Released in 1971 on bacillus records, “Can’t Get Through” is the second and final studio album by German band Hairy Chapter and is widely regarded as the group’s strongest and most distinctive work. Emerging from the Bonn underground scene, the band combined Heavy Blues Rock, Psychedelic improvisation and early Progressive elements into a raw and highly energetic sound that occupied a unique position within the heavier side of early Krautrock.
Recorded between late 1970 and early 1971 at Dierks Studios in Stommeln, the album was produced and engineered by Dieter Dierks, whose studio work introduced a stronger psychedelic and spatial dimension to the band’s previously more direct blues-rock approach. The result is a dense and often explosive mixture of Fuzz-driven guitar work, extended improvisational passages and Heavy rhythmic momentum, balancing British Hard Rock influences with the freer and moreExperimental atmosphere associated with the German underground scene of the period.
Across tracks such as the expansive title piece “Can’t Get Through” and “It Must Be an Officer’s Daughter,” the album moves between aggressive Hard Rock, Acid-drenched Psychedelia and looser Krautrock-oriented structures. Reviewers and collectors have frequently compared the record to early Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Cream or Uriah Heep, while emphasizing its particularly raw and unpolished energy. In Krautrock and Heavy Psych circles, the album has gradually developed a reputation as one of the heavier and more uncompromising German underground recordings of its era.
Unlike many of the more Cosmic or Electronic acts associated with bacillus records, Hairy Chapter represented the label’s harder Blues-Psych side — a direction that helped illustrate the stylistic openness of the early German Progressive scene before genre boundaries became more clearly defined.
Originally issued on vinyl in 1971, “Can’t Get Through” remains an essential document of early German Heavy Progressive and Psychedelic Rock.
This release is part of the bacillus records archive on Bandcamp.
Purchase “Can’t Get Through” on Bandcamp:
Tracklist:
01. There’s a Kind of Nothing 05:46
02. Can’t Get Through 09:40
03. It Must Be an Officer’s Daughter 08:03
04. As We Crossed Over 03:33
05. You’ve Got to Follow This Masquerade 04:42
Record conceived and written by Hairy Chapter.
We are very grateful to bob kerchief without whom the record would have been much more difficult to make words on ‘There’s a Kind of Nothing’ : N. Mandt and Music on “You’ve Got to Follow This Masquerade“: D. Dierks
Harry Titlbach / Guitar, 12 String Guitar
Rudolf Oldenburg / Bass
Werner Faus / Drums
Harry Unte / Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Guests:
Ulrich Hübinger / Harmonica, Bongos, Tambourine
Heinz Greven / Double Bass
Heinz Schachtner / Trumpet
Rudi Haubold / Drums on “There’s A Kind Of Nothing“
Record, Produced and Engineered by Dieter Dierks
Recorded November 1970 & January 1971 in Köln-Stommeln
Remastered from original analog tapes by Stefan Noltemeyer january 2015 in Berlin
Photography by J. Iische
Designed by Norbert Friedl
This stereo record can be played with every modern light-weight pick-up. The stereo sound, however, is reproduced only, when stereo equipment is used.