I’m not going to get caught up in some pointless discussion centered around notions of Krautrock. I’ve been gaining interest in a couple of these German bands from the ’70s, but thinking of them as some separate movement solely based on their nationality seems wrong to me, like comparing The Busboys to Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix just because they are all black.
The band I’ve liked best as I’ve investigated this stuff is Amon Düül II. The first incarnation of this band was good too. Sometimes the lurching rhythms and guitar and bass parts remind me of stuff Pere Ubu would do a few years later. I have no idea if, in fact, members of Pere Ubu were into these guys, but I strongly suspect they’re just the sort of outsider, underground band a David Thomas would have collected.
You know I love Pere Ubu. The other band I think about when I listen to Amon Düül II is Jefferson Airplane. You probably know I don’t think much of the Airplane, but if they had any underlying sense of coherence – if – and if they dropped the peace and love trappings and allowed themselves to be the would-be mass murderers that lurked within – if – I think they would have sounded like this German band. I think I would like Jefferson Airplane a lot more. I have no idea if Amon Düül II were into Jefferson Airplane…
That Wolf City number did sound a lot like the Airplane. I’m not sure that I get you’re comtention that if the Airplane dropped the “peace and love trappings”; the airplane had a fairly disturbing violent revolution almost Mansoon like psychotic side which you yourself pointed out on a previous post featuring a video of Crown of Creation. I think you’re bringing your own mental baggage to the Airplane and marking them down compared to Amon Duul based on that. I’d admit these guys rock a little more in a 70’s boogie style than the Airplane, but I’m thinking that was a function of being about a half decade later. Most of the valid criticisms that you guys have hit the Airplane with could be applied to these guys too. Is it possible that you just dig Amon Duul because this kind of stuff seems less pretentious when you can’t understand the words?
I was trying to find out what the title of the third clip meant, and it seems that Kronwinkl is actually a city. I guess there’s a vocal version, because I found a translation of the lyrics:
“Wake up get up
Smoke a cigarette
Read the paper
Going back to bed
Sky is grey
And lamp is shining red
Chick from last night
Still lying in bed
Though I know
Society is dead brain
I start thinking in circles
Following their games
I need informations
Leaving that formation
Feel busy
I feel temptation
My steady hesitation
Makes me dizzy
It’s half past four
And everybody’s gone
Big house is empty
And I don’t feel at home
Depression starts
To catch my brain
Dope-religion
Know everything’s in vain
Though I know
Feel the longings of my heart
I did learn
How to play my part
I always try not to lose
The freedom of my mind
Taking the cake means baking your own tart.”
I now think they are at least as great as the Airplane.
Yeah, the Mod’s usual lame digs at Airplane notwithstanding, I’ve been listening to some of Amon Duul lately myself, though mainly the trancier version 1. Have been playing–on the right occasion–quite a bit of related stoner drone rock and art rock as well: Popul Vuh, Van der Graf Generator, early Krfatwerk, and of course the GREAT Hawkwind. I’d love to see a broader discussion of what people feel the value of this stuff is. It’s one of those areas of music that I just missed out on when younger. It’s really goofy music a lot of the time, but somehow I enjoy a lot of it too, and I’m trying to figure out why. I believe it has something to do with (yes, you guessed it) Psychic Oblivion, to which the lyrics Steve quotes above are surely connected.
If you’re gonna compare Krautrock with anything, it would be Pink Floyd: Krautrock was a less radio-friendly version of Floyd.
For mind-melting guitar solos and riffs, Krautrock can’t be beat.
And it was the lingua franca for the 90s underground: almost every band that I liked referenced Can or Faust.
mwall,
LSD played a role in Amon Duul’s composing process. And their song titles, like “Sandoz in the Rain,” reference acid trips.
I’m sure it does and I bet they do.
fuck you, you racists i love the busboys.
and eddie murphy, and richie pryor.
BigSteve, thanks for finding the translation of those lyrics. They are excellent and surely did point the way for what the Airplane might have been.
Dr. John, why resort to racist cliches that lump all German rockers from the ’70s into one bag? Kilroy’s right. Amon Duul does NOT sound much like a lot of their “Krautrock” contemporaries, such as Faust. They surely don’t sound like Pink Fucking Floyd – no offense to Pink Floyd. To my ears, they sound like the Airplane, if they were good, or Hawkwind, which to me sounds a bit like a non-poppy Steppenwolf.
I also love Popul Vuh, which to my ears sounds almost nothing like Faust or Amon Duul. Dr. John, all joking aside, do you really think Popul Vuh sounds like the heavier German (as I prefer to call them) bands? Now Popul Vuh I can hear as being in a similar vein as Pink Floyd and the little bit of early Kraftwerk that I’ve heard. As for Neu!, I still hold that they usually sound like the backing tracks for what would become Joy Division songs. I don’t know, I hear more variety among these bands that I think they’re given credit for. We can agree on that much, right Dr.?
Mwall, what I like about some of these bands, early Van Der Graaf Generator included, is their slightly menacing pretentiousness. I can see you digging the same elements.
First off, mod, German is a nationality, not a race. Second, the minor chord progression in the song you posted (under the All Star Jam) reminds me a lot of Pink Floyd. Third, Popol Vuh reminds me of Can, Soundtracks-era. That’s not to say that Can, Faust, Amon Duul, and Popol Vuh are interchangeable. But they have noticeable similarities.
I agree, though, that Neu and Kraftwerk sound much different.
You’re right, Dr. John. Sorry about the mix-up of nationality vs race. We agree enough on similarities among some of the artists you mention. I was attempting to hear one of these bands in a way beyond national boundaries.