Amon Düül -1972 - Disaster — Lüüd Noma

AMON DÜÜL were a huge musical collective that had a spectacular appearance in a tv-show in 1968. Before they put out their first album they split though, and one half set off to form AMON DÜÜL II.

The others kept the name AMON DÜÜL and in 1969 published the first Krautrock album ever, "Psychedelic Underground". It was very badly produced, and the music consisted of long improvisations, but after this album no other band needed to have an inferiority complex. Their second official album "Paradieswärts Düül" (1970) is much better produced and has a folky touch. The albums "Collapsing - Singvögel Rückwärts", "Disaster" and "Experimente" stem from the same session as "Psychedelic Underground" and are of similar nature; they were published after the band had split up already.

Amon Duul - Psychedelic Underground (1969)

Psychedelic Underground is the debut psychedelic rock album by the German band Amon Düül. It was released in 1969.

AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett:
 “Some albums just have the perfect name, and Amon Duul's debut nails that to a T. Obscure upon release and obscure even now, for all the cult appeal, Underground is music at its most experimental and relentlessly uncommercial, using late-'60s inspirations as a launching ground for what came to be described as Krautrock.
Psych-folk was another common term, one which applies just fine to much of the music here, feeling like an enthusiastic medieval festival gone just out of control enough, and with electricity to boot. Taken from a jam session from the previous year, but treated with many studio effects that enhance the strangeness of the collection, Underground rocks to its own weird beat. Opening track "Ein Wunderhubsches Madchen Traumt von Sandosa" captures what sounds like a great experience for everyone involved, a 17-minute composition heavy on the drums and percussion, with a basic, chugging guitar riff in one channel and chanting, call-and-response vocals located throughout the mix. At one point the jam is faded out in favor of piano parts, train noises, and the like, only to be brought back in again just as strongly, before finally fading into the gentler "Kaskados Minnelied," a mix of acoustic and electric guitars, along with a stringed instrument of some sort, that favors drones as much as it does soft riffs. The tracks on the second side have the same understandable vibe, but some are sparer in comparison, as with the keening strummed guitar/vocal combination "Im Garten Sandosa" and "Mama Duul und Ihre Sauerkrautband spielt auf," which is mostly clattering percussion in one stereo channel! You could say the sound quality isn't the best, but given the year of recording and the prevelance of lo-fi production approaches in more recent years, it doesn't sound that bad at all.”

Amon Düül II - Kobe (Reconstructions) [CTCD-039] 1996

None of the music contained in these records is new: they present just one long track per album, which is a hodgepodge of released and unreleased jam snippets from 1969/1970; most of the themes are well known to Düül fans even if the titles are misleading and do not mention them.

Historically this could have some importance for the unreleased material, which summarily hints at Düül II's method of composition in the old days: spontaneous jams are then organized in parts with the addition of previously composed material to forge songs such as Soap Shop Rock (of which we have some parts on here too).

Amon Düül II - Düülirium 2009 "Bee as Such"

Review by Neu!mann
PROGarchives.com REVIEWER
2 stars Comeback albums aren't normally as haphazard as this belated effort by one of Krautrock's essential forefathers: recorded in 2009; offered as a digital download under the name "Bee as Such" in 2010; and four years later finally given a legitimate CD release, with a better title and actual sleeve art...everything except a credible performance, sadly.

Amon Düül II - Manana (1971 '73) THE COMPLETE BBC RECORDINGS

rod45 Nov 26 2014  3.50 stars
Good "live" recording of some of their early to middle 70's stuff. Live in London is a bit better but if you were into this band way back when, I think you will appreciate this. Of course a wee buzz helps as it does with all Amon Duul 2 recordings.
RIP  Lothar Meid
RIP  Peter Leopold
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Lord_Corkscrew Jan 13 2009  3.00 stars
This is the complete BBC recordings by Amon Düül II. Most of it was already available in the 1992 BBC Live in Concert album.
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Amon Duul II - Hawk Meets Penguin 1991

Trying to find out any information about this album is very difficult. Dave Anderson(Hawk) and John Weinzierl(Penguin) both formerly of AMON DUUL II got together in Wales to form this version of that legendary band. I've read on the "Gepr" site that Guy Evans from VDGG is the drummer on this one. I read somewhere else that the female singer on the first track is Julie Wareing. Both Julie and Guy are listed as members of this band on a later record called "Die Losung" where Robert Calvert (HAWKWIND) also plays a prominant role.

"One Moment's Anger Is Two Pints Of Blood" opens with guitar, light drums, bass and synth sounds. Quite spacey as female vocal melodies come in before a minute(they come and go). We start to get a melody 4 minutes in until a great sound is created(with keys) a minute later. It calms right down before picking back up after 6 minutes. This sounds so beautiful. Love the keys as female vocal melodies return before 8 minutes. Some tasteful guitar joins in. Again the keys and sound 9 1/2 minutes in are so simple yet so wondrous. Vocal melodies again follow. More tasteful guitar before 11 minutes. Synths late make some noise. I've played this over and over many times.

Amon Duul II - Almost Alive (1977)

Editorial Reviews
With the six tracks on 'Almost Alive', Amon Duul II still caped the magic of their music. Even if this album sounds more mainstream, you can always feel the vibe of the early 70th, when Duul started to become Germany's music export No. 1. Highlights on this album are the dark and apocalyptic sounding 'Ain't Today Tomorrow's Yesterday', one of the most inventive instrumentals that Amon Duul II ever recorded and 'Live In Jericho', witch ends up in a madly Jam-Session. 'Almost Alive' is what the title already says, an album with the spontaneous, uncaged music that Amon Duul II ever recorded. For the complete re-issue series of the Amon Duul 2 catalogue, the band recorded exclusive bonus material.

Amon Düül - Experimente ( 1983 )

Posthumously released first in 1983, 'Experimente' offers up what I'm sure many of us hope to be the final leftovers from the groups famous 1968 jam session. In total, there are 24 tracks simply titled 'Special Track Experience'. Surprisingly, the material comprising 'Experimente' features slightly less percussion and is more coherent and interesting than any of the material on 'Disaster' or 'Collapsing'. Each of the 'Special Track Experience' tracks appears to be trimmed from a longer body of music, a trick that BASF should have considered before their release of the aptly titled 'Disaster'. Musically, the material shows a heavy influence from the sixties garage band sound as evidenced by the discordant 'Louie Louie' jam heard on Track 20 and the Sonics-esque sound on Tracks 10 and 11. Contrasting this is a primal melodic sound more akin to early Velvet Underground as evidenced by Track 23. However, the true gem on the album, Track 24, is an early version of a guitar riff later used on 'Archangels Thunderbird' from the album 'Yeti'. If you are thirsting for a little more Amon Duul in your life, you certainly could do worse than this album!

Amon Duul II - Only Human (1978)

Review by thellama73
COLLABORATOR Eclectic Prog Team
3 stars. Okay, look. This album is way better than people give it credit for. Granted, it does not sound like Phallus Dei at all, but that doesn't make it bad, just different. What we have here is a band stretching out to encompass the style of the times, while adding its own unique flavor. As such, Only Human shows strong Disco influences, often incorporating elements from World Music.

Spaniards and Spacemen is a delightful highlight, fusing flamenco guitar with cutting edge electronic dance music. Kismet is also wonderful, with a distinct Middle East flavor. So if you're open minded and not averse to a little Disco, give Only Human a listen.

Amon Düül - Collapsing Singvögel Rückwärts & Co (1969) [RE-POST]

Amon Düül biography
Amon Düül were a huge musical collective that had a spectacular appearance in a tv-show in 1968. Before they put out their first album they split though, and one half set off to form Amon Düül 2 . The others kept the name Amon Düül and in 1969 published the first Krautrock album ever, "Psychedelic Underground". It was very badly produced, and the music consisted of long improvisations, but after this album no other band needed to have an inferiority complex. Their second official album "Paradieswärts Düül" is much better produced and has a folky touch. The albums "Collapsing - Singvögel Rückwärts", "Disaster" and "Experimente" stem from the same session as "Psychedelic Underground" and are of similar nature; they were published after the band had split up already.

Chris Karrer - Sufisticated 1996 (Amon Duul,Embryo related)

Chris Karrer was one of the most important members of Amon Düül 2.
While his first self-titled solo album he published in 1980,
was more or less prog pop (though somehow enjoyable to listen to),
the following albums in the 90s were quite different and strongly influenced by Karrer's conversion to Sufism.
They sound a lot like Embryo, and indeed Karrer was a member of Embryo for some time in the 90s.

Amon Düül [UK] - Airs On A Shoe String 1987 (Best Of...)

Country: United Kingdom - Germany


  Whether the UK branch of Amon Düül really needed a compilation after the release of just two studio albums is an interesting question. However, "Airs On A Shoestring" is an interesting album in its own right, comprising the long, freaky improvisation "One Moment's Anger Is Two Pints Of Blood" from their debut, two more commercial hard rock tracks from "Meetings With Menmachines Unremarkable Heroes From The Past", and "Hymn For The Hardcore", which would later appear on "Fool Moon".       But the real gem - and the real reason to buy this - is the otherwise unreleased "Olaf (Where's My $20,000)?",      a majestic, slowly unfolding progressive masterpiece that just may be the best thing they ever recorded.
Review by Politician

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Hymn for the hardcore (4:22)
2. Pioneer (4:11)
3. One moment's angel is two pints of blood (12:42)
4. Marcus Leid (9:44)
5. Olaf (Where's My $20,000?) (13:29)

Total Time: 44:30
Line-up / Musicians
- Anderson / Weinzierl

>Amon Duul [UK]- Airs On A Shoe String (1987)<

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For LOSSY go here below;

 A Must 4 Deaf Ears/amon-duul-uk-airs-on-shoe-string-1987.html

Amon Duul UK - Fool Moon 1989

biography
The British Amon Düül were formed in 1981 in Great Britain by guitar player John Weinzierl (Penguin) and bass player Dave Anderson, who both had been members of Amon Düül 2. They published a few albums during the 80s; sadly most of them with very little information about who played on them; only "Die Lösung" gives some detailed information on the cover. From the information on "Die Lösung" one can see that the line-up was very interesting, at least on this record; besides Weinzierl and Anderson it features Robert Calvert of Hawkwind as singer (he was also responsible for the lyrics), Julie Wareing on vocals, Guy Evans of VdGG on drums and Ed Wynne and Joie Hinton of the Ozric Tentacles on guitar and synths. Their records were of varying quality; I recommend "Die Lösung", which should be something every prog-fan should like, and "Hawk Meets Penguin" for those who are not afraid of free-form improvisation in the style of the early Krautrock.

Amon Düül II 1973 Utopia [rem 2000] progrock ,Krautrock

Here's another Amon Duul II (?!) album - oh, wait a minute - it could be a Lothar Meid solo effort - or, Utopia !! I remember seeing LP's of this lumped in with others by Todd Rundgren's band of the same name - same prices as those common records, too. The songs on this album sound very close to ADII, and the quality is as good. I don't understand why this release isn't favoured here at PA, it features many of the traits which made the 'Mothership' so exciting. The first track 'What You Gonna Do' is a straight-ahead rocker, with Renate Knaup singing, always nice to hear her distinctive voice. 'Wolf-Man Jack Show' is a weird song, with Jimmy Jackson at the mysterious 'Choir Organ' (giving off a stranger sound than Mellotron choirs), which he actually utilised on many tracks to good effect. The Bass riff here is almost snatched straight from Beatlers' 'Come Together', played German style. 'Alice' is a sweet love song. The tune itself is care-free and up-lifting, and has Lothar playing Mellotron flutes. I can't help but be reminded of Kevin Ayers on this one. 'Las Vegas' is a hippy-sounding jam with congas, jazzy sax playing and a nose-flute !!

Amon Duul II - Nada Moonshine Gate - 1995

How come this recent addition to the AD stable hasn't been reviewed? Very different from everything that came before but, for all that, a welcome progression. This is AD being experimental, innovative and exciting, but never relinquishing their roots. Highly entertaining album worthy of playing over and over. Accesible to virtually everyone and this may be the stumbling block for all Duul devotees! But not me! ~ progarchives.com

Amon Düül III [UK] 1992 Die Lösung (with special guest Robert Calvert)

(with special guest Robert Calvert)

This is one great album, and one needn't be familiar with a single note ever played by Amon Düül, Amon Düül II, or any other German progressive rock band to enjoy it; indeed, this is the kind of album that fans of the Doors might honestly be said to have been wishing for. Stylistically there's not a lot in common between the two groups apart from some highly melodic guitar, some of it blues-derived (the Groundhogs' Tony McPhee is on the album, so you knew there'd be blues in there somewhere), and swirling organ and synthesizer arabesques, but one does get the real sense of this being

Amon Duul II - Pyragony X - 1976 (progrock)

Amon Duul II - Pyragony X - 1976 (progrock) (2004 GOD CD103)

Amon Duul II's worst album is still a good album.

Although ADII evolved quite a bit throughout their lifespan, I would not say that they ever progressed. They simply changed from psychadelic krautrock to accessible pop/rock with experimental and psychadelic tendencies...and the evolution is evident from album to album. While songs may differ largely in overall excellence, every track this band ever recorded is easily enjoyable, that is to say they never made a bad song or album. If Pyragony X were my introduction to ADII, I may have been more hesitant to immediately consume all they have to offer, but such was not the case.

Amon Duul II - 1981-Vortex (Psychedelic Krautrock)

(2005, SPV_Revisited SPV085-304022_REV011, Remaster, bonus)
Studio Album, released in 1981

Three years after audiences left them for dead (after the abysmal and best-forgotten ONLY HUMAN), the Düül return with a surprisingly vital reformation effort in VORTEX. The lineup this time: Karrer, Knaup, Rogner, Fichelscher (he and Renate were members of the then-current lineup of Popol Vuh) and Jörg Evers (on bass), with guest appearances by John Weinzierl, Lothar Meid and...er...Stefan Zauner (relegated to playing keyboards, mercifully not contributing to the songwriting).

The sound is somewhere between VIVE LA TRANCE and MADE IN GERMANY. The cabaret sound returns for "Mona", but most of the sound is a lot more intense, as on the pulsating title song and the dramatic "Gestern ist das Heute von Morgen". This is probably the most Renate-heavy of all the albums, she sings lead (or co-lead) on every song (even the "instrumental" title track), so if you're a fan, you'd do good to check it out.


Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Vortex (5:50)
2. Holy West (5:09)
3. Die 7 feten Jahr' (4:33)
4. Wings of the wind (4:50)
5. Mona (5:01)
6. We are machine (5:16)
7. Das Gestern ist das heute von Morgen (4:30)
8. Vibes in the air (6:27)

9. Whatever (8:34)(bonus track)
10.(Ras)Putin in der Badewanne (9:19) (bonus track)

Total Time: 59:51

Line-up / Musicians

- Renate Aschauer-Knaup / vocals, tambourine
- Jörg Evers: bass, acoustic & electric guitars,
synthesizer
- Daniel Fichelscher / drums, acoustic guitar, percussion
- Chris Karrer / acoustic & electric guitars, violin, saxes
- Falk U. Rogner / synthesizers

+ Lothar Meid / bass (6)
- John Weinzierl / guitar (7)
- Stefan Zauner / piano, synthesizers


==>Amon Duul II - 1981-Vortex <==

Amon Düül III [UK] Meetings With Menmachines, Unremarkable Heroes Of The Past (1982)

By 1971, it was clear that Amon Düül II was the major unit of the axis. Still, lineups were barely stable enough to credit the same group with all of the work released under the Amon Düül II banner. Members came and went during the early '70s -- the only constants were Karrer and Weinzierl -- and Amon Düül II gradually progressed away from the acid-improv style of their first recordings to embrace a more pop-oriented approach to progressive rock on 1973's Vive la Trance and the following year's Hijack, which saw many old members returning to the fold. Two new additions, Stefan Zauner and Klaus Ebert, added a keyboard-dominated quasi-disco sound to 1976's Pyragony, and the duo's sound soon dominated the crumbling Amon Düül II lineup. Both Knaup and Weinzierl left the group by 1978 (to play with, respectively, Popol Vuh and Embryo), and Amon Düül II finally halted one year after.

Amon Duul II - Tanz der Lemminge (1971) RE-POST

Studio Album, released in 1971

DANCE OF THE LEMMINGS

Outside of Germany, this album is known as "Dance of the Lemmings". This third album finds these Krautrock pioneers at the top of their game, as far as experimentation goes. And this album, like its predecessor, Yeti, was originally released as a double LP set. The first two sides of "Tanz..." consists of bizarre music, consisting of vocals, jams, and bizarre effects. The third side consist of nothing but spacy experimental effects that sound a whole lot like Alpha Centauri-era TANGERINE DREAM (who were their contemporaries, after all). This stuff would fit find on Rolf Ulrich Kaiser's Ohr label (the label TD, ASH RA TEMPEL, the original AMON DÜÜL with their album Para Dieswierts Düül, and others recorded for), although released on United Artists in America and presumably Liberty in Germany.