Agitation Free
| Agitation Free | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | Berlin , Germany |
| Genre (s) | Progressive rock , Krautrock |
| founding | 1967, 1998 |
| resolution | 1974 |
| Website | www.agitationfree.com |
| Current occupation | |
Electric bass |
Daniel "Danda" Cordes |
Drums |
Burghard Rausch |
guitar |
Gustl Lütjens († October 2017) |
guitar |
Lutz "Lüül" Ulbrich |
Keyboard |
Michael Hoenig |
| former members | |
Light show |
Folke Hanfeld |
guitar |
Lutz Kramer |
guitar |
Ax Genrich |
guitar |
Joschi Schwenke |
guitar |
Stephan Diez |
singing |
Michael "Micki" Duwe |
Drums |
Christopher Franke |
Drums |
Gerd Klemke |
Drums |
Dietmar Burmeister |
Drums |
Harald Grosskopf |
Drums |
Jochen Bauer |
Drums |
Konstantin "Bommi" Bommarius (1950–2014) |
Drums |
John Mernitt |
Keyboard |
Christian "Bino" Brero |
Keyboard |
Peter Michael Hamel |
Keyboard |
Christian Kneisel |
Keyboard |
Bernhard Arndt |
Keyboard |
Manfred Opitz |
Keyboard |
Bernd Gruber |
saxophone |
Klaus Henrichs |
| Lou Blackburn | |
Electric bass |
Michael "Fame" Günther († March 2014) |
Agitation Free is a German progressive / krautrock band from Berlin .
Band history
The band was formed in 1967 through the merger of two Berlin rock groups. The quartet, consisting of Lutz Ulbrich , Michael Günther, Christopher Franke and Lutz Ludwig Kramer and, for a time, Michael Duwe , who initially played mainly foreign compositions and finally developed long improvisations, experimented with liquid projectors, slides and self-made films at concerts at the end of 1967. After a few changes in line-up, Agitation Free appeared in 1970 at the “First German Progressive Pop Festival” in the Berlin Sports Palace . Like other bands, they received their final touches in the "Electronic Beat Studio Berlin" under the direction of Thomas Kessler . In April 1972 the band with the line-up Lutz Ulbrich, Michael Günther, Jörg Schwenke , Michael Hoenig and Burghard Rausch went on tour through Egypt , Lebanon , Cyprus and Greece at the invitation of the Goethe Institute . The diverse impressions of this trip were reflected in the first album "Malesch".
In the summer of 1972 the band appeared in the cultural program of the Olympic Games in Munich, toured France for two months in early 1973, performed at the “German Rock Super Concert” in Frankfurt in May, produced the second album “2nd” and then went on tour through France and major German cities. Both the SFB and the WDR broadcast portraits and live concerts. In 1974 symptoms of fatigue spread among the band, which led to the temporary dissolution at the end of the year after a farewell concert.
Later, Christopher Franke helped the band Tangerine Dream to gain worldwide recognition. Michael Hoenig worked with Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream before he became known as a film composer after a solo album in Hollywood. Axel Genrich switched to Guru Guru , Burghard Rausch became a founding member of Bel Ami . Gustl Lütjens toured with Shirley Bassey and Nena and later found an audience with his new age band Living Mirrors , especially in the USA. Lutz "Lüül" Ulbrich joined Ashra , worked with ex-Velvet Underground singer Nico , produced solo records in addition to theater music and has played with the 17 Hippies since the late 1990s . In 1998 Ulbrich, Lütjens, Günther and Rausch met at a birthday party for the group founder Lutz "Lüül" Ulbrich and spontaneously decided to continue their work together. In the summer of 1999 the new album "River of Return", produced by Spliff guitarist Potsch Potschka , was released by BSC Music.
Agitation Free completed a week-long tour of Japan in February 2007. After a break of more than 33 years, the band played there with the original line-up from 1974. The concerts in Japan took place at the same time as the inauguration of a wax figure by keyboardist Michael Hoenig. Hoenig is now the second member of the band, next to Lutz Ulbrich and the band's colleague Manni Neumeier (Guru Guru) in the "Tokyo Tower Wax Museum". There are also other figures such as B. that of the long-time co-musician of Hoenig, Don Preston , formerly Mothers of Invention , the band of Frank Zappa .
Discography
- 1972: Malesch (LP - Vertigo, LP - IRI (1978), CD - Spalax (1993)) SPV Records 2008
- 1973: 2nd (LP - Vertigo, LP - IRI (1978), CD - Spalax (1995)) SPV Records 2008
- 1976: Last (LP - Barclay, CD - Spalax (1992)) SPV Records 2008
- 1995: Fragments (CD - BMG, CD - Spalax (1996)) SPV Records 2008
- 1998: Live ′74 - At the Cliffs of River Rhine (live in Cologne 1974) (CD - Garden of Delight) SPV Records 2008
- 1999: The Other Sides of Agitation Free (CD - Garden of Delight)
- 1999: River of Return (CD - BSC Music) SPV Records 2008
- 2011: Shibuya Nights - Live in Tokyo (CD - Esoteric Records / Cherry Red)
literature
- Ulbrich, Lutz : "Lüül - A musician life between Agitation Free, Ashra, Nico, the Neue Deutsche Welle and the 17 hippies " - Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf - Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-89602-696-8
- Ehnert, Günter: Rock in Germany: Lexikon dt. Rockgruppen u. Performers / Günter Ehnert; Detlef Kinsler. - Orig. Edition, (3rd, updated and extended edition). - Hamburg: Taurus Press, 1984. - 434 p .; 18 cm, ISBN 3-922542-16-6
- Christian Graf: "Rock Lexicon Germany". Verlag Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, 2002, ISBN 3-89602-273-3
- Frank Laufenberg , Ingrid Laufenberg: Frank Laufenberg's hit lexicon of rock and pop. , Ullstein Tb., October 2002. ISBN 3-548-36362-8
- Christian Graf, Burghard Rausch: Rockmusiklexikon Europa, Vol. 1. , Fischer Tb., Frankfurt July 2005. ISBN 3-596-16428-1
- Christian Graf, Burghard Rausch: Rockmusiklexikon Europa, Vol. 2. , Fischer Tb., Frankfurt July 2005. ISBN 3-596-16429-X
- Christian Graf, Burghard Rausch: Rock Music Lexicon America, Africa, Asia, Australia , Fischer Tb, Frankfurt October 2003. ISBN 3-596-15869-9
- Tibor Kneif: Sachlexikon rock music. Instruments, styles, techniques, industry and history , Reinbek b. Hamburg: Rowohlt, revised and expanded edition 1980. ISBN 3-499-16223-7 (Lexicon and collection of examples from rock 'n' roll , rhythm & blues , jazz rock , funk metal , country rock , folk rock , blues rock , hard rock , Punk , new wave and a register)
- Tibor Kneif: rock music. A manual for critical understanding. With a contribution by Carl-Ludwig Reichert , Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1982. ISBN 3-499-16279-2 (with a chapter on the fundamentals of rock music, e.g. elements, instruments and stylistic roots as well as materials for a theory rock music, its sociology, aesthetics and history)
- Artemy Troitsky: "Rock in Russia: Rock and Subculture in the USSR", Hannibal-Verlag, Vienna 1989. ISBN 3-85445-046-X
- Zöller, Christa. Rock music as a youthful worldview and mythology. Religion and Biography, Vol. 2. Münster: Lit. 2000. ISBN 978-3-8258-4517-9
- Steven & Alan Freeman: The Crack in the Cosmic Egg 1996, Audion Publ., Leicester ISBN 0-9529506-0-X
- Alexander Simmeth: Krautrock transnational. The reinvention of pop music in Germany, 1968–1978 , Transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2016, ISBN 978-3-8376-3424-2