Week of August 29, 2004
Personnel:
Udo Arndt - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Andreas V. [Villain] - Bass
Dietrich Markgraf - Sax, Flute
Christoph Busse – Drums
Buddy Mandler - Percussion, Vocals, Bass
Mikro Rilling – Cello, Bass
Albums:
Latin Mass (Metronome MLP 15381) 1970
CD reissue: Mason Records, MR56426, 2004
43 Minuten (Brain 1015) 1972
CD reissue: Repertoire PMS 7070-WP, 1998
Just as Electric Prunes and Eela Craig did before and after them, Os Mundi from Berlin converted a Latin mass into the progressive and/or psychedelic rock format. Os Mundi was the brainchild of Udo Arndt. On the first album they were helped by guests Hartmut Seidel (bass) and David Kalckreuth (organ). The album was a tour de force with heavy, powerful guitars and garage organs. It had a dense, raw production, sinister atmosphere and made clever use of studio effects. Indeed, its dark atmosphere could easily be associated with a black mass, instead of a Latin mass! It sounded a bit like early Uriah Heep or Vanilla Fudge with similar, opera-like vocals. The second album, “43 Minuten” (recorded at Audio Studios in June 1972 with Konrad Plank) was a very, very different work. It was a more "mainstream" progressive rock recording, drawing more from jazz, folk and contemporary West Coast rock. Highlights of this album included "But Reality Will Show", a Hölderlin-like ballad with the use of cello, and "Erstickübungen", a tremendous instrumental blow-out with gutsy, heavy guitar play from Udo. He later became a renowned rock and new wave record producer and engineer (Ian Cussick, Munchener Freiheit, Morgenrot, Steinwolke). Nowadays he’s employed as an engineer and producer at the Audion Studio in Berlin.
Taken from Cosmic Dreams at Play - A guide to German Progressive and Electronic Rock by Dag Erik Asbjørnsen, Borderline Productions, ISBN 1-899855-01-7