Virus - My Strand-Eyed Girl .1971

Virus - Thoughts (Ger 1971)

Formed: 1970, Bielefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Disbanded: 1974 //

Members:
- Jorg-Dieter Krahe / keyboards
- Bernd Rosner / guitars
- Werner Vogt / vocals, bass, guitar
- Jurgen Schafer / vocals, bass
- Wolfgang Rieke / drums
- Axel Nieling / percussion, drums

Tracks:
01. King Heroin - 5.39
02. Manking, Where Do You Go - 5.01
03. Theme - 0.23
04. Old Time Movie - 4.15
05. Butterflies - 4.27
06. Take Your Thoughts - 6.10
07. Sittin' And Smoking' - 2.58
08. Going On - 4.34
09. Deeds Of The Past - 2.14
10. My Strand-Eyed Girl - 4.13

Total Time: 39:40

Virus were a psychedelic band originating from Bielefeld in Northern Germany. Their music
incorporates Pink Floyd's space rock, heavy keyboards somewhat reminiscent of Deep Purple all
put together into long songs filled with jams. They released only two albums -- "Revelation"
(1970) and "Thoughts" (1971). The album was recorded in Star Studios, Hamburg and produced by
Konrad Plank.
The Virus lineup for the first album is:
Werner Monka (guitar),
Jorg-Dieter Krahe (organ),
Bernd "Molle" Hohmann (vocals, flute),
Reinhold Spiegelfeld (bass) and
Wolfgang Rieke (drums).

"Revelation" starts as a straight forward psychedelic track and develops as the song conines
forward. Towards the middle of the song comes in a cover of the Rolling Stones song -- Paint It
Black. Another homage is found in the second song where at the end you can hear a Saucerful Of
Secrets choir bit. This album is very inventive and contains surprises along the different
tracks. These songs have long guitar playing parts and exciting organ playing, both
demonstrating very good musicianship.

The second album "Thoughts" is a big change from their first one. The lineup change considerably
as well, leaving only Krahe and Rieke from the original group. The new members were:
Axel Nieling (drums),
Jurgen Schafer (bass, vocals),
Bernd Rosner (guitar) and
Werner Vogt (bass, guitar, vocals).
In this album they abandoned their long tracks and space rock and psychedelic nature. This album
presents a more mainstream approach with blues rock songs. Therefore this would not be of
interest for those looking them for their psychedelic and progressive sound.

In 2004 a 1973 live show was released under the name Remember.