Xhol Caravan -

Xhol Caravan was a psychedelic German jazz-rock band that originated as Soul Caravan. In 1969, they released the pioneering Krautrock album Electrip on Hansa Records. Two titles appeared in 1971/72 under the shortened name Xhol.

Members: Tim Belbe (tenor saxophone), Hansi Fischer (flute, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone), Gerhard Egmont “Öcki” Brevern (organ, electric piano, tuba), Klaus Briest (bass), Gilbert “Skip” van Wyck III (drums)

Background

Soul Caravan formed in early 1967 in Wiesbaden, Germany, when saxophonists Tim Belbe and Hansi Fischer—fresh off their stint in Tim and the Times—linked up with bassist Klaus Briest and drummer Gilbert “Skip” van Wyck, a U.S. serviceman stationed nearby. Van Wyck introduced fellow Americans James Rhodes and Ronnie Swinson, both vocalists with a background in soul revue performance.

With a two-horn frontline, dual lead singers, and a tight rhythm section, the group assembled a self-contained ensemble geared toward the soul circuit then sweeping West Germany’s club scene. Drawing early attention through high-energy covers of Otis Redding and James Brown, they quickly established a reputation for charismatic live shows and dynamic instrumentation. Encouraged by enthusiastic reception, they transitioned from American standards to original material composed by band members and their collaborator Henry Gaines, refining their arrangements through constant gigging and rehearsals across Hessian clubs and regional festivals.

Get in High

Soul Caravan released their first album, Get in High, in 1967 on CBS.

The album captures the band at a turning point, as their origins in revue-style soul gave way to extended arrangements and more elastic ensemble structures. Two saxophonists—Tim Belbe and Hansi Fischer—share lead space through alternating phrases and tandem passages, while guitarist Werner Funk inserts clipped, blues-inflected figures that weave between the horns and emphasize group density over solo contrast.

James Rhodes, often writing with Henry Gaines, shaped much of the material, with additional input from Fischer, Belbe, Swinson, and van Wyck. Several songs adapt familiar R&B templates into expanded forms that allowed for freer instrumental motion. “Get in High / Shotgun” and “Land of 1,000 Dances” both deviate from their source versions through reorganized pacing and sectional reshaping. Original numbers such as “African Song” and “So Much Soul” reflect the band’s embrace of African-American themes and stage-tested interplay developed across Hessian soul clubs and West German festivals.

A1. “So Much Soul” (3:09)
A2. “Hey, Hey, Hey, What’s This You’re Doin’, Baby” (2:35)
A3. “Memories” (3:30)
A4. “Bookin’ Up” (2:31)
A5. “Get in High, Shotgun” (3:30)
A6. “Hold On, Baby” (2:24)

B1. “African Song” (4:05)
B2. “Just a Fantasy” (4:14)
B3. “Land of 1000 Dances” (4:10)
B4. “She’s My Baby” (2:58)
B5. “Psychodelic Soul” (5:13)

Soul Caravan recorded the album on December 20, 1967, at Studio Walldorf, during a peak in their live momentum after supporting Carla Thomas and King Curtis on the German soul-jazz circuit. Producers Fritz Rau and Horst Lippmann oversaw the session as part of a run that included projects by German beat, blues, and jazz crossover acts; they booked only two days of studio time, prompting the band to rehearse intensively and cut the album live with minimal separation between players.

CBS lifted “So Much Soul” as a single, paired with “Hold On, Baby.”

In 1968, Soul Caravan phased out soul covers and infused their set with modal jazz pieces by Jimmy Heath (“Gemini”) and John Coltrane (“My Favorite Things”). Swinson returned to the U.S., and the group retired its revue-style presentation. They adopted the name Xhol Caravan and shifted focus to improvisation, electric instrumentation, and collective sound exploration. Organist Öcki von Brevern joined in early 1969, finalizing the five-piece lineup of Belbe, Fischer, Briest, van Wyck, and von Brevern.

Electrip

Xhol Caravan released Electrip in 1969 on Hansa. The music unspools as a warped sequence of communal jams, distorted textures, and unstable transitions driven by dual saxophones, organ swells, and spontaneous structural shifts. Throughout, the band avoids fixed themes in favor of volatile pacing, overlapping lines, and momentary collisions between rhythm and atonality.

“Electric Fun Fair” opens with a flushed glissando and lurches into a shifting 5/4 motif layered in carousel-like sax phrases and raga-tinged organ runs, circling between manic uptempo passages and sudden dissolves into stretched ambient figures. “Pop Games” hinges on a brittle unison theme that breaks apart midway into an extended percussion interlude before reforming under a fractured modal vamp that hovers between agitation and inertia.

“All Green” levels into a more restrained dialogue between sax, bass, and keys, riding on a subdued pulse that bends in and out of tempo with short, clustered riff fragments and echo-drenched breakdowns. “Raise Up High” sustains a seventeen-minute arc that opens with jagged vocals and hard snare emphasis before dispersing into slow-form drift: layered organ flares and distant flute tones pulse over untethered bass figures, as the ensemble stretches time across long stretches of chromatic instability. “Walla Mashalla” closes with minimal chant and processed sound fragments, offering a final warped commentary on the set’s improvised logic.

A1. “Electric Fun Fair” (6:25)
A2. “Pop Games” (6:56)
A3. “All Green” (7:38)

B1. “Raise Up High” (17:45)
B2. “Walla Masallah” (1:38)

Xhol Caravan recorded the album in early 1969 at Ariola Studios in Berlin, shortly after solidifying their lineup with keyboardist Öcki von Brevern and reorienting toward collective improvisation. Peter Meisel produced Electrip in tandem with projects by Jeronimo, Improved Sound Limited, and Hansa singles by soul, beat, and jazz-pop crossover acts. Sessions took place in a shared space without isolation booths, allowing the group to maintain full visual contact and real-time interaction throughout the recording.

Hansa also paired two group-composed session outtakes onto a single.

A. “Planet Earth” (2:44)
B. “So Down” (3:26)

By 1970, Xhol Caravan shortened their name to Xhol and continued as a four-piece without Hansi Fischer, who surfaced briefly in Embryo.

Xhol structured live sets around collective improvisation with no fixed cues or time limits. They performed in a semicircle with all speakers directed inward for constant audio feedback between players. Belbe and Fischer wired their saxophones through effects and octave units, while von Brevern developed layered textures on Hammond organ. The group maintained this configuration into their 1970 concerts in Göttingen.

Hau-RUK

In May 1971, Xhol released Hau-RUK, an Ohr Records document of their July 1-2, 1970, performance at the Center in Göttingen.

Hau-RUK documents Xhol in full improvisational sprawl, building long-form live jams on minimal cues and extended rhythmic inertia. “Breit” stretches across twenty-four minutes with unhurried pacing and gradual escalation: layered organ drones and brushed cymbals give way to intersecting saxophone lines, shifting in tone from reverent to agitated before breaking into sustained chordal waves under clipped percussive accents.

“Schaukel” enters midstream with a looser attack, the bass pulling against free-floating sax phrasings while the drums push a fractured pulse. Midway, the group detours into a slow, ragged blues with shouted vocals over an unvarnished “Rock Me Baby” framework, then lapses into drifting atmospherics and eventual rhythmic lockstep. “Süden Twi Westen,” recorded years later in studio, opens with flute and electric piano interplay and gradually takes form around dual saxes in alternating call-and-response. The piece rises through concentric figures into sharper, clustered cadences, then falls back into chamber-like stillness punctuated by warbling organ trails and muted brass. Across all three tracks, Xhol favor pulse-driven textures, deep instrumental layering, and a loosely tethered forward motion shaped by real-time decision-making.

A. “Breit” (24:13)

B. “Schaukel” (20:20)

Xhol recorded the album live on July 1 and 2, 1970, at the ‘Center’ in Göttingen during a period of increasing commitment to unstructured, full-length improvisation. The tapes document a two-night engagement captured without overdubs, preserving the group’s full-volume semicircle setup and real-time interaction. The band self-produced Hau-RUK for release on Ohr in 1971, in parallel with label sessions by Floh de Cologne, Embryo, and Amon Düül II. A third piece, “Süden Twi Westen,” recorded in 1974 at Dieter Dierks’ studio by Belbe, Briest, Öcki von Brevern, and van Wyck, was later appended to the 2002 Garden of Delights CD edition.

Motherfuckers GmbH & Co. KG

Xhol released their fourth album, Motherfuckers GmbH & Co. KG, in October 1972 on Ohr.

Motherfuckers GmbH presents studio material recorded around 1970, combining extended improvisations, sparse interludes, and transitional segments. The opener simulates shortwave scanning with static, clipped radio speech, and brief excerpts of earlier soul recordings. “Leistungsprinzip” features rotating patterns between organ, saxophone, and snare-driven percussion. “Orgelsolo” unfolds as a slow, standalone organ passage built on sustained tones and shifting timbre. “Side One First Day” moves through ensemble sections of flute, organ, bass, and drums, marked by off-center phrasing and layered breakdowns. “Grille” consists of continuous insect sounds accompanied by low-level flute and percussion. “Love Potion 25” closes the album with a 13-minute vocal-led piece that alternates between saturated organ lines, wandering sax figures, and rhythm section passages that pivot between open and compact forms.

A1. “Radio” (2:30)
A2. “Leistungsprinzip” (1:30)
A3. “Orgelsolo” (9:26)
A4. “Side 1 First Day” (7:05)

B1. “Grille” (6:59)
B2. “Love Potion 25” (13:11)

Xhol recorded the material in 1970 during a stretch of live-oriented studio activity that followed their transition into a fully improvisational ensemble.

The album’s delayed 1972 appearance coincided with the group’s dissolution, leaving Motherfuckers GMBH & Co. KG as a posthumous release assembled from raw, spontaneous tapes. Its release came alongside other late-phase Ohr titles by Eruption, Limbus 4, and Klaus Schulze, all reflecting the label’s tilt toward open-form experimentation.

Postlude

Xhol dissolved in April 1972 after a final tour of Scandinavia. Former members reconvened in 1974 for studio recordings, and later revivals featured partial lineups drawn from the original group.

Discography: