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Die Walter H.C. Meier PumpeRock and skiffle band featuring: Walter Westrupp, with Frank Baier (ukulele, guitar), Herribert Horstig (guitar), Wulf Meier (drums, washboard) and Bernd Roland (bass). Only of historical interest. UNTERWEGS ...PUMPT DEN SKIFFLE AUS DEM BODEN Waniyetula Not at all typical of 80's progressives, possibly because they originated from a former incarnation of themselves documented in 1971, and then worked under the guise of Galaxy. Waniyetula sounded more like mid-70's Gentle Giant or Birth Control, making a lively interactive progressive with complex songs and arrangements. The only clue to the 80's identity is the production quality and some of the instrumentation. Heinz Kühne (guitar, flute, mouth harp, vocals), Thomas Goerdten (drums), Hermann Beckert (bass) featured on: CONCERT '71 A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM Eberhard Weber Nowadays, the Stuttgart born multi-instrumentalist Eberhard Weber, is best known as a talented jazz bassist, and as the creator of a most individual brand of atmospheric fusion. But, that's but one aspect of Eberhard's talents! With an apprenticeship as part of the nucleus of Wolfgang Dauner's bands in the late-60's, Eberhard proved to be a most talented multi-instrumentalist. Yet, it still seems that he surprised almost everyone, really breaking out as a highly individual talent on his debut as front man: THE COLOURS OF CHLOË. This is a richly textured and atmospheric fusion album, featuring a superb cast of musicians (including Rainer Brüninghaus from Eiliff and Peter Giger of Dzyan) and a music that bridged classic and jazz forms, in a dramatic yet cosmic sedate fusion. In jazz circles THE COLOURS OF CHLOË gained enormous critical acclaim and won numerous awards. And, such success meant that the band became known as Eberhard Weber's Colours! Becoming a star meant Eberhard was much sought after as the musician to work with! For a while at least, Eberhard became most prolific, working with the likes of Gary Burton, Volker Kriegel, Jan Garbarek, Pat Metheny, Kolbe & Illenberger, and later also as a member of Wolfgang Dauner's United Jazz+Rock Ensemble. Colours' second album YELLOW FIELDS was another superbly crafted fusion opus, though subsequent albums paled somewhat. As a soloist, his output has been more sporadic, working with an orchestra, and odd impromptu projects with unlikely musicians. CHORUS saw a diversion to more experimental music again, pushing the limits of what is possible with the bass as a solo instrument. Eberhard has also, in more recent times, dabbled with synthesizers, together with guitar and bass, and has recorded numerous (but as yet unreleased on disc) film soundtracks. Eberhard Weber (bass, cello, ocarina, choir), + Rainer Brüninghaus (piano, synthesizer), Peter Giger (drums, percussion), Ralf Hübner (drums), Ack van Rooyen (flugelhorn), Gisela Schäuble (choir), Cellos of the Südfunk Symphony Orchestra THE COLOURS OF CHLOË (12/73) featured on: 1. NEW JAZZ FESTIVAL, HAMBURG '75 (8/6/75) Credited to: Eberhard Weber "Colours" COLOURS - YELLOW FIELDS (9/75) THE FOLLOWING MORNING (8/76) COLOURS - SILENT FEET (11/77) FLUID RUSTLE (1/79) COLOURS - LITTLE MOVEMENTS (7/80) LATER THAT EVENING (3/82) CHORUS (9/84) ORCHESTRA (5+8/88) Weckers Uhrwerk Billing themselves as "Alp-agit aus Östereich", Weckers Uhrwerk are, as you may expect, a political rock combo, Agit-rock done Austrian style! Akin to the likes of Lokomotive Kreuzberg, Checkpoint Charlie, or even when most inspired, touches of Floh De Cologne can be heard. However, with a new-wave element, being very lyrical (and Austrian German is hard to follow, if at all) and inconsistent flow, their only known album is not that exceptional. KRAWATTNLEICHN Weed Formed by Virus members: Reinhold Spiegelfeld, Bernd Hohmann and Werner Monka, Weed were quite a shock really, and remarkably different especially considering that their LP was recorded only two months after Virus' REVELATION. Weed weren't psychedelic or cosmic, no they were very British sounding Reinhold Spiegelfeld (bass), Bernd Hohmann (flute, vocals), Werner Monka (guitar), Reiner Schnelle (keyboards), Peet Becker (drums) WEED...! (3/71) Walter Wegmüller Walter Wegmüller was a well-known figure in the late-60's, as a mystic, artist, and as an eccentric and gifted talent. One of the group of Swiss friends that included Sergius Golowin and H.R. Giger, befriended by Timothy Leary whilst he was stuck in Switzerland in the early-70's. Reputedly, Timothy hatched the idea of a musical interpretation of Walter Wegmüller's new set of Tarot cards, and a concept centred on the trump cards was soon formulated. The band were an expanded amalgam of Wallenstein and Ash Ra Tempel musicians. TAROT is amongst the most remarkable projects in Krautrock, covering the whole range of cosmic music, and aptly elaborately packaged in a box with numerous cards and inserts. The first three sides cover a wide range of moods, with folky touches, strange electronic diversions and fiery space-rock drives, fronted by guitars, synthesizers and Mellotron. The fourth side is encompassed by a single suite that surges beyond Ash Ra Tempel, previewing the sound of The Cosmic Jokers. Throughout, Walter is our guide, narrating in a most imaginative manner his visions of the Tarot, in a weirdly accented German. At one of the Tarot sessions, Ash Ra Tempel's JOIN INN was also recorded, whilst the dynamic trio were waiting for the rest of the musicians to turn up! Walter Wegmüller (voice), Jerry Berkers (bass), Jürgen Dollase (keyboards), Hartmut Enke (bass), Manuel Göttsching (guitar), Harald Grosskopf (drums), Klaus Schulze (drums, electronics), Walter Westrupp (winds), + Dieter Dierks (choir), Rosi Müller (choir) TAROT (12/72) Harald Weiss An experimental percussionist, who has tried his hand at many different types of music. His origins are from classical music, the field to which he has returned in recent times. But, to us, he's best known for his remarkably creative ECM release TROMMELGEFLÜSTER, which is generically unclassifiable, in that it combines drums, percussion and electronics in a highly creative avant-garde mixture of styles ranging fragile oriental styles through to really powerful drums. Nothing is normal with TROMMELGEFLÜSTER, which is why it's so fascinating. Later releases have seen a change of focus entirely, working in the realms of systemic and neo-classical musics. SCHLAGZEUGWERKSTATT (1980) Klaus Wiese Klaus' roots go back to the early days of Popol Vuh, appearing on their HOSIANNA MANTRA and SELIGPREISUNGEN albums. What his early origins are apart from that we don't know. He's an acknowledged ethno-musicologist and has recorded innumerable albums of sound meditation scored for different ethnic instruments. Admittedly, as with the vast majority of Michael Vetter's output, many of these albums are to say the least, tediously one-dimensional. Whole albums of droning Tibetan singing bowls can really numb the senses! His most interesting albums are those featuring a wide range of instruments. SAMARKAND BARAKA MARACCABA QUMRA Wind Originating as a beat group in the mid-60's, playing mainly at US air bases in Southern Germany. By 1969 (and after many name and personnel changes) they'd become the art-rock band Chromosom, heavily influenced by the American West Coast sound. After the addition of Bernd "Steve" Leistner on vocals, and the new name Wind, they recorded their debut album for the new progressive arm of the budget label Miller, namely +Plus+. SEASONS offered a richly textured progressive rock, lyrical yet also very musically involved, and certainly very Anglo-American inspired (hints of Vanilla Fudge notably), but with that German oddness typical of such bands. Their poetic and complexly crafted songs were filled with extensive instrumentals and unusual diversions. In recent years it's become hailed as a classic. Although only a year later, MORNING was a vastly inferior, rather straight rock 'n' soul album with short songs and little musical involvement. Only a couple of tracks shone at all. Without gaining the commercial success that was obviously planned for, the band split in 1973. Lucky Schmidt unsuccessfully tried to resurrect the band in mid 1974, and thereafter went on to work with Aera. Steve Leistner (vocals, harmonica, flute, percussion), Thomas Leidenberger (guitars, vocals), Andreas Büeler (bass, vocals), Lucian Büeler (organ, piano, vocals, percussion), Lucky Schmidt (drums, percussion, vibes, clavinet, piano), + Jochen Petersen (flute) SEASONS MORNING Josephine / Puppet Master Wired The group Wired was actually the project of one Karl-Heinz Böttner (an avant-garde composer who had studied with Maurizio Kagel) commissioned by the WDR in 1969. Also involved was Canadian Mike Lewis (based in Germany since studying in Munich, and working in many German projects, like his own Moosknukkl Groovband), and Michael Ranta (an American, whose credits include working in Stockhausen's ensemble). The original recording was a 140 minute improvisation, expertly handled by Conny Plank doing a Stockhausen type job at the mixing desk, which was edited down to album length in 1973. The resultant LP is a cosmic classic, recalling Tangerine Dream (a hybrid of ELECTRONIC MEDITATION through to ZEIT textures, sans the drums) and early Cluster, but with the spirit of serious avant-garde too - very spooky, meandering and timeless. The only problem is that it can only be purchased in a box set with two free-jazz type albums (by New Phonic Art and Iskra 1903) as FREE IMPROVISATION (Deutsche Grammophon 2740 105). Karl-Heinz Böttner (guitars, vocals, ocarinas, flexaton, zither, bass), Mike Lewis (organ, vocals, drums), Michael Ranta (drums, plucked string instruments, vocals), Conny Plank (electronics) WIRED (28/4/70) Witthüser+Westrupp Apparently, Witthüser+Westrupp came into being at the Essen "Podium" folk club where Walter Westrupp worked as a DJ. Bernd Witthüser was already known as a protest singer, Westrupp was playing in a skiffle band, and when the two met they realised there was a magical chemistry between them. They busked and played in local clubs creating their own unique repertoire. Although working as a duo since 1969, their debut was released under Bernd Witthüser's name, as it contained music composed by him, with lyrics taken from the writings of politically minded poets and novelists, like Novalis, Heine and Brösel. It's of little interest, unless you like more normal German folk that is. As a proper duo the Witthüser+Westrupp sound came on in leaps and bounds, their music was pure innovation, drawing on Westrupp's classical background, and enthusiasm from Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser, Witthüser+Westrupp became the cosmic buskers! With some of the finest session musicians in Germany, they went on to record three of the most original progressive folk-rock albums of the early-70's. TRIPS+TRÄUME is, excepting a couple of shorter catchy folk songs, a very cosmic affair, with long spacious tracks oozing out atmosphere, like ancient folk diversions from Ash Ra Tempel. The next two albums on the Pilz label developed the sound on an even richer more complex level with massed keyboards, a little more rock, more guitars and even choirs, many of the guests being from Wallenstein. After disbanding, both musicians went onto other folk and political bands: Baier Westrupp, Die Walter H.C. Meier Pumpe, etc. A double live album of Witthüser+Westrupp was also issued. Bernd Witthüser (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Walter Westrupp (trombone, drums, trumpet, washboard, cymbals, ukulele, xylophone, flute, harmonica) LIEDER VON VAMPIREN, NONEN UND TOTEN (3/70) Einst Kommt Die Nacht / Wer Schwimmt Dort TRIPS+TRÄUME (3/71) DER JESUS PILZ (8/71) BAUER PLATH (6-7/72) Bauer Plath / Das Lied Der Liebe LIVE *68-*73 (1973) Wonderland Band As Wonderland, these were originally a 60's beat group formed by ex-Rattles musicians Achim Reichel and Frank Dorstal. A single's band (though there is an album MOSCOW - Bear Tracks BTS 943 400 - which documents their entire works), they played a creative pop music, but of little interest as far as Krautrock is concerned. Later, as "Wonderland Band" the music changed entirely to a notably Zappa inspired progressive, with elements of satire. Musically WONDERLAND BAND NO. 1 also rode close to the introspective moments of ATOM HEART MOTHER era Pink Floyd and strangely also there's a hint of early Jade Warrior. Fronted by those uniquely eclectic Dorstal songs that were later to be developed on Reichel's "AR+Machines" series of albums, it all amounted to a uniquely odd and highly creative album. This was Achim's first Krautrock exercise, the start of a highly creative adventure. Frank Dorstal (vocals), Achim Reichel (guitar, vocals), Claus-Robert Kruse (vocals, guitar, organ), Ralle Oberpichler (vocals), Helmuth Franke (guitar), Ladi Geissler (guitar), Bernd Steffanowski (guitar), Kalle Trapp (guitar, bass), Hans-Uwe Reimers (piano), Benny Bendorf (bass), Hans Hartmann (bass), Sten-H. Lineberg (bass), Peter Franken (drums), Joe Nay (drums), Barry Reeves (drums), Dicky Tarrach (drums), Walter Rudolph (kettle drums), Max Lindner (xylophone, chimes), Bernhard Gediga (trumpets), Peter Kallensee (trumpet), Ernst Möhlheinrich (trumpet), Walter Preu (trumpet), Heinz Fadle (trombone), Hermann Henrich (trombone), Friedrich Rohde (trombone), Wiegand Schneiderbach (trombone) NO. 1 Rock 'n Roll People / King Of America Wyoming Vehicle for Munich folk singer Pete Bender and friends, with a few progressive elements. The debut LP being light rock with much Mellotron and folky touches hints slightly at British groups like Spring or Cirkus, whereas IN PRISON covers a wider range of styles and is notable for "Indian Wardance". Pete Bender (vocals, piano, organ, Mellotron), Rainer Marz (guitar, bass, vocals, percussion), Jürgen Ermisch (guitar, clavinet, vocals, percussion), Bernd Billhardt (drums) WYOMING IN PRISON (1971-72) Indian Wardance / I'm Wheeping Xhol (Caravan) The history of Xhol is not that well documented. Though we do know that they originated in the mid-60's as Soul Caravan, a Motown inspired rock 'n' soul band, who in 1967 recorded GET IN HIGH (CBS 63268). In early 1969 they re-emerged as Xhol Caravan with a single in the vein of SHADES OF DEEP PURPLE, still soul-edged but much more progressive. Though, it never hinted at all at the album that was to follow a few months later. ELECTRIP was one hell of a remarkable album, especially for the 60's, an electric sax and organ fronted fusion with a great deal of invention and energy, hinting at later records by Nosferatu, Faust, et al. Remarkable throughout! Whether Xhol existed much beyond this, we don't know. The latest recording we know of, dates from July 1970, and that's the live album HAU-RUK, which follows on a more esoteric level, overtly trippy in feel with one lengthy improvisation per side, the cosmic Annexus Quam like "Breit" and the psychedelic blues "Schaukel". Confusingly MOTHERF#@KERS GmbH & CO KG proclaimed on the cover to be "2 years old" placing it in-between ELECTRIP and HAU-RUK. Obviously a collection of archive recordings: a few snippets of Soul Caravan can be heard in the opening "Radio" as well as a short slice of ELECTRIP, a Faust-like opening to a very varied album, with its superb lengthy organ piece "Orgelsolo", spaced-out flute lead instrumentals and a lengthy psychedelic blues number "Love Potion 25". Xhol are certainly amongst the most mysterious Krautrock bands. Hansi Fischer later went on to Embryo, Klaus Briest turned up again in Dennis, and Tim Belbe recently resurfaced in the 80's underground band M.T. Wizard. Tim Belbe (tenor sax), Hansi Fischer (flute, soprano/alto saxes), Öcki Brevern (organ, electric piano, tuba), Klaus Briest (bass), Peter Meisel (toilet flush), Skip Vanwych (drums) Planet Earth / So Down ELECTRIP HAU-RUK MOTHERF#@KERS GmbH & CO KG Yatha Sidhra The Fichter brothers from Freiburg, had been playing in various groups together since the mid-60's. Their first professional band was the rock and soul combo Lea Gamble which they formed with two American ex-service men. Later they formed Brontosaurus, together with French bassist Jean-Michel Boivert and flautist Peter Elbracht. Apparently at this time they sounded like a hard-rock twist on Jethro Tull. In early 1973 Brontosaurus began to work on a new ambitious opus, a suite called "A Meditation Mass". In concert, they caught the attention of Achim Reichel, who managed to get a contract for them via his Gorilla Music for an LP release on Brain. There was one concession, the name Brontosaurus no longer fitted the type of music they were making, so a new mystical name was chosen: Yatha Sidhra. A MEDITATION MASS is actually one of the most magical albums ever made, a single cosmic suite, with ethnic and jazzy touches, pure cosmic Krautrock which really trips-out. I've often quoted it as my favourite all-time album, due to its uniqueness, that it has never dated, and is so charged. Few albums hold that same quality. Flutes, guitars and electronics are the basis of the music, which floats, ebbs and grows and occasionally breaks out with real energy. A step on from the realms of Kollektiv or instrumental Thirsty Moon. It's a shame really that Yatha Sidhra only made the one album, though later the Fichter brothers did form a new band named Dreamworld. Rolf Fichter (Moog, flute, vibes, electric piano, guitar, vocals), Klaus Fichter (drums, percussion), Matthias Nicolai (guitar, bass), + Peter Elbracht (flute) A MEDITATION MASS (1973) Yggdrasil Self promoted as "funky rock-jazz" or "rock-n-soul", this band definitely under-sold themselves based on the evidence of "Heerklotz" (on LIVE NÜRNBERGER SZENE 76) which is good progressive rock-jazz in the vein of Creative Rock. Dieter Baum (organ, clavinet), Willi Haselbek (trombone), Werner Hirschmann (saxes), Helmut Reizammer (bass), Uli Weißbrod (drums, vocals, percussion), Armin Wolfermann (guitar) Out Along The Highway / Tango Blackout featured on: LIVE NÜRNBERGER SZENE 76 Zarathustra An obscure early Hamburg progressive, drawing on a wide range of German hard-rock and British late-60's styles. Typical of music from the Hamburg scene, they often resembled Frumpy with the strong organ presence, and like early Tomorrow's Gift they also had that Vanilla Fudge feel, though mostly there's a notable Atomic Rooster edge. Not a particularly adventurous band, but for what they did they did it well! Ernst Zerzner (lead vocals), Wolfgang Reimer (guitar, vocals, percussion), Michael Just (bass, vocals), Klaus Werner (organ), Wolfgang Behrmann (drums, percussion) ZARATHUSTRA (11/71) Zippo Zetterlink This was one of the first lost relics of Krautrock to be unearthed. Zippo Zetterlink was the band lead by an obscure character from the late-60's/early-70's Hamburg underground scene, one Wolfgang Orschakowski. At the time of course, no one would release such an album of demented psychedelic cosmic blues! So, in the late-70's Wolfgang released an album himself, documenting some of his remarkable lost music. With live recordings from the Blow Up club in Munich circa 1969, a festival in the Hamburg Melle Park in summer 1971, and some studio jams. Mostly, the side long title track in particular, it's stoned Ash Ra Tempel style jamming, though much more crude and demented. There are a couple of short blues songs too, one interesting, one less-so. It amounts to a unique vision into the Hamburg psychedelic underground, and an unknown Krautrock relic. Wolfgang Orschakowski (guitar, vocals, radio), + Klasse (bass), Samy (congas), Helena (organ), unknown (drums) IN THE POOR SUN (1969-71) Zomby Woof A majestic and sophisticated progressive rock band with lots of keyboards, a strong energy in a dreamy Faithful Breath-like style. Highly derivative, yet also quite original. We don't know anything about their history. Ulrich Herter (vocals, guitars, synthesizer), Heinrich Winter (vocals, guitars, clavinet), Mathias Zumbroich (piano, organs, synthesizers, Mellotron, sax), Udo Kreuss (bass), Berthold Mayer (drums, percussion) RIDING ON A TEAR Zweistein Amongst the oddest of releases from the Krautrock era was Zweistein's over-the-top triple album of avant-garde free-form rock, folk and noise. Apparently Zweistein was one Jacques Dorian, aided by his wife and children, and studio engineer Peter Kramper. Sounding like it's recorded in a sewer, it was a bit of a mess really, though an interesting mess! Studio filters, delay and echo devices are used to excess, and the results often sound more like the product of some underground new-wave band in the 80's than a 1970 release! The single is obviously not that sort of thing, but is presumably just acoustic folk songs. A version of "A Very Simple Song" also appears on the album. I'm A Melody Maker / A Very Simple Song TRIP/FLIP OUT/MEDITATION Zyma An obscure 70's progressive, Zyma (on their LP) had what seemed like a very Canterbury influenced jazz-rock style, with hints of Soft Machine and Isotope. No historical information known. Bodo Brandl (bass), Dorle Ferber (vocals, violin), Günter Hornung (organ, electric piano, synthesizer), Udo Kübler (drums, vocals), Tim Pfau (guitar, vocals) featured on: PROTON 1 (1974) THOUGHTS BRAVE NEW WORLD Note: 14/07/2007 - After some 3 or 4 years of this being on the UT web-site, one Albert Müller was the first to notice that I'd somehow missed-out artists between Nektar and Pacific Sound. A big serious ooops! This is now corrected. Thanks Albert.
Date: 2015-12-18; view: 1345
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