MOTHERFUCKERS G.M.B.H & CO. KG

Xhol's last studio release is certainly the one with the highest portion of Krautrock atmosphere by them and a highly experimental one. Actually three of the six tracks on here consist mainly of sound experiments whereas the other three depict really brilliant jammin' jazz-rock done in the best tradition of Canterbury bands. BTW they cancelled the part Caravan from their name later on to avoid confusion with this well-known band. I guess it's worth mentioning that the material presented here has been recorded already in 1970 which is shown by the label "2 years old" on the cover. Taking this fact into account this band certainly has to be considered as one of the most inventive and adventurous ones of those days.

The album starts quite oddly with tuning of a radio and interferences, bits of announcements and excerpts from some soul/blues songs (all of them from their debut still under the name Soul Caravan BTW). The last one reminding slightly to SOFT MACHINE leads over to "Leistungsprinzip" which is basically jazz-rock in Canterbury vein with organ, playful sax, droning bass and drums. Next one "Orgelsolo" is exactly what it's titled that is a quite extended spacey and "kosmische" weird solo on organ. Last song on side one of the vinyl "Side One First Day" is a rather up-tempo jammin' piece of jazz-rock with organ, flute, bass and drums. Second side starts with the next sound experiment "Grille" which is actually just the recorded sound of a cricket with some descrete flute and percussion in the back. The rest of the record is occupied by the long jammin' piece "Love Potion 25" which is actually a jazz-rocking rendition of a song by doo-wop band The Clovers from 1959. Having plenty of slightly psychedelic organ sound and great sax playing in its middle part and quite a fiery and rocking finish, this song is for me the highlight on here and offers a kind of final reward for listening to this admittedly wearisome album.

This oddly named album is certainly not suitable for every Prog fan and might be considered as aquired taste, at least in its experimental parts but anyway I'd highly recommend it to any fan of Krautrock and adventurous music. ESSENTIAL EARLY GERMAN PROGRESSIVE ROCK!

A "2 years old" recipe, being pasteurized, drought then expelled as art (or as the bit of tape scraps which emanate something beyond the imagination of dirty, drifty, drafty touches), makes Xhol, for a yet another incredible moment, the high owners of the high spirits, in a German Progressive Rock stage that, for sure, elaborated by now its monumental talents, but still has room for excellent music being made into the thirst, the lust, the dark loom and the grieving sorrow punches of Xhol. That it is the last one around the classic count (and the Xhol main existence and persistence) too, that's really a lesser deep sense and a slow moment of talc-taking the steps. It's ridiculous to talk anymore of Xhol having defined, by coming from soul, rhythm, jazz or blues, the kraut rock (meaning the German forsythia) movement music and method development, out of many expressions from the early beginnings that culminate in the experiments, the acid-ravishes and the cumbrous emotions of supreme marked surround trench sounds. After at least two sensational or referential albums, plus two more that really don't miss much or tell the different tension of Xhol (just like to shadow-surprise, if you know that kind of a good album) this one, more as a pleading abstract creation, a moment of total recall in the mood of already mastering the music, the jam and the novae taste, plus a breeze of impulses rather than clear elements which too emote, this Mother[%*!#]ers G.M.B.H. & Co. KG (the hard word inspires a lot to faint acid and aggressive inclinations of building the great power in here, but the rest is far from vulgar; the initials and the dots are something more obscure to the simple language) is an expression of hard measures, deep breaths and chalks of inspiration, total abstractions and, with a serene smile saying "welcome to the brain kraut sophistication", a genre of impeccable sorts, radical moves, afterwards more or less vincible characters. Up for the best expression and rewarding style, I still say the free gloating and grouting experiment of Hau-Ruck was the delirium tremens for Xhol's kraut despondency. But this album, by its incredible balance, its wise samples and its free-rock croon, shares just as much the touch of polish, dandle and grinning deep music and melodramas. Taking jewels out of stones and dust.

The desire for an album of experiences, of recording-fits and provoking different scraps makes Mother[%*!#]ers... and album of power, of great experiment, of light steaming time and of, who knows, the beatitude of forsaken grave ecstasies. The ambivalence crosses out the stable mark of one basic abstraction or one threatening high rise, it has the crossover however of many accents, many inspirations, many jams per the honey of that inspiration, and, sourish or not, the great colloquialism of such a brand. Music is, bounced pronouncedly, for the great motion inside Xhol, for the late classic aspirations beholding, for the listeners with a various or futile taste, and for the experience of sounds, rock, rum and color improvisation being one twist of a hard chance, yet one switch of a genius mood. In such a difficult potion, the recommendation of easy listening is nowhere possible, yet the jazz breaks, the touch of flame shine, the psych un-traumatic experiences (reminiscences, consequently), plus the mood of a bitchered relaxation makes the choice with aplomb, it even introduces the soft art of hard aches, as to picture the style and the experiment within the perfect harmony of something bearable and fully convincing. The taste is genuine, the moments of illusion are seminal, the rock on jazz and cosmos are hernial.

And the splits, the spills or the spillages in Mother[%*!#]ers G.M.B.H. & Co. KG are a dependent detail. "Radio" is the introduction meant to confuse and panic, to sequence or scrub the analog language. Bits of moments, spoken word or soul-classic reflections mingle from one switch of the radio frequency to another. It's a piece of unregulated style. Leistungsprinzig is a soft sophistication, with prominent jazz, slow rock fever and, of course, a one minute moment of full inspiration. Orgelsolo is rough and experimental, steamy and provocative, clustered and content into sounding acid gummed; the most deceiving, yet deciding kraut melody-arrhythmia from the album, making a great power of "natural drones", atmospheres, subtle moves and steam shadow symbols, much like the eclectic paranoid touches of kraut in insensitive manners and full sound/noise experiments. A really long gem, with strength to show the honest complex art. Side 1 first day begins the jazz, the blues, the late psych and the dum-dingle festive music, something that, for sure, is a better mood in the entire album perspective. The rapid chaos leads to jams of melody and musicality, also to chisels of powerful emotion on more or less drunken atmosphere. A fantasy bit evokes only the glare of beautiful, dynamic or heart-beating abstracts. Rock per chance and jam. Yet another scrap distinct movement is Grille, very low connected, very silent marking, but, in a balanced taste, very subtle and "superficial on high notes", resembling the mood meditation, but also the acid dreams of congruential colors. Love Potion 25 is a anecdotal blister epic finale, mixing all the jazz, the blues, the wind huaraches play. Some vocals impress too, from the jazz quintessential beat-pound to some Morrison angry lyrical feelings. The high intensity joines, after all, the art of Xhol being a powder on burning danger, a jam on intelligent marks, a substance of intense, tonic rock adventures.

One more time, in another monumental shape, the Xhol artistic impression is tremendous, the style shade is unctuous, plus the mood of so many types of nice, acid or deeming music is a contemplative full feeling. I like this album less than at least two other Xhol creations, yet it's late to have doubts, it's a superlative-connected (if not beyond relatively reached) shade of taste and genre.