Siddhartha - 1974 - Weltschmerz

Very little is known about this album or the band. It was first pressed into 400 copies with private distribution, never to be publicly known until Penner Records (1994) and Garden of Delights (1998) were so nice as to remaster and redistribute it in CD format. There have been no other known releases by them and sadly none of the members seem to have had any significant involvement with other bands (the one exception being Klaus Scharff who seems to have somehow been involved with highly acclaimed prog group Pancake). It also had a more recent vinyl repressing on the label Amber Soundroom (2004). Here is the rundown:

1. Looking in the Past
2. Tanz Im Schnee
3. Times of Delight
4. Weit Weg
5. Gift of a Fool   

It appears we have a total of 5 members: Eberhard Müller on guitar, Gerhard Kraus doing violin and vocals, Klaus Hermann on drums, Klaus Scharff on bass, and Martin Mörike on keyboard with additional vocals. Additional playing includes Iris Rothermel on flute and Lothar Mattlinger on tuba. According to their Discogs profile, they were college students who got together to make music in their free time. The word 'Siddhartha' comes from the birth name of the founder of Buddhism, widely popularized in the 60s by a novel of the same name by Hermann Hesse. The word is a conjunction of two sanskrit words which together mean "one who has found meaning of existence." Weltschmerz is a term coined by the German author Jean Paul denoting the feeling that one's mind is never adequately satisfied by the physical reality (Wikipedia). A fitting term for the overall mood of this album.

How best to describe Weltschmerz? It is progressive, riddled with many sections. Its rhythm and melody are dense, reminiscent of carousel music (first two tracks especially). I would like to mention how much I love the female vocalist in the opening track, who immediately commands attention by launching into the beginning with the phrase "Turn your head and you will see." This record is just chock full of surprises. Track 2, 'Tanz im Schnee' has this almost surf rock quality to it. There are other oddities that include field recordings of footsteps reverberating off of the walls like in a tunnel in one brief section.

Track 3 offers some relief from the sheer density of track two with some beautiful interplay between the two guitars and the bass. A simply wondrous melodic communication that I've only come to know and love within the 70s krautrock scene. Interestingly, this track contains male vocals. There is also a fiddle being played in this track where there wasn't before. The track ends with a cacophenous cataclysm of all the instruments with only the synth being left with a single sustained note.

Track 4, the epic 12 minute track starts with guitar picking accompanied by the fiddle, with the rhythm changing about a minute in with the drums coming in, which once again changes with all the instruments dropping out except for the guitar picking with a phaser added but with a flute now added. And slowly the fiddle comes back in to harmonize with them. But I digress....

Of the late 60s and early 70s German psych/prog rock scene, this LP has always stuck out in my mind, and helped to solidify my undying passion for the genre. Its obscurity opened my eyes to the notion of there being so many forgotten gems buried amidst the ravages of time, never to see the light of day until recently. A testament to the fact that lack of advertising and distribution in no way dictates the quality of musical ideas. A good composition may come from the most humble collective of college students, who simply take joy in the act of performing and creating new music together. It is good to know we have labels like Garden of Delights that continue to unearth more of these unknown masterpieces. 10/10