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Unsung Forum » Krautrock must haves |
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Stevo 6664 posts |
Dec 16, 2003, 15:04
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I kind of like it. It reminded me of a West Coast sound with some Hendrixy guitar, then I listened to it on headphones over the computer and the sound picture was a lot more proggy. I still think its pretty dashed fine, think I picked it up prettyy cheap in Camden last year. Wish I'd checked the Lava cd too.Didn't because the other couple of cds I was checking out after reccommendations elsewhere turned out to be naff. I've been being told on another chatlist that LOndon shops are cutting down their Krautrock stocks . Shame, does that meran its sposed to be becoming passe. Stevo |
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MonkeyBoy 1008 posts |
Dec 16, 2003, 15:37
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GAA is good tho' not Great! Maybe I'll go find it in my collection and I'll spin it again. "I've been being told on another chatlist that LOndon shops are cutting down their Krautrock stocks . Shame, does that meran its sposed to be becoming passe" I dunno, apart from a couple of visits to Selectadisc I haven't been in a London record shop in years. For me personally I still listen to a lot of Kraut tho apart from a few exceptions (code III, German Oak, Cluster - Sowiesoso, Hoelderlin - Traum) I don't feel motivated to buy much more Kraut at the moment. After you have bought the KRS top 50 & a lot of the Freeman's reccomended stuff (that you can get hold of) you start to buy stuff which is a little more duff. At one time I was never disapointed with a Kraut purchase, but after a few let downs you get a bit more cautios. Is Kraut Rock passe? I dunno ! But one thing I'd say is it a genre from 30 years ago so very little can be added to the Canon. So maybe a lot of people have bought most the Kraut Rock they need. On it being out of fashion all I can say is: Kraut Rock Will Never Die.
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Monganaut 2375 posts |
Dec 16, 2003, 16:14
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Fuck yeah, those Tarwater albums are excellent, esp. Silur...i also like Rabbit Moon Revisited too for it general 'oddness' Tar Revisited is a modern masterpiece of downtempo electro-krautness, and Tesla on Dwellers on the Threshold is just to die for. Have you heard the album 11/6, 12/10 by Tarwater (think it's called that??) it's not one i've ever been able to get hold of. The 'soundtrack' album The Broken Wheel has it's moments too, esp 'Host/Body/Host'. If you enjoy Tarwater, check out Richard Thomas' stuff on the Lo Recordings label..has a similar vibe, but a bit heavier on the shambolic Jazz influence. Actually prefer the Shrink CD by The Notwist, though Neon Golden has some groovy banjo moments. Also the Tim 'Love' Lee album 'The Continuing Confessions of Tim 'Love' Lee, The Man Who's Been Everywhere But In Love' is sambatronic ambience at it's best. Heard this paying in a local record store and hung around for the whole record..i had to buy it there and then it totally blew me away with it's daft airport samples and general 'lushness' and daftness of concept.
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Annexus Quam 926 posts |
Dec 16, 2003, 16:14
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Well, in reply to the original question, I came up only with the *more obscure* German releases pre-supposing everyone was already familiar with the KRS and the AOTMs here, which are obvious essential Third-Eye openers in conjunction with their contemporary wizards Ziggy, Sabbath, Beefheart, Funkadelic, Hawkwind, Magma, etc and far superior to the decaffeinated-in-sound / domesticated-in-attitude prog rock in England of the time, perhaps due to the fact that countries like Japan and Germany after the war were a total balls-up for decades to come, both socially and historically, whereas the 'winners' drank tea or self-complacently erected statues after the victory. It is easy to see how much more interlinked music and the revolutionary politics of 68 were in those two countries. Even the jazzy-tinged albums by bands like Xhol Caravan were always far more freaky than the meaningless dilettantism of post-1971 Soft Machine. Most of the more obscure worthy German releases are 20 to 30 one-off albums of the type of High Tide, Cromagnon, Hapshash, Ceremony, Mahogany Brain, Harvester, Tractor or Granicus in the rest of the world, you know, bands that never got recognized because they vanished after one release, but which are far more rewarding than, say, Hawkwind's 32nd overrated release. And there it should end. Because during the Krautrock reappraisal of the mid-90s lots of German bands like Wallenstein, Embryo, Jane or Birth Control started to sell and confuse people. But those are not the bands that I am hailing here (unless you like conventional 70s rock). I'd say stick to the KRS releases and get the one (or two) record by Gila, Virus, Hairy Chapter, Brainticket, AR Machines, Sand, Mythos, Dzyan, Between, etc or the few I mentioned in my earlier post. A good complementary guide to the KRS is the Freemans Top 100 although the whole book itself does NOT discriminate so ignore it or photocopy the last page. Or Krautrock.org which is essentially the same but adding a couple of later excellent albums by K.Schulze or T.Dream. Both include the 60 or so records that Cope recommends both in the Krautrocksampler and here in the Album of the Month. Anything German outside those guides is very dubious. I must have tapped into about 500 German bands, 90% are shit (same rates as anywhere else, really). But the worthy stuff is up there among the visionary best.
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Annexus Quam 926 posts |
Dec 16, 2003, 16:20
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Auf Der Bahn has its moments but disappoints after a while, the first track being a little bit more interesting. If you hear their 'second' album, it is easy to see their real colours and the direction in which they were going - cheesy 70s rock of the lowest order. GAA were one of those bands like Cornucopia or My Solid Ground that had their moments but I would not for a moment recommend them to anyone. |
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Annexus Quam 926 posts |
Dec 16, 2003, 16:22
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Yeah, the wonderful Hairy Chapter is in the same vein, Led Zep / Sabbath with the usual mystical elements.
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Annexus Quam 926 posts |
Dec 16, 2003, 16:30
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I've always loved the whole lot. It's sonic paradise for mythographers. And if you're a fan of Witthuser & Westrupp (like me) then don't you just love its acoustic pastoral gems suddenly breaking up the droned-up bits. Terribly atmospheric and idealistic, like the rest of the Kosmische Kouriere releases. Rolf-U Kaiser & co were an unprepossessing lot in Germany at the time (still derided by the German music intelligentsia) but it's the utopianism that I find is what makes any music special. Cynicism never lasts long.
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MonkeyBoy 1008 posts |
Dec 16, 2003, 16:32
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Yeah the first track (Uranus) is the highlight of the album, the rest is fairly ok. The first track on MY Solid Ground is a belter & the CD does feature a really good long bonus track which is basically earlier versions of a lot of the album but done as one long 24 minute epic. |
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Annexus Quam 926 posts |
Dec 16, 2003, 16:34
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I agree about Delay being a psychedelic masterpiece, to be heard in conjunction with Monster Movie as a double fest. But it is definitely NOT neglected, it is even in the KRS Top 50. Perhaps it is taken for granted because it is early Can. The singles and bootleg releases of the time (like Shikaku Maru Ten, Radio Waves or Canaxis for instance) are great raw stuff too. Rock'n'roll.
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MonkeyBoy 1008 posts |
Dec 16, 2003, 16:36
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Gonna dig it out today. Just got GAA on the sound system (still sounds good but not great). I think Tarot suffered a bit due to the earlier extortionate priced CD reissues, people expected too much!
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