KROKODIL

There is not much information of this album´s time about Krokodil in the internet. To me it seems there was not much happening in Krokodil´s career. The band line-up and producer were the same as in first album. They recorded also this in Munchen, but in the different studio. Although they were connected to Krautrock, they seemed not be working with other Kraut bands. Amon Düül II & Can weren´t very successful in the same time, but at least they got interest from UK when Krokodil seemed to be known only in Germany and Switzerland. At the same time Amon Düül II toured with Tangerine Dream in Germany and abroad. Krokodil had some gigs in Germany and Switzerland, but according to setlist.fm only one gig in a month. I believe record company would not promote them at all. Although future might not be very promising to them, they went much forward in their music!

In "Get Your Personality Together" style is quite the same as in first album, it´s first straightforward, but soon there comes interesting complexity. Also violin and leslie effected guitar brings good spices into it! Sounding very 1970! But "Light Of the Day" is very proggy from the beginning, sounding something between Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull of the same time. Really beautiful song! Greatness continues in "Sunlights Beautiful Daughter", as it´s name, it´s very acoustic & hippie song. Walty Anselmo makes again great work with his harmonica and in the end there comes even sitar! "Tell Me What You Want" goes back to straightforward direction, but it´s more sixties sounding than the first piece with it´s very lovely melodies. "Blue Flashing Circle" continues in the same way, but it´s not as great song as the previous. It´s the most mediocre one in "Swamp", but has good musicianship. Sixties sounds come back in "Snow White and Blue". Again so beautiful melodies! "Human Bondage" starts as luminous ballad. It reminds me a lot a-side of Wigwam´s Hard n Horny -album. Soon comes harmonica and song changes to blues. Then leslie sounding guitar continues solo. In the end there comes one more verse and chorus. Awesome ending of the very good spirit album!

This album is not very far from the masterpiece, but because Krokodil made their most perfect album after "Swamp", I have to give this only four stars. Really these two albums are hidden treasures from the seventies!! I think it´s so sad for example some UK Circus album get much more attention than this these days, of course because in that band there was playing Mel Collins from King Crimson and it´s from UK! But the world is unfair. Anyway if you like for example Caravan´s first album, this is for you! Really these albums have lot in common although this is not as great.

It´s amazing how unknown this really good band is! On the other hand so it was in the sixties and seventies, most of the bands outside UK, US & Germany were unknown and seemed to remain so. The biggest exception was Dutch Focus. Anyway there were same kind of rock music movement in Switzerland in the sixties and seventies as everywhere, although number of bands wasn´t very big. In wikipedia sites only even more unknown bands Flame Dream and The Shiver were mentioned together with Krokodil. This band was founded by pianist Hardy Hepp and drummer Dude Durst in 1968. Very soon they made demo recordings in Zurich and managed to get a record deal with German Liberty. I believe that´s the reason why this band is put into Krautrock although it´s Swiss band. They were also influenced by 1969 Kraut bands like Amon Düül II. One thing really made this band different as other prog/psych bands of those days: harmonica player Moio Wedeli was essential and skillful part of the band.

Krokodil starts their first album with a good, quite heavy version of Tim Roses´s "Morning Dew". It was very popular song those days and for example The Grateful Dead has also recorded it into their first album. But next "You´re Still Part Of Me" is their own material. It starts with very Indian feeling in sitar and bongos, but changes soon to a very groovy boogie. "All Alone" is sad, melodic ballad with little bit corny words. It reminds me little bit songs of Finnish bands Wigwam and Tasavallan Presidentti of the same time. In "Mis Blues" we go back to the boogie style. There is really great harmonica playin! Album goes more into psych direction in the b-side. "Prayer" is very beautiful acoustic song with sitar and flute. "Watchin` Chain" is seven minutes jammy jazz piece with lyrics from blues tradition. In the middle there comes some classical music theme that I don´t recognise. Maybe it´s from Bach. The best comes the last: "Dabble In Om" is a very psychedelic and great feeling over nine minutes musical trip! It shows in what direction band will go into it´s next albums.

This album was very promising, it had really good playing and feeling, but musical ideas weren´t as developed as in bands next two albums. So it wasn´t any wonder, why Krokodil´s first hadn´t got the same attention as for example Amon Düül II and Can got in their great albums in the same year. But it´s sad their next "Swamp" and masterpiece "An Invisible World Revealed" didn´t wake lots of interest in prog/psych music lovers. The latter one is recommended to listen as starting album of Krokodil, this album is more just for bands fans.

Krokodil - An Invisible World Revealed (1971)

Progressive rock from Switzerland with blues-rock, folk, heavy prog and minor symphonic elements. The band is often listed under krautrock, but it lacks the psychedelic, free and obscure feel that most bands from this genre have. This third album by Krokodil is actually pretty well produced (thinking of it, this record aged really well for a recording in 1971) and sounds therefore more like Grobschnitt (albeit way less symphonic). The artwork is great, with a nice inlay and a booklet added to the recent Second Battle vinyl reprint.

'An Invisible World Revealed' has two longer tracks and four short tracks. In their longer compositions the band explores different atmospheres, but thrives during intense heavy rock progressions with great sounding guitars and a harmonica to give to music its own vibe. Some of these parts sounds ahead of its time, which I find pleasurable for no apparent reason. During the folky parts the band explores tribal folk, American folk/country (perhaps mostly because of the harmonica) and a bit of psychedelic folk. On the shorter tracks we can also find more straightforward tracks like the moody opening track 'Lade of Attraction' and the blues-rock ending 'Last Doors'. The main weakness of the band are the vocals, that often have dull melodies and a dubious tonal quality. Luckily the vocals aren't off-putting and absent during most of the time.

Conclusion. Very well produced progressive rock with great heavy prog moments and some interesting folk moments. Not 'highly recommended' because of the lack of really memorable songs or melodies, but pleasant for perhaps a large range of listeners of the progressive rock genre - I certainly can think of no reason to actively dislike it. Recommended to collectors of heavy prog/psych, folk prog, krautrock and early seventies rarities with great artwork. Three and a halve stars.

Swiss band Krokodil released a bit of a classic with their 1971 album `An Invisible World Revealed', an addictive mix of swampy bluesy acid rockers with heavy psych flavours and plentiful Mellotron (prog listeners should instantly track down the CD reissue of that album, which adds two lengthy jams that just make an already terrific album even better - it's butter, baby, it's HOT!). Most of their other four albums never quite delivered the same excellence, but the follow-up to `...Invisible', 1972's `Getting Up For The Morning' comes damn close. As expected of the band, there's a ton of bluesy jams, fragile ballads and acid-rock fire, but the second side of the LP brings some subtle Krautrock elements mixed in, and overall there's a very upbeat quality to the music that is truly infectious and a joy to listen to.

Album opener `Marzipan' is an energetic harmonica-fuelled and acid-rock burning electric guitar powered gutsy swamp-rocker. Full of lengthy solos, one or two moments even briefly reminding of Jimi Hendrix, it makes for a kick-ass opener, but the best is yet to come. `And I Know' is a blissful acid ballad with a drowsy melody, it's full of delicate and dreamy David Gilmour-inspired guitar licks, and the piece could have easily appeared on any of those early acid/psych albums from Pink Floyd. Electric piano ripples, warm group harmonies in the chorus, while wafting Harmonica brings a dusty old western sound, and when the soaring Mellotron arrives in the second half, it takes on a restrained near-orchestral grandiosity to get swept up in. `Rabatz' is a short funky Southern rocker with dirty lead guitar slinging, and `Was There A Time' is a brief psychedelic interlude to close the first side, a sitar drone with mind-bending narration over the top - far out, man!

The second side brings some light but welcome Krautrock flavours to the album, instantly noticeable on `Schooldays', just listen for the fuzzy distorted guitar riffing in the background, stoned phasing electronics and the rattling maddening drumming. Drifting flute darts around, funky wah-wah guitar powers through and treated harmonica hovers in the air. Next up, being the sixth track, of course it makes sense to title it `Song No 2' (Ha, they beat you to it, Mr Steven Wilson, take that!)! It's an acid-folk vocal ballad bookended with wasted floating acoustic guitar and sleepy hazy harmonica, mellotron trickles, the warmest bass playing (that even takes flight with tasty soloing in the second half, almost like it's actually singing), before the middle gently moves up in tempo into a joyful sprightly electric guitar chill-out just like the first two Agitation Free albums. The rambunctious drumming and more urgent guitar strums just before the end even briefly remind of Amon Duul 2. `The 12th of March' is a frantic bluesy rocker to close on, full of heavy guitar grooves, a joyful and catchy vocal, more leaping harmonica, and the purring bass playing especially rumbles with purpose here, but it's a shame about the uninspired fade-out during a scorching electric guitar solo.

This fourth Krokodil album is consistently good all the way through, even if there's some moments (especially during the first half) that will be a little too straightforward for progressive rock fans who want something more interesting and complex. But Krokodil were a very strong hard-rocking band who displayed plenty of imagination and musical taste, a bunch of talented musicians who constantly showed great musical skill without ever bogging their music down in stuffy over-arrangements, instead letting their music have a real lively energy. `Getting Up For The Morning' is another great achievement from then, and anyone who enjoyed `An Invisible World Returned' should definitely consider looking into this one as well.

Four stars.

Krokodil may have started out as a psychedelic blues rock outfit, but from An Invisible World Revealed you wouldn't have guessed it, since it sounds like the Swiss band have been reared on a diet of early Hawkwind and Amon Duul II. Mojo Weideli juggles his flute and harmonica and is an asset to the proceedings whichever he happens to be playing. With each side combining two shorter tracks and a longer workout, the band establish reasonable prog credentials, and though it isn't the sort of performance which really helps them break through to the top tier of krautrock it's a decent enough listen.

3.5 stars really!!!

After Hardy Heep had left, Krokodil soldiered on as a quartet, but found life increasingly difficult, because the tours to neighbouring countries (Ger & Fra) meant hiring a regular crew, and revenues were not sufficient, so they had to take part-time jobs, like session work, accompanying band (for Demon Thor) or music lessons. It is through these jobs that they met the unavoidable German producer Dieter Dierks, who offered to record their following album in his studio. So drummer and leader Durst lead the troupes into the group's best album to date: Invisible World revealed, released in early 72 with a splendid heroic-fantasy artwork on a gatefold sleeve and a group picture in a cemetery on the innerfold.

Opening on the pure-psych Lady Of Attraction, the album is a relatively fine (but rather belated, in retrospect to its date) psychedelic rock album, that could be coming out of TYA's Stonedhenge or Cricklewood Green albums. After the short and forgettable acoustic Miss Trimmings, the album plunges into a 15-mins Indian-raga extravaganza Odyssey In Om, where guitarist Anselmo gives a credible performance on the sitar and singer Weideli uses some freaked-out flute and harmonica, the whole thing being arranged by the great Dieter Dirks. Once Anselmo returns to his guitar, the track veers crunchy bluesy/hard-rock and goes on a jam ala Steamhammer on Speech or Tritteoria Kriget-style with some (loads) good Mellotron (just lying in Dierks' studio)., making the whole thing enjoyable, but still raw enough for my liking.

Past the almost-forgettable hard-rocking Green Fly opening the flipside (but there are trons of mello in it), the 14-mins Looking At Time is the album's other cornerstone, starting acoustically, but soon crescendoing at cruising speed and developing into an excellent lengthy mainly-instrumental finale. The album-closing Last Doors could also be a TYE track, this time from Shhhh or Watt.

This album had seen a cheap Cd bootleg, but when the good Second Battle label reissued it legitimately in nice digipak, they found three bonus tracks; the first of which, Pollution, fits the album's rockier songs' mould. Two lengthy 11-mins+ Krokodil -Session tracks are also tacked on, both recorded a tad louder than the rest of the album. Obviously the jam had already started a while ago when the tapes started rolling and we get a wild and half- improvised slightly jazzy loose rock track ala Grateful Dead. The second part is a blusier mainly-instrumental TYA-like jam, but again nothing far removed from the album's general soundscapes.

Unfortunately for the band, once this album released, their UA label went broke, but found Bellaphon soon enough, but it would be the beginning of the end for the reptile. Anyway, AIWR is a rather good album coming from the Swiss Alps, and is enhanced by three bonus tracks, so what does the people want more?

If there's one instrument I hate more than bagpipes it's the mouth organ. Unfortunately for me, this is used frequently throughout this album. After the promising opening track things quickly deteriorate into run of the mill early 70's pastiche.

Krokodil have a very Anglicised / American approach to song construction which in no way do I associate with Krautrock.

The vocals are pretty ropey at best. They get away with it in the first track 'Lady of Attraction' because there's an electronic effect put through the voice. A lot of this album sounds like a very straight Captain Beefheart from his dodgy mid 70's period. It's a pity because judging by the front cover it looks as though this could be something really unusual. Believe me... it's not.

Despite the addition of sitar and generally excellent production values this fails on many counts. Most importantly it fails due to lack of originality coupled with a Swiss guy singing in English with a cod American accent. That's always a bug bear of mine.

The alleged 'bonus' of three tracks at the end don't improve matters either. They're just long jams that go on interminably. I'm afraid I find this kind of music mind numbingly dull and if I'm honest it barely deserves two stars, although I'm sure it will appeal to some prog fans. The only positive thing I can recommend about this is that it has a classic early 70's feel to it and is indeed very well produced.

With Brainticket and Drum Circus, Krokodil are spaced out krautrockers coming from Switzerland. Psychedelic tapes is a collection of early unreleased materials. this compilation cearly represents the multi facets of the band, from gorgeously epiphanic enchanting-ethno folk to bluesy-fuzzy kraut jams. The musical pieces are immediate and efficient psychedelic vehicules, largely instrumental and hyper active. The sound aesthetism and musical tendances are very closed to their classic "an invisible world revelaed". It embraces the wild-spacy tribal hippie genre of bands such as Amon Düül II, Kalacakra or Siloah but the proggy moments are much more accomplished with impressive ethno-rockin arrengements. "The creator has a master plan" is a freaked out improvisation which incorporates sensual-bucolic exotic harmonies and sonic tones. Stehaufmädchen Part 1is a dreamy-like, floating acoustic interlude before to carry on the eccentric, endlessly bluesy-kraut jamming Marzipan. This piece perfectly restitutes the dynamic and propulsive atmosphere of the band on stage. Stehaufmädchen Part 2 is a garagey blues rock song, no surprise. You're still a part of me follows the same musical path. Their classic piece Odissey in om is presented as a live version. Stehaufmädchen Part 3 is the highest point here, a lovely and detached psych-atmospheric ballad, including slowing moving melodies with nice bluesy touches. This album is a pleasant listen despite that it doesn't bring anything new. It remains a best off, providing a good selection of Krokodil's alternative versions of their classics and obscure songs.

KROKIDIL were one of the few bands outside of Germany who played what could be called Krautrock. These guys are from Switzerland and this album is widly considered to be their best. In the liner notes they tell us how absolutely excited they were to record this record in Dieter Dierks studio, because he had state of the art equipment including a mellotron which they made good use of on 3 of the 6 tracks. Of course Dieter recorded and mixed this album for them. The music here is very psychedelic at times with lots of flute and harmonica. Some aggressive guitar moments, but the folky passages are more prominant. Man these guys are pretty freaky looking (in a good way)haha.

"Lady Of Attraction" opens with strummed guitar as psychedelic vocals come in along with percussion and flute. Harmonica before 3 1/2 minutes with mellotron ends it. The old mellotron / harmonica combo. Possibly a first. Haha. "With Little Miss Trimmings" is a short track that opens with the sound of someone squeeling their tires before a good melody with vocal melodies takes over. "Odyssey In Om" is an over 15 minute trip to the land of purple. Percussion to start with as sitar joins in. The beat stops at 3 1/2 minutes as flute arrives.Then the sitar stop after 4 minutes as it turns spacey with lots of reserved flute. Harmonica then takes over followed by some heavy guitar around 6 minutes with drums. Great sound. Mellotron with a calm 9 minutes in as spoken vocals arrive.The guitar comes ripping in a minute later. Nice bass too and harmonica. Mellotron and spoken words are back 11 minutes in then it kicks back in. Settles again 13 minutes in with harmonica. More psychedelia before the guitar comes crashing in to end it with mellotron.

"Green Fly" has such a good sound to it with the bass, flute, drums and mellotron standing out. Vocals a minute in with harmonica. More mellotron after 2 minutes as drums pound away. Themes are repeated. "Looking At Time" is a 14 minute track and possibly my favourite. I like the intro with both acoustic and electric guitars playing with drums. A nice heavy sound 2 minutes in then harmonica and drums take over. Vocals also join in. A beautiful and pleasant sound 6 minutes in. Flute 9 minutes in and then we get strummed guitar as the electric guitar grinds away. The tempo picks up 11 1/2 minutes in and it gets kind of crazy. Guitar then lights it up followed by vocals and harmonica. "Last Doors" is led early by harmonica, guitar and drums before the vocals come in. Nice guitar solo before 2 1/2 minutes.

This has really grown on me a lot. From not liking it at first to really appreciating just about everything about it. Fans of Krautrock should check this out and be patient.

A flat out masterpiece of original experiments and sonic juxtapositions. If you never thought a harmonica could solo on top of a mellotron and sound as cosmic as the best guitar solos from early 70s Germany, prepare to be surprised. And for the record, this is Swiss.

If that weren't enough, imagine yet another experiment where Indian music that sounds as authentic as you'll hear in the 'pop music' world suddenly bursts into a hard rock groove that will have you feeling like you've entered some dance contest on Saturn and you've encountered yet another of element of this album that brings to it an originality that is almost peerless. This sounds like nothing else anybody has ever accomplished, and despite another great effort after this, even Krokodil themselves would never quite touch it again.

The original vinyl goes for megabucks, and I have never heard it. Second Battle has released this with some absolutely sensational bonus tracks that really feature the band improvising beautifully within the 'jam' mode, but be advised that the Second Battle CD is heavily compressed like most of the other releases they did from the late nineties, so tracking down the Germanofon pirate CD is not a bad idea if you want to hear this album with its dynamics more intact.

5 stars, firm. Absolutely brilliant.