UVE SCHIKORA Das Gewitter 1972 WILD KRAUTROCK FUZZ HEAVY PSYCH LP Mohawks LISTEN

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UVE SCHIKORA UND SEINE GRUPPE "DAS GEWITTER" LP

ORIGINAL 1972 PRESSING ON THE EAST GERMAN AMIGA LABEL, STEREO

COVER IN EXCELLENT SHAPE

VINYL PLAYS NEAR MINT

Black Sabbath meets the Mohawks, read one review of this uber-obscure East German band’s lone foray into the field of progressive rock, psychedelia, freak-rock and just plain Deutsche weirdness.  It’s Uve Schikora and His Group’s Das Gewitter (The Storm) from 1972, released on the East German Amiga label and kept behind that wall for decades, or at least until the rest of the world was ready for it.  I find it really fascinating what outside influences crept into East Germany in the Seventies, and even more fascinating how twisted and warped in translation those influences got.  Take “Oh Angela,” for example, which is about black political activist and Communist party member Angela Davis (fittingly enough), but the music is some unholy Wagnerian epic that’d be more fitting for a tribute to Attila the Hun.  The 7-minute floaty mindblower “So Einen Sommerlang,” with its treated guitar and police siren organ sound like Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” three years early.  Even the  pop influences that creep in from time to time seem a bit incongruous – opener “Das Alte Lied” is just that – an “old song” – but it’s also the kind of bouncy beer hall number that the Kinks, the Beatles and just about everybody else were doing way back in 1967.  It just sounds more authentic here.  But it kinda makes you wonder – by “old song” did Uve mean back in the days of polka and oompah, or the Summer of ’67 on Carnaby Street in England?  They were certainly aware of that scene – the baroque harpsichord and piccolos in “Irgendwo Und Irgendwann” sound like a collision of “She’s Leaving Home” and “Penny Lane,” and it also sounds like something the Super Furry Animals might release next week. 

Side 2 is where things get stranger, trippier and funkier.  All good things.  The 7 and a half minute “Deine Augen” starts out with a hypnotic tribal krautrock rhythm, before some big fuzzed-out guitar power chords kick in.  Once the Hammond lays down the funk groove at the 2-minute mark, things start sounding like a stretched-out Marxist take on Deep Purple’s “Hush,” at least until the snakey Indian Bollywood bellydancing break sneaks in unannounced a minute and a half later.  Clearly, “Deine Augen” – your eyes – were, in this case, clouded over a little bit with the haze of some pretty powerful peyote.  The 12-minute title track follows and rounds things out on a heavy progressive vibe – with a monster fuzz riff battling a Hammond groove that just won’t quit.  It’s probably this song that most closely resembles what the reviewer meant by “Black Sabbath meets the Mohawks,” especially in the slowburning epic, titanic and slightly Satanic midsection, where Uve whips out his best Valkyrian Ian Gillan dramatics while the raging fuzz guitars, electric wah wah saxophone and psychedelic phased drums rage behind him with Teutonic fury.  Das Gewitter is certainly a storm, all right, a hurricane force of musical genres past, present and future, all rolled up into one 40-minute cyclone of noise.  Duck and cover.

HOEREN SIE BITTE!

PLEASE NOTE I NO LONGER SHIP TO ITALY DUE TO A CORRUPT POSTAL SYSTEM (THERE, NOT HERE).  BUYERS FROM ITALY AGREE TO PAY FOR GLOBAL PRIORITY MAIL INSURED ONLY!

The less exciting stuff

Media mail shipping with delivery confirmation starts at $4.00 in the US, with each additional record only $1 additional shipping.  I accept payments through Paypal. 

I try to grade as best as I can, and I list as many blemishes/imperfections I can find (writing, ringwear, scuff marks, etc.) – Also, please note that I DO listen to these albums – I may not listen to every track, but my grades are based on LISTENING, not just looking at it, since chances are you’ll be listening to the record you buy, not just looking at it.  Most of the albums I sell are the ones I’ve enjoyed for years – and I treat my records with kid gloves.  But sounds speak louder than words, so check out the sound clips below – they’re from the actual record you’re bidding on. 

SHIPPING AND PACKAGING

Listen, I buy a bunch of records too (when I’m not getting outbid at the last second, which is more often than not) – and I know what it’s like to get a rare, one-of-a-kind album packaged dangerously in a flimsy bubblewrap package.  I hate that too.  So rest assured, I ALWAYS package albums with stiff cardboard reinforcements, same for 45s.  And yes, the records are removed from the sleeves (for albums).  I ship out once a week, every Friday, because I have a regular day job.  But I’d be willing to give that up if you’d all be so kind as to bid my items up to stupidly high amounts. 

 For more security and international tracking, you may request GLOBAL PRIORITY MAIL - but bear in mind the cost of this service is upwards of $30.  For expensive items, however, it may be well worth it.  Unfortunately, there isn’t a cost-effective way of tracking parcels to foreign countries yet, and shipping times vary depending on your country’s postal system.   Italy in particular seems to be really bad at delivering packages quickly, or delivering packages at all, now that you mention it.  I will always email you when your package ships, but once it’s on its way, please don’t ask me when it will arrive because I don’t know.  If the world’s postal systems can ever agree on a universal tracking system that’s affordable, I’ll be the first to use it.

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN…

I will always leave positive feedback for successful transactions, and would appreciate the same in return.  All I ask of you is the following – please pay for your items within 14 days of the close of auction.  Compared to other sellers, that’s a generous amount of time, so if you don’t pay within 2 weeks, then I have to assume something’s wrong.  You’ll get an Ebay payment reminder at that point, and possibly a decapitated horse head in your bed.  If, after 30 days, you still haven’t forked up the cash, I’ll relist the item and yell at you if I ever see you in town.