HYPERTHALAMUS

Being OCD and having my whole collection meticulously catalogued with all the info (where/when bought and price) I like to refer to....in a 5.5k+ set up, there are about 10 where/when/why/hows....and this is one of them. Am assuming it was a 'borrow' and wasn't asked for back but who from and when....? Which does lead me into the review....as they are a 'who/when/where' type band. I do find the PA categorizations a bit of a joke with many bands nowhere near what they sound like. Again, this applies to Dennis. Kraut? Nope, but closer to than JRF. Symphonic? Nope, but they do have a Pink Floyd (earlier 70's) layer to their sound. I won't trouble you with where I think they should 'sit' but take what they are filed under here with a pinch of salt.

The opening track has a prolonged train station announcement intro then a psych throw back of backward phased guitars before settling on a Floydesque atmospheric chord led groove. The following short Others Do could be an Amon Duul jam extract with perhaps fellow Germans Jane chucking in their four pfennings worth. Not a note of JRF to be heard either.... I like and they could have taken this further. Already sort of continues this with echoing keys acting as a bridge and Can circa Tago Mago popping by for a while. This is very groove laden although ...and it bothered me from the start...the production is muffled which slightly detracts. The minor two chord melancholia where they keys guy gives it his all could come from Mans Be Good To Yourself period...and that's a damned fine influence to draw on.

The second side is taken up with Grey Present Tense. Ok I'll give you a Herbie Hancock 'feel' to the opening with King Crimson (again late 60's/early 70's and not their 'industrial mid 70's sound) lending a hand. I will also say that ECM type jazz/fusion is hinted at but certainly not the dominating theme. Anyone familiar with the fabulous Herbie Mann album Stone Flute might nod in recognition too. The groove kicks in and this time it is Kraan that springs to mind. There is a lot of space between the keys and sax...not going down the rabbit hole of technical showing offery but letting the groove lead them. The 'No Quarter' sounding keys pick up the theme and bridge it to perhaps the most 'jazz' influenced passage but I maintain it is because a sax rather than guitar is the lead instrument...they are rock riffs not jazz scales. It is a stoned levelling off that drifts but with purpose even when it starts to squall.

If this had been 2 or 3 years earlier it would be a kraut/crossover classic but by '75 it may have felt/sounded a little tired. With the perspective of time and the nuances of musical fashion an irrelevance, this sits nicely with anything kraut/prog I have on my shelves...but not near any JRF! I like....and if whomsoever I 'borrowed' it from turns up...oh it got lost in a move years ago (tapping side of nose). Much closer to a 4 than a 3.