Drosselbart

"Was Drosselbart a Krautrock band just because they came from Munich like Amon Düül, sang in German and released their first and only album on a major German record label in 1971?

'No,' says Monika Vincent-Gunia aka Jemima, Drosselbart's singer. 'We were the first punk band in Germany. The guys in the band could only play three chords, maybe four, but they were burning with enthusiasm'.

However, Drosselbart's music on the album of the same name has very little to do with the punk of the mid-seventies. The guys had obviously practiced a bit and managed to get more than four chords down. The whole thing sounds a lot like the 1960s, occasionally reminiscent of harder rock, psychedelic US bands like Iron Butterfly or the music of British blues rockers like Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll. Keyboardist Christian Trachsel contributes some progressive moments and guest musician Ralf Nowy adds a classical touch. As already mentioned, the vocals are sung in German by Jemima and Peter Randl. The latter prefers a more aggressive, agitated, declamatory style, as known from various German political rock bands of the early 70s.

The recordings were made at the Union Studios in Munich, where a young sound engineer named Reinhold Mack is said to have assisted the band and provided the mix. From the mid-1970s, Mack went on to make a career as a sound mixer and producer for the likes of ELO, Sparks, Deep Purple and, most notably, Queen.