DANCING IN THE SHADE

Awwwrite. With this album Kraan is entering,what I would call their 3rd era of 2 unique albums 89 this one, and 91 Soul of Stone.Kraan had been off for about 5 years where several changes in personel had happened. Entering 1989 old Kraan with one change gave it another go.

Ingo Bishoff is gone and Joo Krauss is in.Don't know any off his history and how he ended up in Kraan,but I would say he is a breath of fresh air. Not only is he the keyboard player here,but he also brings a mean trumpet.YES trumpet. In this new incarnation we get trumpet solos insead of keyboard solos,and what a nice change.Sounds odd,but feels pretty good.

Track 1 and 2 are kind of rockers ,which are pretty solid,but you will need to get used to them.

Track 3 is like Kraan in the old days ,middle eastern influence.So for the old Kraan fan,there you go.

Track 4 Polarity is a flippin beauty.5 minute hypnotic instrumental bliss that only Kraan can make it.(OK other bands can do that too,but nooooboby sounds like Kraan).

Track 5 Dancing in the Shade,is a slo mo reggae thang.Not bad not great.But Kraan.

Track 6,Banana Moon,another middle east sounding early Kraan thingy.OK.

Track 7 and 8 so so Ok but...

Track 9 One Day,is good old weird Kraan.And when I say weird I mean weird .Old Kraan again.

Track 10 Kraan Mooloo is another classic Kraan instrumental that just lifts you off your chair and spins you around with your hair standing on end.Nice and trippy and smooth.

Track 11 Soldier Drums' a bit of a hodge podge.

So what I have experienced with this record.If you like Kraan and play this once,it does not come across like a good record.But if you play it 2 or 3 times in a row it gels quite nicely.

Kraan re-emergerged and tried to cover all their bases and did very nicely.This is a very good average (if their is such thing ) Kraan release.

A solid 3 *.If you wanna get into Kraan ,do not start here,,,,,,.