AMON DUUL This Is METRONOME KRAUTROCK PSYCH '73 LP HEAR

$

40

WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS…

AMON DUUL 'This Is Amon Duul"

Original 1973 LP on the German METRONOME label, STEREO 200.146

Cover:  VG++

Vinyl:  CLEAN, plays EXCELLENT to NEAR MINT

Legendary German model Uschi Obermaier was part of this band - can anyone tell me if that's HER on the back cover? (see 3rd pic, left in back row)

I’m always up for a dare.  And so, when several authorities on German psychedelic music (yeah, there are such people) called Amon Duul’s albums “virtually unlistenable,” I took that as a challenge.  A big black vinyl gauntlet thrown at my feet.  I mean, I’ve heard a few of those sidelong jams by Amon Duul TWO – and if I could sit through those without ripping out my inner ear with a hot poker, then what could be worse?  Besides James Blunt. 

Okay, a little history is probably in order for those not familiar with how Amon Duul came about (in other words, all of you).  They started as a sort of hippie anarchic psychedelic commune in Berlin way back in 1967, and music was only a part of what they were to create together, much like the Hapshash and the Coloured Coat collective in England around the same time.  But being Germans on drugs, they got into a really big fight on the day BEFORE they were to perform at one of Germany’s biggest music festivals, the Essener Sontag Festival (later to be known as Das Lollapaloozaberg).  As a result, they basically split apart into two separate groups – the musicians went one way, and became Amon Duul 2, whose albums you’ve seen cluttering up cutout bins since the late 70’s – while the non-musicians stayed behind in Amon Duul.  Finding one of THEIR albums, on the other hand, is about as hard as finding someone who actually remembers being at the Essener Sontag Festival. 

So if you’re a little worried about what kind of “music” a large bunch of non-musical pot-smoking unkempt hippie commune members could make together, well, go borrow one of your friend’s Grateful Dead tapes from 1967.  And then imagine if, one particular night, they invited Yoko Ono up on stage with them.  I know, right?  And yet, the most amazing thing about all of Amon Duul’s albums (and they’ve had something like five or six) is that they’ve pretty much all come out of ONE SINGLE day-long jam session.  Hear that, Axl Rose?  Instead of waiting 14 years, next time just go into a studio, jam for 24 straight hours, then find a German record label.  You just bought yourself five CDs. 

Truthfully, a few of Amon Duul’s albums are just repackages (and retitlings) of the original 1969 release Psychedelic Underground.  This particular album up for bid, This is Amon Duul, is a 1973 reissue on the same label, German Metronome.  The US release on Prophecy in 1970 and the German Brain release Minilied in 1981 are also the same.  So if you have all four, you’ve not only got four identical albums, but you really really need to get out more.

As you’d expect, This is Amon Duul consists of two side-long jams.  The only reason it’s not one big jam, of course, is because Side 1 had to end sometime.  Both sides are, naturally, acid-soaked drug-addled tribal freakouts of the highest order, real legitimate hippie commune music (unlike Amon Duul 2) and about as freeform as you’re gonna find if you don’t actually do it yourself.  Each side is also broken down into separate song titles on the label, but that’s just wishful thinking on the part of someone at the label.  Trust me – there’s Side 1 and Side 2, and anyone who thinks they can get somehow lift a single out of this record is the same person who thinks a song title like “Ein wunderhübsches mädchen träumt von Sandosa” would sound natural coming out of Casey Kasem’s mouth after a Spanky and Our Gang montage. 

And yet, despite the general anarchic chaoticness of the whole thing, I enjoy This is Amon Duul more than most Grateful Dead concerts because these guys freely ADMIT they can’t play.  And maybe to cover this up a little bit, they distort EVERYTHING – instruments, fuzz guitars, vocals – into one blinding miasma of psychedelic excess.  And if that sounds like a challenge, it is.  But I sat through it, and that’s more than I can say for Europe ’72.  And if you decide to pick up the freak/folk gauntlet too, here’s what you’ll hear:

Side 1 opens with the roar of applause, as if this was recorded in front of a live festival audience (c’mon, didn’t we learn our lesson already with Johnny Rivers and John’s Children?), followed by a funky little tribal drum beat.  Some distorto fuzz kicks in, accompanied by some nonsense vocals.  Or maybe they’re in German.  Ich weiss nicht.  This goes on for eight minutes, until a single piano enters and actually starts playing a melody.  I know, right?  But soon, the tribal drums, now severely distorted, take over once again and shove the piano player into the supply closet.  This continues until the 17 MINUTE mark, when everything dies down, and a nice jangly guitar kicks in, harassed by a buzzing Big Rock Star Guitar Hero blast of electric feedback.  At 20 minutes, it all kinda ends.  Kinda sorta.  At least, don’t lift the needle yet (that is, if you’re not curled into a fetal position on the other side of the room), because we fade back IN again for 2 and a half minutes of intense hippie commune Burning Man chants, as each and every member of Amon Duul strips naked and starts dancing around the studio calling for Gaia or Das Erdemutter or someone in the recording booth to run out and get more tape, man, because we’re gonna milk this up ‘til the early 80s.

The tape keeps rolling, on to Side 2.  Somebody brings in the latest Pink Floyd albums, but the band doesn’t notice them at first.  They’re riffing off some monster Mideastern hookah tent bellydancing snakey fuzz guitar melody, gyrating like cobras in heat while the chicks grab finger cymbals and start wailing like Yma Sumac with a broken collarbone.  It’s about this time too that the weird psychedelic background noises start showing up – a little post-production perhaps? – and suddenly someone notices the ragged copy of Piper at the Gates of Dawn in the corner.  In some kind of stoned tribute to Syd Barrett, the band amp things up to a fever pitch, rumbling to a big trippy sound effect-laden climax like the ending of “Bike” before dying out at the 7-1/2 minute mark.  Some spooky horror film soundtrack guitar plunks around for a bit, followed by a deep fuzz bass, then someone starts making “Pow R Toc H” vocal noises.  This fires up the chicks again, who had momentarily fallen asleep after the hookah pipe burned out, and now they start moaning and purring like they’re trying out for the latest Chakachas single or something.  Mind you, this is only TEN minutes into Side 2.  The rest I’ll leave to you.  I ain’t doing ALL your work for you.

When the needle finally lifted, I understood why 99.8 percent of krautrock fans considered This is Amon Duul to be “nearly unlistenable” and, as one fan with a thesaurus nearby said, “an abhorrent inaudible obscene offense to my ears.”  But I also vehemently, unequivocably (see, I got me a thesaurus too!) disagreed with ‘em.  Because moreso than the packaged, produced and overdubbed space rock of Amon Duul 2 – moreso than the dead-boring virtuoso showoff jams of Cream’s live shows – and moreso than any supposedly freeform garbage Zappa’s foisted on us for the past 40 years – This is Amon Duul is simply the sound of a bunch of stoned hippies getting together and making as much noise as they can for an hour.  I guess that makes it the very definition of psychedelic music.  Now, what do I win for sitting through it?

HEAR IT!

The less exciting stuff

Media mail shipping with delivery confirmation starts at $4.00 in the US, with each additional record only $1 additional shipping.  ALL DOMESTIC ORDERS REQUIRE DELIVERY CONFIRMATION, WHICH IS AN EXTRA 75 CENTS.  Air mail shipping to Canada starts at $10 US, each additional record $2 shipping.  Air mail shipping everywhere else in the world starts at $16 US, with each additional record only $3 shipping.  ALL FOREIGN ORDERS REQUIRE CERTIFICATE OF SHIPMENT, WHICH IS AN EXTRA $1.10.  I accept payments through Paypal. 

I try to grade as best as I can, and I list as many blemishes/imperfections I can find (writing, ringwear, scuff marks, etc.) – Also, please note that I DO listen to these albums – I may not listen to every track, but my grades are based on LISTENING, not just looking at it, since chances are you’ll be listening to the record you buy, not just looking at it.  Most of the albums I sell are the ones I’ve enjoyed for years – and I treat my records with kid gloves.  But sounds speak louder than words, so check out the sound clips below – they’re from the actual record you’re bidding on. 

SHIPPING AND PACKAGING

Listen, I buy a bunch of records too (when I’m not getting outbid at the last second, which is more often than not) – and I know what it’s like to get a rare, one-of-a-kind album packaged dangerously in a flimsy bubblewrap package.  I hate that too.  So rest assured, I ALWAYS package albums with stiff cardboard reinforcements, same for 45s.  And yes, the records are removed from the sleeves (for albums).  I ship out once a week, every Friday, because I have a regular day job.  But I’d be willing to give that up if you’d all be so kind as to bid my items up to stupidly high amounts. 

And finally, I include delivery confirmation on all shipments inside the US.  This is my proof of shipment, and also helps us to track your package if it doesn’t arrive when it should.  I will email you within 2 days of shipment and give you the confirmation number at that time.  Insurance is always optional, but for larger orders, it’s highly recommended.   I DO NOW REQUIRE THAT ALL FOREIGN BUYERS PAY AN ADDITIONAL $1.10 FOR PROOF OF SHIPMENT.  IT'S A NOMINAL FEE AND THE CHEAPEST WAY FOR ME TO PROVE THAT I ACTUALLY SHIPPED YOUR PACKAGE AND DIDN'T JUST POCKET YOUR MONEY AND SKIP TOWN.  For more security and international tracking, you may request GLOBAL PRIORITY MAIL - but bear in mind the cost of this service is upwards of $30.  For expensive items, however, it may be well worth it.  Unfortunately, there isn’t a cost-effective way of tracking parcels to foreign countries yet, and shipping times vary depending on your country’s postal system.   Italy in particular seems to be really bad at delivering packages quickly, or delivering packages at all, now that you mention it.  I will always email you when your package ships, but once it’s on its way, please don’t ask me when it will arrive because I don’t know.  If the world’s postal systems can ever agree on a universal tracking system that’s affordable, I’ll be the first to use it.

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN…

I will always leave positive feedback for successful transactions, and would appreciate the same in return.  All I ask of you is the following – please pay for your items within 14 days of the close of auction.  Compared to other sellers, that’s a generous amount of time, so if you don’t pay within 2 weeks, then I have to assume something’s wrong.  You’ll get an Ebay payment reminder at that point, and possibly a decapitated horse head in your bed.  If, after 30 days, you still haven’t forked up the cash, I’ll relist the item and yell at you if I ever see you in town.