JAZZ MACHT SPAZZ

Puppenhaus recorded this purely instrumental album in 1973 at a german radio station, and for some reason never managed to record anything else. This is one of the most essentials releases of resurrected material I know, this band really cooks!! I don't know what took them so long to join the archives but I'm glad they are finally here. This is yet another case where a sub genre title doesn't reflect the overall style and sound, so any of you who doesn't like the classic JRF style this might grab you after all. Their line up might be familiar to anyone who's interested in the german scene, Bea Maier and Thomas Rabenschlag (drums and keys) were later in Zomby Woof (which is another brilliant band), Frank Fischer, Büdi Siebert, Herbert Binder were all part of Release Music Orchestra right after this recording. The sound quality is not perfect but satisfying enough considering the circumstances. This album contains 77 minutes of exciting music divided into 7 tracks, when most of them are over 10 minutes long.

Puppenhaus brings the more insane and freaky side of the jazz rock scene, their music is a blend of heavy King Crimson ideas (without the dark and sinister motif) swiming in a jazzy olympic pool. They very much remind me of japanese band Il Berlione or the german Brainstorm, but also are closer to the more freaky side of italian bands like Rocky's Filj and Officina Meccanica, rather to the krautrock experimentations. The music is often intense, upbeat with a wild jammy vibe, including raging sax and flute playing and wild biting guitars on top of some cool and jazzy keys, and of course they are backed by a furious rhythm section who keeps the show going on strong. The band is showing some serious chops every now and then and it's evident that those dudes are a well oiled machine. Although the main course is their energetic and schizophrenic playing, Puppenhaus still brings a lot of ideas to the table, and are not focusing on just jamming on D minor, the music contains all kinds of twists and turns which proves this group were into some top notch prog rock. Just check out "Let The Pig Out " which demonstrates their pure progressive influences ,this one doesn't hold any jammy features at all, but is quite constructed and complex. After an Ian Anderson flute noodling it jumps into a King Crimson like riff which evolves further more and brings some delicious tight breaks, I mean what the hell were these guys on?? On top of that there are two or three places where they are not afraid to show they are influenced by a few bands, and either plays a homage to KC and Ian Anderson or this is just a broad daylight lending, but either way this is all good and I really don't care. Although my least favorite track is the long "Improvisationen" which is clear what it's all about, I don't find any weak moments here, the playing is so lively and energetic it's just so damn fun listening to it, the improvisations are full of ideas but still stays inside their little niche box.

So imagine any of your favorite uplifting freak out gems you know, and just remember there's another one exactly like it waiting for you. Puppenhaus proves that good music is all about the fun of playing together, and it really shows. I can't recommend this highly enough! easy 4 stars.

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