KIN PING MEH

'Soul is dead', stated Embryo on it's debut album in 1970. Yet fellow Germans Kin Ping Meh might have proved them wrong with their pleasant eclectic rock debut. The band has a well produced and professional sound that is actually very English. On their debut Kin Ping Meh plays a mix of styles, which makes it an interesting album to listen to for the seventies rock/psych fan. Double heavy rock guitars, perfect Hammond sound, soulful approach on some tracks and some winks towards symphonic and psychedelic rock. The artwork looks great on my vinyl reprint.

'Fairy-tales', 'Don't you know' and 'Everything' are typical heavy rock tracks reminding me a bit of Uriah Heep and the like. Riff-based rock with organ runs and expressive vocals. Yet in combination with the other tracks everything works pretty well. 'Sometime' is a great minor blues track (got to love those guitars), 'Too Many People' is a nice bluesy soul track with a 'get together and sing along feel', Drugson's Trip has some nice space rock moments, whilst 'My Dove' a nice melodic symphonic track (mellotron alert) that reminds me of the best of Barclay James Harvest. My favorite is still the last track 'My future', a brilliant acoustic soultrack with perfect hippie vibes. It reminds me a bit of the never ending pleasure I get from a track like Canned Heat's 'Going up the Country'.

Conclusion. A typical product of it's time, but just very good at it. Four stars and recommended to fans of eclectic seventies rock and people who like a bit of soul in their music.

This is one terrific album! You won't find much in the way of prog rock or classical fugue inspired sections, but you will however come across an honest powerful hard rock band that plays close to the style of Scorpions, late Atomic Rooster, Uriah Heep and Deep Purple.

All of these tracks are wonderfully executed, and while this band stems from Germany - you'd be hard pressed to know that from the vocals, let alone the surrounding carnivorous rock n' roll attack. No the music is what I'd call a mixture of the aforementioned acts and a healthy and lovable dose of American West coast psychedelia. -Think Steve Miller Band with hair in its mouth... One could be so frank and call them a heavy hard hitting version of The Grateful Dead, but somehow that just doesn't ring true.

We're talking balls to the walls, the smell of leather - going down the highway on motorbikes with the wind in your hair. The music itself is heavy guitar rock with the complimentary hammond organ and a rhythm section that is tight as hell. David Coverdale raspy vocals belching out undying lines such as: "Come on in and taste my water. Come on in and let your hair down." Once in a while you get these snarling Lynyrd Skynyrd solos levitating from the booming rock orchestration underneath, the whole feel of the band shifts gear and comfortably puts it into overdrive.

So we've got a band doing the kind of music, that was as normal as the schlager is to Germany. I mean, this type of record was back then as common and plenty-full as a house fly in your butcher's shop or a stick of bamboo in a Chinese forest. Everybody was doing this brand of hard rock - even the prog rock deities - although they had long gone dispensed of it. All of these bands dipped their toes in the pool with differentiating results no less, yet still that doesn't change the fact that I am writing this review on a progressive rock site, and looking for prog in this offering is rather like trying to spot originality on one of those American Idol shows, It ain't gonna happen bro.

I might have to swallow my own words here or at least tone it down a nudge, because when we finally reach the 13 min long track called Circus, something stupendous and magical suddenly happens. It's not what I would call prog - not in the slightest, but the emphasis on spiralling untethered musical structures have now come to the fore. The track unfolds these playful acoustical segments sounding like a criss cross between Chinese folklore and late 60s experimentation. Not only does this track hover and glide majestically over these beautifully orchestrated sections, but now we are treated to synthesizers as well. (Damn were those even invented in 73?) There's no real illusion as to which band we're listening to. The sound is still very much like the rest of the Lynyrd Skynyrd rockers, but somehow the intro along with some aptly placed brass instruments here and there, does add to the album that little bit of "yeah allright it's 1973 - everybody around us is doing something fantastically advanced and imaginative - so we'd better make a long one with some alternating tempers as well."

If what you get out of this review is the feel of meh and yuki - hard rock is just about the most mundane of things next to cream cheese and sweaters, then you should probably stick with the odd Deep Purple slice of rock history in the back of your collection and be done with it, but if you however are interested in an album that is as out of touch to the times surrounding it, and you furthermore are fond of reckless, boisterous, sweaty, heavy and wonderfully played barbecue hard rock, then this third album by Kin Ping Meh is anything but meh. I personally enjoy listening to this when I'm in need of something earthy and robust to shake along to whilst I'm getting ready to go out on the town and drink beers in trees and shout profanities at large lawyers on bicycles.

They put the best stuff up at the front. Fairy-Tales is a solidly grooving heavy rock jam with nice dreamy vocals and one of those irresistible singalong choruses. Nice stuff for hitting the road. The remainder of the album can't keep up with a similar level of excellence and varies between run of the mill ballads (Sometime), standard rock 'n' rolla fare (Don't You Know), harmless country-blues (Too Many People) and other typical 60s and early 70s stuff. With My Dove and My Future, they have a mellow moment with a bit of mellotron and sweet melodious vocals.

On the whole, this is a nice album for fans of early heavy rock. Yep, 'nice', the keyword of this review. Rock sure would never be as 'nice' again as it was in those days.

"Fairy-Tales" opens with bass and cymbals followed by guitar and organ. It's building until we get a full sound 1 1/2 minutes in. I really like the guitar and organ in this one. A killer instrumental section starts before 5 minutes until the vocals return after 8 minutes. Great tune ! "Sometime" is laid back with guitar, drums and floating organ.There's some mellotron in this one as well. The guitar is outstanding before 3 1/2 minutes. Some passion here at times.Good song. "Don't You Know" is a catchy track. Nice organ solo 2 minutes in. Explosive sounds and noise 4 minutes in followed by an incredible instrumental section. Vocals 6 minutes in. "Too Many People" opens with laughter followed by strummed guitar, drums and harmonica.Vocals and organ follow. Some mellotron in this one too.This reminds me of the STONES. Some clapping after 3 minutes. What a feel good tune this is.

"Drugson's Trip" is a funny title. Some raw and aggressive guitar to start as organ, drums then vocals join in. Catchy stuff. It settles some before 2 minutes.The guitar then rises out of the calm 3 minutes in. Hell yeah ! A nice heavy, raw sound after 4 minutes. Amazing. "My Dove" is laid back with vocals, organ and light drums. It gets fuller as contrasts continue. Some nice bass in this one. It kicks in hard before 2 minutes with guitar. Nice. Mellotron in this one too. "Everything" opens with some power with organ runs and pounding drums. So catchy. A sing-a-long chorus here too. I like the instrumental break 2 minutes in. Vocals are back 4 1/2 minutes in. "My Future" is a short laid back tune with strummed guitar to open. It picks up with percussion and vocals helping out.

For me this is a solid 4 stars.

Good Time Gracie is a typical average rock n' roller with staccato piano peering hard at the rock charts whereby I can't detect any surprising or sophisticated element which could warrent the label progressive. Flavoured with female backing vocals You're A Liar is better then remembering at Spooky Tooth with a more complex arrangement. Overall similar to the other album single this is only something for the hunters and gatherers.

Again, this is the album that does not have prog component in the music. However, it's nice to enjoy this classic rock band. The music offered here is similar with bands like Tea (Germany), Humble Pie, or Mountain with unique singing style of its lead vocalist, Wrener Stephan. The opening track "Come Down to the Riverside" (3:13) is like a combination of The Beatles and Lynyrd Skynyrd. It seems like the band tried to explore the southern rock style, especially through the guitar licks as well as singing style. It's really enjoyable. It moves in similar vein into next track "Don't Force Your Horse" (3:46) where guitar still plays critical role in putting the music style of the song. Supported with vintage recording quality, enjoying this track gives me a "different" experience that brings me back to the glory days of seventies where rock music dominated the music industry.

The Beatles cover "Come Together" (6:00) is another place that I can find joy of listening to this album. No, it's not that due to the original version of this song it's already excellet, but the re-arrangement by Kin Ping Meh makes it "something new" for me and it has made me repeating this song over and over whenever it reaches third track. I like the fact that the guitar sound has been made different than those of original version. It reminds me to the guitar player of a band named as MAHOGANY RUSH - the guitarist is Frank Marino. The guitar solo at the end of this track is really stunning.

"Together Jam" (4:55) starts with jamming mode through guitar solo supported with bass guitar and drums, plus organ. The use of two guitars separated with left and right channel has made this composition is really excellent. The guitar solo is really the main thing from this track and it satisfies me to the bone! The bass guitar is also given a chance to perform its solo. It's an uplifting track!

"Liveable Ways" (8:00) is probably the progressive attempt that the band tried to make. The combined guitar and bass guitar works at the opening of the track is truly stunning. The vocal line is also excellent, performed with energy. The song also inserts some ambient portion right after intro part. "Day Dreams" (7:56) provides musical break through ambient nuance at intro part with guitar fills. "Very Long Ago" (2:54) is a country rock music, using banjo as main rhythm section. The album concludes nicely with "I Wanna Be Lazy" (2:58) in Southern style.

Overall, this is a good addition to any prog music collection. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Sorry - this one is only something for the hardcore collectors.

Come Down To The Riverside starts as a folkish (Led Zep Style) psychedelic bluesrock song, lovely atmosphere, good energy and a good voice, with Don't Force Your Horses that energy and quality is continued with good guitar riffing (again Led Zep) augmented with a good melodic guitarsolo. Come Together is the Beatles song, actually a good cover, they create a great rhythm doing justice to the unsurpassable original, the following Together Jam adds some great guitar soloing to the song, the kind of guitar solo that I enjoy listening to, not overtly flashy, but in the right key and tempo for it to stay enjoyable, also through the supporting segments (beginning and end).

Livable Ways is rather good, a bit more psychedelic than the first half of the album, with slower pace and you have to dig deeper to enjoy the build-up and ultimate explosion, again with a rather good guitar solo. Day Dreams is not as good as the rest, basically after the nice intro it turns into a rock ballad which would have suited Styx or later day Chicago better. Very Long Ago is enjoyable, certainly if you like banjo country rock, just for the enjoyment factor I want to add an additional star, just for this song (but I won't). I Wonna Be Lazy sets the band back into blues rock territory, a nice ending to the original album. The CD version I have has 2 additional songs, which both are nice, Sometime is a slow blues song, and Sunday Morning Eve is a standard rock song, with nice piano (bit Chicago reminiscence), nice additions to the album.

Overall I rather enjoyed this album, not a brilliant album or anything, but when you come across it don't be afraid to buy, for it's a good record. Just below 4 stars.

The quintet is still developing what would come to be the type of AOR of later 70's, as clearly shown in the slightly country-tinged Come Down To The Riverside. If the follow up Don't Force Your Horse doesn't have the same flavour, it remains indeed your typical AOP by KPM. Of the harder side of KPM, a lengthy cover of Beatles' Come Together (but definitely not my favourite cover of my favourite Beatles track), that if enjoyable, it does not break anything either. Of better interest is the instrumental Together Jam, which as the title indicates is a full-group effort and could just be the first side's highlight as they show that they are more at ease with more improvised music and looser structures.

The flipside is starting out on two lenghty (8-min) tracks, the first of which, Liveable Ways, is actually quite pleasant, full of good interplay, while Day Dreams (or Daydreams?) is rather ambitious low-developing track with a lengthy intro, and when the song does finally start, it unfortunately sound like US-like soft rock, although mellotron layers intervene, but can't hide the inherent songwriting weakness of the track. This is exactly with this type of more ambitious track that KPM shows their limitations. After an awful (but short) banjo-led country rocker (Very Long Ago), the group indulges into another AOR country I Wonna (wanna ? ;-) Be Lazy, which actually helps the album escape from the proghead's interest.

Graced with a very piggy artwork, this album received a Second Battle label reissue (and a bonus track from a single which doesn't add much to the overall value of the album), which might interest some rockers and other German rock aficionados, but regarding progheads, this is hardly essential and of moderate interest to them, even if enjoyable enough.