Organisation (band)

Organisation
Origin	Germany
Genres	Krautrock
Years active	1967–1970
Labels	RCA Victor
Associated acts	Kraftwerk
Past members
Ralf Hütter Florian Schneider-Esleben Basil Hammoudi Butch Hauf Alfred "Fred" Mönicks

Organisation was an experimental Krautrock band, that was the immediate predecessor of the band Kraftwerk. In addition to the founding members of Kraftwerk, Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider-Esleben, Organisation consisted of Basil Hammoudi, Butch Hauf and Alfred "Fred" Mönicks. Charly Weiss, Peter Martini and Paul Lorenz were sometimes also included in Organisation.

A video recording by German TV broadcaster WDR exists of the band performing "Ruckzuck", a piece that appeared on the first Kraftwerk album in 1970. The performance took place at the Grugahalle in Essen on 25 April 1970 as part of the Essener Pop und Blues Festival. The group played in front of a blue chroma key screen which keyed in wide shots of the audience watching them perform.

Their only album, Tone Float, produced and engineered by Konrad "Conny" Plank, was released on the RCA Victor label in the UK in the summer of 1970. As it was available in Germany only as an import, sales were poor and RCA opted to drop the band shortly afterwards, at which point they disbanded. Hammoudi, Hauf and Mönicks returned to university to complete their studies, leaving Hütter and Schneider-Esleben to continue as Kraftwerk.

According to Mönicks (interviewed in the mid-1990s) the quintet had already begun to perform under the name Kraftwerk some time after Tone Float had been recorded, but RCA had been keen for them to have a band name more appropriate to the English market, since the album was to be issued only in the UK, so the name Organisation was used.

Hammoudi was later a member of jazz-rock band Ibliss, along with former-Kraftwerk drummer Andreas Hohmann.

Members

• Ralf Hütter – Hammond-organ
• Florian Schneider-Esleben – Flutes, bell, triangle, tambourine, electro-violin, percussion
• Basil Hammoudi – Glockenspiel, conga gong, musical box, bangos, percussion, voice
• Butch Hauf – Bass-guitar, shaky tube, small bells, plastic hammer, percussion
• Alfred Mönicks (a.k.a. "Fred Monicks") – Drums, bongos, maracas, cowbell, tambourine, percussion

External links

• Kraftwerk.com -- official Kraftwerk site.
• Organisation discography at Discogs