The German band with the grotesque name Eiliff was founded in Cologne in the late 1960s. The members were keyboardist Rainer Brüninghaus, drummer Detlev Landmann, Herbert J. Kalveram on saxophone, English bassist Bill Brown, and Houschäng Nejadepour (guitar, sitar), a Persian who grew up in Berlin and Düsseldorf. They were all excellent musicians and had previously played in various bands; Brüninghaus, Landmann and Kalveram also in free jazz formations. As experienced musicians well known on the scene, they soon secured a record contract with the major label Philips. In June 1971, they recorded their first self-titled debut album at Star Studio in Hamburg, with Conny Plank as sound engineer and produced by Rainer Goltermann.

It was released later that same year with a humorous cover designed by Witt Design Studio. Through their precise instrumental interplay and imaginative jam sessions, all five musicians demonstrated their exceptionally high technical standard. The four tracks on the album present a complex, progressive, Canterbury-influenced jazz-rock style, featuring at times extensive solo improvisations, occasional elements of a symphony orchestra and a big band, as well as ethnic accents provided by sitar and percussion. However, their debut album found only few buyers at the time, so they were urged by Philips to record a single before producing their second album, Girlrls!, in 1972.