| # | Artist | Song (click to play) | Album | Year | CD label |
| 1 | Twenty Sixty Six and Then | Butterking | Reflections! | 1972 | Second Battle |
| A good hard-rock prog album with great keyboards, guitar and flute. I am not a big fan of the vocals, though. I am reminded of Deep Purple and maybe even the first 2 Rare Earth albums. The original master tapes of the original recording are lost, so for the CD release Second Battle used earlier recorded studio versions of the songs from the album for the CD release. I do not know how the CD compares to the original LP release, but, the CD sounds pretty damn good. According to the liner notes the CD versions are longer and more interesting. 2066 only released one album. Members went on to other German bands like Aera, Kin Ping Meh, Karthago, Emergency, Abacus. | |||||
| 2 | Neu! | Weissensee Jahresuberblick | Neu! | 1971 | Germanofon (boot) |
| Simple but effective krautrock experimentalism. Reminds me of the early Kraftwerk albums (I've only heard the early ones). Perhaps a little like early Tangerine Dream as well. Features some very nice melancholic guitar. This group is considered to be one of the founders of Techno music, or at least, one of the biggest influences. | |||||
| 3 | Rufus Zuphall | Schnupfer | Phallobst | 1971 | Spalax |
| Bluesy, jazzy rock progressive with lots of flute. They sound a lot like early Jethro Tull. The music sounds decent enough, is played well, and has no "bad" features, but, it does not seem to grab me. It has the potential to be a grower, though... | |||||
| 4 | Can | Paperhouse | Tago Mago | 1971 | Spoon |
|
This album is supposed to be some sort of holy-grail of Krautrock or
something. Personally, I lean more towards the or something. With
repeated listens, I find that I like certain aspects of them more, and
also that I find some of it less appealing. I like the drummer's
rhythmic shuffle, but, after almost 20 minutes of the same 2-bar
pattern, like on Halleluhwah, it's not as interesting anymore. The thin
trebly guitar does not have the most appealing sound, but, can be sometimes
effective. Much of the album is very experimental and psychedelic with
spacey effects and voice experiments. A highly regarded and influential
album.
Can | |||||
| 5 | Ash Ra Tempel | Amboss (excerpt) | Ash Ra Tempel | 1971 | Spalax |
|
A great and important album in the history of Krautrock. The first side
is a wild guitar-oriented rave-up that is often frentic, but, ebbs and
flows into more introspective moments as well taking up the entire first
side. The second side is another all-instrumental side-long track of
moody improvisation. Much of it is very quiet, but, grows in intensity
with some edgy almost bluesy guitar leads.
Manuel Göttsching - Ashra | |||||