AMON DÜÜL II – Phallus Dei (1969)

Amon Düül II (or Amon Düül 2, Pronunciation: Amon Düül) are a German rock band formed in 1968. The group is generally considered to be one of the pioneers of the West German krautrock scene. Their 1970 album Yeti was described by British magazine The Wire as “one of the cornerstones of the entire Krautrock movement”.

Amon Düül II emerged from the radical West German Amon Düül art commune in Munich. The band’s first album, Phallus Dei, was released in 1969. Amon Düül II received offers to write music for films and won a German film award, the Deutscher Filmpreis, for their contribution to the 1970 film San Domingo.

Their first album Phallus Dei (‘God’s Phallus’), released in 1969, consisted of pieces drawn from the group’s live set at the time. By this time the line-up was built around a core of Karrer (mainly violin and guitar), Weinzierl (guitar, bass, piano), Rogner on keyboards, bass player Dave Anderson, and two drummers (Peter Leopold (born 15 August 1945) who had joined the group from Berlin, and Dieter Serfas. Renate Knaup at this point was only contributing minimal vocals but was very much part of the group. According to Weinzierl by this time “The band played almost every day. We played universities, academies, underground clubs, and every hall with a power socket and an audience”. Releasing an album brought the group greater prominence and they began to tour more widely in Germany and abroad, playing alongside groups such as Tangerine Dream, and in Germany staying in other communes including the pioneering Kommune 1 in Berlin.