AUFBRÜCHE!

AUFBRÜCHE is an important music documentation from the early years of the UMSONST UND DRAUSSEN festivals - a quite famous trademark nowadays all over in Germany. It all began in 1975 with a one-day event in Vlotho/East Westphalia nearby my hometown. This festival is still organized under the same moniker and in the same area today. Although provided with nearly the same spirit and circumstances - the bands still play for free what I know and the financial fundament bases on donations/collections - at least the contributions changed concerning the musical styles.

AUFBRÜCHE mirrors the years from 1975 to 1978 where most of the bands/artists can be filed under the label progressive rock - at least prog-related. The four discs are dominated by fusion and jazz rock oriented music. The main difference is that today you will only find acts with alternative, crossover, hip-hop and hardcore background participating. However - I was there in the early years and could enjoy this all live - not only the music but also the complete circumstances - unforgetable as for the events as such ... whereas I can remember only a few details today. Please don't ask me why ... it have been times of departure (Aufbrüche) precisely with all the side effects you might imagine ...

Local heroes HAMMERFEST, who were co-initiators of the festival, are featured on CD 1 with three songs in a quite varied manner - the psychedelic Lokomotive including narration, the Tony Sheridan Rock n' Roller That's What I Say and the grooving Cross in a heavy rock vein. A circle around this band is still holding up the event today. Additionally you can find two songs each time from MISSUS BEASTLY, another way more famous local band - and from their close friends EMBRYO featuring Roman Bunka on guitar and Dieter Miekautsch (keyboards).

Stylistically blending krautrock and fusion this are the highlights of the first disc without a doubt - but I also want to mention another local band EINHORN headed by former MISSUS BEASTLY member Atzen Wehmeyer participating with the impressing jazz rock groover Wer Hat Angst Vor Adalbert Weinstein. Supported by a violin BUTTERGASSE sounds similar to 'String Driven Thing' with the nice folk tinged song Sonny. A band I couldn't find any informations about on the internet by the way - as if they never had existed.

CD 2 starts with the REAL AXE BAND featuring Marlon Klein - besides Lutz Oldemeier another fantastic drummer coming from my little hometown - involved in several world music projects and the band 'Dissidenten' today. I accompanied him resp. the band in the 70s for some time quasi as a roadie. The song Nylon Recycled can be pigeonholed somewhere between Missus Beastly and Embryo. Now we are still in 1976 where the 2-day-event took place at a football ground with 15.000 spectators in total.

SKYLINE featuring musicians from the East Westphalia region around Herford/Bielefeld contributes the jazzy Tashiro. SPARIFANKAL continues with the funny slippery I Mechd Di Gean Amoi Nacked Seng sung in Bavarian dialect. Recorded one year later, this time enlarged to a three-day-event, bard JULIUS SCHITTENHELM offers weird german lyrics accompanied by acoustic guitar. The next four tracks featuring MOIRA, MUNJU and EMBRYO are all great fusion drenched funky songs - surely with the intent to get the people on the feet and dance around.

CD 3 shows SKYLINE and the REAL AXE BAND opening and deeply plunging in jazz rock once again, the latter reinforced by Dieter Miekautsch and female singer Maria Archer. A fantastic performance - unfortunately faded out as some other tracks too. SADJA - an Embryo side-project featuring Roman Bunka and Christian Burchard - delivers pure world music quasi as a preview to the band's subsequent influences. And Atzen Wehmeyer's EINHORN plays the stirring tricky Einhorn Theme - a beneficial variation really. All in all most of the bands are involved in the APRIL/SCHNEEBALL cooperation more or less, a project founded to produce and distribute LPs single-handed based on a wide network of friends.

RELEASE MUSIC ORCHESTRA from Hamburg should also be noted offering the fine improvisation Sonntag - reminiscent to Weather Report - not to find in their common discography. And a short excerpt of Give Peace A Chance sung by the enthusiastic festival crowd is also given - something I'm happily able to remember though. We have to leave 1977 now and move on to a gravel pit in Porta Westfalica where the festival took place in 1978 for three days with a total amount of more than 60.000 spectators.

The contributions continue with jazz rock tinged sounds where the song Sommer 58 is offered by OUT OF FOCUS - participating for the first time. The same with AREA opening the last CD with a drum solo by Lutz Oldemeier. Also new are bands like MATHEA WLÖMSK - another Atzen Wehmeyer project. CHECKPOINT CHARLIE agitates the audience with an extraordinary funny song against ecological destruction. Uli Trepte's SPACEBOX delivers a weird avantgarde tinged Tape Talk Hirn using a spacebox of course and MISSUS BEASTLY featuring Burkhard Schmidl appears once again with the furious improvisation Porta Erotica.

You shouldn't expect a top-notch sound quality - it's all a bit treble dominated as for my impression - except the recordings from 1978. Although reworked with heart's blood we have to consider that this is from the original tapes which were recorded with 70's equipment - and even the first eight songs on disc 1 are taken from an original LP, released every year to refinance some costs. This four different vinyl productions are really sought-after items today by the way.

For someone who originally participated this is a revelation really. It fires me back into the 70s when listening ... and browsing through the comprehensive booklet which offers much info (in German) and additionally several impressing pictures. Not every song can thrill me but in the whole I'm able to smell this spirit from the past again. Maybe this sounds a bit effusive but I'm sure others will feel the same way. 'Aufbrüche' is a worthy investment for all those who want to get an impression of the early German festival history which was dominated by progressive rock bands.