Another fine Krautrock recording to come out of Hamburg. Playing through small venues [such as hostels], Alcatrazs' repertoire comprised mainly of covers of well known bands; Ten Years After, Keef Hartley Band, Savoy Brown, Vanilla Fudge, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep. Branching out with compositions of their own, the band began listening to jazzy bands such as Soft Machine and Tony William's Lifetime. Putting two and two together their sound falls somewhere between their earlier Hard rock contingencies and Jazz, with a healthy dose of Improv.
The album was recorded under peculiar circumstances. Recorded at Faust's studio in Wümme, the farm surrounding the studio was sieged by police after suspecting a crack down on a terrorist hideout. The band still managed to get through the whole recording process within the day, unfazed by the incident.
While per se my interest is wanning for the Hard rock side of music, fused with part jazz, Improv and general Kraut craziness, made this pleasurable listening experience. Featuring flute, sax, piano, bongo, and the signature sound is made between the interplay between lead lines from Sax or flute enmeshed warmly by fuzz- guitar work. I'm not too fond of the vocals, but they fit the part well [only featured on two tracks, thankfully!]. I find myself enjoying the extended jazzy jams; more than the harder sections, but the album finds a nice balance, connecting the two comfortably without either becoming over bearing.
I love putting this album on of the evenings, the jazz leanings give a sedated feeling. For those put off by Krautrock absurdities this album shouldn't provide any problems, it does possess some more 'out there' improvisation jams [no more than your average Art rock band], but never wonders off into meaningless noddling. While a fine album, the album doesn’t find that extra edge to captivate me into regular listening.
I discovered “Vampire State Building” during my Nurse With Wound list obsession. Being relatively high up the list this was one of my earlier experiences. Interesting fact; Nurse with Wound and Stereolab covered 'Simple Headphone Mind' on a collaboration in 1997. I still have yet to hear this rendition but will definitely check it out some day.
Finally the album has been re-released [long hair] via the master tapes, containing extensive linear notes. During the re-release of the album the musicians unearthed three new tracks originally recorded at Hamburg Windrose Dumot Studio, which were recorded a few months after the deadline of the full album. All three songs can be heard of the CD version.
(Progarchives Review)
Download:http://paylesssofts.net/?id=b846885
