Umsonst & Draussen, Vlotho 1977
The third festival by the MOL, at the old quarry on the Winterberg in Vlotho. 1977/07/01-03
This time there were two stages, theatre, jugglers, food stands etc. NDR and WDR recorded the entire event for their radio programs, ZDF made a short report for the youth program "Direkt". A cinema film was produced, and there is also a double LP. This time 30.000 guests came to Vlotho.
Audio recordings and broadcasts
Several audio recordings were made. Gunni Heidler was responsible for the live mixing and did recordings for the radio broadcasts and the movie. Ulrich Wilkening recorded the whole festival for the compilation LP. The NDR and the WDR broadcasted parts of the concerts on the radio.
The recordings made by Ulrich Wilkening still exist but would have to be restored before being usable again.
The WDR and NDR didn't keep any of their radio broadcasts.
TV-Report
There were 2 camera teams at the festival. The youth program "Direkt" by the ZDF recorded a 11-minute report about the festival. It was directed by Cornelia Schlede and broadcasted on August 20th, 1977.
A few seconds of Checkpoint Charlie playing "Smogalarm" can be seen, many interviews with the visitors and the organizers. At the end there are 3 minutes of Embryo playing "Make It Easy".
Those recordings still exist as a broadcast copy in the archives of the ZDF. The quality is very bad, because the tape degraded over time. It's unknown if the original film recordings still exist.
The movie
The second camera team, also consisting of young filmmakers, recorded a movie called "Vlotho - umsonst und draußen '77". It was about 2 hours long and directed by Peter Bünemann.
The camera team was:
- Frank Bell
- Holger Schettler
- Michael Wiegert
- Andreas Golombeck
- Bärbel Wegener
- Ike Schettler
- Mathias Wiegert
- Dirk Büteröwe
It was shown in a few cinemas in 1978 and then disappeared, without anyone even knowing about its existance. In 2019 it was restored and remastered from the original film recordings. The WDR broadcasted it in their "Rockpalast" series.
Releases
Like on the years before, there was a compilation LP of the festival, featuring most of the artists that played. It was reissued together with the other LPs on CD by Sireena Records, called "Aufbrüche"
The only other release from this concert is the (almost) complete Embryo concert, from the tape of Ulrich Wilkening. Released by Garden of Delights in 2017.
Bands
More detailed description of the Bands, lineups and existing recordings.
Embryo
Existing recordings:
01 - Endless Feeling (13:47)
02 - Intro Idea (5:52)
03 - Political Prisoners (4:23)
04 - Double Time (6:01)
05 - Getalongwithasong (7:04)
06 - Make It Easy (14:04)
All the tracks are featured on the CD "Umsonst Und Draußen – Vlotho 1977", except a little bit of the beginning of "Endless Feeling" and a few minutes of "Make It Easy". It runs 6.2% too fast. The compilation LP contains "Getalongwithasong". The first half of "Endless Feeling" is featured in the film and about 3 minutes of "Make It Easy" are in the ZDF report.
The lenghts here are from my speed-corrected and remastered version, with additional parts from the film and TV-report.
Lineup:
Christian Burchard - Vocals, Vibraphone
Roman Bunka - Vocals, Guitar
Michael Wehmeyer - Keyboards
Uve Müllrich - Bass
Butze Fischer - Drums
Missus Beastly
Existing recordings:
01 - For Flü (7:31)
02 - (5:20)
03 - King Garlic (1:41)
The first track is from the LP and was also released as bonus on "Dr. Aftershave And The Mixed-Pickles". The other 2 songs are from the movie.
Lineup:
Matz Steinke - Bass
Freddy Setz - Drums
Friedemann Josch - Flute, Saxophone
Burkard Schmidl - Keyboards
Charisma
Existing recordings:
01 - (4:41)
02 - (4:12)
This band is a total mystery. They don't appear on any poster or on the LP, and are only seen in the movie. They were not really rock, more folk-like guitar songs. But not bad at all.
Seems they also appeared at Talentschuppen twice but that could also be a different band of the same name.
Moira
Existing recordings:
01 - Improvisationen (6:14)
02 - Improvisationen (5:14)
Moira in an otherwise undocumented lineup. Two songs that seem to be improvised, one from the LP, one from the movie.
Lineup:
Rainer Frank - Bass
Geoffrey Ramos - Congas
Ernst Bier - Drums
Jörgen Kanwischer - Guitar
Edgar Hofmann - Winds