SOLAR MUSIC - LIVE

If your into Krautrock or guitar driven spacerock, have I got a record for you ! Although it shows 9 songs on the back of the cd it really is one song with no breaks, and it's performed live. Each song blends into the other. They gave song titles only to give some structure and so that radio dj's would be able to play parts of this album on the radio.The negatives for me are the silliness to open the record, as well as part way through "Mulheim Special". And also the introduction of the band members to the audience that takes 3 minutes. These are negatives for me only because all the monologue is in German which I don't understand so it's lost on me.These are very small complaints though. This is pretty much all instrumental and I can't get enough of this.

"Solar Music I" opens with a lot of craziness, but they soon show how talented they are. These guys can play ! Organ, drums, keys and guitar get the show started, but it's 2 minutes into "Food Sicore" where the band takes us into space. Psychedelic guitars as the drums pound away and were flying. "Solar Music II" is pastoral, with birds singing and the guitar playing slowly. A dog starts to bark as synths come in, as well as a monster sounding vocal. The sound gets really atmospheric with a nice guitar melody as drums build to a beautiful hypnotic groove. Nice. The guitars get aggressive as the sound becomes even more amazing. "Mulheim Special" features some splendid drumming from Eroc as the guitar grinds out some good melodies. More amazing guitar solos follow including some scorching melodies. 4 minutes in the soundscape is heavenly including some mellotron. There is some more silliness after 5 minutes but I don't understand. Some great psychedelic guitar later.

"Otto Panrock" continues with the mesmerizing melody. Some screaming guitar and organ.The guitar is so amazing ! "Golden Mist" features some more great drumming from Eroc and lots of spacey synths including mellotron. There is some accordian in this one as well as an out of the blue statement "Would you like to sit on your bum on the surface of the sun ?" The organ work and drumming is great ! "Solar Music III" continues the lighter melody for 2 minutes followed by some psychedelic, scorching guitar melodies. It then becomes mellow to "The Missing 13 Minutes" where it becomes uptempo with lots of organ and guitar. Another change as light drums and keys provide a jazzy sound as the band is introduced while they keep playing.

This is so close to 5 stars for me but not quite. I may change it to 5 one day though we'll see. Highly recommended anyway. 4.5 stars.