VOLCANO

This German act is really a pleasant surprise for all lovers and collectors of 70s jazz-fusion and jazz- prog: founded in Nuremberg at the beginning of the aforementioned decade, Cry Freedom delivers a vigorous, playful sort of jazz-rock that in the debut album "Vulcano" comprised some aggressive sonorities very much in tune with the krautrock loose standards, but mostly, Cry Freedom belongs in the breed of Embryo, with noticeable flirtations with Egg-style Canterbury rather than with the lysergic deliveries of Exmagma, Gila or Dzyan. Good vibes are the main components of the band's compositions and arrangements. The opener 'Euthanasie-Suite' gets started with a warm rhythm that allows the band to display its positive vibe: as much as the Group shows its well-amalgamated feel, there is obviously a room for the wind player to shine in a particular way whenever he takes center stage. The song's sung portions remind me a bit of Zappa, but it is the Egg factor that prevails all the way through. 'Ländlich' follows a much more colorful path, based on the elaboration of effective melodic developments that flaunt their inherent sophistication through the various pace shifts. This is the closest that the band gets to the standards of essential prog rock, without really letting go of the Canterbury element. 'Epitaph', despite the title's deadly allusions, happens to be an extroverted exercise on jazz-prog that pretty much reminds the listener of the opener. The track's concise framework makes the band sound a bit tighter across the developing swing, which in turn reminds me of Nosferatu. The follower is a 10 ½ minute piece structured around a solid jam in which the musicians take turns to state sonic sources of fun and joy, as well as showing their respective skills. Every one here reveals how capable they are, but my personal preferential vote goes for the drummer, the owner of a peculiar swing full of rocking nuances; another special vote goes for the bassist, who provides pertinent melodically driven ornaments to his robust interventions. 'Mambo Auf Burg Eckbertstein', since it bears the word "mambo" in its title, may lead us to supposed that it is leaned toward Latin-jazz, and for the first section our idea is quite accurate. A later section, without letting of the sheerness, shifts toward denser moods that lead - once again - to Canterbury flirtations ("Soft Machine Vol. 2"-type). 'Bayrisch Blue' closes down the album on a humorous note, filled with airs of circus background music and ye-ye rock'n'roll (a Supersister influence, maybe?). While not a great masterpiece, "Volcano" is a very good exhibition of inventive jazz-fusion: Cry Volcano is a most interesting item in any good prog collection. 3.40 stars for this one.

Cry Freedom originated from Fuerth, Germany, born out of the ashes of the Beat band Soulflower, where guitarist/singer Rudolf Madsius played along with drummer Klaus Braun.Madsius later went to the Soul band St. James Association, before forming Cry Freedom in early-70's with Reiner Kleber (piano), Benny Melzer (drums) and Higgers Schneider (bass).They started as a Politik Rock act, but by the mid-70's they had become a Prog/Fusion band with Klaus Braun taking over the drum duties and new members Gerhard Billmann on piano/keyboards, Dieter Urbassik on saxes and Klaus Kukla on bass.They recorded their debut ''Volcano'' at Tonstudio Hiltpoltstein, released in 1976 as a private press.

Lots of sax soloing, lots of organ and synth flights and impressive jazzy interludes characterize the album, but unlike many other works on the style, which retain the free spirit of Jazz and Fusion, ''Volcano'' falls into the category of those prog albums, where the jazzy influences are obvious throughout, without affecting the proggy depth of the release.This one still holds much of the Kraut Rock mood of 70's Germany, mixed with lighter and more striking tunes, giving rise to tons of complex twists and turns, delivering a huge number of tempo changes and swirling around breezy lines and more powerful parts with a KRAAN-style of jazzy Kraut Rock.The long tracks are great with the sax taking part into the complicated moves and the guitar shining through, some synth edges are fairly disturbing, but then the organ work is pretty cool and efficient.There are still those loose parts with the solo drums and cliche guitar- or keyboard masturbations, but the general lines show a group with talent and a tendency towards intricate, challenging and smoky Prog/Fusion with the interactions leading the way in a vastly instrumental package.The short pieces are following a more Jazz/Psych Rock vein with quirky organ parts, harsh vocals, melodic saxes and playful guitars, but even these pieces are played with passion and sincerity, containing also some fascinating instrumental moments.

Unfortunately the band would not hold into the style for much time, later productions ''Sunny day'' (1979) (with new bassist Helmut Koerber and new sax player James T. Durham ) and ''Nobody's fool'' (1980) (with Don Braun-Hessing as a new drummer) were reputedly much funkier and commercial.Cry Freedom disbanded in 1983 and Madsius played later with acts such as Streetlife, Jelly Roll, Golly and The Pretty Heroes.

Orgasmic mix of Fusion and Kraut Prog with a nice instrumental depth and some trully great interplays.Strongly recommended to all fans of the jazzier side of Prog Rock...3.5 stars.

3.5 stars. CRY FREEDOM were a five piece Jazz Rock band out of Germany and this is their debut from 1976. They released three studio albums featuring this cartoonish animal on the album covers. Here's another album for me that doesn't quite hit that 4 star plateau but I also hate giving this 3 stars because of how good it is. Sax is dominant and he plays a variety of them. I would say the synths are next as far as being a soloing instrument over the bass and drums. Guitar is great when we get it, I just feel they leaned on the sax too much here. An energetic record with some gifted musicians especially the drummer. Besides synths the keyboardist adds piano and organ. I think the opener is worth mentioning as being a typical CRY FREEDOM track with the energy and excellent instrumental work. I forgot to mention that we do get vocals from the guitarist on the two longest pieces being the opener at almost 10 minutes and the title track at 10 1/2 minutes. He sings in English and has a good voice. If your into Jazz Rock I would recommend this one to check out.