ERHOLUNG

This is one of those albums that just doesn't seem like it's a live one. Very sedate and chilled out, but one thing I've noticed over the years is that many live recordings of Krautrock are incredibly relaxed with lots of improv. This was recorded live in 1973 but not released until 1975. We get four tracks worth under 38 minutes. They are a four piece here with the same lineup that's on that 1974 studio record called "Autovision", less the keyboardist. So we get Reichel doing his echo guitar bits, along with a drummer, percussionist and sax/flute player. Achim also adds tapes so it's cool to hear certain nature sounds like birds chirping, wind and waves mostly on "Atmosphare".

The opener "Gute Reise" is my favourite as it seems to encapsulate the whole album, and it is the longest at over 12 minutes. And how about the horse making an appearance to end "Alles Inklusiv" which is when we finally get a hint that this is live as the crowd responds. I'm not as big on the closer which is the title track. It's all good though. A beautiful trip my friends. I really appreciate Jochen Petersen for his flute and soprano sax. He's on some of Achim's studio albums as well, and that soprano sax is a nice touch with this style of music. Flute is a no-brainer of course, we need our flute in this trippy cosmos. Also the percussionist would go on to play with the band DENNIS, and I'm a big fan of their only album.

An easy four stars for this tripped out, echo guitar driven recording. I'm a big fa of the cover art as well. I still remember my first exploration into the realm of Krautrock and being totally smitten with "The Green Journey" and that echo guitar. Gave an enthusiastic 5 stars before dropping that back to 4 stars years later. This is Krautrock!