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Start Date: January 9, 2016
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LP GILA

Free Electric Rock Session

(Köln, 26.02.1972)

Country of release: Germany, 2009

Label: Second Battle

Catalogue number: SB 072

Barcode: -

Condition Record: Mint (Unplayed)

Condition Cover: Mint

Tracks Side 1:

Tracks Side 2:

1. The Gila Symphony (13:47)

2. Communication II (3:04)

3. The Needle (0:52)

Listen At YouTube:

    (CD Title "Night Works")

This band was from Stuttgart and managed just two studio albums before splitting. Their guitarist leader Conny Veit will be known latter as collaborator of both POPOL VUH and GURU GURU, but this is another story.


Their first highly ambitious album - and one of the more important albums to come out of Western Germany - had a very odd concept to reflect the group's progression from aggression to communication. Quite a bloody program and I can assure you that they succeed quite well. The music on their debut runs continuously through the tracks is very trippy and atmospheric but not space rock either, In that regard , one thinks of PINK FLOYD. Their second album is very different and depicts the last and worst Indian massacre (native Americans) back in the early 70's. The live album is posthumous but worthy of them.


In spite of their short discography, GILA is a very important group in the history of Krautrock and highly recommended to anyone looking for adventurous music.


This is a live recording from Cologne in 1972 that was broadcast live by a radio station. As has been mentioned, all the songs on this album are new and different from the 2 studio albums they recorded. After this recording the band would eventually break up and guitarist Conny Veit would join POPUL VUH and play with them on their Hosianna Mantra and Seligpreisung albums.Conny decided between the recordings of those two records to reform GILA with 2 of the key POPOL VUH members (Florian and Daniel) and make one more album called Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee which would also sound more like POPOL VUH than the 2 earlier GILA recordings (I'm including this live one). Conny would then go on to play for GURU GURU after his stint with POPOL VUH. I was reminded of the live KOLLEKTIV record when listening to this because they both have no crowd noise at all. Maybe they were all too wired, I don't know. I have to say though that I love this record. I can listen to this all day long, it's so trippy and hypnotic and well played. Around Midnight is just one of those songs I was talking about that you just close your eyes, relax and enjoy the catchy repetitive beat. It opens with different sounds starting to form a melody that slowly builds. Organ 3 minutes in before it settles down,  then it kicks back in a minute later. Braintwist is a song that builds to a nice raw sound. The organ is great. Check out the guitar 1 1/2 minutes in that goes on and on for almost 2 minutes. Drums then lead the way with the organ helping out.Vocals after 4 minutes by Conny are theatrical at times. Maybe crazy is the right word, the lyrics sure fit that description anyway. Very trippy stuff man. Guitar is back before 7 minutes. Trampelpfad has such a good rhythm to it. It's mesmerizing to say the least. Amazing sound! Guitar comes in before 3 1/2 minutes as the beat and organ continue. The guitar starts to get more aggressive. Nice. Viva Arabica opens with a steady beat that eventually starts to speed up. The guitar joins in at 1 1/2 minutes.The organ starts to rip it up after 4 minutes. The Gila Symphony is almost 14 minutes long. It opens with experimental sounds with no real melody. These sounds do stop as organ, bass, drums and other sounds come and go.A beat arrives 3 minutes in. A minute later a full sound kicks in including the guitar soloing over top. The sound starts to get more intense and the guitar is back 6 minutes in. It settles down 7 1/2 minutes in. Organ is back. Guitar is too 11 minutes in as this song blends into Communication II with no change at all as drums, guitar and organ continue to mesmerize. The Needle was cut short by the radio station because the alloted time was up. That's disappointing as we get but 52 seconds of this final track. So this is in the same style as Free Electric Sound and is for me a valuable historical document,and besides I love the music presented here. (rutracker.org)

Conny Veit - Guitar, Vocals
Walter Wiederkehr - Bass
Fritz Scheyhing - Keyboards
Daniel Alluno - Drums