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OUT OF FOCUS

Jazz Rock/Fusion • Germany


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Out Of Focus picture
Out Of Focus biography
This awesome band came from Munich and made three extraordinary albums on the super-collectable Kuckuk label plus another that never got released until recently. Hennes Herring on KB (mainly Hammond organ), Remi Dreschler on guitars, Moran Neumuller on vocals and winds, Klaus Spöri and Stefan Wisheu on drums and bass respectively made an incredibly tight unit although they were prone to a lot of improvisation moments also. Their music is somewhat similar to early British prog but will gradually evolve to a certain jazz-rock while staying very politically and socially conscious (in the typical German style of those years) although the singing does not hold a big place in their music, their third release (a double) being mostly instrumental. They released three albums on the legendary Kuckuk label, the same one that also reissued them in Cd format.

After their third album, OOF suffered their first major line-up change with keyboardist Hennes Herring leaving the band to join SAHARA (another excellent group that will release two very solid albums), and he was replaced by yet another guitarist Wolfgang Gohringer (that made double guitar and double horn attack), but if it affected the group's sound a bit, it was nothing drastic either. A fourth (excellent) album was recorded in the spring of 74, but for some reasons it was never released - until Ultima Thule/Cosmic Egg would in 99. Sadly these events lead towards a slow decline of the group who would gradually slow down activities, recording just one more single and playing their last concerts in 78.

The musicians went their way, but in the mid-80's, three of them met and participated to Kontrast and recorded one of the best Krautrock album of that decade, according to the experts. This album and its intended suite just got a second life by getting a reissue, again on the Cosmic Egg label. Among the other posthumous releases is the left-overs from FLMA albums (Rat Roads) and a Live in Palerme 72, both excellent records appearing on the great Garden Of Delight Label.

Let me quote D-E Asbjornssen in Cosmic Dreams At Play and use his final comment about OOF: "what an awesome band they were" and I fully adhere to that opinion.


: : : Hugues Chantraine, BELGIUM : : :



Highly recommended by Dag-Erik Asbjornsen in his great book Cosmic Dreams At Play, and by myself to every progheads infatuated with the early 70's way of making music. Simply awesome!

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OUT OF FOCUS discography


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OUT OF FOCUS top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.61 | 134 ratings
Wake Up!
1970
3.98 | 142 ratings
Out Of Focus
1971
4.00 | 107 ratings
Four Letter Monday Afternoon
1972
4.05 | 71 ratings
Not Too Late
1999
3.99 | 51 ratings
Rat Roads
2002

OUT OF FOCUS Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

4.02 | 28 ratings
Palermo 1972
2008

OUT OF FOCUS Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

OUT OF FOCUS Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

OUT OF FOCUS Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

OUT OF FOCUS Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Wake Up! by OUT OF FOCUS album cover Studio Album, 1970
3.61 | 134 ratings

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Wake Up!
Out Of Focus Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic

4 stars OUT OF FOCUS was just one of many extraordinarily creative bands that emerged from the fertile explosive era of the late 60s. This band formed in 1968 in Munich, Germany with the lineup of Hennes Herring on keyboards, Remi Dreschler on guitars, Moran Neum'ller on vocals and winds, Klaus Sp'ri on drums and Stefan Wisheu on bass and took the band name from a Blue Cheer track which established the band's distinct style of mixing up jazz, rock and psychedelia which earned them a spot in the heady world of Krautrock. Altogether the band released three albums in the early 70s with this debut coming out in 1970. While two more albums were planned and recorded, they didn't see the light of day for several decades later.

WAKE UP is a bit different than the albums that followed where the band settled into a much jazzier sound. This debut falls more squarely into the surreal soundscapes of the early Krautrock world which sat nicely as OUT OF FOCUS opened for similar bands like Amon Duul II, Nectar, Kraan, Kraftwerk and Embryo. The band were serious workaholics and it took many months to craft this first offering which has become one of the underground classics of German progressive rock for its nice display of guitar, flute and trippy organ riffing. The compositions are all excellent although the troglodyte vocal style may take a bit of acclimation to appreciate. For those more familiar with the band's jazzier escapades it will come as a surprise that the saxophone sounds while present are not nearly as a dominant musical feature.

Given the absence of the jazzier elements, WAKE UP explores heavy psychedelic escapades into the trip-o-sphere primarily evoked through the ample use of Hering's heavy use of organ however OUT OF FOCUS didn't quite jettison into the lysergic zone like bands such as Amon Duul II were striving for. This band was more rock based with a heavy guitar riffs and solos set in a bluesy tone along with a thumping bass line and a subordinate yet inventive use of percussion. The extra touches of flute often draw comparisons to Jethro Tull but there are no references to any sort of folk music so a better comparison would be the Dutch band Focus although at this point the 60s flavors of heavy psych guitar and contrapuntal keyboards which a musical approach that creates polyrhythms.

From a lyrical perspective OUT OF FOCUS featured lyrics that were sung in English and were very much in the zeitgeist of political awareness an social issues that although sometimes awkwardly delivered by Moran Neum'ller eccentric vocal style somehow comes together quite well with the musical flow as it takes the music into a somewhat bizarre alternative zone. While many cite the following jazz-infused albums as the true triumphs of the OUT OF FOCUS canon, i actually love this debut equally as well as it delivers a distinct style of psychedelic rock that straddled the line between the Krautrock of Germany, the jazz-fusion prowess that OUT OF FOCUS would soon embrace and the more pastoral flute driven bands of the era. Similar to Nektar's black sheep debut album that existed outside of the band's established style, WAKE UP is nonetheless a well crafted album that delivers the intended reaction.

 Out Of Focus by OUT OF FOCUS album cover Studio Album, 1971
3.98 | 142 ratings

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Out Of Focus
Out Of Focus Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by apps79
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars Out of Focus were helped by a good promotion during 1970/71, ''See how a white Negro flies'' was included in Polydor's compilation ''Sounds '71'' and the track ''Blue Sunday morning'' became part of Kuckuck's ''SiebenSiebzig'' compilation.Six months after the release of ''Wake up!'' the Germans visited the Bavaria Studios in München to record a second album, which strangely carried the name of the group as a title.Kuckuck was again the publisher.

While ''Wake up!'' was a typical Kraut Rock album with psychedelic leftovers from the 60's, this one sees the band exploring the more experimental side of Rock music and this is pretty obvious already from the short openers ''What can a poor boy do'' and ''It's your life'', which are dominated by a collection of sounds and sights, containing inspirations from Folk, Blues and Jazz, characterized by frenetic rhythms, nervous sax solos, psychedelic organ runs and calm acoustic textures, not to mention the jazzy piano of the second piece.These work as a nice introduction to the very long ''Whispering'', which sounds like a rougher PASSPORT, featuring extended instrumental jams with a pounding rhythm section, usually overpowered by the furious electric guitar of Drechsler and Neumueller's powerful saxes, leading into experimental, jazzy improvisations and a couple of beautiful sax solos over the hypnotic bass lines of Wiesheu.''Blue Sunday morning'' is another attempt on Kraut Folk Rock by the band with a narcotic electric guitar playing alongside the archaic flutes, before Hering's organ gives life to a dramatic Heavy/Psych Rock cut.Not really fond of THE ROLLING STONES'-like vocals.The 17-min. ''Fly bird fly-Television program'' is more or less a good definition of Kraut Rock with strong psychedelic and Folk influences.Again the vocals are rather weak, but the music is pretty interesting with some great organ runs and sax interventions, Drechsler's guitar solos are absolutely efficient and the piece alternates between smooth and punchy segments with a fantastic ending section in the vein of early ELOY, characterized by tremendous energy and featuring Drechsler, Hering and Neumueller's active battle on individual solos.

Solid Kraut Rock with jazzy influences and nods to Folk Music.Passionate, efficient material, even if it lacks some great moments.Recommended.

 Out Of Focus by OUT OF FOCUS album cover Studio Album, 1971
3.98 | 142 ratings

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Out Of Focus
Out Of Focus Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

3 stars Pleasant but not exceptional Krautrock album from this obscure mid-tier group. There's a little more jazz offered on here in comparison to most releases from this scene - and in particular, jazz passed through a decidedly Canterbury-flavoured filter, as can perhaps best be heard on Blue Sunday Morning. However, whilst a mingling of these two styles might be interesting, Out of Focus seems to elect to pass over their more exciting and evocative aspects in favour of concentrating on the blandest possible sides of the subgenres in question, producing an album which is a nice listen but doesn't really stand out from the crowd.
 Wake Up! by OUT OF FOCUS album cover Studio Album, 1970
3.61 | 134 ratings

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Wake Up!
Out Of Focus Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by Matti
Prog Reviewer

3 stars OUT OF FOCUS from Munich was one of the finest fusion-oriented prog - or jazzy Krautrock - bands in the early seventies' Germany. Wake Up! is their debut, and it shows. The production is a bit murky and the psychedelic orientation is strong. Later on they oriented more towards instrumental fusion, but here the sax/flute player Moran Neumüller sings perhaps more than would be suitable. He's not a very good vocalist, frankly. Imagine young Peter Hammill at his worst and the most monotonous. The guitar parts increase the bluesy, heavy-ish psychedelia. The group was surely influenced by the British blues- rock.

But the album reveals its originality and strength already on the second track 'God save the Queen, cried Jesus' with more meditative instrumental sections featuring flute. This mixing of blues flavour and flute passages naturally makes one think of early Jethro Tull, but the compositions and the moods are very different from Tull. The lyrics seem to be serious and socio-critical, and the atmosphere has some VdGG-reminding darkness. There are also lots of organ.

'Hey John' is a gorgeous 9½-minute track with great instrumentalism and some vocals. The shortest track 'No Name' is also the weakest in my opinion, vocal-centred and quite straight-forward, but with nice organ/flute work. 'World's End' has long instrumental sections, and this time the guitar steps up front to solo too. The last minutes remind a lot of 'The End' by The Doors, even a similar-sounding spoken part is featured. But then again, the flute sets the music apart from The Doors.

'Dark, Darker' (11:37) doesn't start very promisingly with the presence of vocals, but soon enough they change into flute playing - some Ian Anderson -style gasps included - and the band continues to go deeper into meditative quietness and alteration of dynamics. All in all, an album that's far from perfect but with an interesting, magical atmosphere and an original mixture of various, more or less familiar elements. The psychedelic flavours were to change into jazzier style and much better music was ahead.

 Wake Up! by OUT OF FOCUS album cover Studio Album, 1970
3.61 | 134 ratings

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Wake Up!
Out Of Focus Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by apps79
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars Legendary Kraut/Jazz Rock band from München.Out of Focus were found in late 68' by Remigius Drechsler (guitar), Hennes Hering (organ, piano), Moran Neumuller (sax, flute, vocals), Stephan Wisheu (bass) and Klaus Spoeri (drums).They took their name from a track by Blue Cheer and reputedly the band was discovered by Ihre Kinder's manager Jonas Porst.Engineered by Thomas Klemt, their debut album ''Wake up!'' was recorded between October and December 70' at Union Studios in München, released at the fall of the year on the Kuckuck label.

The strong jazzy vibes that followed Out of Focus throughout their career remain hidden in their first album, which was a typical Kraut Rock album with extended jamming parts and dominant psychedelic vibes.The ironic track titles, such as ''See how a White Negro flies'' or ''God save the Queen, cried Jesus'', were followed by long groovy music with tons of flutes and organs along with the electrified guitars of Drechsler.The album contains mostly long pieces with constantly changing themes between smooth, psychedelic lines with mellow flutes and guitars and pounding rhythms with a fiery rhythm section and sharper guitar solos.Some nice interplays and breaks are also present, while with a singer sounding quite similar to MICK JAGGER the psychedelic influences are even more prominent next to the very dirty organ themes at the improvised parts.The result is obviously quite charming, although some sterile and flat moments are still apparent performed by a young and inenxperienced group.

A nice example of early Kraut Rock with the basic components of the movement in evidence: Long psychedelic grooves, loose solos and powerful breaks.Warmly recommended.

 Out Of Focus by OUT OF FOCUS album cover Studio Album, 1971
3.98 | 142 ratings

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Out Of Focus
Out Of Focus Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by Sinusoid
Prog Reviewer

4 stars OUT OF FOCUS is my most cherished album that I always forget that I actually own. It's a complete shame as it's one of the better jazz-rock albums I have, although the jazz part of Out of Focus is not as easily spotted. There seem to be equal connections to the heavy prog, Krautrock and Cantebury styles here.

Tasteful jamming is the spine of the album; ''Whispering'' and ''Television Programme'' are pristine examples of excellent ''build a crescendo'' jamming. It works particularly well with the latter as the vocal sections get slightly more powerful until the powerful shuffle at the end makes every other moment in the song worthwhile. The album does have its great quiet, laidback moments like ''Fly Bird Fly'' (feelings of Jethro Tull here), and the monster Hammond fueled opener is hard to resist.

Vocally, OUT OF FOCUS is not that strong. ''Blue Sunday Morning'' suffers from a weak Cantebury sound. Taken as a whole, if you love bands like Nucleus and Chicago (or even Amon Duul II), give this album a test run.

 Wake Up! by OUT OF FOCUS album cover Studio Album, 1970
3.61 | 134 ratings

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Wake Up!
Out Of Focus Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by Dobermensch
Prog Reviewer

2 stars An album that has moments of success when it occasionally lifts itself from the confines of 1969-1971 Krautrock. That old curse of Germans singing in English emasculates any intensity the lyrics may have held and hangs around the neck of Moran Neumülle like an albatross.

It's derivative to the point of saturation and is in no way comparable with their mighty 'Four Letter Afternoon'. Worst of all are the vocals which might have sounded pretty good if sung in German. As it is, they're all a bit embarrassing in their American imitation. Plus the fact - the guy's a crumby singer.

It's clear for all to hear that they can really play together as a unit but unfortunately, 'Out of Focus' sound like a lot of bands from this era. 'Wake Up' is their most 'Rock' album and is dominated by flutes, but unfortunately It's not that good.

 Four Letter Monday Afternoon by OUT OF FOCUS album cover Studio Album, 1972
4.00 | 107 ratings

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Four Letter Monday Afternoon
Out Of Focus Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by Dobermensch
Prog Reviewer

4 stars A super Krautrock band that were full of horns, saxophones, flutes and keyboards creating a wall of sound unlike many of their contemporaries.

Forget the first two albums. This is where it's at. An entirely uplifting and energetic album that doesn't let up for an hour and a half. Despite the English vocals from a Germanic tongue which otherwise might sound really tacky, it had me and my pals singing boisterously in the back seat of a car going on a camping holiday!

The first disc is a real foot stomper in a Germanic Krautrock way with Tuetonic voices and heavy keyboards and bass. The thing that prevents this being a 5 star is the 2nd disc. I think it's the lack of vocals which were so brilliant on the first.

It's still pretty damn good but doesn't have the same playfulness ' as what went before. A superbly clear recording, and one of the best Kraut albums I've heard.

 Four Letter Monday Afternoon by OUT OF FOCUS album cover Studio Album, 1972
4.00 | 107 ratings

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Four Letter Monday Afternoon
Out Of Focus Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by beebfader

5 stars This, the third and final Out Of Focus album, finds the German collective at their very best. It completes their shift away from psychedelic rock into more jazz/free form oriented material and sees the original band expanded here to an astonishing 11 piece force to be reckoned with. A major change to the band's sound is the addition of a brass section which really bolsters the sound into a bright, rich and varied feast for the ears.

On LP it was a double album running over some 94 minutes, and is reissued here by Esoteric's Reactive imprint as a double CD. The original concept is preserved, and the first CD consists of the album `proper'. More interesting though, is the 3 part rolling improvisation `Huchen 55' which occupies the entire 48 minutes of CD2.

Based in Munich, Out Of Focus were a lesser known name in Krautrock circles, but their work stands up extremely well to modern ears. From psychedelic beginnings they end up here as a band determined to explore the furthest reaches of their music. The addition of a multitude of extra players brings to mind at times the original Keith Tippett Group and their subsequent contribution to a short-lived expanded Soft Machine, and whilst it's fair to say that the Softs influence is felt here, these musicians are accomplished enough to over-ride any direct comparisons and to tread their own path.

The original first LP begins with the 18 minute `L.S.B.' which moves through a variety of well constructed changes without ever getting boring, the added instrumentation making a welcome improvement to the Out Of Focus sound. `When I'm Sleeping' somehow manages vocally to conjure up images of Peter Banks era Yes, although the vocal sweetness on display here is rather an exception to the rule. `Tsajama' for example, suffers rather badly from some ill-advised scat vocals, there won't be too many people buying this album for the singing, which like previous OOF albums is somewhat secondary to the music. It's really all about the instrumental interplay, and the rolling, evolving compositions which have never sounded better than here.

The second disc `Huchen 55' is one extended piece which most fully realises the vision. The three sections are woven together and bookended by a recurring thread played on flutes and ushering in open-ended group performances which sound like they come from a jam session which is quite possibly still going on to this day. It probably reflects most what the band was like live with no time restrictions. What is very appealing about it, is that it moves and transforms magically through various satisfying musical evolutions without ever losing momentum or becoming dull. I am reminded of Xhol Caravan's epic work here, music which was elusive, sublime, yet immensely satisfying. It is this disc to which I am likely to return time and time again and I urge you to do so too.

Out Of Focus recorded more material at these sessions much of which was subsequently issued and was found to be of a very high standard too. This however completes the sequence of the three albums issued in the band's existence, and which are all newly reissued by Reactive. For many is their finest hour. `Huchen 55' is one of those pieces you can have on repeat all day as it melts into the room, and for this alone it is unreservedly recommended.

 Wake Up! by OUT OF FOCUS album cover Studio Album, 1970
3.61 | 134 ratings

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Wake Up!
Out Of Focus Jazz Rock/Fusion

Review by snobb
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars Very interesting debut album of German band. Differently from many their kraut-rock colleagues, band's music is strongly based in British blues-rock and psychedelic rock tradition, with folksy elements. In fact, their music could be described as heavy bluesy psychedelic Jethro Tull.

They have flautist on board, and flute soloing adds to music very folksy (or Jethro Tull-like) flavour. Other important components - heavy Hammond passages, psychedelic guitars and social-critical lyrics. Possibly, vocal is not for everyone taste, but it's ok for me.

Jazzy arrangements are presented, but in all album's music couldn't be named jazz-rock. I like their melodic compositions, organ passages, heavy guitars and a bit naive sound in whole. Nice atmosphere of early 70-s. Only some repetitive songs structure reminds their origin and some connection with krautrock.

My rating is 3+.

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