FATHER, SON AND HOLY GHOSTS

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After their Rache album (and a cancelling of their Spanish tour because of a track "Espana si, Franco no" on Rache) , Embryo will go in a frenzy recording three albums worth of music in 8 months time but their label (United Artistes) only released this one as the rest was deemed too uncommercial for release. The sleeve artwork looks like a hippy playing with the Olympic flame (they are in Munich and in late spring 1972) and the group is now a keyboard-less quartet, which will alter the group's sound quite a bit. Most of the songs are still above 5-mins, but still retain a certain opening towards ethnic jazzy jams.

This third album is well in the line of their first two , ever diving deeper into eastern influences producing some of the earliest examples of fusion music (ethnic folk & jazz-prog) much worth the investigation as well as the investment. Forgotten Sea is particularly moving with its amazing bass and guitar interplay and The Sung Song (which is anything but) could almost fit on Santana's masterpiece CARAVANSERAI, recorded the same year.

The other two albums recorded simultaneously (don't quote me on whether they were working on the three albums at once, but I've read this one more than one occasion) are Steig Aus and Rocksession but were released much later. Steig Aus being even better than this one, but both are much worthy your investments.

Somewhere in the musical cavern sandwiched between perhaps AMON DUUL II and Miles Davis lies a very underrated band from Germany called EMBRYO. "Father Son & Holy Ghosts" is the third album released by Embryo and marks for this music lover one of the finest pieces of work to have come out of Germany in 1972. Interesting note is that Miles Davis too was right into this band at the time so I guess I am in good company ! This is not prototypical German underground prog but very much eastern world influenced raga psych prog rock (best way I can describe). EMBRYO utilize a fantastic range of instruments with marimba, vibraphone, flutes, saxophone, violin, a very versatile percussion arsenal on hand. The guitar work of Sigi Schwab is also quite stellar without every really getting in your face and or overpowering the band. Overall an amazing album and one of Unger's favs from the vaults.

This would be EMBRYO's third release and the first that would have a "World Music" flavour to it. The album cover is interesting as the Olympics were to be held in Munich that year (1972), so one of the band members wives took a picture of one of their roadies pretending to be a fire- eater in front of some of the buildings of the Olympic area. Well just as she snapped the picture a wind came up and blew the fire in his face as you can see, resulting in him being taken to the hospital with severe burns. I'm surprised they still used it as the cover but it's one of a kind that's for sure.

"The Special Trip" has this catchy rhythm that builds as violin joins in. Vocals 2 1/2 minutes in. They stop when the violin comes ripping in, guitar follows. Nice bass too. A big finale on this one. "Nightmares" is a short tune with acoustic guitar melodies. "King Insano" is a top three. It's laid back with gentle flute that reminds me of KING CRIMSON's debut. It kicks in after 1 1/2 minutes as guitar and violin light it up.This reminds me of AREA. The intro melody is back 3 1/2 minutes in to end it.

"Free" is kind of funky early with humerous lyrics that are pretty much spoken to follow.The vocals stop and they jam the rest of the way. Some interesting sounding guitar before 3 1/2 minutes, nice bass too. "The Sun Song" opens with flute, sax and atmosphere. It kicks in around 3 minutes with lots of percussion and sax. "Marimbaroos" of course has marimba in it along with percussion and violin. "Forgotten Sea" opens with intricate sounds coming and going. It's all so laid back and tasteful. Violin after 3 minutes, guitar 4 minutes in. Great sound after 6 minutes as the guitar continues.

I think any of EMBRYO's first 6 albums are a must, this one I would rate in the lower half of those.

Everyone that is familiar with Embryo already knows the story behind this and the two ensuing albums. In the 8 months following their second album Rache, the band recorded 3 albums worth of material but their label refused most of it due to the lack of "commercial potential". Only the songs that ended up on Father Son and the Holy Ghost were deemed accessible enough. Luckily, the other material was eventually released by Brain.

During these 8 months, the band changed musicians as swiftly as they wrote material, and each of the 3 releases contains a different line-up. It's something that very much defined the sound of each album.

On Father Son and the Holy Ghost the band is down to the Burchard-Hofmann nucleus with one David King on bass/vocals and Sigi Schwab on guitars. So no keyboards, and by consequence this album sounds very different from the preceding Embryo's Rache. In a way it almost returns to the guitar dominated kraut-rock sound of the debut. I guess that must have been what the label deemed 'commercial'.

While the album sounds a bit hurried and rough around the edges, it only contains mostly excellent material. Two songs have vocals which remind me slightly of Blue Oyster Cult's early albums. The remainder of the tracks is split up between 3 longer improvisations and 2 short interludes. Nothing is really essential and the best composition Forgotten Sea appears in an alternative and superior version on the ensuing album Steig Aus (where it is named Dreaming Girls).

Overall an enjoyable collection of songs for Embryo fans, but any other album from Embryo's first 6 is better. 3.5 stars.