HAND UND FUSS

Aera's second album, Hand und Fuss, is a substantial improvement over their debut (Humanum Est). With the Mahavishnu Orchestra still an influence, Aera diversify a bit to incorporate musical influences from all over the world into the mix. Lucky Schmidt takes up the drummer's stool this time around and Christoph Krieger joins on violin, and both of them enrich the group's sound considerably, but props also have to be given to Muck Groh, the group's furiously talented guitar player. Whilst the previous album didn't really stand out for me, this one is a great piece of late-1970s fusion proving that even in the latter half the decade talented artists were still advancing the genre.