German Oak - Self Titled (Full Album) 1973

In it’s entirety, as it was intended to be heard. One of the more obscure, underground classics of the genre A free form rock band founded by a small community of 5 German hippies / “avant garde“ artists back at the beginning of the 70’s. Their self title effort was recorded in 1972 in a WWII air raid bunker. The cover of their self title album (a militaristic image which is a portrait of the third Reich military force) provides an illustration of anger expressed by the WWII’s young generation against their parents. By consequence German Oak’s music is very tortured, dark and weird, dominated by heavy, “distorted“ guitar solos & rhythms. The background creates “painful“ & “ambient“ sequences thanks to delay echoes, electronic “fuzzy“ noises & repetitive bass lines. A funkadelic/jazzy felt punctuates with discretion this grandiose, “creepy“ instrumental album. A first CD reissue was offered by Witch And Warlock in 1991. Today this album is re-edited by Radioactive records (2005). In a rather discretion they also released the moody, cloudy and experimental epic-kraut “Niebenlungenieg“ (1972) In the strange Olympic summer of 1972, the Dusseldorf instrumental group German Oak entered the Luftschutzbunker, or Air Raid Shelter, in order to record their eponymous first LP. Following in the footsteps of the percussive and organic Organisation and the remarkable Dom, German Oak had every reason to believe that this 3rd LP to be recorded by a Dusseldorf band would be warmly received. Unfortunately, German Oak were not only wrong in their assumptions that locals would embrace their music, but even local record shops rejected all the group’s attempts to sell the albums in city outlets. Such was their lack of success that 202 of the original 213 copies were stored in the basement of the group’s organist until the mid-1980s, when a thirst for undiscovered Krautrock finally brought German Oak back from the dead. More info/review here :