TANZ DER LEMMINGE [AKA: DANCE OF THE LEMMINGS]

The international breakthrough of an important Krautrock band, not surprisingly given many full ratings here. For me it wasn't very great listening experience. Maybe the debut Phallus Dei (1969) had more crazy charm, and I'm missing Renate Knaup's vocal contributions. This is band's third album, preceded by Yeti (1970), another double vinyl of single CD length like this one. Three vinyl-side long epics plus three shorter tracks. Psychedelic, yes. Mindblowing? Naah. The second epic is rather fragmented, with hilarious subtitles such as 'Dehynotized Toothpaste' and 'A Short Stop at the Transylvanian Brain Surgery'. The over-the-top lunacy could be more strongly present in the music too. Sparse vocal parts are mostly in English - if it matters anything, as they don't make much sense anyway. Why the album title is in German while track titles are in English?

'The Marilyn Monroe-Memorial-Church' is a strange title and somehow quite unfitting to the most Kosmiche track, unless it tries to have the devout tone of the atonal piece, more or less in the mode of early Tangerine Dream (though less exciting in sounds). The shorter tracks are more guitar-oriented and don't add anything crucial. Good guitar playing on 'Toxicological Whispering'. All in all, this is most likely an album that gets better with each listening but at first may be a slight disappointment against the classic status. But I'm not sure if I'm willing to see the trouble to possibly enjoy it more. Until that, three stars is enough.