GIFT

I'm sorry for this review for the fact this awful album cover has to be on the front page here for a while. I want to give my top three but I want to mention the opener, the title track just for the fact that it is so catchy on the chorus that it constantly got stuck in my head. Not a fan. First top three is "Don't Waste Your Time" another energetic vocal track, lots on here. But this is the best of those. The guitar lights it up before 2 minutes and we get some organ as well.

Second top three is "Got To Find A Way" and it's the longest at over 6 1/2 minutes. This is uptempo with organ and guitar over top. Vocals 1 1/2 minutes in. Guitar solo of course but this is the most proggy tune on here and I really enjoy it. "Reflections Part 1" sounds really good when it kicks into gear before a minute. As usual we get a guitar solo but man this has to be my favourite track of the bunch. There is a part 2 but it starts out sounding nothing like part 1 at first but then quickly changes to being exactly like part 1.

I can't even say blue apple without getting stuck with that song in my head. Another good record from these guys but I much prefer the self titled debut which has better songs and vocals despite missing the keyboards.

This is a very consistent album as well and I'm not surprised at Mike's 4.5 star review. The best song might be "Don't Hurry" with the wordless vocals and the guitars ripping it up. A lot of those vocal melodies on this album which I really enjoy along with the dual guitars. The closer "Bad Vibrations" seems like a shot at THE BEACH BOYS. It chugs along with vocal melodies over top. So catchy and I like when the guitar mimics the vocals as themes are repeated. The track before it is so good called "Your Like" with that killer start and how about the attitude. Love the guitar after 2 minutes and the calm that is interesting.

Dark and experimental to open "Game Of Skill" then drums only before guitars and bass kick in then vocals. I really like the sound of this one. The calm again is has my attention before it kicks back in. Cycling guitars with vocals late. The only song that didn't resonate with me like the other tunes was "Time Machine". A lot of wordless vocals and flute on "Groupie". How about that instrumental section on the opener "Drugs" ripping it up. This is followed by the proggy "You'll Never Be Accepted" the longest piece at almost 7 minutes.

A great debut and the followup "Blue Apple" will also impress big time even though there was a couple changes in the band.

This band was obviously inspired by Amon Duul II's classic debut album "Phallus Dei" because the then school band formed in the same year of 1969 and took on Phallus Dei as its band name. After a few years of practice and the recruitment of new members the lineup featured on the band's eponymous debut was Uwe Patzke (bass, vocals), Helmut Treichel (vocals), Rainer Baur (guitar) and Hermann Lanze (drums, percussion) after being discovered by Munich producer Otto Hartmann who signed the band to the Telefunken label. Considered one of the more adventurous heavy Kraut bands of the German scene, GIFT wasn't exactly the most popular on the scene but gained a loyal cult following for its dedication to dexterous compositional flow that adopted the excesses of progressive rock without sacrificing the heft of a bantering display of guitar, bass and drums. It's also notable that guitarist Nick Woodland was listed on the credits but actually quit the band before recording began.

GIFT's debut is an excellent display of no nonsense hard rock with a brilliant juxtaposition of cleverly crafted compositions that feature strong melodic hard rock hooks with heavy guitar riffs and an excellent rhythm section that features hairpin turn time signature changes and unexpected twists and turns in the musical flow without sacrificing the underpinning of what makes a hard rock song work so well. The Krautrock scene was filled with heavier bands but not all of them could pull it off but GIFT did so with seeming ease with a particularly strong emphasis on the drumming and percussive accoutrements that give the album that extra special something. Add to that the strong confident vocal ability of Helmut Treichel and it's easy to declare GIFT's debut release as one of the most competent heavy psych releases of the early 70s.

Perhaps not quite as heavy as contemporaries such as Lucifer's Friend, GIFT certainly took the established heavy psych sounds of the late 60s to their limits before the scene moved on to the hard rock and heavy metal that would soon become the more popular style of the 1970s. While compared to the fellow German band Hairy Chapter, GIFT was similar to many other bands such as Captain Beyond and Twenty Sixty Six and Then but due to the talented members on board managed to stand out as an original all its own without deviating significantly from the established heavy psych sounds of the era. This one doesn't seem to get as much love as the more psychedelic Kraut bands of the era and gets lost behind the harder bands from England and the USA but for my tastes GIFT successfully cranked out a wild ruckus of an album for their debut. The band would change its sound by adding keyboard sounds for its sophomore album "Blue Apple" but for this first offering GIFT was a powerful beast of heavy guitar driven rock music.

4.5 rounded down

Go To Find A Way did a great work opening the Side 2. Awesome right from the intro, the mellotron, moog, organ and stuff are very well executed. This song features a great guitar solo, by the way. Reflections is half weak, half good. The first mellow part sounds dead, but the second part really captivate and shows the real strenght of the song. Left The Past Behind is the last track of the album, and the virtuocity of the members makes a very funny ending. A good addition for any Krautrock or oldschool British Hard Rock collector.

Obviously influenced by the British Hard Rock bands of the time, Gift played a powerful Hard Rock with strong progressive flourishes and lots of jamming parts in the Kraut Rock tradition of many German Hard/Psych Rock acts, despite their tracks being actually rather short.The music is very energetic and edgy all the way with a pounding rhythm section and numerous impressive guitar leads, while Treichel prooved to be an excellent singer with his quite British-accented voice.While the negative point of the album tends to be the similarity between the pieces of the album, the combination between these angular Hard Rock riifs with the inventive grooves and the tyipcal Kraut-styled middle-part jams is mostly working well.Expressive vocals with good choruses, fiery solos and a good dose of changing tempos result a bunch of dynamic and adventurous compositions.Often the album retains a grandiose, emphatic and haunting atmosphere, based on Baur's classy guitar exercises, while a couple of tracks feature some good flute parts of unknown origin.

Guitar-based Hard Prog of good quality.The alternation between down- and uptempo grooves along with the standard Kraut Rock atmosphere in the instrumental parts are sure to satisfy all listeners of trully dynamic rockin' vibes.Recommended.