Search - Various Artists :: Krautrock Archive 1

A Real Diamond in the Rough

Nik Zero | 09/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Some time ago, I met a girl whose most noticeable feature was her seeming inability to dress herself properly. Most of her clothing was oversized and ill-fitting for her form, and appeared to have been purchased at a second-hand shop. Her hair wasn't styled so much as left to dry after a shower, and she never wore makeup or anything that might call attention to her facial features.



This girl wasn't really considered attractive. In fact, some people assumed that she was ugly based on a verbal description alone. A few friends of mine even thought she might be slightly crazy based on a few things they'd allegedly witnessed (I wasn't around at the time). Naturally, curiosity got the best of me, and I asked her out on a date.



After spending just a little bit of time with this young lady, I quickly found out that she was gorgeous, I just had to look closely to see it. Peering past the shabby clothing and apparent plain-ness, I noticed a thousand beautiful details: her stormy gray eyes; her porcelain-white, smooth skin; her full lips that were as soft as rose petals. Yeah, this girl was Something, and no one ever noticed because she didn't know how to present herself.



Krautrock Archive, Vol. 1 reminds me of that girl. This is not to say that the music contained herein takes me back to the time I spent with the lady in question-- what I mean is that the discerning listener ought not let the awful packaging that surrounds this album serve as a deterrant to listening to it.



Speaking frankly as a fan of many a Krautrock band, this disc has several relatively obscure gems on it. The opening track, "Orion Awakes" by Golem, is a 7 and-a-half minute ambient instrumental opus that serves as a perfect introduction to the pieces that follow. Track 3, Temple's "Black Light," makes me wonder how many members of Radiohead own this disc, while the Astral Army's "Interstellar Shortwave" would be the ultimate sports-arena jock jam in a Fair and Perfect universe.



I implore you: don't hesitate. Buy this album. And while you're at it, take that girl you've been wondering about on a date. Both will be worthwhile experiences, and then you'll have this record to console you once she's done with you."

Ultra obscure Krautrock for Yanks

W. T. Hoffman | Pennsylvania, United States | 05/31/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I enjoy this CD quite a bit. There's a little bit of everything. But, don't come here looking for examples of the great names in the KRAUTROCK genre. Instead, you have songs by bands, who only printed out 500 copies of their LPs, when they came out. At best, most of these bands were "regionally" successful, if that. Also, I don't believe a single one of these bands ever recorded more than one LP. Nevertheless, it functions of something like a KRAUTROCK NUGGETS. The highlite of the CD is the 17+ minute miasmic psychedelia by "Galactic Explorers". If you are looking for a good KRAUTROCK sampler, go for the XYZ 2CD product names "THE WORLD OF KRAUTROCK". You'll at least get aquainted with names that have long recording histories, and are known in Germany. But if you love the Obscure, and something like garage psychedelia with sauerkraut and pretzels, you came to the right place."

Various Artists - The Krautrock Archive,Volume 1(Caroline)

Mike Reed | USA | 08/16/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Couldn't believe THIS title was even still available as it's a top choice collection of rare,I mean...sub-underground killer tracks by some of the most obscure krautrock bands ever.What exactly is krautrock?One may ask.Good question.Krautrock is,like German space rock or what many might call progressive.Tangerine Dream and Can are probably the best examples that I can think of that are known or at LEAST heard of by the average music fan.The tracks here that I couldn't get enough of are Golem with "Orion Awakes",Temple,with two cuts,"Leaves Are Falling" and "Black Light"(this sounds awful lot like some of the music in the movie 'Midnight Express') and the eighteen-minute Galactic Explorers epic "Lunarscape".Most of these recordings have been put out by a UK label,Psi-Fi.Well worth hunting down a copy.Plus there's also a volume 2 and 3 available."