Agitation Free - S/D, C/D?

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This is the one krautrock band I have yet to really hear. Which ones are good if any?

― eman (eman), Saturday, 22 January 2005 23:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I've heard Malesch and Last. Both I found to be pretty boring. Malesch was especially disappointing given how much praise it tends to garner...just limp jamming.

― Joe (Joe), Saturday, 22 January 2005 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, Cope rates this band very highly, and I usually don't agree with his tastes so maybe I've skipped them with good reason... I have heard good things about the 2nd album and the live one (not sure what it's called).

― eman (eman), Sunday, 23 January 2005 00:02 (twenty-one years ago)

The live one is Last, though it could have as well been recorded in the studio (no big audience noise, etc.).

― Joe (Joe), Sunday, 23 January 2005 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Last does feature a side-long piece with loops, which was semi-interesting (a bit too sedate, though). They did that with a composer, forget who it was though...

― Joe (Joe), Sunday, 23 January 2005 00:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd say the 2nd one is the best, uh, just called Second I believe. There are some really beautiful moments on there, actually. That tune they have called "Leila" (no, not the Clapton thing) will get stuck in your head. But yeah, they can get pretty jammy. That's fine for me, I mean, I love the Dead. Definitely get the first or second record to see if you like them. I would avoid Last unless you find you like them: it's two extended side long tracks. Also Fragments is pretty missable. Even if you like them, as I do, that one kind of stinks. The playing just isn't very hot. The radio session that came out in the last few years, however, titled On the cliffs of the Rhine or something like that, is pretty good.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 23 January 2005 00:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Michael Hoenig solo CD's are amazing: Departure From A Northern Wasteland & his collab with M Gottsching called Early Water.

― New Age, Sunday, 23 January 2005 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

everyone's crazy. malesch is best (african/arabic influenced kraut hippie jamming), 2nd is 2nd.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Sunday, 23 January 2005 03:01 (twenty-one years ago)

"everyone's crazy. malesch is best (african/arabic influenced kraut hippie jamming), 2nd is 2nd."

-- el sabor de gene (yn...), January 23rd, 2005.

Listen to this man.

― Dave Segal (Da ve Segal), Sunday, 23 January 2005 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

three months pass...

There's a little snippet of Egyptian music near the beginning of Malesch (and yes, I know it was partly inspired by a visit to Egypt and so forth) and I already know the melody. I think it might be from an Oum Kalthoum song. Does anyone know if that's from a recording of a street band, or what? I can't identify the song yet, but I'm pretty certain I have it. It could also just be a bit of traditional Egyptian melody that I know from more than one source, but it doesn't sound like that. In fact, I'm thinking it's probably from an Abdel Wahab or Baligh Hamdi song for Oum Kalthoum, specifically (and they wouldn't have been able to avoid such songs if they visited in the late 60s/early 70s).

― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Sunday, 1 May 2005 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not really into the album. I think the Agitation Free snippet I have on tape must be from Second. Also, I noticed one point where the guitarist keeps playing a riff that I recognized and then I thought, "Hey wait a second, that's from 'Friday on My Mind!'" Maybe it came out as they were ostensibly allowing themselves to jam. (Reminds me of the poet Robert Duncan talking about how his automatic writing experiments would end up sounding embarrassingly like the script of the last Cocteau movie, or something like that.)

― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Sunday, 1 May 2005 21:17 (twenty-one years ago)

It could've been from a Warda song (and again, it could have just been a bit of traditional melody incorporated into such a song as an instrumental interlude).

― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Sunday, 1 May 2005 21:30 (twenty-one years ago)

― Amon (eman), Sunday, 1 May 2005 21:37 (twenty-one years ago)

four weeks pass...

"everyone's crazy. malesch is best (african/arabic influenced kraut hippie jamming), 2nd is 2nd."
-- el sabor de gene (yn...), January 23rd, 2005.

Listen to this man.

-- Dave Segal (djvein...), January 23rd, 2005.

I'm with these guys.

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Sunday, 29 May 2005 23:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I forgot I was supposed to be figuring out what that song is.

I went out thinking was going to be salsa dancing tonight, but guess what? The tent blew down! The tent over the club on Delaware Avenue. And so: no lesson, no band, no Latin music, and virtually no salseros in attendance. (They must have a phone tree, and I am out of the loop.) So I drank some but not enough to be truly drunk, so basically the whole thing was a waste.

― RS (Catalino) LaRue (RSLaRue), Monday, 30 May 2005 01:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think Malesch is very good at all.

― RS (Catalino) LaRue (RSLaRue), Monday, 30 May 2005 01:17 (twenty-one years ago)

two months pass...

Got it. That song snippet at the beginning of "Sahara City" is the same as a passage in Abdel Halim Hafez's "Mawoud" (written by Baligh Hamdi, the "Big Pimpin'" guy).

I just downloaded a copy of "Mawoud." I haven't hear it in a while and it's pretty good. Like just about everything else from that period of Egyptian popular music, it's a bit sprawling and uneven, but there are some great moments, and this piece hangs together better than some.

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 14 August 2005 22:12 (twenty years ago)

http://www.arabiatower.com/shop/images/MC38700.jpg

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 14 August 2005 22:14 (twenty years ago)

It could still be a fragment of folkloric music, but I don't think I've heard it in any recordings of that sort of thing.

There's also a Greek song that I think might be derived from part of "Mawoud," unless "Mawoud" stole from it.

"Mawoud" is very 60s sounding, psychedelic, with occasional very heavy Egyptian dance sections, and some catchy melodies.

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 14 August 2005 22:19 (twenty years ago)

second is total fucking godhead. easily the best.

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Sunday, 14 August 2005 22:24 (twenty years ago)

six months pass...

I don't think Malesch is very good at all.

-- RS (Catalino) LaRue (Al__sucar@go.com), May 29th, 2005 10:17 PM. (RSLaRue)

christ, get out of this thread already. half of it is you not even talking about Agitation Free ffs!

― SnakeShit ;] (eman), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 06:06 (twenty years ago)

let me second stormy's endorsement of at the cliffs of river rhine - if there's an afterlife where the fan of malesch can lie down with the fan of second, this would be the soundtrack. really nice synthburbles, too.

― baby, disco is fuck (yournullfame), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 06:30 (twenty years ago)

"Second" rules, ya'll are soft.

― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 15:21 (twenty years ago)

the first two are both great. that synthy squiggle bit on 2nd is USELESS, though.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 18:27 (twenty years ago)

"first communication" is the jam.

― snakeshit ;] (eman), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 19:05 (twenty years ago)

BORING.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 19:10 (twenty years ago)

Here's a couple of tracks from 'Malesch'

"Malesch"
http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0DUHO34ITWE0R2IU1T6D3T6XX4

"Sahara City" (the money shot is at 5'55")
http://s5.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2CMOJR2ZWTPB60VHCPRW1BAN18

― cnwb (cnwb), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 00:46 (twenty years ago)

i love agitation free!

― chaki (chaki), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 02:59 (twenty years ago)

me too! i listened to it on headphones while i worked out on the ellipticals today at the YMCA!

― killy (baby lenin pin), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 03:34 (twenty years ago)

BORING.

?? ;' (

― snakeshit ;] (eman), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 06:05 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHJ6zUXunqk&search=boredoms%20vision%20creation

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 2 July 2006 14:19 (nineteen years ago)

Agitation Free in Egypt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEFrr5u6f1E&search=agitation

― lurker #2421, inc. (lurker-2421), Sunday, 2 July 2006 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

RUCKSTURZ!!! I can't get enough of that track. The best bit of Malesch, easy. I do like the rest of the album, but on most of the tracks, it seems like just as they're about to TAKE OFF (a la RUCKSTURZ), they go back into Subliminal Frequencies style field recordings of dudes yabbering in Arabic, which is fine with me, but can't they TAKE OFF, first??

― gnarly sceptre, Wednesday, 1 August 2007 14:59 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

"first communication" sounds like what i always thought "dark star" would

― kamerad, Sunday, 6 December 2009 19:54 (sixteen years ago)

one year passes...

UK dates announced!

http://www.hmvtickets.com/events/4774

There's a new album too, wonder if this will be any good or more like the execrable Amon Duul II gig I saw once.

― ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: (Matt #2), Tuesday, 15 November 2011 21:27 (fourteen years ago)

ten months pass...

Picked up a CD copy of Last for two bucks today. Had heard the name checked before, but haven't heard a note. Figure I've blown more than $2 on a lot worse before.

― HAPPY BDAY TOOTS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 5 October 2012 19:20 (thirteen years ago)

Saw the Malesch reissue in the local shop.
I don't know...I'd rather have an lp of Second, I think.

― Trip Maker, Friday, 5 October 2012 19:23 (thirteen years ago)

one year passes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGWSILbP4S0

― めんどくさい (Matt #2), Sunday, 21 September 2014 23:12 (eleven years ago)

two years pass...

This came out last year and just came up in a thread elsewhere
https://www.discogs.com/Agitation-Free-Last-Fragments-Live-74/release/9406451

thought i@d look them up on the search engine here and see what had been said about them.
I only really know the 1st 2 lps. "nd one is really good at least, 1st is quite good too.

― Stevolende, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 15:53 (eight years ago)

i only have Malesch but i absolutely love it, no idea what people are moaning about upthread

― more polls about food and reactionary art (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 4 July 2017 15:57 (eight years ago)

^^^

― sleeve, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 15:59 (eight years ago)

in fact this revive made me put it on, listening now

― sleeve, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 16:00 (eight years ago)

two years pass...

on the cliffs of the rhine is killing me today, can't get enough. sloppily cosmic... whoever compared it to what they wanted 'dark star' to sound like is spot on

― global tetrahedron, Thursday, 5 March 2020 23:04 (six years ago)

three years pass...

At the Cliffs of the Rhine is the same as Live '74, correct?

Streamed about 2/3rds of the their 2023 album last night, it is... uh... not good. Granted I went into it with prime era Agitation Free in my head, but it was just not good at all.

― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 16:26 (two years ago)

one year passes...

"first communication" sounds like what i always thought "dark star" would

― kamerad, Sunday, 6 December 2009 19:54 (fifteen years ago)

Damn straight. I am listening to 2nd a lot lately. Wonderful album

― Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Tuesday, 4 March 2025 17:36 (one year ago)

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