PSYCHONAUT

The Krautrock album I've heard that makes the most arduous attempt to play it safe and check off whatever boxes it needs to. On the surface, that sounds like an okay attempt of getting into the genre, but once you've heard other (and better) albums and bands from around the same period, PSYCHONAUT is destined to get lost in the shuffle.

The jamming isn't bad (particularly the last track which reminds me of the German jazz outfit, Out of Focus), but bands like CAN or Neu could make elongated, repetitive jams work. ''Radagacuca'' takes a good long time to build with the payoff not as rewarding as it should be. The jamming here is pretty mundane and menial; I'm half asleep by the time the jam is over.

Whatever else the band tries sounds like an inferior version of Amon Duul II, ''One Fine Morning'' excluded. That arena of accessible Krautrock was about perfect on an ADII album called WOLF CITY; what we have on PSYCHONAUT is more or less watered-down and humdrum (despite this album predating the ADII one). The vocals are excruciatingly horrendous with absolutely no emotional investment in the delivery.

PSYCHONAUT is comparable to Greenslade's debut; has as many of the traits of its genre but watered-down and nonexciting. Only for diehard Krautrock fans.