Well, America lost to Germany today but we lost just badly enough to survive that “Group of Death” (the 2nd, 4th, 13th and 37th ranked teams in the world) although I’d argue maybe the group with three top ten teams (Uruguay, Italy, England) might have been deadlier. Alas, that’s not for me to decide because I’m not an expert. In fact I know very little about FIFA’s ranking system and the sport of football (am I supposed to call it soccer because I’m an American? see even THAT confuses me!) in general. Nevertheless, tomorrow is the last day I’ll be devoting to World Cup countries as an An Album A Day theme, so I don’t have much more time to give Germany their due.
By the way, they totally smoked us this morning. Even if the score was 1-0 it felt like the Americans were being toyed with, and the Germans could have driven home any number of goals they wanted. That they only netted one was kind of a joke. They out-shot us 3-to-1 and controlled the ball for almost two-thirds of the match. Yeah, we survived, but I don’t have high hopes for Tuesday against Belgium.
Ahem.
Album number three of the “Achim Reichel & Machines” project isn’t one that turns up too often, especially the original (and only vinyl?) pressing on Zebra Records. So when you can grab one for thirty bucks you kind of have to pull the trigger, even if you haven’t heard it before. That’s what happened to me on October 27th, 2011 when I came across this album in the bins at a store in Los Angeles. Luckily the cover was interesting enough that I inspected it and quickly figured out it was Achim Reichel. Having only heard Die Grüne Reise and Echo before I was unfamiliar with AR3 but purchased it anyway because…how could it possibly be bad!?
AR3 isn’t quite as mind-blowing as those aforementioned albums, but it’s still really strong kraut/prog rock. Fitting somewhere between the pummeling space rock of Ash Ra Tempel, Can’s quasi-jazzy, rhythmic noodling and Popol Vuh’s folky/ethnic vibe, AR3 is a stellar example of early ’70s experimental rock. Listen to “Tarzans Abenteuer Im Sommersch” and tell me you don’t hear all three of those elements at play. It might not be Jaki Liebezeit behind the kit, or Manuel Göttsching on guitar, but there’s a sense of familiarity between those artists and the ones Reichel has backing him here. Lemmie Lembrecht who played drums on the To Be record is but one of the collaborators, as is Manfred Rürup from Release Muisic Orchestra and others. Reichel’s guitar work is top-notch, and these compositions — along with those on Die Grüne Reise, Echo, and A.R. IV — should be enough to garner him a spot on the list of most-important figures in the Krautrock movement.
Achim Reichel
AR3
(Zebra – 2949 006, 1972)
A1. Warum Peter Nur Noch Ferien Macht
A2. Tarzan’s Abenteuer Im Sommerschlußverkauf [MP3]
A3. 10 Jahre Lebenslänglich
A4. Die Tochter Des Frostriesen
B1. Die Eigentümer Der Welt
B2. Heute Ist Es Wärmer Als Draussen
B3. Auf Deutsch Heisst Das Gewissensbisse
B4. Wie Ich Mir So Ich Dir
B5. Alles Geht Nach Goa
