2nd

Agitation Free remained busy after recording their debut album, appearing in the cultural program for the 1972 Munich Olympics as well as touring France for a few months in 1973. Guitarist Stefan Diez deputized for their second album, titled 2nd; it also saw release on the Music Factory label. "First Communication" opens the album. With its guitars in unison, it offers a sound that has more similarities with the improvisations of American Southern rock than with the German krautrock of the day! Never mind though—the ensuing "Dialogue and Random" is pure electronic bliss. The following two-part "Laila" offers more of the band's wonderful jam-band rock; again, the dual guitar interplay of the second part is sublime. The lucid journey continues on "In the Silence of the Morning Sunrise;" Paced by a metronomic drum, the light melody reveals more of the band's close interplay, draped in Michael Hoenig's ever-present synths. "A Quiet Walk" goes acoustic, while the closing "Haunted Island" is a rare vocal number from the band. Following the album's release, the group kept busy with radio broadcasts and touring; but by 1974, the band had run its course. After a farewell concert, Agitation Free broke up, and a final record, Last, was released in 1976 by the French label Barclay. Though one of the more musically accessible bands of the era, Agitation Free's records were, for a while, interminably difficult to find. But the story has a happy ending: Hoenig went on to work with Tangerine Dream before forging a solo career, while Lüül Ulbrich would join Ashra towards the end of the decade and also foster a successful solo career in the 80s.