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BaldJean View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: The Guru Guru appreciation thread
    Posted: January 23 2010 at 06:06
Guru Guru have been around for over 40 years now and are one of the most important German bands. they changed their style with almost every album; the only constant is drummer Mani Neumeier. he is as good as they come (he has a jazz background. he used to play with the Irene Schweizer Trio before he founded Guru Guru). their shows are full of action; a lot of surprising things will happen on stage.
their classic is "Der Elektrolurch" ("The Electric Amphibian"), for which Neumeier puts on a self-designed mask and pretends to be responsible for the electricity in our households. he used to wear a tail too, but it turned out to be too difficult to move around on stage with it, so he gave that up. on their first live album from 1978 you can hear him say "Mein Schwanz schlägt heute wieder alles um" ("My tail is knocking everything over again today").
here a photo of Mani in his mask:



Edited by BaldJean - January 23 2010 at 06:11


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 06:51
now there's a thread worth logging in for first thing in the morning hahah...

have really got into the group over the last couple of months.


Great stuff... have been working chronologically... and loved everything so far.

Kanguru is simply killer.. and has become one of my most listened to albums.. especially when I need a sonic shot of adrenaliin on the drive in to work in the morning haha.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 16:09

Nice thread Baldjean!2 or 3 hours ago I was playing Dance of the Flames:I love its fusion side and Houschang Nejadpour's guitar playing(by the way what has come of him after Eiliff and Guru Guru?).As Micky said,Kanguru is great:for me a very heavy space/psychedelic affair.Moreover Mani has a great sense of humour(Dagobert Duck's funny intro),is defintely in my top 5 of drummers(Vander,Cobham,Williams,DE Johnette and Mani)and UFO and Hinten kick asses!Is Wah Wah a good album?

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 16:29
Originally posted by fusionfreak fusionfreak wrote:

Nice thread Baldjean!2 or 3 hours ago I was playing Dance of the Flames:I love its fusion side and Houschang Nejadpour's guitar playing(by the way what has come of him after Eiliff and Guru Guru?).As Micky said,Kanguru is great:for me a very heavy space/psychedelic affair.Moreover Mani has a great sense of humour(Dagobert Duck's funny intro),is defintely in my top 5 of drummers(Vander,Cobham,Williams,DE Johnette and Mani)and UFO and Hinten kick asses!Is Wah Wah a good album?


yes it is. different, as all Guru Guru albums are, but very well worth listening to.
by the way: there is a brand new release which was added to their homepage today:
Mai-San in Japan (2009).
Mani-San in Japan (2009)
mit Uchihashi Kazuhisa
[ more ][ Mail-Order ]



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 17:06
Mani has also worked with Acid Mothers Temple as Acid Mothers Guru, including some performances with Ruins powerhouse Yoshida Tatsuya. I find he works best in the classic power trio format of the early Guru Guru albums, but I would recommend Zero Set, an interesting album with Moebius and Conny Plank from the 80s; Neumaier leads from the front and the other two wrap strands of electronica around his mighty percussion, with some guest African vocals on one track. If techno had used live drums instead of machines, it would have sounded like this.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 17:16
Only heard one album - Psy from 2008 but I loved it (gave it 4 stars) Thumbs Up

Unfortunately I suspect I would probably loathe their earlier 'kosmisch hippy ding' as a live version of Elektrolurch Mutation is the bonus track on Psy. (and frankly, I've heard better from air conditioning units - but it's my loss)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 17:17
Originally posted by Syzygy Syzygy wrote:

Mani has also worked with Acid Mothers Temple as Acid Mothers Guru, including some performances with Ruins powerhouse Yoshida Tatsuya. I find he works best in the classic power trio format of the early Guru Guru albums, but I would recommend Zero Set, an interesting album with Moebius and Conny Plank from the 80s; Neumaier leads from the front and the other two wrap strands of electronica around his mighty percussion, with some guest African vocals on one track. If techno had used live drums instead of machines, it would have sounded like this.

yes, we have that "Zero Set" album with the African vocals. "a-hup dala" or whatever she sings


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 17:42
Are you familiar with his Terra Amphibia albums? I've recently heard a few samples and they sound interesting, but more like world music than I was expecting. I realise that this is meant to be the Guru Guru thread, but it's more or less on topic...
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 18:41
Originally posted by Syzygy Syzygy wrote:

Are you familiar with his Terra Amphibia albums? I've recently heard a few samples and they sound interesting, but more like world music than I was expecting. I realise that this is meant to be the Guru Guru thread, but it's more or less on topic...

we don't have them ourselves, but I heard one of them once. from what I recall it was a mix of world music and experimental sounds. some weird stuff, even for Mani. he played dozens of percussion instruments from all around the world on it


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 18:52
I've been wanting to get some Guru Guru for a while.  What would you consider to be the best starting point? 

Also, I've watched a couple videos on Youtube of the sort of material on Manitatsu (Mani and Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins/Koenjihyakkei) and they were pretty interesting. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 19:25
Originally posted by SaltyJon SaltyJon wrote:

I've been wanting to get some Guru Guru for a while.  What would you consider to be the best starting point? 

Also, I've watched a couple videos on Youtube of the sort of material on Manitatsu (Mani and Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins/Koenjihyakkei) and they were pretty interesting. 

it is pretty difficult with Guru Guru because almost every album is in a differnt style. "Känguru" is an excellent starting point into them though


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 19:44
Alright, I'll add that one to my wishlist.  Dance of the Flames is on the list already, so I'll probably go for those two at once.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 19:52
definitely get their live album from 1978 too. mostly previously unreleased tracks, and you can hear that playing live is where Guru Guru really scores


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 20:05
I'm going to have to find somewhere that sells that live album, it's not available on my usual shops.  
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 20:43
Originally posted by SaltyJon SaltyJon wrote:

I'm going to have to find somewhere that sells that live album, it's not available on my usual shops.  

Order it from their homepage: http://mani-neumeier.de/guruguru/index_lurch.htm


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 20:49
Originally posted by BaldJean BaldJean wrote:

Originally posted by SaltyJon SaltyJon wrote:

I'm going to have to find somewhere that sells that live album, it's not available on my usual shops.  

Order it from their homepage: http://mani-neumeier.de/guruguru/index_lurch.htm

Thanks for the link, I didn't realize they sold some releases from their site.  Big smile
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 21:10
I just read that Guru Guru will play in Cologne on March 25th, at the Blue Shell. a very small venue; actually it is just a pub, though they have a small stage. of course Friede and I will be there

Edited by BaldJean - January 23 2010 at 21:17


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2010 at 21:26
If I lived in Germany not too far away from Cologne I would be too, but it'd be a bit of a trip from Pennsylvania to Germany just to hear a band play. Disapprove
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2010 at 15:27
Super hit or miss for me, Kanguru and UFO are pretty much flawless, but a lot of the other stuff is a mixed bag. Frankly I thought "Moshi Moshi" was embarrassing, and recent footage of Guru Guru live was less than impressive, IMO. That's why I was so shocked when I heard Acid Mothers Guru, it's just like the old days with sort of a noise rock twist. Mani's still got it, that's for sure, that's why I'm shocked that recent output from Guru Guru is weak.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2010 at 15:34
Originally posted by whydontyoueatcarrots whydontyoueatcarrots wrote:

Super hit or miss for me, Kanguru and UFO are pretty much flawless, but a lot of the other stuff is a mixed bag. Frankly I thought "Moshi Moshi" was embarrassing, and recent footage of Guru Guru live was less than impressive, IMO. That's why I was so shocked when I heard Acid Mothers Guru, it's just like the old days with sort of a noise rock twist. Mani's still got it, that's for sure, that's why I'm shocked that recent output from Guru Guru is weak.

It isn't weak in my opinion, it is simply different. Mani likes to experiment.


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