MOTHER UNIVERSE

2.5 stars really!!

With leader Jurgen Dollase's grandmother occupying both the front and back cover of this gatefold album, you'll probably look to see if this is a rock album or not. Again produced by the unavoidable Dieter Dierks and released the same year (72), as their debut album Blitzkrieg, on the legendary Pilz label, containing shorter tracks (max 9-mins), Wallenstein's Mother Universe is a somewhat not-that-worthy successor, as it lacks the constant brilliance of its predecessor, but seems often uninspired as well. Unchanged line-up, but Dollasse added an organ to his keyboard battery, and he (with bassist Berkers) sings much much much more than previously and on every track, which is certainly not helping MU's cause.

If the opening 9-mins title track offers pretty much what was available on Blitzkrieg (but not quite as well executed or well-written), the following Braintrain opens on a organ-driven hard rock, but halfway through the track, it suddenly changes with Dollasse singing (not well) over his piano, the track becoming quickly tiresome, partly because of the weak arrangement of a poor songwriting and uninspired melody line. The track slowly rebuilds to its original hard groove and even finishes heroically, but the damage was done and irreparable. Shakespearesque starts much like the title track, but stays for most of its duration in the quiet acoustic mode with Berkers singing (not really better than Dollasse, imho) and once it speeds up, it just goes awfully wrong with an atrocious synth sound aggravating this bad outro.

Opening the flipside, the 8-mins Dedicated to Mistery (SIC) Land is an organ-driven hard rocking with an interesting riff, but the track goes awry as soon as Dollase starts singing. Berkers sings (and mispronounces) Relics Of The Past, a folky tune that overstays its welcome by a few minutes. The closing Golden Antenna is a guitar-dominated messily written track, but it has the merit to entice some enthusiasm, something not often found on this sophomore effort.

Not long after the release of MU, Berkers will quit the group, Dollasse and Grosskopf participating in a few musical projects, including the then-famous Cosmic jokers, then back together with Barone will release their third Wallenstein album Cosmic Century with a very different sound, which was just about as well, given the dead end they were stuck in.

WALLENSTEIN were one of the forefathers of Germany's Krautrock scene and who managed to release a number of great early albums with Blitzkrieg drawing 1st blood from me, but years later re-discovering the beauty of "Mother Universe". WALLEINSTEIN were led by the analog keyboard wizardy of Jurgen Dollase (organ, mellotron and clavinet) and the percussive talents of Harald Grosskopf. Contrary to the majority of reviews I have read over the years about "Mother Universe", I dig the vocalist to a large degree and think he fits the music perfectly. "Mother Universe" is a wonderful space prog album with a nice cross section of influences including folk and acid space rock. Instrumentally this album houses some of WALLENSTEIN's best works IMHO and title track "Mother Universe" is a pure delight every time I plop it over the ol' speakers. "Mother Universe" delivers some lovely guitar jams with some great drum, bass and keyboard interplay. Granted a bit Quirky but I love it...

Wallenstein emerged under the collective category of krautrock. However their "progressive" sound risen outside of this subgenre, perpetuating the traditionalism of ELP and others symphonic prog bands (from England and Italy as well). Next to "Blitzkrieg" and "Cosmic century", "Mother universe" constitutes the best part of their career. In varying degrees, this album consists of usual dynamic symphonic prog rock pieces with many melodic, fast and technical keyboards sessions, completed by powerful guitar lines and gorgeous vocal parts. The instrumental interludes are the most interesting side of this work. It can be found intriguing by listeners of symphonic prog rock. Not really innovative, sometimes academic but well composed and loyal, this record is a good purchase for those who want to be connected with German prog rock sounding like British ones.

Second album of Wallenstein - Mother universe is an underrated album in my opinion, why is so bad treated here i don't get it, wich are the weak vocal parts, i don't find them. To me is a strong release of early krautrock or better said symphonic prog era, because they change thier style over the years from krautrok to symphonic prog to more pop in the late '70's early 80's. Thier music here are between Beggars Opera and Birth Control here and there, but not bad contrary quite well arrange and played. Sometime the music has a spacy atmosphere like on the title track Mother universe and sometimes is pure hevy prog like Braintrain. Anyway to me the best pieces are Dedicated to the mystery land - simply great piece with uptempo rythm, very hard rock not far from Aunt Mary or as i said Birh Control and very pleasent voice from the keyboard player Jürgen Dollase, who composed all the lyrics and music from this album an Golden antenna.The musicianship is of course brilliant - every musician deliver the best they've got so far. Better album to me than the first one in every way. A classic album in my opinion, well is not something groundbreaking here, but what you are listning on Mother universe is superb and well played and desearve without hesitation, at lest from my side 4 stars. Recommended if you like early symphonic - krautrok prog.

The debut album of this German was just excellent. An all instrumental great piece of music by all means. I was a bit afraid to listen to this follow-up since vocals were involved (and this hasn't been the strongest department of German bands). But my worries were quite erased while I discovered the superb opening song: "Mother Universe" displays some very melodic parts, great mellotron and some decent (even if not great, I admit) vocals in English. It is a sweet symphony of about nine minutes.

The next track is features a wild instrumental intro which could not the cup of tea of many progheads but it needs to be investigated. It is almost hard to heavy rock and to my standards, it could have been developed as such but we'll get some symphonic parts instead (of which a vocal part that could have been skipped). The wild section (almost punkish!) gets back at the end of this crazy song. Another good moment though.

The pastoral and folkish "Shakespearesque" is somewhat weaker but the inspiration gets back with "Dedicated To The Mystery Land": again the intro is gorgeous and highly hard/psyche oriented.

Like during "Brainstrain", the song evolves into a more symphonic approach for a short while. Some great and frenzy guitar are topping the second part of this excellent track. The third highlight.

The two remaining songs are quite average and are dragging down my rating to three stars. Still, this is a good album that would need some more exposure.

According to Jürgen Dollase, there was still a tendency towards Hippie-Rock styles in early-70's in Germany and the crowd was not prepared to accept the more symphonic side of Wallenstein.As a result ''Blitzkrieg'' received mixed reviews, while Dollase had also to face the preference of producer Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser towards a more folky style, influenced by the talents of Jerry Berkers.However Berkers, having served as a young man in the Vietnam war, was mentally ill, resulting often to day-long disappearances.Through these storms Wallenstein managed to record their second album ''Mother universe'' again at Dierks Studios in Cologne, a work released in 1972 on Pilz, featuring Dollase's grandmother on the front cover.

Of course Wallenstein's crew was way too talented to offer a miserable album despite the huge problems around the band and now the frenetic styles of their debut was combined with some softer British-influenced early Prog Rock, similar to KING CRIMSON and CRESSIDA.So, the tracks are somewhat split between powerful Kraut-Rock pieces with heavy organ and punchy guitar parts and more elaborated Symphonic Rock with monster Mellotron themes and smooth piano lines.Lush orchestrations and atmospheric vocals are the basic components of the later tracks, which also feature some smooth interplays with piano, keyboards and guitars.The more energetic tracks are definitely more original with a nice dose of Classical influences mixed with melodic guitars and bombastic Kraut Rock grooves, led by piano, bass and drums.Some of the furious and messy breaks of the debut are completely gone, instead there is place for tracks like ''Relics of the past'', which was rather a step backwards for the group, offering hippy-styled Psychedelic/Folk Rock among more demanding and rich arrangements.Anyway, the album remains quite charming all the way with a high level of musicianship and mostly interesting material.

Needless to say this was the last album of Wallenstein with this line-up, a good work of Symphonic/Heavy/Kraut Rock with a flexible sound, that mostly works well but not always succesful.The top tracks though are pretty great and ''Mother universe'' deserves a warm recommendation.

Review Nº 825

Wallenstein was a German progressive symphonic rock band formed in 1971 in Viersen in Lower Rhineland, later based in Monchengladbach. Wallenstein was very active during its life releasing nine studio albums. It was disbanded in 1982.

Wallenstein was one of Germany's best known "space rock" progressive bands, clearly indebted to Pink Floyd but also developing a very personal style of their own. Jurgen Dollase founded the group Blitzkrieg as an international group with Bill Barone from the USA, Jerry Berkers from the Netherlands and Harald Grosskopf from Germany. Dollase had previously studied art and classical music. In the Autumn of 1971 Blitzkrieg had the repertoire ready for an album, but as a British group already was using the name Blitzkrieg, the German band changed their name to Wallenstein and kept "Blitzkrieg" as the title of their debut studio album. This featured four very long tracks in a symphonic progressive rock style, all written by Dollase. It's almost a completely instrumental album. This is a dense, complex and powerful stuff.

"Mother Universe" is the second studio album of Wallenstein and that was released in 1972. The art cover of the album pictured Dollase's grandma acting as the grandmother of our universe. Musically this was a more dynamic album than the previous one, introducing some quieter folky passages with acoustic guitar between the more usual powerful and pompous electric guitar work and the organ outbursts. Jerry Berkers wanted to do more of these folky things, and quit Wallenstein to record his own solo album "Unterwegs", which musically I find it to be in a rather dull singer and songwriter tradition. After Dollase and Grosskopf had taken part in the large scale projects Lord Krishna von Goloka, Tarot and the Cosmic Jokers sessions, they recorded their third studio album "Cosmic Century" in 1973. This album brought another change of style, clearly influenced by Dollase's recent "cosmic" experiences. It was marketed as the first album by the "The Symphonic Rock Orchestra Wallenstein". It consisted of five refined symphonic rock tracks and a short piano piece. Dollase's strained vocal parts lowered the overall standard of this album, but apart from this the music was good. Sadly, this was their last greatest album, despite the existence of six more. But, this is another story.

"Mother Universe" has six tracks. The first track is the title track "Mother Universe". It keeps today all the charms it had originally, plus the vintage glaze that time gives to old and good music. Both pastoral and acid, this piano-driven ballad features a hearty vocal performance and a rather Gilmour-esque electric guitar. The power of the golden era of prog is everywhere. I really like the intense, even dramatic mood of this song and I highly recommend it to you all. The second track "Braintrain" is a powerful rock ballad that is quite nice with a splendid ending. It features a wild instrumental intro and it's almost hard to heavy rock and to my standards. The wild section gets back at the end of this crazy song. Another good moment, though. The third track "Shakespearesque" has something from the Baroque or the medieval time in the instrumentation. This pastoral and folkish track starts much like the title track, but stays for most of its duration in the quiet acoustic mode with Berkers singing. It has some nice melodies and the Dollase's distinctive and atmospheric piano. The fourth track "Dedicated To The Mystery Land" is an organ driven hard rocking track with an interesting riff. Again the intro is gorgeous and highly hard psyche oriented. It's a varied and lovely piece with song in the end that closes it perfectly well. The fifth track "Relics Of The Past" is a folky tune that is mostly an acoustic piece with some slight singer songwriter hints, poetic and richly sung. It's a nice piece to heard, especially through Dollase's piano playing. It offers some hippy styled psychedelic/folk rock among more demanding and rich arrangements. The sixth track "Golden Antenna" follows a rather simple guitar rock song. It's a catchy and very joyful track dominated by the guitar that is the main merit to entice some enthusiasm to this song. This is a very melodic track and perhaps a bit crazy, like Gentle Giant. It jumps around and entertains us. It represents a nice way to close this very interesting album.

Conclusion: I was very curious about this album and this band. I had heard about this band but I had never checked it before. And I confess that I was really pleasantly surprised. This is an excellent symphonic prog rock album. I think an underrated piece, even in their discography. This is an album without weak points, maybe "Relics Of Past" is a bit different but I still like it, and the keyboard work is excellent. The man is truly a very gifted keyboardist. And contrary to some opinions I read on several sites I can't see any problem with the vocals. We mustn't forget that there are two lead singers and this is the reason why we can hear different vocals, one of them remind me strongly of Bowie. So, all in all and despite "Mother Universe" be not properly a masterpiece, it's a pretty consistent release because it includes some damn great material. So, "Mother Universe" remains to me a very good and enjoyable album and I like it quite much. It's highly recommended if you like the early symphonic prog rock music. So, this is an album that deserves to be checked.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)