DER JESUSPILZ - MUSIK VOM EVANGELIUM

3,5 stars, actually...

W&W, even though a German folk band, can take pride that they mix psychedelic and kraut along with their apparent folkish style. The result is really good. Due to the fact that they took their first steps in the 60's, all three of their albums were more or less influenced by the psychedelic scene of the decade and like all German bands at that time kraut elements are more than obvious... Der Jesuspilz - Musik Vom Evangelium is a blasphemous in an ironic way concept that associates the bible to drugs!!! an odd conception but rather opportune one for the band to develop their acoustical songs to long rhapsodies with either "arcane" vocals or declamations of poetry in German which makes the mood even more mystic in a way that serves the concept... But the real beauty of this effort are the traditional instruments in use like banjo and ukelele stating that no matter what W&W is a folk band... Overall, a very good and special album but not a top one, somehow a difficult album to introduce someone to the genre but an excellent addition for the folk fans...

After their ultimate acid folk classic "Trips & traum", the duo is back with an other surprising effort whose concept is to convince (within a satirical dimension) that the bible is all about drugs. However it doesn't matter for those who don't speak German, let's be focuse on the music with its one more time brilliant and gorgeously pastoral, delicate and trippy. The introduction part (Liturgie) is a humorous little composition written in a very folkish vibe. "Schöpfung" is among my favourite Witthuser & Westrupp"s pieces: it starts with acoustic, dreamy like, quasi magical guitar parts. It also features narratives in German and a very poetical, mystical sense of harmony. "Erleuchtung" is a luminous, druggy psych folk tune wich includes a variety of acoustic instruments (voluptuous flute lines, folk guitars, percussions), an effective, dancing chant in German and children choirs...a really intimate, beautiful song. "Beasuch aus dem Kosmos" is a ravishing spaced out folkish excursion for deep organic chords and acoustic guitars...it also include vocals in German. A lovely, living, dying soundscape with a magnificant classical (almost flamenco) introspective guitar melody. Among my favourite kraut-folk compositions. The instrumental sections are more achieved than on the previous recordings (notably the guitars). Really German-ish folk music with an evident taste for old, odd music, popular counts, mysteries and dark medieval age...at the top of 70's psychedelic folk music.

German folk duo Bernd Witthuser and Walter Westrupp tried to convince a small minority of music lovers that the World existed from a mushroom, and that certain passages of the Bible were linked to drugs. Highly vivid imaginations, indeed. But then again, lysergic has the tendency to do that. Between the two musicians, they play almost 30 instruments, mostly acoustic guitars, banjos, percussive instruments, flutes, kazoos, and some organ and harmonium. Several helping hands have been invited to play, including Dieter Dierks contributing Bass and Mellotron. To be honest, the album has some shakey moments here and there, like the opening track, 'Liturgie' which features a jaw-harp, spoons and some drunken vocals. The melody is firmly folkish. Thankfully it's short, and the next piece is more involved. 'Schopfung' (8.25) has some inspired acoustic guitaring (here I am reminded of Canada's Bruce Cockburn, another highly creative folkie). The German narration is hypnotic. Some acidic wah-wah guitar and drums are added as the volume increases, all the while maintaining a very loose and jammy nature. 'Erleuchtung und Berufung' is laden with Dierks' mellotrons, a childrens choir and a catchy melody. It's all very nicely done. Flipside, the 10min+ 3 part 'epic' has some of those shakey moments, especially regarding the kazoo playing - yes it's an amusing instrument, however it's not played well, but still makes me laugh. I suppose I can forgive them. The 2nd part is based on some gorgeous harmonium themes and narration. Part 3 is again a reprise of the kazoo theme - perhaps that's the sound of kazoo when you blow dope-smoke through it...... !? 'Nehmet hin unf esset' features acoustic guitars and a splash of organ. This instrumental piece sounds rather sombre but very beautiful. The final track 'Besuch aus dem Kosmos' (9.45) is superb - combining rich acoustic instrumentation with spacey vocal manipulations. An incredible blend of flamenco/Spanish music, kraut sensibilities, folk-rock and Psych/Space elements. Granted, this is the only LP of theirs I've managed to obtain, and short-comings aside (they are minor), this is quite a unique form of Progressive Kraut-Folk and should be heard by more. 4 stars.

Witthuser and Westrupp's sophomore LP was a concept album built around the notion that Christianity began as a magic mushroom cult, which is exactly the sort of crackpot idea that comes from too much of the stuff (drugs and / or religion, take your pick). Unlike their 1971 debut this one was more 'trip' than 'traume', showing all the visionary devotion and lysergic sloppiness of a hands-on psychedelic experience.

One can sense the guiding influence of R.U. Kaiser on these sessions. The WW duo had obviously become ardent acolytes of Kaiser's ongoing psy-fi revolution, and here they jumped head first onto his Cosmic Music bandwagon, dragging their plugged-in Folk Rock style behind them. The better tracks (the drifting "Schöpfung"; or the rolling minor-key acoustic guitars of "Besuch aus dem Kosmos") anticipated the loose Teutonic jamming and blissfully deadpan narrations of the Sergius Golowin and Walter Wegmüller albums, recorded around the same time with input from both Westrupp and Witthuser.

A guest appearance by Gille Lettmann (the Kaiser's own 'Starmaiden') further solidified the Kosmische Connection. Ditto the contributions of producer Dieter Dierks, who played the moody blue mellotron on the obvious album highlight, "Erleuchtung und Berufung": a psychedelic Baltic Sea shanty with a lively choir of small children (or are they Black Forest fairy folk?)

This one song was maybe the best example yet of the team's often uncanny acid-folk ethos, and is also one of the more tightly arranged selections here. Elsewhere on the album the slapdash lack of focus gives it more charm than was probably intended, and nowhere is this more obvious than during the ten-plus minutes of "Versammlung / Bekenntnis / Die Aussendung". The trilateral suite, accounting for almost one-third of an already brief album, has to be one of the most ramshackle mini-epics ever written, most of it devoted to a Witthuser clinic on how not to play the kazoo (memo to Bernd: you weren't supposed to smoke it).

All fun stuff to be sure, even if much of the album sounds like a gypsy caravan with mismatched wheels. I don't think the religious message was intended seriously (hard to tell, for a non-German speaker), but I'll take a tongue-in-cheek Krautrock gospel over the tormented soul-searching of any born-again neo-progger any day of the week, including Sunday.