Taking Sides: Amon Duul v. Amon Duul II

I really love the idea of two bands picking the name Amon Duul simoultanaeously.

Amon Düül II is where the more, uh, conventionally skilled musicians went--much more a band than a commune. _Yeti_ is the acknowledged really good one; there was a decent greatest-hits on Cleopatra a couple of years ago. My favorite song by a wide margin is "Archangels Thunderbird," which sounds like it was made by Led Zep's crystal-meth- huffing cousin.

• Amon Duul I - initial band that did the aforementioned massive jam sessions culled into three LPs
• Amon Duul II - the more famous splinter group that is most commonly referred to
• Amon Duul (aka Amon Duul III or Amon Duul UK and even sometimes Amon Duul II) - probably the least liked of the three incarnations. 4 records and a compilation featuring Dave Anderson and Robert Calvert (Hawkwind). Barbara Manning used to cover one this incarnation's songs quite a few years ago.

http://www.rocksbackpages.com/features/bangs2/bangs.html

Terrible Prog-rock, Alex? You hurt me. You hurt me in my heart.

Man I am really bouncing weirdly through the Amon Duul II catalog lately. Always meant to check this band out, but they don't exactly have the easiest albums to come across when you aren't specifically dedicated to finding them. Anyway, I found Phallus Dei and Made in Germany reissues at a local store earlier this summer and started my exploration of their catalog. Listened to Germany first, which was weird, since it was pretty far off from what I'd read about the band. Some fantastic moments though. Phallus Dei blew my mind and made me really eager to hunt out more. The logical place to head next, from what I've gathered, would've been to more of those early discs. Instead I happened across Only Human and Pyragony X next, so I've been listening to the latter "pop" stuff lately. Which is fine, I actually dig a lot of those two albums (really loving the twisted disco on "Spaniards & Spacemen" as I type this). Anyway, I finally took the plunge tonight and celebrated my new job by ordering Yeti, Wolf City, and Tanz Der Lemminge from aQ just now. Cannot wait to dig through these seemingly essential albums.

Have fun, they are a great band. Vive Le Trance is cool, too.

Was always told not to stray too far away from the 1st 3 records by ADII too. Should probably get _Wolf City_ at some point though, & maybe _Live In London_.

"Wolf City" is considered their best record by lots of their fans!

Yeah, "Made In Germany" is an odd place to start, but I'm the odd person who claims that as their most-played ADII album.

Listening to Only Human again right now, and it feels like the back-to-back "Spaniards & Spacemen" and "Kismet" is enough to prove that there are brilliant moments to be found deeper into their career.

Pretty much everything through Wolf City is essential. I'm still exploring the later stuff... slowly.....

Really like Disaster from AD I (outtakes and jams, I know) but Phallus Dei, Yeti, Tanz der Lemminge, and Wolf City are all super so I gotta go with AD II.

The later albums are dominated by the new guys, Zauner & Ebert, which is a bit disappointing because they seem to want to turn the band into, i don't know, Wings or Pilot or 10cc... yet the good tracks on those albums are actually really good! Not enough of them though.

And after those, Paradieswärts Düül is a good gateway into AD1

The later albums are dominated by the new guys, Zauner & Ebert, which is a bit disappointing because they seem to want to turn the band into, i don't know, Wings or Pilot or 10cc...

Well spotted me, 'cos I've just discovered that "Almost Alive" was mixed at 10cc's Strawberry Studios!

Would love to see a better quality copy of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgA-uic8gJw

Bravo indeed!

https://lastfm.freetls.fastly.net/i/u/770x0/a6e56e3e9b3c1286636228eb97277dd1.jpg

Chris Karrer sadly passed away.

Oh no. RIP Chris. Loved his guitar playing/ violin/ sax... his vocals not do much.

... not so much

FB post on the passing

https://www.facebook.com/groups/10213321397/posts/10159782465886398/

He wasn't much good at singing in tune, but there's something about his tone, this abrasion in his throat, that spills scorn over something like "Syntelman's March of the Roaring Seventies".

John Weinzierl, Peter Leopold, Lothar Meid and now Chris Karrer are all dead :(

By the way, stumbled across this rare interview with Ulrich Leopold of Amon Düül.

https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2023/07/amon-duul-interview-ulrich-leopold.html

I don't see anything online saying that John Weinzierl died.

Well, that's some good news then!

Apparently COVID did for Chris Karrer.

RIP. He wrote and sang “Mr. Kraut’s Jinx,” my (and probably no one else’s) alltime favorite Amon Duul track.

I haven't heard Made in Germany, but that song is the top of the list today in the iTunes Store when searching the band name.

Metropolis is on that album. One of my fave songs by them.

Lot of good stuff on that album.

... also a lot of not so good stuff too tbh

Yeah, that one has some really high highs and some really low lows.

Finally picked up a CD copy of Live in London last week, really the other big hole in my collection I've wanted to fill. Have everything up through Vortex, except Almost Alive, but I haven't really tried hard to find that one given its rep.

What else in their catalogue sounds like "I Want the Sun to Shine," one of the bonus tracks on Phallus Dei? Internet claims it was eighties or nineties, or from a live video from 1968, which seems unlikely.

It is suggested here and here that that track, with others, was recorded circa 2006, for release as bonus tracks on reissues. Also:

My advice on figuring out AD II bonus tracks is to just give up.

"I Want the Sun to Shine" is very cool. Never heard that before as I have an earlier reissue with different but similarly confusing bonus tracks.

thanks!