JANE

Seeing as how Klaus Hess is not involved, and that Jane have acquired the 'Peter Panka' prefix I can only assume that there is either two versions of the band on the road, or that Klaus and Peter have had a dispute as to who owns the name. Certainly when they were building the reputation of the band in the Seventies as one of the most important German rock bands they were the leaders with many hired hands, but now Peter is there with three others and Klaus not in sight. In fact they have just been touring with Birth Control who is another mainstay from that genre.

Recorded in Germany, there is no doubting the love that the crowd have for what the band are doing. But as a live album it contains one of my pet dislikes, namely the way that it fades in and out. I know that it is rarely totally live but I like to imagine that it is. As for the music itself, I have to say that for the most part it is pretty ordinary and there is little here to get excited about. That it is well played and produced is never in doubt, and the crowd just lapped it up, but I doubt that they would have got the same reaction in the UK.

This tour was to promote 'Genuine' which was also released on SPV earlier in the year but having heard this that is not an album that I am going to rush out to discover. If you are a fan then this will be indispensable but that is certainly not the case if you are not.

Originally appeared in Feedback #71, Dec 02

I love seventies sound of progressive music but this album don't have nothing special and new to Germany music of this time. To me, it's a comercial album with some psichedelic parts very comun in lot of bands. I believe that we can listen very good musicians but not inspired do make this work. Lirycs are in English, universal language for seal outside the original countrys. We can listen some calm parts with some calm guitar's and other's in Hard Rock vein but the global album don't have harmony. Boring when we compare with other Germany band's of this time. I don't listen the other Jane albuns but Jane III just have some nice parts to listen. 3 stars for the good parts

Alongside the same years expansive concept album 'Fire, Water, Earth & Air' and considered by fans as the high watermark of Jane's lengthy career, 1976's double-sided concert album 'Live At Home' finds the Teutonic icons triumphantly blasting out a ballsy set filled with the group's trademark psych-tinged prog medleys, spaced-out angular rockers and Pink Floyd-ish soundscapes. To all extents and purposes a greatest hits set rounding up the best of their first five studio efforts, 'Live At Home' basically puts a sense of closure over Jane's prolific - and best - period, their early days. Any post 1976 albums should be treated with caution by those just starting to explore Jane's discography, though the opposite is also true; anything released before this definitive live album is well worth checking out. Featuring a near-classic line-up of Klaus Hess(guitar, vocals), Martin Hesse(bass, vocals), Peter Panka(drums, vocals) and former Eloy member Manfred Wieczorke(keyboards), 'Live At Home' shows just how Powerful Jane could be in the live arena, something that shouldn't come as a real surprise considering that through the latter half of the 1970s they were one of the top live draws in Germany, selling millions of records in the process. As well as rattling through most of 'Fire, Water, Earth & Air', there is also an iconic - and lengthy - version of the groups mystical opus 'Windows', some scintillating guitar work adorning the blues-tinged 'Lady' and a truly mesmerising delivery of the twelve-minute rock odyssey 'Hangman'. Maybe at times Jane's influences become a bit too obvious, though despite their obvious debt to, amongst(many) others, the likes of Pink Floyd(whom many an over-zealous fan has compared them to) the group's bluesy brand of spacey rock 'n' roll seems almost perfectly suited to the live setting. A fluid, slickly- delivered album, 'Live At Home' is the sound of a group hit peak form.

STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012

Tagged by over-enthusiastic die-hards as 'Germany's answer to Pink Floyd', Jane have carved a long and successful career out of their hardly-original brand of cosmic rock. Whilst fellow teutonic rockers Grobschnitt and Eloy have sailed a more overtly progressive course, Jane's sound has always been rooted in a more bluesy approach, blending meaty riffs, trippy lyrics and heady concepts into a series of enjoyable-if-hardly- outstanding albums that, stylistically speaking, owe much to a handful of British and American outfits. Jane's second album after the psychedelic rock of debut release 'Together', 'Here We Are' is basically more helpings from the same bowl, though if anything this sophomore effort sports a slightly mellower vibe. This is showcased on the album's ethereal opener 'Redskin', which features shimmering keyboards and strange, echoey vocals, and on the stand-out piece 'Waterfall', a textured, carefully-crafted rocker Imbued with an almost mystical atmosphere and some catchy guitar hooks. Nothing special then, but this should more than please the undemanding psych-rock aficianado's it's aimed at.

STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2O12

Very, very cool stuff. Jane is an extremely guitar driven band, and after reading that in their description I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to get into this album. Straight guitar- rock without a lot of variation has never been my cup of tea. Jane, however, infuses their music with a heavy dose of psychedelia and the playing on this album is so good that it's more than engaging enough to make up for a slight lack of variety in the song structures.

"Daytime" begins the album with some very faint bass notes, though organ is added almost immediately and drums and guitar enter almost immediately. From there the track develops into something that sounds like a cross between Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix. It's a spaced- out, wide open track with vocals that work perfectly and (per my previous Hendrix comparison) some absolutely amazing guitar. The main guitar melody gives the track a slightly eastern feel, as well. In my mind "Daytime" is exactly how psychedelic heavy music should sound: lots of room for solos and jamming but never repetitive to the point of being boring. Stellar opener.

"Wind" is next, and it begins by launching into a Zeppelin-esque guitar part almost immediately and adding organ not soon after. After this introduction section (which goes on just a smidge too long), this motif is quickly switched into a much slower, heavier mode for the vocals to enter. The vocalist here is really excellent, belting out raw, powerful vocals that can stand up there with the best of them. Another awesome guitar solo comes next, and after that's done the song returns to its original riff and stays there until the end of the song.

"Try to Find" is much more of a ballad than the previous tracks. The first part of the track eschews electric guitars entirely in favor of calmer acoustic and relatively gentle vocals. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't last long and we're treated to another ripping guitar solo before transitioning into a bluesy section led by some more great vocals. Another solo section closes out the track with some of the best shredding on the album.

"Spain" begins with an (unsurprisingly) Spanish sounding guitar part. Before long the organ takes a rare leading moment and the song brings forth the best vocal melody thus far on the album. This gives way to a driving drum and bass part with some (surprise, surprise) guitar soloing over it. I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record here, but don't get the impression that this album is ever repetitive or uninteresting. While most of the songs are driven by the soloing, it's all absolutely brilliant and the guitarist manages to capture many different feels so that every song feels fresh and intriguing. "Spain" concludes with another great vocal section and an excellent guitar fade out. In my experience it's hard to make bluesy, guitar based rock interesting for ten minutes (in my opinion anyway), but "Spain" pulls it off brilliantly and it's a worthy epic.

The title track starts off on a calmer note after the frenetic finish of "Spain." For once the vocals are the dominating force over the guitar, though of course there's still a short solo at the end of the song. It really is a testament to Jane's songwriting and playing abilities that they were able to make so many songs cut from the same cloth and still have the album as a whole sound so passionate and powerful, and a big part of that is that this album features some of the best psychedelic guitar playing I've ever heard, bar none.

And on that note, "Hangman" features everything you could ever want from a trippy, acid- drenched guitar voyage. The song begins with a great vocal section, as has been the norm, but about 3 and a half minutes in the vocals stop, the bass picks up and the guitarist absolutely lets loose, which is all the more impressive given how well he's played thus far. Fully five minutes of amazing, psychedelic guitar make up the majority of the track before a brief vocal section closes out the album.

Overall, while this album is perhaps a little homogenous, it's one of the absolute best guitar albums I've ever heard, which is quite impressive given the surplus of great guitarists in prog music. In the past I've had a lot of problems getting into the kind of psychedelic bluesy rock this group plays, but Jane pulls it off maybe better than any band I've ever heard. Great, great, psychedelic heavy prog.

4.5/5, rounded up

Jane 1979 - exit keys man Manfred Weiczorke, enter keys man Klaus Hess ?? What ? Yes, Jane lost their wonderful former-ELOY keyboardist, and lead-guitarist/founder Hess took on all keyboard duties for this 'Sign No. 9' release. And he is serviceable, to say the least. I think Manfred left all his gear behind because it sounds like the same set-up (Organ, String synth and Mini-Moog). Here we have a typical, melodic hard-rock album with the distinctive Jane sound, nicely done for sure - heavily riff-laden songs abound, but any progressive inventions are kept in check ; actually, a good game to play whilst listening to this is 'spot the prog bit' - ooh there's one, umm, there's another......but on the whole, it's far from a poor album, perhaps just undemanding. The production is very late-70's (duh), somewhat tinny and thin - the bass of Martin Hesse sounds crisp, Peter Panka's drums have a very natural quality to them, and Hess offers up generous doses of searing guitar solos (in his inimitable bluesy fashion) and crunching rhythmic chords. Also of note, the album's last few tracks become more acoustic guitar dominated. All three members sing, there are two good instrumental tracks ('Henry Goes Married' and 'Letter to Mariann') and it all comes wrapped up in this fetching Toucan artwork. Highlights are the songs Sign No. 9, Moonstone and Letter to Mariann. A fair 3 star effort.

A good but not great album of work primarily influenced by the heavier side of early Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets, More, and the live disc of Ummagumma are the main touchstones here. The vocals are, as at least one other reviewer pointed out, nothing to write home about, but there's some great organ and guitar work on here, with influences of Deep Purple and Uriah Heep being on display on some of the heavier tracks. Still, not much in the way of especially memorable or high-class material here, and whilst it's a good enough album which I'll listen to all the way through if it happens to come on shuffle, it's not one I'd personally come back to again and again.

Oh, I see: JANE is categorized under Heavy Prog. So it's no wonder I didn't like it that much. I just listened to the first minute of the album in the library, after picking it up from a Prog section (my habit these days, to choose twenty-odd CD's at a time to bring home). It sounded good, with the hazy, floating organ-led sound strongly reminding of Saucerful-era PINK FLOYD. At the closer listen it was evident that the opening track, 'Daytime', is the album's highlight.

The second best is the closer 'Hangman'. More heavy, featuring some strong electric guitar playing but not yet too heavy for my taste. These two long tracks are 18 minutes of quite good German Prog sung in English. The rest of the album is rather poor, badly produced and marred especially by a bad vocalist. He's worse than the one of RARE BIRD (whose raspy roughness can work pretty well, in fact). The music is nothing very special either; poor man's early DEEP PURPLE is the best description I can think of. Some have mentioned also URIAH HEEP, which I find whole lot more interesting. I can think of several better psychedelic/heavy acts from early 70's than JANE. The cover art is quite suitable to the music: raises curiosity but turns out to be rather dull. With two better tracks, I give it 2,5 stars.

Amazing prog. i came about this rare CD not long ago and for a month heard it a lot. It rocks. The first song "daytime" reminds me of July morning by Uriah Heep and I can't think of a better compliment "Wind" is a good song and so is "try to find" The 12 minutes long "Spain" is an amazing piece. Varies from rock to jazz, from slow to fast. "Together" is a great song and the finisher "hangman" is a strong piece also combining lots of moves and moods. The singing is very rough and powerful. It's a must for every prog lover specially to those who love hard rock combines with great organ. Superb

At this point in their prolific career, JANE was essentially a psych blues outfit with progressive attributes. Later on they would become a space rock band with progressive attributes. In other words, the prog was always a stalwart side dish to the revolving main course. Since I find blues rock to be generally tedious, this is not my favourite JANE era.

The opening track exposes every flaw in the style - overly extended jams, numbingly repetitious riffing, and organ abuse, to name a few, and I can also add nonsensical vocal patterns presumably attained through detailed study of Native American culture. This sort of political incorrectness run amok was responsible for the Atlanta Braves baseball team's mascot Chief Noc-A-Homa who lived in a "teepee" near the bleacher seats. But after all this was only 1973, and all in fun I'm sure. That's what JANE was about after all. "Moving" and "Waterfall" are cut from the same cheap cloth, though luckily shorter and a bit less predictable.

Luckily the album also originates pointers to what would become a more subtle and melodic style, chiefly in the form of "Out in the Rain" and the title cut, without sacrificing the heavy rock aspect. "Dandelion" is a pleasant ballad that seems influential in the German symphonic movement. "Like A Queen" experiments with ambiance for a rare moment at this stage of the band's development. Already these exercises overshoot the incessant excess of their predecessor.

My version includes 4 bonus tracks of which only "Daytime" is essential, even if in its single version, originally appearing on "Together" a mere year before. Actually it is essential in its single version, purged of its overbearing tendencies and distilled to the master stroke it was meant to be.

Out of affection for these skilled buffoons, I'm going to round up this time. They may not have gone far in their first year as a recording outfit, but, if I may paraphrase a bit of Tao, wherever we go, here we are.