My Solid Ground ~ Germany

My Solid Ground (1971) 

---Jul 1997

One of the oddballs of the early German scene. Basically, the raison d'etre of this is the 13 minute 'Dirty Yellow Mist' which is one of the finest examples of Floydish Krautrock ever committed to tape. Power chords, growling organ, industrial phased vocals, tribal drums. But the rest is a complete departure which offers a basic hard rock sound with a couple of innovative pieces like 'The Executioner" which feature echo voice overs. 

The CD issue makes the purchase more essential. Because here we get the full story. Turns out 'Dirty Yellow Mist' was originally part of a 24 minute composition that also features as its main theme a boorish hard rock tune known as 'Flash Pt. IV' on the LP. But other than the opening and ending, we are graced with the experimental side of My Solid Ground. Some of the guitar playing here reminds me of the Ash Ra Tempel Private Tapes series from around 1971. Really hot stuff! And yet another version of the great Dirty Yellow Mist song is also featured. Clocking in at only seven minutes this time - it features more depressing lyrics than the original.

---Dec 2004

This album has always been about the 13 minute opener ‘Dirty Yellow Mist’, one of the most tripped out Krautrock pieces from a most tripped out scene. Organ, pounding drums, fuzz guitar leads, heavy chords, processed spoken vocals. I love the way it builds intensity as more keyboards are added. Had they continued down this route, My Solid Ground would be mentioned in the same breath as the awesome debut by Gila. However, the other seven tracks are in the hard rock zone, some creative like ‘The Executioner’ (with echoed voices and meter changes) and ‘Melancholie’ (instrumental hard rock with piano as the lead) - while others are purely in the bonehead category. 

The Second Battle CD is the way to go here. The 24 minute bonus version of ‘Flash’ contains an alternate version of ‘Dirty Yellow Mist’, as but one part of this magnificent suite.

---11/7/2026

I didn't realize I had two separate reviews of this fine album. Those were both pre-UMR, so time for a revisit and to enter here.

It's interesting that I used the word "bonehead" in my last review to describe the four other hard rock tracks presented on the album. Unbeknownst to me at the time, but bonehead is a subgenre of hard rock that is much sought after, especially in the 45 world. Similarly, my point of view has softened quite a bit on these "lesser" tracks. Going in with the mindset of album-length Krautrock, the three highlighted tracks above resonated strongly with me. This time I listened to the others as if they were isolated hard rock singles, perhaps two different ones. I would be elated to have them on 45 if they existed. With that new perspective, I was able to enjoy a +1 listen overall.

Ownership: 1997 Second Battle (CD). Tri-fold digipak with seven bonus tracks, as noted above. Acquired in 1997.

First copy: bootleg (LP). Acquired in 1991.

1991; 7/28/97 (review); 12//04 (second review); 11/7/26 (update / new entry)