Gila - Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1973/2000 Garden Of Delights Remastered) {Feat. Popol Vuh Members}
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Artist: Gila
Album: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Released: 1973/2000
Garden Of Delights (CD-046)
Genre: Krautrock
The Crack In the Cosmic Egg: Formed in early 1969, out of the Stuttgart political commune, as Gila Füchs, we can only guess as to what their music was like in these early days, yet they quickly established themselves as the foremost exponents of psychedelic space-rock. By 1971, with the shortened name Gila, they recorded one of the finest cosmic classics of Pink Floyd inspired space-rock. GILA (sometimes quoted as "FREE ELECTRIC SOUND") is a mainly instrumental trip and feels much like one suite per LP side. Superbly conceived, it featured an amazingly innovative music that took hints from all the classic Pink Floyd inventions, and went further, blending in ethnic textures with the complex multi-guitars of Conny Veit, stunning keyboards and electronics, and superb percussive-fired space drives, all with that uniquely "Kosmische" aura of trippy space-echo. Naturally, it's widely regarded as one of the finest Krautrock albums.
Gila were an extraordinary band, at the peak of the Krautrock ladder, and it's a shame that this original incarnation only made the one album. Gila had a vast repertoire, and concerts would include jams in excess of 20 minutes, covering a range from weirder Guru Guru realms to the most ethereal Agitation Free kind of trips. Banded around as a bootleg cassette for years, the recording of their WDR radio concert (Cologne, 26 February 1972) eventually appeared on CD as NIGHT WORKS, with only one track being a variation from their debut, it notched the Gila sound up a rung on the heaviness ladder, especially so on the superbly titled "Braintwist" and the magical surging "The Gila Symphony". Why the band split after this, we don't know. Daniel Alluno went on to Sameti, and Conny Veit joined Popol Vuh. Some 6 months or so later, so the story goes, Conny Veit missed playing live and decided to form a new incarnation of Gila. This new band was a veritable supergroup, as it featured Popol Vuh leader Florian Fricke and ex-Amon Düül II multi-instrumentalist Daniel Fichelscher. Although hinted at by the earlier Gila, the new sound was also very much in the Popol Vuh style, with medieval and ethnic touches in a complexly textured rock music featuring multi-guitars and excellent female vocalist Sabine Merbach. However, it seems the Gila reformation ploy didn't work, and we have conflicting reports here: Ehnert says that Gila toured and played many concerts, and existed until summer 1974, whereas the Garden of Delights history says that they didn't. After this Danny Fichelscher joined Popol Vuh permanently, and Gila eventually split. Conny Veit worked a little more with Popol Vuh, and then joined Guru Guru for a short while (documented on a bootleg live CD) before disappearing from the scene for several years. He is credited within the ranks of Popol Vuh on some later albums, and that's it, excepting a demo track included on the BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE CD on Garden of Delights. Sadly, I'm told that Conny passed on in late 2001. - By Steven Freeman & Alan Freeman.
Allmusic Biography: Gila was an early-'70s Krautrock group that may not have been as well-known as Ash Ra Tempel or Amon Düül II, but with an eponymous first release created a work that ranks with the classics of the cosmic space rock genre. The group emerged from a political commune in Stuttgart in southwest Germany in early 1969 where it was a multimedia project that combined music with film, slides, and poems. The original group consisted of two Germans, Fritz Scheyhing on Mellotron and organ and Wolf Conrad "Conny" Veit on guitar and vocals, as well as Walter Wiederkehr from Switzerland on bass and Daniel Alluno from Bordeaux, France, on drums. Stuttgart, with its university and arts academy, was a fertile place with many rock festivals and parties, especially at the end of the '60s, and Gila had no problem finding gigs, though the group did have to shorten its name from the original Gila **** because the vice squad kept showing up wherever they played. By 1971, the band had gained local fame with a creative blend of Pink Floyd-inspired space rock with long psychedelic jams and in June of that year, they entered the studios of Dieter Dierks to record their first album. The eponymous record, often referred to by the title Free Electric Sound, was released later that year by the BASF label. The group broke up the next year and Alluno soon went on to Sameti while Veit joined Popol Vuh, at which time they started doing the soundtracks for Werner Herzog films. By 1974, Veit was ready to re-form Gila, this time enlisting Popol Vuh bandmates Florian Fricke on keyboards and Daniel Fichelscher on drums, as well as vocalist Sabine Merbach. The group's sound was very different, dispensing with the wild acid jams for mellower acoustic rock. Given their pedigree, the new group sounded almost like Popol Vuh at the time, though performing Veit's compositions rather than Fricke's. Whereas the early Gila constantly performed live, this new version of the group was mostly studio-only, with just one live appearance on a television cultural show. Again in Dierks' studio, they recorded the album Bury My Heart in Wounded Knee in the summer of 1973. As the title suggests, this was a concept album about the genocide of Native Americans and later that year, it was released by Warner. After Veit toured France with Amon Düül II in the winter of 1973-1974, the second Gila broke up in the middle of 1974 as Fricke and Fichelscher focused much more on Popol Vuh and Veit briefly joined Guru Guru before he moved on to other groups and eventually became a freelance painter. Though most of the first Gila's live shows went unrecorded, in 1999 Garden of Delights released Night Works, a Cologne concert from early 1972 that had aired live on the radio. - By Rolf Semprebon.
Cosmic Dreams At Play: 'Unnachgiebiges aggressiv bekampfen, ist kampf gegen sich selbst' is a phrase owners of the first Gila album will remember well! The group was formed in Stuttgart in 1969, and was busy working with different media using film, slide show, poems and music. Their highly ambitious first album appeared August 1971, recorded by Dieter Dierks during a week's intensive work that Summer. The concept of the album was to reflect the group's (self-declared) progression from aggression to communication during their two-year lifetime. The continuous music was mainly instrumental, dominated by the leader Conny Veit's excellent and imaginative guitar play. They created a Floyd-like space rock bursting into heavy climaxes. In addition the album had a most beautiful psychedelic painting on its fold-out cover. This is one of the best German albums of all time! Some months later, the group regrettably disbanded and Veit became a member of Popol Vuh. A new aspect of his guitar abilities was heard on Hosianna Mantra, adopting an almost meditative style. Popol Vuh was (almost) exclusively a studio project, so Conny Veit felt the desire for a live outfit. For this reason Conny Veit put new life into Gila. The Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee album (recorded at Dierks Studio, Stommeln 1973) was almost a Popol Vuh album, except that Conny Veit's compositions replaced Florian Fricke's. This was a concept album, dealing with one of the last and worst massacres of native Americans. The acid touches of the first album were now replaced by a pleasant folky and more acoustic mood, characterised by 12 string guitars, grand piano and Fichelscher's special drum style. "This Morning" and "In A Sacred Manner" were songs of celestial beauty with dreamy vocal harmonies and lush arrangements. The album's conclusion "The Buffalo Are Coming" was a more dramatic piece with its thundering percussion. This is another essential album! When Gila's activities came to a halt in 1974, Conny Veit joined Guru Guru for a short while. - By Dag Erik Asbjornsen.
Album Reviews:
#1: Depending on your mood, krautrock can sound either dated or absolutely infectious. GILA falls somewhere between the two. "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" was released in 1973. The biggest problem that I had with the album, at first, was that it sounded too psychedelic, and thus dated, for a 1973 release. The music seemed to have more in common with early AMON DÜÜL II than what was going on with rock music at the time. Once I got over that fact, I was soon treated to some of the prettiest psychedelic ever made. The music here emphasizes 12-string acoustic guitar, but the vocal harmonies really makes this band stand out. I'm reminded of vocal harmonies used by many of San Francisco's psychedelic bands during the late 60s; but GILA sound much more European (although they sing in English). The vocals are done using a combination of male and female vocals. Once in a while, I'm even reminded of the Dutch band EATH AND FIRE. The album talks about the abuse of American-Indians by white settlers, yet never comes off as a political statement. So those of you who might be turned-off by political albums have nothing to worry about. Along with the lush guitar and vocals, the listener is also treated to piano by Florian Fricke. In all it's a recipe for dream-like psychedelic music. For those of you looking for prog/psych with American-Indian influences, several songs feature native American rhythms, and chanting. Overall, if you're looking for lovely psyche - By Steve Hegade, Prog Archives.
#2: Band members of Gila’s first line-up lived together in a flat-sharing community which was the case as well with some other Krautrock bands like AD making it much easier for them to communicate with each other. In 1972 Conny Veit decided to work closer together with Popol Vuh based in Munich and therefore Gila 1 broke apart. Making two albums with them in 1972/73 he found as well Florian Fricke there and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Fichelscher of AD II to form a new reincarnation of the band. His girl-friend Sabine Merbach on vocals completed the line-up and inspired by the book written by Dee Brown they recorded this album here. The new sound of Gila was very much in the Popol Vuh vein with ethnic touches packed in complex textures featuring several guitars. In fact “Bury My Heart…” could be almost considered a PV album, except that Conny Veits’s compositions replaced Florian Fricke’s. It’s quite obvious that as the book it was dealing with the decimation and oppression of the North American Indians by the European immigrants, exemplified by one of the last and worst massacres in the year of 1868. In his own words according to the CD booklet Conny Veit “was moved by the simplicity and poetic power of the American Indian lyrics which had been included in the Dee Brown’s book and I decided to set them to music anew because in my view the original American Indian music definitely didn’t come up to the quality of these texts”. Unlike with their debut which had been more or less without any lyrics they had to use here tight arrangements mixing them with improvised parts, a procedure that resembled that of Indian ragas. With classically trained keyboardist Florian Fricke (he visited a conservatory being a disciple of Hindemith) Veit found the perfect supplement for his own talents and as well Fichelscher’s high skills on drums and bass and Sabine Merbach with her pleasant vocals contributed a lot to this excellent outcome. The seven beautiful tracks of this album are dominated by a folksy and more acoustic mood mainly created by the use of 12-string guitar and grand piano with some occasional flute. Combined with the highly poetic lyrics these intense soundscapes generate a merely haunting atmosphere. Two of the tracks, “Young Coyote” and “Little Smoke” are all instrumental and presented by Conny Veit solo on guitar. Highlight is certainly the more dramatic piece “The Buffalo Are Coming” with great percussion but all the tracks are actually excellent. The added CD bonus is an earlier recorded song which isn’t that bad but not on par with the ones of the main album. Finally I just can say that Gila’s second (and unfortunately last) studio output should be considered an excellent addition to any Prog collection and I’d highly recommend it to all fans of progressive folk music. - by hdfisch, Prog Archives.
#3: Whereas the first record was psychedelic space rock acid jams, on their second album, Gila, now consisting of mostly Popol Vuh members, offered something far more sedate. Though Conny Veit was always the leader of Gila, this one comes off much more like a solo effort. The record is a concept album inspired by the book of the same name by Dee Alexander Brown that brought the plight of the North American Indians to international attention. Complex multi-tracked acoustic guitar melodies create a shimmering, even haunting beauty in a lushly Baroque setting, while some of the lyrics are taken from various Native American texts. "The Buffalo Are Coming," with its long instrumental section as well as Native American styled rhythms and chanting, is the high point. Otherwise the vocals distract somewhat from the music, and the whole thing comes off as too much with a smooth new age vibe, especially when compared to the acid-damage blastoff of the earlier Gila album. - By Rolf Semprebon, AMG.
Track List:
01. This Morning
02. In A Sacred Manner
03. Sundance Chant
04. Young Coyote
05. The Buffalo Are Coming
06. Black Kettles Ballad
07. Little Smoke
08. Mindwinds And Heartfrost (Bonus Track)
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