DROSSELBART

It never fails to amaze me how many directions Germany's Krautrock scene went in the 1970s but then again nothing surprises me so i digress before i even start. Hippie values were dominant in much of what transmogrified from the psychedelic 60s to the progressive rock 70s but sometimes things didn't progress as smoothly as hoped. The Munich based DROSSELBART (German for Thrushbeard, a king from the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm) was one of the many one shot and then gone bands from the early Kraut years but while some bands were well ahead of their time and can only be appreciated several decades down the pike, others such as this one were very much a product of their time and even offer several head-scratching moments of WTF!!!

First of all let's get the hilarious album cover out of the way. A cheesy human made globe of the Earth featuring an overabundance of earthworms exploding from the planet's core and ripping it to shreds? LOL!!!! OK, maybe some musicians overindulged in the drug scene in the day when they should've been conserving brain cells. Just sayin! This is one of those albums that makes you realize that there were many parallel universes going on during the era when now popular bands such as Can, Amon Duul II, Faust and Ash Ra Tempel were crafting their timeless sounds for many of us future beings to enjoy. While some of the lesser knowns have grown popular in the underground sense, others like DROSSELBART just seemed to live in their own bubble and existed somewhere between OMG that's totally cool and WTF were they thinking?!!!!

This band released a single self-titled album in 1970 and consisted of Peter Randl [Joe Mubare] (vocals, guitar), Christian Trachsel (organ, piano), Dietmar Mainka (guitar), Martin Honemeyer (drums), Werner Schüler (bass) and Jemima [Mono Gunia] (vocals). It's so very hard to describe this album because it's all over the place and really unlike anything else that falls into the world of Krautrock but not in a weird OMG crazy escape from the planet's gravitational pull way, but rather in a rather accessible but in a more standard rock way with a few head scratching moments. First of all this is all in the German language which went against the grain and guaranteed that the band would never get recognized outside of the rather small German speaking world of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. Oh well!

In some ways this band was ahead of its time. Vocalist Jemima who is the female vocalist who provides haunting background and lead vocals and had a contract with the Bavarian State Opera has stated that this was the first punk band in Germany and in many ways that's true. The album is a bizarre mix of 60s psychedelia with the future immediacy of punk rock that includes a limited bar chord guitar dominate and repetitive chord progressions that flow in a cyclical loop however the melodic sing-songy lyrical approach points more to the upcoming world of Deutschrock that would wax as the lysergic world of Krautrock waned. This was a band that seemed to have a hard time finding exactly where it wanted to go so it's no wonder that DROSSELBART's sole album is often looked down on by Krautrock aficionados.

"Inferno" kicks things off and finds the band in a somewhat normal rock mode with both male and female vocals but in less than a minute jettisons into a strange lysergic keyboard trip with a bunch of "hallelujahs" in a chanting session and then jumps into the next track "Jemima" which features hefty rock guitars and a declarative vocal performance in German sort of like what Catherine Ribeiro would evoke with Alpes. While the title is named after the female singer in the band, it's Peter Randt who provides the vocals with Jemina left to haunting oooo's and aaaah's as a background vocalist however as an opera diva, hitting some high notes! The next track "Liebe Ist Nur Ein Wort" follows suit with a slower tempo only with a piano roll leading the way with a bit of symphonic touches. Jemima's wordless vocals provide the haunting counter-melody. This one has a 60s psychedelic rock swing with some nice guitar solos.

Jemima finally gets a shot on lead vocals on "Du Bust Der Eine Weg" which is a piano fronted ballad. The track sounds completely different somewhat like a Broadway play or something. He high pitched operatic vocals are impressive but the song in all its classical musical scales seems to play it all too safe. Jemima never really gets to display her talents. The following "Engel des Todes" is probably my favorite track on the album. It has an instantly catchy hook with a mean bass groove, a nice syncopation and the perfect balance between the male lead vocals and Gemima's haunting backing. The track also has the most satisfying aspects of rock reminding me somewhat of Frumpy. Jemima even has a strange vocal tirade at the end! "Böse Buben " takes on a bluesy vibe with harmonicas and a guitar led groove. "Folg Mir" adds some flute sounds.

"Montag" is another standout with the two vocalists singing in harmony. Sounds a bit like a darker version of The Mamas & The Papas. Simply a good catchy song although nothing particularly Krauty. The remaining songs pretty much mix up the aforementioned elements. The gist of the album is a steady groove and beat with a garage rock guitar stomp. Overall this isn't a bad album as it is instantly catchy however if you can't stand German lyrics then this isn't for you. The problem i have with this one is the potentials that were missed. The basic ideas are fairly well established but the band fails to take them to the next interesting level. In many ways this album is a hangover of the 60s beat scene and decorated with a few prog elements here and there but this is hardly the pinnacle of where Germany's Krautrock scene was during the same year album's like "Yeti" and "Monster Movie" were already in existence. This will hardly ever be designated a long last classic but it's well worth a spin or two.