My Solid Ground (psych krautrock, space rock, hard rock / Germany)

This group has long been one of the more obscure Krautrock bands, even though their single eponymous album from 1971 has become legendary, even though much of the record is fairly conventional hard-rock.

Bernhard Rendel, only 14 years old at the time, started My Solid Ground in 1968 in Russelsheim, near Frankfurt, Germany. Prior to this, his mother encouraged his interest in music and guitar, and she continued to support him even as his music became louder and harder. The group began to practice at the home of Rendel's parents, and his family also helped arranged live performances. With their musical talent and an elaborate lightshow, the band soon became a popular in the region around Frankfurt. In 1968 the members were Bernhard Rendel (guitar), Teddy (vocals), Manfred Fischer (bass) and Willy Waid (drums).



By 1970 after a few lineup changes, the group gelled with Kalrheinz Dorfler on bass, Andreas Wurching on drums, and Ingo Werner on organ. In late October of that year they recorded the track 'Flash' the Morfelden Studio in Frankfurt, and used it to win second place in an amateur competition hosted by Sudwestfunk (SWF) Radio.

In February and April of 1971, they recorded their self-titled album, which was released by the Bacillus label later that year. In June of 1971 My Solid Ground entered the studios of SWF in Baden-Baden for a live radio broadcast. Because of legal issues they could not play any of the pieces from the LP, so they debuted entirely new material. Though the group now had nationwide success, they were frequently losing members. By 1972 the band consisted of Rendel with a totally new lineup. That year they moved to Frankfurt where they lasted until 1974, when Rendel dropped My Solid Ground to pursue academics. He has since become a lecturer on music at Muinz University, as well as producer and composer. When Long Hair Records decided to release the SWF session on CD in 2001, Rendel was encouraged to go back into the studio to record some solo an LPs-worth of additional tracks, a 2001 version of My Solid Ground, and these were added to the CD.

My Solid Ground (Full Album): http://youtu.be/LneduxXyt9I:

The opening track on their self-titled LP certainly lives up to the album's reputation: a 13-minute epic of dark, heavy space rock with crunching guitars and acid riffs, distorted vocals, lots of long droning keyboards - imagine a mix of early Floyd ("One of These Days") and  Thirsty Moon. However, the rest of the album (or most of it) is fairly mainstream, being made up of rather conventional hard rock. A recent re-release CD version includes some excellent bonus tracks, among which is a 24-minute psychedelic Krautrock tour de force featuring incredible guitar soloing. Recommended to fans of early Pink Floyd.


Personnel:

- Karl-Heinrich Dorfler - bass
- Bernhard Rendel - vocals, guitar
- Ingo Werner - organ, piano, Mellotron
- Andreas Wursching - drums