ORANGE PEEL

ORANGE PEEL was one of the earlier Krautrock bands to hit the scene in Germany's nascent progressive rock scene. Formed in 1969, this band from Haunau near Frankfurt am Main only stuck it out to release a one and done self-titled album before calling it a day allowing the band members to scatter and form or join other similarly minded bands. This high performance band consisted of Peter Bischof (vocals, percussion), Michael Winzkowski (guitar), Curt Cress (drums, percussion), Leslie Link (guitar), Heinrich "Heini" Mohn (bass) and Ralph Wiltheiss (organ). Bischof went on to join Emergency, Cress also went to Emergency as well as Passport and Atlantis. Mohn went off to Epsilon.

Famous in cult circles as being one of the earliest far out trippy heavy psych albums that dialed up the prog elements, ORANGE PEEL recorded its album in 1969 and unleashed its heavy psychedelic organ-fueled album in 1970. For such an early band, ORANGE PEEL went for the prog jugular with its opening track "You Can't Change Them All" which featured an 18 minute plus running time and showcased a heavier than usual twin guitar heft for Krautrock but really excelled at extremely knotty Hammond organ workouts that provided the psychedelic backbone. This is a vocal oriented album for the most part and all lyrics were in English.

With 18 minutes to kill, you better believe there is a lot of jamming improv going on with the main groove and accompanying instrumentation jetting all over the place. The incessant high tempo drive made this one of Germany's heaviest albums up to the timeline with a heavy hitting percussive drive and a distorted attempt at American blues guitar that in tandem with the crazed organ runs sounds as if the band was doped up on heavy doses of caffeine or whatever drug of choice was in fashion. Bischof's vocals, while not phenomenal, caught the vibe the band was going for which was all about one of the most progressive heavy psych albums of the era. The hangover must've been a doozy.

After the intense opener that pretty much covered side A of the original vinyl, the band calmed down a bit but only in relativity to the manic display of raw psychedelia of the first half of the record and focused more on lyric based heavy psych numbers including a psychedelic cover of The Nashville Teens' garage rock hit "Tobacco Road" only taken to the ultimate heavy psych extremes including organ finger gymnastics as if Keith Emerson had dosed too many blotters and gone friggin' bonkers. The closing "We Still Try To Change" is the second longest track and just dips over the 10 minute mark and returns to that oh so satisfying madman magic of the opening track with heavy guitar and bass grooves and powerful pounding organ slams with knotty time signature workouts and Bischof's slightly off tune pitch and manic vocal style. The tripped out ending of the album is the stuff heavy psych dreams are made of!

This album has all the ingredients that i should really hate. It's not ridiculously original nor does it take me to those psychedelic escapist routes to the stars but rather provides the ultimate conclusion of the heavy psych era in all its grand majesty. The album comes across more as a final hoorah for the 60s rather than ushering in the 70s but it's done so well that i am easily captivated by the spell that it casts. This is a band that i would love to go back in time and experience live as i bet these charismatic creatures really put on a great show. For anyone wondering if such a thing as progressive blues rock exists then this is one for you. Not quite as psychotic as Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica" but truly captures the zeitgeist of the drug fueled heavy psych experience.

4.5 rounded down

4,5 stars

Orange Peel were among the pioneers of the Krautrock movement in the 70's. They recorded only one album, but I think that it was really ahead of its time, at least compared to what other german rock bands were writing during that era. Recorded in 1969 and released in 1970, the self-titled record of Orange Peel is a real gem. There is an intense psychedelic atmosphere (especially in the longest tracks), dominated by the roaring guitar of Leslie Link and the heavy keyboard playing of Ralph Wiltheiß.

The most exciting about this album is that they have a unique style. If you think about the rock scene in Europe during the late 60's, this conclusion is inevitable. Besides, the album is progressive rock from start to finish, with a very good sound (Dieter Dierks once again).

"Faces That I Used To Know" and "Tobacco Road", the two smaller songs are both very good, but the higher level of "We Still Try To Change" and especially "You Can't Change Them All", the 18 minute opening epic, is quite obvious. If the aforementioned tracks were more experimental and psychedelic, this would be in my top-10 Krautrock list.

An alright krautrock record. Fairly decent but I wouldn't recommend it. Organ-driven/dominated rock that manages to be progressive here and there. Slightly heavy. The sidelong "You Can't Change Them All" contains some good and some mediocre and aimless jamming. Throughout the jamming, which is about 3/4 of the song (the last 3/4) there are multiple times when the organ or some other instrument fails to keep the underlying progression afloat or to contain or hint at it in the solos. Overall, it carries on for much too long and is very aimless, with very little structure and not a clear melodic progression through most of it. The song ends abruptly and distastefully so, as if they realized the tape was going to run out and had to finish the song or else do another take. The vocals are without much tone/melody and pretty bad. I noticed a mistake in his english when he says "the children are doing the same mistakes". The song is really better than I have led you to believe, but far from great. The second side is worse than the first, although there are some good moments. Over the whole record (mostly the first and last pieces) there are many minutes of discordant instrumental music that isn't your usual kraut space music because it is too noisy, busy, and not nearly psychedelic enough. Overall not very pleasant to listen to (and I like krautrock a lot), though there are a few decently good moments.

3.25

There's no need to change them all ...

Besides a single released in 1969 this is the only full album of ORANGE PEEL, recorded at the famous Dierks studios near Cologne. The band split after they produced this effort and the musicians went their own ways. Curt Cress became the most famous later on as a prolific drummer with PASSPORT, ATLANTIS and TRIUMVIRAT. The music is a special mix of Blues, Hard Rock, Psychedelic and Jazz Rock which can be titled as Krautrock by all means and is ahead of the times.

The best demonstration for this specification is the fantastic jam pearl You Can't Change Them All. Heavy and Jazz Rock parts are taking turns provided by some psychedelic moments, a hammond organ in full blast and wonderful various guitar playing. Bischof acts as a Hard Rock singer and also plays bongo. Cress' drumming is perfect like being a longtime profi. What an excellent song!

ORANGE PEEL influenced by RARE EARTH? I'm not sure, but Faces That I Used To Know surprises because it sounds as it is produced by this american band (which I really like). Unfortunately the song is faded out - probably otherwise it has not been fitted to the LP format. Tobacco Road, also covered by RARE EARTH in 1969, is a reminiscence to their Blues roots but hard to recognize compared to the ERIC BURDON version. The album ends with We Still Try To Change, another fantastic rocking song remembering at DEEP PURPLE a little bit but with a furious psychedelic finale.

Recommended to collectors of excellent Krautrock albums - 4.5 stars.

For some reason, I recently listen to a lot of german bands. Not just krautrock. And this one I'm enjoying very, very much. Only 4 songs here. First track is a great suite based on organ and guitar playing. It's very dark like the rest of the album. Second (Faces That I Used To Know), is a track full of organs and vocals. Third is a cover of a blues song. And I must say, I'm impresed by that effort. The closing song has a great bass line and great keybord moments. If you are a fan of Krautrcok you must buy this!

Orange Peel was one of the first Krautrock albums, standing at the edge between late 60s' psychedelia with saturated guitars, raw vocals and long organ solos, and space rock pieces in the style of the first albums by Amon Düül II, ELoy, Faust and Grobschnitt. The music played here was quite innovative for its time and could be described as "heavy organ psychedelic rock". The record contains two long epic tracks and two shorter songs, more blues-rock oriented.

The overture track, You Can't Change Them All, starts with a smooth beautiful sounding very symphonic to increase progressively on intensity and psychedelism. The song contains just a few minutes of vocals at the beginning and at the end, but the rest is instrumental. It goes faster and faster with powerful guitar and organ solos alternating accompanied by bongos. Some parts remind me a little of Santana's III. The tune has many changes and is very experimental by moments. Mindblowing ! The longest and best track of the album ! The next tracks, Faces That I Used To Know and Tobacco Road are less spacey but however pretty enjoyable with sometimes a Jimi Hendrix's feel. The disc ends with We Still Try to Change, the other masterpiece of Orange Peel. With its implacable bass introduction and its powerful ogan riff, you are immediately transported to another planet. As for the first long piece, the tune features mainly instrumental passages very spacey and experimental. Such moments announces future Krautrock sounds.

Formed during a transitionnal period, the short-lived band Orange Peel released an astonishing unique album, in par with great german progressive acts of their time. Highly recommended to krautrock and early space rock fans !

ORANGE PEEL from Germany broke up after this album was released. Curt Cress the drummer was only 17 years old when this was recorded, and after the band broke up he went on to play for many bands including PASSPORT and TRIUMVIRAT. But it's the organ play that stands out most on this record.

The first song "You Can't Change Them All" is a killer tune, a monster that is the best song on this release by a mile. The drums, organ and guitar playing are amazing and the vocals are passionate to say the least. This song is 18 minutes long and it seems like they're just jamming much of the time. Killer stuff ! There are some real tripping, infectious melodies in this tune, a jam-fest of fantastic lead guitar and organ play, as the drums continually and hypnotically pound away. "Faces That I Used To Know" is very much organ and guitar led although the focus is on the vocals. Lots of percussion here too.

"Tobacco Road" is a cover song that is totally blues infested.The organ and guitar melodies are again fantastic ! The final song "We Still Try To Change" is dominated with the organ play of Ralph Wilrheiss, and there are some really good guitar melodies scattered throughout this song. The melody is especially good 5 minutes in with the guitar,drums and organ just going at it. Things get a little experimental after 9 minutes.

I think fans of Krautrock will drool over this recording, while prog fans in general will enjoy this recording as well, just not nearly as much.

110% completely oil saturated mind blowing Kraut-Rock from these underground heavy weights from 1972. Produced by the legendary Dieter Dierks, ORANGE PEEL offers everything an album from this genre should... crazy frenzied guitar work , heavy organ whisps and tons of nice heavy keys, mind altering music and instrumentation, with great drum and bass interplay all creating a true heavy psychedelic monster and IMHO one of the best albums from the 70's Germany. Wow this album truly is one hell of a trip man... 4 long exploratory tracks with tons of vintage keyboards creating a wonderful wall of sound which has been carefully re-mastered on CD by the folks at CMP Records. Krautrock fans need to not look any further nor find a more mind blowing album... not Krautrock collection can be without this album !