GROBSCHNITT

This music is good, that's a fact. Because I'm talking about average, as for some it's masterpiece, while others things of this as an average album. My opinion is little big higher, but not so much. Should I rate more prog elements, or how I like it ? Or how would somebody else like it ? Nobody stated how this should be, so I'll stick with my usual. Combination of symphonic prog, with Uriah Heep like (or simply heavy prog) and others which I suppose are German folklore elements. But together, it's something of a beast for me. I would like to rate higher, but I don't feel much good while listening this. It's somehow too weary, lenghty and annoying sound.

3(+), because less would be too low even for me. Sorry, something's broken here.

First of all, because it is related with "Solar Music". But most important, because each time that I'm listening to this stellar piece of music (whatever the version), I am deeply thinking of my friend Febus who passed away a year ago on a sad early December day. He loved the band and shared his passion with lots of us.

"Grobschnitt" has now released an awful lot of different versions of this masterpiece with different qualities: from the original studio "song" to this one which is one of the oldest available (except the one from Osterholz recorded in 1973 and available on the second volume of these histories).

As usual, the long closing part is very emotional and consists of a great crescendo play which is a delight for any prog ears (and I really mean this).

I could compare this fifth episode of the "Solar Music" to the third one. Good interpretation of the giant track but average fillers to reach again an ultra long double CD (was is all needed)?

Some of these tracks like the grotesque "Razzia Dortmund" which shows their decadent facet or the weak, experimental, shouting and avoidable "Illegal" are quite inscrutable for me. There are also very basic and average songs ("Poona Express") which makes the first disc of this offering only remarkable for "Solar Music".

To be complete, I would add that this version of "Mary Green" is spectacular, wild, upbeat and there is a huge guitar part involved. Once the vocal intro has been digested, the instrumental is just splendid and brings your faithfully to the high spheres?Another excellent moment. Definitely much better than the studio version (which was not difficult).

Of disk two, I would point out the elegant "Silent Movie" which is almost ruined by an awful background crow noise. A real pain. Another fine moment is the potpourri called "12 Jahre Grobschnitt" which is a pleasant trip into their discography.

The version of "Solar Music" recorded in Dortmund in 1984 features the best and most enjoyable vocal parts of all during the introduction (and I have listened to quite a few). No raw shouts as usual, but sweet and melodic voice. Quite different to what's usually available. Very good start.

The whole of this recording sounds very polished and symphonic. Eroc's remastering work is wonderful but what comes after this first section (which lasts just over nine minutes) is a full improvisation that holds more vocals and sounds totally different than the original version. It has actually little to do with it.

It starts as "Solar Music" but that's it. It could have been called "Solar Music, Second Edition". And it is not on par with the master model.

As you can see dear Antoine, this is not the best "History Of Solar Music" available. I would recommend to stick to "Volume I" (the best as far as I'm concerned) or "III". Don't waste your time up there listening to this one.

Two stars.

Let's have some fun!

The debut of the German Grobschnitt symphonic/space/related prog band is a record to cheer you up! Let's sit down for this and enjoy this enthousiastic and perfectly recorded Rough Cut. Unlike their second 'Ballerman' and most of their work after that the debut isn't very progressive or symphonic, nor is it spacey like the Solar music suite. This is hard rock heavenly influenced by symphonic rock, but even more by Santana (what?). Yeah Santana. Both the main song themes of Symphony as well as Travelling are Latin-rock like tracks. I would like to add to that: Travelling might be the best Santana song Santana never recorded. Such energy of the drums and guitars and bass player is not seen very often in the studio, however leed vocalist Wildschwein steels the show. This guy seems to be motivated, I never heard something like it before! Happily singing his lines "I'm wanting... to see you!", like great vocalist as early Maiden Paul Di'Anno would do years later. You will get drawn into this! Furthermore both lead gitarists of Grobschnitt know how the handle their six strings very well and the solo's are well composed and played. Especially in the beginning some humor finishes the scene.

I've been covering the energetic side of this record so far, but wait.. what abou this beautiful symphonic rock piece Variation (middle section of Symphony) where Grobschnitt takes it's time to shine some light on extended guitar solo'ing, building up tension on progressive chord progressions! Some nice suble basslines complete the scene and our beloved symphonic atmosphere fills the room with its striking beauty. Also on Side two Wonderful Music has an folk feel and can be seen as an experiment that turned out to be very rewarding. Nice flute. The multi-part song Sun Trip closes the album with an horrible German quotation of the bible of about two minutes. After this things progress as nice as on side one and this act of energy comes to an end.

Conclusion. Well, this is just so well recorded, well composed and rockin'. Turn it on when friends are around or get your girlfriend aroused (choose interpretation of the word yourself). Great record from Grobschnitt, though strictly not very progressive. Grobschnitt uses different elements of hard rock, latin rock and symphonic rock and comes with one of the most energetic albums I own. Four stars, no hesitation here!

I like concept albums, but making a concept album has some risks too. The story can be silly, everyone will want to read the lyrics, or a band can to spend to much time on the storyline without giving us that rockin' prog experience. Grobschnitt, that by the time was a very expierenced symphonic rock group, gives us the perfect balance between story and music. The story gives the music depth, where the music makes the story emotionally charged. The beautifull artwork (get this on vinyl for the big pictures inside the foldout cover) completes the record and whe can succesfully speak of a concept album. On the instrumental side everything is there: symphonic keys, acoustic and gentle electric guitars, bass and drum. Also the vocal of Stefan Danielak are really good this time, though most of us will need some time to get over the German accent (which I find kind of cute, it fits the story).

Having this said, this will not be a record enjoyed by everyone. There has been a debate going about this record; is it just 'normal' sympho prog and not inventive enough, or it this a masterpiece of symphonic rock/concept albums. The main problem people might have with this record is the sense of humor of Grobschnitt and overall feel-good atmosphere of this record. Also the vocals are not always everyones cup of tea as mentioned before. I see the music as a lovely experience, it's one of the warmest and most intimate albums of proghistory. It is not one of the most technical prog albums, but there a lots of beatifull symphonic landscapes, great guitar parts and theatric vocals (think of the level of early Marillion). Also the conceptual songwriting is very good, two tracks of 10 minutes in the beginning and one of 21 minutes at the end. All tracks have interesting ways of developing and are emotionally in line of the lyrics.

Conclusion. One of my favourite discoveries of 2009. It is a record that touches me as I almost feel like Grobschnitt want to tell me this story right here in my room. Or in one word: Lovely! Five stars, I'll join the camp of the 'This is a symphonic conptual masterpiece'-proggers.

...says the information on the back of my Grobschnitt - Solar Music lp. The foto on the cover and back of the sleeve give an impression on what extra dimensions their liveshows must have had in addition to this high quality music recording. A very special thing element of this recording for me is the fact that they made a great sounding recording with great modern (but never bothering) amplification of the instruments in this 1978. Usually records of this period, closing in on the eighties sound, sound very bold. Grobschnitt has a new wave of britisch heavy metal like guitar sound at times and seventies keyboard sounds. It's composition style however is influenced by the early seventies spacerock/psychadelica movement. Atmosphere with a big A, long jams with spacy sounds and no rush. They take their time to get into the compositions. Other bands that come to minde are HAWKWIND and ELOY, but Grobschnitt manages to get an own feel. One thing in common with ELOY is the non-English feel (wich I can't explain). The tracks often start peacefull and in one big intensivationrun to the end all the possibilities of this band come along. Extended soloing with two guitars with perfectly added effects like delay, giving the jams its space sound along with the sometimes strange psychedelic 'vocals' and the spacy keyboards. This record has a lot of part but if you see it as a whole one could see it as one movement, one big composition. The wholeness of this record is a great achievement, for it isn't simple for a live album to get this effect. I can listen to this with all my attention and I can let it play on the background and just enjoy it's nice atmosphere.

- Would you like to sit with your bum on the bottom of the sun -

...says the lyrics on side two.

Somehow this music isn't technically as developed as other great bands like Genesis or Yes, but the great advancement of the songs are a rarity. Grobschnitt sound extremely anticipated to one another and their lies the quality of this record along with its great flow. Thought side one has a bit of dissapointing opener, everything gets really great after five minutes and stays that way till the last note of side 2.

Conclusion. A relaxing space/symphonic record with some fun and great amplification and production. This got me really interested in other works of this band. I'm a bit unsure how to rate this. For now it will be four stars, 4.3 actually. I might change this when I have listened to it more, it might be an essential masterpiece of progressive music!

It is a bit useless to describe the music contained in the album, because the song is basically Solar Music from Ballermann. For further references, please check my review of the aforementioned album. Here I will describe more what makes the album worthwhile.

Solar Music Live presents a superb band, playing the best they can. The album is live, but the sound quality resembles their studio quality, showing that the band was really skilled and could manage to transport their studio musicianship to the stage. In the stage they are helped by their theatrical stage presence, including some theatrical sketches related to the song into the long suite. The presence of these elements can be noticed better in the first part of the live rendition. On the second part, they stretch the excellent melodies that are part of Solar Music part 2, including some symphonic prog melodies inspired by their symphonic works at that time, Jumbo and Rockpommels Land. With that, they make the stunning sequence of the end of the original song richer in outstanding melodies.

With these elements added, they make the live album really worthy. It is just my taste, but in my opinion, few live albums are worthy, because they usually are poorer renditions of studio originals and present nothing new. This album is one of the exceptions, because the added material compensates the natural restrictions of live records and the German quintet is very strong live, making the album an excellent acquisition. Though Ballermann is their masterpiece and Solar Music their magnum-opus, you will certainly want to give a spin in Solar Music Live from time to time to listen to this good "alternate version" of their masterpiece

Ballermann, their second album, is filled with their trademark: humour. You can see by their appearance on the cover photographs that the humorous vein of the band was sharp. But at the same time it is filled with astounding music, that deserved more recognization than it has.

Starting with Sahara, you can see the humour blended with superb muscianship. The song starts with spoken comedy, but when the song picks up, you can hear superb organ and guitar interplay. The sung part is comical as well, with a strong German accent on purpose. Then comes Nickel-Odeon, with a killer bass and organ intro, followed by good guitar riffs and many changes, always with superb guitar and organ. Singing is never conventional, but much more serious than in the previous song. The instrumental interludes are excellent, with many different great guitar melodies.

Drummer's dream is a beautiful song, with a mellower mood, a superb piano and drums intro, beautiful vocal harmonies and many changes, always with great guitar melodies, both acoustic and electric, beautiful synthesizer lines and a great rhythm section. The instrumental interlude is superb. Then comes morning song, with a distinctive drum pattern and excellent guitar and organ interplay. The vocal melodies are beautiful, accompained by a beautiful acoustic guitar riff. The synthesizer in the instrumental interlude is beautiful, sounding as an enhanced harpsichord. The electric guitar solo is great.

Then comes the best songs of the album. Do you think the piano intro on Genesis' Firth of Fifth superb? Here you got a better piano intro, most probably the best ever in a prog song. Magic Train starts with a 3-minute classical-influenced piano solo that alone would make the album worth the money you spent on it. To make it more beautiful, there are subtle mellotron touches near its end. Then, the song changes completely to a very beautiful prog song, with excellent arrangemets, provided by great organ and mellotron in the main riff, followed a recurring riff, of guitar and drums, that is breathtaking. The instrumental interlude is superb, blending elements from both main riffs. The second instrumental interlude has excellent guitars and organ in alternate quiet and loud parts, building a beautiful climax in the end of the song. And to make things better, there is the studio version of the famous Solar Music, with 33 minutes, filling a whole record of this originial double record set. The studio version is a killer song, with a so many variations in the 1-minute intro that you wonder what they will do in the next 32 minutes of the song. And they do a lot, with the evolution of the themes presented in the intro and introduction of other themes. The heavy guitar parts of the beginning are superb, and the song changes into a very spacey song, with excellent synthesizer sounds and soft guitar tones, exactly what you expect of a Solar Music. The song changes to more heavy prog in a superb transition, with floating synthesizer lines, a crescendo organ and guitar riff and some beautiful sound effects. The guitar solo is superb, over a strong bass riff. There is an hypnotic bass and drum riff after that, with great guitar variations. When the second part of the song starts, the hypnotic guitar and bass riff is exchanged by an hypnotic organ riff, with lots of sound effects and excellent drumming. Then there are loads of spacey synthesizer sounds that take you to another dimension. When it is over, the song returns with full force, with excellent bass riff and a superb guitar solo. And the best part is left to close this masterpiece. Another crescendo, with a beautiful harpsichord like synthesizer, subtle drumming and great melodic bass riff. Later this is joined by a beautiful guitar riff and a superb guitar solo. The melodies of this crescendo are too beautiful and impossible to match (well, they matched in Rockpommels Land, but it is Grobschnitt again, so it doesn't count).

What else can I say? By this time, you may have alredy realized that this is one of the best progressive rock albums ever made, in my opinion. I recommend everyone to go and get this masterpiece. The album really deserves five stars.

Grobschnitt have always been a dificult band to classify because they have always been, at least until Rockpommel's Land, a borderline symphonic / space rock band. However, in Rockpommel's Land the band incorporated many symphonic prog influences, mainly from Yes, in their music, resulting in a full symphonic masterpiece. Many say that, when they did it, they lost some of their characteristics, like their humorous lyrics and outgoing music, meaning that they have become way too serious about their music and, also, that they lost their space rock mood by becoming a full symphonic band.

Personally, i could not care less about those complains. First because their music is pretty original, so they made a real effort not to sound like Yes, and they really don't sound like them, they are just influenced by Yes. Second because i want to listen to good music and not to humorous music, since the joke gradually loses its ability to amuse as time passes. Third because i really don't care what style of music or genre the band plays, i just want it to sound good. So, if you are really able to keep that in mind and just sit back and enjoy great music, you will see (or more likely hear) great music here.

One interesting thing about this album is that it has the same album structure as Eloy's Ocean, also from 1977.

Despite the obvious change of pace that Rockpommel's Land have from the other Grobschnitt albums, the band's main playing pattern continued. I mean, the guitars were still the main instrument, the bass was still laying the base melodic line of the overall harmony and the keyboards are still, mostly, the same moody harmonic instrument as before, though in some parts, also like in previous albums, the keys played a question - answer duet with the main guitar or they played as a third voice, along with both guitars.

The highlights go to all songs. The album is just great!

Grade and Final Thoughts

Although we should talk about progressive rock in ProgArchives, lots of people just don't like changes, but guess what? Prog IS about changing all the time. Just sit back and enjoy the great songs inside this great album with a great (Roger Dean) cover. So, 5 stars to the Rockpommel's Land and to Grobschnitt.

Side two of the vinyl starts with a then unreleased acoustic ballad in the style of Rain-time leading into the Coke Train Show featuring Lupo and Tony Moff Mollo. These show routines were often based on visuals and jokes that are hardly understandable, if you haven't seen the concert. The last track presents the Rockpommel's Land Medley, featuring Tony Moff Mollo as little Ernie, again a show element depending on visuals and combining musically Ernie's Reise and the ending of the title track. This record was obviously meant for their fans and depending on whether you have seen the band live or not this record can be a little hard to get into, but on the other hand it gives good sample of their late 70's shows.

This album really is a wonderful tribute to the early era of the musical spectrum of the times. Fabulous cover, the music fits the imagery. Basic, to progressive motifs explored in a cohesive VERY German musical canvas. The guitar tone is awesome. The bass and drums are both solid and yet expressive. The singing, although quite unique for us (American's) at this time of this early release, is just right for the passion and power of the music.

When revisiting this album I am reminded of how unbelievably creative that era of 64-77 really was. Not that there hasn't been great music since or before that time, but man did the musical gods smile upon us during that era. The forward thinking expressed here on Grobshcnitt's first album is a clearing path for their many years of exploration.

This is a great place to start your own trip of Krautrock, or progressive music of any taste for that matter. Get this CD while you still can!

As always, thanks to progarchives.com for having this great forum for us seekers of that something we just can't quite find - and really don't want to, as the search is the real payoff.