Gila and their second album
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation
Forum Description: Discuss specific prog bands and their members or a specific sub-genre
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=134344
Printed Date: July 26 2025 at 06:45
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Gila and their second album
Posted By: kirk782
Subject: Gila and their second album
Date Posted: January 31 2025 at 08:00
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The freewheelin debut by this band [often categorized under krautrock is lauded quite highly here at PA] though I wish to focus on their second more serious album. With a more laidback sound structure for their second and final album, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee takes a look at the Native American massacre at Wounded Knee and probably the album name from the book of the same name by Lee Brown. I do not have much information except cursory knowledge of what I gleaned from Wikipedia about the event. To make matters worse, trusty old Genius .com doesn't have proper lyrics/annotations for this LP. Therefore, I am unable to know to what extent (and if to any specific events), the band is referring to in their lyrics exactly. It's a rarity because progressive rock bands rarely write much overtly political songs [I am aware that a thread to Political Prog exists but it is still but a minority]. The album is decent musically and the second side seems stronger than the first one, especially the song Black Kettle's Ballad.
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Replies:
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: January 31 2025 at 08:14
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It's too bad you don'y have the cd, I have the Garden of Delights re-issue with thick liner notes detailing it all including lyrics. Really well done with a bonus track. This is more like a Popol Vuh record than a Gila album. And Florian Fricke is a big part of this with piano and mellotron. Love this album. I actually prefer the first half which looks at the Natives lives before the massacre. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: kirk782
Date Posted: February 01 2025 at 19:12
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Yes, I think there are sonic difference between their debut and this. I don't think I have listened to the singular bonus track [only have listened to the standard version]. Since I have some issues with accents [while I can properly understand English, vocals sometimes create a problem for me due to singer's accents which is amplified probably because English isn't my mother tongue], for a long time, I used to pore over lyrics, be it either progressive rock like Can or punk rock like Clash.
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Posted By: Hrychu
Date Posted: February 01 2025 at 23:47
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Honestly, I'm not buying that "aesthetic". We all know Germans have a long history of shamelessly putting on redface, particularly after Karl May's Winnetou proved to be a commercial success. And this album by Gila is just as racist. 🤮 ------------- 
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Posted By: kirk782
Date Posted: February 02 2025 at 00:03
I mean, Gila, were probably not the first choice for anyone to do an album on Native Americans' massacre. Though I am not sure if it's racist. The lyrics (the one's I could make out :p) seemed okay and I thought the band had put in decent effort. Eithercase, I am sure other members' would have listened to it more intently and probably multiple times than me. Wouldn't racist be like Genesis' doing an interpretation of Mexicans in the song Illegal Aliens [the music video]?
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Hrychu wrote:Posted By: Hrychu
Date Posted: February 02 2025 at 00:10
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Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: February 02 2025 at 05:03
Yes |
Posted By: Hrychu
Date Posted: February 02 2025 at 05:11
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Posted By: Hrychu
Date Posted: February 02 2025 at 06:18
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BTW, there is this goofball comedy movie called Der Schuh des Manitu, and it self-critically ridicules the Germans' obsession with Native Americans. It's pure cartoony slapstick fun. I really enjoyed it. The Polish dub is a little masterpiece in its own right. -------------
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Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: February 02 2025 at 22:50
| I have their first one but haven't played it yet. |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: February 03 2025 at 03:04
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Haven't heard this album in decades (it isn't that good either, compared with their debut), but I really don't think it should be qualified as racist back then, even with today's stoooooopid new woke revisionism that is in vogue. It may surprise some, but when we (Europeans) were kids paying "cow-boys & indians", some had much more sympathies for the Amerindians, than the invading Unitedstatians.. ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: kirk782
Date Posted: February 05 2025 at 07:06
I think I found this film on IMDb; I will try and see if I can get a copy. Of course, I won't be able to see or understand a polish dub of it : p.
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Posted By: kirk782
Date Posted: February 05 2025 at 07:07
It's an okayish album, nothing extraordinary after giving it a listen. I think the band had their heart at the right place when writing lyrics, they might not have been the perfect people to write about such a subject but either case, I don't think it's racist either.
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Posted By: Hrychu
Date Posted: February 05 2025 at 07:20
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At least the Gila album isn't as cheesy as the song of the same name by Buffy Sainte Marie (fyi a white person LARPing as a Native American). -------------
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Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: February 05 2025 at 08:43
Buffy was not a native-american, she had latin roots that made her look like one, though. Some called her a fraud, but her heart was at the right place. ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: Hrychu
Date Posted: February 13 2025 at 05:10
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