VOLCANO

Cry Freedom originated from Fuerth, Germany, born out of the ashes of the Beat band Soulflower, where guitarist/singer Rudolf Madsius played along with drummer Klaus Braun.Madsius later went to the Soul band St. James Association, before forming Cry Freedom in early-70's with Reiner Kleber (piano), Benny Melzer (drums) and Higgers Schneider (bass).They started as a Politik Rock act, but by the mid-70's they had become a Prog/Fusion band with Klaus Braun taking over the drum duties and new members Gerhard Billmann on piano/keyboards, Dieter Urbassik on saxes and Klaus Kukla on bass.They recorded their debut ''Volcano'' at Tonstudio Hiltpoltstein, released in 1976 as a private press.

Lots of sax soloing, lots of organ and synth flights and impressive jazzy interludes characterize the album, but unlike many other works on the style, which retain the free spirit of Jazz and Fusion, ''Volcano'' falls into the category of those prog albums, where the jazzy influences are obvious throughout, without affecting the proggy depth of the release.This one still holds much of the Kraut Rock mood of 70's Germany, mixed with lighter and more striking tunes, giving rise to tons of complex twists and turns, delivering a huge number of tempo changes and swirling around breezy lines and more powerful parts with a KRAAN-style of jazzy Kraut Rock.The long tracks are great with the sax taking part into the complicated moves and the guitar shining through, some synth edges are fairly disturbing, but then the organ work is pretty cool and efficient.There are still those loose parts with the solo drums and cliche guitar- or keyboard masturbations, but the general lines show a group with talent and a tendency towards intricate, challenging and smoky Prog/Fusion with the interactions leading the way in a vastly instrumental package.The short pieces are following a more Jazz/Psych Rock vein with quirky organ parts, harsh vocals, melodic saxes and playful guitars, but even these pieces are played with passion and sincerity, containing also some fascinating instrumental moments.

Unfortunately the band would not hold into the style for much time, later productions ''Sunny day'' (1979) (with new bassist Helmut Koerber and new sax player James T. Durham ) and ''Nobody's fool'' (1980) (with Don Braun-Hessing as a new drummer) were reputedly much funkier and commercial.Cry Freedom disbanded in 1983 and Madsius played later with acts such as Streetlife, Jelly Roll, Golly and The Pretty Heroes.

Orgasmic mix of Fusion and Kraut Prog with a nice instrumental depth and some trully great interplays.Strongly recommended to all fans of the jazzier side of Prog Rock...3.5 stars.