Amon Düül II - 1975 - Made In Germany

Amon Düül II
1975
Made In Germany

01. Overture (5:12)
02. Wir Wollen (1:32)
03. Wilhelm Wilhelm (3:10)
04. SM II Peng (2:16)
05. Elevators Meets Whispering (1:26)
06. Metropolis (3:37)
07. Ludwig (2:32)
08. The King`s Chocolate Waltz (2:28)
09. Blue Grotto (3:33)
10. Mr. Kraut Jinx (8:44)
11. Wide Angle (4:06)
12. Three-Eyed Overdrive (1:17)
13. Emigrant Song (3:21)
14. Loosey Girls (5:13)
15. Top of the Mud (3:45)
16. Dreams (4:08)
17. Gala Gnome (3:52)
18. 5.5.55 (1:39)
19. La Krautoma (6:08)
20. Excessive Spray (1:41)


- Robby Heibl / bass, violin, acoustic & electric guitars, vocals
- Chris Karrer / guitar, violin, banjo, vocals
- Renate Knaup / vocals
- Peter Leopold / drums, percussion
- Falk U. Rogner / organ, synthesizers
- Nando Tischer / acoustic & electric guitars, vocals
- John Weinzierl / acoustic & electric guitars

+ Thor Baldursson / keyboards
- Heinz Becker / percussion, tympani, gong
- Lee Harper / trumpet, brass section
- Bobby Jones / saxophone solo (2/4)
- Jürgen S. Korduletsch / backing vocals
- Helmut Sonnleitner / first violin

The group continue their lurch toward the mainstream with an abrupt left turn into conceptual territory. Surprisingly, it turns out to be their most vital album since WOLF CITY.
A curious mix of straight rock with a conceptual bent, cabaret-styled numbers ("Blue Grotto"), folk-rock and curious electronic bagatelles (courtesy Falk Rogner and producer Jürgen Korduletsch) acting as the sonic glue holding it all together. I get the feeling that most of this music was instigated by the mysterious Nando Tischer, who sang lead on much of this album, and seemed to fall off the face of the Earth after its release.
Apart from Chris Karrer's lone spotlight piece, the futuristic eight-minute "Mr. Kraut's Jinx", there's little here that resembles the ADII of old. Much of it's a very tongue-in-cheek overview of German history-just check out the "interview" that precedes "La Krautoma", itself a cheeky version of an Argentine tango ("La Paloma") that enjoyed huge popularity in 1950's Germany.
Renate comes off looking best here, with numerous spotlight pieces ("Metropolis", "Blue Grotto", the folkish "Wide Angle"). It would be her last album with the band for many years.