Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The In-Kraut - Hip Shaking Grooves Made In Germany 1966-1974




I don't know alot about these comps and I have not even heard them yet to be honest haha, but it looks like it is right up my street!
There are 3 volumes in total and I am just waiting on permission to use links to all three here's some blurb below and hopefully all 3 will be up here in a short space of time.

An amazing selection of German grooves from the 60s through to the early 70s.
There’s so many albums you wait an age for which inevitably let you down, then albums come from nowhere and knock you out. Such is the case with ‘The In-Kraut’, appropriately sub-titled ‘Hip Shaking Grooves Made In Germany 1966-1974’.

When you think of German music past, it’s hard to get past Kraftwerk and hair rock. But like all cultures, if you go past the obvious and scrape the surface, there’s some great stuff hidden down below. I first heard album opener ‘From Here On It Got Rough’ by Hildegard Knef on the radio, prompting me to seek out this collection. Like Nico does northern - incredibly quirky and catchy and a sign of things to come. Some tracks are cool and funky variations of the big band sound, like Guenter Noris’ ‘Gemini’ which operates in Ramsey Lewis territory and Fredy Brock’s ‘Beat It’, featuring a class JB style rhythm section. Best topping those is Orchester Helmuth Brandenburg’s ‘Moving Out’, not a far cry from the Starsky and Hutch theme! There’s the annoyingly catchy ‘Marihuana Mantra’ with its driving guitar and chant-like chorus or the fuzz-pop of Bill Ramsey’s ‘An Unknown Quantity’. And check out the breezy 60s pop of Marianne Mendt’s ‘Wie A Glock’n’ or the more sleazy ‘Pussy Baby’ by Bill Lawrence. Talking of 60s pop, I love Heidi Bruehl’s ‘Berlin’ - almost like a soundtrack piece, complete with great psych guitar solo (rumoured to be from Jimmy Page!). And for a piece of driving hammond, The Boots’ ‘Alexander’ hits the spot.

And there’s tracks that have already become sought-after collectors’ grooves. Check out ‘Why Don’t You Play The Organ, Man’ by Memphis Black - a monster funk piece. And feel the groove on the opening of ‘Sunday Love Affair’ by Orchester Frank Pleyer. More mainstream funk comes courtesy of Erwin Halletz, with ‘Das Stundenhotel Von St Pauli’ - a blue movie soundtrack inevitably! A track that has already been lifted wholesale is ‘Bodybuilding’ by Orchester Werner Mueller - re-worked by Bentley Rhythm Ace into a hit single a few years back. And no album of this nature would be complete without a bonkers covers version - enter Peter Thomas with his early synth and brass take on ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’.

20 tracks - no filler and one of the best booklets I’ve had the pleasure to read in a long time. A fantastic trip through the German underground of the 60s and early 70s and an album I just can’t recommend enough.

Just Playing Volume 1 and it is very good.
It reminds me of an amphonic library sort of sound mixed with the beat at cinecitta stuff...very groovy indeed.

Links posted without permission...so get these comps while they are hot!

Vol1http://rapidshare.com/files/201601009/In_Kraut_1.zip
Vol2 http://rapidshare.com/files/201602357/In_Kraut_2.zip
Vol3 http://rapidshare.com/files/201603716/In_Kraut_3.zip

9 comments:

Dig It Out! said...

i have them all 3 on vinyl! they are dope! some real funky stuff and some german schlager..but kool.

sweetbeats™ said...

I have not had a chance to download the other 2 but the 1st one has some pretty cool tracks,will get em downloaded at the weekend,cheers Jason

stigma2 said...

Seems links are down at the moment :( , check stigma rest room for new links soon.

Ah, no problem and no permision needed for posting the links.

And thanks for mentioning the source! Enjoy the music.

sweetbeats said...

Cheers buddy I am loving the first Kraut cool stuff !

La Fint' said...

hi friends, i got the volume (dbl lp). it's sick! i think my favorite cut from it is KNEF "from here on it go rough"(do you know her first version, in german language?smarter!)...but "molotov cocktail" is pretty funny too!thx for posting! (come visit our radio show!we're brand new here...)

garage 66 & mojo repair shop said...

They were taken down! Boo hoo.

sweetbeats said...

Boo Hoo
They wern't my links sorry : (

Antoni said...

Me gusta esa chica, pero... ¿que me dices de Francoise Hardy?, felicidades por tu blog, si quieres nos visitamos y hablamos. un saludo!!

Eric said...

Can someone put up links for these albums? I have fragments of album 2 from tpb and it sounds goooood :)