Amon Düül
Paradieswärts Düül

Stories known to all... or almost...

Year 1967, guitarist Chris Karrer, drummer Peter Leopold, bassist Ulrich Leopold, and guitarist/singer Rainer Bauer founded a hippie commune in a farm in Herrsching, in the Bavarian region of the Federal Republic of Germany. Four others join, six people in total among men and women, plus two infants, the latter not exactly musicians but individuals interested in experimenting with a new social model. The commune keeps expanding with the entrance of political activists, writers, artists, philosophers, drug users, filmmakers, and other musicians. After a year, the inevitable eviction from the illegally occupied farm led to the first schism of the Amon Düül Commune, the nomadic band of gypsies first moved to Austria and then to an apartment in Munich, meanwhile, the members dispersed. In September 1968 at the International Song Festival of Essen instead of the enormous musical tribe, "only" eight elements and a child appeared, meanwhile, Amon Düül 2 was being born.

But let's stay with the Amon Düül Commune and forget for once the more successful (in terms of record sales and financially speaking) formation of the second kin.

Peter Meisel, a well-known producer for the major labels Basf and Metronome, signed seven members living in the Munich apartment for a studio session in Berlin. The result was the album "Psychedelic Underground" (1969) consisting of late "psychedelia" based on esoteric acid free rock. Like it or not, the album enjoyed unexpected commercial success at the time, encouraging Meisel not to discard the leftover material from the Berlin sessions. A few months later, the tapes were handed over to Hans-Ulrich Weigel, who, after a careful collage work, completed the assembly of the album "Collapsing Singvögel Rückwärts & Co." (1969).

In sharp contradiction to the demonic acid outbursts of "Psychedelic Underground", and also in contradiction to the avant-garde post-processing of tapes discarded from the first album, which went on to form "Collapsing", stands the third album of the commune, now reduced to a collective of five musicians. "Paradieswärts Düül" (1970) was recorded in November 1970, this time in a Munich studio, produced by protest musician Julius Schittenhelm, it would be the ninth LP release by the label Ohr. Completely different from the previous two releases, this album puts aside the black mass-like rituals to focus on a purely acoustic rock, psychedelic in intent, pastoral in result. Assisting the five was (although uncredited) guitarist John Weinzierl, already with Amon Düül 2 starting from "Phallus Dei" (1969). The creators of this latest publication are, therefore, what remains of the Amon Düül Commune: guitarist Klaus Esser, bassist Ulrich Leopold, guitarist Rainer Bauer, singer Ella Bauer (alias Elenora Romana), and percussionist Helge Filanda, occasionally aided in ethnic instrumentation (flutes, bongos, etc.) by Hansi Fischer from Xhol Caravan.

The first side of the vinyl consists of a suite about 17 minutes long, "Love is Peace", a nearly folk-like music, extremely relaxing and with a mystical ascent, the singing in English language almost mantra-like repeats the quest for a new world, the world of love where peace reigns. The development is not linear and soon the guitars layer, the riffs expand enormously, the sound takes flight towards vaguely cosmic shores. It all settles into an ancestral lullaby where there is room for graceful guitar improvisations on a drum carpet with the voice turning into a prayer towards unspecified deities. On the second side of the vinyl, two shorter tracks: "Snow Your Thurst Sun Your Open Mouth", a distinctly acidic trip thanks to the fuzz guitar, all with a vaguely "West Coast" flavor, and "Paramechanische Welt", a singsong ballad that begins in the manner of Quintessence to proceed in rapid transcendental descent, almost mantra-like, with many points in common with the "raga-rock" of the Seventh Sons. Other influences from the '60s American "psychedelic rock" scene are also notable, as the album can be associated with more or less mysterious releases, such as the only album by All That The Name Implies, a commune of American musicians active in the music field between 1967 and 1969, with more than a few points in common with late-hour Amon Düül.

Although thus considered by critics as the best micro-groove offering from the Bavarian formation, "Paradieswärts Düül" too often reflects something already known; undoubtedly an interesting album, though not entirely original stylistically. Personally, I continue to prefer (and recommend listening to) all the material from the long Berlin free rock session of 1969, hence "Psychedelic Underground", "Collapsing", "Disaster", and "Experimente", the last two released when the Amon Düül Commune had long since dissolved along with that idyllic utopian dream of changing oneself before even the world... It is nothing less than the eternal clash between being and having, between irreplaceable ideals and money/success... all well fits the attentive analysis of the artistic journey of the two musical realities represented by "Amon Düül Commune" and "Amon Düül 2 international rock formation". Although John Weinzierl continues to claim that Amon Düül 1 never existed, that it was a big misunderstanding, it will suffice to listen to "Paradieswärts Düül" and any publication of Amon Düül 2 to refute what one of the same involved individuals has been trying to make us believe for years. The Amon Düül Commune existed indeed, even if it miserably failed in its socio-communal intents.