CITY

CITY's debut LP record is an important work largely due to the inclusion of their best known song "Am Fenster", which is here present in its lengthy side-long version. The song, also issued in a single format, was a huge hit in both parts of then divided Germany, as well as - believe it or not - a minor hit among musical "hipster" and art-rock oriented circles in Sarajevo, Bosnia, then SFR Yugoslavia, in early 1980s!

Here it is stretched to over 17 minutes, including several sections or parts, a format typical for progressive rock of the 1970s. No doubt, electric violin solo sections played by Georgi Gogow are what distinguishes this composition from many other similar improvisational attempts. The main theme starting around 6:30' is quite remarkable, although it simply continues in almost unaltered form until the very end, which may sound a little too long. A "mid-version" truncated to about 7 minutes can be found on the compilation "Best of City", preserving the core of the song but deleting less interesting, introductory acoustic parts.

Another good track is a bluesy rock ballad "Meister aller Klassen", which ends the side one of the vinyl. Unfortunately the first four tracks are nowhere near the quality of Side B. Unremarkable, lame and mediocre hard rock, although decently performed, cannot justify its inclusion beside the prog epic of the flip side. In this way the whole album suffers from the lack of concept or ideas about what the band had actually meant by releasing this record. Side A ** / Side B ****

PERSONAL RATING: 3,5/5

P.A. RATING: 3/5