The band had been formed in August 1968 by drummer Mani Neumeier and developed into one of Germany's most colourful rock acts. To start off with, Guru Guru sounded much more rhythmically diverse than other German acts, tried different grooves and alternative music styles and were considered by the press as the German equivalent to British rock acts such as Cream. At the same time, international icons were totally alien to Guru Guru, the musicians drawing their inspiration from their seemingly limitless imagination and a healthy portion of stubbornness.
While the group saw themselves as an active part of the student movement, they had a whole different musical approach compared to the political rock bands of the early seventies, while their lifestyle featured the typical flair of an idyllic commune: musicians, their girl-friends, friends and roadies living together on an old farm in the Odenwald region. Drummer Neumeier was undisputedly the most important power behind Guru Guru; not only their music centred on him, he also developed the so-called Mani-Tom, an inflatable drum which allows the player to raise the pitch by blowing air into the tom. The group produced their debut album, UFO, in June 1970, which - according to the liner notes - was intended to prepare its listeners for the impending landing of extraterrestrials. Hinten, another album featuring improvised tracks, followed one year later.
Känguru saw the trio consisting of Mani Neumeier, Uli Trepte and Ax Genrich change their concept successively. Together with sound engineer Conny Plank, they ensconced themselves in the studio between February 28 and March 6 1972 and produced an album which presented musicians who had inspired each other during the recording. 'We tried a kind of triangular system,' Neumeier explains, 'one of us came up with an idea, the other two picked up on it and tried variations on their instruments.' The result consisted of four long but clearly structured songs, among them the classic, 'Ooga Booga' , from then on an integral part of the band's live repertoire. Guitarist Ax Genrich allowed himself to be influenced mainly by Jimi Hendrix. 'Every time I think I ve discovered something new, I notice that Jimi Hendrix came up with it long before me on Electric Ladyland,' he confessed, adding: 'He's my most important inspiration.'
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