The Tonics - Hamburg Beatlemania with The Tonics (WEB)

VA - Rare & Raw Beat From the Sixties Vol's 1-8

A prae-kraut pandaemonium volume 19.

"lolly pope presents"




A prae-kraut pandaemonium volume 19. 

German sixties underground garage psych punk. incroyable!

yeah! underground! yeah! sixties! yeah! germany! yeah! punk! the prae-kraut pandaemonium strikes back and forth with an other compilation of teutonic beat, mayhem and all=too=rare noise! this is not fucking white pride: this is this is this is blatant prae-kraut obscurity: some twenty=eight pieces of "music" no=one has ever heard of. off we go! power pop psych garage punk underground for your pleasure, compiled by the lolly pope and tekknikally subversified by up yours sincerely=one crouter aka west fauster. yeah!

this is what you want and this is what you get:

01) It's All Over Tonight - THE SEVENS (2'14)

02) You Say Yeah - THE ROLETTS (2'30)

03) Every Single Day - THE SCARECROWS (3'10)

04) Someone's Call - THE NIGHTBIRDS (2'52)

05) Otherwise Happiness, Part 1 - THE TOMBSTONES (6'49)

06) I Had Forgotten - LOST GENERATION (3'12)

07) Beggin' Me To Stay - THE SEVENS (1'56)

08) Mad Situation - STEPHEN DEREK (2'25)

09) Milord - THE BLACK LIONS (2'59)

10) I Can't Get It - THE CHEYENNES (3'33)

11) Take A Chance - MATT COLLINS & HIS BEAT BAND (2'14)

12) That Ain't Where It's At - THE SOUL EXPLOSION (2'23)

13) Mr. Busdriver - THE SONIC (2'11)

14) It's All Over Now - THE TONICS (2'48)

15) Kind Of Mine - THE SUBJECTS (3'08)

16) Keep It Out Of Mind - THE LIONS (2'40)

17) The Ghost - THE GHOSTMEN (3'14)

18) She's A Lover - THE SNAPPERS (2'18)

19) TNT - CHARLY & HIS EXPLORERS (2'12)

20) It Will Be Fine - THE GHOOLS (2'18)

21) Every Night - THE SUNBEAMS (2'16)

22) Hold On - THE VAMPIRES (2'17)

23) I'd Like To Go - THE JAILBIRDS (2'12)

24) Mr. Peaceman - THE SCAVENGERS (2'53)

25) It's Nothing - LES SAUTERELLES (2'30)

26) In The City - THE MAGIC RAINBOWS (2'28)

27) Crazy Daisy - THE MOUNTIES (2'11)

28) Nachts in Chicago - THE HUBBUBS (3'08)

and the lolly pope says the following:

<<< No introduction necessary to the fabulous SEVENS from Basel. Switzerland's best R&B-band could not only play the standards rough, tough and frantic, but also had the guts to write their own songs when they went to the studio. In 1966 they had enough material to record an LP of their own numbers, but Layola Rec. considered the result a little too wild and uncommercial, and talked the guys into recording "Don't You Fret" (Kinks) and "I'm Cryin' " (Animals) to make the damn thing a bit more accessible to the average beat fan. The two omitted tracks, "It's All Over Tonight" and "Beggin' Me To Stay" showed up on a tape reel these days, and here they are for our pleasure. (Track 1 & 7)

There's a whole lot of "lyrics" been written by ambitious, but overtaxed young German-speaking hopefuls that unintentionally came close to dadaism, but the Austrian ROLETTS beat them all easily. These lads definitely had a message! But what exactly are they trying to tell us? Nurse, me brain hurts!!! "You Say Yeah" was the first of two singles for the tiny Cosmos label, and we're desperately seeking for the second one.

Just when you thought you had them all... Here's an unexpected find on the famous Paletten-label, an EP by THE SCARECROWS from Lauterbach, Hessia. While three of the tracks are crap of the highest order, "Every Single Day", obviously inspired by The Animals, is a stunning triumph of unknown German beat history.

The Swiss NIGHTBIRDS, who spent the most part of their career in Italy, had a first PKP-appearance on volume 18 with their wild debut single. "Someone's Call" is the fifth and last 7", and the only one on a Swiss label. ( COS, '68) Freak beat ballad, for those who need pigeonholes.

THE TOMBSTONES from Duesseldorf released one of the weirdest German private pressings on Tonatelier W. Schmitz in 68/69. A 13-minute song squeezed on two sides of a 7", and part 2 starts again with a drum solo slowly giving way to some more improvisational noodling, until the singer sets in again for the last minute. Armed with cheap Woolworth guitars and an even cheaper ersatz-wah wah-pedal, this very democratic group takes the time to demonstrate the instrumental skills of each member and then some. And then some more... A great example for the spirit of the transitional (or was it transubstantiation?) phase from Prae-Kraut to Krautrock, with the beat roots well intact. They owe more than a warm handshake to Steve Winwoods "I'm A Man", but who doesn't?

Vienna's LOST GENERATION are, if at all, better remembered for two very funny (if you're able to decode the hilarious hometown dialect) 45s on Philips in the early 70s. The self pressed debut from '67 was one of the best kept secrets of Austrian rock history until our dear friend Matt, the dentist, (to whom we – for hundreds of reasons – are indebted beyond all galaxies) found it in his trawl. "I Had Forgotten" is one of these irresistibly naive, but tremendously charming ballads that always were an integral part of the PKP-idea. It's great to have a garage, but things like these will always find a home here. And a garden to grow...

THE SEVENS - "Beggin' Me To Stay": See Track 1.

Next is a strange and uncategorizable 45 by one STEPHEN DEREK on the Duo label. I only know of two other singles on Duo, and both are by Gerhard Dlugi. (Remember his monsterous German language version of "Gloria"?) As ever so often with German records, it's hard to date the year of release, but if the guy (who may as well be Dlugi himself) chose the pseudonym with the infamous TV-inspector Stefan Derrick in mind, it's probably '69 or '70. And yes, we absolutely love the lead-flutist!

While rumour has it that THE BLACK LIONS from Bern, Switzerland, were a wild R&B band, their only 45 won't raise the roof of your garage. "Milord", a self-payed pressing made by Turloaphone, sounds like '64, but came out in '66. Obsolete by then in every other city of our hemisphere, but quite en vogue in Bern, the proverbial world capital of human snails. Late, but great.

THE CHEYENNES were another unknown Swiss beat band. Their moment of prominence was an anticlimax, as a repro of the cover of their sole 7" ('67, Eurex) was printed on the back of Pebbles 27 (the Swiss edition of the backlashing continent), but they somehow didn't make the cut and were non-present on the record. A real shame, if you ask me, but delay is the sweet pain of reissues, and here comes your chance to listen to "I Can't Get It", a wonderful, moody midtempo creeper.

Whoever MATT COLLINS may have been (he also sings in Italian), the members of his BEAT BAND all have names that hint at Yugoslavian origin. (Laibach/Ljubljana, Slovenia, I guess.) They had an early (approx. '64) German-only LP on Somerset called "It's Beat Time", that consisted of rock n' roll-standards done in a twist routine a la Joey Dee. The standout track is Matt's own composition "Take A Chance".

Center was the budget label of Saba/MPS in Villingen. Most of the releases were happy-go-lucky easy listening or pseudo-jazz big band tunes for dancing schools. One of two notable exceptions was the LP "Soul Fire" by THE SOUL EXPLOSION in '68. There isn't much soul influenced music on the record, and the misleading monicker was stamped on at least two, probably three very different sounding combos, none of them showing any typical German symptoms. Mastermind, producer and writer of all the tunes is one Martin Siegel, and the recordings were made in Germany. Considering the fact that legions of first class jazz musicians were always hanging around at the MPS-studios, who knows who's been making a little extra money here. The singer on our chosen track obviously is a native speaker, and the band must have heard "Blonde On Blonde" already, but who hides behind this incarnation of The Soul Explosion? Guess work... and before you try to get smart: the band with the same name and a 7" on the Tarantel label from Augsburg has nothing to do with this one here.

The second amazing LP on Center is "Original English Beat Company" by THE SONIC (1969). The band, two Scots and two Brits, came over with the second wave of Limey bands in '65 and settled down in Kassel for the next four years. As The Sonics they released a killer single on Paletten (see PKP 4) and a less satisfying, still decent one for Ariola, but while both flopped, they made a comfortable living as a live act of high renown on the German club circuit. When they dropped one "s" and recorded the LP, they covered Dylan, Steppenwolf, Deep Purple, Grapefruit, Simon Dupree et al. in a very individual style, but didn't come up with one original composition. I'm too lazy now to find out where I first have heard "Mr. Busdriver" - more or less a re-write of The Box Tops' "Letter" - but I hope that one of you out there will find out, and leave a message in the comments-department.

Hamburg's TONICS have been the most prolific of all German bands, even if about 75% of their recordings were released on budget labels under aliases like Spots, Pick-Ups, Ravers, Shotguns, Movers, Soho Gamblers, Ginger Rockets and about 20 more. This could have been good news, but trouble is: there's only a handful of remarkable tracks hidden among the enormous output between 62 and 74. One such is their rendition of Bobby Womack's "It's All Over Now" from the 65 Polydor-LP "The Tonics' Hitparade", a straight uptempo beat arrangment quite different from the more familiar Stones-version.

The whole recorded work (three songs) of Munich's SUBJECTS (not to be confused with the "German Measles"-Subjects from Troisdorf) was released on the Hungarian-only V.A.-LP "International Beat" (Qualiton, 68). "Headlines" has already been featured on PKP 9, here comes "Kind Of Mine", another showcase for Michael Hoffmann's skills on keyboards. When Krautrock took over, the band recorded a fine LP as Subject Esq. and after further line-up changes mutated to Sahara.

THE LIONS from Detmold made their recording debut on a harmless, but charming CCA-7" as the backing band of French singer Monique, and followed it with a lame and forgettable instro 45 on the same label. As one of the weekday bands in Herford's Jaguar Club they were invited to record four studio tracks for the V.A.-LP "Beat Parade im Jaguar Club" (67, Hansa). Two were originals, and it's a shame that Hansa, who released a lot of less rewarding one-offs, didn't press singles of these. Something went wrong with the songtitle, which reads "Keep It Out Of Mind", while the band keeps singing "out of sight".

Not much known about THE GHOSTMEN and their sole 45 on Bellaphon. They reportedly came from Gaggenau, and "The Ghost" could have been a hit in '65, but sounded hoplessly dated and passe´ when it came out in '68.

Here's another one from THE SNAPPERS' German-only LP (s/t, 68, Elite Special). For further details see Prae-Kraut vol. 16. It's on this blog. Just scroll down, or click at the "Prae-Kraut"-link at the end of this liner notes.**

Same is recommended for CHARLY & HIS EXPLORERS. "TNT" from "Beat Time" (Vogue/Pop, 65) is a drastically rearranged version of The Nashville Teens' superb flipside to "Google Eyes".

A moody, dramatic, nearly cryptic beach ballad, most likely inspired by "(Remember) Walking In The Sand", but beating this classic shorthanded, written and performed by a band from a country, where they know the sea from hearsay, if at all??? Improbable, but true. THE GHOOLS were a Swiss group with a one-off 7" on Layola in '65. Ghoulish indeed, but nothing else known about The Ghools and "It Will Be Fine".

If we trust the local press, THE SUNBEAMS were the best beat band in Oberhausen '66. Friends and labelmates of the (all-girl) Rag Dolls, they released one of these love-'em-or-hate-'em mumble-stumble typically German beat singles on, yep, Beat Records. It's like abstract art, free jazz or Mo Tucker's drumming. Looks like everybody could do it better, but when you try you fuck it up.

The story of THE VAMPIRES from Schweinfurt, who via Hanau and Hamburg settled down in Spain, where they made it big, and even bigger in the progressive era as The Evolution, has been told thrice here on PKP already. "Hold On", one of four recorded originals, was the third of six 45s they recorded for the Spanish Sesion (sic) label in '66 and '67.

Oops! Here's one starving on the PKP-shortlist since 1994. THE JAILBIRDS from Mainz and their self-edited 45 "I'd Like To Go" ('66) has been treated like a handicapped child. You like them most, but do you really have to show them? How will the neighbors react? Fuck 'em, and let's get sentimental for two minutes!

And, in the mood now, another sick song that haunts my dreams for a decade. Only possible in Germany. THE SCAVENGERS from Hannover and their only 45 on Studio Ton (68) has caused disturbance to some garageheads' minds when the a-side, "Animal Station", appeared on PKP 12. But the flip, "Mr. Peaceman", is even weirder. A far out Curtis Mayfield/Impressions-imitation with a recorder solo, an untightened snare drum and a love&peace-message as enigmatic as The Roletts' (see track 2). How cool can you get before freezing....

LES SAUTERELLES from Zurich were advertised as The Swiss Beatles in their early days, but the most successful Helvetian band were no copycats and had a lot more to offer. If we'd need a catchy comparision, a mixture of The Byrds and The Who would be more appropriate. "It's Nothing" has only survived on a '67 acetate, but an Italian language-version of the song called "Aiuto...va sempre male" has seen the light on Columbia, Italy.

The world is full of wonder! A test pressing without cover on Tonstudio Dortmund GmbH showed up recently, and the label promises "Deutsch-Englisches Amateur Beat-Festival Dortmund 1968". In very small letters we get assured, that all participating groups are from Dortmund and the suburbs. And you better believe it. No English involvement whatsoever. Avanti dilettanti: The Faces, The Voices, The (German) Nice, The Outlaws, The Stagnation, The Emetics, The Flash and THE MAGIC RAINBOWS with a desperate execution of The Who's " In The City" demonstrate their amateur status in all subterranean glory, but the sound engineer is the king of the bunglers here. Incredible record, stay tuned. We don't dare compiling more than one track per volume.

Even more wonders: Now and then you come across a rare and unknown single from the right decade, but hesitate to buy even for spare change. With an unimaginative cover, a songtitle like "Crazy Daisy" and a daft name like THE MOUNTIES..., well, you know, disappointment programmed. But then you take it anyway, because what if... right? Right!!! This 45 on Music Corporation nailed me to the floor. Can't help it, but The Mounties remind me of genius-loonies like The Gods (the American ones on ESP) or our very own Shaggys (no, not the American Shaggs, but then again, yeah, too). And the flip "Only Today" is another winner. The torture never stops...

Before we forget...There are some perverts out there who dig the German sung contributions on PKP the most. For your strange,dubious and pitiable taste: THE HUBBUBS . I've suffered my way through five LPs and about 20 singles of Austrias most prominent 60s-band without finding one decent track among the lame schlager-beat rubbish. (O.k., a handful of listenable Shadows-cloned instrumentals, but, come on...) And then, with zero hope, I found The Hubbubs' debut 45, "Nachts in Chicago" (International, 64). Extremely silly (if you understand German,) sure, but a great sneaker nevertheless. Now I'm searching for the follow-up 45 "Unter einem trueben Strassenlicht" from the soundtrack of the very early sexploitation flick "Geissel des Fleisches" (=Scourge of the Flesh).

That's it for today. 70s Krautrock rarities next time. Urmel et oimel, ego me absolvo. Bless & bliss yourselves... >>>

and now you may download the complete album: cover and liners of course are included: all tracks are here in 256 kbps and you will need 150 mb of free space:

Direct source :

V.A.- Heimatliche Klaenge vol.74 - Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium Vol.14

 1 The 4 Renders -  Walkin' The Dog

 2 The Mersey Kings - I'm A Hog For You

 3 Andy Nevison & The Rhythm Masters - White Woman

 4 The Sound Riders - Send You Back To Walker

 5 The Dynamites - Nadine

 6 The Jack Five - Berlin Swing

 7 Lord Nelson & His Crew - Station Girl

 8 The Bats - You'd Better Believe It, Baby

 9 The Tony Hendrik Five - I Ain't Got You

10 The Savages - She's Very Young

11 The Ravers - We've Got Too Much    

12 The Rocking Jailmen - Give Me A Chance    

13 The Image - Heartaches Inbetween Heartaches    

14 The All - I'm Addicted    

15 Adam & Eve - Desert Song    

16 The Mascots - In 40 Days    

17 The Mambos - Hey-O-Mambo    

18 The Jail-Birds - Baby's Gone    

19 The King Bees - No More Lies    

20 The Hounds - We've Got Love    

Since Aristotle Krauts have organized their knowledge vertically in seperate and unrelated groups... sense, sex, sixpacks, sin, sax, wine, vibes and song (just to name a few).The main emphasis in a kraut’s endeavour to put things straight is the lifelong attempt to get objects in a horizontal position (especially women) and take one step after the logical other. He usually fails and causes a complete mess (as Einstein did), but insists in singing about the experience in foreign tongues.

Recently, it has become possible for Krauts to chemically alter their mental state, which turned out to be not such a brilliant idea... As you’ll easily recognize on this new documentation of case histories, the restructuring of thinking led to serious cerebral affections and sporadic cases of auto-lobotomy. The quest for pure sanity that forms the basis of investigation on this album didn’t help much.The more you try to exorcize these demons, the more you evoke them. Here comes the cabbage...

The 4 Renders from Eimsbьttel existed from 61 to 66 and were heirs to the throne of the Hamburg R&B kings , held and kept by The Rattles. In 65 their gitarrero Rugy Rugenstein entered the palace through the backdoor, when he replaced Hajo Kreuzfeldt there. After winning the 63 band battle at the Star Club, they released a 7” for that label, but the rest of their recorded output is limited to less than a handful of tracks on mid-60’s compilations. This rendition of Rufus Thomas’ “Walkin’ The Dog” is an unreleased studio outtake from the 65 session that also brought us “Let’s Get Together” on the “Star Club Scene 65”-LP.

The Mersey Kings reportedly came from the Bavarian heartland around Munich. “I’m A Hog” is the A-side of their sole 45 on the immensely collectable Scherer label. On this stripped version of a Coasters classic they fumbled with the lyrics a bit and came up with the immortal line “I’m a hog, baby, can’t get enough of your loo”. Eat your hearts out, Leiber and Stoller!

We all know about The Monks, but they weren’t the only ex-GI’s on the German scene. Screamin’ Andy Nevison (whose throat might sound familiar to owners of our Vol.2) and his Westphalian band The Rhythm Masters had German and American members and their three 45’s were produced exclusively for the German market. “White Woman, don’t roll your big blue eyes at me” wouldn’t have been much of a hit in Alabama 66 anyway. Blessed with good looks not unlike a younger brother of Sam Cooke, Andy honours sister Rosa with more than just innate seat on the bus. Say it loud, I’m black and kraut. Dig it!

We’ve already met The Sound Riders on Vol.12, where we had to admit that we don’t know much about the guys behind this great 64 live LP from the Kaskade Klub in Cologne. They snatched the song from the flip of the first Animals single, who pilfered it from an obscure 7” by Timmy Shaw, who himself plundered the John Lee Hooker songbook and crossed it with a Jimmy Reed riff. Some weeks before the Animals did it, the Searchers had recorded the song under its original title “Gonna Send You Back to Georgia”.

Basel The Dynamites are famous for their well documented singles on Columbia and Philips. Hard to find as they are, the rarest of their vinyl is the debut EP on the tiny Sesam label from 64. It shows a group in development with one foot still on the Shadows-platform and the other already on the R&B-train. While most everybody else still tried to lay down a decent version of “Roll Over Beethoven”, The Dynamites covered the brandnew “Nadine”, Chuck Berry’s comeback after a long vacation at the Springfield, Missouri state penitentiary.

The Jack Five must have been big Berry fans as well, they even mention him and Maybellene in their hymn to Berlin on Paletten Records. Although they pretend to be on holiday, they probably came from the divided city and were payed by the tourist office during an unsuccessful attempt to establish the name Swinging Berlin (as opposed to Swinging London).

Lord Nelson was Berlin’s rocker of the first hour Didi Zill, wh fronted the ABC Boys and The Batmen. Both bands’ finest moments can be revisited on Vol.9. In 68 Didi joined the navy and promotion by self-selection made him an immediate admiral. “Station Girl” is the stand out-track from his LP on Metronome and it’s obviously all about the same Berlin phenomenon that Nina Hagen described ten years later in “Am Bahnhof Zoo Im Damenklo”.

The Bats, another of the early Hamburg bands, came together in 61. They went through the usual Star Club routine, but recorded mainly for Polydor after a quarrel with the Club’s owner WeiЯleder. While most of their records don’t show the group’s true potential, their 7” on WAM, “Got A Girl”, was a German garage classic (see Vol.2). Unlike other 2nd division veterans, they stayed active and still gigged in the 90’s. In 81 they issued an LP of unreleased late 60’s/early 70’s recordings on their own Summer label. It’s a somewhat uneven affair, but contains 60’s pearls like “You Better Believe It”.

The Tony Hendrik Five from Cologne were one of the lesser known German bands that captured a major contract, but (or because of that) never managed to develop a distinctive style and image of their own. After the fantastic “I’ve Said My Say” (see Vol.8) they released a whole lot of quite unnecessary 45’s. Their 67 Columbia LP “Nightflight” is a strange mishmash of influences, but surprisingly offers a fab version of Billy Boy Arnold’s “I Ain’t Got You”. It probably came to their attention via The Yardbirds, but it’s a remarkably different arrangement and a great hip shaker in double speed.

Despite the name, The Savages were a rather tame pop combo from Frankfurt and three of their Aronda singles caused downward thumbs at Prae-Kraut Headquarters, although “Why Don’t You Stay” made it to the short list. Recently we’ve found the 67 debut and this little flower-power-folk-rock-jingle-jangle called “She’s Very Young” broke the ice.

The Ravers was one of about 50 aliases, the prolific Tonics were hiding behind, when recording for about nearly as much budget labels. After 5 LP’s for Tip, the last one in 69, called “Bad, Bad World” didn’t sound much like the Tonics anymore. Subtitled “Ravers Going Underground”, this obviously was a product of the Hamburg cheapo mafia, a bunch of Rattles, German Bonds and Wonderland musicians, who used to make some extra bread with exploitation classics like Hell Preachers Inc. or Bokaj Retsiem. “We’ve Got Too Much” is a typical Herbert Hildebrandt production (Ex-Rattle and somekind of a German Kim Fowley). No one could rip off a Kinks-riff like the Kinks, but The Ravers came close, although brother Ray would have frowned a bit upon using terms like chicken fucker.

The Rocking Jailmen’s nasty girlie-put-down “Over” was one of last volume’s highlights and caused hectic action among collectors. “Give Me A Chance” is another cork screw through your brain from the same Eurex-EP. Sneaking in rather than blowing the door down this time, but the Jailmen manage to do the trick witha sinister ballad just as well.

The Image and their ecological mod anthem “Creation” from Vol.11 was another record that soon showed up on everybody’s want list. On the flip of this Hit-Ton 7” they add a little Stax soul to the mixture and on “Heartaches” they sound every bit as good as the undisputed kings of mod soul, The Action. The Image from Wales spent the best part of 66 in Germany, where they recorded two singles that didn’t get a UK-release after three 45’s on Parlophone already had flopped there.

Half German, half British, The All were the remains of Lee Curtis & The All Stars and kept on touring Germany when Lee retired in 66. After a fine, but unsuccessful 7” (see Vol.11), their last signs of life were a couple of live recordings made in Harburg in 1967, which were released by Fontana on the scarce “Live In Concert”-LP, together with other Star Club veterans.”I’m Addicted” is another neat evidence for a flourishing, but hardly documented mod scene in our country and it’s a shame, that The All didn’t get the chance to record it in a studio.

Adam & Eve were Erika Bartova from Prague and John Christian Dee, a sinister mister who is best remembered for his few, but great contributions to British R&B history as the writer of “Don’t Bring Me Down” for The Pretties and “Get Yourself Home” for The Fairies. Phil May once called him a P.J. Proby-copy, but P.J. was a choir boy compared to J.C. What exactly led to overnight emigration to Frankfurt in 66 isn’t exactly clear, but he did it again in 74 after being charged in London for “procurement of women for brothels”. From 66 to 68 he played Jack of all trades for the Bellaphon label. With Eve, he formed the poor man’s Sonny & Cher and had a couple of gruesome hits sung in German. Their only LP documents most of these, but surprisingly offers the great and absolutely untypical “Desert Song”. J.C. Dee was sentenced to six years in 75 for some near fatal stabs in the back of his girlfriend, broke out of the Dieburg jail soon after and vanished in France, where he probably still ducks and covers.

Less glamourous was the story of The Mascots from Aarau, Switzerland. They existed from 63 to 65 and had just one 45 on Eurex in 64. Though they put their names under “40 Days”, it’s actually Chuck Berry’s “30 Days”, obviously scrounged from the Ronnie Hawkins version, who gave the girl 10 more days to come back home and also got away with the royalties without Chuck suing him.

Though credited on their Etzel 7” as Mambo Band, these guys were better known as The Mambos all over the Lower Franconian hinterland. A rare case of early German frat rock, these kids looked like acolytes on a joyride, but could do a neat Sonics imitation, when fuelled with enough homebrew. Remember: There’s nothing dirty about sax, except you know how to blow right...

Lots of Jail-Birds flew over Germany, but few ever recorded. The band in question definetely is not the one from Mainz with the “Nobody” 45, but could be an earlier line-up of the Gelsenkirchen band, that released “Jenny, Jenny” on Hansa in 66. Recently not one, but two singles by The Jail-Birds showed up on the tiny Ruhrgebeat label Beat Records. “Baby’s Gone” is a fine example for the transformation phase in the early 60’s, when lots of groups tried to blend their 50’s rock n’roll roots with the then brandnew invasion sound.

Braunschweig (Brunswick) had a vivid scene, but - with the exception of The Black Devils (a.k.a. The Progressives) - very few records handed down to posterity. The King Bees were local heroes there, but also didn’t make it to a proper studio. All that survived is a reel-to-reel rehearsal room tape from 66 that shows the Bees pulling all stops on the driving beat of “No More Lies”. Some sonic drop outs and a little tape his are inevitable, but hardly lessens the pleasure.

Led by drummer Mike Parlor, The Hounds were one of many third division bands in London 64. With a sound more suitable to the Cavern than the Crawdaddy, they hardly found gigs and fled to the promised land of the losers. In 1965 they recorded two singles for Elite Special in Frankfurt and “All I Want Is You” can be revisited on Vol.5. “We’ve Got Love” was the fine debut, but both were pure beat records and sounded too wild for your parents and too tame for the in-crowd in the rebellious year, when the boys were seperated from the backdoor Men forever.

Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium Vol.16 - Vol.20: 

http://spurensicherung.blogspot.com/2008/07/prae-kraut-pandaemonium-volume-16.html

http://spurensicherung.blogspot.com/2009/04/prae-kraut-pandaemonium-volume-17.html

http://spurensicherung.blogspot.com/2009/11/prae-kraut-pandaemonium-volume-18.html

http://spurensicherung.blogspot.com/2010/05/prae-kraut-pandaemonium-volume-19.html

http://spurensicherung.blogspot.com/2011/01/beat-your-heart-out-we-did-it-again.html

german sick-teeth underground beat - unterweltenkrachinnenraum - elektrick loosers volume four:

http://spurensicherung.blogspot.com/2010/12/german-sick-teeth-underground-beat.html

The Tonics - Bubble Gum Music (1969)

FROM JANCY !

***

Biographie: The Tonics / Ravers / Spots

Manfred ("Tony") Oberdцrffer wurde 1959 in Hamburg-Horn im Freibad angesprochen, ob er nicht in einer Gruppe als Sдnger mitmachen wollte. Die Gruppe hieЯ Allround Men und war Hamburgs erste Skiffle- und Rockband.Dazu gehцrten Helmuth Franke, Horst Mewes, Gьnther Golz und Joachim Hennings. Sie ware alle so um die 15 Jahre. Polydor Produzent Jimmy Bowien hцrte die Gruppe im Top Ten und lud sie zu Plattenaufnahmen ein. Er schlug vor den Namen in Gin & Tonic zu дndern und man einigte sich auf Tonics.

Am 29. November 1961 wurde die erste Plattenaufnahme gemacht: "You Are My Sunshine". Die Gruppe wurde vor allem als Studio-Musiker eingesetzt, u.a. auf dem Tip-Label, dem Billig-Label von Polydor. Sie spielten auch unter verschiedenen Pseudonymen Titel ein.

Gitarrist Helmuth Franke verlieЯ die Tonics 1968 um bei der von Achim Reichel und Frank Dostal frisch formierten Gruppe Wonderland einzusteigen. Im AnschluЯ fand er bei James Last seinen Platz.

Tony Oberdцrffer betrieb das Projekt Tonics noch bis Ende der 60er Jahre mit wechselnden Musikers weiter

Als Tony gelangen ihm zwei Plattenerfolge mit deutschen Aufnahmen von Titeln des Sir Douglas Quartett (1969).....Davor erschienen zwei Titel von ihm als Toni Silver (1967), bereits 1964 als Toni und die Blue Beats und 1965 als Manfred Gerold.

Spдter zog sich Tony Oberdцrffer, ein ausgebildeter Tontechniker, hinter das Mischpult als Produzent zurьck.

Manfred Flecksenstein, August 1969, auf BFX

------

Dann schreibt ein HANS JOACHIM TESCHNER:

1967 stieg ich bei "The Tonics" ein, Hamburgs musikalischer Leckerbissen (Plattenwerbung). Die unerbittliche Folge waren Studiojobs, Rundfunk- und Fernsehauftritte und Konzerte mit Showeinlagen (Grimassen, Lufthopser). Mindestens fьnf Singles und mehrere LPs waren die Ernte (auf Philips).1970 lцsten sich die Tonics auf. Ich zog wieder nach Varel, und die anderen kamen im Schlagergeschдft, bei Lucifers Friend und bei James Last unter.

uelle:http://www.hansjoachimteschner.de/rock_pop.htm

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Ganz andere Tonics sind die von Christian Anders:

Christian Anders wurde als Antonio Augusto Teichert 1945 in Bruck / Цsterreich geboren und wuchs in Italien und Deutschland auf. Nach einer Ausbildung zum Ingenieur, einer Elektro-Lehre bei der AEG und dem Besuch des Polytechnikums begann er seine musikalische Laufbahn als Sдnger und Gitarrist mit der Band »Christian Anders and the Tonics«.

1966 erhielt Anders seinen ersten Plattenvertrag von dem Mьnchner Musikverlag Karl-Heinz Busse und wurde drei Jahre spдter mit dem Schlager »Geh’ nicht vorbei« zum erfolgreichsten deutschen Nachwuchssдnger.

----

Toni Tornado hieЯ eigentlich Manfred Oberdцrffer und war Sдnger der Tonics, die sich auch hinter dem Namen Ravers verbergen.

Die Tonics waren Musik Cash-In Schwerarbeiter in den Sechzigern und haben unter unzдhligen Pseudonymen fьr den Kaufhaus Billigplatten Tisch produziert, eine Menge zum Beispiel auch unter dem Namen Spots. Empfehlenswert ist das Traditional Rock N Roll Album, das sie als Ginger Rockets aufgenommen haben. Teilweise richtig stilvoller und energischer Mod Beat.

Toni hat auch Solo Scheiben gemacht. Mдdchen Mit Roten Haaren war sein Top Hit. Eine ganz abgeschmackte Festzelt Nummer. Gut ist aber Ich Bin Ein Mann. Das ist ein ziemlich wilder Testosteron Soul Rocker, den ich dir absolut empfehlen kann.

The-Tonics--Ravers--Spots

***

01 - Bubble Gum Music

02 - Yummy Yummy Yummy

03 - Sweeter Than Sugar

04 - Green Lights

05 - Indian Giver

06 - Chewy Chewy

07 - Do It Again

08 - Quick Joey Small

09 - Goody Goody Gumdrops

10 - Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da

VA - Beat In Germany (11 Cd's) @ 320

 

VA - Pebbles (12 Cd's) @320

 

A prae-kraut pandaemonium volume 16.

"lolly pope presents"

A prae-kraut pandaemonium volume 16.

 German 60s garage underground

(please note: some download-accelerators and some unzip-programmes seemed to experience some difficulties handling the 150-mb-file way down below at the bottom of this post. so i decided to split the file hoping to avoid further inconvenience. please save both files into one folder before unzipping and please let me know if this approach could help. thank you.)

the prae-kraut pandaemonium as you might know is an ongoing and everlasting series of compilations exploring german 60s underground music edited and released on the most common sound storage media of the past: the first 15 volumes hit your record player as 12-inch vinyl and some of this/that music (plus additional sounds) was released using compact discs. as disposition became awkward we decided to release the latest results of our researches for free and will be continuing to do so. volume 16 of a prae-kraut pandaemonium is some 76 minutes of german 60s beat garage punk underground mayhem you can and will find only HERE.

listen, learn, read on: 30 bands / projects / artists / tracks were unearthed and compiled for your pleasure: the tracklist will bare a first sight and the following linernotes will display and manifest some more. you can download all and everything as a .rar-file towards the bottom of this post. here we go:

a prae-kraut pandaemonium vol. 16

01 - SHE JUST SATISFIES - CHARLY & HIS EXPLORERS

02 - GONNA MAKE YOU - THE MEMPHIS THREE

03 - DANCING LITTLE WOMAN - THE SNAPPERS

04 - BABE - TIME OUT

05 - DEFINITION LOVE - THE LIPSTICKS

06 - COOL GIRL - GENTS INC.

07 - SOMEBODY - ANDY NEVISON & HIS RHYTHM MASTERS

08 - PRISONERS OF THE BEAT - THE GISHA BROTHERS

09 - END OF LOVE - THE LIGHTNINGS

10 - SHAME, SHAME, SHAME - THE TREMORS

11 - YOU KNOW ME - THE PONTIACS

12 - I CAN FLY - HIDE & SEEK

13 - YOU ARE MY NEW LOVE - THE EXCHECKERS

14 - YES PRETTY BABY - THE VENTURE 5

15 - I REALLY KNOW IT - THE REVIVAL

16 - PRETTY GIRL - THE STRANGERS

17 - SHAKE AGAIN TIME - THE DUKE OF SOHO

18 - SHE`S GONE WITH THE WIND - THE TONY HENDRIK 5

19 - A LIVE WITH YOU - FLASH

20 - N.S.U. - WAGES OF SIN

21 - EIN GAMMLER NUR - THE COUNTRY'S

22 - CAN'T BELIEVE THE FEELING - THE BATS

23 - PROLOGUE TO A MAGIC WORLD - THE REGINES

24 - YIELD NOT TO TEMPTATION - COLIN ANTHONY & HIS BEAT COMBO

25 - THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT - THE BOOMERANGS

26 - SLOOP SLOOP LOOBEY - UWE SPIER

27 - CHICKEN SONG - RASPUTIN

28 - DREAMS 2ND HAND - THE BOX

29 - IT WASN'T RIGHT - THE EXPIRATION

Bad news first - we´re losing our religion. Yes, alas, and sorry to say - while releasing such small editions always was a non-profit project, doing it on vinyl led to repeated financial collapses and a 4-year gap between vols. 14 and 15. (I even had to sell my Rolls Royce) Take it or leave it, the digital way seems to be the only one to go on without living on cat food. Good news is - like we traditionally do, we´ll stuff each volume to the limit, but this time you´ll get about 74minutes instead of 50. But my heart is bleeding, I confess...And another thing - we´ve been screwed and have to apologize for including THE STRANGERS on vol. 15. There´s a sick brain going round in Germany pressing faked, ancient-looking 45s and sells them for a fortune. To pick out the pearls of old "Prae-Krauts" and to release these as "Lost Illusions" may be a weird idea, but who cares. To take the piss and hard earned cash out of harmless collectors is something else... (What annoys me most is that such a clumsy rip-off escaped my attention on first hearing. Mea culpa.) The so-called Strangers on "I´m A Man" are the US-High Numbers, and on "Thumb" they are The Village Outcasts. (Check the respective contributions to Garage Punk Unknowns Vols. 3 and 8.) How low can you go...straight to hell, I hope!....On with the show...

For a German band with an LP (no 45´s though) on a major label remarkably little (actually nothing) is known about CHARLY & HIS EXPLORERS. Presumably from Hessia, they recorded an LP for Vogue´s sublabel Pop in ´65. All the titles on "Beat Time" are covers, but some of these were stunnning choices like The Nashville Teens´ underrated R&B-punker "TNT" and "She Just Satisfies", Jimmy Page´s first and last solo-single on vinyl. But even on old nags like "Good Golly Miss Molly" they blow tops, minds and eardrums with their primitive, out of tune-strumming and Charly´s horrible accent... 

THE MEMPHIS THREE weren´t German at all. This studioband, brainchild of Larry Page, recorded a lot of rockabilly standards and some covers of songs by Larry´s best horse in the stable with that revamped ´68 sound of the first British Rock n´Roll Revival. But after the (predictable) flop of their corny version of "Wild Thing" on UK-Page One (and some harsh words from Mr. Presley, Reginald) the whole thing was shelved for good. But the tapes already were on the way and in the hands of Hansa Records in Berlin. As we know by now, nothing could stop a German company from committing commercial suicide in the 60´s as long as they could stamp "Original from England" all over it (they even swindled now and then), and this strange "album" saw the light of day here in 68. And while Mr.Presley, Elvis, and gentlemen like Carl Perkins and Eddie Cochran are still rotating in their graves over the bloody execution of their signature songs, Reg and his fans should be happy with this amazing treatment of one of the Troggs´ heaviest classics... 

THE SNAPPERS were British too, but except for a German Decca single - surprisingly licensed to CBS in the UK - they left no traces back home. Like many others, they spent their whole career (65-69) in Germany, where life was much easier for second division bands who couldn´t keep up with weekly changing new trends, styles and images as demanded in Swinging London. The Snappers´ first 7" coupled unspectacular and inferior versions of DDDBM&T´s "Hold Tight" and "Hideaway", the second was a pleasant soft-psych-pop-or-whateveryouliketolabelit-song called "Upside Down, Inside Out", a track that showed up later on "Syde Trips 6" in a quite similar demo version as by Tropical Fish. (Isn't a snapper exactly that?) Their magnum opus was a meanwhile terribly rare and expensive LP for Elite Special in 68 which is a rather disappointing affair, but still offers 3 good tracks. "Dancing Little Woman" is one of them... 

TIME OUT´s claim to fame was a 7" for Hansa and the company advertised them as "Gemany´s youngest beatband". Judging by the picture-cover they were about 2 years older than Percy & The Gaolbirds had been in ´66, but this was 69 and a bit too late to cause sensations with an old fashioned term like beat anyway. And the bungled, out of tune-guitar solo, as much as we like such trash today, was the commercial kiss of death. Time over for Time Out...

THE LIPSTICKS´ mastermind was a guy named Klumann, who wrote all the songs on their `68 LP for Europa Rec.(Except for the title track of "Let´s Have A Bonnie & Clyde Party".) It´s a rather light-weight affair with some catchy tunes and slight soft-psych undertones now and then....

THE GENTS INC. came from Gießen and released a rather tame, but pleasant 45 in ´67 there. A year later they were back in the studio to record a split-LP with the irrelevant Capras for the cheapo-label Falcon. The best of those cuts was "Gettin´The Blues" (>PKP Vol.3), but "Cool Girl" is a close runner-up...

The story of ANDY NEVISON's RHYTHM MASTERS should be familiar by now and his two singles for Columbia are well documented in this series. After a very rare 45 on a private label, (which showed up last week and may be included in a future volume),the first major release of this ex-GI stuck in the Bundesrepublik was "Somebody"/ "Humpty Dumpty" for Ariola in early `65, and while all his records are hard to find, this one - although on a major - seems to be as rare as a Rabbi in Mecca nowadays...

Hans and Klaus Gischa formed THE GISHA BROTHERS in the late 50´s in Hanau and they were veterans of the "Tanztee"-, Night Club- and Ball of Lonely Hearts-scene when they started recording for CBS in ´64. They´ve been through all kinds of styles in pop music and found it easy to absorbe the new "Liverpool Sound" of the day. (Remember that The Beatles still played "Taste Of Honey" and "Besame Mucho" in their early days?) The Gishas were as skilled and professional as the Indo-bands that ruled the club circuit in the early 60´s outside of Hamburg, but they hardly ever went over the top like The Tielman Brothers or The Crazy Rockers used to do at the end of their shows. 7 singles and 3 LPs of the Gisha Brothers offer well executed, but harmless covers and originals for dancing with your mother. Strange enough, among all that unspectacular stuff there´s a killer double-sider from ´65 - great version of "Poison Ivy" backed with "Prisoner Of The Beat", a garage hymn if ever I heard one. It flopped badly and they went back to playing "Tea For Two"...

The Heidelberg LIGHTNINGS´only 45 on Scherer is of legendary status among collectors due to its unfindability. The a-side has been featured on PKP Vol. 15, here comes the flip. Musically a bit on the moody side,but the "lyrics" are absolutely transcendent. "Suddenly a baby was in the world..." That´s the way the cookie crumbles with the birds and the bees, dear mate!...

THE TREMORS came from Scotland to Hamburg and stayed in Germany from `64 to `72. They were great on stage, but their records - an LP for Elite Special and two singles for Metronome and Fontana - are best forgotten. The Tremors´ best documented work has been spread over three LP- compilations released by Polydor in´64 and ´65. On "Beat City" we´ve found an arrangement of Jimmy Reed´s "Shame, Shame, Shame" that´s remarkably different from the better known, tough R&B-versions by The Rattles and The Shamrocks. Bandleader Mike Reoch managed to keep the group together and changed the name to Light Of Darkness in `70. The group´s eponymous album for Philips (1970) nowadays is regarded as a Krautrock classic, although only the drummer was of teutonic origin...

A damn rare record from the northern part of the country is THE PONTIACS´ 7" on Mash (65), seemingly the only release on this very private label. Typical mid-60´s beat by a group of neat looking young gentlemen who hadn´t yet finished discussions about what kind of style they´d like to follow. Great mishmash of influences, and it´s nice to hear how a caveman on drums and a mean stringbender can spoil the ambitions of a crooner... 

HIDE & SEEK from Graz, Austria got together at the tail-end of the 60´s and released 4 singles between ´69 and ´72. Their fabulous debut has been a highlight on PKP Vol.9 (flipside on Exploiting Plastic Inevitable Vol.2), but the next Amadeo 45 is worth your attention too. No signs of progressivism on "I Can Fly", a fine slice of naive psychpop that sounds much rather like summer ´68 than autumn ´70... 

THE EXCHECKERS from Chester belonged to the endless trek of economic refugees from the British Isles. When their `64 debut for UK-Decca "All The World Is Mine" failed to set the charts alight, they decided to conquer Germany at least, where Vogue had released a 45 and an LP of their live recordings from the Iron Door Club under the highly inventive name The Liverpool Beats. ( But watch out - not all German records under that name are by The Excheckers. Even among the Elite Special material some probably are, some definitely ain´t.) In 1965 they recorded some sides for Ariola under their original name and of the resulting two singles the ultra moody "You Are My New Love" is the best track by far. They reportedly gave up after 12 months on the sauerkraut curcuit and went back home...

Altough they also recorded a couple of Top Ten-covers for Tempo,THE VENTURE 5´s only collectable opus is this 7" from ´65 on Munich´s Juke Box Records. The plug side certainly was "What´s Your Name" (see PKP Vol. 11), but the flip "Yes Pretty Baby" is a winner too. Exact city of origin couldn´t be detected yet, but it wasn´t Munich. They were active between Augsburg, Regensburg , Landshut and Nürnberg, a lower Bavarian or Franconian provincial beatband obviously...

The next one is a strange discovery. At the end of a cheapo-LP for Silverton credited to Rockband - REVIVAL we´ve found this fuzz driven powerpop epic that reminds of the most adventurous moments of The Equals with a song that shares big parts of the melody with Herbie´s Peoples´ "Residential Area". The other 90% of the record are by a different, apparrently American group fronted by a Joey Dee-impersonator, doing live versions of dance craze-hits like the Twist, Watusi and Whodunit. We don´t know who actually is this misplaced, very British-sounding band playing "I Really Know It" , but they certainly are worth your attention...

Ah, THE STRANGERS again, but this time they´re for real. "Pretty Girl" is the b-side of their garage punker "Hurt It" on Kerston (dig up your copy of PKP Vol.11) and, although a dreamy ballad, its another extremly weird song with ghoulish lines like "Girl your nose looks pretty, and your fingers... and mouth looks sweet. You´re all I need..." Honey Ball Lector on vocals, but we still don´t know from which asylum The Strangers escaped...

THE DUKE OF SOHO obviously is the pseudonym for a gifted organgrinder who delivered the hottest contribution to one of the earliest Beat-related LPs on the German cheapo-label Europa. "London Beat" (´65) was dominated by tracks from The Spots (Tonics in disguise) and The Peers, but the extra dry Hammond-groove of The Duke is the only thing on this record that makes my feet move... 

THE TONY HENDRIK 5 from Cologne was one of these bands that desperately had a try at all kinds of styles in order to get a hit, but only managed to disturb the audience with the resulting schizoid hotch-potch. They had 8 singles between ´67 and ´71 and all are rubbish, except the absolutely positively brilliant B-side "I´ve Said My Say" (see PKP Vol.8) Equally strange, but with at least a handful of fine tracks was their only LP "Nightflight" (67). "She´s Gone With The Wind", written by keyboarder Frieder Reynard, is the best original here. Tony Hendrik (real name - Dieter Lünstedt) also worked as a talent scout and producer for Vogue, and his biggest achievements were early Krautrock classics by Andromeda and Nosferatu in 1970... Not much known about FLASH from Bremen. They recorded their only 7" in ´69 or ´70 for Soundstar Ton and vanished again soon after. While the A-side is an ill-fated attempt to get progressive, "A Life Without You" sounds much better. (If you´ve got a soft spot for cryptic ballads)... Even less is known about WAGES OF SIN, except that they were a pretty trendy quartet in '67, when they decided to cover both of last year's most influential singles for their own debut on the commendable Paletten-label.("N.S.U." has "Hey Joe" on the back ).Trouble is - they didn't exist long enough to record a follow-up... 

COLIN ANTHONY was yet another of the countless young Brit-beaters to invade Germany in the early 60´s, but unlike most of his colleagues he didn´t stay long and left only a few traces on the club scene. Which is a pity, cause his ´64 Fontana LP "Colin Is Fab" is an unknown Merseysound gem. "Yield Not To Temptation" was a hit for Bobby Bland, and Anthony and his band do a great job here with their uptempo gospelbeat-arrangement. When the equally fine single "Crazy Beatle Boots" flopped, Colin dived down into oblivion or, more likely, went home and changed his stage name. Great talent anyway ...

THE COUNTRY´S (sic) were an obscure folk/protest-trio from Switzerland and the ´66 single on Electra seems to be their only one. The deeply philosophic lyrics sung with heavy Emmental accent will only be discloseable for native speakers, but the song is all about tune in, drop out and live as a gammler, some sort of every mother-in-law's longhaired, workshy nightmare, a mixture of hobo, beatnik and provo...

According to the label, the only 45 of THE BOX was recorded in London, and in this case it probably is true. The German Admiral label actually had an A&R-man running round there, buying elsewise rejected or shelved productions for the inexhaustible inland market. (A lot were crap and most came from independent producers normally connected with President Rec. Another fine, but more "progressive" example are the German-only singles of J.C. Heavy.) Admiral was a Bellaphon subsidiary and most 45s are not hard to find, but "Dreams Second Hand" is the one that never shows up. It´s a superior, heavier version of a `69 non-hit 7" by The Blinkers on UK-Pye....

THE BATS from Hamburg were one of this city's best 2nd division bands. (They had a lot there. Lot of divisions...) Formed in '61, they went down well in the Starclub in 63 and 64, but were dropped from the list of proteges after a quarrel with Mr. Weißleder. They recorded for Polydor instead, but after 2 unsuccessful 45s changed to the small WAM-label, where they released the immortal trashpunk classic "Got A Girl". (> PKP 2) Going through the motions from R&B via Hardrock to Country and back, they survived as a live act until the mid-70s and had a couple of reunions later on. "Can't Believe The Feeling" was one of the highlights of their self distributed retrospective-LP "Music of the 60s" (which actually covers the span from 69 to 73.) ... 

THE REGINES from Offenbach were a rather tame group with tendencies to tralala-pop and even schlagers, not so far away from the style that the notorious Flippers used to develop at about the same time. (They covered "Kaiser Bill's Batman", if you know what I mean.) But in '67, on the flip of their first 7" for Metronome, they had their moment of a lifetime. How they'd got hold of a copy of Rupert's People's second single "Prologue To A Magic World" is unknown, but their cover beats the originial, if you ask me...

Wiesbaden's UWE SPIER recorded a couple of singles for CBS in the mid-60s, which had a lot more punch, but a lot less success than the schlagers of his brother Bernd. "Sloop Sloop Loobey" was the best of the bunch, and while the words are about as intelligent as "Balla Balla" (or "Hanky Panky" or some hundred others of our favourites...), the music is a pretty good Sam the Sham-rip-off...

RASPUTIN (Jon Symon) was a British one man-band, who had settled down in North Germany, where he made a living by gigging in small clubs and busking in the streets of (mostly) Hannover in the late 60s. He recorded 2 self-financed 45s, and while his versions of "Sympathy For The Devil" and "Spoonful" are quite funny too, we chose his weird "Chicken Song". Silly, but irresistible... 

THE BOOMERANGS are another mystery of Germany's Beat history. Like The Candidates, The Beatmixers and The Sound Riders, they recorded one of these cheapo-LPs - all called "Beat Beat Beat" - in boring standard covers for the Baccarola label in '65. The singer sounds a bit to experienced to be a German, while the variety of their repertoire is reminiscent of the so-called Indo Bands (Dutch-Indonesian immigrants), which really ruled in the early 60s. A British group called Boomerangs recorded 2 singles for UK-Fontana in '64 and may well have toured here, but with Baccarola you can't even be sure that they didn't use a fantasy name to disguise the identity of a band with contractual obligations elsewhere. (The Beatmixers actually were Mike Rat & The Runaways.) On third listening, The Boomerangs' live recordings sound a lot like those of The Sound Riders. Guess we'll never know, but their version of Little Richard's "Girl Can't Help It" is a winner...

On the back of the sleeve of their sole 7" (VRC, 68); THE EXPIRATION claimed to be Austria's answer to The Cream. Or at least their label VCR did. They didn't quite live up to that image. Nice try anyway...

and yes yes yes: only a few lines away from the download: TWILIGHTZONE thankfully offers almost all volumes of a prae-kraut pandaemonium (search for kraut or german) de-klicked and de-noized; additional infomation might be found on prae-kraut.de; the rest is up to you:

(please note: some download-accelerators and some unzip-programmes seemed to experience some difficulties handling the 150-mb-file way down below at the bottom of this post. so i decided to split the file hoping to avoid further inconvenience. please save both files into one folder before unzipping and please let me know if this approach could help. thank you.)

Direct source:

V.A. - Heimatliche Klaenge vol.52 Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium Vol.4

Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium Vol.4

1 Novak's Kapelle - Smile Please

2 The Guards - Hullabaloo

3 Antoine - Der Krieg

4 Cherry Stones - The Things She Says

5 Lord Knud - I'm Your Guy

6 Les Copains - Give Your Love To Me

7 The Newcomers - Have You Seen My Baby Coming

8 The Blizzards - I'm Your Guy

9 Die Meatles - Praeschdlingsaegger Fuer Emmer

10 The Dukes - The Dentist   

11 Charles Ryders Corporation - White Flames   

12 The Sorcerers - With You   

13 The Details - What Shall I Do   

14 The Sonics - Hitch Hike   

15 Ronald Patrick Guttridge - Schlagendes Herz   

16 The Slaves - Panic   

17 John Hamilton Band - Light-Winged Smoke   

18 The Ringleaders - This World Could Be A Beauty   

You're probably wondering why we're here again so soon. Well, we do too, but the reaction to Vol.1 & 2 was too overwhelming to stop now. Just a few copies left, and the reviews are yet to come. We're not alone in space! (Special thanks for support and encouragement to Hr: G:; Hr.V. & Hr. K., true comrades against the jive)

Proud owners of the first volumes will know, but here's to all you newcomers: Hands off if you're expecting a certain sound. This is not a psychedelic- not a garage- not a novelty- not a beat band- collection. It's all of that and more. Purism is not our thing and you'll need an open mind, a strange kind of humour and a strong stomach now and then. Digital brains be warned: We're rather flying low-fi than stand-by. The sound quality of the sources varies from brilliant to audible. So if you can't stand a little pot-rattling, get out of the kitchen and wait for the new Phil Collins CD-rom. Ready Krauts?

Novak's Kapelle

Their story can be found on Vol.1 & 2. "Smile Please" is the third (and probably last) guest appearance of our favourite lunatics. Another violent statement from Vienna's rude boys. "If You See A Policeman, Strike Him Down As Fast As You Can"! Get the picture? (Amadeo Rec.)

   

The Guards and The Sorcerers

were discovered on a compilation called "Yeah Yeah Beat" available on tape reel only on the Saba Label. We're still trying to find out who plays what, because they didn't coordinate the band names with the tracks. These are the two songs that were released on 45 as well on the label from the Black Forest. The Sorcerers' "With You" should have been a hit in the days of Beatlemania. The Guards' "Hullabaloo" is one of the weirdest case of troglodyte music we've ever heard, and it's a pitty there's not more of it. We'll keep searching.

(The Guards: seemingly a British band with a German-only release. "Hullabaloo" was a 7" on the Saba label)

(The Sorcerers were a British band with a German-only 7". Ace Kefford was a member.)

Antoine

First of all, please don't judge him by this little ditty. In his native tongue, he was a master of the word, singing songs about his father who thinks he's Fred Astaire, Beethoven's birthday and the un-probable existence of God. His three longplayers are among the best to come out of the continent yet. He was called the french answer to Bob Dylan. Actually he had more in common with the provo-movement from Amsterdam or the less political Gammler scene in Germany. His big hit was "Les Elucubrations d'Antoine". These illuminations of Antoine surprisingly made the charts here soon as the translation appeared in the teenie-mag "Bravo". He was stepping on everybody's toe, defending long hair and called Johnny Hallyday an asshole or something. Johnny, the tough greaser of Paris, broke Antoine's nose (he probably just announced to do so, but the press, you know...) and a hit with a song called "Long Hair, Short sense".

Anyway, for a while Antoine was popular enough to do what Johnny did years before, record some songs in german. "Der Krieg" (The War, dummy) is, alas, nothing to laugh your balls off for our out-lando friends, but what's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding anyway, anyhow, anywhere these days!

The Cherry Stones

Their story is a short one. All we know is that their stone-fruit monolith on Jo May Productions is one of the most wanted among collectors of the Kraut. Cancel your summer holiday for a copy. The rancorous Garage Punk on the A-side needs no recommendation. The flip is a case of love it or leave it, and in fact not all of the members of the Anti-Oblivion-League had their thumbs up at first. A little ridiculous, but a daring attempt. What are they trying to do? Interbreeding Dylan with Caruso? Had a sleepless night 'till I found out where I've heard this one before. It's the flip of the very first Small Faces Single. Marriott & Co. took it from "Timi Yuro's Greatest Hits". What a long strange trip...

Lord Knud

Knud Kuntze was the bassplayer of a band famous for insisting on calling themselves "die The Lords". He played on "Poor Boy" and all the other early hits. Then he lost a leg in an accident (car crash, I guess). When they found out that he couldn't hold on to his crutches and his bass simultan-eously, he was fired. He did stumble, but didn't fall. Made this marvellous single, combining Mozart and McCartney. Sounds like a hit today, but wasn't then. He survived as a DJ. Scandal is too weak a word. Knud, we love you, whereever you are. Praise the Lord and Long John Silver.

Les Copains

Ashes on my head. In 1966 you could have picked this jewel out of every bargain bin at Woolworth's for Pfennigs. We didn't cause we thought they're french. (Rock'n Roll, kдs-koe-zдh?)

Not only are they not. "The Buddies" will pin you to the wall with the weirdest stuff ever released in this country. Try to record a song like "I'm So Lonely" in '94 and you'll end straight in the asylum. The Monks were ahead of their time. Their labelmates are still ignored. I've seen fire and brimstone coming down on my head. I did expect the Spanish Inquisition, but I didn't expect Les Copains.

The Newcomers

It's 27 years ago, Sergeant Pepper was their drill instructor, but they must have been at the Who's sell-out as well. Although on a majorlabel (sold to the island of the rising sun meanwhile), their brilliant singles didn't get the deserved support cread: airplay, and sank without a trace. The world would be a better place, if we had newcomers like this in the boring nineties.

The Blizzards

are another reason to go back to school. Their fate is probably the most tragic and undeserved of all those cases documented in this series. Like The Eyes or The Prophets in GB, they tried hard and went nowhere. But how great they were! They recorded in English and German. 7 singles and an LP. The first has been re-released on Star Club Complete Vol. 3 recently. (Not their strongest moment, but there you'll find a very detailed band history of Stade's finest). They were not Roy Black's backing band of the same name, but they did the job for another of the Schlager-Fuzzies. That's the reason why we're still searching for a single called "Lebenslдnglich" by Howard Carpendale. The Blizzards really let it all hang out when allowed. "Hab keine Lust heut' aufzustehen" means "You won't get me out of bed today" and is a perfect ode to idleness.

Die Meatles

from Metzingen! had a strong following among suebian youngsters and even a minor hit with a song that could be translated as "Ich wuensch mir zum Geburtstag einen Meatle". They began as The Three Magooses (Three MacGee after a little debate with their latin teacher) playing rough edged instrumentals like "Surfing Down The Achalm". Changed their name after recruiting a talented young busker right from the streets of Tьbingen. Wulle Dinkelacker was specialised in transforming Beatle-songs to his native tongue, a dialect that's hard to bear outside the incestuous backwoods they call home. They recorded a whole LP, "Beat The Meatles",intending to release it on their own "Sдppl-Records". On a couple of tracks, they made it a bit too easy on themselves, overdubbing Beatles instrumental tracks with their own voices in a kind of early Karaoke. When Odeon Records, the german Beatles-label, found out and -that probably did it- had the lyrics translated, they threatened to sue the Meatles who disbanded in anger. We have found the mastertapes and wait 'till you hear "I mechd de schneggsla uff d'r Gass", their 20 minutes version of "Why Don't We Do It In The Road".

(Die Meatles: An obvious fake. The story is crap! The song probably was recorded in the 80's.)

The Dukes

are responsible for three of the most deranged examples of german poetry. Their last effort, "Vera Petruschka" sucks a bit musically and might offend our russian friends. Noblesse oblige. "The Dentist" is a sincere support to the national health campaign in the best Dragons tradition (remember "Heart Transplantation"?). "I'm An Unskilled Worker" should be the international anthem of all us workshy freaks of the world. Unite and stay in bed! Keep smoking, grow gills. If only they had avoided adding Adolf Hitler to their gallery of famous unskilled workers. A doubtful joke even 30 years ago...(Alcora Rec.)

Charles Ryders Corporation

No, they definitely are not from Switzerland, but we're stretching the border a bit again nevertheless. Karli Ratzer is better known as the wizzard of the gipsy guitar now. He started as the 15 year old wunderkind of The Vienna Beatles in '65. He was a member of The (Vienna) Slaves and the axeman of the brilliant but short-lived C.R. Corporation. One of Austria's most respected Jazz musicians today.

The Details

File not found, no details known. What shall I do? Tell you, that this is the only single? (on that risky label again) That they're mixing Seeds and Zombies? Strange Brew. They don't need no hype, they're simply great.

The Sonics

Ha, lucky old me! I know some facts about The Sonics. They are not Mr. Roslie's monsters and their "Hitch-Hike" is not the marvin Gaye via Glimmer Twins number. And, here comes the twist, they're stampeding through this original just as wild and ruthless as their name-mates from Seattle, who (perfect confusion!) did indeed cover the Motown song. (Paletten)

(The Sonics: Another British band that recorded and released only in Germany.)

Ronald Patrick Guttridge

was a traveling salesman from England, bold enough to send a tape to the Ninth International Contest of soundhunters 1960 in Amsterdam. He won a prize for "Schlagendes Herz" (Beating Heart), on which he overdubbed drums and guitar with a Telefunken reel-to-reel 4-track tape machine. A german label released this wonderful Instrumental on an EP together with a couple of other amazing sound experiments. 34 years later, we're proud to give it back to the world. And, man, I'm glad we're able to present the cover of "Tцene gejagt und eingefangen" (Sounds hounted and captured).

Beat'n Heart. Was hier dem Englдnder Ronald Patrick Guttridge - er ist Vertreter von Beruf! - gelang, haette eine reelle Chance, ein Bestseller zu werden. Das technische Raffinement, mit dem er eine an sich simple Melodie auf der elektrischen Gitarre mit dem Schlagzeug und dem treibenden Rhytmus eines menschlichen Herzens versehen hat, erinnert schon sehr an die perfekte Aufnahmetechnik amerikanischer Hits. Der Amateur erreicht qualitativ die Professionellen.

The Slaves

Mixed up confusion. some say they came from Austria and, right, there was a band from Vienna with the same name (Karl Ratzer was a member). Some say Switzerland and, yes, most of them were slaves to the cheese. They had at least one german member (although he never was a "Rattle", Mr. Shaw...)

Slave drivers never mind where they recruit their victims. The Slaves were the hardest working band in the region of the Bodensee, a lake big enough to offer a shore to all the three countries in question. Quite likely they all can claim a fair share in the history of slavery. What a wonderful multicultural world.

The John Hamilton Band

Like The Spots, The Ravers, Automatic Blues Inc., Hell Preachers Inc. and a dozen more, The J.H.B. was a pseudonym for a couple of guys from the Hamburg area that could be hired by cheapo labels like Europa, Somerset, Tip or Sonic to record versions of the current Top 20. Most of these monikers are a disguise for the ever-present Tonics. Not in this case, because the non-existent John Hamilton seems to be ex-Rattle Herbert Hildebrandt. Among covers of CCR and T.Rex we've found "Light-Winged smoke" and by reading the title alone, we knew we'd like this one.

The Ringleaders

We had this corny little piece of crap on every track list from Vol. 1 to Vol.3 and skipped it. We're not willing to risk our mental health any longer. It's been haunting us since we put it on the short list.

Right, it's too silly to be true. As long as we only couldn't get that cheesy organ out of our heads... well, we're brave men. But soon as you catch yourself singing these demented "Lyrics!" like a mantra, it's time to get the monkey off your back. Your turn now.

The Ringleaders came from somewhere in Baden and we hope their name is inspired by the reading of Tolkien. If not, they'd be "Die Kreisleiter"

Dank an: Thomas G., Nini S., Pauki und Michael E.