THINK

Just as said Prog Reviewer MELLOTRON STORM in your Review #285532 An interesting collage of some very influential bands of early 70's prog rock bands, like Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, King Crimson etc.. They produces a musical landscape between jazzy, heavy and psych prog. The best moments of whole album as track 1 "Variety" with a some type of orchestral interludes provided by violin ,viola and flute mixed with a solid organ/electric guitar accompaniment mixed with jazzy/rock/country passages. The other detached moment is track 3 "Drops" with very psychedelic moments which heavy prog interaction with a strong type of guitar "riff" in Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin vein ! The worst moment is track 5 "Last Door" with a "Caribean" hints, which in my opinion don't fits in the rest of album ! My rate is 3 stars !!!

The opposite of pole vaulting

Let me introduce you to a record that really likes it, when you get drunk and turn up your stereo. It gets even more jolly and exuberant, if you then start to jump a little.....just a little in the corner - it'll sense it. Variety is very much like having an omnipresent party friend living on your shelf. He lies there dormant, until the next time his owner decides to plunge head first down a barrel of beer.

The booming organ dominated jazz rock of the first cut is a fair blueprint of what this album is about. Much in line with the sounds of the early British prog rockers, bands like Colosseum, Quartermass, Gracious and Indian Summer, Think churned out one infinitely warm and heartfelt record back in 73. The comparisons stop at the organ drive though, as Variety brings in an altogether more gooey and sticky vibe. On the first cut it shows itself in a layer that seems to come from within the organ, so as you get this streaming, oozing effervescent quality to it. Sounds absolutely brilliant matched up with the tight interplay of the rhythm section.

Then you have the small interventions happening throughout the album - popping by in the form of either a viola or the smooth guitar stylings of Gerd Pohl. The viola completely transforms the tunes it appears in, especially on that first self-titled track, where it suddenly changes the mood for a playful kind of Mozart rock. The guitar though just does what it does best, which effectively consists of pointing the band in the direction of the stars, hope for the best - and then take off!

Yet another endearing musical trait of Pohl's, is the way he riffs. Oh my word! This guy literally sounds like he's revving an old Ford Mustang! VRRROOOOOOOOOM VRRRROOOOOOUMMM!!!! Ironically, you'll have to wait until the bonus track called More Drops to get the best example of this roaring fuzzed out riffing mayhem. I can't believe this tune wasn't included on the original album! It's one of my favourite things on Variety.

Even the vocals are strangely good - considering this was recorded in Germany 1973, by Germans singing in English. Hoho.....Yeah well, I might be a little harsh, but let me tell you - we were just as horrible in Denmark, when it came to the English lingo. Damn... Anyway, on Variety the vocals are 80% accent-free, and there's additionally a pastoral shading to them that meshes incredibly well with the loftier sections, where the organ develops a quasi mellotron identity and begins to soar like a hot air balloon.

For some musical reference points, I'd say Pink Floyd in the dreamy sections, a strange mix of Black Sabbath, Amon Düül ll and King Crimson in the grainy muddied guitar riffs, and then perhaps a dash of the flute rock that made Canned Heat famous a few years prior to this release.

I think I'm with my good friend John The Mellotron rating-wise. Think's sole album is a breathtaking slice of hard edged psychedelia with a delightful jazzy twist to it. It might not have been particularly fresh and pioneering, back when it first hit the street, but then again if you decide to judge music by the same standards you do water rugby and pole vaulting, you're bound to set yourself up for nothing. Absolutely nothing. That is not zen at its finest btw, that's merely the indication of you missing the plot by several nautical miles. Music is first and foremost about feel, and that is coincidentally also the one single thing this album's got in spades! 4.5 stars.

4.5 stars. An interesting lineup here with three Germans, two Hungarians (brothers) and a Czech. The German lead guitarist was a big fan of KING CRIMSON and PINK FLOYD while the drummer was into LED ZEPPELIN and BLACK SABBATH. The three non-German musicians were Classical musicians. They called themselves THINK because of their interest in a thinking audience. Vocals are in English and the music is in my opinion very moving and Psychedelic in nature. PINK FLOYD is the band I thought of most often. Lots of organ, guitar, flute and viola.

"Variety" opens with gentle guitar as flute and viola join in. Vocals and organ follow. It turns jazzy after 1 1/2 minutes. Great sound a minute later. What an amazing song ! "Watercorps" opens with relaxed guitar, bass and drums to start. Vocals join in as the organ floats in the background. Flute comes in and it sounds so good. Viola after 2 minutes. Another incredible track. "Drops" is the best one of all in my opinion. Experimental intro then laid back guitar and drums lead as the vocals join in. Very FLOYD-like here. It kicks in after 1 1/2 minutes. A nice flute / bass section 3 minutes in then the guitar starts to solo. Nice. It's experimental again before 5 minutes as themes are repeated.

"Draw Conclusions From..." is the longest track at 14 minutes but my least favourite. I still think it's great though. A beat with flute and guitar as vocals join in quickly. Organ follows. We get a Blues section after 3 minutes until after 5 minutes then that earlier sound returns. Best part is after 7 1/2 minutes as the flute and organ lead. Viola follows. Nice bass too. "Last Door" opens with the door squeeking open as guitar, bass, flute and percussion take over. Vocals too. A calm after 1 1/2 minutes. Nice. It picks back up a minute later to end it. Cool tune. Two bonus tracks here.The first one "More Drops" is an earlier version of "Drops", while the other is "All That I Remember". The latter is fairly catchy with vocals. Nice guitar solo 1 1/2 minutes in. Actually the guitar is more the focus here than on the other songs.

I'm very tempted to give this 5 stars because I like it so much, but in reality it's not quite that good. Still this is one amazing Krautrock record. It makes me feel really good.

THINK was one of many German incidents in the early 1970s which produced one album and then disappeared for ever and ever. The band featured skilled musicians, for example two from Hungary and one Czech who some day played in Germany with the Philharmonia Hungarica ... and then decided to stay. Soon they found some German mates to build up a six-piece crew and came in contact with the Marl/Ruhrgebiet based label Menga which 1973 released their sole album 'Variety'. This is an appropriate album title by all means.

They offer a nearly eclectic sound when mixing up classical, jazzy, symphonic, heavy, folk, blues and psych elements to something very interesting and enjoyable. With other words: this is nothing rough and unpolished ... if anything than the two bonus tracks probably, earlier recordings included on the Garden Of Delights reissue. Both appear in a more heavy rock vein where More Drops is also clearly Pink Floyd infected. The groovy All that I remember shines with some experimental gimmicks. This foreshadows the trickiness of the following regular album tracks.

THINK start the album very relaxed, folksy, the title song is decorated with violin and Frank Voigt's flute, later turning to a swinging jazzy mood and even classical impressions. And so on ... they build up a surprising chain of varying impressions provided with turns and breaks where you immediately can recognize the compositional ability. Then you will meet the mellow instrumental Watercorps - of course once interrupted by a frantic hurry-up. Drops is pervaded with hallucinatory impressions as well as jazzy excursions. The epic Draw Conclusions from partially sounds like performed by the Keef Hartley Band, bluesy with playful organ ...

... so you can hear they take the album title quite literally. And it works on top of it! Vocals are surprisingly good compared to other German bands and all in all this is somewhat relaxed music. As mentioned before 'Variety' is digitally remastered and re-issued, available via Garden Of Delights. The booklet of 32 pages holds many images, illustrating the spirit of that time very nicely. A very good progressive rock effort - recommended!