Krautrock Also-Rans: A Poll

"Opal" is the most "rock" one, I suppose. Wouldn't call it a classic, personally.

Yeah, that sounds right. The others I've heard touch on that sort of "ethno-world-fusion" stuff I also can't really deal with in these contexts. I wish someone would reissue the ones with Charlie Mariano, because, as I said, I remember enjoying those. I wonder how the No Neck Blues Band collaboration sounds.

Night Sun not really Krautrock, but a fucking great heavy rock album. I'm not super big into that genre as a whole but damn if Conny Plank's production doesn't elevate it to a whole nother level.

I bought the first two Agitation Free albums last year and they deserved to win this poll, great stuff.

I never noticed Grobschnitt on that list! I might have voted for them - a lot of filler/blandola in their catalog, but "Solar Music Live" at least is excellent & ludicrously overblown.

Too scared to listen to their other stuff but "Solar Music Live" is indeed pretty cool, very very very Floydian. Eroc is a great drummer too... and his first solo album is pretty good into the bargain.

I don't love the first two Agitation Free records, but I agree that they belong (somewhere towards the bottom) on the "real Krautrock" list rather than at the top of the also-rans. They're sort of a hybrid of a lot of the jam-oriented German bands without a particularly strong identity.

Otherwise I've only heard Eloy from this list, and they're pretty ridiculous symphonic prog.

That Dom album is pretty good.