WEIß DER TEUFEL

One of the legendary rare album from this band (hailing from Aachen next to Belgium and The Netherlands), this was released as a private pressing and an original pressing goes for fortunes. This high cost is probably not increasing of late as the re-formed group has made a new pressing of both the vinyl and the CD. This group is one of the German groups I have been aware early in my life as they passed to Bilzen festival in the early 70's, and although too young to attend at the time, I managed to remember their weird name. Much later in the 70's I was able to "score" a used copy of this album (with a different artwork than the famous toilet cover), which held cult status in my eyes, because I loved their rough and raw sound.

RZ is often unjustly compared to Jethro Tull because of the presence of a flauter (but this one is not mad does not sing and speaks perfect French), but not only is this reductive but also incorrect: sure there are similarities but RZ is much more bluesish and jazzy, have a tendency to expand instrumentally much more than Tull would. If any comparison to Tull should be made, it would be towards a much proggier version of Tull's debut Time Was and a sort of progressive garage rock.

Two short tracks and two 7-min+ monsters make-up the first side of the album and Knight of The Third Degree is an excellent acoustic laced Gershwin-type of jazzy tune. Very happy and aerial, this music is made for good mood and loaded with positive vibes. The two shorter tracks (which came as the A and B-side of a single) are quite superb also. Freitag (Friday) could not be anything else than joyful too, and just like a Friday night on the town is raw, live, naughty and bluesy fun. Must be said that guitarist Gunter Krause's vocals are not a highlight of RZ's overall sound, but it is not a problem either: just apt and adequate.

The second side of the album is occupied by their "piece de résistance", a lenghty mostly instrumental track built upon Gershwin's (him again) Summertime theme, which was also the high point of their concerts. Unfortunately, the studio version could've done without the lenghty drum solo (heard worse than this particular one, but I always thought of drum solos on studio and live albums as useless), but the rest of the track is a great showcase (with some almost jam-like lengths) for the whole group's instrumental prowess. At times, the positive vibes are making the listener exhilarating, basking in a cloudless sky of happiness.

The Cd version is now coming with six bonus live tracks from their farewell concert: the sound is just bootleg adequate (no more), and their live sound was slightly harder and bluesier and except for the odd track are not much added value. I would've rather seen them released as a separate album with the bonus track on their following Phallobst album.

Hardly essential to the prog rock history, RZ's two albums are both recommended to fans of early 70's prototype of prog rock. A good sound moment of good vibes, happiness and hippy idealism.

A sensational first album by this very bluesy folk rock band. The music is totally imaginative, mainly instrumental, delivering catchy, dynamic compositions accompanied by psychedelic, possessed flute lines, bluesy rock guitar riffs and progressive arrangements. The general mood tends to be orientated to trippy, acid atmospheres. All the bluesy jams and fancy acoustic guitar sounds are highlighted by eccentric, prominent flute solos. A solid, powerful psych folk rock item dominated by outstanding, funny, effective, epic instrumental sections. This album is a must which can easily convince all fans of prog folk!

This wonderful debut album by the roots-oriented German prog act made a big impression on me, when I bought it over ten years ago. This is one of the few albums which has stood the test of time, and listening to it is still gives me lots of enjoyment enriched with nostalgia. Though the music is impressionistic and wild, it mostly bluesy 1970's rock oriented by jazz, folk and slightly psychedelic influences. I think that the most talented musician of the band is Udo Dahmen playing the drums. There are evident classic jazz influences to be heard in his playing. Klaus Gülden's flute is also a good extra color in the band's palette, creating both soothing and chaotic sounds. The album begins with "Walpurgisnacht", a stoned bluesy rocker in the vein of early Jane. The second song "Knight of 3rd Degree" has Spanish and medieval elements in the music, and its metaphorical lyrics are fine, making up this track as one of the top moments of this wonderful album. The following songs "Spanferkel" and "Freitag" are instrumental numbers, the last one having very insane and painful sounding guitar solo. The second side of the LP holds the title track "Weiß der Teufel", which concludes many different elements like Gershwin's "Summertime" and mad flute solos to a wonderful avant-garde rock epic. Very emotional and powerful stuff. My copy of this album is a vinyl released by Little Wing, so it doesn't have the bonus live material from Aachen, but I have heard them from my "Avalon and On" boxed set, and at least the live version from their "Avalon Suite" is a good performance of a fine tune. A very recommendable, wonderful album.

This was RUFUS ZUPHAL's debut released in 1970. It was recorded live in the studio so we get a fairly raw and unpolished sound that I like.They had a very good rhythm section (the drummer would go on to play with KRAAN) and prominant flute.

"Walpurgisnacht" hit me right away, the first time I heard it I thought "What a great sounding band". The vocals and flute both sound outstanding. Some nice contrasts in this one. Guitar leads the way 1 1/2 minutes in. "Knight Of 3rd Degree" has this heavy rhythm as flute plays over top. It calms right down 2 minutes in. Reserved voicals before 3 minutes. This is all melancholic sounding. It kicks back in before 6 minutes as the song ends just like it began. "Spanferkel" is more aggressive with lots of flute. Great sound ! It's funny when the song ends you can hear the flute player take a deep breath. "Freitag" has a Blues flavour to it. The drums start to dominate after a minute with flute. The guitar comes in and I really like the flute melodies here. The guitar starts to rip it up and a good rhythm follows as the style of the flute changes. The guitar is back ! "Weiss Der Teufel" is the over 17 minute closer. It opens with flute and some heaviness. A good steady rhyrthm follows as guitar plays over top.The flute replaces the guitar. We get a 2 minute drum solo that's actually pretty good. Vocals after 5 minutes with prominant bass. It turns psychedelic with some crazy vocal expressions 8 minutes in.The insanity lasts for about a minute. The song kicks back in at 12 1/2 minutes to a fantastic sound ! It settles again before kicking back in to end it.

This is a good one that's well worth a 4 star rating.

An album more interesting than actually entertaining, the somewhat unfocused debut from Rufus Zuphall ranges from Jethro Tull-influenced prog-folk-rock (as on the opening Walpurgisnacht) to strange, unclassifiable material suck as Knights of the Third Degree, which incorporates influences from traditional musics from all over the world. A nice distraction, but I think it may be one of those albums whose rarity has led to it becoming very slightly overrated - it's good, but doesn't exactly blow the competition out of the water. Ultimately, jam-driven unfocused debut albums by Krautrock bands were not exactly uncommon in the early 1970s and this isn't an especially vital addition to that crowd.

Searching for a band to define the Kraut Rock term in an accepted degree, Rufus Zuphall from Aachen would make for a great candidate.The band was formed in 1969 by flutist Klaus Gülden, guitarist/singer Günter Krause, bassist Helmut Lieblang and drummer Udo Dahmen, while reputedly they had a fifth Classical-educated keyboardist during the early days, and their popularity increased after their gig at the Jazz Festival in Bilzen, Belgium, in 1970 in front of 30,000 people, supporting Black Sabbath, Cat Stevens and May Blitz.Their debut ''Weiss der Teufel'' was recorded in the Netherlands in just three days at the fall of 70', released on the Good Will label with guest star Erich Engels on percussion.

Their style trully represents the outlandish sound of the major Kraut Rock bands, being a hybrid of storming Heavy Prog and Psychedelic Folk with the atmosphere changing from jamming and intense musicianship to melancholic and hypnotic folky tunes.The opening side contains four cuts of pounding and energetic Psych/Prog with dominant guitar solos, loose grooves and heavy-driving flutes with a JETHRO TULL flavor, while there are plenty of impressive breaks and edgy interplays to be met as well.Hints of Classical influences and the pure Psych/Folk piece ''Knight of third degree'' with its long percussion-led parts show the diverse sound of the group.The English vocals are rather limited and the focus remains on a very dynamic and powerful combination of guitars and flutes with a confident rhythm section supporting.The flipside contains the sidelong eponymous track, which clocks at 17 minutes, and sums up Rufus Zuphall's main influences and at times extremely psychedelic style.Lots of flute sections, hypnotic drums and smooth guitars combine with passionate instrumental textures with heavy guitars, flute solos and and endless batlles between them, while there are plenty of bluesy and Folk references through the epic.Some obcure vocal passages and the drum solo at the beginning are the epic's weaker moments.

The Long Hair CD reissue comes with an extra six tracks, caught live in Aachen in June 72' in one of the last performances of Rufus Zuphall.A couple of them appeared later in other releases of the band (''Avalon Suite'', ''Prickel Pit''), while the line-up includes bassist Manfred Spangenberg and guitarist Thomas Kittel in the place of Helmut Lieblang.The sound has little to do with the debut of the band, these pieces contain mainly British-flavored Heavy/Blues Rock with emphasis on the guitar parts of Krause and rather limited flute parts, while the vocals are even closer to British-styled groups with little originality.

Despite not belonging among the monumental releases of the Kraut Rock movement, Rufus Zuphall's debut is a strong album of flute/guitar-led Progressive Rock with tons of energy and some pounding instrumental themes of nice inspiration.Recommended, a good starting point for everyone who wants to come in touch with the early-70's German Progressive Rock scene.

What an aggressive flute performance. RUFUS ZUPHALL's debut album "Weiß Der Teufel ..." has got to be one of hard Krautrock pioneers.

Firstly, the last titled track is the masterpiece, based upon a standard jazz number "Summertime". Klaus' floating flute playing and hard-edged rock phrases are amazingly violent although based upon such a jazz standard one. Their improvised heavy rock riffs in the beginning part and flexible drum machinegun-ish meteor shower remind me hard / shoegaze / freestyled Krautrock like Guru Guru or Ash Ra Tempel. Whilst the following one with Summertime's phrases, featuring stable jazz essence and steady flute punches, give us a momentary comfort. And the middle is kinda killa for us ... complex, eccentric flute violence makes a definite explosion as a percussive device, with crazy meaningless shouts. This part is very exciting and experimental, that can be suitable to be called as Krautrock. Basically not leans toward other Prog Folk outfits featuring beautiful flute sounds like Jethro Tull. They played with kaleidoscopic soundscape, with burning sunlight and cool moonlight. Not only simply jazzy footprints they'd left but also splendid kinky freaky experiment expression, let me say.

Not only the masterpiece above mentioned, we can enjoy their brilliant, delightful sounds, especially via Klaus' flute launcher. The third track "Spanferkel" is the shortest in this album but one of the most powerful, the most thrilling attacks too, where massive flute bomb makes exposures of eruption again and again. Their perfect innovation of sound drives us mad. On the contrary, the fourth (the last of Side A) one "Freitag" sounds a bit unrefined (in a fine sense) along with tense, slightly cynical deep riffs like jazz Krautrocker Xhol Caravan or Air in the same nation. In the first track "Walpurgisnacht" we can enjoy hard pop with fantastic flute-based dry-fruity tips as if we would throw ourselves into old-fashioned "non-kosmische" German rock really. Through the whole creation, we can feel very colourful structure here and there.

Anyway off-topic, this album was recommended by a Krautrock specialist Philippe Blache as a brilliant flute-fronted one. Let me say thanks to Philippe and I wish I could be such a killer flutist. :)

RUFUS ZUPHALL has been considered by many to be one of the more important early bands that got lumped into Germany's Krautrock scene in the early 1970s. Founded in Aachen in 1969 by Günter Krause (guitar, vocals), Helmut Lieblang (bass), Klaus Gülden (flute) and Udo Dahmen (drums), this band was decidedly not as interested in taking the separatist journey into the realms of the tripped out sounds that the homeland was undertaking and instead looked towards the English prog scene for inspiration. The band's sound was a mix of prog rock, blues rock, hard rock and progressive folk with a heavy use of flute that got the band compared with Jethro Tull.

While only existing until 1972 before disbanding (a reformation occurred in 1999), RUFUS ZUPHALL released two albums with this debut WEISS DER TEUFEL (translated as "The Devil Knows") in 1970 thus considered one of Germany's pioneering Krautrock bands. One of the band's strategies was to market itself out of its homeland and to appeal more to the neighboring nations of the Netherlands and Belgium with massive exposure at the jazz festival in Belzen, Belgium in 1970 which included other non-jazz artists such as Black Sabbath, Cat Stevens and May Blitz. This move was a good one as it allowed RUFUS ZUPHALL to enjoy a level of success that many German bands would never experience.

When listening to WEISS DER TEUFEL it would be hard to tell at all that this band was German much less lumped into the Krautrock scene as the musical style is firmly based in blues rock with the more complex compositional flair of progressive rock but the main focus was clearly on the flute virtuosity of Klaus Gülden and while the comparisons with Jethro Tull are well-founded, the truth of the matter is that the jamming style of the band wasn't nearly as developed as the exquisite songwriting masterworks of Ian Anderson. The feel of WEISS DER TEUFEL is rather inconsistent and features simple grooves augmented by bluesy guitar licks, both instrumental and vocal segments and long drawn out meandering. The role of the flute was obviously to distract from the otherwise uninspiring compositions and the end result is a decent but not exactly satisfying collection of five tracks.

While the 17 minute long title track which closes the album sounds promising as a true forward thinking prog composition, in reality it's just a ridiculously long blues rock track that takes a few left turns and offers a bit more variation in the Tull inspired flute runs but unfortunately the creative mojo is mostly absent and the Ian Anderson similarities are a bit too similar for my liking. The flute freakout in the middle features a few moments of psychedelic craziness but ultimately it sounds a bit too silly for its own good. For those who want even more of this stuff, the 2004 remaster on the Long Hair label features a few bonus tracks but ultimately they are just live covers of 60s blues rock songs and a testament to RUFUS ZUPHALL looking backwards instead of pioneering in the vein of many Kraut bands. When all is said and done, i don't find this one very satisfying.