KRAAN LIVE 2001

KRAAN had been disbanded for many years when two lucrative offers to reunite came to them almost simultaneously from two different festivals. A lot of money was waved in their faces to come out of retirement and play live again. And of course they did it as this live album shows.They played both festivals and this recording gives us a glimpse of those two shows. Both concerts were so successful that the band re-united for good and have put out three new studio albums since.The band made the descision ahead of time that they would just play the songs that were fun to play live instead of playing fan favs only. And that joy and energy really comes across in the performances here.

They get right to it on "Let It Out" with vocals and a beat. Piano and bass join in. Catchy stuff. Love the instrumental section from 2 1/2 minutes to before 5 minutes when the vocals return. Fantastic opener ! "Borgward" has such a great sounding intro and I really enjoy the guitar before 2 minutes as the drums and bass pound and throb relentlessly. Piano replaces the guitar after 4 minutes but the guitar returns before 6 minutes. Another amazing track.

"Let's Take A Ride" is where they slow it down a little but i'm still weaving and bobbing to the tunes.Vocals from the start and we get a tasteful guitar solo after a minute. A keyboard solo comes in a minute later followed by a calm as this sexy rhythm continues with vocals. "Halo Jaja-I Don't Know" opens with drums then bass and piano follow.The tempo picks up 5 minutes in with guitar and drums leading the way.

"Vollgas Ahoi" opens with relentless drum work with bass and guitar. There's so much going on. Intense. Keyboards 2 1/2 minutes in then synths a minute later. Great track ! "Dinner For Two" sounds like MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA to start.These guys are tighter than Dean Martin on a Sarurday night.Check out the bass ! Hattler is a bass god ! "Far West" sounds so good when the guitar comes in playing over top. A cool instrumental track.

"Yaqui Yagua" kicks in after a minute. Hell yeah ! It settles back before 3 minutes and vocal expressions follow and they will come and go. "Jerk Of Life" opens with guitar as the rhythm joins in. How catchy is this when the vocals join in.

"Nam Nam" is classic KRAAN folks.The bass, drums, guitar and later the synths. Check it out after 9 minutes with the electric piano, bass and drums. Killer ! Great sound 11 1/2 minutes in as well. "Andy Nogger" ends it, and these last two tracks from the "Andy Nogger" album couldn't be more appropriate for that honour.

This was a blast just like their classic live album from 1975.