 |
Return to:
[
Home Page] [German 60s / 70s Index]
ORANGE PEELThis release marked the start of Curt Cress' long and impressive career. He was then only 17 years old, and still studying the art of percussion, when the Orange Peel album was recorded late in 1969 at the Dierks studio (actually one of the first Dierks productions I know about!). The result was a vintage blend of progressive music, comparable to Tomorrow's Gift (1st album) or Nosferatu. The four mainly instrumental tracks sounded somewhat unfinished. Orange Peel disbanded in 1970. Bassist Helm Mohn replaced Michael Ertl in Epsilon in time for their second album Move On (1971), while Curt Cress went on to Emergency, Passport, Atlantis and several other bands. Gradually he built up his reputation as one of Germany's finest session drummers. If you have a special interest in Orange Peel as a document of early German progressive rock you must he prepared to pay at least 150 DEM.
ORGANISATIONThe album Tone Float is an opportunity to hear Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider's musical ideas before their Kraftwerk concept. In 1969 they made some demo recordings with Konrad Plank, and in a strange way these tapes found their way to Great Britain and the RCA label. As one might guess from the instrumentation, the five tracks (the title track filling the whole of side one) are dominated by congas, bongos, glockenspiel, musical box, bells, triangle, etc. Hutter and Schneider already had a passion for repetitive percussive sounds and rhythms in those days. This is also evident on the first Kraftwerk album, which appeared in 1970. Organisation appeared live, but were rumoured to be so bad that people threw vegetables at them on stage. This partly caused the group's demise at the end of 1969. Their album is a rarity mainly of historical value today. A mint copy should sell for about 300 DEM. Basil Hammoundi later recorded with the group Ibliss.
OS MUNDIJust as Electric Prunes and Eela Craig did before and after them, Os Mundi from Berlin converted a Latin mass into the progressive and/or psychedelic rock format. Os Mundi was the brainchild of Udo Arndt. On the first album they were helped by guests Hartmut Seidel (bass) and David Kalckreuth (organ). The album was a tour de force with heavy, powerful guitars and garage organs. It had a dense, raw production, sinister atmosphere and made clever use of studio effects. Indeed, its dark atmosphere could easily be associated with a black mass, instead of a Latin mass! It sounded a bit like early Uriah Heep or Vanilla Fudge with similar, opera-like vocals. The second album 43 Minuten (recorded at Audio Studios in June 1972 with Konrad Plank) was a very, very different work. It was a more "mainstream" progressive rock recording, drawing more from jazz, folk and contemporary West Coast rock. Highlights of this album included "But Reality Will Show", a Holderlin-like ballad with the use of cello, and "Erstickubungen", a tremendous instrumental blow-out with gutsy, heavy guitar play from Udo. He later became a renowned rock and new wave record producer and engineer (Ian Cussick, Munchener Freiheit, Morgenrot, Steinwolke). Nowadays he's employed as an engineer and producer at the Audion Studio in Berlin.
OS PESCADORESThis mythical group included the bassist of Tyburn Tall. Their music has, in second hand lists, been compared to Lightshine, with much guitar and organ. The famous German record collector Willi Oertel thinks this is rubbish - 'It's religious music!', he told me.
OUGENWEIDEOugenweide was one the most significant German folk-rock bands of the seventies. Their music was quite different from the 'progressive folk' music created by the early Broselmaschine and Holderlin. Ougenweide's speciality was shorter tracks in off almost medieval folk tradition with German lyrics. The result was a German answer to British groups like Fairport Convention, Gryphon and Steeleye Span. Like these groups, Ougenweide (from Hamburg) succeeded in achieving a distinct style of their own. Their records confirm that they were obviously great instrumentalists. Through the years the nucleus of the Wulff brothers, von Henko and Isenbart remained intact. Minne Graw was their female vocalist from the third album onwards. A large part of their repertoire consisted of traditional German folk songs. The early albums are their most acoustic ones, the later works also utilised synthesisers.
OUT OF FOCUSThe labels of 3 have the catalogue number 2433 002 (record 1) & 2433 003 (record 2)! All records with the listed catalogue numbers are originals. A vynil re-issue of 1 appeared in 1990 on Kuckuck (a release arranged by re-issue specialists Second Battle) with the catalogue number 11006-1. This was limited to 1,000 copies.
In 1991 & 1992 Ohrwaschl re-released all albums on CD (limited to 1,000 copies each).
This is a very important group whose three albums all collectors of German rock should stock in their vaults! Out Of Focus came together in Munich circa 1969. Ihre Kinder's manager Jonas Porst was farsighted enough to sign the band to his Kuckuck label.
Reputedly, the band spent months in their practice room to polish up their forthcoming debut album Wake Up! (1970). It was engineered by Thomas Klemt in the Union Studio, Munich, between October and December 1970. All the hard labour produced one of the all time classics of German rock! Out Of Focus revealed a well balanced instrumental mix of alternating guitar, flute and organ riffing; technically absolutely brilliant! The solid rhythm section could produce repetitive but complex rhythm patterns as a backdrop for the band's soloists. There were six dynamic tracks with ironic, humorous lyrics (as typified by "God Save The Queen, Cried Jesus"), heavy riffing ("See How A White Negro Flies" and very long songs, exploring the whole instrumental register from silent, breezy and peaceful whispers to lull-blown outbursts of outrageous power ("Dark, Darker"). Neumuller had an uncommon voice, which took a little getting used to at first, but it added yet another special dimension to the end product. If you need just one album to sample the specific German way of approaching "progressive" music, this is it! With their roots in heavy rock, blues, folk and jazz, Out Of Focus went far beyond British bands like Jethro Tun, Gravy Train, Colloseum, Traffic, etc.
Their self-titled second album was recorded at Bavaria studios in June 1971. This was another landmark of German rock, switching to a fusion-ridden direction. Which one of the first two albums you prefer, really depends on your own taste. In many ways this was a more extreme album, "Whispering" had a riff that was repeated for more than ten minutes and "Fly Bird Fly Television Program" explored themes for nearly 17 minutes! There were even two mellow folk-rock songs: "It's Your Life" and "Blue Sunday Morning". Only the opening track "What Can A Poor Boy Do" recalled the heavy guitar, flute and organ riffing of the first album. But, even such a fantastic album didn't seem to fulfil their ambitions. For the double album Four Letter Monday Afternoon (1972), Out Of Focus were expanded with brass and more. Their large scale opus "Huchen 55" lasted for two whole record sides and a total running time of almost 50 minutes! Sadly this proved too self-indulgent, for although the mammoth composition had many excellent parts I find it over-arranged. Imagine a group of 11 musicians playing something different all at once! "L.S.B" (sic!) was another very long work with the focus on brass, resulting in a musical fusion reminiscent of British Vertigo-bands like Nucleus, Bob Downes, Ben and also Soft Machine. Moran Neumuller had now taken the role of lead soloist, often multi-tracking his saxes and flutes. Drexler and Hering had a surprisingly low profile on this album. There was only one song that was comparable to their previous album: a short and folky ballad named "Where Have You Been". This proved to be Out Of Focus' last album. Surprisingly, little has been heard from these talented musicians since their demise.
All Out Of Focus albums are now available oil CD in digitally remastered brilliance. What an awesome group they were!