LIVE 1973

In the liner notes the band tells us the significance of the name KOLLEKTIV. We "share the same aims and values, not just with regard to music. We do not seperate into soloist and accompanist (rhythm slave). Each musician and each instrument has the same rights. Our pieces aren't individual compositions; they are born out of and grow through creative collaboration. After all, our name is saying : we are our own roadies, manager, technicians, bus driver, record producers and article writers, and three of us share the same birthday." Another important revelation in their liner notes is : "The structure of our music is more simple than usual jazz, instead we pay more attention to sounds and moods. We mainly do improvisations. Even the themes and arranged parts were once improvised. We try to expand the tone quality by sometimes strong electronic alienation of the guitar, flute and saxaphone, and apart from the "small underground-set" fuzz tone and wah-wah, we use echo, octavoice, phaser, ring-modulators, vibrators and sound filters. In our experience, our music is equally accepted by both jazz and rock people...so let's call it "Rock-Jazz". Lots of great pictures in the liner notes as well, including some from the outdoor concert.

"Rapunzel" has a very relaxed climate as smooth sax melodies along with drums, bass and guitar fill out the sound. The song calms down even more 3 minutes in until we get a jazzy section 4 1/2 minutes in. The guitar and bass melody after 5 minutes is cool. Sax is back 7 minutes in to end song. "Subo" opens with pastoral flute melodies, kind of dreamy actually with light drums and gentle guitar. 9 minutes in the sound builds and collapses, this continues until we get some spacey flute sounds to end it.

"Rambo Zambo" is a 24 minute epic of improv. Experimental sounds until the sound kicks in 3 1/2 minutes in as drums and bass come in. A nice rhythm is the result. After 6 minutes we get some sax that has been tampered with in some way, as different melodies come and go. "Forsterlied" is a 2 minute song that features dissonant sounds followed by spoken words. This continues throughout this tune. "Gageg (exerpt)" has a mellow beginning as flute and light drums lead the way. The gentle guitar reminds me of "Subo". Outbreaks come and go and the song ends with flute.

This is a great piece of history really. A live concert by KOLLEKTIV somewhere in Germany in 1973. Interesting that there is no crowd noise at all (too stoned), but the pictures are a nice touch. There are some fantastic moments on this recording.