tune in. turn on. and: drop kraut! - german underground music 1969 - 1975.

and the german kraut underground garage zweifamilienreihenhauskeller strikes again! extrapoilating the tradition of kraut!demons!kraut!, kraut-bloody-rageous, obscured by krauts, kraut mask replica and hungry krauts daddy here is an other online-only compilation of rare-rare teutonic noise created in the no-time between 1969 and 1975. kraut! tune in. turn on. and: drop kraut!

20 tracks of most suspicious provenance intermissioned by / with 21 very short volte-faces and limping claudatiocations: informabstract german poetry foiled with creeping terror: yes: (sorry:) if you can survive german culturrism: you can survive any culture in an oxygen-respirating universe. but you probably will not like it.

aaaaaahhhh!!! coum on!!!! here is the tracklist. and then the linernotes. and the downloadlinks. we will keep you inspired and we will not recontaminate you.

listen to this:

01 - earschplittenloudenboomer (intro) – john kay (0'15)

02 - going straight – beatique in-corporation (3'30)

03 - große scheiße – otto muehl (0'42)

04 - confessions (priv. rel. 1. single) – virus (3'15)

05 - dies irae – h.c. artmann & gerhard ruehm (0'23)

06 - der 4. kuss – ash ra tempel (6'21)

07 - von zeiten – ernst jandl & manfred schoof (1'27)

08 - tamaurasset – krohn & micus (2'21)

09 - radiating fantasy – sternenmaedchen (0'23)

10 - deep sea soundings 2 – walt rockman (2'05)

11 - mantra yoga in hamburg – a.c. bativedanda swami prabhupada (0'42)

12 - endless music 73 – albrecht/d. (1'12)

13 - mozart –gerhard polt (0'07)

14 - burnin' fire –ex ovo (3'10)

15 - krautpreisung 1 – die stimme seines herrn (j. goebbels) (0'40)

16 - miscarriage of human thinking, part 3 – action (6'29)

17 - tonbandstimmenphänomene: herzraub – ernst knirschnig (hrsg.) (0'26)

18 - asvini mudra – okko bekker (1'46)

19 - martin luther originalzitat 2 – die schmetterlinge (0'48)

20 - holy holy – multi-media group (4'19)

21 - das kreuz – billy graham (0'41)

22 - bring back the love - creepy john thomas (3'22)

23 - lach-couplet, 1. strophe – karl valentin (1'00)

24 - blind – proud flesh (3'12)

25 - jet-lag – staatsdada (ein lübcke) (0'27)

26 - mirrored dimensions – association p.c. (2'31)

27 - eine gute komposition – king shepard pinsel (0'45)

28 - dan – rock machine (2'26)

29 - klopfgeister: spukfall pursuck – originalopfer (0'35)

30 - out blues - chil (2'18)

31 - krautpreisung 2 –gröfaz (a. schicklgruber) (0'43)

32 - spuren – talix (3'56)

33 - er ist nicht – oskar sala (0'22)

34 - westberliner stadtmusik 69, 1 (excerpt) – m.n.d. (3'13)

35 - tonbandstimmenforschung – renate scheller (0'37)

36 - come on in on in – wolfgang dauner quintet (3'32)

37 - schluesselloch – hans moser (0'45)

38 - love song – corporal gander's firedog brigade (3'16)

39 - der mai ist gekommen – anonyme taschenfaltenstimme (0'21)

40 - freies stueck – hotzenplotz (2'54)

41 - isi faellt und geht – zk (0'32)

and what do they want?

tune in. turn on. and drop kraut!

here we go again with another volume of kraut rarities, this time interrupted after each track by short messages from celebrities, some of them infamous for very ugly reasons, some of them highly estimated for their contributions to german culture, and some others are here for the sheer lunacy of the twisted usage of our native tongue. draw your own conclusions...

beatique in-corporation obviously was a loose jam-formation of german musicians at the hamburg pop & blues festival 1970. about 30 % of the announced big name-bands (mostly british) didn't show up (some of them didn't even know they were on the bill; common practice in these days), and there was time enough to jam a bit as a filler in between other acts' performances. german bands at the festival were sphinx tush, thrice mice, tomorrow's gift and frumpy. going straight, sounding like a frumpy/spinx tush co-laboration with jochen petersen on sax (but that's just guess work) was released on an mca double-lp named after the event, which only featured german bands, probably due to contractual reasons.

bielefeld's virus had one of the bigger names in kraut and don't need much introduction. before they released albums for basf and pilz, they debuted with a privately pressed single on their own papersun label in '70, of which confession is the better side, though facts of death is certainly worth a spin as well, if you can find it.

even more famous are berlin's ash ra tempel of course, and i guess everyone is familiar with the first 5 albums at least. before they signed with ohr though they recorded a couple of unreleased demos in autumn 1970. the 4th kiss is one of those and features the trio of klaus schulze, hartmut enke and manuel goettsching in a heavy riffing jam.

hans-peter krohn & stephan micus recorded a very rare eponymous lp (that didn't sound too far from kluster and limbus) in '72 for the munich based label german blues & underground, which is best remembered for the releases of the siloah-albums. krohn had been in pentagon, whose lp for that label only reached acetate-status, and micus went on to make a name of his own as a musical globetrotter in the bermuda triangle between world music, new age and neo-euro-jazz with at least 14 albums between '76 and '94 on japo and ecm.

walt rockman stays a mystery. like robert kovac, joel vandroogenbroeck or gerhard trede, he recorded for one of these german library labels, which produced film music for movies yet to come. in this case the lp is called underwater vol. 1 and was released in munich on sonoton probably in '74.

albrecht/d. was born in 1944, lives in stuttgart/germany since 1958 and acts like an artist since 1966. he worked and performed with beuys, throbbing gristle, vostell, paik, saree and many more. he invented permanent instant performance. he saved raoul hausmann from being forgotten. his work includes: mail art: endless music: processed copies: exhibitions: installations: concerts: stamps: art into society: instant life / love / death: kinky beaux arts: abstract energy: violence permanent: albrecht/d.

after they had changed their from inspiration to ex ovo, this band from koblenz (not to be confused with ex ovo pro) had a contract with polydor, and reportedly recorded a whole album, which is still unreleased. all that ever had shown up was a single in '71 for that label. the a-side, crazy nature, is quite common among followers of the kraut, as it was included in polydor's double-album compilation deutsch rock. here is the hard rocking flip.

totally unreleased until the late 90s was the action's astonishing album for kerston rec., recorded in 1972. why this fine record by a 5-piece from zweibruecken was shelved is hard to tell, it definitely was much better than some of kerston's later productions like the tyll-lp or the proton-compilation. action obviously had great admiration for bands like deep purple, but put in enough kraut spirit to create that typical german sound. very good records in dortmund found out about this lost nugget and contacted the band with the result of a 500 vinyl copies limited edition by the turn of the millennium. long sold out, of course, and as rare as many of these 70s private pressings meanwhile.

okko bekker is one of the sitar virtuosos of the kraut scene, and played on a lot of relevant albums as a studio musician. his best known own release was the basf album sitar & electronics, which had very fine moments, but also a couple of schlock muzak tracks, that didn't really help to boost his reputation. his best and most serious work was hidden on an lp for the cheapo-label maritim called yoga fuer millionen (71). trouble with this record is that the goddamn yoga teacher won't shut up for a second except for a short while at the end of each side. more than half an hour of great meditation music gets spoilt that way, and we have to be thankful for a couple of minutes that demonstrate what a tremendous record this could have been without the fake indian drill instructor.

the multi-media group was made up of 2 bands, but we only know that members of the (post-joy) joy unlimited were involved. this project, called morgen nach dem feuer-hymnus 2 was part of the cultural frame program of the olympic games 72 in munich, a combination of music, poetry reading and acting on a theatre stage. the only item handed down to posterity was a polydor 7“ with 2 allen ginsberg poems (holy holy b/w racks), set to music by the multi-media group. weird, but wonderful.

creepy john thomas usually doesn't get filed under kraut, but as we'll see, on the first album it was in 2 thirds a german band, and the albums were aimed at the german market. john thomas came from australia, where he had recorded in the mid-60s with the flies. his first euro station was cologne, where he made the lp come with me with the band rust. this record was only released in germany on hör zu/black label. in '69 he settled down in germany and formed a band with andy marx (later in tanned leather and cherubin) and helmut pohl (gomorrha). this line-up recorded the selftitled first lp for the german branch of rca in '69, but when it came out of the pressing plant, the picture of the band on the cover showed 3 british musicians alongside john, and – even worse – their names were printed as being the real members of the creepy band (rumour has it, that the agreed name of the group should just have been creepy.) this one also had a uk release a year later, but sank tracelessly. marx was not amused, and pohl quit immediately, but after some excuses marx stayed with thomas long enough to play on the follow-up brother bat bone, a german-only lp for telefunken. by the mid-70s john thomas was in the last incarnation of the edgar broughton band, and a little later he went to berlin, where he played for years with johnny & the drivers.

proud flesh from the cologne-bonn area have their 3rd appearence in our little series here. blind is the b-side of their 2nd single for resono (devil flight, 71)

due to serious ambitions of being considered as a jazz band, association p.c.'s 5 albums from '70 to '74 are still extremely underrated in kraut circles. sure, they produced strictly what we call kopfmusik, (and that's quite exactly the opposite of head music), jazz based stuff in tricky rhythms, but that's about what later versions of, say, embryo or missus beastly did as well, but not as good. they started as association, but had to add the p.c. (for pierre courbois, founder and drummer), when they found out, that they could be mistaken for the us soft rock group of the same name (windy etc.). the other members on the last album rock around the cock were toto blanke (g), siggi busch (b), karl heinz wiberny (sax) and joachim kuehn, who had replaced jasper van't hof (keyb.). the jazz pope joachim-ernst berendt wrote in his liner notes something like: with mirrored dimensions these studied virtuosos show all the overrated new kraut bands, how this kind of music should be handled. well, i mean, err..., he probably hasn't heard 10 % of the relevant acts, but still, the band does a remarkable job, though they don't seem to like the idea too much. or why are they through with it in 151 seconds? but honestly, you'll find some mindboggling music on each of the group's records.

rock machine had an lp in '72 on the cheapo label sonic (hamburg) called plays the best of deep purple. between decently executed versions of all the hits from hush to fireball, they had thrown in 3 own titles for good measure. the slightly hendrix-inspired dan is the only one that doesn't sound like the poor man's purple. credits for these tracks go to one l. mueller.

chil (not chill) most probably were a swiss group. their only lp was rhubarby feeling on sun ('70). it was subtitled musik zu p. felix straesslers film, a flick we've never seen, but judging by the soundtrack, it can't have been an action movie. all in all the album doesn't live up to its reputation and the € 300 minimum you have to bid these days, but it has wonderful moments like the melancholic out blues.

the spuren lp by talix on vogue (71) seems to be on top of everyone's want list these days, although it's a rather weird collection of mostly harmless beatschlagers with uncommon instrumentation and clumsy german lyrics, dealing with everyday life as well as with the joys of necrophilia. indigestible mixture indeed, but taken in smaller portions you'll recognize, that there are 2 or 3 standouts like the title track. talix changed name to pinguin after this predictable flop and recorded the similar in concept, but much better lp der grosse rote vogel on zebra by the end of the year.

m.n.d. stands for moderne nordeuropäische dorfmusik (modern north-european village music). in '69 norbert eisbrenner, werner goetz and sven ake johansson recorded 4 long tracks for their own independent label (later on re-released on the now-defunct leiterwagen records), produced by martin gellrich and released as westberliner stadtmusik 69. this was as free form as it gets, and even in old germany you had hardly found a more over the top record of improvised sound attacks this side of brötzmann's machine gun. (oops, reminds me... johansson was the drummer there, if my memory serves me well.) this kind of pseudo-dilettantism - by people who exactly know what they do - never had much commercial impact, but it has survived for decades in the underground. m.n.d. sound a lot like sturclub does these days, for instance. (well, sometimes at least...)

the wolfgang dauner quintet on the oimels (69) is nearly identical with the classic first et cetera line-up. (2nd drummer fred braceful is missing, while 2nd guitarist pierre cavalli is added.) this record is more song-orientated, but every bit as good as the highly rated first et cetera album. come on in on in is just a taster. go get the whole album. i just found out that that's not as impossible now as it was for years.

the rather silly name corporal gander's firedog brigade was made up by hamburg's most prominent cheapo label europa, and they may have had a bubble gum audience in mind, when they stamped it over the lp on the rocks in 1970. the incredibly ugly cover didn't help either, and so a pretty good hard rock record went down unnoticed. while this genre on europa usually was the domain of lucifer's friend, who recorded there as electric food, air mail, pink mice etc., in this case an embryonic version of wind, originally from erlangen, but very active on the hamburg scene, was behind this neat little exploitation project.

hotzenplotz from stuttgart (partly from the suburb leinfelden) was a radical leftwing agit-prop band in the tradition of floh de cologne. the lp songs aus der show on pläne ( a label spezialized in all things anti-capitalistic) was, like mostly in such cases, a rather uncomfortable mish-mash of spoken words, fighting songs and a bit of rock music. but while comparable bands usually fucked up the musical parts with grandeur, hotzenplotz, with local luminaries like peter schick and wolf kallert involved, were a great bunch when it came to improvisation, which, alas, didn't happen very often. front- or spokesman of the band was albrecht metzger, the infamous rockpalast host of the first hour. (dschoermen telewischen praudlie prissenz...)

and that's it for today. stay tuned, turned on and krautdropping.

yours truly, the lolly pope (andofcourse: rvd)

download:

42 tracks / mp3 / 256 kbps / 150 mb / .rar-file includes cover and a raw version of the linernotes (minor corrections will only appear online)

ad-supported downloads:

download with megaupload

download with hyperfileshare

direct download with no advertising

the happy flowers: they cleaned my cut out with a wire brush in 1987!

while searching through the homestead records page on discogs i noticed a gap between HMS 104 and HMS 106. and guess what?! i found HMS 105 in my collection. and it is of course this-here extended play record by the happy flowers released in 1987. and though these three songs (together with 32 others) have been re-relased on the collection flowers on 45 in 1992 most of you might never have heard them: now you can. listen, learn, read on:


the happy flowers:
they cleaned my cut out with a wire brush
just wait till i´m bigger than you
my mother is a fish
(all mp3 at 256 kbps / direct dowbload)

frauenklinik. revolt into style. stuttgart girl punk 1981.

stuttgart 1981. three very young girls bunked off school, formed a punk band and charmed and captivated all of us. susanna sat in on drums, stoic gabi played the bass and petra was heard on guitar and vocals. only very few recordings survived: some of the following tracks made their first public appearance on kraut mask replica, while the complete weilheim performance remained un-published until now. women take back the noise.

(susanna, petra, gabi: live in tübingen 1981-06-13: click to enlarge)

eine der ganz grossen errungenschaften des punk war die befreiende selbstverständlichkeit, mit der jetzt endlich frauen ihre eigene musik spielten und aufführten. zwar gab es auch vor 1976 bands wie die shaggs, die liverbirds, girlschool oder gto; doch diese musikerinnen wurden eher als exotisch schmückendes beiwerk der mackerkultur betrachtet und weniger als selbstbestimmt kreativ forschende. doch punk endlich gebar die runaways, die slits, lora logic, cosey fanni tutti, die raincoats, poly styrene, mania d., lydia lunch, kleenex, liebesgier und hunderte mehr: und niemand wunderte sich oder stellte blöde fragen.

nach stuttgart kam die revolution wie immer etwas später (bis heute gibt es im ländle keinen punk ohne bausparvertrag). 1980 schrieben petra, gabi und susanna vormittags während der schule ihre ersten songs, übten nachmittags das notwendigste und standen abends auf der bühne. was haben wir die frauenklinik geliebt: zuerst natürlich, weil die mädels so toll waren, dann aber auch bald für ihre musik: ja, wir mussten uns auch erst von unseren dummheiten befreien. an die nachnamen der mädels erinnere ich mich nicht mehr; allerdings weiss ich von den meisten anderen musikern dieser zeit nicht einmal mehr die vornamen. susanna war die etwas herbe schlagzeugerin, gabi die stoische bassistin und die von den allermeisten verhimmelte petra spielte gitarre und sang.

hier ist eine aufnahme vom 24.04.1981 zu hören, aufgenommen während eines konzertes in weilheim/teck. petra verwechselt in der ansage den stuttgarter osten mit dem eigentlich gemeinten stuttgarter westen, in dem immerhin zwei drittel der band wohnten. und: das augentierchen euglena ist ein einzelliger geisseilträger: "euglena betreibt photosynthese und ernährt sich gern von käse" - autofick haben aus dem stück dann die liebeserklärung oi!kleena gemacht. nun gut. jetzt kommt wieder musik:

wir hören:

1 - euglena
2 - pourquoi
3 - allein
4 - hass (mit götz von maria köhler on drums)
5 - nervensäge

frauenklinik 24.04.1981 live in weilheim/teck
(mp3 / 256 kbps / 24 mb / direct download)

und noch eins:

zelle in reutlingen. im frühjahr 1981. alle schwäbischen kassettentäterInnen waren versammelt sich selbst zu feiern: autofick, name, empirische standardabweichung, der künftige musikant, anschlag, zimt, familie hesselbach, abc, moralische endrüstung und was noch so auf der ursuppe dahergeschwommen war: sich selbst zu feiern und den ersten echten auftritt der wunderbaren frauenklinik. susanna war die herbe schlagzeugerin, gabi gab die stoische bassistin und die von den allermeisten verhimmelte petra spielte gitarre und sang. es war so wunderbar und die mädels waren noch anders und besser als vorher berüchtet. beim letzten stück "nervensäge" hatte ich die ehre, am bühnenrand sitzen zu dürfen und "tick / tack" ins mikro murmeln zu dürfen. mir war selten wohler.

wir hören:

1 - euglena
2 - pourquoi
3 - allein
4 - nervensäge (mit siemers: background vocals)

frauenklink - live in reutlingen 1981
(mp3 / 320 kbps / 54 mb / direct download)

man is the abbreviation of woman.

a prae-kraut pandaemonium volume 17. german 60s garage beat punk underground. teutonic titanium.

the prae-kraut pandaemonium is an ongoing and everlasting series of compilations exploring german 60s underground music. the first 15 volumes hit your record player as 12-inch vinyl while some of the music (plus additional sounds) was released using compact discs later on. as disposition became awkward we decided to release the latest results of our researches through the world wide web for free and will be continuing to do so. volume 16 of a prae-kraut pandaemonium was our first online-only release and can be found in this-here blog; now we go-go for volume 17 right now. its-a happening!!

Here we go again with our continuing story of the German Beat. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. (talkin' 'bout blogs, of course). The whole damn thing was a non-profit project from the word "go" anyway, but since the market for vinyl and CDs has been crumbling to pieces meanwhile, giving it away for free via thee net seems to be the only way to keep it up without getting broke and homeless nowadays. You know,like Handsome Dick Manitoba used to say: "This is just a hobby!" Hope you'll like it...

listen, learn, read on: 29 bands / projects / artists / tracks were unearthed and compiled for your pleasure: the tracklist will bare a first sight and the following linernotes will display and manifest some more. you can download all and everything as a .rar-file towards the bottom of this post.

Now goes it lose:

a prae-kraut pandaemonium vol. 17

01 - The CT Plus 4 - Salz sollt ihr sein

02 - The Desperados - My Life

03 - The Desperados - You Better Go Home

04 - Prisoners Of Beat - The War

05 - Prisoners Of Beat - I'm Alone

06 - The Rebbels - Monkey Monkey (1st Version)

07 - Jack Ruane - The Pick Up

08 - The Hungry Eyes - Good Bye

09 - The Hungry Eyes - Junkie

10 - The Blizzards 4 - Why You Let Me Alone

11 - Andy Nevison - Shaking It Up

12 - Alec & His Scotchmen - Hey Sound

13 - B. G. System - Why Not For Me

14 - Die Anderen - Neurotic Reaction

15 - The Rocks - Love The Love

16 - Expiration - And The World Will Be A Bird

17 - The Gents - Wet Dream

18 - The Boston Show Band - Wow Wow Wow

19 - Hannes Patek & The Rangers - Lean Jean

20 - The Jet Blacks - Black Tomorrow

21 - The Jets Too Late

22 - Gordon James - House Of Pain

23 - John O'Brien-Docker - Sock It To Me Baby

24 - The Twangy Gang - Vampire

25 - The Beat Cats - Too Expensive

26 - Winy - My Son John

27 - The Jet Stars - What A Situation

28 - Jonah & The Whales - The Day I Met You

29 - The Motives - God Save Our Gracious Cream

Nice opener here, if you get along with the lingo. If not, you still may enjoy this weird message by THE CT PLUS 4 on the MFB label as the only known example of 60's Xian-Punk. Takes a while to get in the heavenly grooves, but then all the angels sing. Oh, and by the way: it translates as something like "you ought to be the salt of the earth, but you never get your asses up." Santo subito!

THE DESPERADOS from Bad Godesberg were an uncompromising R&B-band with a repertoire of well chosen covers from the Chess, Vee Jay et al. catalogues, found on LPs by the usual suspects ( Pretties, Stones, Yardbirds, Animals...) When they recorded their only 45 in '65 (a no-label private release rarer than a Rabbi in Mecca these days), they fortunately decided to write 2 original songs, both presented here. Not quite as wild and snotty as their stage routine, but cool as hell, and one of these nuggets that make the whole ditch digging still worth our while after all these years. (At least one of The Desperados showed up again a little later with Proud Flesh.) By the way: in case you've found a hidden track at the end of Vol. 16.: This is an unreleased recording by The Desperados.

Equally exciting is the 2nd single of THE PRISONERS OF BEAT from Andernach on the Ravenstein label. (Their first, "What Can I Do Without You" is O.K., but nothing to write home about.) You'd hardly guess that this rabid anti-war song was released as late as 1969 if I wouldn't tell you. Even stranger for the time is the hilarious story about the "House in Lou-easy-anna" on the flip. Kraut-bloody-rageous!

THE REBBELS from Koblenz recorded a split-LP with The Jaguars and 2 singles for Bellaphon in '65. (See PKP 3 for their space race-opus "Round The World".) The released version of their debut 45 "Monkey Monkey" sounded a bit lame and disappointing in comparision, but before they signed with Bellaphon, they auditioned for the German branch of EMI-Electrola, and laid down a much sharper version of that little frat rock ditty with a hell of a wild guitar solo. Here's the only surviving acetate.

No clue about who hides behind the name of JACK RUANE. This one-off 7" on German Pye (in this case a subsidiary of Vogue) is yet another anachronism for '69. The A-side is some indigestible Schlager-Schmalz written by Michael Holm & Jo Heider. "The Pick Up" on the other side is meat from a different bone, and probably a leftover from earlier days. Not the same band obviously. Took me weeks to find out where I'd heard that fine dancefloor-filler before. Written by Conway Twitty, it made a European debut in a nice, but less exciting version on the first LP of Cliff Bennett's Rebel Rousers in '64.

THE HUNGRY EYES from Hannover had the reputation of a tough R&B-combo, and were responsible for one of the hardest to find 45s on the celebrated Kerston label in '67. When it finally showed up, "Good Bye" turned out to be more on the soul side of the genre, which isn't half bad for a mod-infected band, even though the strange off-beat hookline is somewhat of an acquired taste. On "Junkie" they perform a combiation of "Green Onions" and Freddie King's "Steppin' Out", a tune they'd probably found on John Mayall's 2nd album. Bye and bye the whole caboodle ends up in some sort of controlled chaos with some free form piano thrown in for good measure.

THE BLIZZARDS FOUR (not to be confused with the Star Club band from Stade) hailed from somewhere in Bavaria. They used to work as Manuela's backing band for a while, and released a more than disappointing 45 on Telefunken during that time. Little did we know until we've found it, that they had a fine amateurish beat effort a couple of years before ('64 or '65) on the tiny Meilton label.

ANDY NEVISON & HIS RHYTHM MASTERS: their 3 hard to find singles for major labels have already been well documented on Prae-Kraut. But that's not all there is to the career of this black ex-GI in Germany. A big surprise – and a 7" the man himself had forgotten about when asked these days – is "Shaking It Up" on the totally obscure Tampicord label from Hamm, Westfalia ('64). Certainly a band in progress, and not up to the monster standard of "Indiano", but a good example of the early sound of the German red light districts on the wrong side of the tracks. On par with King Size Taylor and Bobby Patrick. For those of you who care: Andy Nevison had a 5th and last single (the only one without The Rhythm Masters) on the German label R+B in '67. This was a novelty German version of Ray Charles' "Busted" called "Pleite" b/w "Worried Blues". Funny, but not much more...

More likely than not, ALEC & HIS SCOTCHMEN were exactly that. A bunch of Scots who toured through Southern Germany, and produced and released a 7" in Ludwigsburg (suburb of Stuttgart) at Tonstudio Bauer, the studio with a pressing service, where The Rackets and The Monks (among many others) recorded in the mid- to late 60's. "Hey Sound", recorded late in '64, is a nice example for the British phase of transition, with Alec still insisting on presenting his best possible Cliff Richard-impersonation, while the band already seems to be on the way to Liverpool.

Nothing known about B.G. SYSTEM, who released the superb LP "Sunny Love Affair" on the Swiss based Ex Libris label in '69. A great unknown album with a lot of fine tracks. Possibly a studio group, and rumours of a Mark Wirtz-involvement exist, but nothing so far could be confirmed.

DIE ANDEREN (aka Kannibal Komix in USA and Australia, The Playboys in Greece, and who the heck knows what other pseudos in other countries. Later they changed name to Apocalypse and had an eponymous LP on Ariola, which was also released in Spain under – just to puzzle things a bit further – the title "Kannibal Komix".) Casted like The Monkees, they were Germany's first boy group. Nowadays they are most (and only) famous for having Jogi Drews, meanwhile self-acclaimed King of Mallorca, in their rank and file. (After a stint with the Les Humphries Singers, he tortured the nation with "Ein Korn im Feldbett" and similar cruelties, and at the age of 63 he's still around, getting weirder every day. Younger than yesterday, in his way.) The singles of the band are best forgotten, but their album, the real "Kannibal Komix"-LP (Ariola '69), had a couple of convicing tracks in the pop-psych mould like "Neurotic Reaction". (Their producer was the infamous Giorgio Moroder, who had released a couple of decent Beat singles on Hansa as Giorgio & The Morodians in the mid-60's.)

"Love The Love" by THE ROCKS is a great 45 from '68, released on the totally obscure New Sound Records from Bad Bergzabern. Flower Power with rough edges. Sorry, but that's all we know. ( If anyone out there can cast some light on this, or any other of the acts, don't hesitate to drop a line in the comment department. A good idea anyway, even if you only want to express your appreciation - or the opposite – concerning the quality of the blog.)

THE EXPIRATION from Vienna and their only 7" on VCR already did appear on the last volume (if you couldn't load it down, try again with 4-share. The reported problems have meanwhile been solved.) "And The World Will Be A Bird" is the other, in my book better side of this '68 release, and while their claim to be Austria's answer to Cream still seems to be a little exaggerated, in the much too short solo you can hear, that the guitarist indeed had a listen or two to good old Slowhand.

Not to be confused with the Gents Inc., THE GENTS may have been of Swiss or German origin, as they released this most charming version of one of Max Romeo's most explicit Porn-Reggae hits within a couple of weeks early '69 in Switzerland (on Eurex) and Germany (on Admiral). They quite obviously only had a foggy notion of what exactly they were singing about, and how they kill all touches of the (usually inevitable in Ska) off-beat swing by spasmodic heavy riffing... Sheer grandeur! Babylon churning with anxiety!!

THE BOSTON SHOW BAND (later abbriviated to The Boston) was a prolific 7-men army of Pan–Britannic origin with members from Ireland, Scotland and England. They spent their whole career ('66 to '69) in Germany, where they released 2 LPs and 8 singles for the Cornet label. 95% of these were stiff and pedestrian cover versions of everything from 50's Rock n' Roll to Stax Soul, with surprisingly competent exceptions when they had the chance to do a Small Faces album track like "Song Of A Baker" or Gene Pitney's underestimated mod rock classic "She's A Heartbreaker". One of their best performances however was hidden on the flip of the first single in '67. "Wow Wow Wow" may or may not be one of their very few originals, (credits don't match with members' names), but it's a great, driving number with the brass section reduced to a minimum.

HANNES PATEK was Vienna's King of the Twist (and other dance crazes), and had a couple of extremely scarce 45s in the early 60s, among them one with The Vienna Beatles. On "Lean Jean" (Rex Roval, '65) he is backed by THE RANGERS, a band that might be the first incarnation of the better known V-Rangers, but that's just guess work. Iwonder, whether or not Hannes had yet heard the much tighter version of "Lean Jean 17" as done by The Rattles on the flip of the "Stoppin' In Las Vegas"-single the same year. To my shame I must admit, that I can't quite figire out at the moment, who has done the US-original. (Writers' credits are Lee-Jones-Grande)

THE JET BLACKS most likely were another visiting British group, or at least a German band with English members. Their only sign of life is this '66 single on Kerston, the most collectable German 60s label together with Storz and CCA. A fine pop-psyche effort with all the wonderful backwards tapes collapsing to great, but unintended effect due to the legendary limited qualifications of the Kersten Studio in Hochspeyer and its engineer.

THE JETS from Hamburg's suburb Trittau were active from '66 to '69, and recorded their only single in '67 as a private pressing (Riwo-made) on their own label. Sold at gigs, it made little impression back then with all the international competiton, but nowadays it's a veritable collector's item. You'll find the other side on the CD-compilation "Beat im Norden" (beat the north!)

Another recent find is GORDON JAMES, a rich man's son and DJ from Zurich (real name: Peter Steiner), who had the ambition to get some more attention, and his own place in the spotlight. The better of his 2 singles was "House Of Pain" on the Swiss Label WSP Turicaphon in '67, a dramatic rearrangement of the Howard Kaylan-written track from The Turtles' album "You Baby". He put his "Gordon James Show" on the road to ruin, in which he had to compete with heavyweights like The Creation and The Sevens, and payed his 6-men British band The Injection a small fortune for backing him as "the new male vocalist in Detroit Sound". Three months later he'd gone broke and was "withdrawn" from the scene by his parents.

JOHN O'BRIEN-DOCKER from Ireland was a folk singer, who came to Hamburg in the early sixties and stayed there for about the next 15 years. He was the leader of The City Preachers, and – when they decided to go on without him as Frumpy by the turn of the decade – he formed Brave New World, one of the most experimental, alas shortlived Krautrock bands in '71. Like so many of the Hamburg Mafia, he had his fingers in many a pie, and did most everything from Surf-LPs for cheapo labels to TV-commercials. Just to keep the wolf from the door... In 1970 he recorded some tracks for one of these pseudo-educational sexploitation soft-porn flicks which flooded the shocked nation back then. "Sock It To Me, Baby" (not the Mitch Ryder hit) has been lifted from the unreleased soundtrack of "The secret sexual disires of the German".

Formed in 1960, THE TWANGY GANG was one of Berlin's first Rock n' Roll bands. Unlike many others, they rather changed to Pop than R&B when the Brit Invasion swept old sounds away. Hollies, Bee Gees, Marmelade, Love Affair etc. seemed to be their orientation, and of their three singles on Hansa, Rex and CBS only the last ('68) is worth our attention. "Vampire" was written for the sountrack of "Beiss mich, Liebling" ("Bite me, darling") but was considered as sounding too wild for the main theme. The Twangy Gang delivered the lame instro "Vampire's Sunday Afternoon" instead, but the movie made little impression. The original soft psych "Vampire" with hilarious "lyrics" and all these nice sound effects was released nevertheless, but went back to the coffin unnoticed and without much bloodshed.

The Berlin BEAT CATS and their '67 acetate has been introduced on volume 15. Here comes the promised flip side. Sound quality again a bit on the borderline, but don't expect to find a better copy. This is the last of its kind.

WINY was the nickname of Erwin Klarner, head of the Swiss Angels from Aargau. Though they only released 2 singles,this clean cut combo kept up the Shadows-inspired sound and image decreasingly successful until '68. After the split, Klarner, an ace guitarist and competent singer, kept going as Winy's Team, but covering "Ain't She Sweet" in '69 wasn't exactly the most clever career move. For a last effort he was persuaded to go to London, where he was taken under the wings of the Fletcher-Flett team, who had just produced another flop for The Onyx with "My Son John" b/w "Step By Step". Winy released BOTH sides of this single on Admiral in Germany, and it might well be that he only overdubbed the Onyx instrumental tracks with guitar and vocals. (Just a suspicion, though...) No chart action what so ever, but that wasn't the end of the song "My Sohn John". Another version was thrown on the German market (only), this time on Metronome, done by The Empty Vessels, a band that changed name short after to Wishbone Ash.

THE JET STARS and their two '67 German Decca singles still are a mystery in the vinyl history of this country. The covers have no band photos and there's no usable info on the labels. No releases in other countries known. The choice of material and relatively high standard of performance reminds of the many so-called Indo-bands, emigrants from the Dutch colonies, who – in the footsteps of The Tielman Brothers – came to Holland, but soon after dominated the German club circuit in the early sixties and, after a change of style, managed to stay popular as Top-20 cover bands. But once again: guesswork and any information welcome.

The detailed story of Nuernberg's JONAH & THE WHALES, who mutated to Ihre Kinder in the late sixties, can be found on PKP 15. Here is the flip of their projected, but shelved second single, which showed up in '67 on the Vogue/Pop-label promo-only compilation "Der deutsche Nachwuchs stellt sich vor".

Not quite the British equivalent to The Monks, but still a great discovery: THE MOTIVES were British servicemen of the Rhine Army, stationed in Wildenrath near Moenchengladbach. One of them was Tom Winter, who later played and recorded with Dutch soft-psychers Opus, and in Germany with Abi Ofarim. In '67 they recorded the EP "The World Is A Trapezium" for the tiny Dutch label TELSTAR, just a stone's throw across the border. Two of these tracks were re-released as a single in '70, but sounded pretty dated by then, and went down unnoticed again. (See the "Waterpipes & Dykes" compilation.) The self-explanatory "God Save Our Gracious Cream" is the heaviest of their songs. TELSTAR released a handful of other German acts, but only the (Berlin) Vikinks' "Gloria" 45 is worth your attention.

A Lolly Pope compilation 2008.
(plus some rvd here and there)

a prae-kraut pandaemonium vol. 17
(29 tracks: mp3 / 256 kbps / 150 mb / linernotes / artwork / tracklist / bonus track / add-supported download)

download with megaupload

download with divshare

download with hyperfileshare

bonus: track 30

john stevens, paul rutherford, evan parker, barry guy, roger smith, nigel coombes: 1979 and 1992.

only as recently as the other day the inconstant sol from next-door offered some wonderful john stevens music and i thought it would be appropriate to add some more to express my gratitude. and for the initiated of course: this is the second appearance of rare john stevens sounds in this-here blog: scroll down to find him exploring the blues with dick heckstall-smith of all people.

these recordings were released in 1994 on the berlin konnex label and are not longer available through their shop. (though you still can find some john stevens works including the sme big band and quintet from 1971 and 1975 at a ridiculous low price: highly recommended!)

the cd "4,4,4," offers five tracks played by the quartet of evan parker, paul rutherford, barry guy and john stevens recorded in 1979; concentractive, focussed and stripped down. track number six is the last recording of the "small" spontaneous music ensemble including roger smith, nigel coombes and john stevens: 23 minutes of organically and subliminally free improvisation recorded in 1992.
what more can you ask for? thom jurek wrote an exalted review of these recordings for the all music guide; detailed information on all artists involved can be found within the european free improvisation pages curated by peter stubley.

here we go:

john stevens, paul rutherford, evan parker, barry guy, roger smith, nigel coombes: 4,4,4,

download with megaupload
(mp3 / 320 kbps / 155 mb /add supported download)

download with hyperfileshare
(mp3 / 256 kbps / 125 mb /add supported download)

the rutles 1978 rehearsal room recordings. at least some of them. not all too rare.

oh, dear. here is another find i made in the shallowness of my computer: 14 tracks the rutles probably recorded in a rehearsal room situation in 1978. but as i am not a dedicated collector nor an archaeologist of their work (all their recordings i own came to me by chance) i can not tell you whether these tracks are commonly known by everybody or if they are rare in any way. anyway: i love them.

in november 2001 i found these recordings on the now-defunct www.pythonet.org in exactly the same condition as i am going to be sharing them with you here and right now. in 1978 the rutles recorded a pseudo demo bootleg session to take the piss out of all the annoying beatles bootlegs circulating in those times and these artefacts seem to have been part of that. it was fun, it was easy, it was cheap.
in the rar-file you will find the rutles performing number one, i must be in love, blue suede schubert, double back alley, left you, love life, living in hope, natural, goose step mama, looking good, good times roll, get up and go and between us in random order: all tracks compressed to mp3 at 160 kbps. a decided history of these tracks is very welcome in the comments.

the rutles - 1978 rehearsal
(download with megaupload / 40 mb)

alternate download with 4shared

kraut mask replica. a collection of rarely heard german underground music from 1968 to 1974.

This compilation was intended for release in 2004 as the 5th edition of a CD-series dealing with rare and unreleased Kraut(rock) rarites, which started with Kraut! Demons! Kraut! and went on with Hungry Krauts Daddy, Obscured By Krauts and Kraut-Bloody-Rageous (ed.-note: i guess you know where and how to find these?!??!). The number five dive into the abyss of the bottomless kaut barrel never saw the light of day due to a broken down market for specialist records in small editons, or, let's face it, a broken down music market all together. Which is fine with me. The stubborn and predictable way the majors committed suicide was a sight to see, and the crocodile tears they shed about being killed by the net are as funny as hypocrites can get. Trouble is: a couple of very fine small labels and mailorders died a silent death too. But after all, the whole idea about musical archeology is sharing the results with the rest of the like-minded, so here we go and give it all away for free. (By the way: the "kraut mask replica"-pun was coined before a very recommendable blog nicked it.)

(ed.-note: following are the complete tracklist and linernotes telling you what you will hear and why you want to hear it. these notes of course are included in the .rar-file you are encouraged to download at the bottom of this-here post.)

here we go:

KRAUT MASK REPLICA – heading for your heads

01.: Im Land der 1000 Traeume – WERNER PIRCHNER (1'14)
02.: Spirit Of Soul – FREEDOM (2'40)
03.: Wanderin' Woman – ASPHALT (2'50)
04.: Abendlied - DIE LEUTE (5'13)
05.: Don't You Know What I Feel – ORANGE ROCKS (3'40)
06.: Bride Of Devil – THE PRISONERS (3'36)
07.: Power – ARGO (4'50)
08.: You Don't Understand – MOTHER SUNDAY (4'33)
09.: Danger Zone – EXCALIBUR (3'46)
10.: Illustrated Man – DYNAMO (2'20)
11.: From Slavery To Freedom – THE HEART (2'50)
12.: Make Me Love : is' klar – LONY & THE MISFITS LTD (3'04)
13.: All In Vain – PROUD FLESH (3'26)
14.: Why There Is War – TRASH (4'52)
15.: Mister – COOL FEET (2'27)
16.: Born To Die – THE SHATTERS (3'21)
17.: Jam Jar – EXMAGMA (3'50)
18.: Variation On A Movie Theme (B2) – T.A.C. (4'01)
19.: Melt Away – CAN (3'00)
20.: Drop Out – HOLGER MUENZER (3'54)
21.: Excerpt From Acid Side – THE NOMADIA (6'00)
22.: A Word From Our Sponsor (1'06)
23.: Space Machine – HEINZ FUNK ELECTRONIC COMBO (2'08)

WERNER PIRCHNER is an underrated experimental Jazz musician from Austria, who started his recording career in 72 with this weird collection of all things unexpected called "Ein halbes Doppelalbum" (Half A Double Album) on Austro Mechana. (ed.-note: visit werner pirchner) ***

FREEDOM's sole 7" was released late in 69 on the tiny Topmaster label. Their amateurish charm is irresitible. No relation to the better known British band of the same name, of course, and none such as well to the German group who released the "Swinging Prayers"-LP at about the same time. You'll find the the other side of the single on Prae-Kraut 15. ***

Another incredible find is the 45 by ASPHALT on the totally obscure Modern Music label ("eine Orchidee-Musikproduktion") from 71. On the flip there's part 2 of the same song, which doesn't sound much different. ***

The next one hit us unprepared and floored us immediately. A 45 on Flöte Schallplatten called "Abendlied" (Evening Song) by a band named DIE LEUTE (The common people) from 74 doesn't sound much like an unsung Kraut nugget at first sight. But as soon as the needle drops... Wow! Sheer mayhem!! Sound quality is a bit at the edge, but the vinyl looks reasonably clean, so that the distortion factor may be intended. They obviously sing in German, although I'm unable to tell you what. Dieter Bistrup, Marcel Bartolein, Siggi Reuter and Georg Anhalt came from Bonn. ***

ORANGE ROCKS most probably didn't live very far away, and their only known 7" on the collectable New Blood label was reportedly released as late as 77. Listening to it, you'd bet that sounds like that can't have been produced later than 74. And you might be right, as a couple of New Blood's records have been recorded long before the were released. ***

Definitely 74 is the only single by THE PRISONERS from the Stuttgart region on another famous independent label: Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg. Their Hard Rock assault is an aquired taste, and if they'd been skilled like they thought they were, this might have been a typically tedious example of the genre. Thank God, they can't play! ***

Same town, same label, a year later: ARGO and their only known single sound like Germany's answer to The Trees, even if the Folk Rock-factor is reduced to the girl vocalist's strenght. Immaculate, so to speak...***

The flip of MOTHER SUNDAY's 45 on Moon Records (71) has already been exposed on "Obscured By Krauts". Both sides are top-notch Kraut classics, although the band most likely was of Swiss origin. ***

EXCALIBUR were a trio from Hamburg and represented the typical Hamburg school of Hard Rock (i.e. trying to sound as British as possible) on their "First Album"(72) on Reprise, which as well was their last. While they've always been a bit better than most of the competitors, and had some support from various members of the Rattles, they never really made it commercially, and called it a day soon after. Their last sign of life were 3 non-LP tracks on a rare sampler called "Hell's Angels Rock", released on Jaguar Rec., and produced by Rugy Rugenstein in 74. "Danger Zone" is one of these. ***

Nothing is known about DYNAMO and their single on Deutsche Vogue (70). The label used to release a lot of one-offs between 65 and 73 by unknown artists that later turned out to be of non-teutonic origin, and Dynamo may or not be one of them. But this record hasn't been released in the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, so until someone proves us wrong, we'll file it under Kraut. ***

THE HEART probably were an Austrian band, as their LSP label was based there. A marvellous over-ambitioned amateurish single by a band with a message from 70. ***

Lyrically less intellectual is the flip of "Birthday" (see "Obscured By Krauts") by LONY & THE MISFITS LTD from Dillenburg on Gaston Boutique. (70). Actually "Make Me Love" is pure machismo, and girl singer Lony for obvious reasons apparently refused to appear on this side at all. Blues Rock usually isn't our cup of Hofbraeu, but done like this: Down the hatch and gimme more! ***

PROUD FLESH from the Cologne-Bonn region (Bad Godesberg, if my memory serves me.) are best remembered for 2 singles on Resono. (See "Obscured..." for "Devil Flight".) In 71 they recorded a third 45 for the label, which never was released. "All In Vain" was the intended b-side. ***

Krefeld's TRASH and their sole single on Bi-Spar Rec. (72) has already been featured on "Kraut! Demons! Kraut". Here's the even weirder flip. ***

After the occupation of Austria and Switzerland for the Kraut Cosmos, we'll take a little excursion to a tiny German speaking country called Luxembourg. (Well, actually they're bilangual and prefer to be seen as the better part of France, but who cares...) COOL FEET seem to be the only Luxembourgian band from the era written in vinyl. Their horrendously rare album "Burning Desire" was pressed in Germany by Pallas in 76, but a year earlier they had two equally scarce singles on Luxembourg Sound Records. "Mister" is one of them. ***

Ludwigsburg, suburb of Stuttgart, is the home of THE SHATTERS, a band that played at the Hamburg Star Club in 64 (billed as The Shutters), and still is active in our region after 45 years on stage. (Meanwhile split in the Original and the New Shatters, and with hardly a founder member left, but staying power nontheless.) They've never been accused of being underground, psychedelic or anything else related to decent music. In fact, they were specialised in covering the Top-20 material the usual crowd would expect from a moderate beat band in those days, with a little Soul thrown in for good measure. Strange enough, the only vinyl output during their heyday was this 45 on Philips, a more than untypical trip to heavy prog territories. ***

The recorded work of Stuttgart's EXMAGMA - including the initially unreleased third album - is (or at least has been) available on CD on Daily Records for a while. "Jam Jar" is a track they never recorded in the studio. It was taped live in France 74, and it gathered dust in the private tape collection (well, rather a dustbin full of reels) of Andy Goldner, who handed it down to us these days. (ed.-note: visit exmagma) ***

T.A.C. (Team for audio-visual communication) was chosen as the name for a project that combined a film crew with a musicgroup in order to produce a series of commercials and an image campaign for Beiersdorf, a company specialised in cosmetics. (Nivea etc.) The band was Baden-Baden's Fashion Prick, who at about that time (71) had shrinked the Prick to Pink, and changed the name to Brainstorm in 72, when they recorded their first official album. The T.A.C. LP was never intended for commercial release, and only a handful were pressed to impress the white collars at Beiersdorf, which makes it one of the toughest to find Kraut rarities. Musically we're talking about brilliant instrumentals, which all are variations of more or less the same basic theme with a very different approach each time. Our chosen example isn't necessarily the best, but the longest track on the record. ***

None of these comps would be complete without a rare or unreleased CAN track. This one is from 68 and was recorded during one of the sessions that made up the "Delay 68" album, but wasn't included there or anywhere else yet. ***

Nothing is known about HOLGER MUENZER, except his two singles on Intercord. Both were released in 73, and both had a dreadful singer/songwriter a-side (actually we're talking about schlagers here), and a quite interesting flip. Intercord was a label from Stuttgart. ***

One of the most mysterious albums of all time is THE NOMADIA's "Range Of Vision" LP. It was recorded between 69 and 71 in Austria, and privately released there in such small quantities, that we didn't believe in its existence until we found a cover-reproduction of the original on the net. Slightly more common, but still near impossible to find, is an Austrian re-release on Toadstool with a different cover from 77, but even there no-one seemed to know anything about who or what The Nomadia was. The album has two long tracks, one called "The Marihuana Side", the other "The Acid Side", which might as well be called acoustic and electric sides. Totally weird stuff that defies descripton, obviously puzzled together from hours of taped sessions, but a hell of a listening experience throughout. ***

Equally obscure is an LP by HEINZ FUNK, which seemingly only exists in form of a couple of test pressings without covers. (Chappell Records, 76) A two-sided affair again, but this time the a-side is filled with cheesy synthesizer dance tunes and not so funny versions of contemporary hits. Turn it over and you'll find a different universe. Most tracks are space related or cosmic, at least by their titles, and all are very pleasant, if admittedly a bit naive and too short to create the intended atmosphere. An express mail cosmic courier, that guy....***

Ego me absolvo. The Lolly Pope.
(and ed.-note!)

(ed.-note: the id-tags of the mp3s included in the following file you still are encouraged to download are purporting that they were sharing 79:13 minutes of hunnnoise. well. yes. good guys. if for any reason the sounds will not fit on one of your cd-rs i would propose to delete the first or the penultimate track as they are completely out of tyme and out of tune...)

and now:

THE KRAUT MASK REPLICA
(.rar / mp3 / 256 kbps / 150 mb / ad-supported download)

download with megaupload
download with divshare
download with hyperfileshare

(ed.-note: please let me know any broken link and i will try to fix asap)

can. the vitamin c variations. 1973. crime scene soundtrack recordings.

in 1973 samuel fuller directed an episode of the german television crime scene series tatort (site of crime) called tote taube in der beethovenstrasse (dead dove on beethoven street). the music for the soundtrack was provided by can offering recurring variations on vitamin c and some lowering litter loops recorded in 1972 (damo suzuki can still be heard). some eighteen minutes of the original score survived on my harddrive: including inspector kressin mumbling, distant echoes of faraway trains, street noises, a shot or two and other sounds you would expect to hear in a murder mystery. and reticently investigating the crime scene there is the sound of holger czukay, michael karoli, jaki liebezeit, irmin schmidt and damo suzuki: can.

i do not have the faintest idea concerning the source of these recordings (though there might have been a double longplay album on vinyl released in an edition of 100 copies some years ago; but this image might as well have been part of a dream) and i do not know if any of these recordings have ever been released properly or can be found somewhere else in the blogosphere and more important: i do not care all too much. at least some of you might be pleased to hear these obscure recordings.

here we go:

can - tote taube
(mp3 / 256 kbps / 18 minutes / direct download)

das furlines. more christmas for you.

as you might remember: last june i was rhapsodizing away about das furlines, the all-girl group the wonderful deb "krautheim" o'nair joined after she had left the fuzztones in 1985. that previous post mentioned only 16 words ago included a live concert recording from 1986 and a lot of further reading and continuing education. prementioned in that post was a version of the german x-mess carol "oh tannenbaum" executed by these das furlines on a long deleted midnight records compilation: only a few days ago the black hole of my record collection spit it out again and i thought you might like to hear it:

das furlines - oh tannenbaum
(mp3 / 320 kbps /6 mb / direct download)

kim fowley and metabolismus. stranded in stuttgart. resurrection 1992.

as i told you in the previous post kim fowley had to escape to a berlin hotel room after he had been casted off the stage in 1992. the brave people of the stuttgart psychonaughts metabolismus there and then helped him through the night whilst smashing their guitars following kim fowley moaning and ranting on and about immanent inconsistancy. yes: fun they had and fun they passed over to a declining world: listen to the tape again and again...

only two or three years later (that is two or three days in the loitered minds of metabolismus) back in stuttgart the brave people of metabolismus decided to release at least some sounds of that improvisational night on vinyl. ten minutes were chosen for the chosen few to be processed and carried forward; some appropriate sounds were added and the proceedings got tough and delivered a hit single. and no body noticed.

and though stranded in stuttgart mainly was a kim fowley and metabolismus artefact two members of the living room avantgarde band sturclub held their protective hands on, over and about the project: when you look close enough at the inlay sheet you will find werner voran who did a lot to the mix and myself contributing a lot of sounds that can be found in my record collection. and we are very proud of ourselves.

(click to enlarge)

and now the moment you have all been waiting for: the 7" you forgot or even worse never owned: kim fowley and metabolismus stranded in stuttgart.

listen to:

- stranded in stuttgart
- man and woman fighting
- wonderful, dangerous, confusing...

download:

kim fowley and metabolismus stranded in stuttgart
(mp3 / 10 minutes / 320 kbps / 25 mb / direct download)

kim fowley and metabolismus: sounds of an empty room: the legendary berlin hotel tape 1992.

in 1992 kim fowley visited germany to play one concert in berlin on the 26th of october. being fowley as kim those days he entered the stage backed not only by his wonderful musicians (chris wilson, david carr, eric, peter radszuhn and some more) but also by some naked angels who were female, angels and naked. the berlin post-squatter audience was not amused and clubbed him out off the club before even half of the concert was completed (the audible remains of that night and some tracks played at a rehearsal the night before can be found on the marilyn records album "white negroes in deutschland"), they literally hunted him backstage and out on the streets. the brave people of the stuttgart psychotick unit metabolismus helped kim fowley to escape unwounded and escorted him to the ibis hotel. and then there in room 719 they unpacked their guitars and asked and begged mister fowley to say or sing some words whilst they were creating some instant noise. and kim fowley did.

and here he is with andi, thomas, werner and mistress m of metabolismus fame improvising on / about jim morrison, stuttgart, naked angels and the seamless flow of neuronal dis-conceptions that flood your mind in a cramped hotel room. wonderful, dangerous and counfusing.

listen:

- berlin babylon manifesto
- stranded in stuttgart
- nolympic city

- the darkest light
- human finger
- lonely telephone
- water: clean
- naked angels / naked world
- ecstacy and elimination
- always have naked women around

about two years later a 7"-ep with three of these songs in slightly and not slightly at all different versions was released in a limited edition of 500 copies. you might know that one: but here is raw material and raw f-power.

kim fowley and metabolismus:
sounds of an empty room
(mp3 / 256 kbps / 23 minutes / 45 mb / direct download)

joel futtermann, jimmy lyons, robert adkins. in-between-position(s). 1982.

though joel futtermann, jimmy lyons and robert adkins of course are not the first three names you would think of when it gets to the points of free jazz they had and have their respective merits not to be forgotten. joel futtermann (piano) is one of a few improvising musicians who succeeded to extrapolate the obvious influence of cecil taylor and jimmy lyons (alto saxophone) is well remembered as part of the cecil taylor unit. robert adkins (drums) though has left only very few traces in history until now apart of course from playing drums with joel futtermann since 1974.

in-between-position(s) is a trio in eight movements recorded live in virginia the 13th of may 1982. and though loosely based on eight different concepts this is one seamless track ending much too early after 67 wonderful minutes. the cd seems to be unavailable by the time being; i found mine on a rummage table in karlsruhe or stuttgart. for some other recordings of this-here trio and of the individual musicians you might like to visit ayler or silkheart.

here we go:

joel futtermann, jimmy lyons, robert adkins. in-between-position(s). 1982.
(mp3 / 256 kbps / 67 minutes / 127 mb / direct download)

click on pictures to enlarge

the 39 clocks in hannover 1983 - drei stücke

and yes: the 39 clocks again (do they annoy, bore or ignore you at least??) live in hannover 1983, may or july. the tape seems to be dubiously disputable but the encore is re-great. so here is only 20 minute of an hour-long concert; more might follow and more 39 clocks and friends and relatives can be found in this here blog or some where else. listen:

DNS
louie louie
DOM

the 39 clocks - 3 tracks live (hannover 1983)
(mp3 / 256 kbps / 42 mb / direct download)

german version

albrecht/d. and again and again and endless satori instant nirvana.

searching the web and the blogs i noticed that people were eagerly searching for some sonic incidences of albrecht/d. and the 39 clocks (they never met, though). some re- and aspects of both might be found in this-here blog following the appropriate label-tags. or to make things even more easier again and again and again: here is some albrecht/d. for your pleasure: (more 39 clocks can be found in the postb below)

albrecht/d. was born in 1944, lives in stuttgart/germany since 1958 and acts like an artist since 1966. he worked and performed with beuys, throbbing gristle, vostell, paik, saree and many more.

in 1982 albrecht/d. answered my answering machine: he executed four short (and totally different) tracks over the phone. these tracks are completely unknown to most people as they were hidden on an untitled tape in my collection until yesterday. the complete tape with some 30 minutes of stuttgart underground noise found on my telephone answering machine in 1981 and 1982 can be found in my (mostly german) blog kraut mask replica.

a/d. called me
(mp3 / 6 mb / direct download)

extended german version on kraut mask replica

the 39 clocks live in hamburg 1983. feed your head, please.

no pictures: no. nothing. in the city the 39 clocks always were wearing disguises; their refrigerator was occupied by three or four bottles of stiff scotch and some used disposable syringes. no pictures: no. nothing. no trouth. no lys. the 39 clocks always beat. lie beat drown beat psycho beat. some of their music survived. some how some where. here is some more. to find some links, exploiration and guydance please follow the appropriare tag/label in this-here blog (more 39 clocks, exit out live, cocoon and no pictures: no. nothing.)

1983.03.25. germany, hamburg, markthalle. the 39 clocks executed a live performance supporting the "die toten hosen", a rather well-known german fun-punk band in those times. though the audience was eagerly waiting for the main act the 39 clocks acted rather relaxed and unwound: their first three songs lasted more than 20 minutes. and they were loud: yes: loud: and i mean: loud. there was no chance to hear the audience chanting "totenhosen, totenhosen!" and the 39 clocks refused to stop. when the engineer turned down the volume they started to get a little bit more agressive and booted out a 53rd and 3rd version of DNS (DNA for the CSI) and some more. almost 60 minutes art for idiots: debunk, debunk, debunk and no pictures: no. nothing.

wir hören also ungefähr folgendes:

- 39 progress
- three floors down
- (forgot the title)
- silent activity
- shake the hippie
- virtuous girl
- satin boots
- crime appeal
- (power cut)
- DNS
- psychotic louie louie
- (some totenhosen for nothing)

|>> the 39 clocks - hamburg markthalle 25.03.1983
(mp3 / 256 kbps / 60 minutes / direct download)

german version