WAKE UP!

OUT OF FOCUS was just one of many extraordinarily creative bands that emerged from the fertile explosive era of the late 60s. This band formed in 1968 in Munich, Germany with the lineup of Hennes Herring on keyboards, Remi Dreschler on guitars, Moran Neum'ller on vocals and winds, Klaus Sp'ri on drums and Stefan Wisheu on bass and took the band name from a Blue Cheer track which established the band's distinct style of mixing up jazz, rock and psychedelia which earned them a spot in the heady world of Krautrock. Altogether the band released three albums in the early 70s with this debut coming out in 1970. While two more albums were planned and recorded, they didn't see the light of day for several decades later.

WAKE UP is a bit different than the albums that followed where the band settled into a much jazzier sound. This debut falls more squarely into the surreal soundscapes of the early Krautrock world which sat nicely as OUT OF FOCUS opened for similar bands like Amon Duul II, Nectar, Kraan, Kraftwerk and Embryo. The band were serious workaholics and it took many months to craft this first offering which has become one of the underground classics of German progressive rock for its nice display of guitar, flute and trippy organ riffing. The compositions are all excellent although the troglodyte vocal style may take a bit of acclimation to appreciate. For those more familiar with the band's jazzier escapades it will come as a surprise that the saxophone sounds while present are not nearly as a dominant musical feature.

Given the absence of the jazzier elements, WAKE UP explores heavy psychedelic escapades into the trip-o-sphere primarily evoked through the ample use of Hering's heavy use of organ however OUT OF FOCUS didn't quite jettison into the lysergic zone like bands such as Amon Duul II were striving for. This band was more rock based with a heavy guitar riffs and solos set in a bluesy tone along with a thumping bass line and a subordinate yet inventive use of percussion. The extra touches of flute often draw comparisons to Jethro Tull but there are no references to any sort of folk music so a better comparison would be the Dutch band Focus although at this point the 60s flavors of heavy psych guitar and contrapuntal keyboards which a musical approach that creates polyrhythms.

From a lyrical perspective OUT OF FOCUS featured lyrics that were sung in English and were very much in the zeitgeist of political awareness an social issues that although sometimes awkwardly delivered by Moran Neum'ller eccentric vocal style somehow comes together quite well with the musical flow as it takes the music into a somewhat bizarre alternative zone. While many cite the following jazz-infused albums as the true triumphs of the OUT OF FOCUS canon, i actually love this debut equally as well as it delivers a distinct style of psychedelic rock that straddled the line between the Krautrock of Germany, the jazz-fusion prowess that OUT OF FOCUS would soon embrace and the more pastoral flute driven bands of the era. Similar to Nektar's black sheep debut album that existed outside of the band's established style, WAKE UP is nonetheless a well crafted album that delivers the intended reaction.