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RAMSESThis group, choosing the name of an ancient Egyptian King, were purveyors of a soft, polished symphonic rock style, similar to that pioneered by Novalis, Jane, Eloy, Barclay James Harvest, Moody Blues, etc. Herbert Natho and Hans-Dieter Klinkhammer formed the band at the end of 1972, but the line-up that recorded La Leyla (1976) wasn't assembled until 1974. This first album was recorded at Conny's Tonstudio, Neunkirchen in the Autumn of 1975, produced by Conny Plank himself and Jane guitarist Klaus Hess. It was among the very first releases on Sky. Certainly Ramses were characteristic of the symphonic "Sky sound" - late seventies pompous and lyrical rock. There were six tracks in all, featuring long instrumental passages of guitar, organ and string synthesiser, all clocking in between five and eight minutes. If this musical formula wasn't exactly revolutionary or inventive, Ramses were competent enough technically.
RANDY PIERandy Pie were a moderately successful AOR-rock band of the mid-seventies. Their origins lay in the sixties beat group The Rattles, of which they had all been members. In 1972 these musicians assembled under the name Randy, Pie & Family and recorded two singles for Atlantic. At the end of the year they went their separate ways, but Tarrach was determined to go on, and assembled the group Randy Pie. On their first album they played American sounding laid-back rock. For a UK tour in June 1974, Jochen Petersen (ex-Ikarus and producer) was brought in and added a jazzy touch. The second album should have been named "Sophisticated", but the UK-branch of Polydor rejected this title. The sleeve was changed and the company gave the album a new title: Highway Driver. On this polished album, Jean-Jaques Kravetz (ex-Frumpy) also appeared. There were seven funky jazz-rock songs featuring three-part harmonies, brass and strings, recalling Doobie Brothers or Steely Dan. Few German bands have tried to copy this sound. Kitsch (1975) was another album in this direction as was England, England (1976), a double live set. Surprisingly enough (considering its title) it was compiled from German concerts. At the end of 1976, Randy Pie began to crumble: Bernd Wippich, Werner Seeker and Jochen Petersen left in that order.
THE RATTLESThe Rattles was one of the leading beat-bands in Germany, following their formation back in 1961. Achim Reichel and Herbert Hildebrandt (bass) were founder members, but they departed in 1967 and 1968 successively. A new Rattles line-up assembled in 1970 to record the single "The Witch" coupled with "Get Away" (Fontana 6004 010). The A side was a song that had enjoyed increasing popularity after The Rattles had recorded their first version of it in 1968. The single actually became an international success and Rattles recorded three competent straight rock albums in the early seventies. In 1971 a fifth member, Jochen Peters alias Lude Lafayete (ex-Gash), was added. Gin Mill (1974) was a weaker come-back attempt from Mille, Lungen and Lude with new members Linda Fields and Wolfgang Brock (ex-Karthago). Lude Lafayete later formed Wolfsmond in 1976.
REACTIONA "no compromise" hard rockin' trio. Little Wing, which re-released their one and only album in 1990, claimed that Reaction were a reaction against British bands like Agnes Strange and Incredible Hog. This was hardly the case, as these bands issued their albums at the same time or after Reaction (1972 and 1975). However, the German trio was an equally loud and aggressive band, eager to surpass the blues-based guitar-rock of Cream and Jimi Hendrix. If you're looking for refined, sophisticated 'art rock', please look elsewhere! Reaction contained nine pieces of primitive blues-rock-boogie the way it used to be performed. Personally I think that Peter Braun's vocals are their weakest point. This album was hardly noticed in 1972, and it seems as if Reaction soon disbanded. As a result, their album was quickly deleted and has become increasingly difficult to find. Originals now sell for 200 DEM or more. I advise you to buy the re-release with its great new artwork!
ACHIM REICHEL/A.R. & MACHINESWhat a godfather of German rock Achim Reichel (born 28.1.1944) has been! His musical career started when he founded The Rattles with Herbert Hildebrand in 1961. They were kind of Liverpool-beat clones, regularly performing at the Star Club (in Hamburg), attempting to fill the vacuum when Beatles returned home. In 1968 he departed to form Wonderland. Reichel and Dostal continued to work together with more experimental music as Wonderland Band and Frankie Dymon Jr. Reichel's first four solo albums, as A.R. & Machines, were also experimental to say the least! Die Grune Reise (1971) was a twisted and whimsical work for echo-guitar, voice and bass, Reichel's idiosyncratic battle against the machines! Check out the insane voice-play "Truth And Probability"! Indeed he revealed himself as a talented multi-instrumentalist elsewhere on the record. Frank Dostal took care of the lyrics and drums, while Reichel did all the rest. His roots in conventional rock were also revealed though by the inclusion of some boogie-blues songs. These tracks were out of context with the otherwise experimental music and the result was a bit mixed in the end. Reichel's use of echo-guitar style predated Ash Ra Tempel's Inventions For Electric Guitar, but was used in a quite different manner. Also the subsequent albums of A.R. & Machines were mixed affairs. On Echo (1972), a whole symphony orchestra contributed, but this double album didn't receive many favourable reviews. The heavy boogie-blues rocking Propeller album (1972) gained much more success. A.R. 3 (1972) was more or less a return to the group format. Even with this long list of participating musicians, the overall sound was very much the same as before. Apparently, Reichel still wasn't tired of his experiments with echo guitar. Perhaps the album was a bit chaotic and over-produced - it was not an easy task to amalgamate echo guitars, rock and jazz. A.R 4 (1973) was generally a better effort. Here were just two long pieces of more simple echo guitars and jazz-rock fusion.
Reichel finally broke away from his machines on Autovision (1974), a more meditative album. Erholung (1975) contained tracks recorded live in Hamburg, on 4 August 1973 with Jochen Petersen (sax, flute), Peter Franken (drums) and Olaf Casalich (percussion). This was also an uncommon musical move from Reichel - a kind of jazz-rock fusion with the spotlight on Petersen's wind instruments. Perhaps Reichel should have explored this direction further, as this album was quite good. After a year of rethinking, he returned to straight rock with Dat Shanty Album (1976), but the choice of material was uncommon: old traditional sea shanties! He played most of the instruments himself.
Later albums have gradually become increasingly pop- and rock-based (Reichel has even enjoyed some chart success in Germany!), and I will not go into details about these albums. With Frank Dostal he set up the production unit Gorilla Musik, which has been responsible for several fine albums by Novalis, Kin Ping Meh and Ougenweide. Even the legendary Yatha Sidhra-album (one of the rarest on green Brain) was produced by Reichel. He also managed the label Ahorn, a Telefunken subsidiary that is now defunct.
RELEASE MUSIC ORCHESTRAThe remaining nucleus of Tomorrow's Gift was joined by a wind player and became Release Music Orchestra in 1974.
Their first album Life (1974) included recordings from their first concert as Release Music Orchestra in Hamburg, on 5 April 1974, and a later appearance in Amsterdam. The music strongly recalled Tomorrow's Gift's Goodbye Future phase, but had a more pronounced jazz feeling, due to the extensive use of electric piano and sax. Release Music Orchestra also had a funky feeling to their instrumental jazz-rock. The sleeve featured drawings recalling Gong's fancy artwork!
Garuda (1975) was arguably their best album - a refined, rhythmic jazz-rock with sax duets and electric piano to the fore. Some of Rurup's organ work was quite similar to that of Mike Ratledge (Soft Machine). By now, Kiefer had departed and been replaced by Holger Dunkel. Margit Maya Haberland expanded the "orchestra" to a quintet. Notable guests were saxophonists Johannes "Alto" Pappert (from Kraan) and Jochen Petersen (Ikarus and Randy Pie). Further line-up changes followed before the third album Get The Ball (1976): Jacobsen and Dunkel left and Frank Fischer became their new bassist. The overall sound on this album had changed, due to the lack of saxophone. In its place Carlo Karges (previously guitarist of Tomorrow's Gift) and Mike Gong added guitar on a couple of tracks. Also, the rhythms were faster and the overall sound more stream-lined - they were attempting a more commercial approach.
MICHAEL ROTHERMichael Rother was born in Hamburg in 1950. Up to 1970 he was a member of the amateur group Spirit Of Sound, also including Wolfgang Riechmann (later of Streetmark) and Wolfgang Flur (later of Kraftwerk). Rother worked with monotonous, electronic and unique "kling-klang" rock in Neu (with Thomas Dinger) and Harmonia (with Cluster). In 1975 he decided he'd had enough of this music and went solo with idyllic, melodic and tuneful instrumental music characterised by soft guitars and synthesizers. Jaki Liebezeit of Can played drums on most of his albums. Rother's music is ideal for relaxed listening. Flammende Herzen (1976) still stands out as his best album. Surprisingly, it sold more than 100,000 copies in Germany. The Sky albums were recorded at Conny's Studio with Konrad Plank.
ROUNDHOUSEFor me, this band's two albums of heavy blues and soul-influenced rock with a strong brass backing are a great disappointment. All material was rather song-oriented, not offering much space for instrumental excursions of longer duration. I really wonder how this group managed to find their outlet on the supposedly "progressive" Harvest label. Perhaps it was due to some good guitar passages. The recordings were done in the Electrola Studios, Cologne and directed by H. Hondricht.
ROYAL SERVANTSRoyal Servants are an interesting example documenting how the late sixties beat music developed into early seventies progressive rock. Their album We (1970) was musically somewhere in-between these genres, as was Xhol Caravan's Electrip (1969). There were a couple of ten minute vintage progressive excursions and five shorter pop-rock tracks drawing from jazz, folk and country (some even had a Latino-touch), all with lyrics in English. Most of the material sounds very dated today and Royal Servants are best remembered for being the predecessor to Eulenspygel. Their album is now very rare and copies are changing hands for 400 DEM or more.
RUFUS ZUPHALLAn experienced progressive rock collectors will know about this excellent group from Aachen, which can arguably be dubbed the German Jethro Tull. Rufus Zuphall's first album Weiss Der Teufel has gradually gained legendary status. It was recorded in the Netherlands and released as a private pressing in 1971. The crew that recorded this stunning garage rocker with Erich Engels (percussion on one track). All five tracks were recorded live in the studio, resulting in a raw and unpolished sound. Just like Jethro Tull, Rufus Zuphall drew influences from both folk and the blues. The side-long title track "Weiss Der Teufel" incorporated the old Gerschwin-standard "Summertime". This developed into a very twisted and frenetic flute solo! Some people regard this track as one of the finest moments of German rock. (Note: two other interesting versions of "Summertime" have been recorded. The Zombies did a charming, jazzy beat version in 1966 and the Dutch group Brainbox, featuring Jan Akkerman on guitar, released a more progressive interpretation in 1969.) Other great tracks were "Knight Of Third Degree", in a peaceful, folky mood with massive percussion, and "Freitag", featuring one of the most raucious guitar breaks of German rock! Weiss Der Teufel is a great album, typifying the raw-edged, largely instrumental early progressive rock.
Their next album Phallobst (recorded in the Dierks Studio from July to August 1971) featured new members Thomas Kittel and Manfred Spangenberg. This album was more polished and had a wider dynamic and instrumental range (mellotron, clavinet and acoustic guitars were added). Particularly strong was the album's second side with two fine instrumentals: "Prickel Prit", strongly flavoured by the blues, and "Makrojel" electric folk-rock with flute to the fore. "I'm On My Way" closed the album in a quiet way.
In 1989 Little Wing re-issued the first Rufus Zuphall album in a magnificent new cover design. But still more exciting was their 4 LP box (+ large booklet and a bonus single) of 1994 with Phallobst and lots of previously unreleased material, comprising a complete concert from June 1972, demos for their unreleased third album and a couple of tracks recorded prior to Weiss Der Teufel. The quality of the recordings were generally good and this set is indispensable for Rufus Zuphall fans!
INGA RUMPFShe was born on 2 August 1948 in Hamburg. Between 1965 and 1969 Inga was a member of the Irish-German folk band City Preachers along with Dagmar Krause and O'Brian-Docker. After a one-off project with Krause as ID Company she co-founded Frumpy in 1970, a group that recorded four albums together before splitting in 1972. The nucleus of Frumpy then became Atlantis, and released further commercially successful albums, benefiting from Rumpf's distinctive, deep and powerful voice (- the German Janis Joplin?). Her first solo album was recorded with most of the Atlantis line-up of 1975: Frank Diez (guitar), Rainer Marz (guitar), Karl-Heinz Schott (bass), Ringo Funk (drums), Adrian Askew (keyboards) and Claudio Szenkar (percussion). The album consisted of conventional rock with soul, jazz and blues influences. Successive albums grew increasingly predictable, with contributions from internationally well-known studio musicians.