Ask Dr. Stoopid - "Mommy, What's a Krautrock?"

 I'm trying to keep myself amused during my Co-vid confinement,and also combat a spell of apathy about blogging.....so......having watched three and a half seasons of "Ren and Stimpy"(the greatest TV show ever made!?),my mind is sufficiently out-there/damaged to ask Dr. Stoopid what Krautrock really is shall we?

Dr. Stoopid says:

"Basically, Krautrock was a low grade version of 'Prog Rock', but for people who couldn't play musical instruments.....and specifically for anyone who lived in West Germany who couldn't play a musical instrument;even more specifically,anyone who lived in West Germany who couldn't play a musical instrument between 1969 and 1975.

The main Krautrockers,who actually 'Rocked',and these fellows were in a minority, were Ash Ra Tempel,Amon Düül II.....but NOT Amon Düül I,who were psychedelic hippy primitivists......and Guru Guru. These chaps were the rock element of it all,preferring Jimi Hendrix-style freak outs to wanting to be Pink Floyd at the UFO in 1967. Of course, no real musical talent is needed to play an impression of Jimi Hendrix,who was an innovator on the six strings rather than a fantastic technician.

The large majority of German hippies wanted to be Pink Floyd,who weren't too hot on the musician front themselves. The Syd Barratt Live era from 1966 to 68 was a huge inspiration on the 'Freak Out' front,where the boundaries of Rock traditionalism were completely broken down into free-form freak rock. Then the next era of Pink Floyd,post Syd, was even more influential on the nascent Kraut Rockers.They used syths,and floaty effects.The Space Rock era Floyd.

Being Outsiders, the Krautrockers were, by default, given free reign artistically,because they thought nobody beyond our mates are gonna be interested in this shit? Surely? Never mind buy the records?

How wrong were they?

They didn't count on the endless ingenuity of 'The Record Collector' to create a market to inflate the prices,creedence and obcurity of any second rate genre to boost their kudos in this musical version of Trainspotting.In this world, Obscurity and rarity ruled over musical excellence or innovation. The same thing happened to Soul music in the cess-pits of north western England in the seventies with 'Northern Soul'.....which was really the 'Crap Soul' that nobody bought.These things were rare for a reason,and for the vast majority of Krautrock it was the same.

Naturally there was some genuinely great and innovative music to be dug up, like Neu!,Can,Cluster and,maybe, Faust,but, com'on,most were poor facsimiles of Anglo-prog.There was even a Krautrock band who wasn't even German; the Canterbury style bunch of Brits called Nektar,who incidentally could actually play their instruments.

The best stuff to come out of the Krautrock era was the electronic stuff,which should really be referred to, not as rock,but Das Kosmiche Musik, or, space rock with out the rock bit.Again this didn't require any great musical expertise,but ownership of a vast bank of modular synthesisers, and a couple of Terry Riley LP's.We're talking Popol Vuh, Cluster,and Tangerine Dream here fella's.....and it is only Fella's who listen to this stuff.The ladies are less inclined to listen to anything that may enhance their stature in the tribe,and go for mostly stuff they actually like.

It's debatable whether Tangerine Dream should actually be associated with the rest of Krautrock/Kosmiche musik,as they seemed to exist apart from all that,and would have made the charts in the UK no matter what. As for Kraftwerk,they binned off Krautrock altogether to nobley try and invent some futuristic Pop that also charted in the UK. CAN also existed in that hinterland of accessibility that overlapped Roxy Music territory minus the songs.

For me, there was only one Kraut act that sounded like nothing else that went before,and that was ,of course, Neu!.This was one of those 'What The Fuck Was That' moments that are all too rare in the rock'n'roll era.

Doesn't that drummer play the same pattern on all of the tracks?...er...Yes. Where were the fills,the paradiddles,the 7/5 time signatures? This was NOT Prog!

Probably the greatest influence Krautrock had was not the music, it was the inclusivity of the musicianship.Wait a minute I can play Bass like Holgar Czukay,play drums like Klaus Dinger,and guitar like that bloke from Guru Guru, said the impressionable youth of 1973,having just pilfered the 'European Rock' section of the local record store.

The Euro Rock section was still there in 1978 when i first bought into the Krautrock legend,after endlessly hearing my Post-Punk hero's name-dropping CAN and Neu.Sadly "Tago-Mago" wasn't there, so I got the terrible "Soon Over Babaluma",which was, let's face it...Shit.Although,there will certainly be comments alluding to the opposite. Luckily I fell upon an original pressing of "Neu 1",on Brain Records, in a subterranean hippy record store in Leicester called "The Very Bazaar",from which i spent most of my dole money in in the early eighties. The Euro-Rock section was in Revolver in Leicester market place,which was renouned for its genre spanning sections;the other notorious section in Revolver was the "New Wave" section,where you could find anything from The Drones to The Door and The Window residing there.

When David Bowie was looking for Idea's, as he was inclined to do,often mistaking 'looking' for 'Stealing',he was pointed in the direction of The Motorik section(as in the Neu/Motorik Beat) of the Krautrock genre by fellow 'Ideas' harvester,and fellow non-musician,Brian Eno,or 'Eno', as his mother calls him (Eno,yer dinner's ready!).So...er... Eno,with sidekicks Bowie and Pop (iggy),would hang-out with Harmonia,Cluster,Conny Plank,and the Dingers casually usurping their style for a series of rather unremarkable albums to enhance Bowies legend,including the terminally awful "The Idiot" by Iggy Pop...who wants us to know he,or David's read some Dostoevsky.Luckily,as no-one had heard of Neu or Harmonia in the Anglo-Saxon arena,or even in Germany for that matter;this watered down Motorik influenced Kosmiche Pop was attributed to the Great David,who to his credit would often drop these groups names subtly,to the deaf ears of the Anglo-American public.

Most of it is,like every other genre,over-rated and dross, valued for its obscurity over content. Leave a copy of the admittedly rather good,"Golem" by Sand on your coffee table,and you'll score many obscurity points with the envious eyes that your geek friend Eamonn would cast upon it...That's the Eamonn who changed his name to Aemonn Düül in tribute to his favourite Band.Then of course, there was his quieter namesake, Aemonn Düül Too,who was Aemonn Düül One's shadow world. If these people don't exist there is a need to invent them.

So to close this contentious article on German musik at the start of the seventies,its a Geek tradition to have a Top Five list innit?

1. Neu - "Neu!"

2. CAN - "Ege Bamyasi"

3. Cluster - "Zukerzeit"

4. Harmonia - "Musik Von Harmonia"

5. Guru Guru - "UFO"

All pretty obvious selections,but Obscurity in itself is not a guide izzit?

I assume you've all got these albums? Si I'll provide a download of Sand's "Golem" album......which you've probably all got as well,but its more obscure than my Top Five,and is therefore more 'Krautrock as a result.

Epilogue:

Ok, Yeah Jaki Liebzeit was an incredible drummer,and NO, Einsturzende Neubauten was not a Krautrock band,even if they did steal banging metal junk and using engines from Faust.That's immitation not innovation.And no Ash Ra (Tempel) didn't invent Trance."

Sand  ‎– "Golem" (1974)

Tracklist:

1.Helicopter 13:40
2.The Old Loggerhead 8:20
3.May Rain 4:30
4.On The Corner 4:30
5.Sarah (10:40)

DOWNLOAD some sand HERE!

Portsmouth Sinfonia ‎– "Hallelujah - The Portsmouth Sinfonia at the Royal Albert Hall" (Transatlantic Records ‎– TRA 285) 1974

 "Without the arts and sciences,and without music especially,life would be a dreadful mistake.Music begets happiness,and music begets peace;and its through peace that we arrive at the truth and goodness which makes life meaningful and unveils its highest values." (Michael Bond 1974)

I couldn't have put it better myself, maybe missing a few expletives, but essentially, therein, lies the meaning of life.
I've mentioned the sheer Joy this music can invoke in even the most miserable of old sods,and thats some kind of inexplicable magick, is it not?(Check out the first audience-less album Here!)
I have sat through an hour or so of  some unremembered classical renditions surrounded by a sparse audience of the self-elected elite,in their best bib and tucker, frowning at the musicians,while i was stifling yawns. For one it wasn't fucking loud enough,and as far as i could see they were just playing the notes,which is only 10% of any music.No Magick.......(yeah I know....there are classical musicians who do have the 'magick',but not where i live there ain't!)
The main theme of this project was to make this music 'inclusive' rather than exclusive,for everyone rather than just the 'Elite'.A more popularist,less uptight, version of assasinated avant-garde composer Cornelius Cardew's  'Scratch Constitution', for musicians and non-musicians alike, which was basically a recipe for controlled anarchy, written by Cardew and published in the Musical Times in June 1969. Its aim was to bring music out of the ivory tower and to involve large numbers of untrained people in making music.Very similar to the Sinfonia and the effect Punk Rock had on Rock and Pop music.
When Wagner's Ring is being performed, there's never enough laughter from the audience.Lets be honest, most of Wagners work is as patently ridiculous as any comedy music,however deadpan it is.If there were laughter or sniggering of any sort, the perp's would be first the victim of agressive 'Shushing", (there's even an audible 'Shhhhhhh!' from an audience member on this recording?), and futher inflagrations would result in their expulsion on the end of a door operatives shiny jackboot.
Never forget there were classical orchestra's at all the Operation Reinhard camps and in every Ghetto under arch-wagner uberfans, the Nazi's.If there was a Treblinka Sinfonia, I have mass grave doubts they would have been allowed to finish the first section of 'Ride of the Valkyries' before they were bundled into the nearest poison gas facility......theoretically anyway,as the jury is now officially out as to whether there were any gas chambers at all,or even a camp at Treblinka......but,if there was,please let there have been an equivalent to the Portsmouth Sinfonia sheparding the victims joyfully to meet the choir invisible;and may the Choir Invisible be somewhere near approaching the skill levels of the Portsmouth Sinfonia Choir doing Handel's Messiah. What a way to enter heaven!? Maybe the prospect of eternal paradise isn't so boring after all?
I'd love to hear The Portsmouth Sinfonia do a version of "The Sinking Of The Titanic" by the man who started all this madness, Mr Gavin Bryars. I can just imagine the doomed proles in steerage being consumed by the icy black waters, laughing hysterically as the Titanic Sinfonia played an atonal version of 'Nearer my Lord to Thee' as they joyfully gulped down their last breath.
Apparently Drowning causes a feeling of euphoria as your brain shuts down.We just need something for that transition period when one is inhaling the brine.......we now have the answer.

Music is Joy,and Joy is life and life, can be, forever?
The eternal NOW!

Tracklist:

1.Mr. Michael Bond's Address 1:05
2.From The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a - March 1:57
3.From The Karelia Suite, Op.11 - Intermezzo 3:54
4.Marche Militaire In D Major 5:33
5.Piano Concerto No. 1 In B♭ Minor, Op. 23 10:38
6.Overture 1812 10:28
7.William Tell Overture 2:21
8.From The Messiah, Pt. 2 - Hallelujah Chorus 6:02

DOWNLOAD the antidote to being a miserable bastard HERE!

Portsmouth Sinfonia ‎– "Portsmouth Sinfonia Plays The Popular Classics" (Transatlantic Records ‎– TRA 275) 1973

Most of the Obscure Records mob could be found on this album by
the self-proclaimed "world's worst orchestra",there were in fact many much worse,or few better,The Portsmouth Sinfonia.Which was founded by Gavin Bryars of "Jesus' Blood" fame, in 1970, when he was lecturing at the Portsmouth School of Art....hence the Portsmouth bit.
Bryars wanted to engage the masses,thats 'us' by the way, with classical music,largely thought previously to be fucking boring by the target audience, and sought a way to liberate the form from the pomposity of its largely stuck-up Toff heavy audience. His idea was to form an orchestra of the 'people'....er that's still us by the way,.....I don't feel patronised, do you?.... Anyone could join, regardless of skill,even you!?
The orchestra comprised of known musicians,which included most of the UK avant-garde crew,as well as Brian Eno (clarinet), playing instruments they had no previous knowledge of. Virtuoso players and ordinary-ish folk who had never played an instrument in their lives,played side by side.The music would be played by ear so no sight-reading skills were therefore required. The virtuoso players kept everything vaguely within the realms of what might be called a tune, with the other players reaching for (and missing) notes nearby. The result was a fascinating atonal mess, a noise which was considered profound by several of Bryars classical contemporaries.

They sound not unlike a school orchestra,hiting that mysterious tone that compells one to laugh uncontrollably no matter how many times you hear it. I was once a witness to my nephew's school orchestra,he was one of the violinists,and as soon as the first few notes rebounded off the walls like Freddie Kruger's fingers sliding down a blackboard, me and my Girlfriend had unstoppable hysterics.The proud parents that surrounded us displayed a mixture of disgust,awkward acceptance,and slight annoyance....i just couldn't stop! Amid the giggling i managed to explain the joy i was feeling as tears streamed down my face,and that it was nothing to do with the awfulness of the playing.It was the sheer charm and innocence of it all.....it was JOY that we were expressing.....JOY...understand?

Although this project had an interesting central concept,it quickly caught the public's attention as strictly a comedy turn.

As the personel included most of The Scratch Orchestra,and AMM,as well as Eno and Steve Beresford among others, this certainly had plenty of serious experimental musicians involved.

Somehow, I can't imagine the equivalent happening in the contemporary classical/minimalist scene in the United States.In the UK one cannot be seen,or heard, to be taking oneself too seriously,and always have the obligation to make fun of ourselves.....even the Avant-Garde ones.

The Bonus track, "Classical Muddley" is a parody of those 'Hooked on Classics' records which also tried to introduce 'the Classics', to the great unwashed proletariat by placing a disco beat behind a mix of popular classical works. Us factory fodder types were obviously too thick to appreciate the finer things in life without a bit of dumbing down.

The results of this experiment led to the Portsmouth Sinfonia's records being pitched at the comedy market which earned them a cult following, enough for them to be selling out the Royal Albert Hall by 1974!?

Tracklist:

1.From Peer Gynt Suite No. 1:"Morning" 3:23
2.From Peer Gynt Suite No. 1:"In The Hall Of The Mountain King" 3:00
3.From The Nutcracker Suite:"Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy" 2:18

4.From The Nutcracker Suite:"Waltz Of The Flowers" 4:05
5.Fifth Symphony In C Minor, Op. 67 6:18
6.William Tell Overture 2:00
7."Also Sprach Zarathustra" Op. 31 (Excerpt) 2:06
8.Blue Danube Waltz Op. 314 4:36
9."Air" From Suite No. 3 In D Major 4:37
10."Farandole" From L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2 4:05
11."Jupiter" From The Planets, Op. 32 (Excerpt) 4:28

Bonus Track:

12. "Classical Muddley" 3:19

DOWNLOAD some avant-comedy HERE!

John White / Gavin Bryars ‎– "Machine Music" (Obscure ‎– OBS 8) 1978

John White was in the Scratch Orchestra as far as i'm aware,but apart from that this was his obscure moment in the murky moonlight. In my local cheapo shop there's a nasty brand of aftershave called "Murky Moon",and if it was ever advertised on TV the perfect soundtrack to the drunkards aroma of choice would be John White's eerie "Drinking And Hooting Machine",played out on a bunch of empty beer bottles.Whether the beer was snaffled by our Avant-Garde heroes is another unanswered question .I'd like to think that, yes, is the answer.You can't get more avant-Garde or as inspired as a drunk artist.Even as I type i have a beer in hand to accompany my beret and sandels to complete my avant-gardist cred.
The rest of the tracks don't live up to the bottle blowin'one which would probably be the avant version of 'the Single' from the album?
There's not much actual machine music involved which is a relief,as the modern day yoof (sic) listen to nothing but 'machine music',as slowly we are replaced by thinking 'feeling' robotics.No robots on this,just greats that will never be replaced like Fred Frith, Derek Bailey and Brian Eno;who all play guitars on the Gavin Bryars side. A tune which also appears, bizzarely on Bailey's first solo guitar album from 1971.
Oh Yeah.....the minimalist bit (yawn) is track two,which is a Steve Reich-a-like piano number....very nice,but this is a better album than any of Steve's because its less up its own fucking arse!?

Tracklist:

A1 –John White Autumn Countdown Machine
A2 –John White Son Of Gothic Chord
A3 –John White Jew's Harp Machine
A4 –John White Drinking And Hooting Machine

B –Gavin Bryars The Squirrel And The Ricketty Racketty Bridge

DOWNLOAD from this music machine HERE!

Gavin Bryars ‎– "The Sinking Of The Titanic" (Obscure ‎– obscure no.1) 1975

On the last post i suggested that you should play this simultaneously with Phill Niblocks 'A Third Trombone'...but to save you the bother i've mixed them together HERE for you.....don't say I never do anything for you!
Well the album is a classic of modern minimalist composition,on Eno's faultless Obscure label from 1975. I suppose this gets dumped in with the Ambient lot because of the Eno connection,which is not entirely unfair,but it does move minimalism away from the in-crowd of the manhatten avant-garde and introduce late 20th century neo-classical composition to the pop audience,thanks to  Brian Eno's ability to straddle both.......how's that for sentence construction?
The second side is probably more well known than the 'Titanic' side, mainly because of that re-recording Gavin did with Jesus Blood' fan Tom Waits, who insisted on singing along with the tape loop of the now long dead Tramp,and subsequently ruining it.
This is the definitive recording, featuring Michael Nyman and the late great Derek Bailey!
The loop for "Jesus' Blood" was copied in the music department of Leicester Polytechnic (now called after 13th century Jew-Hater Simon De Montfort,who banned jews from Leicester for eternity before he got killed in France and had his severed genetils stuffed into his big mouth,so naturally they called it De Montfort University!!!???);just across the road,in 1975, was an 11 year old Zchivago at Gateway Grammer school,most likely in the Metal Sculpture dept,where i learned how to make the products from which i still make a meagre living(no I don't sell meagres!).
Allegedly Bryars left the room to get a coffee while the tape loop of the singing tramp was being copied.On his return he found the students in the room subdued and some were even quietly weeping in the corner.This was the moment he thought that he might be onto something!.....in fact both of these tunes have the ability to turn even the uppest of persons into a well of melancholy within twnty five minutes of either side.
The "Titanic" side is the greatest recreation of a sinking ship,and or, Tragedy, that has ever been created in the medium of music.It involves a repeated section from the last tune the band on the Titanic allegedly played,"Nearer my lord to thee".Played at a snails pace above the droning strings of the double bass,it slowly disappears into the murky strings of the 'Cockpit Ensemble' as this tragic vessel slips beneath the waves and fades away with the music..all interspersed with dialogue samples from Titanic survivours......Hmmmm didn't Steve Reich do that over a decade later for "Different Trains"?
Plagarism aside,I'm fighting back the tears here!.....I can't go on.....boo-hoo-hooooo.


Tracklist:

A The Sinking Of The Titanic (24:26)

B Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (25:57)

This ship's-a-going DOWNLOAD HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "From Brussels With Love" (Les Disques Du Crépuscule ‎– TWI 007) 1980

They say, 'You either love Brussels or Hate them', like marmite.
They are, of course, referring to the noble sprout rather than the capital of the  European Union.
Its a 50/50 split, not unlike the famous 'will of the British public', when it comes to loving or hating the European Union.A rather nietzchien statement from same pitiful twerps who formed the German national socialist workers party in the 1920's.
The stats on this compilation on Ian Curtis' ex-girlfriend Annik Honoré's(RIP) 'Disques du Crepescule' label, should be rather more clean cut than Brexit.
Showcasing the close ties between Brussels and with Factory records in Britain. Its a mixture of stuff from both labels and a smattering of highbrow artists from Eno's Obscure label.
As this post marks the end of our trip in the Belgian underground, and its flavour is distinctly British, it gives one the opportunity to segue smoothly into some UK synth, that was obvious highly influential to the Belgian scene and beyond. It wasn't just Kraftwerk and Suicide that shaped the near future, infact one of these influetial figures is on this tape,personified in John Foxx.Then of course we have Eno.....so godlike that we only refer to him reverentially by a single word......E Knows y'know, Eno does.
As for Brussels, the vegetable, I love them.....but Bollocks to Brexit.And if you support Brexit then Bollocks to you!
Any right wing post-truth propaganda in the comments section will be no-platformed and deleted, so don't fucking bother.

DOWNLOAD some seasonal vegetables HERE!

Harmonia & Eno (Harmonia 76) - "Tracks and Traces" (1976/1997)

Most so-called 'Krautrock' was utter rubbish of course,mainly concerning a bunker full of hippified jam sessions and synthesiser knob twiddling.For every 'CAN' you had a hundred Amon Duul 1's.Other exceptions included the main players like Cluster (both with and without the 'K' or with or without Konrad Schnitzler),Faust,Early Ash Ra Temple,Guru Guru,and maybe even Tangerine Dream?

Notice I never mentioned 'Neu', who one really had to be there at the time to appreciate their impact. I heard 'Negativland'(The tune not the band) in about 1981, and thought 'wow what a group' So I sought out "Neu 1" and "Neu 2",which apart from that one track were utter shite, especially "Neu 2", which involved one of the tracks played at three different speeds!?....I did However appreciate the monotonous drumming, if not that flaccidly dull drum sound.But for the time they would have been a refreshing, almost 'Punk' style of no-nonsense simplicity, and a rejection of the endless guitar solo's and technical expertise that had given Rock'n'Roll a near lethal injection since 1968. 

Michael Rother, of Neu, was also in Kraftwerk when they were krap too!....but the boy done good when hooking up with Cluster to form Harmonia, who were a fair to middling ambient motorik combo, much hyped by cool muso's everywhere.

Of course, Brian Eno had to get involved at some point, and here's the posthumously released (1997) tapes of those sessions in 1976.

Very soft and bubbly ambient rock they are too.Something to drift off to sleep to of an evening;and I don't mean that it's boring, just some type of musical heroin, but a lot less addictive. You can play Harmonia once and don't feel the need to go back immediately for more,unlike that opium plant bi-product for chavs and rock fantasists everywhere.

Tracklist:
1 Welcome
2 Atmosphere
3 Vamos Companeros
4 By The Riverside
5 Luneburg Heath
6 Sometimes In Autumn
7 Weird Dream
8 Almost
9 Les Demoiselles
10 When Shade Was Born
11 Trace
12 Aubade

DOWNLOAD 76 and eno HERE!

Cluster & Eno ‎– "Cluster & Eno" (Sky Records ‎– sky 010) 1977

It wasn't until the eighties that I realised that Brian was Eno's christian name and not 'And'......of course I jest hahahaha! But the suffix ...'and Eno' was even popular in Germany it seems. All relevant acts were very keen to get an Eno collaboration going so this association with the former Glam Icon would raise their very very low profile on the world stage somewhat.
'Cluster' were another German act I couldn't find in the Euro Rock section of Revolver Records in Leicester......this was long before Leicester became the Kosmiche,Progressive music, Krautrock mecca of Britain, thanks to the Freeman Brothers now defunct, 'Ultima Thule' shop, and Audion Magazine.....all now decamped to an office somewhere doing mail order only.
If you wondered where Brian got his idea for his 'Ambient' series from, look no further than Cluster, and a bunch of similar Krautrock electronic minimalists from the early seventies.
Fittingly Eno gave their profile a boost by collaborating with them, and that's how I first heard of this very innovative and prolific duo of Moebius and Roedelius......peculiar names aren't they?
ENO's genius was to produce music like this just at the time when the public had a taste for violent and basic rock music.
Always the Oblique Strategist, this all seemed like stubbornly wading against the tide of popularism. However, there are a lot of similarities between this and the 'Punk' manifesto. For a start Eno couldn't really play any instruments, described himself as a 'Non-Musician', and frankly ,anyone could do this. This stuff launched an underground wave of ambient electronicists on the cassette underground, most famously on Colin Potter's ICR label.
Punk without the Funk and, thank your god, without the Punk as well.How more 'Punk' can one get? The answer is 'None....None more Punk.

Tracklist:

Ho Renomo 5:10
Schöne Hände 3:00
Steinsame 4:20
Wehrmut 5:00
Mit Simaen 1:30
Selange 3:30
Die Bunge 3:50
One 6:00
Für Luise 3:50

DOWNLOAD the latest in a cluster of Eno HERE!

David Byrne and Brian Eno ‎– "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts" (EG ‎– EGLP 48) 1981

The most famous Eno collaboration was a less subtle Third World rip-off, with trendy(for 1980) Talking Head, David Byrne. Here he leaves the Herky Jerky college boy funk behind a tad, to indulge Eno in his misappropriation of Holger Czukay's ethnological forgery techniques from the late sixties.
Again he manages to avoid the patronizing qualities of most western 'world' music atrocities, and creates something rather reflective of the culture clash between the technological landfill site that is the so-called 'west' and the poverty stricken financial hostages of the third world.A bit like what Philip Glass and Godfrey Reggio achieved in the movie "Koyaanisquatsi" around the same time.....there was a lot of it about in the early eighties apparently!?
I don't like to use the word 'samples' before sampling, but this is a case of using 'Found Dialogue' rather than syncing in digital recreations of field recordings of Algerian muslims, lunatic preachers, and traditional african singing.
The track "Qu'Ran" was withdrawn from the cd version due to complaints from.....you guessed it.....muslims. Which is strange because its not normally very easy to offend a Muslim now is it? 
They only whip out the odd death threat every now and again, if someone writes a book,or accidentally samples an Islamic prayer and puts it on a pop record. Ahhhh, bless 'em.
But us here on Die or DIY? aren't so easily offended, and therefore it's back in, and all you fun lovin' muslims out there, get your women's faces out and lets move to some rich intellectual pop stars version of Ambient tribal funk music.
The record that launched a thousand Muslimgauze albums.

Tracklist:

America Is Waiting 3:36
Mea Culpa 3:35
Regiment 3:56
Help Me Somebody 4:18
The Jezebel Spirit 4:55

Very,Very Hungry
Moonlight In Glory 4:19
The Carrier 3:30
A Secret Life 2:30
Come With Us 2:38
Mountain Of Needles 2:35

Qu'Ran 3:46 

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Jon Hassell and Brian Eno ‎– "Fourth World Vol. 1 - Possible Musics" (Editions EG ‎– EGED 7) 1980

Around 1980 the horrible blight of white man mucking about with, and in most cases, just openly misappropriating African music began to float to the surface like scum on a millpond.
Lack of ideas lead to such affronts to the exploited people of the birthplace of the homo-sapien like Paul Simon stealing a whole album from Soweten musicians and paying them,basically,fuck, all.
Then we had Peter Gabriel doing the same in the name of political consciousness with 'Biko' and god knows what else in his dodgy eighties back catalogue.
In the 'Pop' world we got Bow Wow Wow and Adam Ant squabbling over who thought of using the Burundi beat backing to their hits first.
The middle classes were seen wearing African print at the WOMAD festivals,and began leaving Bhundu Boys albums openly on their coffee tables.
Personally, I can't stand all that Afro-beat stuff,and the entire 'World Music genre;most of which is just for white people to show how open minded and cosmopolitan they are.
Of course, with all dodgy directions in music there are always a few persons who get it right,....."and Eno" is,as always, one of them.
Ex-Lamonte Young collaborator, Jon Hassell, had developed a bizarre, heavily effected, breathy Trumpet style and an unhealthy interest in recreating landscapes through music......I blame his classical training. In classic Eno style, our Brian, spotted the potential, and as is his way, allied himself with a 'proper' musician to create something innovative and forward moving.
This was the first album I bought that had Eno on it, and was suitably impressed at the success this duo had in recreating something like an aural jungle in my bedroom.This stuff has a smell, like dense, humid, rain forest; and has a sense of danger,like wading through a tropical swamp,not knowing what horrendous creatures lurk below the slick of algae on the surface (maybe a poisonous dwarf like Paul Simon?).
A very rare attempt at merging the third and first worlds, without patronising,or exploiting, indigenous peoples.

Tracklist:

Chemistry 6:48
Delta Rain Dream 3:22
Griot (Over "Contagious Magic") 4:00
Ba-benzélé 6:03
Rising Thermal 14° 16' N; 32° 28' E 3:34
Charm (Over "Burundi Cloud") 21:24

DOWNLOAD this possibly fourth world music HERE!

Fripp & Eno ‎– "Live In Paris 28.05.1975"

Everyone's had an Eno collaboration haven't they?....except me!
The suffix,"...and Eno", has appeared many times ,stuck on the end of another experimental, or otherwise, musicians family name. Another common appearance of Eno's own family name , was as producer; where he committed his worst faux-pas's as the man behind the desk of some of U2's most offensive work. I guess that the money was good at least.
In contrast, some of "...& Eno's" greatest work was done with Mr Toyah Wilcox himself, Bobby Fripp. Sharing the oxygen with our Brian's manipulated tape-loop, electronics and delay mechanisms providing an ethereal ambient backing for Fripps heavily sustained guitar accompaniment.
Nowadays, we all have a little electronic box to do all this looping malarkey,so it's nothing special for granny and grandad to put together an experimental ambient album in their lunchtime; but back then, one had to use two chunky reel to reel tape recorders and yards of analogue tape streaming back and forth, a razor blade and some splicing tape. A bit cumbersome but quite effective.
Here we have three cd's documenting the duo's performance in Paris during the technically malfunctioning tour of 1975.Problems with the equipment beset our hero's frequently during this short trek around europe,including cancelled concerts, audience booing and walkouts,and general difficulty for the public to accept this as music. Nowadays this kind of set-up is normal, and goes to prove that if the public 'Boo' your work you are probably doing something right.....Fripp and Eno certainly were doing something very right.
One concert when it all went very very right,even if the audience didn't know it at the time, was on the 28th of may 1975 in Paris. Luckily this superb couple of hours of pure innovation was captured on tape and bootlegged. Here's the 'official' 3 CD bootleg version, complete with some of the backing loops faithfully recreated for you to do your own accompaniment to, and play at being Fripp and Eno for an evening.

Tracklist:

1-1 Water On Water 10:46
1-2 A Radical Representative Of Pinsnip 9:39
1-3 Swastika Girls 7:44
1-4 Wind On Wind 2:00
1-5 Announcement 1:13
2-1 Wind On Water 9:44
2-2 A Near Find In Rip Pop 7:21
2-3 A Fearful Proper Din 4:12
2-4 A Darn Psi Inferno 4:59
2-5 Evening Star 5:59
2-6 An Iron Frappe 10:33
2-7 Softy Gun Poison 12:31
2-8 An Index Of Metals 7:20
3-1 Test Loop I 4:07
3-2 Test Loop II 0:47
3-3 Loop Only: A Radical Representative Of Pinsnip 10:39
3-4 Loop Only: Wind On Water 9:53
3-5 Loop Only: A Darn Psi Inferno 5:40
3-6 Loop Only: Softy Gun Poison 14:45
Bonus Tracks
3-7 Loop Only: Wind On Water Reversed 9:50
3-8 Later On (Single B Side) 4:56

DOWNLOAD some rock'n'roll without the rock or the roll HERE!

Brian Eno and the Winkies - "Peel Session 26/02/1974"

Yes, Pub Rock band 'The Winkies' accompanied everyone's favourite 'non-musician' Brian Eno, on his first solo tour in 1974.
Unfortunately for Bri', after five dates,he got a collapsed lung, and that was that!
They did however manage a John Peel session for the BBC, showcasing his particular brand of Arty Rock.Doing mostly tracks from "Here Come The Warm Jets", plus a camp version of Peggy Lee's classic "Fever"......this must have sounded like it came from outer space in 1974.
Good isn't he? 

Tracklisting:

1/ The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch
2/ Baby's On Fire / Totalled
3/ Fever

DOWNLOAD this non-music HERE!

The Winkies ‎– "The Winkies" (Chrysalis ‎– CHR.1066) 1975

What connects Brian Eno to the Pub Rock phenomenon? Answer is "The Winkies" who were briefly his backing band, for one tour and a Peel Session.
The Winkies included another errant American(Canadian actually), Philip Rambow, who found a home on the London Pub scene in the early to mid-seventies.
He and his band made a 1975 form of power pop; short focused rock songs, of which there was a dearth in this cultural desert of a year. Just what the average discerning Pub Rock punter wanted to hear, while getting legless . Although if they bought the Album, which no-one did of course, it would have had to be stored immediately in the back of your K-Tel record selector, so as to avoid displaying the uncomfortable Homo-erotica proudly emblazoned on the front cover.

Tracklist:

Trust In Dick 3:39
Mailman - It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry 4:11
Put Out The Light 4:57
Twilight Masquerade 5:43
North To Alaska 2:55
Out On The Run 4:31
Wild Open Spaces 4:05
Long Song Coming 4:08
Davey's Blowtorch 3:22
Red Dog 5:00

DOWNLOAD illegally HERE! Nudge nudge Winkie Winkie!