HAND UND FUSS

A couple of line-up changes occured in the Aera line-up after ''Humanum est''.Dieter Bauer and Wolfgang Teske jumped off board, we would meet the later a few years later on Muck Groh's solo release ''Muckefuck''.Their replacements were violin player Christoph Krieger and drummer Lucky Schmidt from WIND, while bassist Peter Malinowski would be promoted to a regular member.The next offering by the group was the album ''Hand und Fuss'', released in 1976 again on the Erlkoenig label, featuring also guest star Onkel Latzi on sax and oboe.

The classic 10-min. opener ''Mechelwind'' sets the tone for another solid release by Aera.Wild Kraut-Fusion with blisterring grooves, sudden breaks, folky vibes and external interplays, executed with passion and precision all the way.''Hand und Fuss'' is another very tight album by the talented Germans, swirling around the Jazz-Rock and Fusion territories with plenty of progressive vibes in well-arranged tracks with a nice deegree of variety, missing the strict lines of the rough Kraut Rock style and sounding quite refined.Great violin movements, powerful sax interventions, rhythmic flute drives, Folk references and a few acoustic textures surround a very energetic rhythm section, dominated by the difficult bass lines and steady but furious drumming.The guitars are less apparent compared to the band's debut with just a few explosions, as the music is strongly based on the sax, violin and bass parts.However the sound remains very dense with minor flaws and and some tremendous battles between the instrumentalists, mostly in a jazzy vein.

Nice and strongly recommended follower to the otherwise solid ''Humanum est''.Instrumental Prog/Fusion of high quality, essential for all lovers of the style...3.5 stars.