NO. 2

KPM's second album is much in the liner of their debut hesitating between a hard rock direction and a more middle-of-the-road version of rock. They insist on singing in English and do it relatively well, even if sometimes it does sound a little awkward and they insisted on writing a song titles wrong (livable instead of liveable), which does show their limitations. Musically the group is apt, but none of the musicians are virtuoso and don't try to show-off either.

The quintet is still developing what would come to be the type of AOR of later 70's, as clearly shown in the slightly country-tinged Come Down To The Riverside. If the follow up Don't Force Your Horse doesn't have the same flavour, it remains indeed your typical AOP by KPM. Of the harder side of KPM, a lengthy cover of Beatles' Come Together (but definitely not my favourite cover of my favourite Beatles track), that if enjoyable, it does not break anything either. Of better interest is the instrumental Together Jam, which as the title indicates is a full-group effort and could just be the first side's highlight as they show that they are more at ease with more improvised music and looser structures.

The flipside is starting out on two lenghty (8-min) tracks, the first of which, Liveable Ways, is actually quite pleasant, full of good interplay, while Day Dreams (or Daydreams?) is rather ambitious low-developing track with a lengthy intro, and when the song does finally start, it unfortunately sound like US-like soft rock, although mellotron layers intervene, but can't hide the inherent songwriting weakness of the track. This is exactly with this type of more ambitious track that KPM shows their limitations. After an awful (but short) banjo-led country rocker (Very Long Ago), the group indulges into another AOR country I Wonna (wanna ? ;-) Be Lazy, which actually helps the album escape from the proghead's interest.

Graced with a very piggy artwork, this album received a Second Battle label reissue (and a bonus track from a single which doesn't add much to the overall value of the album), which might interest some rockers and other German rock aficionados, but regarding progheads, this is hardly essential and of moderate interest to them, even if enjoyable enough.