LET IT OUT

My first taste of the German band KRAAN is their 4th album LET IT OUT that saw the light of day in 1975, the same year as their live album "Kraan Live" which is a tad more famous. A very strange sound collage this band has created. On their vocal tracks they sound kinda like a krauty Edgar Winter Band. On the mellower tracks they seem to have adopted a Weather Report approach to their compositions but on a majority of the tracks they have a unique kraut-jazz-rock fusion thing that actually has a funky swing to it which might sound something like Mahavishnu Orchestra meets Sly and the Family Stone. The tracks "Die Maschine (the machine)" seems like a tribute to A.R. & Machines and a wickedly cool take on their style with the echo effects and tons of trippiness.

When I heard the first track starting I was a little underwhelmed. It suggested an album of mediocre slightly krautified hard rock with struggling vocal acrobatics but the second song "Luftpost" which means "airmail" actually takes you on a light fluffy flight into the friendly skies where saxophone clouds and precipitating dreams meet with violins, funky bass and progressive jazz chords. This album is a little up and down but it has indeed peaked my interest in discovering more of what this band has to offer. After all, during the mid-70s they were one of the most popular bands in Germany but have been eclipsed over time by the likes of Can, Amon Duul II amongst others. Overall I am happy to have discovered KRAAN and am surprised that they aren't just a little more popular than they seem to be these days. 3.5 rounded up