Bassist Lothar Meid who had returned to the band from 18 Karat to join the original lineup for the Hijack project. In fact most of the album was the brainchild of Meid’s who contributed the orchestral arrangements. The album’s name even comes from Meid’s nickname which was Jack.

With its Beatlesque string intro on the opening track, it is immediately evident to those familiar with previous work from the band that this is going to be a different Amon Duul II record.

If the streamlining that occurred on the band’s 1972 Carnival In Babylon album caused a stir amongst fans then the cohesive song structures, vocal harmonies and orchestral arrangements on Hijack, would prove to be even more mutinying and harder to swallow.

By the time sessions began for Hijack, Amon Duul II had pretty much abandoned the free form cosmic experimental spaced out collage approach to their music and the album marked a period of a band in transition and introspection.

Although not a concept album, each track on the album has its own special individual message and musical identity making it one of the most diverse and interesting records in the band’s catalogue.

Even so, there are echoes of Amon Duul II’s acid soaked past on tracks such as the psyched out “Explode Like A Star” presented in two sections with cool spacey synths and female vocal interpolations. The instrumental “Da Guadaloop” with its tripped out primordial rythms predates disco with a psychedelic twist replete with elephant roars and female drill sergeant commands amongst other sonic novelties It is certainly the most bizarre track.

Apart from these two cosmic excursions Amon Duul had never sounded so commercial but at the same time retained some lyrical dark visions they were known for. Other tracks offer chasms of contrast fluctuating from comical proportions to pensive atmospheres.

It’s unfortunate that the acid drenched relentless freaking of earlier Amon Duul II albums overshadow the band’s later recording career. Hijack is a testament to the songwriting and actual musical abilities of them.

Line-up:
- Chris Karrer / acoustic & electric guitars, violin, Soprano sax, vocals
- Renate Knaup-Krötenschwanz / vocals
- Peter Leopold: drums, percussion, acoustic guitar
- Lothat Meid / bass, acoustic guitar, vocals, string arrangements
- Falk U. Rogner / synthesizers
- John Weinzierl / acoustic & electric guitars
with
- Chris Balder / strings
- Thor Baldursson / keyboards
- Bob Chatwin / trumpet
- Lee Harper / trumpet
- Hermann Jalowitzki / snare drum
- Bobby Jones / sax
- Olaf Kübler / flute, Soprano sax
- Rudy Nagora / sax
- Ludwig Popp / Waldhorn
- Wild Willy / accordion, percussion, vocals

Track List:
01. I Can’t Wait (Part 1 + Part 2) – Mirror – 11:07
02. Traveller – 4:28
03. You’re Not Alone – 6:57
04. Explode Like A Star – 4:02
05. Da Guadeloop – 7:03
06. Lonely Woman – 4:43
07. Liquid Whisper – 3:32
08. Archy The Robot – 3:31

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With “Vive la Trance”, Amon Duul II turns towards more song-structured compositions and generally shorter tracks. There is an overlay of electronics and psychedelic effects that keeps the music within the progressive realm. The guitars, violins, keyboards and percussion are effective.

The acerbic “A Morning Excuse,” the “far-out” instrumental “Im Krater Bluhn Wieder der Baume,” the powerful anti-imperialism anthem “Mozambique”, the spacey, laid-back “Apocalyptic Bore,” the infectious “Trap,” the Latin-flavoured “Manana,” and the hard rocking “Ladies Mimikry” is especially noteworthy.

Line-up:
- Robby Heibl / bass, acoustic guitar, violin, vocals
- Chris Karrer / acoustic & electric guitars, violin, saxophone, vocals
- Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz / vocals
- Peter Leopold / drums, percussion
- Lothar Meid / bass, vocals
- Falk U. Rogner / organ, synthesizers
- John Weinzierl / acoustic & electric guitars, vocals
with
- Desmond Bonner / backing vocals
- Keith Forsey / percussion
- Peter Kramper / synthesizers
- Olaf Kubler / percussion, saxophone

Track List:
01. A Morning Excuse – 3:20
02. Fly United – 3:30
03. Jalousie – 3:29
04. Im Krater Bluhm Wieder Die Baume – 3:08
05. Mozambique – 7:40
06. Apocolyptic Bore – 6:37
07. Dr. Jeckyll – 2:59
08. Trap – 3:35
09. Pig Man – 2:38
10. Manana – 3:23
11. Ladies Mimikry – 4:16

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These live recordings from a BBC broadcast in 1973 show the true live essence of Amon Düül II, based more on the research of a trippy atmosphere than on technical values: while the rhythm section is very tight, the guitar and vocal parts are stunningly raw, deconstructed, sometimes evidently out of tune.

It’s obvious that this treatment is most likely to exalt the earlier material than the ‘structural’ phase of the band: so “Kanaan” and “Dem Guten, Schonen, Wahren” are given botched but valid renditions.

This edition of the album also includes two bonus tracks from the “Tanz der Lemmings” sessions.

Line-up:
- Renate Knaup / vocals
- Chris Karrer / guitars, violin, sax, vocals
- John Weinzierl / guitars, bass
- Danny Fischelscher / drums, guitars, bass, vocals
- Peter Leopold / drums
- Falk-U. Rogner / synthesizer-organ

Track List:
01. Ladies Mimmikry – 4:51
02. Kanaan – 4:52
03. Dem Guten, Schönen, Wahren – 5:39
04. Green Bubble Raincoated Man – 4:59
05. Manana – 4:43
06. Trap – 4:18
07. Marilyn Monroe Memorial Drums (Bonus Studio) – 11:19
08. Chewing Gum Telegram (Bonus Studio Alternate) – 3:55

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Recorded live in December 1972, this concert’s recording quality is not that great, but the quality of the music does come through well.

Starting with the blistering “Archangels Thunderbird”, reminiscent of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant song”, the casual listener’s attention is immediately caught. Renate Knaup’s vocals are something of an acquired taste, sounding a bit like Jon Anderson on helium. Instrumentally the band are tight, and entertaining. The vibrato effect is overdone at times, and can become a bit irritating.

“Improvisation”, which closes side one, finds the band suddenly in full Tangerine Dream mode. Presumably the rest of the band had a comfort break while Falk-U Rogner dabbled with his keyboard effects.

The track titles on side 2 are as entertaining as the music. “A short stop at the Transylvanian brain surgery” and “Dehypnotised toothpaste” give an idea of numerous titles to chose from (a total of 13!). The final track, “Race from here to your ears” is a lovely, almost ballad track which builds to a storming climax reminiscent of Uriah Heep’s live “Circle of Hands” ending, and complementing beautifully the opening “Archangels Thunderbird”.

Amon Duul II delivers all the goods here if you’re into the early phase of their career and it’s just about as dark as they would get before moving on in a more orthodox direction.

Line-up:
- John Weinzierl / guitars, vocals
- Lothar Meid / bass and vocals
- Chris Karrer / guitar, violin, soprano sax
- Falk-U. Rogner / organ, synthesizer
- Renate Knaup-Krotenschwanz / vocals
- Daniel Fichelscher / drums
- Peter Leopold / drums

Track List:
01. Archangles Thunderbird – 3:16
02. Eye Shaking King – 6:17
03. Soap Shop Rock – 7:32
04. Improvisation – 3:42
05. Syntelman’s March Of The Roaring Seventies – 8:06
a. Pull Down Your Mask
b. Prayer To The Silence
c. Telephonecomplex
06. Restless Skylight – Transistor – Child – 8:10
a. Landing In A Ditch
b. Dehypnotized Toothpaste
c. A Short Stop At The Transylvanian Brain Surgery
07. Race From Here To Your Ears – 4:48
a. Little Tornados
b. Riding On A Cloud
c. Paralized Paradise
08. Bavarian Soap Shop Rock (Bonus) – 17:47
09. Improvisation On Gulp A Sonata (Bonus) – 2:51

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The second album of the “split”, Utopia is a by-product of the “transition phase” of the band towards more guitar-oriented conventional rock structures. But it still retains certain gothic and dark elements.

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. Beatlesque bass riff, played German style. ‘Alice’ is a sweet love song. The tune itself is care-free and up-lifting, and has Lothar playing Mellotron flutes, reminiscent of Kevin Ayers. ‘Las Vegas’ is a hippy-sounding jam with congas, jazzy sax playing and a nose-flute!

‘Deutsch Nepal’ is a re-make of the song of the same name from ‘Wolf City’. It’s heavy sound and strange ‘vocal’ from guest Rolf Zacher makes it an excellent example of Krautrock. ‘Utopiat No.1′ is another hippy jam (strikingly similar to ‘Las Vegas’) but features those searing organs too, Olaf Kubler toying around with a Moog Synth, and bizarre echoed vocals from Meid. ‘Nasi Goreng’ is a Hammond-heavy instrumental with strong melodies, and light oriental moments. The album finishes up with ‘Jazz-Kiste’, probably the master-piece composition of the album – starring Passport’s Christian Schulze on electric-piano and Embryo’s Edgar Hoffman playing amazing ‘wah-wah’ soprano sax almost throughout.

‘Utopia’ is not a revolutionary extravaganza but worthwhile and satisfying.

Line-up:
- Lothar Meid / bass, vocals
- Olaf Kubler / saxophon
- Kristian Schultze / keyboards
- Jimmy Jackson / organ
- Joe Nay / guitar
with
- Chris Karrer / guitar
- John Weinzierl / guitar
- Renate Knaup-Krotenschwanz / vocals

Track List:
01. What You Gonna Do – 6:40
02. The Wolfman Jack Show – 5:05
03. Alice ( O.P. ) – 3:06
04. Las Vegas (O.P.) – 4:25
05. Deutsch Nepal – 3:11
06. Utopia No. 1 – 3:59
07. Nasi Goreng-Goreng – 5:34
08. Jazz Kiste (1) – 5:36
09. Surrounded By The Stars (Bonus Wolf City) – 7:15
10. Dancing On Fire (Bonus Wolf City) – 5:25
11. Deutsch Nepal (Bonus Live in London) – 3:15
12. Goldrush (Bonus 18 Karat Gold) – 2:59
13. Star Eyed (Bonus 18 Karat Gold) – 4:32
14. Dr. Stein (Bonus 18 Karat Gold) – 3:47

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In 1973 Amon Duul II split up over a quarrel that included threats with revolvers and knives. One half set off to record “Wolf City”, the other half started to record “Utopia” with a few other musicians. During the recording sessions of “Wolf City” and “Utopia” though, the members of Amon Duul II made peace again, which ended with the whole gang playing on both records.

The opening track “Surrounded By The Stars” is almost 8 minutes, like Jefferson Airplane going bonkers, especially once the violin gets going. It is constantly shifting and keeps us riveted to our speakers and slowly dies down. “Green Bubble” is a slower mellotron-ladden track where the West Coast psych spectre still shows it head, but in a more subdued manner, while the group seems to apply a bit of musical humour in its very distorted soundscapes. “Jail House Frog” is a strange mix of Zappa and German cabaret-type of music where strange bubbles are sprinkled all over the song and the rhythm section going bonkers.

The flipside starts with the title track. The group is cruising at full speed, all pistons spewing fire and molten lava in your brains, the latter frying away without the need of external illicit substances. Starting on an Indian raga, “Wie Der Wind” slowly morphs into a great improvisation where the violin takes the lead. Future Popol Vuh Fichelscher is outstanding throughout the whole album, especially in here.

The well known heavy “Deutsche Nepal” is a highlight, especially with the loud German monologue spoofing their own recent past and their expansionist plans. Built around a descending riff, the track operates magic with Daniel’s drumming pulling an astonishing amount of drum rolls. And another future Popol Vuh, Daniel Fichelsher is the star of the closer “Sleepwalker Timeless Bridge” where he drums, plays guitar and vocalizes.

Too bad “Wolf City” came out with such short running time, because with an extra 10 minutes and a little more discipline it would be even better!

Line-up:
- D. Secundus Fichelscher / drums, vocals (4-7), guitars (7)
- Chris Karrer / acoustic & electric guitars, violin, Soprano sax, vocals
- Renate Knaup-Krotenschwanz / vocals
- Lothar Meid / bass, synthesizers, vocals
- Falk U. Rogner / organ, Clavioline, synthesizers
- John Weinzierl / electric guitar, vocals
with
- Al Sri Al Gromer / sitar (5)
- Paul Heyda / violin (5)
- Jimmy Jackson / piano, choir organ
- Olaf Kübler / vocals (2), sax (5)
- Pandit Shankar Lal / tablas (5)
- Peter Leopold / vocals (2), synthesizers (3), kettle drums (5)
- Liz van Nienhoff / tambura (5)
- Rolf Zacher / vocals (2-6)

Track List:
01. Surrounded By The Stars – 7:46
02. Green Bubble Raincoated Man – 5:03
03. Jail-House-Frog – 4:52
04. Wolf City – 3:20
05. Wie Der Wind am Ende einer Strasse – 5:44
06. Deutsch Nepal – 2:58
07. Sleepwalker’s Timeless Bridge – 4:54

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The jam session that sprouted this album also served other releases but there isn’t a single doubt that the better material resulting from that monster jam clearly ended up on this album. Indeed this album is rather far away from the near aggressiveness of Psychedelic Underground (Hyde), a relaxed gentle hippy fee of this one (Jekyll). Compared to its predecessor(s), this album is at least better recorded, even if this is still close to what is nowadays called Lo-Fi.

The 17-mins opening Love Is Peace indeed shows Amon Duul in a very pastoral mood with flutes and gentle melodies over a smooth rhythm. Somehow the positive vibe of this track changes a lot from the almost oppressive spacey jams on other albums (even the mid-section separating the two jams) and this alone is sufficient to suffer its slightly over-stretched form.

The following (on the flipside) 9-mins+ “Snow Your Thrust” is more Indian raga influenced and comes with sitar and fuzz guitars. Great raga stuff with the second part which is slow entering and having to wait for a wah-wah’d guitar to start taking off, only to drop abruptly to its end.

Ending the album in yet another jam-style “Paramechanische Welt”, starting on a simple structure, but slowly crescendoing, where Chris Karrer (of Amon Duul II fame) plays a very enthralling tabla drums.

This edition of the album comes with two bonus tracks tagged on the end, the first of which, Eternal Flow is another calm slow crescendo (with a few playing glitches) that fits the album quite well. The second track is the English version of Paramechanische Welt (Paramechanical World), but the music is rather so different that you wouldn’t link the two tracks, except for the vocal lines (Karrer is not on tabla as well).

Line-up:
- Ella Bauer / harp, bongos
- Lemur / percussion, rhythm guitar
- Ulrich Leopold / bass, vocals, piano
- Dadam / guitars, vocals
- Hansi / flute, bongos
- Helge Filanda / percussion
- Noam / African drums
- John Weinzierl / guitar
- Chris Karrer / tabla
- Rainer Bauer / guitar, electric bass
- Klaus / guitar, electric bass, percussion
- Angelika Filanda / flute

Track List:
01. Love is Peace – 17:13
02. Snow Your Thirst And Sun Your Open Mouth – 9:28
03. Paramechanische Welt – 7:40
04. Eternal Flow (Bonus) – 4:13
05. Paramechanical World (Bonus) – 5:44

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Experimente is an other obscure live material taken from late 60′s Amon Duul delirious-spontaneous percussive jam sessions.

The musical quality and the sound production are honest compared to the difficult Collapsing and Disaster.

These live improvisations are essentialy instrumental sometimes accompanied by druggy-stoned vocals. The sound is dominated by repetitive, tribal, savage acoustic percussive pulses, fuzzy psych guitar rythms & leads.

In the tradition of Amon Duul first incarnation, this album is an infernal musical trip that can freaks your mind. Some sections are only made of wild, damaged percussive tones (16-22). The most complex improvisation epics are the spaced out fuzzing / screaming number 16, the lysergic dance of number 5 and the supreme heavy psych-hippie-like number 9.

The album delivers more consistent / catchy moments at the beginning. The rest is going nowhere, lost in a crazy bad trip.

Line-up:
- Angelica Filanda / Vocals, Percussion
- Helge Filanda / Congas, Anvil
- Ella Bauer / Vocals, Percussion
- Rainer Bauer / Guitar, Vocals
- Ullrich Leopold / Bass
- Peter Leopold / Drums
- Uschi Obermaier / Percussion
- Wolfgang Krischke / Piano, Percussion

Track List:
01. Experience # 1 – 4:30
02. Experience # 2 – 0:32
03. Experience # 3 – 5:17
04. Experience # 4 – 2:28
05. Experience # 5 – 2:41
06. Experience # 6 – 1:11
07. Experience # 7 – 5:47
08. Experience # 8 – 2:11
09. Experience # 9 – 3:45
10. Experience # 10 – 1:42
11. Experience # 11 – 1:54
12. Experience # 12 – 1:24
13. Experience # 13 – 3:49
14. Experience # 14 – 2:48
15. Experience # 15 – 1:29
16. Experience # 16 – 5:10
17. Experience # 17 – 0:50
18. Experience # 18 – 2:06
19. Experience # 19 – 6:29
20. Experience # 20 – 1:07
21. Experience # 21 – 2:46
22. Experience # 22 – 3:08
23. Experience # 23 – 2:33
24. Experience # 24 – 1:08

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‘Disaster’ comes from the same ‘legendary’ 1968 studio sessions that most the other Amon Duul releases had.

All studio manipulation is gone, cuts are made abruptly and other bizarre crude arbitrary decisions are made. But Disaster somehow feels a little less turbulent and closer to the real spirit of a live jam.

At times, the bass/bongo lines are accompanied by primal vocals as well as flutes, piano and some sort of stringed instrument–violin et al. is audible… much of this subtlety is lost from the earlier releases.

Line-up:
- Uschi Obermeier / percussion
- Ella Bauer / vocals, percussion
- Rainer Bauer / vocals, guitar
- Angelika Filanda / vocals, percussion
- Helge Filanda / vocals, percussion
- Wolfgang Krischke / keyboards, percussion
- Peter Leopold / drums
- Ullrich Leopold / bass

Track List:
01. Drum Things ( Erschlagzeugtes ) – 9:13
02. Asynchron ( Verjault Und Zugeredet ) – 7:37
03. Yea Yea Yea ( Zerbeatelt ) – 1:01
04. Broken ( Ofensivitaaten ) – 7:26
05. Somnium ( Trauma ) – 9:30
06. Frequency ( Entzwei ) – 9:54
07. Autonomes ( Entdrei ) – 5:38
08. Chaoticolour ( Entsext ) – 7:43
09. Expressionidiom ( Kapuntterbunt ) – 1:49
10. Altitude ( Quaar Feld Aus ) – 1:02
11. Impropulsion ( Noch’n Lied ) – 6:14

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This part of the Amon Duul sessions follows the style of the first recording of the gonzo jamming of this musical collective, the sound quality is a little bit better, and the atavistic session excerpts have been molded as collages with editing and enrichening them with soundeffects.

Most of the time this is tribal music, as there is a strong presence of ethnic collective drumming in the music, accompanied by toxicated waillings and chaotic fuzzed electric guitars.

There are also some very quiet parts there, though in some cases the building up of hypnotic trance is disturbed with sudden cuts or sounds, making this record a chaotic listening experience.

Certainly less refined than Amon Duul II but it contains a very catchy primitive energy.

Line-up:
- Ella Bauer / percussion, vocals
- Rainer Bauer / vocals, guitar
- Angelica Filanda / percussion, vocals
- Helga Filanda / percussion, vocals
- Wolfgang Krischke / percussion, piano
- Ulrich Leopold / bass
- Uschi Obermaier / maracas

Track List:
01. Booster – 3:03
02. Bass, Gestrichen – 3:23
03. Tusch Ff – 4:31
04. Singvogel Ruckwarts – 4:13
05. Lua-Lua-He – 1:40
06. Shattering & Fading – 4:58
07. Nachrichten Aus Camabistan – 3:10
08. Big Sound – 2:08
09. Krawall – 3:11
10. Blech & Aufbau – 2:04
11. Natur – 2:47

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Amon Duul were a huge musical collective out of Munich. “Eleven adults and two children which are gathered to make all kinds of expressions, also musical” made a spectacular appearance in a tv-show in 1968. Amon Duul’s name reportedly comes from an Egyptian mythological god (Amon) and a Turkish fictional character Duul.

Before they put out their first album they split though, and one half set off to form Amon Duul II. The others kept the name Amon Duul and in 1969 published the first Krautrock album ever, “Psychedelic Underground”.

Here, we are light years away from good production, good recording, tight arrangements and virtuosi interplay: Both versions of Amon Duul came from heavy left-wing hippy communes and therefore the group’s sound sounds as chaotic as you’d imagine a commune to be back then.

Starting on a 17-mins Sondosa track, where they give the tone of the album, just repeating endlessly a riff, without any kind of musical explorations, except for the hypnotic nature of their “minimalist” approach to their musical universe, the group finishes the album with a three-minutes fast-evolving improv centred around the cello player. There is a bit of space rock ala Hawkwind avant-la-lettre feel throughout this album.

On the flipside, “Mama Duul” is a very percussive 3-mins track. “Garten Sandosa” is another slowly evolving jam built on repetitive riff, where some bass drones (most likely the cello again) are the main interest. The following “Garten Morgantau” (also an 8-miun improv) is again featuring cello under very approximate guitar arpeggios, with soft spacey Gilly Smyth-like whispers. Ending the album is “Bitterlings Verwandlung” another absurd jam stuck with classical (choirs) music sound collage that had never been done until then.

In retrospect, this album as well as others posthumous release from Amon Duul, might just be the foundation stone of Germany’s awesome scene. In some ways, the strength of Amon Duul is that even when the band gets cacophonous and downright chaotic, you can feel the mega line-up remaining as tight as if they were a trio.

Line-up:
- Angelica Filanda / vocals, percussion
- Helge Filanda / congas, anvil
- Ella Bauer / vocals, percussion
- Rainer Bauer / guitar, vocals
- Ullrich Leopold / bass
- Peter Leopold / drums
- Uschi Obermaier / percussion
- Wolfgang Krischke / piano, percussion

Track List:
01. Ein Wunderhubsches Madchen Traumt Von Sandosa – 17:03
02. Kaskados Minneleid – 2:55
03. Mama Duul Und Ihre Sauerkrautband Spielt Auf – 2:55
04. Im Garten Sandosa – 7:48
05. Der Garten Sandosa Im Morgentau – 8:07
06. Bitterlings Verwandlung – 2:30

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The opening chords of “I Want Your Body”, gives you a very good idea of what to expect from this US power trio’s selftitled album.

The brash, energetic guitar might remind you of Edgar Winter Group, which would be entirely appropriate because guitarist Floyd Radford left this group to join that band just after this album was made. Edgar Winter himself has a cameo, playing a one-finger organ solo, and his longtime compatriot, Rick Derringer, produced the album.

Interesting as it may be to pick through influences, Tin House had their own sound, composed of blues and progressive hard rock with poppy harmony vocals. The progressive side comes to the fore with the slightly pompous duo of “Endamus Finallamus” and “Lady of the Silent Opera”, which are redeemed by several catchy and inventive instrumental passages.

Line-up:
- Floyd Radford / guitar, vocals
- Jeff Cole / bass, lead vocals
- Mike Logan / drums, kettles, congas, trashcans, vocals
with
- Rick Derringer / piano (2)
- Edgar Winter / organ (4), strings (10)

Track List:
01. I Want Your Body – 1:50
02. 30 Weight Blues – 2:24
03. Be Good And Be Kind – 3:44
04. You’ve Gone To Far – 3:49
05. Silver Star – 4:10
06. Personal Gain – 4:31
07. Jezebel, Give Me Your Lovin’ – 2:45
08. Tomorrow – 3:01
09. Endamus Finallamus – 3:57
10. Lady Of The Silent Opera – 3:44

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‘Nibelungenlied’ is a collection of German Oak’s unreleased and ‘lost’ material from 1972-76. The sound is always dominated by screaming / electric bluesy guitar parts, sound experiments and macabre keyboards effects.

“The heroic deeds of Siegfried” is a dark and minimalist, melancholic composition with a dubtle “medieval” flavour. The savage percussions announces a delicate, simplistic guitar sequence in a moody tone. “Nibelungenlied I” is an agressive, dynamic guitar orientated composition, featuring really hypnotic, rocking sequences; all in improvisation with a repetitive bass line and some vicious guitar solos. “Gunter & Brunhild”, “Hagen von Tronje” & “Siegfried’s death” are bluesy-kraut jam with wha wha effects and strangely doom, sinister atmospheres.

Unfortunately the sound quality isn’t very good.

Track List:
01. The Heroic Deeds Of Siegfried – 6:09
02. Nibelungenlied I- Siegfried & Kriemhild – 7:30
03. Gunter & Brunhild – 4:02
04. Hagen von Tronje – 5:35
05. Siegfried’s Death – 4:17
06. Dankwart, Ruediger & Hildebrand – 4:26
07. Dietrich von Bern – 3:27
08. Nibelungenlied II- Kriemhild & Etzel, Final Fights and Death – 12:16
09. Lament – 1:25

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German Oak is a free form rock band founded at the beginning of 70s. Their self title effort was recorded in 1972 in Düsseldorf at Luftschutzbunker (Air Raid Shelter) studio.

The album cover provides an illustration of anger expressed by the WWII’s young generation against their parents. By consequence German Oak’s music is very tortured, dark and weird, dominated by heavy, “distorted” guitar solos & rhythms. The background creates “painful” & “ambient” sequences thanks to delay echoes, electronic “fuzzy” noises & repetitive bass lines. A funkadelic/jazzy felt punctuates with discretion this grandiose, “creepy” instrumental album.

The four songs – two longer jams prepared with a two minute intro and outro – sound like simple garage recordings with a hall-effect. The bunker atmosphere brings a special dark, depressive touch to the music. Airalert seems to be a snippet of a longer jam provided with heavy organ contributions and it would be really interesting to hear more but soon the song fades out and Down in the Bunker starts experimental with industrial sounds remembering of Faust or Space Explosion. Later the band begins to play more structured and the mood changes to a longer doom part similiar to the early Black Sabbath provided with some weird guitar solos. The bass is played absolutely unvaried and plus guitar and drums I can only hear a standard trio crew whereas the line-up is indicated with 5 members.

The same with Raid over Düsseldorf following as an acid rocking psych jam in opposite to the depressing forerunner track and finally assuring the third star. The song has a really optimistic drive – primitive but good with a remarkable team work. But organ is absent once again here in opposite to the outro 1945 – Out of the Ashes continuing the first track but with a surprising end offering a short sample with church bells, traffic sound and birds’ twittering.

This edition of the album also includes three bonus tracks that also express very interesting musical moments with some aggressive rock tunes, punctuated by inspired meditative, repetitive organ arrangements and concrete noises.

Line-up:
- Wolfgang Franz Czaika / lead & rhythm guitar
- Ullrich Kallweit / drums, percussion
- Harry Kallweit / bass, voice
- Manfred Uhr / organ/fuzz-organ, voice
- Norbert Luckas / guitars & noises

Track List:
01. Swastika Rising (Bonus) – 5:13
02. The Third Reich (Bonus) – 10:20
03. Shadows Of War (Bonus) – 6:00
04. Air Alert – 1:55
05. Down In The Bunker – 17:56
06. Raid Over Duesseldorf – 15:42
07. 1945 – Out Of The Ashes – 2:13

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The sole album from this Levittown (US) quintet is an interesting amalgamation of prog, hard rock and psychedelic.

The lengthy opener, “All of Them Witches” appears to be a thinly-veiled anti-drug song, whose lyrics can be interpreted as a symbolic diatribe about the vocalist’s heroin-ravaged friends. Belsky’s nasty guitar solos are vicious but thankfully don’t succumb to overindulgence. Side One concludes with both sides of the band’s only single, “Done” which are also presented as bonus tracks in their original (tighter and shorter by almost half) mono mixes. Elaborate solo keyboard arrangements may appeal to Yes and Asia fans.

Female vocalist, Lyne Bunn takes the mic on the flip, “Sins” which she co-wrote with Belsky, and which is also a typical early-70s bar band rocker, with Belsky’s guitar runs a little more flamboyant this time around.

The tender, dreamy ballad, “Wasted Time” once again features Belsky’s tasty guitar solos married to Venier’s Pink Floydian, wah-wah keyboard flourishes. It’s easily a winner.

Still, fans of 1970s hard rock may get a few spins out of the epic side two opener, the 11+ minute, “Look Again”, which opens with Venier’s ruminating solo, a la Jethro Tull’s “Locomotive Breath”. The ensuing 5-minute jam is highlighted once again by Belsky’s mouthwatering soloing and drummer, John Fragos’ voracious skinpounding. This is early 1970s hard rock with that “local bar band” feel.

The band was ready to record another album when they had problems with their management and ended up splitting.

Line-up:
- Richard Belsky / lead guitar
- Lyne Bunn (Joey Lyne) / vocals, percussion
- John Fragos / drums, percussion, gong
- Jim Monahan / vocals, guitar
- Tom Rubino / bass
- Paul Venier / vocals, keyboards, percussion

Track List:
01. All Of Them Witches – 8:53
02. Done – 5:48
03. Sins – 4:46
04. Look Again – 11:04
05. Wasted Time – 4:48
06. Iceberg – 5:12
07. Done (Bonus Mono Single) – 2:53
08. Sins (Bonus Mono Single) – 2:59

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