V.A. - Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium Vol. 1 (1994)

Prae-Kraut is a term that was coined to describe the mid-60's music of Germany and other European countries like Austria and parts of Switzerland with natives talking in teutonic tongue, seperating from the upcoming Kraut Rock stamp that dominated by the turn of the century. Cultural roots rather than national borders define the subject of interest and even foreign bands, who spent most or all of their career here, get incorpora-ted now and then. UK-bands like The Shamrocks, The Governors or The Rackets were literally unknown back home, but integral parts of the German scene. And the US-Monks still say: "We are a German band!" to this very day.
The pandaemonium part of the monicker wasn't chosen without thought as well. A new generation tried to shake off the evil demons of the past and wanted to build a new society by doing everything exactly the other way around, while the new establishment usually was the bosses in disguise, who feared the spirit of freedom like the devil hates holy water. Demons, ghosts and zombies everywhere...

While the old still couldn't get over the trauma of having lost World War 2, many of the young despised their parents for not having prevented fascism and the resulting atrocities. This may explain why many of the songs are about quite unlikely and ambitious things like philosophy, medicine, warfare or homosexuality, written in a foreign language, while most of the english speaking garage bands still sang about lost love and juvenile lust.


Of course the Germans couldn't express what was on their mind in proper English, but their failures were glo-rious and the immaculate intentions of the early days still sound better than anything that followed. And that's what the Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium is all about. An archaeo-logical project and a tribute to the decade, when living in Germany still was exciting and adventurous. It isn't dedi-cated to the few well known names like The Lords, The Rattles or The Rainbows, but to the many total unknowns, who scratched together their last coins to get their record released on a tiny label, when the majors wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. (prae-kraut.de)

Note: Mercy is a US-band. 101 Strings are a US-studio group. Meta & The Bowling Boys are a German band, but the song was recorded in the 80's.

Side 1

1 Novak's Kapelle: Doing That Rhythm Thing
2 The Prophets: You Missed By A Mile
3 The Improved Sound LTD.: Leave This Lesbian World
4 The Dragons: Heart Transplantation
5 The Inner Space: Agilok And Blubbo
6 Mercy: Fireball
7 Malepartus II: Ich Glaub' Die Hole Mich Ab
8 Kaplan Flury: Jimi Hendrix

Side 2

1. The Petards: Tartarex
2. The Blackbirds: Space
3. Rene & The Ten Less Five: Ever
4. The Shaggys: Only An Hour
5. Ric & The Skyliners: Convicted
6. Dakotas: Don't Know The Reason
7. Dave Gordon & His Rebel Guys: Call Me
8. 101 Strings: Karma Sitar
9. Meta & The Bowling Boys: Und Ich

Download Part 1

Download Part 2