ZACK GLÜCK

This is one of the greatest achivements of this band. I have most of their albums and even visited their producers house (and their offices ) when i went up to munich in the 80's, to get hard to get albums. That's how big a fan i was (am). This is the period when they got in my own opinion the best balance of african and eatern influences andi prog rock and exeprimental timings. Well structured songs (as opposed to the long jams of the past). A real delight and excellent introduction to this band! if you like this go to ' La Blama Sparozzi', 'Apocalypso', 'Embryos Reise' and 'Surfin". Then go to all of their earlier stuff which is good too.

EMBRYO started their careers with six straight amazing albums. This was followed by three records from 1975-1977 which I don't own then "Embryo's Reise" from 1979 which I have but not the 1982 album that follows it which brings us to this 1984 album called "Zack Gluck". While this record sounds totally different from the first six albums I would feel comfortable including this with them as my top seven EMBRYO studio albums. This is World music but man I feel they absolutely nailed it which I didn't feel with "Embryo's Reise" which many name as their favourite EMBRYO album. Yes we have Bunka, Burchard, Fischer and Hofmann on here thankfully plus a few others. This was recorded in February and March of 1984.

For me the only misstep is the chorus on "Montespertoli" which is lame in my opinion but man not bad considering I'm not a big World music fan. I have to say it helps that these guys are players and obviously really good composers. Some dulcimer and tavil on the opener but the violin leads the way as we also get beats and bass. "Dage Django" is pretty catchy and when the guitar arrives it really adds to the sound. Spacey flute on the title track but before 1 1/2 minutes it starts to get intense. Some passionate vocal expressions and violin. My favourite right there. That fourth track just seems to get better as it plays out ending with the guitar lighting it up. I really enjoy that seventh track especially the mixture of the guitar with the ethnic sounds. Violin late and I really dig Hofmann's violin work on here along with his sax and flute work.

4 stars is a no brainer for me and this really was a pleasant surprise and reveals just how talented this band was no matter the style they play.