Sunday 25 August 2019

Amon Düül II ‎– "Phallus Dei" (Liberty ‎– LBS 83 279 I) 1969


Don't wanna bore you with too much obvious 'Krautrock' stuff, and you've probably all got this,soooooo,.....oh alright then, here's Amon Düül II's first album, which,retrospectively, lost out in the race to be the first 'Krautrock' album in perpetuity to Amon Düül mark I.
If you like a bunch of hippies all playing their instruments at the same time then this is most definitely for you.Like a Grateful Dead live bootleg with the really boring bits on a loop, this is 1969 encapsulated in one small package.
Of course I exaggerate, but i can't see what made this seem so 'out there' for its time. Not all 'Krautrock' albums sounded like this however. 'twas one of those made-up scenes designed to package a collection of recordings that you're supposed to like 'if you're Cool'.It'd be like calling all the groups from the UK in the sixties, Brit Wave....total nonsense....like that toe-curling Britpop nonsense which ended guitar driven pop for good.
Krautrock was just ,basically, the German arm of the Progressive Rock fad but produced some very unique groups, due to the fact that they didn't have the same commercial pressures that groups in the UK and USA had....such is artistic freedom, and nothing whatsoever to do with nationality, or scenes.
I much prefer Amon Düül I's output to this poor man's Electric Ladyland made for and by homeless hippie types, and wanna be political terrorists.
All this stuff was in the 'European Rock' section in my local record emporium, not a mention of 'Krautrock',a phrase that became more popular in the 90's when this stuff was very a la mode.New discoveries of truly terrible 'Krautrock' recordings were made almost weekly.Lets face it, most of it was utterly awful rubbish,like in all artificial scenes.The cream naturally rose to the top, Ash Ra, Can, Neu, TD,Cluster, etc.....notably NOT including Amon Düül II....and all became equally apalling after 1974.
"Phallus Dei", or...tee hee hee giggle giggle...God's Penis, is likely their best album,or maybe 'Yeti' is...they both sound exactly the same so its a toss up.

Tracklist:

1 Kanaan 4:02
2 Dem Guten, Schönen, Wahren 6:12
3 Luzifers Ghilom 8:34
4 Henriette Krötenschwanz 2:03
5 Phallus Dei 20:47
Bonus Tracks
6 Freak Out Requiem I 4:02
7 Freak Out Requiem II 3:47
8 Freak Out Requiem III 0:42
9 Freak Out Requiem IV 7:49
10 Cymbals In The End 0:31


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Yeti has to be the better album, if only for Archangels Thunderbird - arguably their best song.

northfieldhat said...

I love "Dance of the Lemmings". Love it.

and this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7szufq3CRrk

Anonymous said...

I've always been partial to "Hijack", the first album I was able to find. Many thanks for their 1st.

-Brian