EDMUNDO LOPEZ

Interesting story around this lost Kraut-Rock band from Baden-Baden, which emerged from the 7-piece act Wilde Reiter GmbH in 1969.The four remaining members, these were guitarist/singer Rolf Peters, drummer Hubert Donauer, bassist Reiner Niketta and keyboardist/singer Wolfgang Schindhelm, changed the name to Coupla Prog and were among the occasional visitors of the Südwestfunk's Studios.The second time Coupla Prog visited the studios on 16.07.1970 it was for recording their most ambitious work, the 60-min. opus ''Edmundo Lopez'', eventually released only some 30 years later by Long Hair.

''Edmundo Lopez'' is a concept full-hour work around a young man from South America, condemned to be a soldier part of a civil war but acting like a man of peace and thus, he was sentenced to death.Musically this work is divided in 11 movements, ranging from Psychedelic Rock to organ-driven Heavy Rock and influences from early PINK FLOYD and SOFT MACHINE as well as DEEP PURPLE, THE NICE and even FREE are more than evident.For the most of its part the album explores the territory of psychedelic jams and organ-based power grooves with little imagination and the whole release is heavily centered around the concept's lyrics.Organ solos, scratching guitars and a rhythm section with a steady and confident performance are the main characteristics, accompanying Peters' and Schindhelm's vocals, but there is no diversity or really adventurous themes to be found.A few parts of the album has strong Classical influences on the keyboard parts, but overall the instrumental sections tend more to improvisation than to some tight playing.The opening and closing tracks seem here the most interesting with some decent breaks and performances.

An album, that has not aged well.Too one-dimensional, ''Edmundo Lopez'' has a great historical value but musically this one heads only to suckers of early-70's Kraut-Rock or organ- driven Psych/Prog.