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PANCAKEOne of the finest mid to late seventies German symphonic- progressive acts (along with Sahara, Novalis, Pell Mell, Streetmark and some others) were Pancake, the brainchild of the talented guitarist Walter Negele. The first incarnation of Pancake came together in 1974.
In the Summer of 1975 the band set off to Stuttgart to record their minor masterpiece Roxy Elephant (1976) in the Zuckerfabrik with Cristoph Wertz (engineer). Walter Negele wrote all eight tracks, of which the tuneful opener "Heartfire" and the 13 minute long "Aeroplane" are outstanding examples of the characteristic melodic guitar rock of the mid-seventies, influenced by such bands as Jane, Eloy, Ash Ra Tempel, Pink Floyd, Wishbone Ash, etc. The parallel to the early Wishbone Ash albums is easy to see, as Pancake had twin lead guitars and lacked keyboards - this was rather uncommon for a symphonic rock band in 1975!
PANTHERAnother obscure group. Their only album came in a large, home made poster cover. This design itself was more interesting than the music contained within, I'm afraid. Panther played standard, short rock'n'roll songs with political lyrics in German.
PARZIVALAlong with Ougenweide, Parzival were one of the few German bands to follow in the steps of British groups like Gryphon and use medieval folklore as the basis for their refined progressive music. The nucleus of the group was the trio Lothar Siems, Walter Quintus and Thomas Oliver. Siems and Oliver had played together since 1965 in the Bremen group The Chamberlains, before joining the Quintus Ouartet. Their repertoire comprised increasingly folky styles. In 1971 they took the name Parzival and obtained a recording contract with Telefunken. Legend (1971) was a fine album of lyrical, electric folk-rock with much use of flute, violin and acoustic guitars. Featured guests were: Matthias Muller-Menckens (flute, piano), Joachim Reichhold (cello) and Hans Jaspers (viola). Some of the tracks had the slight melancholia I associate with Novalis at their best. Unlike Ougenweide and Novalis, Parzival sang in English and lacked the German distinction of the folk-rock bands on the Pilz label. Like Pell Mell, Parzival also incorporated classical music, but not in a pompous large scale manner. Technically they enjoyed the steady support of producer Konrad Plank. An obscure single ("One Day" coupled with "Souls Married To The Wind") followed in 1972. Luckily it was later included on the Rock In Deutschland sampler in 1981.
Their second and sadly last album Ba-rock emerged at the beginning of 1973. The group had expanded with the addition of cellist Walter v. Seydlitz and helped by Muller-Menckens and Harald Konietzko (bass, vocals). This was similar to their first album, although in parts closer to rock than Legend. Parzival's legacy is to have recorded two of the best German folk-rock albums which avoided the trappings of over-ambition. Most of their songs were short, melodic, charming and beautiful. For this reason, their original albums are fast increasing in value, currently a bit short of 100 DEM each.
PEGASUS
PELL MELL2 has been re-released on Ylaps 001.
Pell Mell were formed in Marburg in 1971. Their home city also gave the name for their debut album, recorded during 1972 at the Dierks Studio, Stommeln, produced by Peter Hauke. This contained an inspired form of symphonic rock comparable to Nice and particularly Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Like these. Pell Mell often borrowed classical themes. Pell Mell's sound was characterised by colourful, swirling hammond organ, a violin (which Thomas Schmitt played with great virtuosity), mellotron, recorder and some guitar. Most of the material, five tracks in all, was instrumental. Their version of Smetana's "The Moldau" was particularly successful. On Pell Mell's second album From The New World (1973) the keyboard player Dietrich T. Noll replaced Pusch on half of the tracks.
It seems that problems occurred when it came to recording and releasing a third album. A revamped Pell Mell, now featuring Schmitt, Schon, Kniesmeijer with Ralph Lippmann, Cherry Hochdorfer (ex-Frame) and Gotz Draeger, wasn't able to record Rhapsody until 1975 and another year passed before the album was released on the freshly founded record company Venus. Synthesizers and longer passages of classical guitar were introduced, resulting in a complex symphonic sound comparable to Triumvirat. For 50% of the album. Pell Mell used musical themes of Liszt and Rachmaninoff.
PERCEWOOD'S ONAGRAMIn the sixties, Wolfgang Michels was an eager rhythm and blues and Bob Dylan-fan. Encouraged by Alexis Korner, Michels formed Percewood's Onagram in 1969. Within weeks they recorded their first album, a collection of R & B and folk-blues based garage-rock. Some of the tracks were recorded live in the studio, and none of them had bass! The piano work was sometimes inspired by ragtime music of the twenties. "Chicago" was a fine 12-minutes example of live garage jamming. The only problem was that Michels lacked a good singing voice and the result thus became very rough. As the liner notes explained: 'the basic idea of this record was not to produce a record, but to give our friends the chance to hear our music, and thereby to increase the number of our friends'. Apparently this didn't work with the first album, as Lessons For Virgins (1971) basically contained the same type of music. Most noteworthy was the 21 minute "Are You Coming Mike..." with a hostile free form freak-out as the finale. Later albums sounded a bit more professional, but were still based on folk-blues. The group, expanded with Gerald Heinemann, Uwe Meyer, Geary Priest and Peter Conant Schaffer recorded Ameuropa in 1974 and for some this was their best album. After this, the group split and Wolfgang Michels set out on a solo career.
PETARDSPetards were basically a good-natured pop-rock band, always attempting to get a German top ten hit, but never succeeding. They were fronted by the guitar-playing brothers Horst and Klaus Ebert, who occasionally managed to write some great pop-rock songs. A Deeper Blue (1968) was a rare example of German pop psychedelia in the 'swinging London' style, containing 12 short and light songs with English lyrics. Check that stupid photo of the group on the album cover! For their two subsequent albums, the glimpses of soft psychedelia gave way to a very plain guitar rock, comparable to Creedence Clearwater Revival (but of course no vocals can be compared to John Fogerly's)! Indeed Petards made an album of Creedence Clearwater Revival cover versions in 1969 - under the pseudonym Zonk. Their most progressive effort was their final double album Pet-Arts (1971), which featured psychedelic cover art. The 14 songs were still quite straight rock, only occasionally giving room for more Inspired Instrumental work. Today Petards are only a curiosity of German rock.
PINGUINThe band Talix which recorded Spuren (1970) for Vogue changed their name into Pinguin (German spelling for 'penguin') in 1971. Organist Volker Plitz wrote all six tracks for Der Grosse Rote Vogel, recorded in Love-Studio, Koln, from September to November 1971. This became the first release on Polydor's 'progressive' label Zebra. They presented a strong fusion and classically influenced progressive rock with the instrumental emphasis on keyboards. As you might have guessed from the album title, all the lyrics were in German. The album won't raise your eyebrows too much, but has some appealing melodic and pleasant tracks. In 1973 the Zebra label folded, and it seems Pinguin did the same.
PINK MICEOne of the many projects from the Lucifer's Friend-musicians, all recorded at the request of the budget price company Europa. Pink Mice was an outlet for keyboard and Moog-dominated versions of classical compositions and as you will have figured out yourself, this is of only minor interest unless you are 'switched on Bach' (i.e. enjoy the albums of Walter Carlos)!
POPOL VUHFew German groups were as inventive as Florian Frieke's musical vehicle Popol Vuh, named after the holy book of the North American Maya Indians. Fricke was born on 23 February 1944 in Lindau. During the sixties he studied grand piano and composition at the Freiburg university. After this, he worked sporadically as a music and film reviewer, and befriended someone who was to be a huge influence on his musical career: Eberhard Schoener, then the leader of the Munich Kammeroper. Schoener taught Fricke about the potential of a moog synthesizer.
In the Spring of 1969 Fricke formed the first Popol Vuh crew of the initiative of Liberty records. The record label wanted Fricke to make an experimental moog synthesizer album. It seemed likely that Liberty planned to cash in on something like the Walter Carlos-album Switched On Bach, which had recently been a surprising commercial success for CBS. The resulting album Affenstunde (1970) was really something totally different from this! A mystical journey through spooky tonal landscapes of gargling moogs and ethnic percussion. This music attracted attention in the growing underground rock scene, and Popol Vuh recorded the five subsequent albums for Pilz/Kosmische Musik. In Den Garten Pharaohs (1972) was the follow-up, a development on their first album with the same musical ingredients. To create a more meditative effect Frieke also played organ and electric piano. The album contained just two extended tracks: "In Den Garten Pharaohs" and "Vuh".
In 1972 Fricke also experienced a religious revival. When he converted to both Christianity and Hindu, he discounted electronics for a more acoustic style and re-organised Popol Vuh totally. This team made Hosianna Mantra (1973), an album with titles like "Kyrie", "Segnung" and "Andacht" The angelic soprano voice of Yun matched the aesthetic and meditative music. The only similarity with the two previous albums was the slight ethnic touch. This album was the point of departure for Fricke's further career. One of the most significant decisions in that career was when he participated on Conny Veit's second Gila album and as a consequence met Daniel Fichelscher, previously the drummer in Amon Duul II.
Fricke and Fichelscher became the nucleus of Popol Vuh for future albums. The first of these, Seligpeisung (1973) improved the meditative style of the previous album. Fricke decided to sing the lyrics from Song of Solomon himself, adding an amateurish touch to the music (like Incredible String Band when their girl-friends were involved). It benefited from Fichelscher's twin instrumental talents - both as a guitarist and percussionist. Eliscu, Veit and Wiese also contributed to this album, recorded by Dierks in Stommeln and Baumburg. Aguirre (1975) featured some of the music from Werner Herzog's film of the same name. Herzog and Fricke were long term friends from Fricke's days as a film reviewer. This was a strange release, as it compiled recent alternative studio takes with the original music for the film. The long piece "Vergegenwaertigung" was a solo Fricke electronic number, a throw-back to the first two Popol Vuh albums, probably recorded in late 1972. Also "Aguirre I" was recorded before Fricke discarded the moogs and mellotrons. This was a majestic and floating large scale track. "Morgengruss II", "Agnus Dei" and the guitar part of "Aguirre II" were probably recorded in May 1974 at the sessions for the forthcoming album Einsjager Und Siebenjager and were fine examples of Fichelscher's brilliant guitar work. The album was originally only released in France and Italy. To add even more to the confusion, the German re-release on Pop-Import 1982 had three later Popol Vuh tracks, "Wo Bist Du, Der Du Uberwunden Hast" and "Auf Dem Weg" from Die Nacht Der Seele: Tantric Songs (1979) and "Die Umkehr" from Bruder Des Schattens - Sohne Des Lichts (1978), replacing "Vergegen-waertigung". This is not mentioned on the cover nor the label. Either it was a mistake or an illegal replacement due to the loss of master tapes. Einsjager Und Siebenjager (1975) was recorded by Fricke, Fichelscher and Yun in Bavaria in May 1974. By this time Fichelscher also had begun to compose music. On this occasion, some of Popol Vuh's best music ever was recorded. A typical track of this period had a drum (Fichelscher had a particular passion for the use of cymbals) and piano backing with two guitar overdubs playing the melody lines and Djong Yun's magnificent voice added on the top. "King Minos", "Morgengruss" and "Wurfenspiel" were good examples, "Gutes Land" was a re-titled version of "Agnus Dei", already recorded twice on the two previous albums. Tile title track was a major work of 19 minutes, a recital of different musical themes. All lyrics were adapted from the Song of Salomon. Das Hohelied Salomos (1975) included more of such adaptations. The music was as beautiful as before, now with added help from Al Gromer (sitar) and Shana Kumar (tablas). Al Gromer also contributed to the next five Popol Vuh albums. Letzte Tage, Letzte Nachte (1976) was arguably their most pompous and grandiose album. The music was much more powerful and energetic than usual. Fichelscher's guitars built walk of sound backed by massive cymbals and drumming. Fricke's piano almost drowned in this Amon Duul-like inferno of sound.
Popol Vuh have been true pioneers of meditative music and "world music", guided by the unique musical vision of Florian Fricke. Every album is excellent in its own right, but for beginners I will particularly recommend Einsjager Und Siebenjager and Das Hohelied Salomos.
PROF. WOLFFFFolding open the sleeve of the one and only Prof. Wolfff-album reveals a long-haired quintet. Unfortunately their names weren't listed, but the three guys credited for the compositions were presumably members of this obscure group. The seven songs were recorded in October 1971 at the Jankowsky studio, Stuttgart, produced by Jonas Porst (the Ihre Kinder-manager) and engineered by Klaus Reiser. Perhaps Porst's involvement explains why the result sounded like a cross between Ihre Kinder and Murphy Blend - strong political lyrics in German and folky arrangements coupled with a very prominent hammond organ played in a semi-classical style. Lied Des Teufels also recorded similar music, but Prof. Wolfff for the most part lacked sax and flute. In all, seven songs, all of them good, some great! A recommended album that unfortunately is very seldom seen around nowadays.
PROPELLERA one-off "have fun" project led by Achim Reichel. In 1972 he teamed up with some old friends from Rattles (the renowned beat-group of which he was a member from 1961 to 1968). Together they made an album of heavy boogie and glitter rock. Let Us Live Together featured ten jolly rockin' tracks and was quite well received by the German press. After this, Reichel soon returned to his much more experimental solo projects, such as A.R. & Machines. On the other hand, Hildebrandt and Tarrach formed Randy, Pie & Family with Bernd Schulz and Klaus-Georg Meyer (two other former Rattles-members).
PROSPERAn obscure quintet. Fritz Frey was also the engineer on the Chicken Bones album from 1976. Broken Door (1975) contained typical (also lyrical!) mid-seventies "progressivism" with plenty of mellotrons, moogs and heavy guitars - vaguely comparable to a cross between contemporary Zappa, Santana and King Crimson. A very fine album, but unfortunately very hard to find!