 |
Return to:
[
Home Page] [German 60s / 70s Index]
HABOOBBehind this mysterious name (which means 'desert winds') was none other than the black American organist Jimi Jackson, best known for his distinctive choir organ on albums by Amon Duul II, Embryo and Doldinger's Passport. After a project with Lothar Meid in 1970 named Tambarin lead to nothing, Jackson formed Haboob in 1971. Their album was recorded at Bavaria Studios, Munich, with Olaf Kubler (producer) and Peter Kramper (engineer). It looked like a lost Amon Duul album with its psychedelic sleeve, designed by Folk-U. Rogner. Tracks like "Israfil" sounded like them too, with a dense atmosphere of gurgling, manipulated vocals and keyboards. There were also a couple of blues , soul and jazz-rock numbers.
HAIRY CHAPTER This was a "no compromise hard rockin' quartet" from Bonn. Under the name 'Electric Sounds For Dancing' they released an obscure album (Maritim, 1969) rumoured to include early versions of songs later appearing on the first Hairy Chapter album. Eyes was released in 1970 on the little OPP label. It contained nine short, raw hard rock numbers, comparable to the early Hendrix, but even heavier! The production was very rough, making this a charming piece of garage rock! Recommended for fans of wah-wah sounds and aggressive vocals from the underground! Can't Get Through (recorded from November 1970 to January 1971 in the Dierks Studio) was a similar effort, but had improved both musically and technically, aided by the magic fingers of Dieter Dierks. The new drum player on this album was Werner Faus. The instrumental passages (that means uninhibited guitar debauchery) were longer, as typified by the 11 minutes long title track. This was one of the first releases on Bacillus, and is quite valuable (DEM 300) these days, ...but this was the last that was heard from the Hairy Chapter!
HAMARTAJust as the British group Out Of Darkness this was a Christian progressive rock project. Rockatorium featured silly lyrics in German, but also some great guitar parts. Not recommended, however!
PETER-MICHAEL HAMELPeter-Michael Hamel (piano, organ, electronics) was born in Munich in 1947. From 1965-1970 he studied composition under Fritz Buchtger and Gunther Bialas in his home city. During this period he played free jazz, South American folk music and experimental electronics. In 1970 he founded Between with the Argentinean Roberto Detree and the American Robert Eliscu. In 1972 he guested on Agitation Free's first album, adding his peculiar hammond organ style. His interest in Eastern music and meditation resulted in several travels to Asia. His first four albums are also very influenced by such elements. Hamel (1972) was a double album, setting standards for all the albums to come: long, meditative and floating tracks in a minimalist tradition. Some tracks were performed live without overdubs. It had fantastic, colourful, sleeve artwork. Both this and Voice Of Silence were released on the legendary swirl Vertigo label. Hamel performed vocals in a special Indian vocal technique (named khyal) on Voice Of Silence and Buddhist Meditation East-West (1975)
HANUMANThey made one album under this name before renaming themselves Lied Des Teufels. Look at this entry for more information.
HARDCAKE SPECIALA little known group. They made a completely uninteresting pop-rock album in a pseudo-American style for Brain in 1974, probably the worst album of all on the Brain 1,000 series. The Bopp brothers and Harbrecht had previously played along with Ulli Gunther (vocals) in The New Lords, a successor to the sixties beat band The Lords.
HARLISCharly Maucher was a co-founder of Jane, one of the most successful German heavy rock bands in the seventies. In spite of their increasing popularity, he decided to leave Jane in 1974 with Wolfgang Krantz to form the group Harlis. Their first album also became the first release on Sky. It was produced by Konrad Plank and Sky manager Gunter Korber at Conny's studio, Neunkirchen. The music was similar to Jane, but more mainstream heavy rock'n'roll and straight rock styled, with less instrumental work. Still it was better than most Jane albums released after 1974!
HAX CELThis obscure band's album Zwai gives no Information about who they were. It is a quiet, soft and classically-influenced album recorded live. The material was written by the group, except for the inclusion of two short Handel compositions. There was massive use of flute, but no heavy guitar passages. Some of the tracks, like "A Second Time", are quite good, if a bit light-weight. An interesting album with an uncommon musical style for the era.
HAZEThe single album released by Haze had another of those extraordinary artwork sleeves designed by Walter Seyffer of Nine Days' Wonder fame. It was made to look exactly like a slide picture, complete with frame and a transparent picture of the group Haze. Hazecolor-Dia was a Hauke & Dierks production, recorded during April 1971 at the Clerks Studio. All five tracks were written by Dietmar Low. Slow, cleverly-arranged heavy progressive numbers with a faint blues tinge, featuring humorous lyrics: "A Way To Find Paradise" told about a hippy's struggle to get his hashish to smoke! Scherler really had a strange and wild voice (he usually screamed as loudly as he could), adding much to their gutsy freak rock style. Several tracks also featured flute (the flute player is not identified on the cover). Haze were probably inspired by The Edgar Broughton Band, Arthur Brown and Captain Beefheart. Their album is recommended for all freak rock fans!
SONNY HENNIGSonny Hennig (vocals, keyboards) was the leader of Ihre Kinder between 1968 and 1971. In the summer of 1971 he left this group to realize his solo ambitions. Tranengas was recorded the same year. Musically this wasn't dissimilar to Ihre Kinder, but a bit more acoustic and folky. Kenning pretended to be a protest singer and wrote political lyrics. A poster was enclosed with a bizarre collage by Ernst Schultz. In January 1972 Hennig assembled a new Ihre Kinder line-up for Anfang Ohne Ende.
HOLDERLIN/HOELDERLIN (2 LP-)Holderlin established themselves in the mid-seventies as the leading German folk-rock band, in close competition with Ougenweide. The group came together in December 1970. When Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser took over the management of the Pilz label in late 1971 he wanted to transform it into a progressive folk label, and Holderlin gained the opportunity to record their debut album Holderlin's Traum in January 1972 in the Dierks Studio. This collection of seven songs captured the sextet in excellent shape, resulting in an all-time classic album. Several members had a classical music education, which was evident in the refined and complex arrangement. Together they handled 15 different instruments! Even so, three guests were featured: Peter Bursch (sitar, from Broselmaschine), Mike Hellbach (tablas, also from Broselmaschine) and Walter Westrupp (recorder). As the title hinted, the music had a dreamy, sometimes psychedelic atmosphere. Dieter Dierks developed this particular style further on the second Emtidi album. The more folky driving force came from bands like Incredible String Band and more particularly Fairport Convention and Pentangle, who also featured beautiful female singers. Holderlin's further recording career was somewhat delayed by the demise of Pilz and Ohr in 1973. It seems as though the group weren't allowed to sign for another company before late 1974, when a contract with Intercord Spiegelel was secured. With Konrad Plank, they recorded their second album in February 1975. Nanny de Ruig had by now left the band. The vocals were now shared between Joachim Grumbkow and Christoph Noppeney. A second guitarist had also been added (Joachim Kaseberg, brother of Peter). Musically this was another great album. Their progressive folk-rock had gained some influences from the lyrical, vintage Genesis. Guests were Zeus B. Held (sax) of Birth Control and Norbert Jacobsen (clarinet) of Release Music Orchestra. The main work of the album was the 17 minute suite "Deathwatchbeetle". Clowns And Clouds, recorded during January 1976, continued the development towards lyrical progressive rock. The keyboard work, handled by J. Grumbkow, was now more dominant with a considerable use of electric piano and string synthesizers. Apparently it was a strange type of concept album with a 'clown' side and a 'cloud' side. The latter was the best one, offering mostly instrumental work in two long songs. The Kaseberg's had both quit Holderlin by this time, with Joachim taking care of the live sound. Hans Baar became their new bassist and guitarist.