ORION AWAKES

This psychedelic Krautrock abberration surfaced in 1972-73 and is said to feature some of the who's who of the early seventies Kosmische Musik scene according to the booklet that was included with the 2010 CD release by Lion Productions.

What can I say ? 5 groovin' tripped out instrumental tracks including a Grateful dead-like extended jam which draws influences from everyone from Hendrix to Neu! Each individual track has dynamic developmental musical structures that morph and segue into different ideas. The standout track, The Returning, with a plodding beat reminiscient of tempos used by Jane and pre-dates anything that it can be compared to. Some afficionados suggest that some tracks were laid down as late as the early 90s when some of the material appeared on a Virgin compilation series of albums entitled "Unknown Duetschland". I recieved a cassette copy in the early 80s so I sort of dismiss this theory. I have also heard of "sightings" of tattered vinyl specimens ( reportedly limited to 25 copies ) in Germany and the United States. One thing that I do agree with is that the 5 spaced out recordings certainly came from different recording sessions with different combinations of musicians whoever they were as the individual musician credits are noms de plume.

Difficult to locate even on CD, the mystique surrounding Orion Awakes nonetheless presents a fascinating conundrum for fans of underground krautrock bands such as Brainticket, Nue!, Harmonium, Cluster featuring an engrossing combination of structured music and free-form improvisation.