VINEGAR

I must admit i'm surprised at the lack of respect towards this album. The mood of this record is probably what I love the most, but honestly from beginning to end I enjoy this album a lot. It's innovative, atmospheric and melancholic Krautrock at it's best. In fact there's nothing about it I don't like, although there certainly are some average sounding passages like with pretty much every recording out there. They came up with the name VINEGAR because they wanted to play music that was hard to digest as opposed to the "sweet stuff" others were playing. Now that's the Krautrock spirit right there.The album here was recorded live in studio for the most part.

"Missi Solis" has this dark sounding guitar intro then it settles as drums come in followed by reserved vocals.This sounds so good. The organ floats in the background. Violin 3 1/2 minutes in as the vocals stop.The guitar after 5 minutes really reminds me of OPETH's "Damnation" album. Just fantastic ! The melancholia and atmosphere is great. The organ is back around 7 1/2 minutes then the tempo picks up a minute later with raw sounding guitar out in front.

"Sawmill-Tiel I" is catchy and late 60's sounding early on with vocals, guitar, organ and drums standing out. I like the vocals here a lot. A calm 1 1/2 minutes in as the melody stops and it turns psychedelic and experimental. The tempo picks up after 4 1/2 minutes with drums and guitar leading. "Sawmill-Tiel II" is AMON DUUL II-like with pounding drums along with organ. The violin starts to rip it up then the guitar takes over 2 1/2 minutes in. It settles a minute later. "Der Kaiser Auf Der Erbse" opens with violin. Guitar, drums and organ kick in before 2 minutes. Nice. Check out the bizarre vocals before 2 1/2 minutes (haha). The violin is back before 4 minutes. Love the sound when the vocals take over for the violin. It's the guitars' turn. Violin is back after 6 minutes sounding like someone's scratching the blackboard. "Fleisch" opens with floating organ as bass and drums follow. Guitar too. Organ only then these female vocal melodies with guitar join in. The guitar 5 minutes in starts to solo as the vocals stop. Great track !

4.5 stars for this Krautrock classic.