Frumpy came to my attention during a period when I watched a series of YouTube videos featuring or showcasing German rock of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, the so-called Krautrock years. Unlike the experimental Can, the ethereal Tangerine Dream, the anarchic Amon Düül II, the brutal jazz-rock of Birth Control, the metronomic electronics of Kraftwerk or the experimentalism of Neu! and Faust, Frumpy seemed to be a pretty enjoyable, straightforward blues rock band with progressive urges, from the video examples, and I paid them no more attention.
Recently, also on YouTube, I came across a Rockpalast (the German WDR television service’s premier live rock show) presentation of a documentary about Frumpy’s lead singer, Inga Rumpf, called My Life is a Boogie. Not only did I learn that she had quite a career before Frumpy but also well beyond it, but I also learnt that she has a solid grounding in blues and gospel, hence her vocal style. Frumpy was also a band that obviously aimed at an audience well beyond Germany, with Rumpf singing in English.
Frumpy was relatively short-lived in its first incarnation, was more popular in Germany than anywhere else and released three studio albums and a live album. There are also two compilation albums of that first period. The band reunited, with only Rumpy, Kravetz and Bohn, in 1990 and released two studio albums, with a crowd of additional musicians, and a live album with a smaller core band.
Of course, the earlier albums are very much of their time and probably somewhat dated but they are quite good, and with some tunes being quite excellent, and Rumpf elevates any song she touches. Frumpy may not have had much international success because it was simply selling American style rock to the English language community, which had plenty of similar bands already, but I believe that Frumpy is a cut above most of their contemporaries and should’ve had more success and Inga Rumpf should’ve been an international star.
All Will Be Changed (1970)
Tracks:
1. Life Without Pain (3:50)
2. Rosalie, Part 1 (6:00)
3. Otium (4:22)
4. Rosalie, Part 2 (4:14)
5. Indian Rope Man (3:19)
6. Morning (3:24)
7. Floating, Part 1 (7:39)
8. Baroque (7:36)
9. Floating, Part 2 (1:25)
Bonus tracks on reissues:
10. Roadriding (4:02)
11. Time Makes Wise (2:49)
The debut album is performed by an instrumental trio of keyboards (mostly electronic organ) (Jean-Jacques Kravetz), bass ) (Karl-Heinz Schott) and drums (Carsten Bohn), with Inga Rump as lead vocalist. I guess you’d call it heavy, progressive blues rock with some tunes, such as early hit “Indian Rope Man.”
“Rosalie, Pt 1 - Otium - Rosalie Pt 2” and “Floating, Pt1 -Baroque - Floating, Pt, 2” are two sets of suites with extended instrumental passages, mostly organ, and even a drum solo in the second one. These are obviously the progressive heart of the record which would otherwise be a more orthodox blues rock outing. The three instrumentalists all have a chance to shine and one doesn’t miss the absence of guitars; Schott is a very agile, versatile and rhythmically solid yet melodic bassist.
Opening track “Life Without Pain” is a rousing, gospel rock track that one can see as a concert highlight, en penultimate track, “Roadriding” features heavy guitar by an uncredited guitarist.
“Roadriding” and “Time Makes Wise” are bonus tracks on CD releases.
Frumpy 2 (1971)
Tracks:
1. Good Winds (10:02)
2. How The Gipsy Was Born (10:05)
3. Take Care Of Illusion (7:30)
4. Duty (12:09)
Rainer Baumann comes into the line-up as guitarist.
The album has four tracks (presumably two a side of a conventional single LP), of which three clock in at 10 minutes or longer and the shortest track is seven and a half minutes.
“How the Gypsy Was Born,” “Take Care of Illusion” and “Duty” seem to have become concert staples.
The immediate impression is that the production smooths out some of the edges of the debut, is slightly muddier and reduces the volume and the power. I suppose this is what one calls becoming more sophisticated.
“Good Winds” is more elegiac, psychedelic groove opener than the bravura of “Life Without Pain” from the debut and sets the tone for the extended pieces that follow.
“How the Gypsy Was Born” sounds like an instant classic, with Rumpf’s fragile, brittle, soulful yet powerful vocals front and centre, plenty of hooks and excellent lyrics. Two Baumann solos are overdubbed to create a twin lead guitar effect. Kravetz is still the dominant, star soloist, though.
“Take Care of Illusion” and “Duty” pale a bit by comparison but both are excellent examples of psychedelic, experimental Frumpy, with the latter tune an examination of a possibly characteristic event (parents turning in their deserting son) of Nazi Germany during World War II.
By the Way (1972)
Tracks:
1. Goin' To The Country (3:40)
2. By The Way (8:51)
3. Singing Songs (7:02)
4. I'm Afraid Big Moon (6:25)
5. Release (8:50)
6. Keep On Going (5:25)
Erwin Kania plays additional keyboards on the record.
“Goin’ to the Country” is a lively blues stomper with slide guitar and rollicking piano and it’s as good an up-tempo opener as “Life Without Pain” is on All Will Be Changed, and by far the shortest track of the 6 on the record.
Both the title track and “Release” are almost 9 minutes long, and three other tracks are respectively longer than 5, 6 and 7 minutes.
The title track is a jazzy-prog, grand philosophical rumination and most connected to the style of the debut album, while “Singing Songs” is about the equally philosophical reflections of a musician on stage, musing about the relationship between performer and audience, and the first of the rousing four final tracks that emphasise the blues and soul roots of the song writing and Rumpf’s vocal style, and are the engaging kind of songs that hooks one in to the band.
There were many progressive hard rock bands, and many German rock bands, of the early to mid-‘70s who ploughed the same instrumental and conceptual furrow as Frumpy, but none of them had the ultimate weapon of Inga Rumpf as vocalist.
Frumpy Live (1973)
Tracks:
1. Keep On Going (12:06)
2. Singing Songs (8:54)
3. Backwater Blues (4:56)
4. Duty (17:35)
5. To My Mother (11:34)
6. Release (22:00)
7. Take Care Of Illusion (8:54)
8. Duty (7:33)
9. Floating (12:14)
"Duty" and "Floating" are bonus tracks on later versions of the album, having been previously released in 1970.
Live is a great, rip-roaring mid-‘70s memento of Frumpy’s signature style of psychedelic blues-rock, with plenty tracks to stretch out on and jam, with accomplished musicians on top of their game and fully capable of improvising at length yet still keeping it interesting and compelling. I suppose it’s a snapshot of the typical underground, progressive rock band of the time. Rumpf’s soulful, blues inflected vocals are always worth the price of admission on any Frumpy release and she’s in her element here, communicating and connecting with her audience.
For some inexplicable reason, “How the Gypsy was Born,” Frumpy’s most identifiable hit, isn’t featured.
xxx
I don’t know what the three ‘90s albums sound like but my guess is that they would be considerably different to the ‘70s band, if only for the mass of contributing musicians, and with considerably less charm. After Frumpy first broke up, Rumpf went on to front Atlantis, a typical mid- to late ‘70s AOR that sought, unsuccessfully, to find a break in the USA but this band was truly selling ice to Eskimos and the product, however technically proficient the musicianship, has nothing like the power and charm of full-throttle Frumpy.
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