Amon Düül II

Amon Düül II - The Best of 1969-1974 - 1997 - Purple Pyramid

Amon Düül have had a complicated history. Formed in Germany in 1967, they were originally known as Amon Düül or Amon Düül I, and gradually evolved into Amon Düül II, aka Amon Düül (UK), and then about thirteen years after their inception, they used the original Amon Düül name. The band were and are a hugely popular progressive psychedelic (How's that for alliteration !?) experimental rock band, They are the band that everybody has heard of but no one seems to have listened to. Many Krautrock bands were notoriously unorthodox in their compositions, and yet have produced some brilliant music, especially some of the seventies stuff. Amon Duul come in at number one in the "unorthodoxy" charts. Some of their album tracks are like spontaneous jamming sessions, drifting and floating aimlessly, using mainly percussion and accentuated voices. Their music often contains seemingly irregular musical patterns, and then develops into a beautiful melody! Really unique stuff, and completely uncommercial. Some of their lyrics are cryptic, with political and historical themes. Amon Düül's music can take some getting used to but like Can's great "Tago Mago" album, it will grow on you and you will definitely listen to some of the tracks again. Most of the tracks on this album are taken from the band's "Phallus Dei" (1969), "Yeti" (1970), "Dance of the Lemmings" (1971), "Carnival in Babylon" (1972), "Wolf City" (1973), "Utopia" (1973), "Viva La Trance" (1973), "Live in London" (1973), and "Space Hi-Fidelity" albums. This compilation album contains most of the band's best and most accessible work, and is most definitely worth listening to. The sound quality varies on this album, but understandable given the time span of the recordings. Check out the brilliant "Dance of the Lemmings" album from 1971, and the "Phallus Dei" and "Flawless" albums.

TRACKS / COMPOSERS / PERFORMED BY (P b)

1 Wie Der Wind Am Ende Einer Strasse - Amon Düül II - (Performed by Chris Karrer, Olaf Kubler, Peter Leopold, Falk U. Rogner, D. Secundus, Al Sri Al, Pandit Shankar)
2 Archangel Thunderbird - Sigfried Loch, Amon Düül II - (P b Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, Peter Leopold, Falk U. Rogner, John Weinzierl, Dave Anderson)
3 Deutsch Nepa - Lothar Meid, Olaf Kubler - (P b Amon Düül II)
4 Kannan - Amon Düül II - ( P b Chris Karrer, Dieter, Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, Peter Leopold, Falk U. Rogner, John Weinzierl, Dave Anderson)
5 Surrounded By The Stars - Chris Karrer, Falk U. Rogner - (P b Chris Karrer, Olaf Kubler, Peter Leopold, Falk U. Rogner, D. Secundus, Al Sri Al, Pandit Shankar)
6 Improvisations - Amon Düül II - ( P b Chris Karrer, Lothar Meid, Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, Chris Rogner)
7 Soap Shop Rock - Amon Düül II - (P b Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, Falk U. Rogner, John Weinzierl, Dave Anderson)
8 Wolf City - Chris Karrer, Lothar Meid, Daniel Fischelscher, Falk U. Rogner - ( P b Amon Düül II)
9 Cerberus - Amon Düül II - (P b Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, Peter Leopold, Falk U. Rogner, John Weinzierl, Dave Anderson)
10 Henriette Krotenschwanz - Amon Düül II - (P b Chris Karrer, Dieter, Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, Peter Leopold, Falk U. Rogner, John Weinzierl, Dave Anderson)
11 Race From Here To Your Ears (a) Little Tornadoes - J. Weinzierl, F. Rogner - ( P b Chris Karrer, Lothar Meid, Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, Chris Rogner)
12 Kronwinkl 12 - John Weinzierl - (P b Joy Alaska, Olaf Kubler, Falk U. Rogner)
13 Utopia No. 1 - Lothar Meid, Olaf Kubler - (P b Amon Düül II)
14 Stumbling Over Melted Moonlight - Amon Düül II - (P b Chris Karrer, Lothar Meid, Peter Leopold, Falk U. Rogner)
15 A Morning Excuse - Amon Düül II - (P b Chris Karrer, Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, Peter Leopold, Falk U. Rogner, John Weinzierl)
16 A Short Stop At The Trans-Sylvanian Brain-Surgery - Lothar Meid, Falk U. Rogner, John Weinzierl - (P b Chris Karrer, Lothar Meid, Peter Leopold, Falk U. Rogner)
17 Pale Gallery - Amon Düül II - (P b Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, Peter Leopold, Falk U. Rogner, John Weinzierl, Dave Anderson)

MUSICIANS

Chris Karrer (Guitar), (Violin), (Sax (Soprano)), (Vocals), (Guitar (12 String)
Lothar Meid (Bass), (Guitar (Bass)), (Vocals)
Joy Alaska (Vocals (Background)
Dave Anderson (Bass)
Dieter (Percussion)
Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz (Tambourine), (Vocals), (Choir, Chorus),(Krotenschwanzl)
Olaf Kubler (Sax (Soprano)),(Percussion)
Peter Leopold (Percussion),(Piano), (Drums), (Pauken)
Robby (Bass),(Guitar), (Cello), (Guitar (Electric)), (Choir, Chorus)
Falk U. Rogner (Organ), (Synthesizer),(Electronic Sounds)
D. Secundus (Drums)
John Weinzierl (Guitar),(Piano), (Guitar (Electric)), (Vocals), (Guitar (12 String)
Amon Düül II (Performer)
Shrat (Bongos), (Vocals)
Danny Secundus Fichelscher (Drums)
Al Sri Al (Sitar)
Dave Anderson (Performer)
Pandit Shankar (Tabla)
Liz (Tamboura)

AMON DUUL BIO (Wikipedia)

Amon Düül was a German political art commune formed out of the student movement of the 1960s which became well-known for its free form musical improvisations. This spawned two rock groups, Amon Düül (sometimes referred to as Amon Düül I) and the more famous Amon Düül II. After both groups disbanded in the 1970s some of the original members reunited in the 1980s under the name Amon Düül again, though this incarnation is commonly referred to as Amon Düül (UK) to avoid confusions with the original one. Amon Düül began in 1967 as a radical political art commune of Munich based artists calling themselves, in part, after the Egyptian Sun God Amon; Düül has been cited as a character from Turkish fiction. The commune attained cult status for its free form musical improvisations, performed around the happenings and demonstrations of the contemporary politicized youth movement. The commune had a liberal attitude to artistic freedom, valuing enthusiasm and attitude over artistic ability, and as a result, band membership was fluid; anyone who was part of the commune could be part of the group. A faction within the commune was more ambitious, conventional and musically structured than the commune society overall. This led to a split within the collective, which separated in 1969 into the components "Amon Düül" and "Amon Düül II". Though not as highly regarded as their successors, Amon Düül celebrated in a joyfully open ended experimentation that at times equalled their more successful psychedelic rock equivalents in countries such as the USA or Brazil (e.g. Os Mutantes). Such a loose methodology was unavoidably hit or miss and led to frequent disruptive personnel changes. The members were close to Kommune 1 in Berlin and boasted, for a time, a prominent member in Uschi Obermaier, a glamour girl of the day. Continuing for seven years, with varying degrees of success and in varying mutating guises, they wound down in 1973 after releasing four official albums (though most were recorded pre 1970 and the first three albums all came from one 1968 jam) which are these days regarded as unique, if unessential, records in the history of German rock. Amon Düül II were formed in 1968 by the aforementioned more professionally and technically inclined members of the original collective, with core members John Weinzierl, Chris Karrer, Peter Leopold, Falk Rogner, and Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz. They signed to the United Artists label and released a string of highly regarded albums with strong psychedelic and progressive flourishes. After 1975, the band changed labels and moved towards more accessible music, before finally disbanding in the late 70's. At the beginning of the 1980s John Weinzeirl, with original bassist Dave Anderson and various others, began releasing albums as Amon Düül again (though this band is commonly called Amon Düül (UK) to differentiate it from the original one). Between 1982 and 1989, they released five albums, but they generally failed to ignite the interest of most former fans. When the 1990s brought new exposure and audiences to the original krautrock groups, Chris, Renate, Falk and John reunited, and continue to perform sporadically.

MORE ABOUT AMON DUUL

Amon Düül preferred the commune life to the hurly-burly of the music business, releasing several albums edited from recordings of a single extended jam session conducted in 1968. Several commune members with greater musical ambitions formed Amon Düül II — they saw no reason to struggle for a new name, or argue over the original. The new group was helmed by John Weinzierl, Chris Karrer and Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, and set to work to produce an impressive debut with Phallus Dei. This was followed quickly by the double album Yeti, the cover of which features one of the band's roadies. 1972 brought the release of another two-LP set — Tanz der Lemminge ("Dance of the Lemmings"), a recording widely considered to be the keystone of the Amon Düül II catalog. With stylistic abandon, the album mixed together everything from straight-ahead rock to experimental noodling, all built around a series of science-fiction themes. The band performed with a joyfulness that belied the real seriousness of the experimental work involved. They continued on this path for several years, continuing to release highly regarded albums that achieved only moderate sales, at best. 1975's Made in Germany (released in two-LP and single-LP versions) found the band making an attempt to present a more commercially appealing side, with little effect on the market. Continuing failure to crack the mainstream eventually brought the band back to its more experimental roots, though not before causing the core unit to fall moribund for a while. In 1981, a further spin-off, formed by John Weinzierl under the original name (and also known as Amon Düül UK and, rarely, as Amon Düül III) recorded sporadically in the 1980s. Weinzierl worked with former Hawkwind member Dave Anderson on a total of five albums (one of which, Airs on a Shoestring, was a compilation drawn from the first two, with additional material salted in), with additional bandmembers coming from all walks of the British progressive/psychedelic scene. For Lösung, Weinzierl and Anderson collaborated with the late Robert Calvert, as well as drummer Guy Evans. Amon Düül II reappeared during the 1990s, producing a series of remixes and original material, as well as Live in Tokyo and the intriguing benefit album Kobe (Reconstruction), which focused on material from 1969-1971. Members continue to be active with both solo and band projects. EastWest Records Germany released a four-CD retrospective box set in 1997. The '90s renewed interest in Krautrock culminated with the re-release of three of the group's albums — Wolf City, Yeti and Viva la Trance — in 1999. © Steven McDonald, allmusic.com