Amon Düül II were Krautrockers led by Chris Karrer who split off from the original Amon Düül Music/Politics commune in Munich, Germany in 1969. Their music involved experimental avant-garde improvisation in the style of the space-rock freakouts of the time. Their recordings met some critical acclaim, but little commercial success.
Members came and went throughout the '60s and '70s, with Karrer and John Weinzierl staying as the group's core, and the Amon Düül/Amon Düül II distinction grew fuzzy at times. After 1981 the band's mutations became so contorted as to go beyond the scope of this writeup, with Karrer founding Amon Düül UK, and various members quiting for various other bands, then returning, and eventually releasing remixes and new material in the '90s. Most of the albums in the '80s were created with a much different sound in mind, and many fans do not consider these recordings to be "proper" Amon Düül.
Their name was a deliberate attempt at sounding neither German nor English. Amon is the ancient Egyptian Sun God, while Düül (properly spelled with two umlauts) was derived from a Turkish word for "moon," though in their early days the spelling changed from show to show.
Albums up until Amon Düül II's 1981 reformation are:
1969 Phallus Dei
1970 Yeti
1971 Tanz der Lemminge
1972 Carnival in Babylon
1972 Wolf City
1973 Viva La Trance
1974 Hijack
1974 Live in London
1975 Made in Germany
1976 Pyragony
1976 10th Pyragony
1977 Almost Live
1978 Only Human
Wolf City, Yeti, and Viva La Trance were also rereleased in 1999.
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