Anyone who has had a passing fascination with the 70's Prog-Rock scene inevitably runs across the music of Amon Duul II (yes, there was an Amon Duul I, but that's another story). Largely credited to pioneering the German Prog scene from 1968 well into the 1970's, it would be safe to add their influence was felt a lot farther than Germany, as you can hear bits and pieces of a lot of different groups from the same genre in their material. They were hugely popular throughout Europe, even though they were all but ignored in the U.S. at the time. they were issued in the States through United Artists, including the milestone double album Dance of The Lemmings (Tanz der Lemminge) from which tonight's track, the 15+ minute Syntelman's March Of The Roaring Seventies comes. They were passed off as "too weird" by American critics who had a natural aversion to the Prog movement anyway and so their American releases were few and far between. They did acquire a cult following in the U.S., but it was mostly by way of their imports and very rare instances of airplay (usually from College FM stations).
Granted, Dance Of The Lemmings was adventuresome, and spread out over four sides required some intense listening. There were no "hit tracks" or instantly hummable tunes in the collection. It also wasn't a "concept" album that had some vague story line attached to it. But once you dropped those preconceived notions taking the whole album in was pretty easy.
Tonight it's just a fourteen minute taste though. But enough to give you an idea what the fuss was about in 1971
