Happy 70th Birthday, Hellmut! Kraan in the 70ies

Kraan is a German band based in Ulm and formed in 1970. It had several minor hits through the 1970s and 1980s. After a break of ten years, the group reunited in 2000. Their early style can be described as Krautrock that turned later to fusion, combining elements of both rock and jazz.

Hellmut Hattler (born 12 April 1952 in Ulm, West Germany) is a German jazz and rock bassist and composer. Hattler took much of his early influences from Jimi Hendrix. As a child, he received violin lessons, and in the 1960s, he played guitar. Joining Peter Wolbrandt's band marked the debut of his changeover to the bass. In May 1971, he founded the pop group Kraan with the Wolbrandt brothers Peter and Jan and Johannes Pappert. Kraan's early Krautrock style later developed towards fusion, combining rock, jazz and ethnic elements.^[1] Apart from his own projects, Hattler has toured and recorded with many international musicians of various genres including Tina Turner, Billy Cobham, Joachim Kühn, Torsten de Winkel, Alphonse Mouzon, and Nippy Noya.

1971-11 studio

01 Sarah’S Ritt Durch Den Schwarzwald

02 Kraan Arabia 

03 M. C. Escher 

04 Jack Steam 

05 Sarah Auf Der Gänsewies’ 

06 Head 

1972 Unknown

01 Kraan Arabia 

02 Sarah's Ritt Durch den Schwarzwald  

1973-12-05 Freiburg FM

01 sarah's ritt durch den schwarzwald 

02 holiday am matterhorn - bass solo  

03 gut und richtig -drum solo ( fade out) 

1973 Aula Gymnasium, Bad Oeynhausen, West Germany

01 Backs

02 Head

03 M.C. Escher

04 Kraan Arabia

05 Bass Solo

06 Kraan Arabia [Continued]

1973 Lost Tape #1

01 M.C.Escher

02 Backs

03 Head

04 Gut Und Richtig

1973 Lost Tape #2

01 Head (incl drum solo) 

02 (tuning)  

03 Kraan Arabia 

04 Airbass (bass solo) 

1973 Wuppertal

01 Sarah's Ritt Durch Den Schwarzwald 

02 Nam Nam

03 Announcement By Hellmut

04 Hallo Ja Ja , I Don't Know

05 Kraan Arabia

1974-02-02 Essen WDR

01 Kraan Arabia

02 Andy Nogger 

03 Interview

04 Nam Nam

05 Sarah's Ritt Durch Den Schwarzwald

1974-12-03 Rock Sound '74 Festival

01 Silver Wings

02 Andy Nogger

03 Sarahs Ritt durch den Schwarzwald

04 Nam Nam

05 Kraan Arabia

06 Just One Way

07 How hard I tried

1975-07-13 Goethe Freilichtbuehne, Porta Westfalica, West Germany

01 Noch kein Titel

02 Holiday am Marterhorn

03 Titel 03

04 Andy Nogger Gutter King

05 Kraan Arabia

06 Titel 06

07 Luftpost

08 Saah's Ritt durch Porta Westphalica

1975 Berlin

CD 1

01 Holiday Am Marterhorn Part I

02 Bandits In The Woods

03 Holiday Am Marterhorn Part II

04 Kraan Arabia

05 Andy Nogger

06 Degado

07 Prima Clima

CD 2

01 Let It Out

02 Luftpost

03 Nam Nam

04 Sarah's Ritt Durch Den Schwarzwald (Encore)

1975 Rock Sound incl. Guru Guru

Kraan & Guru Guru-02 Andy Nogger

Kraan & Guru Guru-03 Sarahs Ritt Durch Den Schwarzwald

Kraan & Guru Guru-04 Nam Nam

Kraan & Guru Guru-05 Kraan Arabia

Kraan & Guru Guru-06 Just One Way

Kraan & Guru Guru-07 How Hard I Tried

Kraan & Guru Guru-08 Leopardenkastchen

Kraan & Guru Guru-09 Mani Banani

Kraan & Guru Guru-10 Allein In Meiner Limousine

Kraan & Guru Guru-11 Torro's Dance

1976 Holzminden

CD 1

01 Intro

02 Andy Nogger

03 Yaqui Yagua

04 Let It Out 

05 Holiday Am Marterhorn 

06 Silky Way

07 Volgas Ahoi

08 Hallo Ja Ja, I Don't Know

CD 2

01 Let's Take A Ride

02 Nam Nam 

03 Applause

04 Sarah's Ritt Durch Den Schwarzwald 

05 Wiederhoeren 

1976 Waltrop

01 Andy Nogger

01 Let's Take A Ride

02 Wiederhören

02 Yaqui Yagua

03 Let It Out

03 Silky Way

04 Holyday Am Marterhorn

04 Saras Ritt Durch Den Schwar

05 Holiday Am Marterhorn

05 Silky Way

06 Vollgas Ahoi

07 Hallo Ja Ja I don't Know

08 Wiederhören

09 Let's Take A Ride

10 Announcement

11 Nam Nam

12 Applause

13 Saras Ritt Durch den Schwarzwald

1977 Essen

01 Warm Up ~ Rendevouz In Blue

01 Warm Up

02 Wiederhoeren

03 Andy Nogger

04 Yaqui Yagua

05 Holiday Am Marterhorn

06 Silky Way

07 Vollgas Ahoi

08 Hallo Ja Ja, I Don't Know

09 Let's Take A Ride

10 Nam Nam

11 Let It Out

1979 Neuss

01 Borgward

01 Vollgas In den Ausflug

02 Far West

02 Hallo Ja Ja I Do

03 Gayu Gaya

03 Presentation By Conny Plank

04 You're Right (great Bass-solo)

04 You're Right

05 Far West

05 Hallo Yaya I Dont Know

06 Yaqui Yagua

07 Presentation By Udo Dahmen

08 Gayu Gaya

09 Peterchens Reise

10 Vollgas Ahoi

Thanks to the original posters!!!

pw: mghg

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Amon Düül II - Krautrockpalast 2004 + at the Beep

 

01 Archangel's Thunderbird

02 Green Bubble Raincoated Man

03 Deutsch Nepal

04 Speed Inside My Shoes

05 All The Years Round

06 Kanaan

Amon Düül II @ The Beep

Green-Bubble-Raincoated-Man (Radio 1 John Peel Session, 8 May 1973)

Trap (Radio 1 John Peel Session, 8 May 1973)

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pw: mghg

A Beginners Guide

What's so funny 'bout love, peace & ... Krautrock?

Checking a bit the archives at Voodoo Wagon I've noted the lack of a style of music essential for what one calls "my identity" today: krautrock.

This BBC documentary may be (imho) a perfect way to explain why I'm talking on "identity". the prudent thesis of the feature describes the point: krautrock was in fact the real de-nazification of Germany.

I grew up in a country, where "schlager" built a bridge between the "old days" and the "present" then. the music industry hardly tried to keep (sorry, for using a bad word, but that was what it was called then) the "negro" out of our "race" (no one would admit that then). Beat or rock'n'roll, even jazz were called "negro-music" when my father yelled through the house in the 60's.

When the (German) industry offered stuff by Elvis Presley or The Beatles then ... they had to sing it in German! Elvis? Like this...

The song starts with him not having a "wooden heart" - and then he sings a song, German soldiers sang when they left town (to go to war) "must i now, must i now quit the town". So 20 years after the war the older ones, once at the siege of Stalingrad could have a foot stomping heart for this guy who normally was more known for "negro music".

Krautrock offered us younger folks a way out of this. Luckily the late 60's and the early 70's, after almost a quarter of a century conservative leadership under Willy Brandt the media went a bit "experimental".

On Saturdays we suddenly had the a tv feature named "beat-club", where the bands played live in the studio (there are records of the Grateful Dead, Captain Beefheart, King Crimson, Jimmy Hendrix and a lot of Ike & Tina Turner) - you could see all those long haired folks, their funny clothes and styles and a choice had to been made. One of them or one of those grey men around us. We choose British and American rock instead of 'schlager'.

Even, to be quite frank, blues & rock'n'roll with their clear structures in essence seem to work a bit like schlager did: repetitive. clearly recognizable. successful if kept simple. not really "experimental".

Imagine my surprise at the age of 16 in front of the tv watching a blockbuster cime-series (we called that "strassen feger", street cleaner, no one was out on the street, everybody was at home watching this - if you missed it you could not be part of the talks the next day at the office) and this one jumped straight in the face of the damned whole tv-watching community. Yihaw!

Followed in the next "season" of that series of Durbridge thrillers by this...

The band is named "Can" and that happened to be 1972-'73 the soundtrack of a blockbuster simply everybody was watching. I fell in love. If I had to name "the big three", it would be in this order. Moondog, the Can and then the Grateful Dead (don't tell my deadhead-friends!)

So let me try to fill the gap in the archives with one of my very favourite shows, an early Rockpalast, 1970 - two years before they hit German society via the Durbridge blockbusters.

I was curious while watching that dancing guy. What's been smoked on the monitors at a certain point of the show? The audience. This Japanese "singer" yelling and shouting - As far as I know the band "found" him on the streets some days before the show.

This! Is! Not! Rock'n'Roll!

Even now it seems to me this music comes from a better future. It's not about structure. it's about a flow. The drummer (Jaki Liebezeit, there's a funny story on him: when he starts playing in a room with a metronome it will synchronize with him after some time) is incredible, Holger Czukay, the man on the bass, his perfect counterpart.

I was at their last show, not as a band, but every member with his own. three of them, Jaki Liebezeit, Holger Czukay and Michael Karoli are dead, but their music will be "modern" even in decades and influenced a lot of musicians the like of Johnny Lydon, Sonic Youth and Stereolab to name a few.

If you're a bit curious on more, I suggest the perfect "Movies" by Holger Czukay.

Imagine a mad professor living in a room with aged analogue amplifiers and a world radio, inventing "sampling" in cutting tapes with recordings of Lebanese singers, field recordings and sound of every kind to one flowing movie.

Eno &Byrne took the next step with "My Secret Life in the Bush of Ghosts" in that direction, but Czukay has a flow like no one else. It's more kind of a mosaic putting together can-tracks with world music and whatever came to his genius mind. There's a beautiful box set  "Cinema" collecting his essentials as ie. his coworks with the Edge & Jah Wobble...

...and (my fav aside "Movies") David Sylvian

If you like to go to the heart of what was "Can", listen to "Tago Mago" and get caught by their freewheeling flow.

This! Is! Not! Rock'n'Roll, this comes straight from a better future where everything is about making music in a big jam.

Hope you enjoyed the ride.