CRAZY COUNTDOWN

MOIRA were an obscure German band who released two albums with this being the debut from 1977. Interesting to have Butze Fischer on board playing drums as he was part of EMBRYO, GURU GURU and MISSUS BEASTLY. Also we get Edgar Hofmann playing sax and flute and he also played with EMBRYO. And not to be outdone Geoffry Ramos who plays percussion here also played live with EMBRYO. The leader of this band though is guitarist Jorgen Kanwischer and he composed all the songs and man he can play acoustic guitar incredibly well sounding classical much of the time but thankfully he plays electric guitar as well.

"Papa Jefrey" opens with relaxed flute, guitar and atmosphere before it changes to an "island" vibe a minute in. Not into this section at all but then pulsating keys arrive 3 minutes in as the acoustic guitar is played in the classical style. Percussion and organ standout before 5 minutes then electric piano leads 6 minutes in followed by guitar a minute later. "Crazy Countdown" is my favourite track by far. It opens with percussion and the sound of many people speaking like at a party. It doesn't kick into gear until 1 1/2 minutes in and it's fairly jazzy here. I like this! The guitar takes the lead after 2 1/2 minutes and he's lighting it up pretty good. Some nice bass as well then the keys replace the guitar before 4 minutes but the guitar returns late.

"Smile" has these sparse sounds with not much going on. We get a melody that starts to slowly appear before 2 minutes with flute and picked guitar. It's building a minute later. "Mata Meme" has slow paced sax, a beat, electric piano and bass to start but it's the dissonant sax that impresses. The tempo picks up before 3 1/2 minutes to a jazzy KRAAN-like groove. The guitar arrives before 5 minutes with prominent bass as the sax returns late. "Gemni" is all about the acoustic guitar and it's impressive but not enjoyable for me. "Always Later" is guitar and percussion mainly along with other sounds that come and go as this song meanders along sounding like an improv really. "Spain Mandala" ends it in a catchy and uptempo manner. It's picked and strummed acoustic guitar early but thankfully the electric guitar starts to light it up over the drums, bass and keys.

A good record but like the foggy album cover I feel like I must be missing something because it's all over the place and there's just not enough enjoyment for me to give 4 stars.