MEETINGS WITH MENMACHINES INGLORIOUS HEROES OF THE PAST

This album is a strange release by this incarnation of Amon Duul - sure bassist Dave Anderson and guitarist John Weinzierl are from the original Duul II line-up - and with drummer Guy Evans (of Van Der Graaf Generator fame) and a female singer with a sweet voice, Julie Waring, you'd probably expect the classic Krautrock sound to live on. The previous release by this band, 'Hawk Meets Penguin', was more in line with Krautrock and a great, spacey album in itself, but with this album, we have quite the pop album, but not without it's spacey characteristics. I'd imagine that the band were a great Festival attraction at the time. Almost each song starts with an electronic synth-scape that really has no relation to the song itself, but seems fitting never-the-less. There is no credit for synths, but on the back of the LP I have (with a really nice art-work, different to the one pictured here,) states "extra help - Bruce and Mick ". The overall sound of the songs themselves is clearly at the Rock/Pop end of the scale, with solid drumming from Guy (seldomly elaborate, this time 'round), strong and busy Bass playing, the guitaring is mostly rhythm with few solos, synths and vocals. Opening song, 'Pioneer', is an excellent track, 'The Old One' is a rocking song and very good at that, 'Marcus Lied' is a long track, a pleasant tune with a slower pace, but doesn't change much. Side 2 opens with 'Confucius Say' - similar to 'Pioneer' and quite good. 'Things are often Not what They Seem' is a ballad with just acoustic guitar and vocals and the last track 'Brumundi - Drummer's Nightmare' (as it reads on my LP, not 'Burundi') is a lengthy rocker, book-ended with an ambient synth-scape (almost sounding like Jean-Luc Ponty's keyboard work) and has a cool middle section where mad analogue synth 'bubbles' steal the show with some almost tribal drumming from Guy. A good chance to hear Dave Anderson's 'vocals' too !! Overall, At times, I prefer this album to the jammy 'Fool Moon', but the consistency throughout the 4 Duul UK albums I own is pretty even. Whilst not contributing much to the whole 'Prog-rock' genre, 'Meetings with Menmachines...' is an enjoyable album - especially if you are into Hawkwind, Amon Duul II, Magic Mushroom Band, Tubilah Dog, maybe even Ozrics. 3.5 star effort.