EMBRYO

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anyone familiar? 

EMBRYO - Rocksession 

Embryo was only on Brain records for a short time. 
They were originally on the legendary Ohr label 
(mentioned before), but then moved onto United 
Artists (the same label that released all the Can and 
Amon Duul II albums during their peak period). But 
United Artists did not like the fusion sound of the 
album they had recorded, so the band sold the rights 
to Brain instead. Let's just say that Brain was using 
their brain when they bought these tapes, because 
the music is fantastic. The album opens with 
Christian Burchard's jazz rock drum beat, then 
eastern sounding melodies start to come in from the 
other instruments. It reminds me alot of the Miles 
Davis album Big Fun that combines jazz rock 
rhythms with tablas and sitar. The music then 
begins to get very dense with many sounds and 
instruments, including two keyboard players; Mal 
Waldron and Jimmy Jackson (also like early 70's 
Miles when he had both Keith Jarrett and Chick 
Corea). The only problem with this opening song "A 
Place To Go" is that it's too short, it's only four 
minutes long! 

But the next song makes up for it with fifteen and half 
minutes of psychedelic jazz fusion. The keyboards 
are clearly featured and the rhythm expands and 
contracts freely. Both Miles and Mahavishnu come to 
mind. At times the band also reminds me of 
Agitation Free (see my previous Krautrock article), 
who also experimented with a blend of jazz, rock, 
and middle eastern sounds. The only bad thing 
about this album is the name; "Rocksession," 
"progressive middle eastern krautrock session" 
would be a better description-cut and paste.

Edited by DallasBryan