AMON DÜÜL II – Yeti (Liberty Records – LBS 83 359/60 X / 2LP-1970)

Label: Liberty – LBS 83 359/60 X

Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Germany / Released: 1970

Style: Krautrock, Psychedelic Rock, Free Improvisation

Printed By – Carl v. d. Linnepe, Lüdenscheid / April 1970 on Liberty Rec.

Design [Cover Design] – Amon Düül II

Engineer – Willy Schmidt

Producer – Amon Düül II, Olaf Kübler

Co-producer – Siegfried E. Loch

Composed By, Lyrics By, Arranged By – Amon Düül II

Matrix / Runout (A-side, stamped): C 83359 A-1 Made in Germany

Matrix / Runout (B-side, stamped): C 83359 B-1 Made in Germany

Matrix / Runout (C-side, stamped): C 83360 A-2 Made in Germany

Matrix / Runout (D-side, stamped): C 83360 B-1 Made in Germany

Side A

A1 - Soap Shop Rock ........................................................................................ 13:47

        a) Burning Sister .......................................................... 3:41

        b)  Halluzination Guillotine ........................................... 3:05

        c)  Gulp a Sonata ......................................................... 0:45

        d)  Flesh-Coloured Anti-Aircraft Alarm ......................... 5:53

A2 - She Came Through the Chimney ................................................................. 3:01

Side B

B1 - Archangels Thunderbird ............................................................................... 3:33

B2 - Cerberus ....................................................................................................... 4:21

B3 - The Return of Rübezahl ............................................................................... 1:41

B4 - Eye-Shaking King ........................................................................................ 5:40

B5 - Pale Gallery .................................................................................................. 2:16

Side C

 C1 - Yeti (Improvisation) ................................................................................... 18:12

Side D

D1 - Yeti Talks to Yogi (Improvisation) ................................................................. 6:18

D2 - Sandoz in the Rain (Improvisation) ............................................................. 9:00

Personnel:

Renate Knaup-Krötenschwanz – vocals, tambourine

John Weinzierl – guitar, twelve-string guitar, vocals

Chris Karrer – violin, guitar, twelve-string guitar, vocals

Falk Rogner – organ

Dave Anderson – bass

Peter Leopold – drums, percussion

Christian "Shrat" Thierfeld – bongos, vocals

Guests on "Sandoz in the Rain":

Rainer Bauer – guitar

Ulrich Leopold – bass

Thomas Keyserling – flute

Yeti is the second studio album by German rock band Amon Düül II, first released in April 1970 on Liberty (Germany: LBS 83359/60 X; United Kingdom: LSP 101) as a double LP. The album was produced by Olaf Kübler and Amon Düül II, and engineered by Willy Schmidt, "with a little help of Siegfried E. Loch". Including both short songs and longer, improvisational tracks, British avant-garde music magazine The Wire describes Yeti as "one of the cornerstones of both Amon Düül's career and the entire Krautrock movement.

Note:

The cover was designed by the band's organist, Falk Rogner, and features a collage depicting the Grim Reaper (German: Der Sensenmann), made from a photograph of Wolfgang Krischke. Krischke, who had worked with the band as a sound man, had died of hypothermia while under the effects of LSD. Rogner said: "When he died I thought that the photo would be a perfect tribute to his memory. He never managed to find his way into Amon Düül properly when he was alive, so maybe his image as Der Sensenmann will work as a strange cover image and he could be remembered as a magical person."

Although "Tanz der Lemminge" is largely considered as the best classic Amon Duul II album, I prefer "Yeti". It is also a double LP, but the musical journey produced on this album by this crazy bunch of hippie experimentators surpass even the toughest and the most daring listeners' expectations! It is almost one long, trippy, psychedelic acid rock improvisation streched across four sides of an LP set. Pumping and intoxicating rhythm section accompanied by the screaming solos of jangly guitars and occasional violin makes its peak here on "Yeti". Crumbs of VELVET UNDERGROUND "dirty" sound and of San Fransico acid scene are heard here and there but they are ever more expanded into a dangerous, unknown experimental territories, at least up to this point of time (remember, the year is 1970!).

Unlike their later, more refined efforts, this embryonic recording showcases the more urgent sound of a band with strong ties to the European counterculture barricades of 1968. The music is almost raw in spots, but not without a certain primitive beauty, moving from the dreamy psychedelia of "She Came Through the Chimney" (complete with bongo drums and more than a whiff of cannabis) to the feedback-soaked power of "Archangel Thunderbird", on which the strident upper-octave singing anticipates Johnny Rotten's angry vulpine growl by more than half a decade.

Spaced-out one-chord guitar jams with pounding drums and thrashing cymbals, ghostly violins in Middle Eastern echo chambers, and the amps all cranked to maximum distortion. For lack of a better comparison (always the cheapest form of criticism, to be sure) think of a shotgun marriage between "Space Ritual" HAWKWIND and the more cosmic digressions of early PINK FLOYD, circa "Ummagumma".

Centerpiece is the 24 minute jam session Yeti which was devided in 2 parts. A magical mystery tour from the beginning to the end. Absolutely fascinating and I'm quite sure this could only played in that way under well dosed drug influence. Psychedelic guitars, often very sentimental and melancholic, various bass playing, hypnotic repetitive but also detached as a solo instrument and a very interesting drum timing. By all means a unique Krautrock gem. Sandoz in the rain afterwards is for relaxing after the Yeti was around - a nice flower power piece with acoustic guitar, flute and percussion.

I am aware that listening of this album can be a painful and rather devastating experience for novices or the people who prefer melody, arrangement and nice production. But for those others, go ahead and try this potion - you may well experience rather different realities without chemical abuses. This is one of the most powerful and uncompromising records I ever listened and definitely among the top 10 Krautrock albums!

(Review by Neu!mann–Seyo–Rivertree / Prog Reviewers)

If you find it, buy this album!

AMON DÜÜL II – Tanz Der Lemminge (Liberty – LBS 83 473/74 X – 2LP-1971)

Label: Liberty – LBS 83 473/74 X

Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Germany / Released: 1971 

Style: Krautrock, Psychedelic Rock, Free Improvisation

Printed in Germany by Carl v. d. Linnepe, 1971, Lüdenscheid.

Engineer – K.-H. Hausmann

Mixed By – Kalle Hausmann

Producer – Amon Düül II, Olaf Kübler

Original Film-Musik Cham Sin mit Maria Schell

Written-By – Karrer, Rogner, Weinzierl, Meid

Matrix / Runout (A-side, stamped): C 83473 A-1 Made in Germany

Matrix / Runout (B-side, stamped): C 83473 B-1 Made in Germany

Matrix / Runout (C-side, stamped): C 83 474 A-1 Made in Germany

Matrix / Runout (D-side, stamped): C 83 474 B-1 Made in Germany

Side A

"SYNTELMAN'S MARCH OF THE ROARING SEVENTIES" ..................... (15:51)

A1 - In the Glass Garden ......................................................... 1:39

A2 - Pull Down Your Mask ....................................................... 4:39

A3 - Prayer to the Silence ........................................................ 1:04

A4 - Telephonecomplex ........................................................... 8:26

Side B

"RESTLESS SKYLIGHT-TRANSISTOR-CHILD" ......................................... (19:33)

B1 - Landing in a Ditch ............................................................ 1:12

B2 - Dehypnotized Toothpaste ................................................. 0:52

B3 - A Short Stop at the Transylvanian Brain-Surgery ............ 5:00

B4 - Race From Here to Your Ears .......................................... 5:20

        a)  Part I - Little Tornadoes

        b)  Part II - Overheated Tiara

        c)  Part III - The Flyweighted Five

B5 - Riding on a Cloud ............................................................. 2:33

B6 - Paralyzed Paradise .......................................................... 3:07

B7 - H.G. Wells' Take Off ......................................................... 1:26

Side C

"CHAMSIN SOUNDTRACK" ........................................................................ (18:05)

C  -  The Marilyn Monroe-Memorial-Church ...........................18:05

Side D

"CHAMSIN SOUNDTRACK"......................................................................... (15.00)

D1 - Chewing Gum Telegram .................................................. 2:41

D2 - Stumbling Over Melted Moonlight ................................... 4:33

D3 - Toxicological Whispering ................................................. 7:45

Personnel:

Renate Knaup-Krötenschwanz – vocals, tambourine

Chris Karrer – electric guitar / acoustic guitar, violin, vocals

John Weinzierl – guitars, piano, vocals

Falk Rogner – organ, electronics

Lothar Meid – bass guitar, double bass, vocals

Peter Leopold – drums, percussion, piano

with:

Jimmy Jackson – organ, choir-organ, piano

Al Gromer – sitar

Rolf Zacher – vocals

Through the trials and tribulations that life has to offer comes a vast wealth of inspiration and karmic balance and thus the members of AMON DÜÜL II were collecting their just dessert after having a series of setbacks. One of the most terrifying events was at the Keks Club in Cologne, Germany in 1971 when a fire not only destroyed all of their musical gear but snuffed out four youths in attendance and then soon thereafter their new equipment was ripped off which lacking any insurance and not totally paid, ended up bankrupting the band as royalties for their previous two records were garnished to pay off creditors. As can be expected, such incidents create extreme tensions with members of a fledgling band simply trying to make their way in the cult recesses of the music scene and as a result bassist Dave Anderson was the first to bail and immediately hooked up with Hawkwind while founding member Chris Karrer (violin, guitars) would take off to join Embryo. Meanwhile Renate Knaup who never really left the band, only contributed when she felt like it and pretty much sitting this one out with the exception of the one teeny weeny track "Riding On A Cloud" which she clearly was and found that more interesting. Likewise Falk Rogner stuck around on a part-time basis and as a result organ playing duties are shared.

Such was the rotating door lifestyle of 70s commune life yet all the turmoil resulted in a very different creation process for TANZ DER LEMMINGE than "Yeti" which only came out a year before but sounds light years away in sound and overall feel. No longer were Anderson's signature bass playing style present as Lothar Meid took the helm and had a completely different artistic direction. However, despite all the odds stacked against them, the collective commune that had garnered much attention with their first two albums retreated to the eye of the hurricane and reformed, took a deep breath and still managed to release their second double album in a two year timespan. The very first startling thing you will notice when putting on their third album is how very, very different it sounds compared with the previous two. But despite it all, it wasn't only a bloody miracle that it was created at all but actually stands up as one of the band's most varied, creative and ambitious releases of their entire career. This album came out just months after their series of catastrophes under the German title TANZ DER LEMMINGE but was released in the US as DANCE OF THE LEMMINGS. It also found a repackaging in Italy where it was retitled VIAGGIO IN UN SOGNO ("Journey Into A Dream").

The evolving aspects from "Yeti" to TANZ DER LEMMINGE also reflect the turbulence of early 1970s Germany as idealistic hippie and leftist values turned to full-fledged violent revolutionary attempts to use terrorism in order to protest the state apparatus. The Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Gang) shook the entire country to its core and inevitably the arts and musical culture were equally affected. While "Phallus Dei" and "Yeti" were more free flowing and psychedelic rock oriented with a sense of naive innocence running through their course, TANZ DER LEMMINGE is not only more sophisticated in the musical sense but runs the gamut of the emotional spectrum equally as if the band just like the land in which they resided was facing the most uncertain of futures and in the process were throwing any zany idea possible at the wall to see what would stick. The result of this nosedive into the world of fastidious experimentation resulted in a sprawler of a concept album that contains four progressive rock suites with each offering completely different moods and objectives. While these grails convene to take the listener on a wild roller coaster ride of musical diversity, they all coalesce into a larger sense of creating a surreal and psychedelic narrative of the era.

TANZ DER LEMMINGE is most certainly a more thoughtful and provocative album than what came before and will require ample periods of uninterrupted attention with plenty of after time rumination. Upon first listen i was actually disappointed with this album, big time, as i was expecting a clearcut continuation of "Yeti." While i may have put this back on the shelf for a while, it had planted its seeds and summoned my nonjudgmental return. Upon reflection and ample listening time i have fallen under its hypnotic spell as it mesmerizes my restlessness while stimulating my creative cranial cortex. The diversity of sounds, tones, styles and twisted tales of the imagined or not comes off as a playful nerdy paradise of sounds that slinks and swirls in every foreseeable direction of the sonic palette while earning an A+ for tenacity on the trip-o-meter. No you don't need drugs to enjoy this but then again, maybe you do. You without doubt need patience and above all a very open mind. This is certainly a grower as it strives for a 10 on the progometer but really only scaling up to a 9. For 1971 this is some pretty daring stuff. It far outreaches other Krautrock contemporaries. While Can and Faust were limiting their respective sounds to a certain niche market, AMON DÜÜL II were taking the rock approach to the jazzy stellar other worlds of Sun Ra and his Magic Arkestra as if they were abducted by alien beings and implanted with creativity chips. Man, that commune idea really worked for these guys at the time but like all good parties it must come to and end and such is the case with the highest peak of their career as the following albums incrementally became tamer and commercial. TANZ DER LEMMINGE, however was and remains one of the highest peaks of the early Krautrock world.

(Review by siLLy puPPy / Prog Reviewer)

If you find it, buy this album!