Eulenspygel -

Eulenspygel was a German hard-rock/folk band behind the 1971/72 Spiegelei albums 2 and Ausschuss.

Members: Detlev Nottrodt (guitar, vocals), Matthias Thurow (guitar, violin), Cornelius Hauptmann (flute), Karlheinz Großhans (organ, vocals), Ronnie Libal (bass), Mulo Maulbetsch (vocals, harmonica), Günter Klinger (drums, percussion), Peter Weber (bass, vocals), Peter Garattoni (drums), Günther Marek (guitar)

Background

Eulenspygel formed in 1971 from the Royal Servants, a Swabian beat group active since 1965. The early lineup, assembled by guitarist Matthias “James” Thurow, shifted from church-song covers and British beat standards to blues-based rock with organ and extended instrumental passages.

By 1969, the band included guitarist Detlev Nottrodt, bassist Ronnie Libal, and drummer Günter Klinger. That year, they issued their first single on the Juke Box label, with both sides written by Thurow and Libal and recorded at Meilhaus Studio in Munich with drummer Alex Alecke and rhythm guitarist–organist Michael Scheibner:

A. “Burnin’ Region” (3:48)
B. “Help Me Please” (4:14)

In 1970, they released a second single on their own Royal Corporation imprint, with both sides written by Nottrodt:

A. “Still I Belong” (3:50)
B. “The Blues ’Comin’ My Way” (5:00)

By the time they entered Jankowski Studio to record their sole album as Royal Servants, the lineup comprised Nottrodt, Thurow, Libal, Klinger, organist Reinhard, and vocalist Manfred Maier.

Royal Servants – We

The band released their singular album as the Royal Servants, We, in 1970 on Elite Special.

The album pairs guitarist–composer Detlev Nottrodt with guitarist–violinist Matthias “James” Thurow in layered, dynamic passages, supported by Reinhard’s Hammond organ and guest contributions from pianist–vibraphonist Peter Mayer. Cornelius Hauptmann appears throughout on concert flute, adding tonal contrast to the ensemble’s longer compositions. The lineup also includes Ronnie Libal on bass, Günter Klinger on drums and percussion, and Manfred Maier on vocals.

We emphasizes extended psychedelic arrangements on “Latin Underground” and the title track with shorter numbers interspersed throughout. Nottrodt wrote all seven tracks, including the side-length “Latin Underground” and the multi-part centerpiece “We,” both shaped through close rehearsal and built around sustained ensemble development.

A1. “Work Part II” (5:20)
A2. “We” (9:15)
A3. “Someone to Be With Me” (2:48)

B1. “Latin Underground” (12:40)
B2. “Here’s Where I’m Gonna Stay” (2:57)
B3. “Private Man” (2:43)
B4. “Doomsday Up to Date” (1:57)

Sessions took place at Jankowski Studio in Stuttgart with engineer Klaus Reiser.

Following the album, the band adopted the name Eulenspygel, the trickster figure from German folklore and literature known for exposing hypocrisy through wit and satire. They replaced Maier and Reinhard with vocalist Mulo Maulbetsch and keyboardist Karlheinz Großhans.

2

Eulenspygel released their debut album, 2, in late 1971 on Spiegelei.

2 threads organ-heavy rock with abrupt diversions into jazz, blues, and avant-garde textures, grounded by sharp German-language vocals and sudden dynamic shifts. Detlev Nottrodt and James Thurow trade clipped, high-register lead figures and angular riff shapes, with Karlheinz Großhans punctuating the transitions on organ through call-response stabs, sustained voicings, and sudden harmonic pivots. Cornelius Hauptmann threads flute counterlines through the heavier passages, while Mulo Maulbetsch drops harmonica snips between the guitar–organ exchanges to sharpen the albums abrupt shift points.

“Till” builds on clipped rhythmic guitar and angular organ voicings, shifting into a brief instrumental break led by high-register leads. “Son My (My Lay)” stretches over eleven minutes, starting with moody electric figures and somber vocals, then fracturing into a series of exchanges—guitar, then bass–drums interplay, followed by raw synth textures and call-response organ lines before the closing reprise.

“Konsumgewäsche” cuts between marching cadences, harmonica snips, and staccato organ pulses, while “Staub auf Deinem Haar” develops as a jittered funk-rock structure with interjections of violin, flute, and extended unison jamming that places rhythmic emphasis on drums and phrasing alternation between instruments. “Die Wunde bleibt” reduces to minimal acoustic shapes and filtered speech. “Das Lied vom Ende” cycles through five linked sections, beginning with acoustic and flute interplay before escalating into distorted violin and riff passages, slowing briefly before a final buildup of swirling keys and sharp instrumental layering. The album’s structure prioritizes live momentum and on-the-spot transitions, cutting formal repetition in favor of sequence-driven build and release.

A1. “Till” (3:45)
A2. “Son My (My Lay)” (11:14)
A3. “Konsumgewäsche” [Consumer Babble / Consumption Babble] (4:03)

B1. “Staub auf Deinem Haar” [Dust on Your Hair] (7:58)
B2. “Die Wunde bleibt” [The Wound Remains] (1:58)
B3. “Das Lied vom Ende” [The Song of the End] (10:15)
— a. Erstens [Firstly]
— b. Alt [Old]
— c. Jung sein [Being Young]
— d. Hastig und kaputt [Hasty and Broken]
— e. Das Ende vom Lied [The End of the Song]

Sessions spanned July 19-21, 1971, at Studio Maschen with producer Peter Springer and engineers Horst Andritschke and Joe Menke.

The LP labels sport the sunny-side up trademark of Spiegelei (German for “fried egg”), a theme carried over to the gatefold front and back images, the latter with egg on cobblestone.

Spiegelei lifted “Till” as a single (b/w “Konsumgewäsche”) in a saturated picture sleeve.

Ausschuss

Eulenspygel released their second album, Ausschuss, in mid 1972 on Spiegelei.

Ausschuss (German for Committee) opens with the 22-minute “Abfall,” a multipart suite that spans whispered narration, chamber textures, full-band surges, and long-form instrumental pivots. Mellotron sets an uneasy tone at the start before the band coalesces into a slow-build section with alternating vocal bursts and woodwind phrasings. The central movements slip between sparse passages of flute, acoustic guitar, and voice, and denser interludes with saturated organ, drum changeups, and amplified bass. In its final stretch, the suite fuses low-register vocals with layered keyboard sustain and phrased guitar counterpoint.

“Menschenmacher” stays linear with a mid-tempo riff that serves as a framework for brief soloing on organ and guitar. “Teufelskreis” alternates acoustic patterns and subdued vocals with a lengthened fade built around droning sitar. “Herzliches Beileid” hinges on a clipped rhythm and call-response lines between organ and voice. “Der Fremde” progresses through staggered instrumental bursts and speechlike vocals that trade off with sustained organ tones. “Untertanenfabrik” opens with a compressed, distorted attack that soon recedes into ambient Mellotron layers and final guitar–organ unison figures. Across the album, shifting tone palettes and abrupt transitions anchor the pacing, with acoustic and symphonic timbres counterbalancing the heavier instrumental phrasing.

Nottrodt and Thurow weave phrased lead exchanges—guitar against Mellotron swells, then violin or sitar overlays—while Großhans answers with sustained organ and early synth tones that thicken the suites pivot points into unified surges. Hauptmann locks flute and alto sax counterlines into those guitar–keyboard frames, with Maulbetsch adding second-guitar punctuation around the vocal entries. They retained the septet format with three auxiliary players: percussionist Danny Bridgemen, bassist Anthony Grout-Smith, and vocalist Sylvia Nebel.

A. “Abfall” (22:12)
— a. Abfall [Waste / Trash]
— b. Blickwechsel [Change of Perspective]
— c. Kaputtes machen [Fixing Broken Things]
— d. Kaputtmachen [Breaking Things]

B1. “Menschenmacher” [People-Maker] (3:03)
B2. “Teufelskreis” [Vicious Circle] (7:57)
B3. “Herzliches Beileid” [Heartfelt Condolences] (2:57)
B4. “Der Fremde” [The Stranger] (5:46)
B5. “Untertanenfabrik” [Subject Factory] (3:56)

Sessions spanned April 4–8, 1972, at Apple Studios in London with Springer and Wolfgang M. Schmidt, both credited on subsequent Spiegelei titles by Michal Urbaniak.

Ausschuss appeared in a corrugated cardboard gatefold sleeve with a photo-montage inner-gate that includes a shot of the seven members walking single file across Abbey Road in homage to the 1969 Beatles album.

Postlude

Matthias James Thurow joined Wolfgang Dauner’s Et Cetera for their 1973 MPS release Live.

In 1979, Detlev Nottrodt revived Eulenspygel as a rock quartet with three former members of the Proton 1 band Nexus: guitarist Günter Marek, bassist Peter Weber, and recent Jonathan drummer Peter Garattoni. They released a self-titled album on Bellaphon.

Discography: