Epitaph – s/t. 1971. It wasn’t that long ago, I reunited with this old Krautrock gem, originally released on the Polydor label. I stated late last year: “First song was the sort of breezy rural rock that made “Outside the Law” such a drag. But after that, Epitaph shows a strong progressive side, with plenty of complex structures to go with those guitar solos. And quite a bit of mellotron for a Kraut group.”. Shortly thereafter, I was pleased to find out that Universal had done a digi-pak re-master, with a nice history and 5 excellent bonus tracks. And now I have it here. I even take back what I said about the first song above, as it rocks harder than implied. Unfortunately, Epitaph weren’t able to repeat the quality found on their debut, though “Stop, Look and Listen” is still worth checking out. The group has actually reformed a number of times and are still active. They long ago became a run of the mill hard rock group, so I don’t hold out any hope for a return to their 1971 creativeness. Somehow I doubt the mellotron was theirs….

Abacus – s/t. 1971. Like Epitaph above, Abacus were another 1971 discovery for the Polydor label. Here you can find a lot of parallels to another quirky German band: Nine Days Wonder. Like NDW’s debut, this album is radically progressive, covering anywhere from Frank Zappa’s more complex works to any number of UK outfits. The vocalist is from England, and he writes much of the material, so this album doesn’t sound Krautrock at all. I’d only heard the band’s last 1970s work “Midway” (1973) and it was pretty horrendous. I’ll try their 2nd effort “Everything You Need”, but I’ve been told it’s quite a departure from the debut - and not in a good way (another similarity with Nine Days Wonder). As far as I know, Universal hasn’t reissued this one yet, and only bootlegs exist.