Various Artists - 2020 - Head Music 2

(118:56; Fruits de Mer Records)

Track list:
1. Vespero: Between The Eyes (Amon Duul II) 6:15
2. Das Blaue Palais: Krautrock (Faust) 11:52
3. Tony Swettenham: Rucksturz (Agitation Free) 5:52
4. Cary Grace: Surrounded By The Stars (Amon Duul II) 8:48
5. Revbjelde: Dreaming Girls (Embryo) 5:24
6. Das Blaue Palais: Dedicated To Wernher von Braun (Mythos) 6:29
7. Vespero: Castle In The Air (Eloy) 6:13
8. Jay Tausig: Father Cannot Yell (Can) 7:20
9. Das Blaue Palais: Snow Your Thirst And Sun Your Open Mouth (Amon Düül) 9:24
10. Schizo Fun Addict: Galactic Joke Part D (inspired by the Cosmic Jokers) 11:17
11. The Legendary Flower Punk: Sonnenrad (Michael Rother) 6:47
12. Rob Gould: One Morning (Brainticket) 4:12
13. Maat Lander: Neon Lights (Kraftwerk) 9:20
14. Spurious Transients: Autobahnmelodie (Kraftwerk) 4:08
15. Black Tempest: Nights Of Automatic Women (Edgar Froese) 10:15
16. The Arthur Park: Moonshake (Can) 3:55
17. Spurious Transients: Autobahn Verkehrsgeräusche (Kraftwerk) 1:25

Line-up:
N/A


Prolusion.
UK label Fruits de Mer Records have developed into quite the institution in the close to 15 years the label has been active. Vinyl releases are their specialty, although a few CD releases have seen the light of day during their history. With the current waiting times on getting vinyl releases from the press, it'll be interesting to see if that tendency will increase these days. "Head Music 2" dates back to 2020, it was released on good old vinyl on the label's Strange Fish imprint, and as with most of the releases from the label it was sold out pretty much as soon as it was released.

Analysis.
What we get with this triple album compilation is almost two hours of what the label Fruits De Mer Records are most famous for: Contemporary bands exploring the music of lesser known and better known artists from yesteryear. On this occasion the focus are artists that made a name for themselves in the krautrock scene back in the day, and the ones covered here range from Kraftwerk and Can to Eloy and Embryo. There's also the token contribution that isn't a direct cover but rather described as "inspired by".

Personally I'm not familiar enough with the source material to truthfully state which cover versions that are true to the originals and which ones that takes lesser, greater or more expressive freedoms with them, but as always with anything that comes with the Fruits De Mer logo attached to it the end result will never be uninteresting. The greater majority is solid, as usual, but with a handful or so of the submissions here that are merely good in my personal and subjective opinion.

We do get everything from energetic, driving and tight space rock here to more loose and wandering space rock and psychedelic rock oriented piece with a composed as well as an improvised feel, dark and solid as well as loose and ethereal creations with more of a mechanical, repetitive and at times ominous feel and also creations that shy away from the rock territories and have the main focus on keyboards and synthesizers. Krautrock covered a lot of different stylistic ground back in the day, and the contributions  to this compilation remains true to that approach. This is a multidimensional production if you like, where the cosmic and the psychedelic are the red threads throughout.

Conclusion.
While this is a compilation that may well be difficult to track down any remaining copies of these days, at least for a reasonable price, those with a deep interest in krautrock, space rock and psychedelic rock should probably note this one down as one to get if they should encounter it at a price below what this one goes for in collector's circles. There's a lot of solid material to enjoy here, and quite possibly performed by bands you may not be familiar with and performing material from at least some bands you may not be familiar with as well. With good to solid music throughout, and the majority of the contributions in the latter department.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, January 2022

Links:
https://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/