Orange Peel -

Orange Peel was a German Krautrock band that released a self-titled album in 1970 on Bellaphon. They formed in 1968 and featured a then-17-year-old Curt Cress on drums.

Members: Peter Bischof (vocals, percussion), Michael Winzkowski (guitar), Curt Cress (drums, percussion), Leslie Link (guitar), Heinrich “Heini” Mohn (bass), Ralph Wiltheiß (organ)

Inception

Orange Peel formed in 1968 in Hanau. They emerged during the first wave of German underground rock, aligned with early efforts by Amon Düül II and Faust. Their sound fused heavy organ-led improvisation with blues-based progressions and rapid, aggressive rhythmic turns.

They debuted in 1970 with a standalone single on Admiral Records.

A. “I Got No Time” (2:48)
B. “Searching for a Place to Hide” (2:57)

That same year, they entered Dieter Dierks’ studio near Cologne and recorded their lone LP. The lineup included two guitarists—Leslie Link and Michael Winzkowski—though only Link appeared on the final release. Bischof also played bongo in addition to vocals.

Orange Peel

Orange Peel released their self-titled album in 1970 on Bellaphon.

The album is split between an 18-minute side-long opener and three shorter compositions on the flip. The band deploys an explosive organ-forward sound interlaced with distortion-heavy guitars, restless percussion, and sparse vocals.

Influences range from American blues rock to deep psych experimentation. While Side A leans on improvisational structure and pace shifts, Side B offers more lyrical clarity and chord-based forms. All lyrics are in English.

A1. “You Can’t Change Them All” (18:16) – A marathon composition that opens with a quiet chordal build before launching into a nearly continuous organ-and-percussion exchange. Angular vocal lines punctuate early and late passages, while the midsection explores tempo doubling, guitar escalation, and full-ensemble acceleration. Ends in a burn-out cycle of percussion and tonal collapse.

B1. “Faces That I Used to Know” (3:16) – A compressed, lyrical piece with restrained rhythm and a controlled organ motif. Brief instrumental breaks introduce warped tonal colorings but the form remains fixed.

B2. “Tobacco Road” (7:10) – A blues-derived cover reimagined with dense fuzz-guitar overlays and rhythm-section interruptions. The pacing alternates between structured phrasing and looser harmonic vamping, with Wiltheiß’s organ taking sharp turns in phrasing across the central section.

B3. “We Still Try to Change” (10:30) – Opens with bass-centered tension that swells into full-band interplay. The second half veers into highly spaced instrumental abstraction, culminating in a loose, non-linear conclusion of isolated note clusters.

Sessions occurred in late 1969 at Dierks Studio, where Dieter engineered Orange Peel in sequence with titles by Hairy Chapter and Tomorrow’s Gift. Bellaphon artist Helmut Wenske rendered the cover, which shows a dark blue-lit photo of the band beside a pouch infested with orange-headed critters.

Postlude

Orange Peel disbanded shortly after the album’s release. Bassist Heinrich Mohn joined Epsilon. Peter Bischof and Curt Cress both moved to Emergency; Cress subsequently gained renown as a session drummer and member of Passport, Atlantis, and Triumvirat.

Despite their brief lifespan, Orange Peel’s 1970 release became a touchstone of early heavy psychedelic rock in Germany, notable for its velocity, organ dominance, and structural excess.

Discography: