HAND MADE

3,5 stars really!

This band is Doldinger's baby and this was the first line-up to record an album and tour. It is also one of the better album of that first era (very visible because all sleeve artwork are by the same artist) and of course most progheads will be interested in this era instead of the second one (stating with 77's Iguacu) that will be more Latino-fusion - a bit like later Weather Report or Spiro Gyra.

Abracadabra and the title track are the two highlight of this album but all tracks are strong. We hover around a very KB jazz-rock with Doldinger and Roberts on KB (Doldinger also doubles up on Sax) and the guitar is somewhat not present enough as Schmid doubles up on bass and guitar! The main influences I can think of is a bit of Canterbury style as the KB sometimes remind me of Caravan's David Sinclair's organs but also some Bundles-era Soft Machine.

Outside these consideration , Hand Made is a real excellent album well worth investigating !

Klaus Doldinger is a master. I consider it more Fusion than prog but the lines blur alot. Every cut is great this album is a must have. The only thing is that I Like the live version of Abracadabra from the Doldinger Jubilee 75 album better. (Which is suprisingly not on the list)

GREAT ALBUM!!!

3.5 stars.This is PASSPORT's third album and the first one that Doldinger would use mellotron on.There are three songs on here that are pretty incredible ("Abracadabra", "Yellow Dream" & "The Quiet Man") but the rest aren't quite good enough for me to offer up 4 stars.

"Abracadabra" opens with some excellent drumming before a sax led, full sound takes over. The drumming and sax work are fantastic. Bass and keys come in around 3 minutes as they really start to cook. Here comes the sax again before 6 1/2 minutes. "The Connexion" opens with some atmosphere as a lone sax can be heard. Other sounds come in as it builds. Not a lot going on really until after 4 minutes when we get a full sounding melody.

"Yellow Dream" features a spacey intro of mellotron and other sparse sounds. Some very smooth sax arrives 1 1/2 minutes in. I like this one a lot, it's quite dreamy. An outbreak of guitar occurs but it's brief as the sax and mellotron return. This contrast continues. Beautiful track. "Proclamation" is kind of funky, it's not bad, but i'm not a big fan of this one. "Hand Made" is dominated early by drums as sax comes in. Light drums and keys are joined by sax. This one gets kind of funky as well. It's ok. "The Puzzle" is without a doubt funked up Jazz. Haha. Some nice guitar after 3 minutes. "The Quiet Man" is such a peaceful sounding song. The sax is as smooth as glass and light drums, keys and bass are all so subtle. Keys take the lead from the sax until before 4 minutes when sax takes over that role once again.

This record isn't nearly as good as their earlier "Passport-Doldinger" album, but it's still an enjoyable listen.

For the third Passport album, Doldinger changed the entire line-up again, only to arrive at an album with exactly the same type of jazz-rock songs as on any of the previous albums. A small change in keyboard arrangements can be noted. After all it's 1973, and the organs, piano and clavinet of old are further broadened with some synths and mellotron, mainly played by Doldinger as well.

The same formula is applied to pretty much every song: at the heart sits a steadily swinging bass-line and a an agreeable mid-paced rock or funk beat, the songs start with a couple of memorable sax leads followed by solos for piano and/or sax and ending with the main melodies again. Does this ring any bells? Yes it does, it's exactly the same formula that Ozric Tentacles would apply 20 years later. On the ensuing Passport releases, the extended use of synths makes the correspondence even bigger.

Hand Made is a fine but safe album where Doldinger abstains from trying much new things. It has some nice melodies but also some rather flat ones, it has a couple of cool jams but also dull ones. Still a good album overall, on par with the first two.

Although not much has changed compositionally between this album and the previous two Passport releases, I like it a bit better than Second Passport - the sound is a bit more energetic and compelling, and there's a bit more rock-inspired aggression to it. Not too much, mind - we're still dealing with comparatively safe middle-of-the-road fusion that isn't too experimental - but it's a 3 and a half star effort rather than a three star one. Klaus Doldinger's keyboard work occasionally shows a mild Camel or Canterbury influence here, but are otherwise less prominent than on the previous two albums, which I think is a mistake - I'm always more interested in Passport when they combine spacey keyboard and synthesiser drifting with fusion.