Heydu [Bonus Track]

Performer: Guru Guru
Engineer: Petrus Wippel
Producer: Mani Neumeier; Roland Schaeffer; Petrus Wippel; Von Neumeier
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Guru Guru: Peter Kuhmstedt, Karala Maria Von Sinnen (bass instrument); Gerald Luciano Hartwig (bass guitar); Roland Schaeffer, Ingo Bischof, Butze Fischer, Mani Neumeier. Personnel: Roland Schaeffer (guitar, saxophone); Ingo Bischof (keyboards, percussion); Gerald Luciano Hartwig (bass guitar); Mani Neumeier (kalimba, percussion); Butze Fischer (tabla, percussion). Audio Mixer: Petrus Wippel. Audio Remasterer: EROC. Liner Note Author: Matthias Mineur. Recording information: Conny Planck's Studio, Neunkirchen, Germany; Guru-Berg-Studio, Finkenbach. Photographer: Tai M. L�dicke. Heydu is Guru Guru's ninth studio album, released in 1979 under the moniker Guru Guru Sun Band. The name change reflected the important personnel change with the addition of Ingo Bischof (Kraan) on keyboards and second drummer Butze Fischer. The influence of Bischof's keyboards cannot be overstated in that they utterly changed the Guru Guru sound. Euro-funk and disco entered the band's sonic sphere, but his compositional influence was also key. The band's aesthetic underwent a permanent change. Check "Starway," the opening cut, with its disco keyboard fills over a sterile hypnotic "motorik" funk beat. It's just plain weird. "D�s War I" sounds like Giorgio Moroder had his way with the chart. The Horny Horns-styled funk of "Was fur 'Ne Welt," with a backing female chorus sounds, like an entirely different band. And so it goes. Freaky attempts at white soul, groove, and disco sound forced, especially when wedded to cosmic hippy overtones. It's like these cats were listening to Larry Levan and Kraftwerk as well as Nektar when they sat down to get the tunes ready for this utterly braver but failed attempt at creating a "new" German sound. The only place the true Guru Guru madness comes through is on the nine-and-a-half-minute "Attomloch," where all the spaced-out, freaky jam band insanity enters the picture and remains throughout as Mani Neumeier goes off on the German nuclear power industry. All of this said, however, the record sold well in Germany and prompted a 35 city U.S. tour. ~ Thom Jurek Heydu is Guru Guru's ninth studio album, released in 1979 under the moniker Guru Guru Sun Band. The name change reflected the important personnel change with the addition of Ingo Bischof (Kraan) on keyboards and second drummer Butze Fischer. The influence of Bischof's keyboards cannot be overstated in that they utterly changed the Guru Guru sound. Euro-funk and disco entered the band's sonic sphere, but his compositional influence was also key. The band's aesthetic underwent a permanent change. Check "Starway," the opening cut, with its disco keyboard fills over a sterile hypnotic "motorik" funk beat. It's just plain weird. "D�s War I" sounds like Giorgio Moroder had his way with the chart. The Horny Horns-styled funk of "Was fur 'Ne Welt," with a backing female chorus sounds, like an entirely different band. And so it goes. Freaky attempts at white soul, groove, and disco sound forced, especially when wedded to cosmic hippy overtones. It's like these cats were listening to Larry Levan and Kraftwerk as well as Nektar when they sat down to get the tunes ready for this utterly braver but failed attempt at creating a "new" German sound. The only place the true Guru Guru madness comes through is on the nine-and-a-half-minute "Attomloch," where all the spaced-out, freaky jam band insanity enters the picture and remains throughout as Mani Neumeier goes off on the German nuclear power industry. All of this said, however, the record sold well in Germany and prompted a 35 city U.S. tour. [The Revisited Records reissue features dramatically remastered sound and the inclusion of the bonus cut "I Am Rolling Through the City."] ~ Thom Jurek

One of the original groups of the now famed Krautrock movement of 1970s Germany, Guru Guru positioned themselves quite clearly on the psychedelic rock end of the musical spectrum, considerably more so than their more proto-techno and ambient oriented colleagues. A predominantly instrumental act, Guru Guru mixed elements of free jazz, world music, and heavy American acid rock to create their sound. The band called it quits at the dawn of the 1980s, but have proven to be a quietly influential act on a host of contemporary psych bands.

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