-fusion of great beauty. Their style was characterised by Jenni Schücker, who has a most sensual vocal style ideally suited to such music, all ready to wisp us off to the clouds with the "heads flying by" - to quote the surreal psychedelic lyrics of the opening "Gedanken". With the exception of "Lassie" (a minor low-point, being a traditional folk song) BRÖSELMASCHINE is a delightful album, trippy and otherworldly, stylishly Teutonic cosmic folk, not least so in the addition of Dieter Dierks spooky Mellotron, sitars, zither, tablas, and the like. It all adds up to an ideal companion to Emtidi's SAAT or Hölderlin's TRAUM.

The later incarnation made a different type of music, and was less of a proper band and more a vehicle for Bursch's own ego, though Willi Kismer from the original band also carried on through. Peter Bursch had become celebrated, with books published on his guitar techniques and was eager to show the world, though really neither of these later albums amounted to much.

Jenni Schücker (vocals, flute, shells), Willi Kismer (vocals, guitars, zither), Lutz Ringer (metallophon, bass), Mike Hellbach (congas, tabla, spoons, Mellotron), Peter Bursch (vocals, acoustic guitar, sitar, flute)

BRÖSELMASCHINE (8/71)
LP Pilz 20 21100-2 (1971)

PETER BURSCH UND BRÖSELMASCHINE (2+7/75)
LP Xenophon 161.012 (1976)

I FEEL FINE (5-7/77)
LP Spiegelei INT 160.610 (1978)

A really eccentric and bizarre political theatre troupe from (we presume) Hamburg. Brühwarm were not a proper band as such, more a quartet of singer/actors, and thus on their LP releases they sought the aid of Ton Steine Scherben as musical backing, who added their aggressive rock style to Brühwarm's strange theatrics. The concoction they came up with certainly owed a debt to Floh De Cologne, though due to the overtly theatrical nature of their albums, lyrically Brühwarm can be very confusing to non-German ears!

Ralph, Götz, Donny & Corny (vocals), + Ton Steine Scherben (music)

MANNSTOLL
LP April 0006 (1976)

ENTARTET
LP April 0016 (1978)

featured on: UMSONST UND DRAUSSEN PORTA WESTVLOTHICA 1978

Bullfrog were a rather heavy-handed hard-rock and melodic progressive from the mid-70's, notable for their unusual Rod Stewart like gravel-voiced vocalist Gerd Hoch, but with little in the way of a distinctive style or originality. Really, they sounded British, not at all Krautrock, and only really of interest to hard-rock fans and Sky Records collectors! There was another band could Bullfrog who should not be confused with these.

Sebastian Leitner (guitars), Gerd Hoch (vocals), Harald Kaltenecker (keyboards), Vincent Trost (bass), Bruno Perosa (percussion), + Ute Hellermann (choir), Jane Palmer (choir)

BULLFROG (5-7/76)
LP Sky 006 (1976)

HIGH IN SPIRITS (8+10/77)
LP Sky 012 (1977)

SECOND WIND
LP Nash NR 003 (1980)

Originally, as a bass guitarist, Michael Bundt started his career as the leader of the band Medusa, an obscure early-70's progressive who by a strange chain of events transmuted into the second incarnation of Nine Days Wonder. After leaving Nine Days Wonder, Michael tried on various occasions to get a new band together. One of these was Nerve, but without any success Nerve soon disbanded, and then Michael made a surprising career change into synth music, teaming up with ex-Tritonus keyboardist Peter K. Seiler as the duo Sirius. Eventually this collaboration with Peter Seiler led to the recording of the very varied synthesizer album JUST LANDED COSMIC KID, which ranged from Schulzian cosmic realms onto upbeat styles, onto many other realms too. It also included the Jarre/Baumann styled single originally credited to Sirius. Not content to stay still, his next album NEON was a dodgy diversion into electro-pop, no doubt inspired by the success of Kraftwerk. Then, two years on, it was all-change again with ELECTRI-CITY, this time for an album of highly inventive borderline industrial synthesizer based music. Based on more aggressive use of analogue synths and sequencers, it often veers towards Cluster, Asmus Tietchens or Moebius & Plank, rhythmic and melodic yet also highly unusual.

Michael Bundt (synthesizers, string ensemble), + Peter K. Seiler (keyboards), Bernhard Schuh (drums), Carlos Albrecht (drums), Inge Laib (vocals), Paul de la Ware Ranson (vocals)

JUST LANDED COSMIC KID
LP Offers OMP 7704 (1977)

NEON (2-3/78)
LP Hansa 200 349 (1978)

ELECTRI-CITY
LP Blubber Lips bl 810 (1980)

One of the most celebrated and influential of all Krautrock bands, Can dared to bring the avant-garde to the masses and succeeded. Can certainly had the credentials to do so too, with backgrounds in serious avant-garde (studying with Stockhausen) and in jazz. Holger Czukay and Irmin Schmidt had known each other from their contemporary studies, though it was Holger meeting multi-instrumental talent Michael Karoli that set the formation of the band in motion. Being connected with the arts certainly had its advantages. A matter of days after getting a band together, then named "The Inner Space", they played their first concert at the Schloss Norvenich, near Cologne in June 1968. A tape of some of this was much later released as PREHISTORIC FUTURE, with a wild rock sound comparable to Amon Düül, though much more avant-garde and free-form.

David Johnson (an American jazz winds player who had also worked with Stockhausen) was a member of the band at this time, and featured on some of the early Can sessions, he also acted as their engineer for a while. After the addition of black American singer Malcolm Mooney came Can proper, moving to a more straight ahead rock, that many compare to the Velvet Underground. Due to his fascination with electronics (as further evidenced on the Technical Space Composers Crew album) and his ability to handle the recording equipment, Holger Czukay also became the bands recording engineer. Can's debut album MONSTER MOVIE and the later anthology of early recordings DELAY 1968 documented a music with 60's punk energy, pacey rhythms and the manic vocals of Mooney. But, this phase of Can was short-lived, as Malcolm Mooney was forced to leave the band due to ill health.

The next lead vocalist to front Can was an unlikely choice, a Japanese busker, one Kenji "Damo" Suzuki. His penchant for vocal experimentation led Can in a very different direction. The transition period was documented by the surprisingly varied and creative SOUNDTRACKS, featuring music to a number of underground films. Next was the greatest of Can albums, the monumental double album TAGO MAGO, which, although starting on safe ground, draws the listener in with a succession of even greater weirdness and invention, not least "Aumgn" with Jaki's manic drums and "Peking O." where Damo lets out some of the most agonising vocal sounds amidst a plethora of electronic and percussive effects. Weird and radical innovation, that still sounds bizarre twenty odd years on! In contrast (in fact in contrast with each other) the other two albums to feature Damo were, on the whole, less extreme: EGE BAMYASI with a collection of mostly shorter accessible songs, though still odd and uniquely Can, unexpectedly breaking-out with the wild avant-garde 10 minute "Soup" on the second side, and FUTURE DAYS which is often quoted as Can's most well-balanced and successful album, with its dreamy cosmic otherworldly atmosphere, understated songs and strong melodic content. This is the era that brought Can international success, with many tours in Britain and the continent. They also recorded sessions for the BBC's "John Peel Show" and "In Concert" programmes.

After Damo's departure, the famous four continued to forge on (sometimes with a featured vocalist in concert: Tim Hardin, Thaiaga Raj Raja Ratnam and Magic Michael amongst them) and produced a quite extraordinarily powerful and very percussive album in SOON OVER BABALUMA, with compositions that were to prove to be great concert favourites, a dense and complex music that was earlier hinted at on the great "Halleluwah" and "Mother Sky". Yet, ever surprising, the next Can offering LANDED was as different again, and in many ways marked the end of an era in Can history. Here we can hear songs that hint at Holger Czukay's solo project MOVIES, one of Can's most dazzling rock extravaganza's in "Vernal Equinox", and lastly their most esoteric and brooding opus, the aptly entitled free-form avant-garde "Unfinished".

Earlier, an album of unreleased recordings had been issued on UA's budget series as LIMITED EDITION, documenting the most uncommercial and off-beat Can. In 1976, together with a bonus LP's worth of further previously unissued material, it was issued as UNLIMITED EDITION. This would seem to be Can's response to THE FAUST TAPES, containing some of the weirdest Can ever.

Admittedly, the later era of Can, borne by the surprise hit single "I Want More" and the overtly schizophrenic FLOWMOTION, still offered some exceptional music, yet only the ethnic fusion spiced SAW DELIGHT really shone, strongly featuring Karoli's fluid guitar lines, Schmidt's synthesizers and keyboards bordering on Schulzian realms, and Czukay's expert use of sound effects. It's easy to see why real schizophrenia stepped in on OUT OF REACH, as Holger had gone, and with the unlikely ex-Traffic Rosko Gee and Reebop Kwaku Baah in the ranks there were many conflicting elements at play. However, by the time of their eponymous 70's finale they'd created a formula that worked, all be it safe and easy going compared to the Can of yore.

But still, right through to the late-70's Can proved to be innovators, especially so in concert, as documented on numerous bootlegs, and also the excellent THE PEEL SESSIONS. It's a shame that more of this excellent music isn't officially documented. After this, Can were put on ice for an unspecified period. But, not content to lay the ghost to rest however, a Can reunion was organised in 1986 with Malcolm Mooney. In 1989 it gained release as RITE TIME, a stylish yet emotionless throwback to the early Can era, understandably it was really "the wrong time" and it made little impact. Meanwhile the various Can members are still active on the scene, check elsewhere in this book!

Irmin Schmidt (organ), Holger Czukay (bass), Jaki Liebezeit (percussion, flute), Michael Karoli (guitar), Damo Suzuki (vocals), Malcolm Mooney (vocals)

Agilok & Blubbo / Kamera Song
7" Vogue DV 14785 (1968)
Credited to: The Inner Space

Kama Sutra (11/68)
7" Metronome M 25128 (1969)
Credited to: Irmin Schmidt

MONSTER MOVIE (10/68-7/69)
LP Music Factory SRS 001 (1969) «limited edition, black & white cover»

SOUNDTRACKS (11/69-8/70)
LP Liberty LBS 83437 (1970), United Artists UAS 29283 (UK, 1973)

TAGO MAGO (11/70-2/71)
2LP United Artists UAS 29211/12 (1971) «gatefold sleeve»

Turtles Have Short Legs / Halleluwah (11/70-2/71)
7" Liberty 15465 (1971)

Spoon / Shikaku Maru Ten (12/71)
7" United Artists 35304 (1972)

EGE BAMYASI (12/71-6/72)
LP United Artists UAS 29414 (1972)

FUTURE DAYS (8/73)
LP United Artists UAS 29505 (1973)

LIMITED EDITION (9/68-5/74)
LP United Artists USP 103 (UK, 1974)

SOON OVER BABALUMA (6-8/74)
LP United Artists UAS 29673 (1974)

LANDED (2-4/75)
LP Horzu 1C 062-29 600 (1975), Virgin V2041 (UK, 1975)

UNLIMITED EDITION (9/68-7/75)
2LP Harvest 1C 148-29 653/4 (1976), Caroline CAD 3001 (UK, 1976)

FLOW MOTION (6/76)
LP Harvest 1C 062-31 837 (1976), Virgin V2071 (UK, 1976)

Silent Night / Cascade Waltz (11/76)
7" Harvest 1C 006-31 973 (1976), Virgin VS 166 (UK, 1976)

SAW DELIGHT (1/77)
LP Harvest 1C 064-32 156 (1977), Virgin V2079 (UK, 1977)

Don't Say No / Return
7" Harvest 1C 006-32 155 (1977)

OUT OF REACH (10-11/77)
LP Harvest 1C 066-32 715 (1978), Lightning LIP 4 (UK, 1978)

CAN (12/77-3/78)
LP Harvest 1C 066-45 099 (1979), Laser LASL 2 (UK, 1979)

DELAY 1968 (1968-69)
LP Spoon 012 (1981)

PREHISTORIC FUTURE (6/68)
MC Tago Mago 4755 (France, 1984)

RITE TIME (12/86)
LP Mercury 838 883-1 (1989)

Hoolah Hoolah
12" Casablanca 875 751-1 (1990)

On the basis of their ROCK OFFERS contribution (the only recording that we've heard), these were a typically Teutonic lightweight but majestic progressive, akin to Rousseau or Jane at their softest, a little Pink Floyd-like, with much use of keyboards to flesh-out the sound.

Hans Adolphi (keyboards), Raphaela Ciblis (vocals, percussion), Ralph Ehmann (bass), Holger Hoffmann (drums, congas), Klaus Peter Stiefel (guitar), Dieter Streck (guitar, effects)

featured on: ROCK OFFERS

WAITING FOR THE NIGHT
LP Peak 3080 (1980)

FROHE BOTSCHAFT
LP Neue Welt ? (1982)

Credited to: Cannock Combo

An obscure heavy Swiss progressive blending British 60's styles with the typically Teutonic 70's hard-rock sound, notably inspired by Deep Purple, along with some more progressive touches. Amateurishly produced, and with little in the way of originality, Cardeilhac are good, but really only of minor interest.

Rinaldo Häusler (guitars), Denis Angelini (vocals), J-C. Balsinger (bass), André Locher (organ), Gaston Balmer (drums)

CARDEILHAC
LP Decibel DBR 1 (Switzerland, 1971)

A very English sounding folk-rock band, and largely acoustic, fronted by a talented female vocalist. They had little individual style of their own, recalling the likes of Pentangle or Mellow Candle, with a nice dreamy trippy feel.

Beate Krause (vocals), Axel Schmierer (guitars), Jürgen Kolb (keyboards), Robert Högn (drums), Heinz Reinschlüssel (bass)

CAROL OF HARVEST (4-5/78)
LP Brutkasten 850 004 (1978)

A jazz-rock group from the Mannheim region, Chameleon played a richly textured and melodic fusion strongly featuring (ex-Night Sun) Knut Rössler as soloist on a variety of winds. Often akin to later Release Music Orchestra, and with some notable Return To Forever type stylisms, Chameleon chose an apt name considering the wide range of influences and moods their sole album contained. Note that the Berlin Chameleon are a different band entirely.

Knut Rössler (tenor/soprano saxes, flute, lyricon), Joachim Essig (pianos, synthesizers, string ensemble), Roland Herbe (basses, piccolo), Ralph Dietze (drums), + Walter Helbig (percussion)

CHAMELEON
LP Blubber Lips bl 807 (1979)

Checkpoint Charlie (named after the notorious checkpoint in the Berlin Wall) have often been acclaimed as the first truly German rock band. They originated from Karlsruhe, and, as early as 1967, they were performing their own uniquely groundbreaking "Terror Rock" music in German! An extremely radical political rock band, especially so in their early days, Checkpoint Charlie were also innovators along with Floh De Cologne and Ton Steine Scherben of a unique German form of rock, blending all sorts of music into a complex and often aggressive rock music. Their debut was very extreme, and very difficult to come to grips with, yet later albums saw more refinement instrumentally, with complex progressive rock styles (akin to Oktober, Lokomotive Kreuzberg, et al.) making headway against the theatrics, especially so on FRÜHLING DER KRÜPPEL, which featured keyboards strongly, and lengthy instrumental sections venturing on to Grobschnitt realms even. Throughout, even into the 80's, Checkpoint Charlie have proven to be amongst the most uncompromising of Krautrock bands. Unfortunately we have not yet managed to find their more recent (presumably) reformation album GURGLERSINFONIE.

Harald Linder (vocals, bass), Uwe von Trotha (vocals), Malte Bremner (guitar), Werner Walten (guitar), Joachim Krebs (organ), Werner Heß (drums)

GRÜSS GOTT MIT HELLEM KLÄNG
LP CPM LPS 003 (1970)

featured on: UMSONST UND DRAUSSEN VLOTHO 1977

FRÜHLING DER KRÜPPEL (2/78)
LP Schneeball 2015 (1978)

featured on: UMSONST UND DRAUSSEN PORTA WESTVLOTHICA 1978

DIE DURCHSTIGEN (1979)
LP Schneeball 2019 (1980) «clear vinyl»

KRAWALL IN SCHWEINESTALL (2/81)
LP Schneeball 0024 (1981)

FEUER & FLAMME
LP Schneeball 1033 (1982) «novelty cover with matchbook»

Checkpoint Charlie, + Joachim Krebs, Derek Haufen

ECHTES LIVEBLOCKING/GURGLERSINFONIE (6/90)
LP Schneeball 1046 (1990)

These were amongst the most dismissably mainstream of "progressive" rock bands from Munich, typical of the mid-70's I suppose, with a light progressive edge, in the Audience cum Wishbone Ash type of vein. Andy Marx was previously with the similar but more folky styled Tanned Leather. Their debut is only of marginal interest, having some enjoyable moments. We haven't heard the second! Take note of the interesting cast of guests on both of these.

Andy Marx (guitars, banjo, sitar, vocals), Bo Born (organ, piano, vocals), Wolf Graf (bass), Pit Trojer (percussion, vocals), Hardy Wilhelm (drums, vocals),

OUR SUNRISE
LP United Artists UAS 29688 (1974)

SAFETY MATCH
LP United Artists UAS 29780 (1975)

These were an obscure heavy progressive, who almost certainly had their roots in the late-60's, and were definitely inspired by Jimi Hendrix and early British bands, like Back Sabbath, Tractor, et al., but were notably much more free and improvised. Despite the title of their album, Chicken Bones were not at all mundane hard rock, but were highly creative and often moved very close to May Blitz, early UFO or Cargo, but with lots of nice moves and flowery guitar work-outs. Basic, and gutsy admittedly, Chicken Bones were a lot better than the reputation that preceded them, and their album became quite a sought after obscurity. Chicken Bones existed in various forms for around a decade, afterwards ending up as the vastly inferior more metal oriented Revanche, then eventually disbanding in the 80's.

Rainer Geuecke (guitars, vocals), Hilmar Szameitat (rhythm guitar), Werner Hofmann (bass), Wolfgang Barak (drums)

HARD ROCK IN CONCERT
LP Procom ? (1973)

Choice are ex-Epidaurus, in fact they were virtually the same band, though Choice played a much straighter type of rock music, starting progressive akin to Eloy and Epitaph, but becoming rather bland as the album progresses. Of very little interest really. More recently they reformed (and just to confuse things) again as Epidaurus, but this time round with an even blander offering!

Günter Henne (keyboards, percussion), Gerd Linke (keyboards, acoustic guitar, drums), Heinz Kunert (bass, pedals, percussion), Ulrich Steinert (guitars), Peter Jureit (drums), Ferdi Kühnel (vocals)

JUST A DREAM
LP Rocktopus 202 812-320 (1980)

From Basle, Switzerland, Circus had much success in Europe, with three studio albums and a document of them in concert (which we presume to be a bootleg). Formed in 1972, Circus took time to refine and hone their style, a complex rock with jazz and classical angles, and a rather unique instrumentation. Yes, remarkably, Circus played rock music without any electric guitars or keyboards, instead they used processed bass guitar and wind instruments. Undoubtedly, they were influenced by British progressive rock of the late-60's/early-70's, with references to Jethro Tull, King Crimson and (especially in the instrumentation) Van Der Graaf Generator. Their debut was a promising first step, though it didn't quite reveal their potential, being a mite too lyrical. MOVIN' ON however, has become regarded as their classic, featuring lengthy tracks, with complex arrangements, dynamics, superb instrumentals and unusually crafted songs. Three years on, and with a more conventional instrumentation, the third album FEARLESS, TEARLESS & EVEN LESS took them closer to Genesis realms. Circus, later transmuted into Blue Motion. Marco Cerletti now makes jazz and ethnic fusion, playing the Chapman Stick.

Fritz Hauser (drums, vibes, percussion), Marco Cerletti (bass, pedals, 12-string guitar, vocals), Andreas Grieder (flutes, tambourine, alto sax, vocals), Roland Frei (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, tenor sax)

CIRCUS
LP Zyt Z 10 (Switzerland, 1976)

MOVIN' ON (5/77)
LP Zyt Z 11 (Switzerland, 1977)

LIVE (26-27/1/78)
LP Zyt Z 17 (Switzerland, 1978)

FEARLESS, TEARLESS & EVEN LESS (3/80)
LP Illuminations A-5015 (Switzerland, 1980)

In their early days these were a very inventive and unique band. Formed by Bulgarian Georgi Gogow, City were quite original for a DDR progressive. Refining their sound for some five years, it took until 1978 to be able to release anything. Their debut (originally untitled) was an interesting blend of hard-rock and folky sounds, notable for the esoteric violin fronted side-long suite "Am Fenster", of which an edited single version became a surprise hit in both East and West Germany! Avoiding the temptation to be controlled by the state or sell-out, the next album contained even more diverse elements, particularly notable is the lengthy "Bulgarian-Rock" which strangely recalls Guru Guru with its complex guitars and unusual rhythmic structures. Later, Georgi left the ranks when the rest of the band wanted to follow a more commercial style, and thus the many subsequent albums (not listed here) lost the originality of his unique compositional style. In essence the later City without Georgi were a different band.

Georgi Gogow (bass, violin), Toni Krahl (vocals, 12-string guitar), Klaus Selmke (drums), Fritz Puppel (guitar)

AM FENSTER
LP Amiga 8 55 586 (DDR, 1978)

DER TÄTOWIERTE
LP Amiga 8 55 647 (DDR, 1979)

Formerly as the trio Kluster (see entry elsewhere), after the departure of Conrad Schnitzler, the duo of Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius carried on as Cluster. Actually, much touted as pioneers, Cluster are often quoted as innovators in ambient music, but in reality they were far more wide ranging, and have been important in the shaping all sorts of modern electronic music genres. As the story goes, only armed with an organ, guitar and some electronic gadgets, Cluster approached Conny Plank with the idea to try and do something different. Both their debut and second albums are remarkable feats for featuring such basic instrumentation, and the results are as much down to the technical wizardry of Conny as Moebius and Roedelius' instrumental talents. What they came up with was highly original, devoid of standard musical structures or melody - atonal, floating, oozing and pulsing masses of processed sound - a dark menacing industrial music.

After an association with Neu! guitarist Michael Rother as the trio Harmonia, Michael also produced Cluster's next offering ZUCKERZEIT (actually recorded in between the two Harmonia albums), which was a radical departure from the avant-garde Cluster sound, as it featured rhythm machine, melodic synthesizers and guitars, often close to Kraftwerk yet wholly instrumental, with a slightly weirder number sandwiched into each side. The next three albums (all on the Sky label) were much more ambient keyboard based music. First was SOWIESOSO, which was very minimal and hypnotic, aptly fitting the title, which means "always the same". An earlier session of Brian Eno with Harmonia lead to two of these albums being recorded together with him. The first of these, CLUSTER & ENO, was arguably the more successful in its use of rich instrumental textures, though AFTER THE HEAT covered more new ground. Although these latter two are not purely Cluster albums, this was their most commercially successful era.

Ever the surprising band, after this Cluster made the very different GROSSES WASSER (produced by Peter Baumann) which found them on more experimental footing again, with one side of shorter varied synthesizer and guitar based pieces (each an island unto itself) and the second side "Grosses Wasser" itself, a lengthy suite growing out of silence with atmospheric Florian Fricke like sustained piano tones, via bizarre crackling electronics onto almost tribal-industrial rock percussives. After this, Cluster split for a while, with Moebius venturing on to other projects, and Roedelius pursuing a solo career. They would still get together for occasional concerts however (the CLUSTER & FARNBAUER cassette is a document of one such gig). Momentarily, Cluster reappeared on the scene again in 1981, with CURIOSUM, which is one of the most unusual and restrained of their output, whist being totally strange throughout. Nowadays this is revered as an ambient classic.

Dieter Moebius (organ, guitar, generator), Hans-Joachim Roedelius (organ, cello, generator)

CLUSTER (1/71)
LP Philips 6305 074 (1971) «gatefold sleeve»

CLUSTER II (1/72)
LP Brain 1006 (1972)

ZUCKERZEIT (1974)
LP Brain 1065 (1975)

SOWIESOSO (1976)
LP Sky 005 (1976)

CLUSTER & ENO (6/77)
LP Sky 010 (1977)

Credited to: Cluster & Eno

AFTER THE HEAT
LP Sky 021 (1978)

Credited to: Eno Moebius Roedelius

GROSSES WASSER
LP Sky 027 (1979)

LIVE IN VIENNA (6/80)
MC YHR 015 (UK, 1981)

Credited to: Cluster & Farnbauer

CURIOSUM (5/81)
LP Sky 063 (1981)

For such little output, Cobraa's history in fact goes back a long way! They were formed in 1966 originally as the beat group Q66. By the time of their debut single "Ride A Pony" they had changed name to Cobraa (avoiding confusion with the Dutch band Q65) and they had moved on considerably, with a hard-edged psychedelic style. This single was their finest moment as the album never really delivered, being a mellow lightweight rock with few progressive touches.

Freidel Ahrens (organ, synthesizer, piano, harmonica), Wolfgang Hausmann (guitar, vocals), Bernd Kliemt (drums, percussion, vocals), Klaus Sebastian (vocals, guitar), Rolf Sondermann (vocals, bass, flute)

Ride A Pony / End Of A Day
7" EMI 1C 006-30 443 (1973)

COBRAA
LP EMI 1C 062-29 507 (1974)

Code III were never a proper band, but were an impromptu group created for an album dedicated to showcasing the amazing sound characteristics of the Kunstkopf Artificial Head Recording System. Principally, Code III were Berlin studio engineer Manfred Schunke and American multi-instrumentalist Ed Key. The music on PLANET OF MAN is a sonic depiction of the history of the Earth, from the void through to man's domination of the planet, and ultimately back to the void. A blend of atmospheric electronics with abstract use of voice and effects, via trippy folk and primeval percussives, onto a space-rock burn-out featuring Klaus Schulze at the drum stool, and returning to weird space music at the end. It all adds up to a remarkable and unique album. In addition to the LP, is the unique track "Walkin' By Train" featured on the KUNSTKOPF DIMENSIONEN sampler, which also has Klaus Schulze on drums, and is an extra piece recorded during the same sessions.

Manfred Schunke (instruments, electronic effects, sounds, vocals), Ed Key (vocals, instruments), + Mary Key (vocals), Aparna Chakravarti (vocals, tamboura, harmonium), Klaus Schulze (drums)

PLANET OF MAN (3-5/74)
LP Delta-Acustic 25-125-1 (1974)

featured on: KUNSTKOPF DIMENSIONEN (3-5/74)
LP Delta-Acustic 10-130-1 (