Witthuser & Westrupp ~ Germany

Der Jesuspilz (1971)

This is a crazy one, that's for sure. There's about 30 minutes of great music here, and another ten minutes of... well... you know. 'Liturgie' starts things off in awful fashion with a Floh de Cologne like drunken ditty. Sell bin I think right? Then comes 'Schöpfung', which is the album's highlight. It's every bit Krautrock - in sound, atmosphere, oh don't get me going on that again. The droning trance narration against acoustic - and yes, electric - guitars and swirling keyboards. Reminds me a lot of Sergius Golowin or Walter Wegmuller here. Brilliant. 'Erleuchtung und Berufung' starts off with a blast of mellotron, which is later juxtaposed against a children's choir. Awesome. We're on the rails to stardom right? Wrong. Most of 'Versammlung - Bekenntnis - Die Aussendung' can best be forgotten, though the harmonium on 'Bekenntnis' is nice. Oh that kazoo! Really? 'Nehmet hin esset' is a pleasant folk piece though, and then the album closes on a high note with 'Besuch aus dem Kosmos' which is acid folk at its best - love the swirling Klaus Schulze like synthesizer background. As odd as they get, but well worth your time I think.

Ownership: 1971 Pilz (LP). Gatefold. Acquired in 1999.

1999; 9/14/18 (review / new entry)