Album: Yeti
Artist: Amon Düül II
Born: Munich, Germany
Released: November 1970
Genre: Krautrock
Influenced: The Fall, Julian Cope, Animal Collective, Föllakzoid
Like many Krautrock fans, I'm indebted to the "cosmic field work" of Julian Cope in his incomparable Krautrocksampler. His book shows how the wild energy of psychedelia was channelled away from mainstream rock music during the 70s into ever weirder niches in Japan (Far East Family Band), England (Hawkwind), France (Magma) and, most importantly, Germany. One of the pioneering bands in this genre is Amon Düül II, a large collective of musicians and artists that emerged from a commune in Munich and split into two factions, one (II) led by Chris Karrer and various other free jazz musicians including (and this is my favourite bit!) a roadie called Dave Anderson on bass. Anderson was in Munich touring with Kippington Lodge, a band led by his friend Nick Lowe. After seeing Amon Düül II play, Anderson was signed up thanks to a good performance in a joint-smoking competition-cum-audition. Apparently. Along with Can's Monster Movie, their first album Phallus Dei was one of the cornerstone Krautrock records, an entirely original brand of music that drew on classical and the cosmos ("kosmiche") more than British or American rock. There was also a really politically-conscious vitality among the disaffected youth of Germany that fed into the punk-like quality of the music.
This energy is what most obviously separates krautrock from the more cerebral prog rock of the same era. Opening the double LP is a four-song suite called Soap Shop Rock, which moves at a fast pace between wildly different styles, incorporating Middle Eastern instruments and darkly prophetic lyrics, especially on my favourite of the quartet, Halluzination Guillotine ("smoke coming out of their eyes / insanity-tigers are licking his hands"). The blissed-out kosmiche of She Came Through The Chimney is a reprieve before the blistering punk of side 2 opener, Archangels Thunderbird, perhaps the best illustration on the album of the (literally) off-beat drumming style that characterises the genre. Following the out-there jams of Cerberus and Return of Rübezahl is the side 2 highlight, Eye-Shaking King, which sounds to me like the soundtrack to an alien invasion.
Side 3 is dedicated entirely to title track Yeti, an 18-minute improvisation which, along with Yeti Talks To Yogi, is closer to the free-form style of their first album Phallus Dei, though here the jamming is more fluid and interesting. As Julian Cope rightly says though, there's no doubt that the highlight of the album is Sandoz In The Rain, which closes side 4 and the album. This is space rock of the highest order, possibly inspired by Barrett-era Floyd (but I have no evidence of that) and truly cosmic. Amon Düül II really were like nothing before or since.
Like many Krautrock fans, I'm indebted to the "cosmic field work" of Julian Cope in his incomparable Krautrocksampler. His book shows how the wild energy of psychedelia was channelled away from mainstream rock music during the 70s into ever weirder niches in Japan (Far East Family Band), England (Hawkwind), France (Magma) and, most importantly, Germany. One of the pioneering bands in this genre is Amon Düül II, a large collective of musicians and artists that emerged from a commune in Munich and split into two factions, one (II) led by Chris Karrer and various other free jazz musicians including (and this is my favourite bit!) a roadie called Dave Anderson on bass. Anderson was in Munich touring with Kippington Lodge, a band led by his friend Nick Lowe. After seeing Amon Düül II play, Anderson was signed up thanks to a good performance in a joint-smoking competition-cum-audition. Apparently. Along with Can's Monster Movie, their first album Phallus Dei was one of the cornerstone Krautrock records, an entirely original brand of music that drew on classical and the cosmos ("kosmiche") more than British or American rock. There was also a really politically-conscious vitality among the disaffected youth of Germany that fed into the punk-like quality of the music.
This energy is what most obviously separates krautrock from the more cerebral prog rock of the same era. Opening the double LP is a four-song suite called Soap Shop Rock, which moves at a fast pace between wildly different styles, incorporating Middle Eastern instruments and darkly prophetic lyrics, especially on my favourite of the quartet, Halluzination Guillotine ("smoke coming out of their eyes / insanity-tigers are licking his hands"). The blissed-out kosmiche of She Came Through The Chimney is a reprieve before the blistering punk of side 2 opener, Archangels Thunderbird, perhaps the best illustration on the album of the (literally) off-beat drumming style that characterises the genre. Following the out-there jams of Cerberus and Return of Rübezahl is the side 2 highlight, Eye-Shaking King, which sounds to me like the soundtrack to an alien invasion.
Side 3 is dedicated entirely to title track Yeti, an 18-minute improvisation which, along with Yeti Talks To Yogi, is closer to the free-form style of their first album Phallus Dei, though here the jamming is more fluid and interesting. As Julian Cope rightly says though, there's no doubt that the highlight of the album is Sandoz In The Rain, which closes side 4 and the album. This is space rock of the highest order, possibly inspired by Barrett-era Floyd (but I have no evidence of that) and truly cosmic. Amon Düül II really were like nothing before or since.
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