The two opening tracks from their 1972 debut to get us started:
1. You Play For Us Today
2. Sahara City
Download here (mp3s, 19.6 mb)
"Agitation Free's debut album is one of the absolute classic albums to come out of Germany in the 1970s. Agitation Free approached the groundbreaking experimental tendencies of the German scene from a different persepective than most of the other groups. Firstly, the delicate touch of melody was certainly not lost on the band, and they often bypass the strictly standoff-ish approach of many of the other German bands, infusing their albums with a gorgeous melodic drive. Malesch takes a slightly unique approach then the more jazzy follow-up, Second would, though both albums are in the same basic vein. The album extensively incorporates ethnic and world music influences, due to the fact that much of the album was apparently composed on a trip to Egypt around the same time. Much of the album features sound samples and recordings from the trip, which are used to divide the tracks.
Most of the Arabic and ethnic influence is percussive, as exotic rhythms underpin Agitation Free's melodic and powerful guitar interplay. "You Play for Us Today" and "Sahara City" both build into exciting, driving guitar led crescendos. "Ala Tul" features an extraordinary Michael Hoening keyboard motif that glides over the intense and magical percussive backdrop. "Pulse" tends to get bogged down a little in avant soundscapes, but does provide some breathing room and eventually morphs into a heavily hypnotic piece. "Khan E Khalili" and "Malesch" both build on the already established style of the album, and are full of powerful guitar interplay and a completely magical atmosphere. The soaring closer "Ruckstruz" is totally majestic, a powerful melody that closes out this classic album in fitting form. My overall opinion is obviously that this is one of the very finest German albums bar none. Agitation Free manages to be extremely melodic, yet retains that experimental focus and pushes their music waaaaaaayy out there. The incorporation of Arabic influences beneath the incredible guitar dueling makes this a unique entry in the Krautrock scene. I doubt that those already not predisposed towards the Krautrock/space-rock movement will find themselves converted by this album, but newbies would do well to start here." From Progweed.net
More info on their official page
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5 comments:
Thanks for these just dug through the piles and found that the only AF cd I have is Last, which is next on the list, I can u/l if no one else has it, if I can work out how. I'll give it a bash but may have to ask 4 help.
djh
ps
We trying to do this in order?
In order? Could be cute, if anyone has that Alcatraz record. (I have 72 of the list to hand but not that one.) But perhaps a tad ambitious...
Just tried to explode and play both of these and winrar is telling me I have problms with a file name or syntax. Have re-downloaded one again but had same problem. Does it work for you? The d/l appears succesful until you try to "explode" it on your machine.
You realise, I am sure, that these are not .RAR files, but .ZIP files?
I downloaded it myself just now and it worked fine for me. YMMV.
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