GESAMMELTE WERKE (1972-1978)

The best of this German band, released well after their demise.

Lokomotive Kreuzberg was a band operating out on the far left in West Germany. Why they did not join their brethren on the other side of the iron curtain in DDR remains a mystery to me. Their lyrics is pretty naive, to say at least. OK, I do not speak German well enough to really have a solid opinion on this.

Lokomotive Kreuzberg plays funky krautrock with a lot of folk rock included. Gong and Mother Gong is a very good reference. The music is mainly built around the lyrics and their message to the proletarian masses. That was the norm at that time where you had groups like Lokomotive Kreuzberg touring the left wing clubs all over the Western Europe (but they were banned from touring the communist countries.....oh, the irony) with their messages. Vocals dominated, yes. And due to the lyrics, it is a good thing not to be a fluent German speaker. The music is actually very good at places. The band breaks out into gospel and Canterbury prog at the twenty minutes long Mountain Town epic.

This album, available from the biggest online retailer in the world, is actually a good album with some really good music. Recommended in a very weird way.

3 stars