Why Grobschnitt isn't consider the best band ever? |
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Vibrationbaby
Forum Senior Member Joined: February 13 2004 Status: Offline Points: 6898 |
Posted: December 29 2008 at 04:33 | ||
I saw them in '78. I was only 16 years old on high school band trip to Europe. The concert was even a bigger trip than the band trip. I have everything they ever recorded including EROC's solo stuff. Plus most of the remasters EROC has been involved with. This band was one of the most unusual bands in the history of rock music. Unlike other German bands I don't think they ever performed outside of what was West germany at the time. they have often been compared to Guru Guru because of their bizarre hunourous aspect. Not a fair comparison because that's all they had in common. I've even heard them being compared to Hoelderlin who had folkier roots. One thing most German rock bands from the seventies DID have in common was a flair to be bizarre which is a quality that isolated them from UK prog rock bands and american audienced who were weaned on commercialism. especially in the early stages of the seventies the German bands dictated to the record companies what was in. Up until about 1975 they ( the bands ) told the record companies what kind of music they were going to play or else the record companies weren't going to remain record companies. the sadness sunk in as far as the bands were concerned around this time and many went by the wayside and entered into the where are they now file and others conformed or just happened by chance to conform and survived. A good examle of this is Amon Duul II who really started to go commercial on the Hijack album. Another thing the german bands suffered from was what I call the Kraurock syndrome. if you were from Germany in the early seventies you were automatically labelled Krautrock no matter what the freak kind of music you played. In Germany it was known a Kosmische music and often associated with illicit drugs.
Back to Grobschnitt. sorry for going off on a kilter there. My favourite grobschnitt album has to be the first one. the track Wonderful Music ( like Focus' House Of The King ) is often mistaken for a Jethro Tull track because of the flute playing and the fact that the bands from the continet were overshadowed by UK prog bands that had heavy hitting financial power of the record companies who also has susiduaries in the US. sorry back to our german friends. I own an original copy of the first grobschnitt album which I no longer play since I saw the ludicrous prices it commands over the internet. my copy ain't for sale nor will it ever be. it is one of the most prized records in my collection. I just love sitting with it in my hands when i listen to the CD remaster with the extended live bonus track of Die Symphonie. on thing i really love about the band is their adamant opposition to commercialism. They didn't really like the Village people Did they? ACYM ? On a last note i don't think language was an issue with any of the German bands. it was just more comfortable for them to sing rock songs in English. I read an old interview with renate Kanup and she sort of mentioned something to this effect. I'll have to try and dig it out and post it.
Grobschnitt one of my favourite bands of all time. maybe it's time for another review.
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omri
Forum Senior Member Joined: April 21 2005 Location: Israel Status: Offline Points: 1250 |
Posted: December 29 2008 at 10:15 | ||
Since I discovered from your post that you are 2 years older than me I'll be more polite than I ment to be.
It is true that I do not know enough of German prog. Being an Israeli did not give me many opportunities to be exposed to german music for reasons you can easily guess. However in the last years I have collected quite a few albums of german bands and not very long ago I was one of those who claimed German prog to be better than Itallian (I think Rafaella didn't forgive me till now) mainly for being much more versatile (as you wrote - under the tem Krautrock there's many different kinds of music). When I look at my German small but quite impressive collection I do not feel a shame of what I were able to get. Amon duul II, Can,Eloy, Faust, Grobschnit, Haggard, Jane, Neu, Popol vuh, RPWL, Tangerine dream and Yahta sidhra - most of these are quite popular on my CD player. I know there's much more out there (from what I read here in PA Guru guru and Embryo should be added for a start) but I feel that I can say that the first 2 in my humboldt list are the ones that impressed me most.
However if you have some other suggestions I will be greatful (not dead).
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omri
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NotAProghead
Special Collaborator Errors & Omissions Team Joined: October 22 2005 Location: Russia Status: Offline Points: 7852 |
Posted: December 29 2008 at 10:41 | ||
I think not only Rafaella (a pure angel, if you don't believe me, ask Micky ), no one will ever forgive you. You listed lots of German bands and did not mention NOVALIS, so "I dub thee unforgiven". Though don't take it seriously, it's only a joke .
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Who are you and who am I to say we know the reason why... (D. Gilmour)
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Vibrationbaby
Forum Senior Member Joined: February 13 2004 Status: Offline Points: 6898 |
Posted: December 30 2008 at 05:54 | ||
As far as other german bands go here's some suggestions but I'm not sure of the availability of the recordings. you'll have to search the net.
Dies Irae
( I also wrote their bio here on PA ) A one album wonder ( but i have few rare bootlegs ) a real freak band. take my word for it don't listen to this music on a bad acid trip because it will just get too weird. the name of their only legal album is called simply " First " ( i have an original pressing worth $$$). It was on the PILZ label and i think it becomes periodically available on CD. when it does become available it sells fast so be quick. for some reason many critics in the early seventies compared them to the first Black sabbath self titled album. i disagree with many of these criticisms. Some of their stuff is heavy blues but they are a creature al by themselves.
if you can find it the only other legal album their music can be heard on is Heavy Christmas where they play a wicked cover version of Stille Nacht ( silent night ). there's another extremely rare CD called Saarock Live. if you want to check them out i provided a link to their myspace page when i was working on their entry here on PA. that should give you all the leads you need.
Sperrmull (1973 )
I've got their bio completed but just have to get the time to submit it here on PA. What you will read right now is not really a bio. the band recorded only one LP for the green brain label. ( and I can't remember where i got mine ) . extremely rare album in it's original form worth $$$$$ but has been rerleased on CD from time to time but sells like hotcakes straight from the oven. Fortunately I speak german, the band's name spermull can be roughly translated to commercial garbage dump. They sing in english and if there has to be any comparisons there are none. I f you can get a hold of an original pressing there's extensive liner notes. I think you can hear them on youtube. but make sure you punch in spermull german band No Freakout. because otherwise you'll just get a bunch of videos about german garbage dumps. Love this band
German Oak
this is NOT a neo nazi band as they have been percieved as. I think there's a section here on PA. i'll let you explore these guys on your own.
Neconimicon
Even rarer than the Beatles' butcher album. Heavily political along the lines of the original Amon Duul or Floh de Cologne arriving a bit too late. If you can find an original presing of this baby i'll pay whatever you want for it. artwork is insane. i've NEVER heard of an orignal copy of this album ever being offered for sale anywhere!!! translated into English it means How to Commit Suicide. Tips Zum Selbsmord is the actual title and they are represented here on PA. If you're into loud freaked out guitars go for this one and don't worry about the German lyrics. they're actually kind of cheesy. They can sound like early black sabbath sometimes. they can often be mistaken for other bands with the same name so go to their section here on PA so as to be sure.
I hope that i've been of some help i'm a bit pressed for time right now but feel free to PM me if you 9 or anyone else on the site ) wants help on German bands. I am a virtual encyclopedia.
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Vibrationbaby
Forum Senior Member Joined: February 13 2004 Status: Offline Points: 6898 |
Posted: December 30 2008 at 06:00 | ||
sorry, if you also go to my reviews section i've reviewed all these albums. with love.
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Grobsch
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 25 2004 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 169 |
Posted: December 30 2008 at 09:37 | ||
"
I saw them in '78. I was only 16 years old on high school band trip to Europe."
I'm jealous!!! What make a band deserves to be top? Grobschnitt has the best live album ever (Solar Music), one of the best double record ever (Ballermann), one of the best symphonic album (Rockpommel's Land), a long career, five fantastic musicians... and much more... German bands are fantastic... "Amon duul II, Can, Eloy, Faust, Grobschnit, Haggard, Jane, Neu, Popol vuh, RPWL, Tangerine dream and Yahta sidhra" Omri add to your list to try listen to: Wallenstein, Anyone's Daughter, Mythos, Hoelderlin, Nektar... |
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Vibrationbaby
Forum Senior Member Joined: February 13 2004 Status: Offline Points: 6898 |
Posted: December 30 2008 at 22:51 | ||
my SONS you are seeing light. you are seeing light. my apprentices you must listen to Pell Mell. you must listen to this my GERMAN SONS I implore you :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DafaOH4uEzs
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rushfan4
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: May 22 2007 Location: Michigan, U.S. Status: Offline Points: 66264 |
Posted: December 30 2008 at 23:46 | ||
Apparently I can't vote in this poll, but in my case I have never heard Grobschnitt, and I had never heard of them until seeing their name mentioned here on PA, but I do really like The Scorpions.
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Vibrationbaby
Forum Senior Member Joined: February 13 2004 Status: Offline Points: 6898 |
Posted: December 31 2008 at 00:58 | ||
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! call the ambulance for this guy. A bit about the Scorpions. they actually started out as prog rock band if you can believe that . they got into a bit of trouble with a couple of their record covers as well including one which was produced by Hipgnosis. I met and spoke with singer Klaus Meiner on a couple of occasions and asked him about the problems with the covers and was adamant that it wasn't the band's fault at all. I wish i had more time here because I can talk for hours about these wunderbar german bands. Another bitt of trivia about the Scorpions. a band from Hungary called Omega was largely responsible for the success of the Scorpions. And all the guys in the band aknowlege that to this day. Omega are here on PA by the way if you want to check 'em out. the Scorpions opened for Omega in the early seventies in and around Europe. They also performed together in the 90s as well. the Scorpions also did an atrocious cover version of Omega's biggest hit from '69 with different English lyrics but I kind of like it myself. watch this great video and think:
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Grobsch
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 25 2004 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 169 |
Posted: December 31 2008 at 04:27 | ||
"you must listen to Pell Mell"
Yess.. I forgot Pell Mell!! rushfan4, you must try at least Solar Music Live... Edited by Grobsch - December 31 2008 at 04:29 |
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Vibrationbaby
Forum Senior Member Joined: February 13 2004 Status: Offline Points: 6898 |
Posted: December 31 2008 at 05:13 | ||
I can't imagine going through life without that album. There are also another slew of them. all different versions. they're here on PA just go to Grobschnitt's section. I think there are also some snippets of the live show on youtube. if i remember correctly the show I saw lasted about 4 hours including the 50 minute version of Solar Music. they also did most of Rockpommel's Land and some stuff off the Merry Go Round album. Has to be one of the wildest shows I ever saw in my life. there's also a few DVDs available of various Solar Music performances.
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Vibrationbaby
Forum Senior Member Joined: February 13 2004 Status: Offline Points: 6898 |
Posted: December 31 2008 at 05:32 | ||
I forgot that I added two videos to the Grobschnitt section. One is the end section of Solar Music from the actual performance on the original 1978 album. |
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Grobsch
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 25 2004 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 169 |
Posted: December 31 2008 at 05:33 | ||
"if i remember correctly the show I saw lasted about 4 hours including
the 50 minute version of Solar Music. they also did most of
Rockpommel's Land and some stuff off the Merry Go Round album."
WOW!!! I never had this opportunity... I'm glad I could see here in Brazil some of my favourites bands such as Banco, PFM, Le Orme, Camel, Rush, Nektar and others... but Grobschnitt never.... |
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Vibrationbaby
Forum Senior Member Joined: February 13 2004 Status: Offline Points: 6898 |
Posted: December 31 2008 at 05:44 | ||
Wow.Didn't realize all those bands played in Brazil. As I said Grobschnitt never played outside of Germany.
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Grobsch
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 25 2004 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 169 |
Posted: December 31 2008 at 05:59 | ||
Yes... Banco and PFM made fantastic performances here... We have an annual progressive festival here and some of these bands played in this festival...
Perhaps not playing outside Germany is the reason why Grobschnitt is not famous... |
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rushfan4
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: May 22 2007 Location: Michigan, U.S. Status: Offline Points: 66264 |
Posted: December 31 2008 at 08:56 | ||
I will check out the streaming tracks here on PA. I am at least intrigued. I had never heard of Nektar until I started bouncing around here on PA and now I absolutely love them. With my subscription at eMusic I was able to legally download almost all of Nektar's albums and I find them to be quite spectacular. Emusic does have Grobschnitt's The International Story available for download. It has the following playlist:
1. Die Sinfonie (Live 1973) (17:59)
2. Nickelodeon (Live 1974) (7:56) 3. - 11. Solar Music (Live 1978) (57:03) CD 2 - 78:59 1. Ernies Reise (Live 1977) (10:56) 2. Severity Town (alt. Mix 1977) (10:03) 3. Rockpommel´s Land Finale (Live 1977) (6:06) 4. Du schaffst das nicht (Live 1981) (9:19) 5. Simple Dimple (Live 1980) (5:06) 6. Silent Movie (Live 1981) (3:35) 7. Raintime (Live 1981) (4:37) 8. Vater Schmidts Wandertag (Live 1981) (10:10) 9. Private Solar Excursion (1981) (8:52) 10. Magic Train (Live 1973) (10:15) – previously unreleased It appears to have the entirety of Solar Music live on that, so that sounds like a great way to use my downloads this month.
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omri
Forum Senior Member Joined: April 21 2005 Location: Israel Status: Offline Points: 1250 |
Posted: December 31 2008 at 12:06 | ||
Thanks a lot to all of you who spared the time to recommend other bands.
There are few comments I'd like to add :
1. I ordered "solar music live" and hopefully I will have it soon. I have Rockpomala's land.
2. I actually heared Novalis and for some reason I were not that impressed. Maybe heared the wrong album.
3. The scorpions were quite popular in Israel at the time but most of it was cheasy rock ballads and the rest plain metal so I never bothered.
4. All the recommendations from vibrationbaby are very interesting but are very rare albums. It means that my quite humboldt collection (and humboldt it is) do cover most of the main krautrock bands isn't it ?
5. I know it's a matter of taste but except the claim for Novalis nobody here wrote a word for or against my claim of ADII and Can as the best krautrock bands. I wonder why !
Anyway I'm glad that as a consequence of my post this thread became very interesting and usefull (at least for me).
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omri
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Padraic
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 16 2006 Location: Pennsylvania Status: Offline Points: 31169 |
Posted: December 31 2008 at 12:08 | ||
I'll bite on this a little bit: what sets Grobschnitt apart from the other major krautrock acts?
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debrewguy
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 30 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 3596 |
Posted: December 31 2008 at 21:19 | ||
Some people just can't pronounce Grobshnitt without spraying their friends.
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"Here I am talking to some of the smartest people in the world and I didn't even notice,” Lieutenant Columbo, episode The Bye-Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case.
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Grobsch
Forum Senior Member Joined: June 25 2004 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 169 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 04:25 | ||
Grobschnitt isn't pure Krautrock... it mixes kraut, space rock, symphonic and experimental... They are less electronic and their shows are fantastic... I think Grobschnitt brought more to space rock than most of the bands because this mix of styles...
There are dozen bands in Germany with this style, a mix of Kraut and space, bands like Eloy, Wallenstein, Mythos, Novalis and others are as important as the Krautrock bands lile Amon Duul II... rushfan4, The International Story is very nice, but the best Solar Music version still is Solar Music Live... omri, I like more the space rock bands from Germany but I like a lot Amon Duul II... Amon Duul II is for me the best pure Kraut band together with Faust, but between the pure Kraut like Faust and the space rock bands like Wallenstein, Grobschnitt and Eloy, I prefer the second time... they just fit better my music taste... I like more Pink Floyd than King Crimson, for example... |
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