Super Acid Kraut

THIS GUY IS A GENIUS:

"Krautrock" is just so rich, when you think you've dug enough, something new and incredibly crazy, like this album, pops out of nowhere... Well I am a bit ignorant about krautrock but Achim Reichel seems to be one of the big figures of krautrock.

More info taken from this page: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/ultimathule/krautrockers.html

(A light version of the krautrock encyclopedia "The Crack In The Cosmic Egg")

“ Because of his background, outside Germany, Achim Reichel is one of the most overlooked of key figures in Krautrock history. An original member of the Rattles in 1963, he decided to move on after touring as support to The Beatles in 1966, and formed his own beat group Wonderland. Nothing remarkable yet, as these were also a rather straight pop outfit. 1969 was the catalyst, first playing support to The Nice and Deep Purple, and then meeting Ravi Shankar, and there was a lot of new talent on the Hamburg scene.

Wonderland became Wonderland Band, in 1970, with a totally different concept, amounting to a most unique psychedelic album. I suggest you check the Wonderland Band entry for more info, though it was this album, and Achim's discovery of the echo guitar, that gave birth to a phenomenal series of albums under the working title of "Achim Reichel & Machines". Joining Achim was fellow Wonderland member, their lead singer Frank Dorstal as song writer, and a selection of some of the finest musicians on the Hamburg scene, for a series of albums that are nothing less than remarkable. Other projects from this era were Propeller and Libido.

After playing a major gig at Hamburg's Musikhalle in May 1970, Achim jamming with the likes of Ritchie Blackmore, Graham Bond and Pete Brown, first off was the unprecedented DIE GRÜNE REISE, with its off-beat rock 'n' roll and psychedelia, taking the listener on a sonic journey of dazzling diversity, textures and innovation unheard of in 1971, not least so the ending, which is amongst the weirdest, most fascinating, wildly tripped-out things I've ever heard! But, that was only the start, venturing further into the cosmos was the grand opus ECHO, a double album of echo trips, echoed echoes, spiralling guitars, rock and psychedelic trips beyond Ash Ra Tempel, again ending up in the realms of total weirdness! Simple description isn't possible. Being such a popular and successful musician had its advantages, though I doubt many Wonderland fans would have warmed to ECHO, and next Achim set up his own label Zebra. In fact this was the first of a series of ventures, later including Gorilla Musik and Ahorn Records. The next albums in this series were billed on the front covers as AR 3 and AR IV. AR 3 took the eccentric song format and guitar gymnastics of DIE GRÜNE REISE to more progressive realms, whereas AR IV amounted to huge side-long jam sessions. The later ERHOLUNG continued this style, but on a much more cosmic and jazzy level, where Achim's guitar notably becoming very Günter Schickert-like, with Jochen Petersen proving to be amongst the most cosmic of sax players around! AUTOVISION marked the end of this creative era which, for the most part, is actually a collection of solo guitar experiments, with a few group tracks.

After this, Achim returned to the pop world, disillusioned with the state of the progressive music scene in Germany. He has since proven to be a man of many talents, as singer, producer, and has also become quite a successful actor.

Achim Reichel, + Dicky Tarrach, Hans Lampe, Bernhard Zinngrebe

DIE GRÜNE REISE (1970)
LP Polydor 2371 128 (1971)

ECHO
2LP Polydor 2633 002 (1972)

AR 3
LP Zebra 2949 006 (1972)

AR IV
LP Zebra 2949 008 (1973)

AR 5 - AUTOVISION
LP Zebra 2949 016 (1974)

ERHOLUNG (4/8/73)

LP Brain 1068 (1975)
”