Various Artists

Artistically, politically and socially, Germany, at the end of the sixties, was a country riven by factions and divisions.
A land of communes, anarchists and straights, all of whom held the others in absolute contempt.
The Rock, Psych, Electro and communal bands were among the most inventive and chaotic in Europe and, in many cases, interacted with each other to produce music that was utterly original, like nothing being produced in any of the main markets (UK, USA etc).

This compilation includes many of the more familiar names and also and great number of rarely heard. All in all, a collection of strange, Avant Garde, complicated but deeply satisfying sounds.

One of the joys of this compilation is that there is no real ‘theme’. The variety of bands, and their utterly original take on music, means that you are constantly in a state of unease – in a good way – not sure what will be around the next corner or hidden in the shadows.

The commonly discussed bands – Tangerine Dream, Faust, Guru Guru, Popol Vuh, Klaus Schulze, Edgar Froese – are joined by the likes of Brainticket, Eloy, LA Dusseldorf, Os Mundi, Hoelderlin and stacks more.
Unfortunately others such as Can, Kraftwerk, Amon Duul are conspicuous by their absence but there is enough here to show the incredible depth of the movement.

If you like swathes of synthesisers or edgy and dischordant or naïve banging and clattering, there is something here along with some quite eerie sounds and virtual heavy metal riffage.

Not the perfect Krautrock statement but 4 CDs of fascinating music.