AUTOBAHN

If what you want is a mishmash of the synth and sonic innovations accomplished a couple of years earlier by Pink Floyd, ELP, Amon Duul II, Roger Powell and Hawkwind delivered with the dead-behind-the-eyes glaze of an accountant or economist, this is the album for you. Most of the good parts feel like quotations of On The Run or Echoes or bits of Gong's Angel's Egg.

The titular pop-synth epic has the ambience of a terrible crash between two lorries full of skittles. The first part of Cometenmelodie just has nothing happening and the lack of a bottom end really leaves you feeling ungrounded for the glaring synths. I'm not going to spend fifty words review savaging the lackluster electronic drums or the floppy novelty vocals that no doubt gave it its hit status. I hate them. That is my whole opinion on the matter. In terms of the composition I can't hear much going on. Call it 'minimalist' if you like but I just can't hear anything I don't feel like I've heard before. The sonic effects on Mitternacht you can hear done with far more panache in Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast or Echoes and the brief padded chords are as bog standard as you get, leading to a conclusion where nothing happens, which seems to be the motif of this review.

The much lauded sonic innovations here were done earlier and better by artists working in a panoply of genres and there were tempered by ambition and ideas. The only redeeming piece is the closing Morganspazierung which reminds me of the psychedelic music that used to get attached to British children's TV in better days. Even that is kind of spared for its lack of ideas on account of a very short running length.

Rating: 2/15. Go to the source where the water's fresher. Favourite Track: Morganspazierung