23 August 2014

It's just a Cosmic Joke





This really is a cosmic joke, but not all the musicians involved were laughing. Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser & Gille Lettman of the Kosmische Musik label arranged several acid parties in early 1973 to be held at Dieter Dierks studio in Stommein, Germany. Since 1969 Dierks Studios had  been the home of the most important Krautrock artists, first generation German rock bands, & electronic pioneers, among them Ihre Kinder, Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, Witthüser & Westrupp, Hoelderlin, Wallenstein, Birth Control, Guru Guru, Embryo, Popol Vuh, Bröselmaschine, the politically orientated rock bands Amon Düül, & Floh de Colgne.

The musicians attending Kaiser’s acid parties were offered drugs in exchange for recording tracks. Participants included Manuel Göttsching & Klaus Schulze of Ash Ra Tempel, also Jürgen Dollase & Harald Großkopf of Wallenstein. Prior to this, all of the musicians involved had been in the Cosmic Couriers, which had played on experimental recordings by Sergius Golowin, Walter Wegmüller, & Timothy Leary.

Kaiser took the tapes from these sessions. He edited & mixed them with the help of Dierks. He then released them on his label, Kosmische Musik, complete with the musicians' pictures on the LP sleeve, without asking for their permission. Göttsching did not find out about the record release until he heard one of the records playing in a record store in Berlin & asked the record clerk what was playing.




Kaiser released five records accredited to the Cosmic Jokers in 1974. While none of the musicians were happy with the recordings, Schulze was so angry after the release of Gilles Zeitschiff that he sued Kaiser. In 1975, Kaiser was forced to discontinue & withdraw the recordings. He fled the country over the affair, abandoning his record label over the threat of impending legal problems.

Here are two of the better examples…

Cosmic Jokers – Cosmic Jokers, Kosmische Musik KM 58.008, 1974.
decryption codes in comments

Seite 1 –
Galactic Joke
Seite 2 –
Cosmic Joy


Galactic Supermarket – Galactic Supermarket, Kosmische Musik KM 58.010, 1974.

Seite 1 –
Kinder des Alls
Seite 2 –
Galactic Supermarket

with Rosi Müller,& Gille Lettmann

Enjoy this tripping Krautrock,

7 comments:

  1. Cosmic Jokers
    Gn8WfggY23r1Tj80t1SC-1sAx9sGLm5MaGLbuf60Rww
    Galactic Supermarket
    JNgzMwGMqRBFM0NpakH8j4chtVqY0637KiBlrMTLJoM

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  2. Thanks for sharing these! I got interested in these LP's while reading Julian Cope's Krautrocksampler.

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  3. Damn! Glad I stopped by tonight. I have seen these albums many times over the years, both 'live-in-store' and in various discographies. I don't know why I never paid them any attention and this is the first time I have ever heard the 'background' to their recording. As a survivor of many 'parties' myself it now makes sense! Many thanks, and 'space on'!

    -Brian

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    Replies
    1. Brian
      Thanks again for taking the time to comment. Although I do this just to get music out, it is so rewarding to get some feedback once in a while. Then to get comments that say more than "Cool, dude" (though I don't mind those either) is really special.

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  4. Great post! You'll find the true story, together with that harder-to-find third album, at falsememoryfoam.blogspot

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    Replies
    1. FT3, I did get around to posting up Planeten Sit-In on july 4, 2015 as The Voyage of the Spaceship Galaxy. Thanks for your "take" on things. FalseMemoryFoam always tells the "true" story. Thanks for the comment & linkage.

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    2. Thanks, NØ! Love your blog, and Happy Christmas!

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