GET THE BALL

2.5 stars really!!

By RMO's third album Get The Ball, the group was down to a quartet, having lost bassist Holger Dunkel (replaced by Frank Fisher) and wind player Norbert Jacobsen (not replaced) and recorded this one with Dieter Dierks (as opposed to Plank previously). With a fairly boring artwork and an uninspired title, it is clear that with a reduced line-up, the group would have to try really hard to match their previous efforts and keyboardist Rurup becoming the main composer, where the songwriting was collective.

And they almost succeeded as all three tracks on the A side are excellent cool fusion axed on Manfred Rurup's Fender Rhodes, as it had become the only permanent lead instrument (guest guitarist intervene in two tracks, a guest trumpeter on another). But musically we are not far from Herbie Hancock's Headhunters or Sextant, rather than Nucleus previously. The flipside seems to digress from that pattern slightly due to the opening Blackbird where vocals and trumpet break the monotony, but you shall not be surprised if it sounds Miles-ey. Atlantis (co-written by the huge Carsten Bohn) is built on a descending line that changes a little as well, but the closing Chambre Séparée resembles the first side. On the German side, RMO is closer to the earlier Doldinger's Passport than Thirsty Moon or Kraan.

Less "entertaining" due to the reduced line-up, Get The Ball is still quite a worthy RMO album, even if it is nothing essential in terms of JR/F (been done hundreds of time before and since), but nevertheless definitely worth a listen for JR/F enthusiasts.

With the everlasting support of the Brain label, Release Music Orchestra would launch their third album ''Get the ball'' in 1976.The standard quartet of Ruerup/Haberland/Fischer/Lindner would receive now the support of former Tomorrow's Gift bandmate and recently departed Novalis guitarist Carlo Karges, a second guitarist, Mike Gong, later to play during the fading days with Triumvirat, and trumpetist Erhard Schaefer.

Front covers and album titles of the band would showcase now what started with ''Garuda'', the band would take a lighter approach on Jazz Fusion, steadily moving away from their progressive roots for an upcoming slick-styled Fusion.But it's all about the arrangements at the very end and ''Get the ball'' is a surprising album in that sense, it may contains these light funky vibes, popping up in most pieces, but the overall performances are really great with propulsive rhythms and atmospheric breaks, based on the intelligent use of synthesizers and electric piano, offering a largely instrumental sound.You will easily detect we are speaking about a former Kraut Rock act here, the neurotic synth splashing, the steady and narcotic rhythms and the omnipresent percussions are standard charactestics of the sound, even if now they appear rather as leftovers than fundamental elements of their style.Excellent rhythm section all the way through, constantly changing tempos, spacious interruptions and dense Fusion experiments with no weak tracks and evident links to the sound of PASSPORT, one or two tracks even contain some discreet Mellotron washes.The material flows nice and easy, sounding very fresh until today, and offers a good set of psychedelic acoustics between its jazzy values.

Loved this work, although I admit it's not quite there with the best of Kraut Fusion from the 70's.But it's well-played, interesting and pretty adventurous as a whole.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.