If
you are slightly interested in the german prog genre krautrock you will
know who GURU GURU is. It's one of the best and most influential
krautrock bands besides "Amon Düül II", "CAN" and "Faust".Their third release "Känguru" is in principle composed of the same ingredients as their forerunners "Hinten" and "UFO" but the guitar isn't that dominant any longer and the tracks aren't as aggressive as on "UFO". Simultaneously they added the humorous component that was completely nonexistent on "UFO" yet. Examples would be the funny singing on "Oxymoron" or the spoken introduction to "Immer lustig".
"Oxymoron" is made of a dull rhythm, thereto Manni Neumaier sings strange lines with an even stranger voice. I'm sure that various types of drugs played pranks on them before or during the recording sessions. But that's kind of normal for krautrock bands and could be a possible reason for the experimental style of the whole genre. "Immer Lustig" wich, roughly speaking, means something like "always funny" commences with the mentioned introduction and proceeds with a kind of military marsh rythm but rapidly changes into a typical psychodelic rock track with some of krautrock characteristical free form sections. The next track "Baby cake walk" is structured relative similarly but is more reminiscent of "UFO" because of its harshness. The lyrics of the last track "ooga booga" are largely made up of these two words wich are presented in the typical funny Neumaier style. After a percussion commanding prelude it later on passes into the guitar dominated krautrock style.
"Känguru" for sure belongs to the most significant krautrock releases and maybe is more typical for this genre than "UFO". If you want to acquaint krautrock this is a good starting point because it shows clearly what this awesome genre is all about. I liked it right away and it belongs to my absolute favorites in the krautrock genre. For sure it is a bit strange if you listen to krautrock for the first time but I'm sure that you will enjoy this release. 4 Stars for a good and very representative krautrock album.
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When speaking about Krautrock, GURU GURU were often neglected and put in the "second division" of that music style, after the "big four": CAN, FAUST, NEU and AMON DUUL II. But, their third album "Kanguru" is easily the best of their early, classic line-up trio of Neumeier, Trepte and Genrich. Filled with crazy and nonsense lyrics, extended space jams and druggy guitar solos, this album is a high point of their first phase, before going into more jazzy exploration on the subsequent albums. "Oxymoron" and "Ooga Booga" are a required portion of any self-esteemed Krautrock collection.
Review by Seyo (progarchives.com)
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
Tracks Listing
Side 1
1. Oxymoron (10:33)
2. Immer Lustig (15:37)
Side 2
3. Baby Cake Walk (10:57)
4. Ooga Booga (11:11)
Total Time: 48:18
Musicians
- Ax Genrich / guitar
- Uli Trepte / bass
- Mani Neumeier / drums, keyboards
- Conrad Plank / guitar, keyboards
>Guru Guru - Kanguru 1972(1992Brain}Jap)<
7 comments:
Спасибо большое!
Извиняюсь, а пароль какой? Password?
@ Sergey: пароль = Val
hi there,- link is no more working
@ hi there,
No man the link work fine! ;)
thanks!
First, thanks for the share, and all the hard work you put into this blog. I already had the album in lossless format, but DL'ing this one as well, for the possibility that it may be a better rip.
I'm here for the "big four" of Krautrock remark, though... While I totally agree with the other 3 (and though I personally find Faust a bit overrated, I can't argue against their popularity among Krautheads), I don't see how NEU! is (or could be) regarded an essential Krautrock band, let alone making into assertive lists such as "the big four". I'd hardly count Neu among top ten, and that would be due to my personal like of their first three albums. I don't even count them in the same league as the Berlin School bands, such as Ash Ra Tempel, Agitation Free and Tangerine Dream. Even the "main artist" of this post is much better (and probably more popular) than Neu in every respect, not to mention the scarce number of albums they produced (well, productivity is not an indicator of quality in and of itself, but two and a half studio albums from the glorious seventies, a controversial '80's produced/'90's release album, and a posthumous live one would hardly suffice for a band to be definitive in a certain genre!) OK, if we count Neu! offshoots such as La Düsseldorf and La Neu we may get somewhere, but then again Neu itself could be regarded as a Kraftwerk offshoot! (which, btw, is much more likely to make it to the top ten IMHO, at least as far as their early '70's albums are concerned!) As I mentioned, even Guru Guru would make a better candidate for Krautrock's "big four" (if such a thing ever existed!), and due to my personal preference I'd substitute Ash Ra Tempel/Ashra/M. Göttsching with Faust.
Guru Guru's variety of musical styles (especially within the course of seventies) are also amazing; after the Kraut-jazz of "Don't Call Us" and "Dance of the Flames", they simply become genre-defying with "Mani und Seine Freunde" and "Tango Fango"; incorporating styles as diverse as Bossa-Nova and Salsa... And this keeps getting better with each subsequent release, reaching its zenith by 1978's "Live". I never thought I'd like Latino-African styles before I listened to this album! And next year's Hey Du is another excellent album in the same direction (with still strong ties to their psychedelic past)
http://altmusic.about.com/od/top10lists/tp/krautrock-albums.htm
I love the first album by NEU -;)
Thanks for your comment musicfriend.
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