NO RAYS OF NOISE

Not all German musicians were doing kraut or space rock in the 1970s. A handful gravitated towards somewhat psychedelic folk, while not always staying there for long. Examples included early Hoelderlin and Emtidi, which form a closer point of reference for the work of Gurnemanz than the Bavarian/Celtic Ougenweide or the overtly progressive Carol of Harvest. Of course, we can easily find British progenitors such as Fairport Convention, Pentangle or Spirogyra.

The original album consisted of 11 songs of pretty basic psych tinged acoustic folk consisting of Manuela Schmitz's reedy voice and strummed acoustic guitars. Unfortunately, while the simple beauty of "Libelle" and "Der Schwartenhals" cannot be denied, the later tracks do not distinguish themselves so well. Even the emergence of a male voice in German on "Die Auswanderer" doesn't help much because the musical style is barely altered, and the kazoo was such a 1970s instrument.

The bonus tracks are all live save "My Friend" which sounds like an outtake from the album. The live recordings show a lot more variety and adventurousness, particularly "Tra Na Rossan I" , although the lead guitar on II is a bit too acidic for the general tone of the album and the style of the song. The whistles and banjo really give a lift to "Another Morning", while "November Tea" is augmented by the combined voices and a certain suave swing. But, in the end, the end just never seems to come, so "No Rays of Noise" barely rates a blip.

This isn’t a very interesting album really, although kudos to Garden of Delights for the effort they put into its reissue. The booklet detailing the band’s bio and the story behind the bonus tracks from their unreleased third album ‘Blue Moon’ make for interesting reading, but the music on this album is not much more than contemporary folk; there is little about it that’s progressive or innovative.

One thing that does distinguish the German band is the presence of English vocals on several tracks, as well as the cover of “John Barleycorn”. The band was clearly influenced by British folk singers of the late sixties, with nary a Krautrock characteristic on any track.

Vocalist Manuela Schmitz has one of those archetypal folk voices, not wide-ranging but rich in tone and one that fits this style of music quite well. She also contributes a number of reed and percussion sounds to the record.

The instrumentation is also pretty prototypical folk stuff: tin whistles, flute, kazoos, mandolin, bouzouki, banjo and acoustic guitar - but no drummer. Actually the band did add a drummer (and electric guitarist) late in their career, and both of them appear on the live bonus tracks. But the original twelve songs on the album are completely acoustic.

Nothing stands out here; like I said, this is really more contemporary folk than anything else. Some of the bonus tracks (and particularly the banjo and drum-laden “Another Morning” and “Among the Rice Fields”) show indications of some promise in the band’s development, but like I said that album never made it to release and the band ended up fading away around 1979.

This is clearly a two-star album. Nothing exceptional here at all, although fans of pastoral, acoustic and British-leaning folk may find it somewhat charming. Otherwise this one should be reserved for any fans the band may still have, although I suspect anyone falling into that category already has the record.

peace

This late 70's german semi-acoustic ensemble is a curiosity maybe too rapidly eclipsed by great bands of the progish folk scene. The music is not as ambitious / adventurous as pagan-medieval acid folk combos from Germany (Ougenweide, Parzival...) nevertheless it is constantly relaxing, intimate and pleasantly sunshiney. No Rays of Noise combines subtle-profundly emotional female voices (sometimes helped by some others vocalists) to pastoral blues-folk guitar sequences. The atmosphere tends to be pop-ish with hippie-like accents but it's efficiently poetical and beautifully dreamy. The bonus tracks include nice live performances, not wonderful or transcendant but warmly vibrant with an inspired charming flavour. Generally the live parts feature a rockier instrumentation. Some tracks provide a dancing-forest like atmosphere for primal flutes (Mattelotte/Kupferschmied...). Some others develop a discreet tripped out kraut-folk ambience (Tra Na Rossan...). Difficult to choose one or a few best songs because the level is rather equal all along the album...it contains no real surprise but the natural-ceremonial folkish atmosphere keeps the listener's attention. Recommended to those who enjoy the most introspective-fragile moments of prog folk.