Krautrock '70's: your favourite bands/authors?

BUT

If you can, as third choose the most underrated band/author (in your opinion).

What I can tell here is that I'm fond / very fond of these albums:

Can - Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi, Future Days

Amon Düül II - Yeti, Wolf City

Ash Ra Tempel - s/t

Faust - IV

Neu! - s/t

Gila - s/t

Agitation Free - Malesch

Guru Guru - Hinter

My thoughts too:

Can - Ege Bamyasi

ADII - Wolf City

Agitation Free - Malesch

Other favs not on the list: Frumpy, Orange Peel and Kraan.

Agitation Free

 Brainticket (not sure if they are underated but I enjoy their first 3 lps)

I'm not a an expert of krautrock.

My opinion about the bands I know isnt definitive, I should relisten to them in a more scientific way.

I just know Can, Faust, Ash Ra Tempel, Neu!, Popol Vuh, Amon Duull I and II, Cluster, Guru Guru. 

Voted for Faust (my fave), Popol Vuh and Amon Duul II. 

In my opinion Faust are underrated.

I've done this poll to study the situation and find some band to discover.

jamesbaldwin wrote: ... I just know Can, Faust, Ash Ra Tempel, Neu!, Popol Vuh, Amon Duull I and II, Cluster, Guru Guru.  Voted for Faust (my fave), Popol Vuh and Amon Duul II.  ...

Hi,

Here we go, written just for you ... a bit more about the non-scientific style of "krautrock" and why it should not be listened to as you suggest.

CAN - Tago Mago, per Holger was culled from at least 20 hours of material and most of it was completely haphazard and not predefined. This is quite clear in the 2 very long pieces.

FAUST - Probably less clear, but all the way up to the 3rd or 4th albums, you can easily hear the mere turning of the knob on the synth to get an effect. It was experimental to the last second, and in one segment in a film about Krautrock, one of the guys goes on about playing sticks on a cement drum and other things ... whatever was around, fit the bill!

ASH RA TEMPEL - Manuel G said many times that he was much more of a live player than he was a studio player. The early days had a few improvisations, that were nice and gave him a cool background, which we saw clearly all the way to "New Age of Earth" ... after that a lot of his stuff is just him and a synth or two, usually live, and while there were some nifty and far out pieces, in many ways they do not really come close to the beauty and touch of the earlier stuff.

NEU - Not much needed to be said here, but other than the drum beat, it was wide open.

POPOL VUH - First album was all synth ... which Florian promptly dropped and went acoustic. I think he was more interested in the vocal side of it all and his albums seem to go that way ... but the work was meditative, spiritual and likely ... experimental to a point ... not sure it was all free form, specially further in with a guitar player. The vocals never felt "free", but another instrument in the whole thing.

AMON DUUL 1 - Not a band at all ... the recordings are, more than likely just a bunch of Saturday Night music-in for everyone and anything can be done and was done ... aside from very obvious studio trickery (the scratch that breaks up the flow -- even FZ did that, and so did Monty Python!). But listen to it ... and you will find moments that ended up in the first 3 albums by AD2. All free form as it wasn't about music ... it was about getting stoned, drunk, and just flying along with whatever before jumping on the women for sex ... something that AD2 make sure to pee on in their first album ... which folks still think is something else, other than the very obvious "party" ... that is getting weird as the time continues and the dope gets to come on stronger.

Amon DUUL 2 - Some folks that had been inside the events on AD1, ended up here and show up several times all the way to WOLF CITY, when the band (it seems) cut down the extra folks and in many ways lost its "freedom", though they were still really good with outstanding pieces. All the way to VIVE LA TRANCE, this band was the king and queen of all lyrics with some amazing images handled beautifully, including the use of sound effects ... and then if it is not enough, their free form (MM soundtrack on DOTL), is one of the best improvisations EVER done on record ... it's beauty and touch, specially Lothar Meid, is incredible and sadly not "listenable" (per PA user a while back!!!), because it is not a song and has no lyrics! The band was also very with it in many ways ... "Apocaliptyc Bore" is a serious attack on what went wrong with all the dope ... kids had taken all the skybites ... and that caused them all to leave and disappear ... and all the band can say is ...  it's OK ... it wasn't ... left a massive hole behind it all! The other piece in the same album, is "Mozambique" that has been banned from the political/war threads on PA by one person ... I'm not sure he would ever know what happened to so many blacks (not to mention slavery!!!), in that country and others in Africa. Best never to look at it, because it is not only ugly, it is bloody! Makes this band way up and above a lot others, however, sadly it wasn't until #NADA MOONSHINE NUMBER that the band would put together another strong and powerful album, and go out with a huge finger ... "divine slime" ... and we just ignore it all! The irony is incredible and astounding!

CLUSTER - Fits in with the NEU folks more or less ... generally instrumental stuff based on the beat. Very nice though, and it was a good background for a lot of "krautrock", specially the vein that Damo Suzuki went on to do for a long time.

GURU GURU - A special band, however, I should probably say ... a special drummer, because the band could not keep itself together and had so many incarnations, but I don't think that Mani gave a damn. He could drum with them all and the sky and the moon, naked or not! The first three albums (and one live one) were incredibly strong with Ax Gernrich and an incredible fire storm of guitar gymnastics in sound and noise ... to create a very neat and far out bunch of pieces. Several of them are still in GG's menu when they can play these days, Mani's health not with standing. After that the 4th album had a John McLaughlin styled guitarist and the album had a few really far out pieces, that were not always a part of the GG's listings in the live albums ... sadly because both long pieces in that album are outstanding! After that, there is always something nice about it, but the band (in my ear) had become a KRAAN sister band, and while there were nice things, it was not anywhere near the importance and bauty of their early stuff ... I guess that Mani not having fun with getting nekkid all the time anywhere, probably took its toll once he got married? Still a lot of nice stuff, but not as great and far out as the early material some of which I like to say that this was the best Jimi Hendrix that no one on PA will ever hear!