Xhol - 1971 - Motherfuckers GmbH & Co KG

Xhol initially went under the name Soul Caravan in 1967 with their first LP 'Get in High', their most formal release of psych rock with some heavy James Brown influences. By 1969 they went by Xhol Caraven for their second LP 'Electrip', which hit a sweet spot between formal and jam oriented song writing (an excellent release which I might even review some other time). In 1971 they went simply by Xhol with their release Hau-Ruk, a very far-out two track LP, each song clocking in at over 20 minutes. Hau-Ruk is still a bit of an enigma to me. Is it written out? Is it entirely improv? What did they have in mind? During the same year they come out with 'Motherfuckers', which seems to revert back to the balance that Electrip had.....except much less coherent song writing. So somewhere in between Electrip and Hau-Ruk.

Unfortunately, I can't find the formal credits denoting the names of the performers. But I gather there being bass (Klaus Briest), keyboard (Öcki Brevern; r.i.p.), drums (Skip Van Wyck), sax (Tim Belbe; r.i.p.), and vocals (also Tim Belbe?).

Tim Belbe

1. Radio
2. Leistungsprinzip
3. Orgelsolo
4. Side 1 First Day
5. Grille
6. Love Potion 25

The progression of 'Motherfuckers' is odd. It starts out with this "radio" of what might be various live snippets for a couple minutes, followed by a 1 minute intro consisting of all band members, followed by a 9 minute keyboard drone. It seems that Leistungsprinzip was written out, and Orgelsolo is an improvisation. It manages to stay fairly interesting even though it seems to meander without any sort of progression. It's not too unlike some of the later parts in that Peter Michael Hamel LP I reviewed before.

Side 1 First Day also sounds like a jam, this time with a flute leading the way (I have no way of finding out who it is). It's also pretty and a bit meandering, but with some excellent keyboard soloing and interplay with the bass guitar. The inclusion of more instruments makes it somewhat more inviting than Orgelsolo. It's apparent that these musicians have a keen, lush sense of melody, but with a very laid back attitude. I appreciate the field recording of the cricket at the end, as well as what sounds like a bike spool throughout Orgelsolo. The cricket sound continues well into the next track, which later gets accompanied by flute and hand drums. More laid back jams. A sweet little ditty but rather forgettable.

Now finally we come to the reason why I chose to review this album. Overall, I wouldn't call 'Motherfuckers' to be very ambitious or fleshed out, but it wouldn't be unreasonable to consider Love Potion 25 to be one of the greatest krautrock songs of all time! It clocks in at around 13 minutes and mostly consists of the most epic 10 minute keyboard and sax solo sandwiched between two basic chorus structures. This is a song I always find myself coming back to. The structure and energy are unprecedented. The vocals have this powerful, commanding force with a great classic "CCR-esque" reverb effect. The basic lyrics of the song is a play off of the Psych Rock number Love Potion No. 9, modified for psychedelic drug references galore (LSD 25). The chorus and verse take up just the first 2 minutes of the song before the solo kicks in, throughout which the bass weaves in and out beautifully. The way the vocals come back in after all the soloing is something to behold. If you don't have the patience to hear the rest of this album for god's sake, make sure you hear this song at least!

Like I said before, 'Motherfuckers' is a strange album. It catches one off guard with the phenomenal last track after a bunch of rather minor and forgettable jams (the best of those being Side 1 First Day by far). The LP seems to show a degree of self-awareness as to this fact with what looks like a scanned sleeve of its own test printing? Not to mention the album name. Very strange. But seriously, go listen to Love Potion 25. Maybe give the rest a try later if you're a real nerd, but there won't be more where that came from unfortunately. It is doubly unfortunate that it was their last album. Makes one wonder what they might have done had they sustained such a level of ambition. 6/10

Ejwuusl Wessahqqan - 1975 - Ejwuusl Wessahqqan

One of the hardest to pronounce band names also happens to belong to one of my favorite krautrock jam bands. René Filous plays the bass and an interesting stringed instrument called the filouphon, Jürgen Wollenburg is on drums, and Michael Winzker on keyboard. I'm a little bit confused by this because the stringed instrument plays at the same time as the bass throughout the album. So I guess they must have layered one over the over?

The original LP, released in 1975 had only 300 pressings (currently going for over 2 grand on Discogs) and was later put on CD by Penner Records in 1996, and then Garden of Delights in 1999. These Remasters contain an additional 4 tracks from the original release, all from later sessions.

1. Die Geborstenen Kuppeln Von Yethlyreom
2. Die Orangefarbene Wüste Südwestlich Von Ignarh
3. Thuloneas Körper
4. Hobbl-Di-Wobbl
5. Passaceety (1976)
6. AFN (1976)
7. The Cystal (1980)
8. La Mer (1980)

The first track begins with some epic keyboard soloing. At some times, this band sounds like they're jamming out, while others sound more written out and 'proggy.' They strike an odd balance between those two approaches, with as much grace as Amon Düül II. I would be curious to know about the creative processes behind these jam/prog bands.

I love the variety of different moods and structures they try. The high powered energy of Track 1 is followed by this incredibly spacious jam complete with sitar and wailing guitars with trippy overdrive effects that burst into cosmic spirals. Some great freak out jamming with as much intensity as Acid Mothers Temple (later) and Pärson Sound (before). If I were chilling with Kawabata Makoto I would want to inquire about his familiarity with this group. Once again I lament the fact that this group only ended up putting out 1 album.

It's also worth adding that the recording quality isn't the best. The instruments sound a bit dampened by the room ambience, suggest that these were all single take performances.

Not everyone is big on 70s prog keyboards but I happen to be a fan. If not, you may find this album a bit tedious. The final track of the original LP Hobbl-Di-Wobbl I would say is probably the most jammed out, possibly improvised. For 16 minutes it goes through all kinds of sections, with some great noise/drone guitar textures in the later half.

The first of the bonus tracks, from 1976 has even more epic keyboard compositions. Again it's hard to tell how much of it is improv or written out. Track 6, also from '76 is much the same way, but with some very rhythmic bass playing. I really dig all the nasty synth noises in the later half, making me all the more curious what a couple more album by them might have sounded like. Although AFN is in slightly lower recording quality, I find that it has arguably their best build-up. In both of these tracks we get the three piece setup, minus the filouphon guitar. So I'm guessing that the filouphon playing was overdubbed in the LP. But one can never be too sure.

Recorded much later, The Crystal and La Mer are unique from their previous work, recorded much later in 1980. The Crystal is some intensely emotional acoustic rhythm guitar, singing, and keyboards, reminding me of some of the stuff off of Hawkwind's 'Warriors at the Edge of Time'. I also love the shimmery texture of the keyboard. The final track La Mer is practically my favorite track on this whole album. It's an ambient jam with some amazing synthscapes, soundeffects, and exotic percussion. It's absolute psychedelic and there's nothing else I've heard like it. It is interesting to note that in the Penner Records release of the CD remaster, tracks 7 and 8 are credited not by Ejwuusl Wessahqqan but by Koala-Bär. They're credited as the keyboard player plus 2 other unique names. A fully realized release by this other 3 piece set-up could also have been quite a treat to listen to, but alas it seems we are left with only two tracks.

Overall one hell of a solid group. Would have been awesome had there been better recording quality, but the one that exists is at least decent. It's interesting to observe the various different sounds they went through. An inventive group with a lot of great ideas. 8/10