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Amon Düül

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There have been two splinters of the German rock group Amon Düül, of which the more famous is Amon Düül II. Formed out of the student movement of the 1960s, this latter version are generally considered to be founders of the German rock music scene and a seminal influence on the development of so called Krautrock.

Origins

Amon Düül began in 1967 as a radical political art commune of Munich based artists calling themselves, in part, after the Egyptian Sun God Amon; Düül has been variously been cited as the Turkish word for "moon" or a Turkish mythical figure.

The commune quickly attained cult status for it's free form musical improvisations, usually performed around the happenings and demonstrations of the contemporary politicized youth movement. The orthodoxy within the commune had a highly liberal attitude to artistic freedom, valuing enthusiasm and attitude over artistic ability; membership was fluid, if part of the commune, part of the group. However a faction within was more abitious, conventional and musically structured, leading to the inevitable split within the collective, which seperated in 1969 into the components "Amon Düül I" and "Amon Düül II".

Amon Düül I

Though not as latterly highly regared as thier predecessors, Amon Düül I celebrated in a joyfully open ended experimentation that at times equalled their more successful psychedelic rock equivalents in the USA and other countries (Ref. Os Mutantes). Such a loose methodology was unavoidably hit or miss and led to frequent disruptive personel changes. The members were close to Kommune 1 in Berlin and boasted, for a time, a prominent member in Uschi Obermaier, a glamour girl of the day. Continuing for seven years, with varing degrees of sucess and in varing mutating guises, they wound down in 1973 after releasing four official albums (though most were recorded pre 1970) which are these days regarded as esoteric if not necessary important records in the history of German rock.

Amon Düül II

Contrary to their colleagues in Amon Düül I, founding members Chris Karrer, Peter and Ulrich Leopold, Falk Rogner, John Weinzierl and Renate Knaup placed high value on musical ability. With their first album Phallus Dei (God's Penis) in 1969 they created what is considered to be a milestone in German rock history. The title song alone was 21 minutes in length. They received offers to write music for films, winning a Deutscher Filmpreis (German Film Award) for their contribution to the the film San Domingo.

Their second album Yeti was their breakthrough album in England. Inevitable comparisons with Pink Floyd and the Velvet Underground followed as did top five sucess.

A move to a major label Atlantic Records in 1975 saw a secession, over time, of artistic control to more comerically motivated production values that resulted in a percieved drop in uniuqueness.

Atlantic Records pushed their commercial success and took control of production, and the band began to lose their creativity. In 1978, with the release of a final album, Amon Düül II ceased to exist.

Afterwards

At the beginning of the 1980s both groups again reemerged. Chris, Falk, Renate et al droused Amon Düül II from their sleep with two new albums, while John, with a group of Welshmen, tried to recreate their earlier magic. As Amon Düül (UK), between 1982 and 1989, they released five albums. However they never managed to reignite their earlier creative spark, let alone the comercial success of Amon Düül II's earlier years.

Thanks to the reflective glory of Kraftwerk, Can and the tireless work of Julian Cope German alt rock again became fashionable towards the late 1990s. Groups such as Can, Faust, Neu! and Amon Düül staged revivals with the release of old and new albums. Chris, Renate, Falk and John again recreated almost the original line-up, even if the band members continued to change, as in earlier years.

Many are convinced that the high turnover of band members prevented the band from reaching the heights of the rock music industry. Nevertheless, after 35 years, they are still playing.

Discography

Amon Düül I

  • Psychedelic Underground (1969)
  • Collapsing/Singvögel Rückwärts & Co. (1970)
  • Paradieswärts Düül (1970)
  • Disaster (Double LP) (1972)
  • Experimente (1983)

Amon Düül II

  • Phallus Dei (1969)
  • Yeti (1970)
  • Tanz der Lemminge (aka Dance of the Lemmings) (1971)
  • Carnival In Babylon (1972)
  • Wolf City (1972)
  • Live In London (live) (1973)
  • Utopia (originally released under the band name Utopia) (1973)
  • Vive La Trance (1974)
  • Hijack (1974)
  • Lemmingmania (Compilation) (1975)
  • Made In Germany (Double LP) (1975)
  • Pyragony X (1976)
  • Almost Alive... (1977)
  • Only Human (1978)
  • Rock in Deutschland Vol.1 (Compilation) (1978)
  • Vortex (1981)
  • Hawk Meets Penguin (1981)
  • Meeting With Men Machines (1984)
  • Fool Moon (1989)
  • Die Lösung (with Robert Calvert) (1989)
  • Milestones (Compilation) (1989)
  • Live In Concert (BBC recording from 1973) (1992)
  • Surrounded By The Bars (1993)
  • The Greatest Hits (Compilation) (1994)
  • Nada Moonshine (1995)
  • Kobe (Reconstructions) (1996)
  • Eternal Flashback (1996)
  • Live In Tokyo (live) (1996)
  • The Best Of 1969-1974 (Compilation) (1997)
  • Flawless (1997)
  • Drei Jahrzehnte (1968-1998) (Compilation) (1997)

References

  • Cope, Julian (1995). Krautrocksampler. London: Head Heritage. ISBN 0952671913.
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