LIVE

Kraan is the funky jazz-rock/Krautrock band from Germany with a Dutch name. This is their first live album and possibly one of their best releases; I've only heard this and the studio follow up where they add a keyboardist to the line-up. This sounds great for a live album, being engineered by legend Conny Plank, but there could be overdubs. I never heard the studio originals yet, but I can tell there is quite a bit of jamming and improv going on in some of the songs here.

"Hallo Ja Ja, I Don't Know" and "Lonesome Liftboy" seem to be exclusive to this set, not appearing on studio albums. The later has gorgeous melodies. Such a beautiful piece of music, I just love this song. If you hear this song and think it sucks you were literally born with no soul. Love the sound of the snare drum here. Great sax/guitar unison playing as bassist Helmut Hattler does his thing underneath them. I love his tone and playing style, one of Germany's best bassists.

The other songs are from the first and third Kraan albums; nothing from the second. "Jerk Of Life" is nice melodic funky jazz-rock. Vocals in this song. In a perfect world this song would have been a hit. "Nam Nam" is long and I'm assuming contains a lot of improv. Great drumming in the middle. Steady handclaps from the audience at one point. "Holiday am Matterhorn" is another extended piece with lots of jamming and improv. Great melodies in this track. "Sarah's Ritt durch den Schwarzwald" is some aggressive funky fusion.

"Andy Nogger" is divided in two, the second part subtitled "gutter king." A melody on sax from the studio original was sampled by French electronic duo Justice but not credited. Oddly enough, on the same album they sample (and credit) RPI band Goblin. This is a great song with vocals. Great chord changes during the sung parts. Love the sax/guitar unison playing during "gutter king," which is the longer of the two parts. "Hallo Ja Ja..." is a very funky track. Contains vocals while the sax is modified to sound like a keyboard.

After 1 1/2 minutes is some really great melodies. These melodies get repeated later on. As with other parts of the album, I like the unison guitar/sax work here. The music stops over halfway with the audience and a stage announcement being given a phasing effect. Those melodies come back again but are now played in a much faster and rocking manner. Near the end you hear harmony vocals which sound like a cross between Magma's vocalists and Hatfield & The North's Northettes. Love the bluesy ending.

"Kraan Arabia" has some Middle Eastern style melodies. Another long track which I assume includes a fair amount of improv. Some good guitar playing in this song. Sax solos for awhile. Drumming gets interesting near the end. This is one of the better live albums from the 1970s that I have heard. The music is raw and funky, yet melodic and jazzy. You can shake your booty to the music and hum the melodies later. Love the modified sax which sometimes sounds like a synth or organ; some of the best melodies here are done on sax. Kraan started out more Krautrock sounding but after this album will get more funky and commercial sounding. Great live album. 4 stars.