Year:
1981 (CD 2005)Label:
Revisited Records (Germany), REV 011Style:
Krautrock, Progressive RockCountry:
Munich, Bavaria, GermanyTime:
59:51Format:
Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHzSize:
409 Mb
Amon Duul was a German art commune whose members began producing
improvisational psychedelic rock music during the late '60s. The group's
members released several albums, mostly recorded during a single
extended jam session, beginning with 1969's Psychedelic Underground.
Concurrently, some of the commune's more musically inclined members
formed the longer-lasting Amon Duul II. Both acts proved to be a major
influence on generations of experimental rock musicians to come, and are
regarded as pioneers of the Krautrock genre.
Forming in Munich in
1967, the collective included bassist Ulrich Leopold, his brother Peter
Leopold on drums, and guitarist Rainer Bauer. While the basic lineup
recorded a session that year, an expanded lineup of Amon Duul recorded a
marathon improvisation in 1968 or 1969, which subsequently formed the
majority of the group's discography. Psychedelic Underground and
Collapsing: Singvogel Ruckwarts & Co. were both released in 1969,
and later reissued under several different titles. A 1970 recording
session produced a more focused, folk-influenced full-length titled
Paradieswarts Duul, which appeared the following year. Two additional
recordings taken from the group's original session, 1972's Disaster
(Luud Noma) and 1984's Experimente, were also released.
While
membership within the commune and the band Amon Duul was fluid, several
commune members with greater musical ambitions decided to start a
separate rock group, and formed Amon Duul II -- they saw no reason to
struggle for a new name, or argue over the original. The new group was
helmed by John Weinzierl, Chris Karrer, and Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz,
and set to work to produce an impressive debut with Phallus Dei (1969).
This was followed quickly by the 1970 double album Yeti, the cover of
which features one of the band's roadies.
1971 brought the release of
another two-LP set -- Tanz der Lemminge ("Dance of the Lemmings"), a
recording widely considered to be the keystone of the Amon Duul II
catalog. With stylistic abandon, the album mixed together everything
from straight-ahead rock to experimental noodling, all built around a
series of science-fiction themes. The band performed with a joyfulness
that belied the real seriousness of the experimental work involved.
They
continued on this path for several years, continuing to release highly
regarded albums that achieved only moderate sales, at best. 1975's Made
in Germany (released in two-LP and single-LP versions) found the band
making an attempt to present a more commercially appealing side, with
little effect on the market. Continuing failure to crack the mainstream
eventually brought the band back to its more experimental roots, though
not before causing the core unit to fall moribund for a while.
A
further spin-off, formed by John Weinzierl under the original name (and
also known as Amon Duul UK and, rarely, as Amon Duul III) recorded
sporadically in the 1970s and '80s. Weinzierl worked with former
Hawkwind member Dave Anderson on a total of five albums (one of which,
Airs on a Shoestring, was a compilation drawn from the first two, with
additional material salted in), with additional bandmembers coming from
all walks of the British progressive/psychedelic scene. For Losung,
Weinzierl and Anderson collaborated with the late Robert Calvert, as
well as drummer Guy Evans.
Amon Duul II reappeared during the '90s,
producing a series of remixes and original material, as well as Live in
Tokyo and the intriguing benefit album Kobe (Reconstruction), which
focused on material from 1969 and 1971. Members continued to be active
with both solo and band projects. EastWest Records Germany released a
four-CD retrospective box set in 1997. The '90s renewed interest in
Krautrock culminated with the re-release of three of the group's albums
-- Wolf City, Yeti, and Viva la Trance -- in 1999. A 2010 reunion effort
was digitally self-released under the name Bee as Such, and was
eventually given a full release by Purple Pyramid under the name
Duulirium in 2014.
(allmusic.com/artist/amon-d%C3%BC%C3%BCl-mn0000020992/biography?1664711739567)
01. Vortex (05:48)
02. Holy West (05:10)
03. Die 7 fetten Jahre (04:32)
04. Wings Of The Wind (04:49)
05. Mona (05:10)
06. We Are Machine (05:19)
07. Das Gestern ist das Heute von Morgen (04:36)
08. Vibes In The Air (06:29)
09. Whatever (bonus track) (08:36)
10. (Ras)Putin in der Badewanne (bonus track) (09:19)