AUF DER BAHN ZUM URANUS

Named after the ancient Greek word for the goddess of Earth, this German group from Saarland came in life in 1973 from friends and ex-The Phantoms bandmates Helmut Heisel (guitar), Peter Beil (bass) and Stefan Doerr (drums).The line-up was expanded with the addition of Guenter Lackes (keyboards), Werner Frey (rhythm guitar, vocals) and Werner Jungmann (congas), but soon after Heisel decided to leave Gaa.Anyway, they were discovered in one of their first gigs by the leader of Kerston label Alfred Kersten, who initially supported the group, but finally he found little time and space in his studio in the viilage of Forst near Stuttgart for the band.The recording sessions were eventually finished and Gaa's debut ''Auf der bahn zum Uranus'' was released in 1974.

As Kraut Rock was very popular around the time, it is pretty strange why Kersten lost his initial interest in Gaa, who's sound was full of nice surprises, especially in the long opener ''Uranus'', a beautiful piece, crossing MYTHOS-like obscure narrations, Psych/Space Rock with mid-70's ELOY touches and Classical-drenched soft organs with a LE ORME attitude.The rest of the album is more in a typical Kraut Rock style, combined with strong psychedelic flavors and supporting the powerful electric guitars and the muddy rhythm section with mellow piano lines and plenty of acoustic guitars.For the most of its part ''Auf der bahn zum Uranus'' walks on a Heavy Rock path with bombastic grooves, crunchy Hammond organ and sharp, old-fashioned electrified instrumentals with breaks into more atmospheric, vocal-led passages.A few bluesy influences are also present, as in the ''Welt im dunkel'', which sounds like how ELOY would sound a couple of years later, based on hypnotic keyboards and choir-type of wordless voices supporting Frey's lead vocals, or the closing ''Gaa'', which surprisingly contains some nice hard-styled flutes wrapped in an energetic jamming atmosphere, akin to RUFUS ZUPHALL.

The original vinyl was pressed in only 300 copies as a result of Kesner's fading interest in the group, making it one of the rarest Kraut Rock albums around.Fortunately it has been reissued several times both on CD and vinyl, giving the chance to fans of the style to taste another worthy addition of the endless Kraut Rock list.Recommended.