Tangerine Dream

'Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Krautrock'

is it A) Brilliant and every second forsaw every movement in music
B) Some of it was good, but some is awful
C) Dreadful and everyone needs a good slap or rehab
D) None of the above, although I haven't heard much

I'd go for B myself, tons of it is really really over-rated, but there are lost gems out there, which begs the question, which ones are yours?

My wife has a good laugh when I play Can or Faust. Nah some was not good but..some was excellent . Tago Mago by Can was a big surprise to me a great album.

sparrow wrote:My wife has a good laugh when I play Can or Faust. Nah some was not good but..some was excellent . Tago Mago by Can was a big surprise to me a great album.

I've always had a love/hate relationship with Can, I love the idea of them, as a group as well as solo artists, but the results aren't always as good as I hoped for (and believe me I bought quite a lot), at their best, which in my case if Future Days I think they're stunning. Solo wise I don't think you can beat Irmin Schmidt's Toy Planet and the track Rapido de Noir....singing trains, how cool is that? oh and Baal with Jaki on guitar (from his 3 disc anthology) is also wonderful.

Faust? utterly nuts, mad, insane, uneven and yet brilliant. So Far and the Clear Self Titled album are stunners, as is some of the recent stuff they did.

I'm a kraut afficionado.

mainly I listened to what Schulze and Tangerine Dream made in their first years, but now I've gone through Ash Ra Tempel (fantastic), some Ashra (they're more electronic starting 1979), Cosmic Jokers (sweet), Wegmuller (pretty good), Golowin (only one album, but with amazing moments), PSI (more jazz than kraut), Dzyan (impressive moments), Floh De Cologne (politische-ironische-brogg rock kraut).

and counting.

I vote for the last four words of option D).

Hobo wrote:I vote for the last four words of option D).

I'm for option D too. I've never really understood what people mean by Kraut Rock since many of the bands don't sound anything like each other. For example I've heard The Scorpions and Tangrine Dream both described as KR.

....I've even heard early UFO described as KR and most of them were English.

I am probably half way between B and D - I have not heard enough, but what I have (mostly Can, Cluster and Agitation Free, not forgetting TD of course!) is very good indeed.

I agree with Andy that Can have their off moments, but when they are good, they are supreme. There are some of the most innovative rhythms and melodies I have ever heard amongst their output.

24db wrote:'Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Krautrock'

is it A) Brilliant and every second forsaw every movement in music
B) Some of it was good, but some is awful
C) Dreadful and everyone needs a good slap or rehab
D) None of the above, although I haven't heard much

I'd go for B myself, tons of it is really really over-rated, but there are lost gems out there, which begs the question, which ones are yours?

B for sure, there was a lot of waek stuff in this period but also so great works, Faust, Amon Duull Agitation Free, Kraan, Can and more.

KrautRock?

I as BM despise musical pigeon holes

but to answer the Q, its A and B, where A means KR is influential and original and B means there is lots of unlistenable cobblers...but then there is in most 'genres'....

at this point in the BM journey to oblivion...he is rating:

CAN
AMON DUUL
GURU guru
Grobshitte, er, Grobshnitt
CLUSTER/KLUSTER
Faust....


and my new alltime favs XHOL

So what makes Kraut Rock, Kraut Rock? I still haven't got a clue.

Are Eloy Kraut Rock? 'cos I chuffing love them.

yep, Eloy are KR as are JAne etc


I suppose krautrock can be defined as music emanating from Germany between 1967-1977, music that was experimental rock/free jazz, electronic....


http://www.krautrock.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krautrock

etc



BM

ps, the term Krautrock is believed to have been generated by an early Amon Duul LP........

bigmoog wrote:ps, the term Krautrock is believed to have been generated by an early Amon Duul LP........

There's also a side long track by Conrad Schnitzler called Krautrock, featured on the album "Rot" from 1973
http://www.the-edge.ws/schnitzler/rot.htm

The term was not invented by Germans, at least according to Ralf Hütter:
http://krautrock.pertou.dk/kraftwerk-05.jpg

I advise myself that AMON DUUL (sun moon) are BMs favourite commune

and no AGITATION FREE, quite possibly no TangerineDream (1971-1987 version) as we know it.

Thanks BM and Pertou. I think I'm beginning to get a handle on this.

Still not sure where The Scorpions and UFO fit into this. Can't see them releasing long experimental free-form jazz inspired tracks possibly incorporating electronics. Probably best to gloss over their involvement.