Floh De Cologne-Geyer-Symphonie (1973)

Floh De Cologne was the first overtly political German krautrock group, whose Marxist and anarchist ideas permeated the lyrics of their music. Formed in Cologne in the mid-1960s as a political collective by students from the University of Cologne, their style was characterized by a direct and hard-hitting sound, a rational inheritance from the works of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. Their original lineup consisted of Gerd Wollschon (vocals, keyboards), Markus Schmidt (violin, bass), Hans-Jorg "Hansi" Frank (drums and keyboards), and Britta Baltruschat (vocals). Their first album, released in 1968 and titled "Vietnam", was a clear attack on the Vietnam War, which had become the focus of all military efforts amidst the tensions of the Cold War. This group placed far more emphasis on the political message than on the music itself, with absurd and burlesque lyrics that were closer to the realm of theater and vaudeville than to a conventional rock band. In the following years, this band released controversial albums that continued in the same political and subversive direction, such as "Fliessbandbaby's Beat-Show" (1970) and "Lucky Streik" (1972). All of them are filled with provocative and humorous messages about the political and social situations of the time. Musically, they displayed a strange fusion of avant-folk, experimental sounds, free rock, and political narrative. In 1973 came one of their masterpieces, "Geyer-Symphonie", with which they consolidated their radical approach with attacks of visceral, theatrical, and symphonic rock. From this point on, other smaller works would follow until the mid-1980s, when they released their last works, far removed from the sound and media impact of their beginnings.