Supernaut

I recently came into possession of a bunch of Krautrock videos & live performances on DVDR. I regularly trade music DVDR's with people around the globe. Europe tends to be the most fruitful territory and that's the origin of a six disc Krautrock collection (more than nine hours!) I got a few months back, which still has me reeling. So many great bands are included: Amon Duul II, Can, Frumpy, Lucifer's Friend, Ton Steine Scherben, Achim Reichel, Floh De Cologne, Guru Guru, Tiger B. Smith ... the list goes on (unfortunately no Faust - bummer). I had seen almost none of this stuff before & I have been collecting music video for many years. One of my favorites from this lot is a live Kraftwerk performance of "Ruckzuck" from 1970. The shots of the audience members in black turtlenecks smoking cigarettes while nodding their heads to the trance inducing sounds is amazing. The band, just a 3 piece here, is phenomenal. If you are only familiar with the late 70's early 80's Kraftwerk records you might be surprised by the loose, organic and improvisational feel of early Kraftwerk. That is not to say that they were strictly an improvisational band early on, but they certainly did not have the systematic and mechanical style they were later famous for. I cannot recommend the early Kraftwerk enough. It's years ahead of its time and still sounds fresh and relevant today, as does much of the Krautrock stuff on these discs. There is also the pre-Kraftwerk band Organisation doing a version of "Ruckzuck" included amongst the videos. Organisation looks like the quintessential hippie band, bongos and all. Seeing Florian with his freak flag flying high while tooting away on his flute is something to behold. I don't have the Organisation record but I see that there is a re-issue of it available, so maybe soon I'll be doing a post about that record. Too bad that the Krautrock DVDR comps are not available commercially, because it's all great. If you are interested in getting your mitts on the Krautrock discs you can try here: Jolly Roger Trading Post. I've provided an mp3 of "Ruckzuck" from Kraftwerk 1 (1970) for your appreciation and listening enjoyment.

KRAFTWERK - Ruckzuck