Rufus Zuphall – Phallobst 1971 (Germany, Krautrock-Prog Folk)

Rufus Zuphall – Phallobst 1971 (Germany, Krautrock-Prog Folk)

The second album from this band based in Aachen. The group disbanded in September 1972, following a farewell concert.RZ's second album, released on the now-legendary Pilz label, was recorded in Dieter Dierks's studios. Two personnel changes: the bassist (departing Lieblang was the lyric writer in the first line-up, and he contributes to three songs without playing) and the addition of a second guitarist Kittel. Early 70's German prog group always shared some doubtful tastes regarding their artwork (in this regard the rebel-rock attitude was more respected than their English counterparts), but here we are definitely with one of the top 10 tasteless artwork depicting a rotten pear getting devoured by worms and the just-as-ugly inside gatefold shows their faces as the worms !!!!
Clearly better produced, with more musical possibilities (both guitarists play a bit of KB now and then and even a tad of Mellotron), with much shorter track length (max 6 minutes), this album is more concise and maybe proggier than the debut. If the first two tracks go unsurprisingly by with their lot of happy sounds, we are more intrigued with the longer Schupfner with its medieval-like guitars and superb flute: very reminiscent of the first album, it is the highlight of the A-side of the album along with a much calmer and reflective Waste Land.

The second side of the album is a bit more uplifting with the instrumental Makrojel opening strongly, with a jazzy feeling, but we are again in their typical sound. Actually, it is quite hard to recognize instantly which RZ track you are listening to without the help of the albums, as they had a "sound with which they rarely digressed from. Another instrumental track, Prickel Pit, follows with heavier riffy guitars, while an Derroll Adams track, Portland Town will become a concert favorite. The closing track is a rather slow developer (with them Mellotrons and a clavinet in the intro). But while there are some Folk influences on this album, to call this their main influences would be grossly exaggerating as they take up as much from the blues or jazz in the studio and live they were even bluesier..

Tracks:

01. Closing Time — 0:00

02. Wenn Schon, Denn Schon — 3:24

03. Schnupfer — 6:58

04. Waste Land — 12:16

05. Makröjel — 17:29

06. Prickel Pit — 23:31

07. Portland Town — 27:27

08. I’m On My Way — 31:23


Personnel (original album):

Günter Krause — electric & acoustic guitar, steel guitar, mellotron, vocals
Thomas Kittel — electric guitar, 12-string guitar, clavinet
Klaus Gülden — flute
Manfred Spangenberg — bass
Udo Dahmen — drums
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Dieter Dierks — engineer

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