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Kin Ping Meh, named after a 16th-century Chinese moral novel, was founded in Mannheim in 1969. After a few concerts in autumn 1970 and a television appearance, the band won a band competition on Hamburg's Reeperbahn in November. The first prize was a recording contract, offered by the newspaper Bild am Sonntag and the record company Polydor. After two singles, the band recorded their first album in 1971 in Hamburg's Windrose Dumont Studios, which was produced by Rattles musician Frank Dostal and Achim Reichel. The line-up was Werner Stephan (voc, g, perc), Willie Wagner (g, voc, keyb), Frieder Schmitt (keyb, voc), Torsten Herzog (b, voc) and Kalle Weber (dr, voc). The sound engineer was none other than Conny Plank. The eponymous debut album was released in December of the same year. Their heavy progressive rock album with a mixture of hard rock, blues and symphonic prog with gritty electric guitar and Hammond organ was generally well received, even though it was not successful.
Nevertheless, they kept their contract with Polydor and successfully toured Germany. Alongside their second LP No. 2, which was released a year later on the sub-label Zebra, their self-titled debut album is now a sought-after rarity.
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