Krautrock: Music For Your Brain

6 CD-Set, the third volume of outstanding Krautrock that will surely do your head in… again! Krautrock was (and still is) a musical phenomenon that sprouted in Germany in the late '60s and early '70s. Combining elements of Psychedelia, Prog Rock, Art Rock and Avante Garde, Krautrock became a movement unto itself. This 64 track anthology features cuts from Birth Control, Nektar, Anyone's Daughter, Guru Guru, Eloy, Pell Mell, and many others.

This is an extraordinary compilation of the progressive and psychedelic music sub-genre known as "Krautrock". On six CDs, consisting of nearly 480 minutes of music, you will find an overview of some of the most creative styles of music from the "Deutschrock"-phase. This is the second time that such a huge spectrum of bands and artists of so many varying styles within this genre is found on one compilation. Accordingly, it is an absolute highlight for veteran fans as well as newcomers. Scorpions, Eloy, Guru Guru, Embryo, Kraan, Amon Düül II, Popul Vuh, Grobschnitt, Os Mundi and many more.

5th in a successful series of 6CD Boxed Sets concentrating on Progressive/Rock/ Electronic bands and artists from the 60’s & 70’s German Krautrock era! Released in 2012, this is an amazing collection of Krautrock archive recordings, and a great way to start to build a nicely varied collection of tracks by known and perhaps previously unknown artists and bands that you might have heard of but never taken the time to investigate. The unique collection covers German Rock from the seventies from various Krautrock groups, and within you will find Electronic Music, Hard Rock, Jazz, Psychedelic and Progressive-Rock, simply everything that was listed under the “Krautrock” term…

The expected diversity of these compilations is given again. No matter if it is the Petards, who founded the fundaments for Krautrock already in the late 60's, or Straight Shooter with their early 80's hard-rock, each kind of music is present. Electronic music with Neu!, Cluster, Tangerine Dream, Faust and Michael Rother turns to pure psychedelic like Guru Guru, Brainticket or Nine Days Wonder. Prog fans will love Nektar, Anyone's Daughter and Parzival, while rockers will enjoy Murphy Blend, Eloy, Harlis and many others. To say it clear - there is something for everyone!

Virus, from the Bielefeld area in Westphalia, were the best and most famous local progressive group there in the early seventies. In 1970, they won the well-known competition in the Recklinghausen Vestlandhalle - still under their old name of Man’s World. The first prize: Recordings for their first own LP, under the direction of sound magician Conny Plank. That LP, “Revelation”, was released in 1971 and is partly reminiscent of the early Pink Floyd, e.g. in the final part of “Endless game”. On the CD edition on Garden of Delights, the two songs of the first Virus 7” single have been added as bonus tracks. The second and final Virus LP, 'Thoughts', was recorded with a different line-up, again under the direction of Conny Plank, and it was released on the legendary Pilz label at the end of 1971…

A significant name of the German krautrock scene, Thirsty Moon were found in Bremen in 1972 and started as a 7-member band. By the same year their eponymous debut was already recorded and released by Brain Records. It consists of four short tracks and one epic jam,clocking at over 20 minutes (+ bonus track on this CD edition). The album follows the typical German mode of krautrock with strong interplays, long jamming and a lot of space for endless improvisational musicianship. Saxes are everywhere played by Willie Pape and ranging from smooth passages to abstract heavy parts. There is also some lovely percussion work throughout the listening, featuring also nice organ and groovy electric pianos. Vocals are English with a rough edge, which fit very much to the band's style, while the epic of the album contains also a lot of spacey parts…

The history of the Long hair label starts with the release of recordings of more or less unknown bands from the late sixties/ early seventies, who run a band competition in former German radio station SWR (South West Broadcast) and received with the recordings a wider public. A few of them like My Solid Ground, Kraan, became famous and recorded a lot of albums on well known German Krautrock labels. Others like Coupla Prog, Puppenhaus, Papa Zoot or JudДs Gallery played and recorded their music at the radio studio but received no official record deal and most of the band members started a career in an other profession. STAGG, four guys from Frankfurt, all students are one of the very best who recorded at the SWF.

The history of the Long hair label starts with the release of recordings of more or less unknown bands from the late sixties/ early seventies, who run a band competition in former German radio station SWR (South West Broadcast) and received with the recordings a wider public. A few of them like My Solid Ground, Kraan, became famous and recorded a lot of albums on well known German Krautrock labels. Others like Coupla Prog, Puppenhaus, Papa Zoot or JudДs Gallery played and recorded their music at the radio studio but received no official record deal and most of the band members started a career in an other profession. STAGG, four guys from Frankfurt, all students are one of the very best who recorded at the SWF.

This latest instalment in Soul Jazz Records’ successful Deutsche Elektronische Musik series delves deeper into the German nation’s vaults to bring a fascinating new collection that again brings together a selection of classic German electronic and rock groups, including Neu!, Cluster, Popol Vuh, La Düsseldorf, Agitation Free, alongside a host of rare tracks by lesser known artists which includes Michael Bundt, Bröselmaschine, Dronsz, Achim Reichel and others.