DON'T CALL US - WE CALL YOU

" Two more sides of freak rock", as one German music magazine refered to this album when it was released in 1973. Nevertheless, the band actually started to sound tighter and livelier partially as a result of the addition of the jazz influenced Hans Hartman who replaced Bruno Schaab on bass. Meanwhile, guitarist Ax Grenich also started refining his playing and becoming more "compositional" although the sillininess and psychedelia remained to a certain extent as did Mani Nuemeier`s wonderful improvisational drumming.

At this point the band seemed to be maturing and more serious musical experiments were actually taking place with Grenich featuring acoustic guitars and even the banjo as evidenced on Guru Guru LTD, a jazz/blues concoction. The opening track, Africa Steal the Show was more reminiscient of the bizarre sort of material they had been producing on the previous four albums while Round Dance was an interpretation with of a traditional Indian ghost dance inspired by the visit of an indian tribe but with the Guru Guru avant garde touch which can be compared to contemporary material from fellow Krautrockers CAN with whom they toured with often back in the glrious `70`s. Das Zwickmaschinen is an all out psychedelic trip also sounding at times like CAN. 200 clichés is more or less a straightblues/rock number. So expect a very diverse & interesting album without any of the tracks being connected musically or otherwise.

Included with the new release in 2006 is a bootleg recorded by a fan at the Krefeld Music Festival in September `73 with the Don`t Call Us We Call You line up. It contains material from the `72-`73 period the most noteworthy tracks being a 34 minute critical mass blowout of Ooga Booga and 16½ minute meldown of the strangely wonderful Der Elektrolurch. Remastering wizard EROC ( ex drummer of Grobschnitt ) has done an excellent job here although some tape hiss can still be heard. It is roughly equal in audio quality as the Essen 1970 release in 2003. Nice to hear more early live stuff from Mani and friends on this 2006 re-issue.

Don`t call Us We Call You is definitely a must for fans of early seventies psych and was the last chance to hear Guru Guru in total freak mode before streamlining their sound to incorporate more rythmic and structured approaches on the subsequent 1974 Dance of the Flames album.

Well even if you can still hear some traces of the wild experimental early Guru, it is clear that this is a new group, which decided to move on, but has yet to find a proper new direction, but will take a couple more years and a break up to find it, really! Still directed by drummer extraordinaire Mani Neumeier, backed with guitarist Ax Genrich and new bassist Hartman (replacing Trepte was definitely no easy task), the group recorded their fifth album in the summer of 73, the first for their new label Atlantic. With a kitsch artwork and a dumb name (but we know this never stopped Germans to make good rock music), this album was (as mentioned above) a change in direction.

Even with the 12-min+ opener Africa Srteals the Show, the double Guru shows right off the bat that they've taken a much more commercial approach: often corny, sometimes grotesque and cheesy in some cases. I must say that this Guru period is still a problem for me to accept fully, as I tend to dismiss these albums as a troubled transition period, where the group will even disband and reform a bit by a stroke of luck. Don't get me wrong, there are some fine moments in all these albums, but there are also times when the German cabaret spectre and the Oktoberfest beer binging music. Coming back to the lengthy opener, the track gets lost in an average drum solo, but gets saved by bells percussions. While the music is well played, it is completely patchy, disjointed and directionless, even going through a bluesy passage calling to their Kanguru album, even if most of the time evoking fun times. The next track (Round Dance) is starting out with the old space rock, but it is rather tamed compared to the wild stuff of their debut, but offers a bit of nostalgia, but follows it with pseudo Amerindian chants (they hit European's imagination that year with their last uprising of Wounded Knee) and then a guitar work out with Genrich gets a chance to let loose a bit. Completely patchy, but maybe my fave track on the album.

After such a bizarre first side, one had to hope the second one would make more sense, but not really: the three tracks are just as lost as before. The opening track, the aptly-named 200 Clichés sounds like some Hot Tuna, but fails to show the bass and guitar genius, even if the drums are superior to Jorma's group. The following track takes the almost grotesque side of Gong (but lacking the genius or humour) and extends it with a Latin feel guitar, tries to sound like a Pixie (almost manages too), but will remain a Pothead. The closing track Guru Ltd starts Flamenco then veers JL Hooker- blues, before heading to early Tuna again, then a folky Floyd, followed by a cheesy country banjo piece, etc. Gather you'll have understood by now. Finishing in bubbly Hare Krishna chants with a kazoo. Shhhiiitttt!!!!.. Not funny!

While this album is much more even than its predecessor, it fails to have any real highlights either, no tracks sticking out as particularly special. At the end of this album, another original member Ax Genrich will leave the group providing another real blow. Prestigious and experienced guitarists will try to fill his shoes: Nejadepour (from Eiliff) and the immense Conny Veit (from everything, really), but to no avail. Not really essential for the average proghead or the casual fans, but if you are a confirmed fan of Guru, this is still a worthy album for you.

By the time of their 5th album, Guru Guru was a band in transition, searching for a new identity and new forms of expressions. They hadn't entirely shed their psych-tripping kraut side yet, and unfortunately also their goofy rockabilly side keeps popping up here. At the same time the band tried their hand at some jazz rock and world music. The result is eclectic to say the least.

Not only does the sound and style change from track to track, the band also confronts the listener with several contrasting ideas within the course of just one song. It is a bouncy ride mostly and dreamy psych section contrast with rockabilly parody, country, jazz-rock, ... and whatever. None of it is really convincing to me and it all sounds like the creative production of a bunch of drunken students having silly fun in the studio.

There are some acceptable parts here but apart from the first 4 minutes of Round Dance I don't see any reason why you should check this out. However, if you liked the first half of the preceding album this may still have some appeal.