#peter leopold

[longliverockback]

Amon Düül II Hijack 1974 NOVA ——————————————————————— Tracks: 1. I Can’t Wait (Part 1+2) 2. Mirror 3. Traveller 4. You’re Not Alone 5. Explode Like a Star 6. Da Guadeloop 7. Lonely Woman 8. Liquid Whisper 9. Archy the Robot ———————————————————————

Chris Karrer

Renate Knaup

Peter Leopold

Lothar Meid

Falk Rogner

John Weinzierl

* Long Live Rock Archive

[brusiocostante]

Amon Duul II Archangel Thunderbird

[mitjalovse]

Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk dealt with the 80's on their own way, yet some krautrock bands seemed quite adrift. To be honest, it is not fair to claim the 80's were the start of their problems, the late 70's already showed some had no clue what to do next. Amon Düül II, for instance, released Only Human then, which has a terrible reputation, but it does not deserve it completely. True, it feels like a work of a totally different band, although it has a style that makes one wonder how it could have developed, if they had a chance to do so. You have a hunch that both Only Human and its 80's follow-up Vortex could be considered as the transitional albums, because they contained a variety of attempts at something different that included something they've already done.

[mitjalovse]

While it is hard to say who started Krautrock, the scene had hubs instead of a centre, we can safely say it also occurred due to the volatility of the late 60's and it was therefore a reaction to it. So it is no surprise that one Krautrock group began within one of the political radical communes that were prevalent back then. We are talking about Amon Düül whose tunes remind us of The Velvet Underground had they been more interested in jamming and drones. While it is true their compositions are occasionally quite meandering, such as this cut from Disaster, one must know that the music was only their spin-off activity, they were more interested in other things. Nonetheless, Amon Düül are important, cause their working ethos, i.e. just play, gave many Krautrock bands a credo. Moreover, another great outfit of that genre was established in the same environment.