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left:
the original Embryo in 1969, right: the first Embryo gig we attended at the
Angora Italian restaurant in Munich in the 1990s
Embryo, the birth of a new sound
Undeniably,
one of the most dedicated and seminal of the bands to emerge from Germany in
the late 60s - early 70s was Embryo, born out of the hot-spot of new European
jazz: Munich, and vehicle for the single-minded ideals of one Christian
Burchard and his music. Embryo's history is torturously complicated, so many
people have passed through the band, become attuned to the Embryo ethic, and
proceeded to produce their own elaborations in other bands. Notorious jazzers
like Mal Waldron, Charlie Mariano and others have regularly played with
Embryo in concerts, and have also been featured on their albums.
Early Days
A true "Krautrock" band with its footing firmly in the jazz idiom,
Embryo's roots of invention sprang from a group of like-minded musicians,
artists etc. known as Amon Düül. Experimenting with new forms of jazz
expression, rock and avant-garde, the results of such work can be heard in
full glory on Amon Düül II's PHALLUS DEI, a music that was neither rock or
jazz, but something unique to Germany, a new music had been born.
Christian Burchard left Amon Düül
II during the recording of PHALLUS DEI and joined up with long time friend
Edgar Hofmann to form Embryo, with the idea of producing a music that was a
fusion of jazz, rock, blues and soul. The resultant first album: OPAL wasn't
what one may expect; a basic form of jazz-rock with a hard-hitting sometimes
freaky edge, it would have been quite unique at the time (though nowadays it
does seem a mite dated) and has some excellent moments, particularly the
albums closer People Out Of The Space, which was one of the few tracks to
hint at the Embryo sound to come.
The Krautrock era
Now, a very much in demand live band, with a line-up of (seemingly)
constantly changing musicians, the Embryo sound had matured considerably. The
second album EMBRYO'S RACHE (Embryo's Revenge) no doubt surprised nearly everyone,
with its powerful set of compositions and superb production quality. The
extremely tight rhythm section (of Burchard and Bunka), winds, violin and
multi-keyboards make for a spectacular music that only occasionally lets up
for a song or a touch of lighter atmospherics. Take Revenge (written by
Tabarin Man aka Jimmy Jackson), a veritable tour-de-force: multi-percussives
and drums beat a complexly vigorous rhythm, joined by chunky organ, slick
bass, waves of Mellotron, some great wild sax from Edgar, building up into
some of the heaviest thundering riffing ever put on record. Espangna Si,
Franco No (which due to its lyrical message offended the Spanish authorities,
who cancelled their planned concerts later in 1972) is quite a different
style of Embryo, and displayed their unusual approach to songs really well;
whereas most bands allow a song to be a vehicle for only a couple (or even
less) solos, Embryo do the opposite here - the song becomes interludes to the
spacious and dynamic structure of the music. Verwandlung (Transformation)
aptly displayed a style that was to be followed on subsequent LP's: a slick
form of fusion, with complex rhythmic interplay, lots of keyboards, and solos
galore from flute and sax. Surprising at first with this album is the lack of
guitar, but not for a moment is It missed - Hansi Fischer's superb flute,
Edgar's frenetic sax and versatile violin fill the sound amazingly. ...
A new major development in
Embryo's history was when Schwab introduced Charlie Mariano to the band.
Christian said of this - 'He paid us a visit, stayed with us, and we had a
jam. The musical communication between us worked, so that as a logical
consequence we played concerts together ... of course It was a big surprise
for us, because we thought Charlie Mariano was a size too big for us'. The
concoction of Charlie, along with the return of Roman Bunka (no I don't know
where he went) and new keyboardist Dieter Miekautsch certainly did hit off
well, as can be witnessed on the next album WE KEEP ON. For a quartet they
made a very big powerful sound, that on tracks like No Place To Go is quite
breathtaking, energy is exuded with emotional perfection from every
instrument, not least Charlie's versatile array of winds and Christian's
incredibly complex rhythms. This album also broke Embryo around the world
exported via jazz outlets and (along with the subsequent LP) gaining release
in the USA, hence a Billboard reporter exclaimed 'An excellent offering of
progressive jazz, coloured with Afro and Indian overtones ... the momentum is
there from the outset, and surprisingly it continues to grow with each
cut.'...
In 1978, Embryo and crew embark on
their most famous exploit, a touring performance and recording trip through
the Middle-East via Afghanistan and Pakistan to India. The trip lasted a lot
longer than planned, nearly two years in all, and was documented on hundreds
of hours of tape. Impromptu recordings of native musicians, sessions along
with Embryo, numerous concerts and festivals - all documented for posterity.
Many choice recordings, along with some new studio work fired with the
experience of this adventure made up the lavishly presented double album
EMBRYO'S REISE (Embryo's Journey). Undeniably their best album for many
years, there's a wealth of invention and variety to be found here: STRASSE
NACH ASIEN (Road to Asia) opens the album in splendid Embryo riffing style
fused with ethnic verve and atmosphere. Elsewhere, there's a smattering of
odd songs, duets between Christian on vibes and Eastern musicians, some great
live concert recordings and some of the most raucous Embryo rock on record.
(Some other recordings from the tour were released on the cassettes entitled
DISSIDENTEN VOLS 1 and 2, as well as on the retrospective ANTHOLOGY which
featured unreleased recordings dating right back to 1971).
The text above is extracts from Audion #9, page 3 (August 1988)
"Deutsche Rock 3"
(full article from the magazine, will be replicated in the new Cosmic Egg
rom)
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from The Crack In The Cosmic Egg...
Literally
the birthplace of a new type of fusion, Embryo had their roots in the very
fertile Munich late-1960s scene. Formed in 1969 by percussionist Christian
Burchard after leaving Amon Düül II, along with other like-minded former jazz
and underground musicians, the idea of Embryo was to work collectively,
intuitively, and let the music evolve on its own.
The
roots of Embryo can now be found on the CD called FOR EVA, which although
released as by Embryo is far removed from what they would record a year or so
later. This release should rightly be considered as a Mal Waldron Quintet
album, showcasing the early jazz music of Christian Burchard, Dieter Serfas
and Lothar Meid. The early pioneering improvised sessions of real primordial
Embryo are to be found on the CD reissue of their debut OPAL (with Lothar
Meid on bass) which take a jazzy twist on the improvised Ash Ra Tempel or
Amon Düül II type sound, freaky and inventive in the extreme.
Embryo's
debut album OPAL itself offered a much more varied collection of musics, as
British guitarist John Kelly had bought with him a good deal of psychedelia,
into the rock, jazz and blues concoction. Then there's even an ode to the
death of soul! The final track, "People Out Of The Space", hinted
at the Embryo to follow. This original 1970s line-up can now be heard live on
the Bremen 1971 CD.
EMBRYO'S
RACHE was a very surprising follow-up, with new mainstay Roman Bunka (briefly
with an early Missus Beastly line-up), ex-Xhol Caravan Hansi Fisher, and
extraordinary keyboards courtesy of Jimmy Jackson (known more widely for his
guest work with Amon Düül II, aka "Tabarin Man") the basis for the
unique Embryo sound was set, often dynamic and riffing, with ethnic touches
and Edgar Hofmann's expressive saxophone, hypnotic and complex music. Not
released till much later, but recorded shortly after this, the albums STEIG
AUS and ROCKSESSION offer some of the most dazzling Embryo music, a mostly
instrumental fusion from an expanded line-up including Sigi Schwab, hot from
his stint with Et Cetera and veteran jazzer Mal Waldron.
FATHER
SON AND HOLY GHOSTS, with its more condensed and accessible style, showed why
United Artists Records weren't interested in the ethnic cum space-rock fusion
as heard on STEIG AUS or ROCKSESSION, they wanted a rock album that would
sell! To get this sound, Embryo gave the front-seat to the recently drafted
multi-instrumental talent (but primarily bassist) Dave King, who had the
knack of making even the most experimental music tight and accessible. Dave
King has since become a widely sought after musician on both the German jazz
and pop scenes. The results were an excellent, though more direct song-based
slice of Embryo, in a way more Krautrocky and less jazzy, hinting at the
later SURFIN'. So, when UA dropped Embryo, Christian sold those earlier tapes
to Brain.
Now with
BASF, and a change of focus, WE KEEP ON, featuring Charlie Mariano, took a
step back again to free-riffing fusion realms, offering some of the heaviest
Embryo on record. But it marked the end of a phase, and when the much more
commercial styled SURFIN' (on the new BASF rock label Buk) failed to be the
success the record company hoped for, Embryo were dropped with little hope of
getting a workable contract with any other label.
Embryo's solution was to form their own label - a label
with which they could have total artistic freedom. Thus they embarked on
forming the April Records collective along with other like-minded bands. See
April Records entry for more on this. With the artistic freedom that they had
fought so much for, the Embryo sound moved radically towards jazz with much
more ethnic styling, featuring the songs of black American female jazz
vocalist Maria Archer.
Later
they embarked on ambitious tours to the East and onto India. Early recorded
results include a session with Trilok and Shoba Gurtu on APO CALYPSO and then
the ambitious double album EMBRYO'S REISE, documenting their tour of the
Middle East through Afghanistan and India. An extraordinary release combining
the Embryo sound with many different types of ethnic and traditional music,
venturing on to realms unheard before. One enterprising Indian troupe, the
Karnataka College of Percussion, later came to Germany to tour with Embryo
(documented on LIFE) and they have since become famous working with the likes
of Charlie Mariano and Iain Ballamy.
Always
trying something new, the next big Embryo adventure was a tour via Turkey
through to Egypt, and later a tour through Africa. LA BLAMA SPAROZZI, YORUBA
DUN DUN ORCHESTRA and AFRICA document these projects with an exceptionally
wide variety of musics. The only proper Embryo album of this era was ZACK
GLÜCK, a surprising and very long album often hearkening back to the origins
of Embryo, with the phenomenal "U-Bahn" occupying most of the
second side, shades of EMBRYO'S RACHE and STEIG AUS abound. In all, a
remarkable album.
Celebrating
20 years of Embryo, TURN PEACE offered many more surprises, showing that
Burchard and co. were still fresh and innovative musicians, still willing to
try new ideas and forge on whilst still having the knack for recreating the
music they originally set out with! IBN BATTUTA stepped back to ZACK GLÜCK,
but with a much more spacey ethnic feel.
A number
of releases from this era saw Chris Karrer add his diverse instrumentation,
creating lots of new twists to the Embryo sound, with the experience also
inspiring his own solo work. He and Christian also worked with Jamal Mohamand
(self produced cassette, 1993), who in turn added his traditional Indian
singing and harmonium to the Embryo sound. We managed to catch Embryo live in
Munich in July 1996 twice, once as a fully fledged band with Jamal as a major
focus, and the second time "unplugged" with Chris Karrer. Possibly
their most cross-culture incarnation to date, being very ethnic, and with an
international cast of musicians, including a Chinese and a Russian.
Naturally, they were excellent!
As
Embryo keep on keeping on, most of their later output has been live recordings,
covering both jazzier realms and continuing to explore new avenues. Embryo
continue to tour the continent and further abroad, and constantly surprise
with new innovations, proving to be the only Krautrock band to have stuck to
their ideals over 30 years, whilst always moving on.
Update:
Even after Christian's passing (January 2018), with the lead role ably handed
on to his daughter Marja (she joined in 2007) and the usual rapidly changing
line-up of old and new names, Embryo is still an active force on the German
live scene. As of writing this Marja is also playing with the band Karaba,
and a new Embryo album is in the works.
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discography...
OPAL - LP Ohr OMM 56003 (1970), CD
Materiali Sonori MASOCD 90012 (1992)
EMBRYO'S RACHE - LP United Artists UAS 29239 (1971), CD Materiali
Sonori MASOCD 90050 (1993)
FATHER, SON & HOLY GHOSTS - LP United Artists UAS 29344 (1972), CD
Disconforme DISC 1935 (1999)
STEIG AUS (12/71+3/72) - LP Brain 1023 (1973), CD Repertoire PMS
7078-WP (1998)
ROCKSESSION (3/72) - LP Brain 1036 (1973), CD Repertoire PMS 7077-WP
(1998)
WE KEEP ON - LP BASF 20 21865-1 (1973), CD Disconforme DISC 1936
(1999)
SURFIN' - LP BASF/Buk 17 22385-3 (1975), CD Disconforme DISC 1937
(1999)
ERA ORA (1972-1975) - MC private (197?)
BAD HEADS & BAD CATS - LP April 00005 (1976), CD Disconforme DISC
1032 (1999)
LIVE (2/76) - LP April 0003 (1977), CD Garden Of Delights CD 173
(2015)
APO-CALYPSO - LP April 000010 (1978), CD Disconforme DISC 1033 (1999)
REISE - 2LP Schneeball 0020 (1980), CD Schneeball 16 5204-2 (1995)
ANTHOLOGY (9/70-9/79) - LP Materiali Sonori MASO 012 (1980), CDR
Cosmic Egg UTCE 014 CDR (2016)
LIFE! - LP Schneeball 0023 (1981), CD Disconforme DISC 1940 (2001)
LA BLAMA SPAROZZI - 2LP Schneeball 1028 (1982), CD Disconforme DISC
1034 (1999)
ZACK GLÜCK - LP Materiali Sonori MASO 33026 (1984), CD Materiali
Sonori MASOCD 90038 (1992)
YORUBA DUN DUN ORCHESTRA - LP Schneeball 1043 (1985), CD Schneeball CD
26 (1989)
AFRICA - LP Materiali Sonori MASO 33036 (1987), CD Materiali Sonori
MASOCD 90022 (1992)
TURN PEACE - LP Schneeball 01045/08 (1989), CD Schneeball 01045-26
(1989)
JAZZ BUHNE BERLIN '89 - LP Amiga 8 56 496 (1989), CD United One 402
4569 2015 2 (1998)
IBN BATTUTA - CD Schneeball/Indigo 3052-2 (1994)
NI HAU - CD Schneeball/Indigo 3062-2 (1996)
TOUR 98: ISTANBUL-CASABLANCA - 2CD Schneeball/Indigo 8536-2 (1999)
INVISIBLE DOCUMENTS (1974) - 2CD Disconforme DISC 1031 (1999)
ONE NIGHT AT THE JOAN MIRÓ FOUNDATION - 2CD Disconforme DISC 1938
(2000)
FOR EVA (1967) - CD Disconforme DISC 1939 (2000)
2000 LIVE, VOL. 1 - CD Schneeball/Indigo 9753-2 (2001)
2001 LIVE, VOL. 1 - CD
Schneeball/Indigo 0835-2 (2002)
BREMEN 1971 (23/9/1971) - CD Garden of Delights CD 084 (2003)
29.6.73 IN HAMBURG (1973) - LP Tramp Records (2003), RIDING -
CDR Cosmic Egg UTCE 005 CDR (2014)
HALLO MIK - CD Schneeball/Indigo 24462-5 (2004)
EMBRYONNCK - CD Staubgold 67 (2006) The No-Neck Blues Band and Embryo
EMBRYONNCK - LP Staubgold 67L (2006) The No-Neck Blues Band and Embryo
(different recordings)
NEWS - LP Ultimate Records (2006)
FREEDOM IN MUSIC (2003-2008) - CD Schneeball/Indigo 858222 (2008)
LIVE AT BURG HERZBERG FESTIVAL 2007 - CD Trip in Time WIS-T2504 (2008)
WIESBADEN 1972 (17/12/1972) - CD Garden of Delights CD 144 (2008)
AALST 2010 - MC Sloow Tapes C82 (2010)
MESSAGE FROM ERA ORA (1976) - LP Black Sweat BS005/Sound Of Cobra SOC
011 (2013)
ETERNAL FORCES (3/9/1980) - CDR Cosmic Egg UTCE 009 CDR (2014)
UNA GIRA PER CATALUNYA (7/2001) - CDR Cosmic Egg UTCE 011 CDR (2014)
IT DO - LP/CD Trikont US-0479 (2016)
videos.
VAGABUNDEN KARAWANE - VHS private (1980), DVD Krautrock Classics
4260094640117 (2005)
25 JAHRE EMBRYO! - VHS private (199?)
IBN BATTUTA - VHS Indigo 3052-9 (1994)
original Embryo tracks on other releases...
VLOTHO-WINTERBERG - LP MOL 0001 (1975) track:
Sidetrack
UNSOMST UND DRAUSSEN VLOTHO 1976 - LP MOL 0002 (1976) track: The Bad Times Are Gone
UNSOMST UND DRAUSSEN VLOTHO 1977 - 2LP MOL 0003/4 (1977) track: Getalongwithasong
UNSOMST UND DRAUSSEN PORTA WESTVLOTHICA 1978 - 2LP MOL 0005/6 (1978) track: Wir Sind Alle Politische Gefangene
UMSONST UND DRAUSSEN PAPENBURG 1983 - 2LP Unmoral PAP 1 (1983) track: Cimbalero '77 Papenburg
F/EAR THIS! - 2LP P.E.A.C.E. 4/5 - (1986) track:
Aperto
THE CRACK IN THE COSMIC EGG - CD-Rom Audion Publications ISBN
0-9529506-0-CDROM (2007) tracks: Live In Kabul 1978
(extract, Live Extract 2002
Embryo also feature on...
 KRAUTROCK - DL Auricle UTCE
BC1 (2018) track: Riding (live 1973)
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Embryo
reviews and articles in Audion - #2/21+34, #6/19, #9/5-9, #11/15,
#16/15+20+25, #18/22, #27/27, #36/7-11, #40/4, #41/21+26, #42/4+12, #44/31,
#45/30, #46/28, #50/4+7, #53/37, #58/6
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