Birth Control -

Birth Control are a German hard-rock band that released eleven studio albums and two live LPs between 1970 and 1982.

Members: Bernd Koschmidder (bass, 1966-73), Reinhold Sobotta (keyboards, 1966-72), Rolf Gurra [Rolly Joker] (saxophone, vocals, 1966-69), Reiner Borchert (guitar, 1966-69), Hugo Egon Balder (drums, 1966-68), Klaus Orso (guitar, 1966-68), Fritz Gröger (lead vocals, guitar, 1968-69), Gerd Alsheimer (guitar, 1968-69), Bernd Noske (drums, percussion, lead vocals, 1968-83, 1993-2014), Bruno Frenzel (guitar, vocals, 1969-83), Wolfgang Neuser (keyboards, 1972-73), Zeus B. Held (keyboards, 1973-79), Peter Föller (bass, lead vocals, 1973-77, 2016-present), Dirk Steffens (guitar, 1973-74), Horst Stachelhaus (bass, 1977-80, 1993-99), Manni von Bohr (drums, 1977-80, 2016-present), Wolfgang Horn (keyboards, 1979-81), Jürgen Goldschmidt (bass, 1980-93), Stefan Linke (guitar, 1981-83), Ulrich Klein (keyboards, 1981-83)

Formation

Birth Control coalesced in 1968 Berlin when drummer/singer Bernd Noske joined the beat group co-founded by organist Reinhold Sobotta and bassist Bernd Koschmidder.

In 1969, guitarist and songwriter Bruno Frenzel joined the band and they issued the single “October” (b/w “Freedom”) on the Austrian label Amadeo International.

Both sides feature swirling organ layers, rapid-fire drum rolls, unison vocal lines, and lengthy instrumental sections (in under four minutes).

Birth Control

Birth Control released their self-titled debut album in August 1970 on Metronome.

The album contains four songs by Bruno Frenzel and two (“Recollection,” “Sundown”) by Reinhold Sobotta.

They conclude Birth Control with “Light My Fire,” the signature Doors song little-known to German audiences.

A1. “No Drugs” (4:01)
A2. “Recollection” (6:24)
A3. “Deep Inside” (4:40)
A4. “Foolish Action” (4:32)

B1. “Sundown” (10:02)
B2. “Change of Mind” (4:42)
B3. “Light My Fire” (5:40)

Sessions occurred at Audio Studios,a recently opened Berlin facility used for subsequent albums by Agitation Free, Epitaph, and Karthago. Birth Control recorded the album with schlager producers Didi Zill, Peter Meisel, and engineer Jurgen Wentorff.

Metronome pressed Birth Control in a die-cut circular gatefold with a photo of the band in an unopened birth-control tablet container (front) and a full group shot of the fur-clad members in the snow (inner). In the US, the album appeared on Prophesy Records in a single sleeve with the band pictured at the center of an open, empty tablet container. In 1973, Metronome reissued the album as Knock! Knock!! Who’s There? with a comic illustration of a nude woman asking “Who’s there?” as the “KNOCK! KNOCK!” action words rumble her midsection.

Metronome lifted “No Drugs” as a single, backed with “All I Want Is You,” a non-album Frenzel/Sobotta tracks.

B. “All I Want Is You”

Birth Control moved to Ohr, a new label initiated by Metronome executive Peter Meisel for the nascent German underground (Annexus Quam, Embryo, Guru Guru, Tangerine Dream, Witthuser & Westrupp). Birth Control’s first Ohr release was the non-album single “Hope” backed with “Rollin’,” both Frenzel numbers.

A. “Hope”
B. “Rollin'”

Operation

Birth Control released their second album, Operation, in May 1971 on Ohr.

This was the final release by the original lineup: guitarist Bruno Frenzel, bassist Bernd Koschmidder, drummer/singer Bernd Noske, and organist Reinhold Sobotta.

Operation contains six Frenzel originals, all above six minutes apart from “Flesh and Blood.” He co-wrote “Stop Little Lady” with outsider Jay Ruffin Harrington.

A1. “Stop Little Lady” (7:19)
A2. “Just Before the Sun Will Rise” (7:39)
A3. “The Work Is Done” (6:00)

B1. “Flesh and Blood” (3:29)
B2. “Pandemonium” (6:36)
B3. “Let Us Do It Now” (11:13)

Didi Zill produced Operation, which spawned one single: “Flesh and Blood” (b/w “The Work Is Done”).

Orh issued Operation in a gatefold cover that shows tiny babies dropped from the mouth of a tarantula, trailed with bones. The inner-gate has a horizontal illustration of a baby-filled flushing system mounted by the insect with the tube-attached heads of each member (with babies in their mouths).

In the UK, Charisma released the album in a black sleeve that shows a snake curled inside a water-filled condom. In France, Philips issued Operation with a mosaic illustration of a rubinesque Victorian woman seated with five crawling babies on leashes. The latter contains a vertical inner-gate with a red-backed group shot of the original quartet.

Between Operation and the followup, Sobotta cleared for keyboardist Wolfgang Neuser. In 1972, Birth Control released their fourth single: “What’s Your Name” backed with “Believe In the Pill,” both non-album Frenzel sides.

A. “What’s Your Name”
B. “Believe In the Pill”

Hoodoo Man

Birth Control released their third album, Hoodoo Man, in December 1972 on CBS.

The album contains six Frenzel originals in a maximalist hard-rock style with Bruno’s strident guitar and Bernd Noske’s gruff vocals interlocked with Wolfgang Neuser, who plays church organ, synthesizer, and vibraphone.

Each song exceeds seven minutes apart from “Suicide” and the standard-time “Kaulstoss,” a folksy short with bagpipist George Mac Knickerick.

A1. “Buy!” (7:12)
A2. “Suicide” (6:18)
A3. “Get Down to Your Fate” (7:58)

B1. “Gamma Ray” (9:46)
B2. “Hoodoo Man” (8:27)
B3. “Kaulstoss” (2:40)

Birth Control co-produced Hoodoo Man in September/October 1972 with engineer Thomas Kukuck, a soundman on 1971/72 Krautrock classics by Brave New World (Impressions on Reading Aldous Huxley), Frumpy (By the Way), and Silberbart (4 Times Sound Razing).

Illustrator Heinz Dofflein drew the Hoodoo Man gatefold, which shows a corpulent nude female on all fours before a tiny wind-up man (front) while bald munchkins and a smaller round female face-plant in the woman’s posterior. The red-on-yellow inner-gates have portrait shots of each member, referred to as Nossie, Bruno, Koschi, and Wolle.

After Hoodoo Man, Neuser cleared for keyboardist Zeus B. Held while co-founder Bernd Koschmidder gave way to bassist/singer Peter Foller. As a stopgap, Birth Control released “Nostalgia,” a non-album Frenzel number backed with “Kaulstoss.”

A. “Nostalgia”

Rebirth

Birth Control released their fourth album, Rebirth, in January 1974 on CBS. They recorded the album as a five-piece with co-founders Bernd Noske and Bruno Frenzel, recent recruits Peter Föller and Zeus B. Held, and one temp player: lead guitarist Dirk Steffens (ex-Penny Wonder). The title alludes to their reconfiguration.

Frenzel wrote both side-openers and co-wrote “Mister Hero,” “No Shade Is Real,” and “Back From Hell” with Steffens, who contributed the 12-string interlude “Grandjeanville.” B. Held plays flute on his submission, “M.P.C.”

Zeus plays organ, electric piano, and mellotron on Rebirth. On “Mister Hero,” he doubles on trumpet and trombone while Frenzel handles alto saxophone.

A1. “She’s Got Nothing on You” (5:04)
A2. “Mister Hero” (6:42)
A3. “Grandjeanville” (1:03)
A4. “No Shade Is Real” (4:41)
A5. “M.P.C.” (1:56)

B1. “Together Alone Tonight” (10:28)
B2. “Back From Hell” (8:08)

Sessions occurred in November 1973 at Dieter Dierks Studio near Cologne, where Birth Control self-produced in the presence of Thomas Kukuck, who engineered Rebirth in sequence with titles by Cornucopia (Full Horn) and Lucifer’s Friend (I’m Just a Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer).

CBS issued Rebirth in Germany and Spain in a maroon cover with gold text. An alternate German issue features black letters.

Birth Control continued as a four-piece without Dirk Steffens, who cut a 1976 solo album (The Seventh Step) and formed the 1978 Nova Records one-off Tollhouse.

Live

In late 1974, CBS released the double-album Live, the first Birth Control live album, sourced from their German summer tour with Zeus B. Held on organ and Wurlitzer.

Live contains double-length renditions of songs from Rebirth (“Back From Hell”) and Hoodoo Man (“Gamma Ray”). Side A consists of “The Work Is Done,” rendered almost thrice the length of its Operation counterpart.

Bassist Peter Foller harmonizes with Nossi on “Back from Hell” and sings lead on the Side D numbers “Long Tall Sally” (a Little Richard chestnut) and “She’s Got Nothing on You,” the only number time-faithful to its studio original.

A. “The Work Is Done” (16:50)
B. “Back From Hell” (15:35)
C. “Gamma Ray” (20:33)
D1. “She’s Got Nothing on You” (5:35)
D2. “Long Tall Sally” (10:50)

Dieter Dierks recorded Live with his Recordomobile studio vehicle at shows in Freiburg (Ice Stadium), Attendorn (City Hall), and Dorsten (City Hall).

On the outer gatefold, Birth Control portray 1920s Chicago gangsters with guns drawn at an empty carriage. The inner-gates contain extensive liner notes by Norbert Stockheim-Chinch.

Plastic People

Birth Control released their fifth studio album, Plastic People, in September 1975 on CBS.

This is the first of two studio albums by the Live quartet lineup: bassist/singer Peter Foeller, drummer/singer Bernd Noske, guitarist Bruno Frenzel, and keyboardist/saxist Zeus B. Held.

Plastic People contains six epic songs with irreverent subtitles. Frenzel wrote “Tiny Flashlights” and co-wrote three songs with B. Held, who composed the last two tracks. “My Mind” and “This Song Is Just for You” feature two-thirds of Hoelderlin: cellist Jochen von Grumbkow and violinist Christoph Noppeney.

A1. “Plastic People” (10:54)
A2. “Tiny Flashlights” (7:33)
A3. “My Mind” (6:49)

B1. “Rockin’ Rollin’ Roller” (5:43)
B2. “Trial Trip” (6:43)
B3. “This Song Is Just for You” (7:28)

Sessions occurred in May 1975 at Dierks Studio with engineer Toby Robinson, a soundman on 1974/75 albums by Baba Yaga, Can, Dzyan, Mythos, and Nine Days Wonder.

German graphic illustrator Peter Lorenz created the Plastic People gatefold image, which shows a bleak upward procession from a doomed Earth, led by a backward clockface character, who reappears on the LP labels and inner-gates. CBS reused the image for the sleeve of the unrelated 7″ release of “Gamma Ray” (part 1 b/w 2).

Backdoor Possibilities

Birth Control released their sixth album, Backdoor Possibilities, in October 1976 on Brain. The album contains three epic suites and three mid-length songs on the theme of a business tycoon who reconsiders his path with fatal results.

Zeus B. Held composed the opening suite and “No Time to Die.” He co-composed the rest with Bruno Frenzel apart from the “Zaragoza” suite, which Frenzel co-wrote with Bernd “Nossi” Noske.

Held dominates Backdoor Possibilities on assorted organ (Hammond, Yamaha), synthesizer (Moog, ARP), electric piano (Fender Rhodes, Hohner), grand piano, and alto saxophone. Noske multi-tasks on drums, marimba, and percussive sundries (timpani, finger cymbals, guiro, congas, flexitone, vibraslap).

A1. “One First of April” (7:36)
— a. Prologue (2:32)
— b. Physical and Mental Short Circuit (3:58)
— c. Subterranean Escape (1:11)
A2. “Beedeepees” (8:37)
— a. Film of Life (5:37)
— b. Childhood Flash-Back (0:52)
— c. Legal Labyrinth (2:05)
A3. “Futile Prayer” (5:55)

B1. “La Cigüena de Zaragoza” (8:14)
— a. The Farrockaway Ropedancer (4:28)
— b. Le Moineau de Paris (2:24)
— c. Cha Cha D’Amour (1:25)
B2. “Behind Grey Walls” (6:53)
B3. “No Time to Die” (6:10)

Sessions occurred in July/August 1976 in Wolperath at the namesake studio of German heavyweight Conny Plank, who produced and engineered Backdoor Possibilities in sequence with titles by Bullfrog, Jane, Ramses, and Streetmark.

Birth Control laid overdubs at Studio Nedeltschev, a Cologne facility used for Eloy‘s 1975/76 albums (Power and the Passion, Dawn) and Hoelderlin’s subsequent Rare Birds. Backdoor Possibilities gives co-production credits to UK soundman David Hitchcock, a producer of recent symphonic juggernauts (Camel, Caravan, Curved Air, Renaissance) and earlier post-psych acts (Aardvark, East of Eden, Fuchsia, Jan Dukes de Grey).

Zeus created the cover art with illustrator and future You synthesist Albin Meskes. The Backdoor Possibilities gatefold depicts the subject’s death-pallor portrait in an open door beside a dead tree while his living self (backside) stares on amid the grassy valley and back-road to a distant city. The inner-gate depicts a circular outdoor performance area with member portraits and scenes from the narrative.

Birth Control followed Backdoor Possibilities with a non-album 1977 Metronome single: “Fall Down,” a Frenzel number backed with the Held co-write “Laugh or Cry.”

A. “Fall Down”
B. “Laugh or Cry”

Hitchcock co-produced both sides, their last with Peter Foller, who cleared for Message bassist Horst Stachelhaus.

Increase

Birth Control released their seventh album, Increase, in September 1977 on Brain.

This marked their second outing (after Rebirth) as a quintet. Group veterans Bernd Noske, Bruno Frenzel, and Zeus B. Held welcomed a new rhythm section: Horst Stachelhaus and drummer Manfred bob Borhr, a fellow Message alumni whose presence freed Noske as a vocalist.

Zeus composed “Domino’s Hammock” and “We All Thought We Knew You,” a dedication to Helmut Koellen, the recently deceased Triumvirat bassist. Frenzel co-wrote “Skate-Board Sue” while Noske third-wrote three songs. The band (minus Frenzel) group-wrote “Get Up!”

Horst’s hyperactive bass runs and Borhr’s precise backbone impart funk-rock flavors akin to the Ian Gillan Band. B. Held’s arsenal includes Minimoog, Polymoog, Hammond C3, Fender Rhodes, and the Hohner D6 clavinet.

A1. “Skate-Board Sue” (3:55)
A2. “Domino’s Hammock” (4:52)
A3. “Fight for You” (4:35)
A4. “Until the Night” (6:25)

B1. “Get Up!” (4:35)
B2. “We All Thought We Knew You” (7:50)
B3. “Seems My Bike’s Riding Me” (8:00)

Birth Control produced Increase in July/August 1977 at Lerchenhof, their just-completed home studio. David Hitchcock co-engineered the album with Gate soundman Manfred Schunke. Photographer Jacques Alexandre took the Increase cover image, which shows the half-buried members duplicated in perpetuity along a sandy oceanside dune.

Titanic

Birth Control released their eighth album, Titanic, in September 1978 on Brain.

The album retains the Increase quintet of Zeus B. Held and the ex-Message rhythm section.

Mainstays Bernd Noske and Bruno Frenzel co-wrote the album’s eight songs, which streamline the band’s newfound funkiness.

A1. “The Last Survivor” (4:30)
A2. “Miss Davina” (4:33)
A3. “Seems Like It’s Confusion” (5:13)
A4. “How Can I Live?” (6:52)

B1. “Titanic” (5:16)
B2. “Love Light” (4:41)
B3. “Don’t Turn Back” (5:21)
B4. “Saturday Special” (5:28)

Sessions spanned May through July 1978 in Cologne at Studio am Dom, where Birth Control co-produced Titanic with owner Martin Homberg, a prior soundman for the German folk combos Manderley and Zupfgeigenhansel.

Europa illustrator Olof Feindt created the album’s cover image, which depicts a wing-bowed ship (not the RMS Titanic) in distress under red skies.

Zeus B. Held retained Homberg for two concurrent projects: Zeus’ Amusement (his debut solo album) and Nice Mover, the debut album by Gina X Performance, a pioneering electro-futurist group fronted by Gina Kikoine. Held’s commitment to the latter signaled his exit from Birth Control, which continued with keyboardist Wolfgang Horn.

Live 79

In 1979, Brain released Live 79, the second Birth Control live album.

A1. “Titanic” (7:57)
A2. “Saturday Special” (5:46)
A3. “Seems Like It’s Confusion” (7:34)

B1. “Fight for You” (10:25)
B2. “The Work Is Done” (6:32)

Bernd Noske – vocals, percussion
Bruno Frenzel – guitar
Wolfgang Horn – keyboards
Manni von Bohr – drums
Horst Stachelhaus – bass

Count on Dracula

Birth Control released their ninth studio album, Count on Dracula, in February 1980 on Ariola.

A1. “Count on Dracula” (6:16)
A2. “The Rescue (Sometimes in the Future)” (6:37)
A3. “Sad Fan” (6:27)

B1. “Pick on Me” (6:25)
B2. “Caterpillar” (5:07)
B3. “Limelight” (3:52)
B4. “Witchhunters” (4:05)

Bernd “Nossi” Noske – lead vocals, backing vocals, percussion, electronic effects
Bruno Frenzel – guitar, backing vocals
Wolfgang “Fox” Horn – keyboards, backing vocals
Horst Stachelhaus – bass
Manfred von Bohr – drums

Deal Done at Night

Birth Control released their tenth studio album, Deal Done at Night, in 1981 on Ariola.

A1. “Burnt Gas” (5:37)
A2. “He’s in the Right” (4:52)
A3. “Talk to You” (4:44)
A4. “Deal Done at Night” (4:20)

B1. “Don’t Call Me Up” (5:27)
B2. “Absolution” (5:25)
B3. “Another Death” (6:05)

Bruno Frenzel – guitar, backing vocals, writer
Bernd “Nossi” Noske – lead vocals, drums, percussion, writer
Jürgen Goldschmidt – bass, backing vocals
Wolfgang “Fox” Horn – keyboards, backing vocals

Bäng

Birth Control released their eleventh studio album, Bäng, in 1982 on Ohr.

A1. “Nuclear Reactor” (5:03)
A2. “Get Ready to Run” (4:06)
A3. “Take Alarm” (5:31)
A4. “Greedy Eyes” (4:54)

B1. “The Day of Doom Is Coming” (8:00)
B2. “Doom Boom” (5:16)
B3. “The King of an Island” (6:20 )

Bernd Noske – lead vocals, drums
Bruno Frenzel – lead guitar, slide guitar
Jürgen Goldschmidt – bass, backing vocals
Ulrich Klein – keyboards, backing vocals
Stefan Linke – rhythm guitar, vocals

Discography: