FLIESSBANDBABY'S BEAT-SHOW

I actually thought this was pretty good the last time I heard it - being half asleep, semi conscious and unthinking in my bed around 2.00am. two weeks ago.

Hearing it in the cold light of day with a clear head makes me realise with terrible clarity that what I actually listened to is in fact a festering pile of old arse. I can only hope that such realisation only extends to the poorer bands of the ouvre and that I don't awake one morning to discover that ALL prog is terrible.

Clankily written, stodgily played and made on what sounds, a budget of £2 and a can of lager. The opening sounds like a 1944 war time casualty report which develops a nasty high pitched whine which will hurt if you suffer from Tinnitus.

I can never remember anything about "Fliessband Baby". Every time I hear it, it sounds fresh, by virtue of it being so forgettable. I'm currently despising the ineptitude so much that I'm seriously considering kicking in my Hi-Fi...

I'm usually a big fan of albums sung in German, but this one just annoys the hell out of me. The introduction of Donald Duck vocals half way through does nothing to improve my increasingly bad mood. Cheesy organ, nasally vocals (lots of them!), thin reedy bass and pedestrian guitars are pretty much all you get.

It's lucky to get 2 stars, and that's simply because I don't understand the lyrics - I get the impression they're Communist sympathisers by the small snippets that I do pick up on this very wordy cd. I'm sure that if I did understand them I'd fly off into a fit of rage.

A very amateurish and badly dated album by the so called 'pioneers' of Krautrock.

"Arbeit macht spass! Überstunden machen nog mehr spass!" (Labor makes happy! Working overtime makes even more happy!)

Floh de Cologne is the primary example of the caberetesque part of the krautrock movement. The music is best compared with the Mothers of Invention and The Fugs for their caberetesque way of making music. The styl of music fits actually more in the 60's psychedelic scene then the 70's progressive rock scene, although the production is far better then 60's rock. The music contains beat music, rock'n roll, garage rock, psychedelic rock, some avant-rock and hippy folk. There are also some nice tunes which do fit very well in the krautrock scene and like most krautrock bands this music feels original.

The most issues handled in this "Fliessbandbabies Beatshow" (freely translated: "assembly line baby's beat show") could have been inspired by the economic philosophy of Karl Marx. It is about labor and working class; about the need of bying sport cars and the like. The issues are told from different point of views (the kids that don't want to work but want to play; the boss who speeches that if one would like to eat he gotta work; and so on and so on. Because all the lyrics and spoken texts are in the German language, a minimal understanding of the German language is required for enjoying this record for the full amount.

This record needed some time to grow on me. I think that the more I understood of the lyrics, the more I enjoyed it. The music itself is quiet good -at parts even excellent-, but not good enough for a real pleasant experience. At some parts the structure of the music is very simple and the focus should be on the lyrics which do excel at that time. This is the case on songs like "Ford Capri" and "Hey Johnny". Because I always judge the music before I'm getting into the lyrics, I have changed my thoughts from giving this record a two star rating to a four star rating. Nowadays this one has become one of my favourite krautrock records and is often to be found on my turntable.

I recommend this record for fan's of caberetesque rock like the Mothers of Invention and The Fugs who also can understand German. For those who don't understand German I'll advise to skip this one.

Floh de Cologne's second record "Fliessbandbaby's Beat-Show" from 1970 is a strange album which craves an open minded listener to be enjoyed by. This is classified Krautrock, a genre I'm not convinced in but this form of music is great. It's easy to relate it to the left wing socialist music genre "progg" in seventies' Sweden which I am found of. I don't know so much German but they are singing(well...) about politics all the time, about the workers and about the first against the capitalist bastards. The musicians on this disc are Hansi Franchi(drums), Dieter Klemm(vocals), Gerd Wollschon(vocals), Markus Schmidt(guitar, keyboards) and Dick Stadtler(bass).

To some people this could sound weird. They are not singing so much. I will name this music "discussion rock" or some form of political musical theatre. If you haven't done that, search for the group's name on Youtube and you will find one fantastic video when they were singing a song. This full record has not distinct ends between the songs and the themes, both musical and lyrical seems to come back all the time som this is really a concept record. Their sound is not very complicated, it's heavy and clear. The most distinct instrument is the organ which gives the music deep. Mostly they discuss things or scream phrases but the instrumentation is varied and sweat. "Fliessbandbaby, Manchmal Träum Ich" has different passages and a bit of Beethoven's Für Elize. Some parts have much of a comedy in it. "Ford Capri" is a joyfull piece and "Hey Johnny" seams to reply rock'n'roll music. Over all this is very interesting music to listen to. I like their anger and the way this record is unique. Perhaps not for the common progger. Listen for yourselves and do a review so I se what you think! I like it!