A MEDITATION MASS

An enjoyable all-instrumental freakout, often drifting towards New Age spaces but just as regularly breaking out in sudden flirtations with jazz fusion. Rolf Fichter seems to be the musical prime mover here given the range of instruments used, but Klaus Fichter also deserves props for some mesmerising drum work at points. The album is interesting as a Krautrock counterpoint to the New Age-leaning album-length works coming out of Virgin Records at the time (like Mike Oldfield's early albums and Clearlight's debut). That said, I can't say it really enraptures me to the extent that it does many others. Krautrock fans will probably want to give this one a try at some point but I think there's plenty of more central works to explore before you get to this one.