Floh De Cologne - Profitgeier Live

This is the reissue of the 3rd album by the German outfit "Floh De Cologne", originally issued in 1971 on the OHR label: "Outrageous and purely innovative, Floh De Cologne, since their inception in 1966 as a student cabaret and music band, constantly surprised, puzzled and always deliberately broke convention. Their elaborate stage shows, socio-political theatrical productions and pure musical innovation lead to obvious comparisons with the similarly radical Mothers of Invention. Yet, while the Mothers were chiefly the vehicle of one musician, Floh de Cologne were a collective unit of creative musicians and actors, who continually dared to take chance, provoke and surprise their audiences via a blend of rock, satire and theatre. In this album, they aptly developed a more rock song based formula, and were also in a more aggressive mood."

The group was one of the best known of the German political rock scene. Few countries had so many politically active bands as Germany. Floh De Cologne was originally a radical theatre performance group of students that performed cabarets at the universities of Cologne from 1966 onwards. A natural target for political agitation at that time was the Vietnam War, and "Vietnam" (1968) became the title of Floh De Cologne's first album, the result of a collaboration with Dieter Suverkrup (recorded several political rock albums for Plane). All royalties gained were transferred to a foundation for helping the Vietnamese. They appeared at the Essen song festival in Autumn 1968.

With their blend of political lyrics, (German) humour and lunacy they became known as the German answer to The Fugs and Mothers Of Invention. Not surprisingly they were signed to the number one underground label then: Ohr records. "Fliessbandbabys Beat Show" was released in the Summer 1970. It was the first of the legendary Ohr LPs. This was a somewhat unique rock cabaret where the group parodied different rock styles. A highly entertaining effort containing much silliness and a sort of Bonzo Dog-like nostalgia, only that Floh De Cologne were as German as the Bonzos were English! It was all produced by Julius Schittenhelm in Cologne during April 1970. The sleeve showed a 19 point step by step guide on how to become politically active. I wonder if anyone converted to Marxism on the strength of this record?
Their next project was "Profitgeier" (1971), ('profit vultures'), that dealt with all of the disadvantages of the capitalist system. The record itself was pressed on glowing red vinyl, as if the group's political standing point wasn't evident from the agitated texts. Musically this was a highly imaginative rock opera, including even more parodies and silliness, perhaps the closest the band came to The Fugs and Mothers Of Invention. The group members acted as different characters or proclaimed political views on the class divided society, speaking with funny or strained voices. This was executed at a furious tempo, making the plot difficult to understand for non-Germans. Anyway, this was the essence of Floh De Cologne, captured on a peerless album.

Floh De Cologne - Profitgeier Live
(192 kbps, ca. 53 MB, front cover included)

The wonderful WMFU´s Beware Of The Blogs has a three minute video of "Floh De Cologne" that puts a bit of the Fugs into focus: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/08/xhol_caravan_an.html