Canterbury/Kraut

Shockingly, I am seriously lax in these two areas of prog. I've been looking around the website a lot recently for good places to start, but I figured I'd ask on the forum before I actually started in.

As for Canterbury, I guess I'm most interested in Caravan and Soft Machine. I don't know, something about the bios and works of these two bands appeal to me.

For Kraut, I'm really in the dark. Can, Neu!, Amon Duul II, I really don't know. You just tell me what you think here.

Thank you!

BaldJean wrote: of Canterbury I recommend the following: Gong - "You" National Health - "Of Queues and Cures" Egg - "The Civil Surface" Matching Mole - "Little Red Record" Hatfield and the North - "Hatfield and the North"

Can't go wrong with those choices, although you may want to add Soft Machine's Third and/or Vol. 1 and 2.  Also, I might choose Angel's Egg over You, but both are great.

My Canterbury Picks:

Caravan - If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You and In The Land of Grey and Pink
Soft Machine - The Soft Machine and Third
Gong - All three volumes of Radio Gnome Invisible (Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg, and You)
Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
National Health - National Health
Hatfield and the North - Hatfield and the North, The Rotter's Club, and Afters
Matching Mole - Matching Mole and March
Gilgamesh - Arriving Twice

I can't recommend anything for Kraut Rock because I personally have not developed a taste for it, sorry, but I hope my Canterbury picks help a bit.

BaldJean wrote: Damen wrote: My Canterbury Picks: Caravan - If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You and In The Land of Grey and Pink Soft Machine - The Soft Machine and Third Gong - All three volumes of Radio Gnome Invisible (Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg, and You) Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom National Health - National Health Hatfield and the North - Hatfield and the North, The Rotter's Club, and Afters Matching Mole - Matching Mole and March Gilgamesh - Arriving Twice I can't recommend anything for Kraut Rock because I personally have not developed a taste for it, sorry, but I hope my Canterbury picks help a bit. rather strange; there are a lot of similarities between Canterbury and Kraut. perhaps you just listened to the wrong Kraut albums

I gave these albums a couple of spins and just couldn't get into them at all:

Can - Tago Mago and Future Days
Kraan - Andy Nogger
Faust - Faust IV

Not sure why I can't get into them.

BaldJean wrote: Damen wrote: BaldJean wrote: Damen wrote: My Canterbury Picks: Caravan - If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You and In The Land of Grey and Pink Soft Machine - The Soft Machine and Third Gong - All three volumes of Radio Gnome Invisible (Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg, and You) Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom National Health - National Health Hatfield and the North - Hatfield and the North, The Rotter's Club, and Afters Matching Mole - Matching Mole and March Gilgamesh - Arriving Twice I can't recommend anything for Kraut Rock because I personally have not developed a taste for it, sorry, but I hope my Canterbury picks help a bit. rather strange; there are a lot of similarities between Canterbury and Kraut. perhaps you just listened to the wrong Kraut albums I gave these albums a couple of spins and just couldn't get into them at all: Can - Tago Mago and Future Days Kraan - Andy Nogger Faust - Faust IV Not sure why I can't get into them. not exactly the best start; you hit on 2 of the most experimental albums ("Faust IV" and "Tago-Mago") and one that is not representative at all. of Kraan you should have listened to the 1975 live album; one of the best live albums of all time. Andy Nogger is not bad, but not one of their best albums. "Tago Mago" is definitely not the right introduction to Can; try "Soon Over Babaluma"; when you have listened to that and liked it (which I am sure you will), you can work your way towards more experimental Can. Faust are one of the most extreme Krautrock bands; definitely not my choice for first listening to this genré. try the 5 albums I listed in my advice; they give a good overview of Krautrock for a start (although there is a LOT more)

Thank you, I appreciate the advice.

Paradox wrote: What are Khan like??

Awesome, highly recommended.  Very underrated, containing the wonderful talents of Hillage and Stewart among others.  It's very spacey.

Khan was pretty short lived - just the one album. Space Shanty is good but I found it slightly disappointing when I finally heard it - I'd been expecting something that combined the best of Egg, Gong and Hillage's solo work. Solid 3.5 - 4 star stuff, but not quite the lost masterpiece it's sometimes made out to be.

Heard of them, but not yet bought their album. I shall one day though! I shall also look into buying "Space Shanty"

the first 4 tracks are so-so, with "Azathoth" hinting at what is to come. psychedelic music, nothing much out of the ordinary. the other 2 tracks (or side 2 on the orginal vinyl) are excellent though. there is a nice little story Dave Stewart tells about this album. he said they were improvising on the track "Metempsychosis"; they wanted to get 45 minutes of music on the album, so they all banged away on one chord for about 5 minutes while staring at the wall clock all the time. it is a funny exaggeration, and I really like that track, but one can hear what he means when listening to it ("Metempsychosis" is a 16 minute track, and the last 5 minutes are a little like Stewart describes; but it works very well)
oh, and you better have excellent bass boxes when listening to this album; the bass at the beginning of "Leg" and the bass solo in "Metempsychosis" are very trying on the stereo system

Dick Heath wrote: BaldJean wrote: Damen wrote: BaldJean wrote: Damen wrote: My Canterbury Picks: Caravan - If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You and In The Land of Grey and Pink Soft Machine - The Soft Machine and Third Gong - All three volumes of Radio Gnome Invisible (Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg, and You) Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom National Health - National Health Hatfield and the North - Hatfield and the North, The Rotter's Club, and Afters Matching Mole - Matching Mole and March Gilgamesh - Arriving Twice I can't recommend anything for Kraut Rock because I personally have not developed a taste for it, sorry, but I hope my Canterbury picks help a bit. rather strange; there are a lot of similarities between Canterbury and Kraut. perhaps you just listened to the wrong Kraut albums I gave these albums a couple of spins and just couldn't get into them at all: Can - Tago Mago and Future Days Kraan - Andy Nogger Faust - Faust IV Not sure why I can't get into them. not exactly the best start; you hit on 2 of the most experimental albums ("Faust IV" and "Tago-Mago") and one that is not representative at all. of Kraan you should have listened to the 1975 live album; one of the best live albums of all time. Andy Nogger is not bad, but not one of their best albums. "Tago Mago" is definitely not the right introduction to Can; try "Soon Over Babaluma"; when you have listened to that and liked it (which I am sure you will), you can work your way towards more experimental Can. Faust are one of the most extreme Krautrock bands; definitely not my choice for first listening to this genré. try the 5 albums I listed in my advice; they give a good overview of Krautrock for a start (although there is a LOT more) With you wrt the Kraan 1975 Live album - par excellence. However, in the last 3 years, when I asked the Kraut-rock  expert Alan Freeman (Cosmic Egg's co-author)  personally to recommend a Can album and he took me straight to Tago Mago -  and I had no problems with it . (Indeed he's not the only one who has suggested starting with Tago Mago). He also suggest Kraan Live as their start point! My Krautrock start point in the early 70's was Amon Duul 2 Dance of The Lemmings - which much to my amazement was No 36 in the recent  Mojo/Q  prog top 40??