DIE GRÜNE REISE (THE GREEN JOURNEY)

it's indeed strange why a magnificent musician like Achim Reichel has been kept from the archives so long. Indeed, I have met A.R & Machines' albums by chance (all 6 were lumped into a 2 mp3 CD's, which I bought my eyes closed from my dealer! you see, he's no wrong in finding rare and awesome material:) )

not much to say to describe this wonderful music from Germany. This is pure embryonic stage Krautrock, with obvious influences from the psychedelic movement of '60's in Europe (and a touch of blues, in the self-evident track...) . The only act I can compare A.R. is obviously Manuel Göttsching (not the initial Ash Ra Tempel period). Achim Reichel's guitar style is almost a copycat of Göttsching's trademark sound as introduced in his '74 masterpiece, Inventions for Electric Guitar. In fact, thinking of the release order of albums from both parties, it's difficult to imagine who copied who... (and let's not forget Gunter Schickert here)

as with many debuts, the music is mainly a foretaste of what is to come, and what makes this album outstanding is its success in holding all the elements together. I mean, A.R didn't create his masterpiece the moment he launched, but here we find more than a promising debut. And this promises were to be fulfilled sonner than you might expect. Check out the next one...

in itself, the album makes a great addition to any serious Krautrock fan's collection, and it's more than a decent piece for any other prog-rock fan.