V.A. – Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium Vol. 1 (1994)

Prae-Kraut is a term that was coined to describe the mid-60’s music of Germany and other European countries like Austria and parts of Switzerland with natives talking in teutonic tongue, seperating from the upcoming Kraut Rock stamp that dominated by the turn of the century. Cultural roots rather than national borders define the subject of interest and even foreign bands, who spent most or all of their career here, get incorpora-ted now and then. UK-bands like The Shamrocks, The Governors or The Rackets were literally unknown back home, but integral parts of the German scene. And the US-Monks still say: “We are a German band!” to this very day.
The pandaemonium part of the monicker wasn’t chosen without thought as well. A new generation tried to shake off the evil demons of the past and wanted to build a new society by doing everything exactly the other way around, while the new establishment usually was the bosses in disguise, who feared the spirit of freedom like the devil hates holy water. Demons, ghosts and zombies everywhere…

While the old still couldn’t get over the trauma of having lost World War 2, many of the young despised their parents for not having prevented fascism and the resulting atrocities. This may explain why many of the songs are about quite unlikely and ambitious things like philosophy, medicine, warfare or homosexuality, written in a foreign language, while most of the english speaking garage bands still sang about lost love and juvenile lust.

Of course the Germans couldn’t express what was on their mind in proper English, but their failures were glo-rious and the immaculate intentions of the early days still sound better than anything that followed. And that’s what the Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium is all about. An archaeo-logical project and a tribute to the decade, when living in Germany still was exciting and adventurous. It isn’t dedi-cated to the few well known names like The Lords, The Rattles or The Rainbows, but to the many total unknowns, who scratched together their last coins to get their record released on a tiny label, when the majors wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole. (prae-kraut.de)

Note: Mercy is a US-band. 101 Strings are a US-studio group. Meta & The Bowling Boys are a German band, but the song was recorded in the 80’s.

Side 1

1 Novak’s Kapelle: Doing That Rhythm Thing
2 The Prophets: You Missed By A Mile
3 The Improved Sound LTD.: Leave This Lesbian World
4 The Dragons: Heart Transplantation
5 The Inner Space: Agilok And Blubbo
6 Mercy: Fireball
7 Malepartus II: Ich Glaub’ Die Hole Mich Ab
8 Kaplan Flury: Jimi Hendrix

Side 2

1. The Petards: Tartarex
2. The Blackbirds: Space
3. Rene & The Ten Less Five: Ever
4. The Shaggys: Only An Hour
5. Ric & The Skyliners: Convicted
6. Dakotas: Don’t Know The Reason
7. Dave Gordon & His Rebel Guys: Call Me
8. 101 Strings: Karma Sitar
9. Meta & The Bowling Boys: Und Ich

 

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18 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    Always been curious about the scene the almighty Monks emerged from, not to mention the seeds of Krautrock, so thanks for this…does the rest of the series stack up?

    CS

  2. Moondog says:

    This continues to be a wonderful source of obscure music. Keep it up!

    Does any body know about a band called “The Fool”. The Fool were a psychedelic couple, Simon and Marijke, who hung around the Beatles (a popular 60’s group)and who painted album covers for The Incredible String Band, among others. They did one album of very druggy music. I wonder if anyone has it?

  3. Anonymous says:

    I love this site.
    This compilation of obscure german late 60’s groups is fantastic.

    Thanks for this (and for all).

    Greetings from Spain.

    Stephenstrange

  4. Freak Out says:

    Increíble!!!
    Gracias!!!

  5. Alex says:

    Interesting!

  6. Zer0_II says:

    I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve added your blog to the Folk category on my music blogroll @ http://music-bloggers.blogspot.com Check it out whenever you find the time and keep up the good work.

  7. Love your stuff. Especially the celtic influenced recordings. Cheers.

  8. Hippi says:

    Great compilation.

  9. PHS_BR says:

    Interesting notes.

  10. Anonymous says:

    Thanx!
    Hallo

  11. ects says:

    Would it be possible to add an rss-feed to this blog? I don’t want to miss any future posts.

    cheers

  12. John says:

    I have 4 volumes of PraeKraut on vinyl. I have played them so many times that they are really worn out.

  13. Anonymous says:

    This sounds like something that needs to reside in my collection. Going to the vinyl store!

  14. Anonymous says:

    Wow, ..neat stuff

    danke schoen

  15. Anonymous says:

    This is a great site , thank you for all your hard work and time in producing a wonderful place to visit.
    I have just purchased a copy of The Prophets single You missed by a mile , with a picture sleeve .
    Is it rare ?

  16. Nobodaddy says:

    Hi, do you mean turn of the decade? Some good info though!

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