Amon Duul - Amon Düül II [Germany]

Phallus Dei (69), Yeti (70), Dance of the Lemmings (71), Carnival in Babylon (72), Wolf City (72), Vive La Trance (73), Hijack (74), Lemmingmania (75), Made In Germany (76), Live In London (73), Pyragony X (76), Almost Alive (77), Only Human (78), Vortex (81), BBC Live In Concert (92, recorded '73), Surrounded by the Bars (93), Nada Moonshine (95), Kobe (Reconstructions) (96, recorded '69-'71), Eternal Flashback (96, recorded '69-'71), Live in Tokyo (96)

One of the most influential German bands in the history of progressive music and maybe one of the most unclassifiable bands of all time. Mystifying, primal, shredding, groaning, cosmic, unearthly, complex - all at the same time. Try Yeti or Dance Of The Lemmings.

Well, Amon Düül II started off in the early seventies with some noisy German-electro-industrial kind of music, but later graduated to prog rock. Hi Jack, and Made In Germany are two LP's more representative of their prog rock phase.

This classic german band began in the late 60's as a commune, then split into two bands Amon Düül and Amon Düül II. They have a long history and went through many changes along the way. Their style in the early years was very spacy and free-form psychedelic, gradually becoming more progressive, then more accessible, then another split occurred and there was Amon Düül UK. Their best output is from the early to mid 70's period, and includes the albums Yeti, Dance of the Lemmings, Wolf City, Vive La Trance, Hijack and Made In Germany. Wolf City is a good place to start, it's probably their most progressive album yet still has a lot of the good psychedelic spirit carried over from Yeti and Lemmings. There's also a great live album in there somewhere.

Amon Düül [UK]

Hawk Meets Penguin (81), Meetings With Menmachines (??), Airs On A Shoestring (87), Die Lösung (90), Fool Moon (90)

This incarnation of Düül was formed by guitarist John Weinzerl and original bassist Dave Anderson in Wales circa 1980, and features Guy Evans of VDGG fame. Two albums were recorded at that time (Hawk Meets Penguin and Meetings With Menmachines) before Weinzerl went back to ADII in time to record Vortex in 81. This group has gotten back together off and on thru the 80's and recorded several albums, the latest of which is Fool Moon, and supposedly comes close to capturing the original spirit of ADII circa Carnival and Lemmings.