JANE AT HOME LIVE

There are albums i do like, others i love and a very few I am in love with (not the same meaning!)There are albums which have been part of my life now for decades, albums i cherish beyond their musical achievments. They don't have to be perfect as there is no such thing as perfect in music as it's more of a matter of taste. But when you visit these personal treasures, or better come to visit your sound system, this is like an old good friend you can count on coming to your house to say hello. And this is like opening a door to happiness, to joy with deep feelings running inside you.

JANE 'LIVE AT HOME'' is one of those albums! I bought the double LP back then in 1977, still playing it with the new CD as well, always loving it to death and still feeling those goosebumps everytime i am playing it! This is like a long lasting faithfull friendship between this album and I never to be broken.

JANE is a German band which started in Hannover in 1972 with a wonderful space-rock LP named TOGETHER full of wonderful symphonic keyboards and featuring one of the most tasteful guitarist i know KLAUS HESS capable of playing the most melodic lines you will ever hear in the Gilmour style or blistering energetic riffs a la David Brock from Hawkwind. Add some great vocal melodies BJH would have been proud of,mix with some early Pink Floyd space tapestry and Eloy symphonism, pour some Wishbone Ash guitar Argus style and you have JANE: a wonderful German Progressive band that deserves more than 10 reviews.

If you have read my reviews about this band, you know not everything has been perfect with them, even once forgetting their prog roots to release a ..blues/hard rock album (JANE III) and the average more mainstream LADY. They came back progging with FIRE WATER & EARTH, a competent 3 star concept album sure to please any space-rock fan, but not a complete masterpiece. JANE ''LIVE AT HOME'' was their first album i bought from them and it's still my favorite. This is where JANE got it all together!

All the best songs from the past are present like the masterful DAYTIME and HANGMAN from their first album. HANGMAN is one of those typical JANE songs i adore with slow spacey start with wonderful organ, a nice melody BJH style before the song accelerates in a frenetic guitar bravado every hard rock gutarist would have liked to perform on their own. This is one of my 10 all times favorite guitar solos. I think KLAUS HESS is a monument to prog guitar. This is not only about virtuosity or playing 1000 notes in a minute, this is about bringing life to you guitar, bringing the emotions from the chords he plays, giving soul to any solo HESS performs. There is not one solo (and there are plenty) that is not melodic, not tasteful even of the hardest songs, not one!

JANE ''LIVE AT HOME'' is all what we are looking in a prog record: beauty, virtuosity, creativity, a trip sure to take you away from your everyday life and its worries. Listen to HIGHTIME FOR CRUSADERS and tell me if you are not back to ATOM HEART MOTHER or MEDDLE magic and this is as good.Sure HESS has listened to a lot of Gimour, but he plays his own way which can be hard rockish as well, but always in good taste, something between BROCK and ANDY POWELL from WISHBONE ASH.

Also worth noting is that the keyboardist on this album is no less than MANFRED WIECZORKE who just left the great symphonic band ELOY to join JANE. So for Eloy or other German symph.bands fans and there are many on this site , please do not disregard this album as it would be a miss for you.

There are also a lot of unreleased tracks which only appear on this album like the 20mns epic WINDOWS, sometimes so haunting, so spacey before the guitar brings you in HAWKWIND world with scorching riffs, a hard rock mayhem embellished by mysterious synth sounds . A inter-planetary real trip it is, believe me! ANOTHER DAY is another ''hard-rocking'' tune with a wonderful riff intro and of course a fantastic solo. ALL MY FRIENDS is typical JANE with lush keyboards, nice melody and tasty energetic guitar again.

JANE never has been known for the high quality of their vocals (like a lot of German bands sadly) but they find a way to manage better live than on studio.KLAUS HESS, MARTIN HESSE the bassist and PETER PANKA the drummer are alternating behind the mike and it sounds better than when they had someone else doing bthis job like JANCKO or PULST.

The CD comes with one track less (the marvelous DAYTIME) due to time contritions. Hopefully, JANE ''LIVE AT HOME'' will be released one day as a complete 2 CD package. But you still can get the present edition as it won't disapoint you if you are into space/symphonic melodic rock with beautiful guitar sounding. Don't believe me? try OUT IN THE RAIN and tell me if this is not heaven yet!

I also take the opportunity of this review to salute the memory of PETER PANKA the drummer who just passed away last june from cancer. He was still to the last day leading a modern version of JANE (but with no KLAUS HESS) even releasing a new album at the beginning of this year with first-hour keyboardist NADOLNY and bassist MAULCHER.

Fans of PINK FLOYD, ELOY,GROBSCHNITT, NOVALIS ,ARGUS- period WISHBONE ASH, give a chance to JANE ''LIVE AT HOME''. This is THE album!!! JANE ''LIVE AT HOME'' is like one of my best friend always present when i need it sure to make me feel great everytime we are together, a friendship that will last to my old days!

5 STARS.

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