Considered by many music historians as one of the most important group out of Germany, Faust were certainly ahead of their time. They took their music to unsuspecting heights somewhere in between Can, Velvet Underground, Neu, LA Dusseldorf or Henry Cow but also much farther and can be considered as founding fathers of the Industrial Rock. Having made their debut in 71 in Hamburg, Faust will never stop their groundbreaking and will be always one step ahead of everybody else including the groups above mentioned and are the prime example of Rock In Opposition (RIO) along with Henry Cow. Faust is definitely not for the faint-hearted person and can only be recommended in small doses because it is very dangerous for the sanity of the average proghead.

La Düsseldorf is Klaus Dinger's side project after the scission of Neu! in 1975. In this musical adventure, Dinger is accompanied by Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe who also participated to the recording of the third and last Neu! The self titled album "La Dusseldorf" was released in 1976, venturing from avant-garde for concrete noises, manipulated sounds, pre-punk atmospheres. This album has a total disregard for musical convention, the musicians don't hesitate to mix without restriction a bunch of sounds taken from a great variety of musical styles (with pop accents, motoric "electronic" pulses, krautrock weird instrumentals and punk's eccentricity). After this original and diverse collection of experiments, the band recorded their second "Viva" in 1978…

Pinguin's only release, though they had previously made a record under the name of Talix. Originally released by Zebra records and the sound is strongly keyboard-dominated (organist Volker Plitz composed all the tracks), but there are enough furious guitar leads to satisfy the psych-lover. Similar to other Germans prog outfits like Frumpy, Subject Esq.

Spacebox is the solo project of Uli Trepte (Guru Guru bass player, also member of early Neu! and Faust). Two albums have been released; "Spacebox" (1981) with Geoff Leigh and Catherine Williams as guests and "Kick Up" (1984) as a collective: it features an electric, eclectic, primitive "jazzy" rock "trip". These intriguing "obscure" German improvisations have been reissued by the Japanese label Captain Trip.

A touch more immediate and song-oriented than its predecessor, but no less enchanting and lovely to hear, Deluxe again features the trio experimenting with a variety of approaches, most particularly including vocals here and there for the first time. There's also a guest musician helping out, namely Mani Neumeier from Guru Guru, and while he's not playing all the time, where he does appear, as on the wonderful lengthy jam "Walky-Talky," a blend of his percussion and swooping guitar filigrees and keyboards, it's a fine choice. His slow, subtle build throughout the song helps send it higher and higher without seeming to. The various vocals really do fit the music in a lovely way, and it's little surprise that Brian Eno might have felt even more of an affinity with the group than before, being non-musical but still affecting, like mysterious chants or barks…

Formed at the end of the 60's, Gomorrha raised from the German progressive rock scene thanks to the help of the producer and sound engineer Conny Plank. The band original line up includes Helmut Pohl (drums) and Eberhard Krietsch (ogan, bass) with Ad Oschel and Ali Claudi at the guitars. They released their first album in 1970. They distinguish with a dense heavy psych rock experience punctuated by organ dominated sequences. In 1972 they release what will be considered as their summit "I Turned To See Whose Voice It Was"; An adventurous album featuring catchy instrumental jams, krautrock's original psych / spacey mood, pastoral flute parts and heavy guitar riffs. The concept of this release is focused on the apocalypse theme and the book of revelation. They suddenly split up in 1973 after the publication of two memorable documents of German independent rock.

Usually regarded as the Belgian Zao, Cos develops an European type of chamber-rock, built on onomatopeic vocals or sung in French or German. The band displays beautiful themes interwined with complex orchestrated rhythms. Its music evokes the Canterbury School (Caravan, Hatfield And The North), the anguished and dark music of King Crimson or Quiet Sun and Terje Rypdal's atmospheric jazz-rock. Pascale Son uses her high-pitched voice, able to perform the most incredible modulations, and this allows her to become one of the best singers in that style. The leader Daniel Schell is a guitarist extraordinaire, and proves to develop ideas as original as Robert Fripp's. "Babel" has been initially published in the year 1978, and the seven tracks of the original album have been completed by a ballet music ("Pro Arte Gymnastica", directed by Jac Delsing in Anvers, March 3rd 1979.), as well as three tracks captured live two years later in Hannover (Germany)…

Ougenweide is a Teutonic musical collective formed at the beginning of the 70's. Their music consists of "pastoral" folk rock compositions with Middle Ages influences. They recorded their first album in 1973. Since 1974 until the end of the 70's they published several albums for Polydor label. They released their last album in 1981 before to split up in 1985. The band reformed in 1996 for a reunion album called "Sol". Both released in 1976, "Orhrenschmausen" and "Eulenspiegel" represent their most notorious efforts. Two classics in the mood of authentic "Pagan" folk rock music with a great variety of acoustic instruments from medieval (with mandolin, flute, Krummhorn.) to "World" (sitar, bongos, marimba.). The result is unique and highly inspired, introducing the listener in an "enchanting" poetic, mythical world. Beautiful lyrics in German accompany tremendous prog folk instrumentations…

Plamp, a Swiss band only named after the first names of the musicians involved, came from the city of Chur and were around since the mid-70's as a quintet, Mario Giovanoli played flute and saxophone, Peter Toenz was on electric guitar, Peter Streiff on Hammond organ and piano, Louis Streiff on drums and Andrea Thoeny on bass, while all members contributed on the vocal parts.For their only release ''Und ueberhaupt …'', pressed privately and released sometime during year 1978, they were joined by Fortunat Froelich on cello and piano and Marc Keller on acoustic guitars. Plamp used the nearby Kraut Rock qualities in a lighter version to produce their own personal sound, obviously influenced by Folk, Jazz and Psychedelic Rock, and it's really amazing why the band remained so obscure, they were propably at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Popol Vuh's Seligpreisung is another essential work from the band, ushering in the classic middle period for which they are best known. The album represents the reconvening of the band after Fricke had contributed to Gila's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, after which he brought former Amon Duul II drummer turned guitarist Daniel Fischelscher into the fold of his main band. Fischelscher would become Fricke's main collaborator for what is essentially Popol Vuh's most intensely brilliant period, reaching a possible culmination in the subsequent classics Letzte Tage, Letzte Nachte and Einsjager & Siebenjager. In light of those later achievements, Seligpreisung still stands as a solid addition, if slightly more tentative…

Long Hair is not only proud to present Tortilla Flat's legendary sole album 'Für Ein 3/4 Stündchen', but also the group's lot more legendary broadcast sessions for Germany's leading underground and krautrock program on radio SWF. The mainly instrumental album is very flute-driven, in opposite to the latter album, which was more electric violin-dominated, with very exciting guitar playing accompanied by rocking drumming and nimble bass lines. Very tight! And very Teutonic! There were not so many progressive rock bands in the early 1970s which were flute and violin dominated, but also don't forget the great solo play of lead guitarist Manfred Herten. An early version of their main opus 'Tortilla Flat' shows the band with violinist Werner Knauber and Herman Basten on flute at its best, a dramatic increase with great tunes…

Hoelderlin (formed as Hölderlin) started out playing cover tunes in Germany in the 1960s until they received an offer for a record contract in the early 1970s. The band was led by two brothers, Christian and Joachim Grumbkow, who wrote most of the music. The debut-album "Hölderlin's Traum" was released in 1972 with a nine-piece line up, including female vocals and instruments like the Mellotron, Grand piano, violin, cello, sitar, tablas and flute. Their sound is a progressive blend of rock, jazz and folk. Troubles soon arose when the band's producer wanted to have the band change their sound. After a long three year legal battle, the band was able to get rid of their contract, slightly change their name and release their second album, "Hoelderlin" in 1975. The band called their music 'romantic rock', it sounded more jazzy and it contained echoes from King Crimson and Genesis…

This double disc set features mostly live selections from the early 1970s to the 1980s along with some alternate takes. CD 1 opens with Die Sinfonie, a long track from their eponymous debut album, here you can enjoy a 1973 live version featuring that distinctive Grobschnitt progrock sound: fiery, rock based guitar, the strong, often English vocals, the excellent, very inventive drumwork and the wonderful vintage keyboard sound. The next track is Nickelodeon (in a 1973 rehearsals version, originally on the 2-LP Ballermann from 1974) featuring top notch rock guitar, what a compelling soli! The final composition on CD-1 is the famous epic Solar Music (also from Ballerman) in a 53 minutes version.
CD 2 contains 10 tracks like Ernie's Reise and Rockpommels Land Finale from the known concept album Rockpommel's Land, both from 1981 and we can enjoy a fine blend of acoustic guitar and varied keyboards…