In-kraut 2 / Various

Hip Shaking Grooves Made In Germany 1967-1974. Willkommen to the second installment of The In-Kraut, lovingly researched and assembled by Stefan Kassel and Frank Jastfelder, who also compiled the first volume. Once again we take a deep trip into the funky musical spheres of 1960s and 1970s Germany -- an undiscovered universe full of Hammond-heavy grooves, tight big band arrangements and fuzz guitar enhanced dancefloor nuggets. Dip into a motherlode of 20 rare soul, beat, now sound, mod and soundtrack gems -- most of them appearing for the first time on CD. While the musical climate in Germany of the late '60s and early '70s was still dominated by schlagers, many other records of outstanding class were being cut -- most of them never reached mainstream success, yet today these punchy tracks sound more "now" than ever before. Just listen to Hugo Strasser, Germany's first ambassador of swing, tackling Deep Purple -- with a truly rocking cover version of "Black Night." Or Hazy Osterwald Jet Set with a fabulous uptempo stomper sounding almost like acid jazz veterans Corduroy. Even James Last got funky once with his incredible "Soul March," a rare B-side from 1969 (finally rescued from oblivion here). Mary Roos, one of Germany's best vocalists ever, delivers a great German version of Jorge Ben's "Mas Que Nada." Another special treat is Hildegard Knef's psychedelic proto-rap. The guys behind these recordings were the best jazz, big band and studio musicians of the country. Paul Nero, who kickstarts the compilation is none other than German jazz legend Klaus Doldinger. Germany's best studio drummer Charly Antolini rocks the house with his breakbeat monster "Nofretete's Headache" -- a rare groove inferno. Hase Cäsar's bouncy number was cooked up by Ingfried Hoffmann, one of Germany's best jazz pianists/organists. Even the legendary Can make an appearance here, with their very first recording -- a super-rare soundtrack 7" recorded under the name The Inner Space. Their trippy "Kamera Song" harkens to The Velvet Underground with spacy ersatz-Nico vocals supplied by Rosy Rosy, Munich's original it-girl and German über-groupie of the '60s. An added bonus are two superb, previously-unissued tracks: the sitar monster by Carlos Fendeira and the sexy "Do It Yourself" by German soundtrack legend Rolf Wilhelm (The Serpent's Egg). Kraut-a-delica.