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All Music Guide:
The short-lived Xhol Caravan was one of the earliest underground Krautrock groups, and their unique fusion of jazz and rock was a precursor to the direction that Embryo, Out of Focus, Missus Beastly, Thirst Moon, Ikarus, Kraan, Vita Nova, Manju and countless other German groups would take in the 1970s. Formed by saxophonists Tim Belbe and Hansi Fischer, the group started out in 1967 under the name "Soul Caravan". With a Motown-influenced bassist as well as two African-American vocalists, James Rhodes and Ronny Swinton, the group made competent but conventional R&B and soul music, even doing covers of Sam & Dave. Later that same year they released the record Get in High on CBS. By 1968, after several lineup changes, their sound began to develop into a more distinct blend of psychedelic and progressive rock and free jazz, with a wide range of influences, including the Soft Machine, Pink Floyd, Vanilla Fudge, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Albert Ayler and Peter Brötzmann. Eventually the group coalesced with Belbe, Fischer, Rhodes, Klaus Briest on bass, Skip Vanwych on drums, and Ocki Brevert on organ. At a performance of Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" guitarist Werner Funk joined the group on-stage and stayed with them until the next year. Their live shows often consisted of long free-form jams, with a lot of experimentation and improvisation and a heavily drug-influenced vibe. In early 1969 they changed their name to Xhol Caravan to release a single "Planet Earth"/"So Down" on the Hansa label and then later that year, after both Funk and Rhodes had departed, they released the strange and excellent LP Electrip, one of the earliest Krautrock albums, also on Hansa. Xhol Caravan were a popular group at the time, constantly gigging and playing festivals, and even appeared live on WDR Radio that year as well as on television with Frank Zappa, Tangerine Dream, and Amon Düül II. Fischer left the group before the end of the year, and the band eventually shortened their name to Xhol to avoid confusion with the British group Caravan. More studio and live material was recorded that year, though the group was unable to release any of it until they signed on with the legendary Ohr Records. In 1971 Ohr released the LP Hau-Ruck, taken from a couple live jams in early July 1970. The following year the LP Motherfuckers GMBH & Co KG came out, with both live and studio tracks, also recorded in 1970 and also on the Ohr label. Xhol unfortunately disbanded at about this time. In 2001 United Dairies released Motherfuckers Live, a two-CD set of live Xhol material from 1968 (when they were still Soul Caravan with James Rhodes on vocals) and 1969 as an instrumental four-piece.
Wikipedia:
Xhol Caravan, known first as Soul Caravan and later as simply Xhol, was one of the first bands participating in the launch of the Krautrock movement in Germany in the late 1960s. Their music draws from varied influences and fuses rhythm and blues and free jazz with a psychedelic rock sensibility. The members of the band at various times consisted of James Rhodes and Ronnie Swinson, vocals; Tim Belbe, saxophones; Gerhardt Egmont "Öcki" Von Brevern, Hammond organ; Hansi Fischer, flutes and saxophones; Werner Funk, electric guitar; Gilbert van Wych III (credited as "Skip" on most albums), drums and percussion; and Klaus Briest, bass guitar.
History
Soul Caravan
Their first album, Get In High, appeared on the German CBS label in 1967. It exemplifies the band's early "soul" sound, and features black American vocalists James Rhodes and Ronnie Swinson. Get In High featured a remake of the classic American soul tune "Shotgun" and original compositions that incorporated African-American themes and elements, including "Kerd-I-Wai (African Song)" and "So Much Soul." The live recordings Soul Caravan: Live 1969, Altena 1969, and Xhol 1970 feature a similar R&B sound as well, but also include improvisational pieces stretching in some cases well beyond 25 minutes in length. The "Freedom Opera," heard on the 2001 Motherfuckers Live album but recorded in 1968, clocks in at nearly 50 minutes.
Xhol Caravan
Their second album, Electrip, was released with the group's name changed to Xhol Caravan. On the record, the group moved away from its earlier R&B roots and the vocals were taken over by American drummer Skip Van Wych as James Rhodes and Ronnie Swinson had quit and returned to the United States. On Electrip, Xhol Caravan fused free jazz and psychedelic rock together with a satirical, sometimes X-rated, sense of humor and studio manipulation of sounds and timbres.
Xhol
After Electrip, the band released two more albums, both on the small Ohr label and both with the band name reduced to Xhol to avoid possible confusion with the British Canterbury Scene group Caravan. The 1970 album Hau-RUK contains two 20-minute-plus improvisations recorded live in a German bar earlier that year. Xhol's last LP, Motherfuckers GmbH & Co. KG consists of several pieces recorded more or less live in the studio. Many Xhol fans regard MF as the group's high point in spite of the patchwork nature of the record. It was recorded in 1970, but released only in 1972 due to creative differences between Xhol's members and Ohr label boss Ralf-Ulrich Kaiser. These differences even influenced the packaging for MF: although Ohr/Metronome usually lavished great care on the sleeves for its records - commissioning custom artwork with glossy lamination and gatefolds for even single LPs - the sleeve for MF was perfunctory at best. It was a cheap, matte laminated single sleeve featuring a photograph of what appeared to be the master tape box for MF, smudged and worn, surrounded by a garish orange frame. There was no information about the band, nor pictures or text of any kind save the handwritten titles of the songs on the record and the words "2 years old" scrawled crudely with green permanent marker on the front. In spite of such austerity, the music on MF offers the listener very good studio recordings of the group, and shows them combining rock and jazz elements and forging into experimental Hammond organ drone/minimalism.