ASSOCIATION P.C.

Another go round with Pierre, Toto, Jasper, and, this time, all Siggi (who's picked up the electric bass). After the previous year's Earwax, I am very excited!

1. "Idee A" (4:30) engineered far more toward the accentuation of the electrified elements of the music than anything on Earwax (8.75/10)

2. "Suite": a) "Scorpion" (6:47) spacey experimental soundscapes of a 2001: A Space Odyssey-like cinematic disorder opens up this suite as everyone in the band busies themselves with some unrestricted free-form play--yet there is a flow and tempo and even the shadows of some structural elements including harmony and interplay. The second half goes (13.25/15) b) "Neuteboom" (5:42) buoyed by a very repetitive bass and circus-organ arpeggio line, guitar and electric piano are sent soloing while drummer and bandleader Pierre Courbois messes around with perfect timing beneath. Interesting--and a little annoying after five minutes of the same bass line--though not quite so much when Toto and Jasper begin to try to weave their way into the bass and organ's line. (8.75/10) c) "Scorcussion" (5:56) Pierre is left alone to express on his drum kit. At the end of the third minute of Pierre's soloing Toto starts to inject some noise burst from his fuzz guitar while Jasper adds a spray of chords, flourishes, and crazed hits from his electric piano. At the end of the fifth minute everybody backs off to zero before Toto is given space for some target practice for his alien space ray gun. Despite my understanding the band's effort to take Herbie Hancock's spacey experimentation further, this is just not my cup of tea. (8.5/10)

3. "Silence" (0:18)

4. "Don Paul" (3:09) more jagged, angular jazz musings and exercises in cohesion and cooperation, this one opens a little too aggressively and then just as suddenly and quickly moves into a solo of Siggi's double bass. Eventually, he's joined by brushed drums and dissonant chord play from Toto's un-effected guitar. These guys are obviously so comfortable and proficient at their instruments that they can easily and smoothly do just about anything, but this is not the type of musical listening that I choose to come back to: there's just too much of the crazy Tony Williams Lifetime Emergency! avant garde experimentation going on here for my liking. (8.375/10)

5. "Totemism" (16:45) These guys are obviously so comfortable and proficient at their instruments that they can easily and smoothly do just about anything, but there's just a little too much of the crazy Tony Williams Lifetime Emergency! avant garde experimentation going on here for my liking. (Didn't I already say that?) Luckily, about two minutes into it the quartet gels into a forward-moving, single-direction motif over-and within which all of the individual musicians still find the freedom to move about and pave their own way. Having heard enough of Toto Blanke's guitar playing now to appreciate his skills, I have to say that when he plays like this--like 1960s jazz guitar with an experimental edge-- I am not a fan: impressed, yes, but not a fan. Jasper van't Hof is experimenting with way too much distortion on his electric piano which gives it a very "dirty" sound than I also do not like. This would probably be a very fun song to experience in a live jazz club scene but it is really not my kind of jazz (or jazz-rock fusion)--and here they're forcing 17-minutes of it down my throat! (30.375/35)

6. "Frau Theunisse"n (1:10) a FOCUS-like jam that seems to be coming out of some other jam (it's faded in to get started) but then is over far too quickly. (4.5/5)

Total time 44:17

B-/3.5 stars; a very good display of experimental, loosely-performed avant garde electrified jazz that feels like a detour down the wrong (but, I get it: necessary) direction. Check it out for yourself but this is no album that I will return to soon--maybe ever.

Now five months into my deep-dive into the history and world-wide effect of Jazz-Rock Fusion I am quite familiar with (and enamored of) drummer Pierre Courbois, guitarist Toto Blanke, and keyboard player Jasper Van't Hof. Thus, this was an album that I was greatly looking forward to.

1. "Spider" (4:20) a delightfully melodic, smooth, and impressive display of musical skills from all four musicians, all based in solid jazz fundamentals yet definitely crossing well-over. (9.75/10)

2. "Hit The P. Tit" (11:00) opens up with the rhythm section running at top speed while guitarist Toto Blanke's fuzz- guitar screams frenetically over the top and Jasper Van't Hof's sporadic electric piano chord hits peppering the field with the predictability of a severe thunderstorm. Drummer Pierre Courbois is also in Tornado Alley storm mode as he beats and smashes his drum kit every which way imaginable right up to the fourth minute double bass solo from Siggi Busch. I gotta hand it to Siggi: he puts together quite an unusual solo, complete with hammering and crazed bowing-- for over 90 seconds. The rest of the band rejoins at the six-minute mark with some spy-music-like chord hits and brief music before backing off to allow Pierre a chance to show his mettle--also for about a minute-and-a-half. The band comes back together in the tenth minute, this time backing Jasper's electric piano with a little bit of electric Toto mixed in there for good measure. Normally, I'm not a fan of isolated instrumental solos, but I have to say that the solos on this song are interesting enough to have earned my attention and respect. (18/20)

3. "Elsen" (1:35) a gentle, almost pastoral weave that feels as if it was a piece of a jam that could or would never amount to anything. Nice work between Jasper and Toto. (4.25/5)

4. "Earwax" (7:19) more electrified 1960s jazz with some very nice, smooth-yet-virtuosic drum play beneath Toto's melodic George Benson-like guitar play. Jasper's electric piano play sounds like stuff from the 1960s "in" crowd or Ramsey Lewis. Electric bass player Peter Krijnen certainly has a different, more top-line melodic playing style than the Siggi of the first three songs. The drum solo in the middle of this one is less Tony Williams than more standard Buddy Rich. (13.5/15)

5. "Round A'bout Nine" (6:36) opens with some effected solo electric bass play from Peter Krijnen that reminds me of a cross between The Velvet Underground and Michael Hedges. The other band members proceed to add their incidental inputs as if they were throwing objects (and jets of water) at a tethered dog from outside the circle of its reach with the intention of provoking some kind of response. Interesting with some actually nice bass play from Peter, but the rest is a little too loose and, when not, Emergency!-like. (8.66667/10)

6. "Jazzper" (3:56) rhythmically this feels as if the band is trying for some kind of Latin-rhythm base but there is something not hitting. Toto's melodic play coupled with Jasper's Herbie Hancock-like electric piano play over some nice and creative Ron Carter-like jazz bass play is rather impressive--and enjoyable. Heck! They're all impressive! They're all very loose and creative feeling: as if they have a well-rehearsed and broad band of skills and chops to choose from as they improvise their way through their songs. (9.5/10)

Total time: 34:46

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of very skillful and (mostly) pleasantly melodic jazz-rock fusion. Highly recommended for any J-RF fans.

I can't say Free Jazz does a lot for me and this album flirts with it throughout but somehow it works. A four piece band of bass, guitar, organ, electric piano and drums and each member composed two tracks each. Interesting as I though maybe some of these were improvs, done in the studio. Speaking of the studio, Conny Plank engineered this baby released back in 1971. This is studio album number two of the three they recorded. They released a couple of live ones as well.

"Idee A" opens with laid back electric piano then it kicks in before a minute with the bass and drums dominating before the guitar joins in. The electric piano is the most prominent instrument here although the guitar will lead for a bout a minute. "Scorpion" opens with atmosphere and experimental sounds that will go on for some time. Random drumming and tuneless sounding guitar eventually join in then electric piano. This is Free Jazz sounding. So not very melodic at all. Violin sounds and atmosphere late as it winds down and blends into the next song.

"Neuteboom" might be my favourite. Percussion and organ dominate the sound then the electric piano starts to solo over top then guitar after 2 1/2 minutes. It blends into "Scorcussion" where a drum solo takes over quickly. Distorted guitar before 3 minutes then electric piano which becomes discordant. Insanity! A calm before 5 minutes then pulsating sounds end the three song suite.

"Silence" is a brief uptempo piece of piano, drums and guitar sounding crazy at best. "Don Paul" opens with a bass solo before guitar and shuffling drums arrive around a minute. Not very melodic. "Totemism" is the almost 17 minute epic on here. Nice guitar intro as drums and piano start to come and go. Bass and a beat join in before a minute as the organ arrives then some guitar. This one seems to trip along as each guy seems to be doing his own thing(haha). A calm arrives before 7 1/2 minutes. Soon it speeds up with drums, electric piano and bass as the guitar comes and goes. Another calm before 15 minutes.

"Frau Theunissen" is the short closer. It opens with organ sounds I believe along with drums as electric piano joins in then guitar. Hey this is melodic and it sounds great! All one minute of it. Still I really like this one as these guys really know how to play and despite the Free Jazz vibe it's an album I really enjoy.

Budubb Budubb Budubb Badadubb Budubb Budubb Budubb Badadubb - Erna Morena starts with Siggi Busch's bass of Frau Theunissen's Kegel, which then takes off as a wild, fast and furious 7/8 orgy of jazz rock with Pierre Courbois's superbusy drums and some plainly incredible solos. This is one of the best pieces of jazz rock I have ever heard. Particularly Jasper Van't Hof on his distorted e-piano blows away my ears with what he is doing here, but also guitarist Toto Blanke is very inventive, after Karl-Heinz Wiberny on saxophone introduced the solos in a more conventional way. The band strikes a perfect balance between free (and at times atonal) creativity and energetic rock feeling. The remainder of the album is the title track, a long suite that has five parts but is basically just a single opus. On vinyl it is cut into two halves somewhat clumsily (but perhaps unavoidably) between the A and the B side because it's just too long for one side; I'd be curious whether there is any version out there where one can hear the whole thing from beginning to end. Anyway, this is a somewhat different animal from Frau Theunissen. Much more of this is influenced by bandleader Pierre Courbois' free jazz background without a straight rhythm and a transparent harmonic concept. Something more rhythmic and rocky happens again at the end of side A and the beginning of side B. A rhythmic pattern on the e-piano, later joined in by again fast and wild drums, emerges out of a calmer drone-like part on the organ that makes me imagine a desert and has some arabic influences, together with a meditative bass line; something fast is always present as both drummer Pierre and pianist Jasper can't stop themselves from making things buzzing and moving around. Earlier on side A the band creates a spacey atmosphere with Jasper and Toto producing some longer open sounds behind which as ever the drums and the bass and the saxophone are jumping around. It starts rather noisily but becomes quite relaxed and even calm at times despite the amount of notes piled up by the musicians. Still it is always atmospheric, ever evolving and surprising. On side B, after the most rocking part of the Erna Morena suite has ended, things calm down again and come almost completely to a halt with some cymbal and hi-hat sounds, some less conventional calm percussion and some bass, before Jasper takes again off into outer space with Siggi now using a bow on his bass (I think). This develops into a short part with relaxed jazz drum and bass and a crazy guitar solo. Later the initiative is taken again mainly by Jasper on organ and e-piano and Pierre, who just can't stop. There is a rather dynamic stretch with some calm, some rhythmic and some rather loud and noisy parts in quick succession. Pierre then gets a fairly long well structured drum solo before the whole band says goodbye with a short intense rhythmic part with one of these crazily unpredictable jazz melodies, before we hear the audience celebrating the band for more than a minute.

Overall this is extremely inventive, exciting and intense music bringing together rather free and experimental jazz with some rock elements and feeling creating a very atmospheric and emotional music (which although may be difficult to stomach for listeners who are into more conventional harmonic and melodic music), played at a very high level of skill. I bought this on a flee market in the early eighties and in more than 30 years this album never failed to impress me. I heard two studio albums of Association P.C. which I didn't like as much as their live offering here, which is just so much more lively and pulsating.

Guldbamsen's review of this album is the best review I've read of any record ever. Scratch that, it's my favorite record review ever. Of course it partially because it's spot on, but mostly because it's a splendid recounting of the feelings conveyed by the music. Read it if you have any interest in checking out this first wave freeprogfusion anomaly.

Many top progressive artists and albums are sorely underexposed, and this is at the top of that list. A former college professor once told his class "the real information in any context is contained between the margins and in the footnotes". Association P.C. epitomizes and romanticizes this concept. Anybody with a degree of interest in the history of German music will find appeal in this record.

Classic Germanesque/Canterbury freakprog like a meld of Soft Machine and Faust.

It doesn't happen a lot these days but it's a pleasure to be the first to write a review for this album as it was last week to do the same with that classic Michael Mantler album "The Hapless Child And Other Inscrutable Stories". ASSOCIATION PC was formed in 1969 by Dutch drummer Pierre Courbois and was originally known as simply ASSOCIATION. Just look at the album cover provided here and you'll see that that was the case with this the debut album released in 1970, while Pierre Courbois' name is in smaller print on the lower left side of the album cover. The band was a multi-national group with Germans and Dutch making up the lineups over the years. This is an all-instrumental affair with the music being in the Jazz/Rock and Free Jazz sub-genres. Some of you may have heard of the guitarist named Toto Blanke who puts on a show in his unique style but then I have to say that each member blows me away with their performances on here.

"Spider" is up first and it's an energetic, uptempo track with intricate guitar sounds and lots of cymbals, bass and keyboards. We get a brief drum solo(hey it's his band and there will be more solos to come) after 2 minutes then the keyboards lead the way a minute later but not for long. A complex opening number. "Hit The P. Tit" is the longest song at 11 minutes. The guitar sounds different here as he rips it up while we get some jazzy drum patterns and bass to fill out the sound. The guitar is almost experimental sounding here. The sparse electric piano reminds me of early seventies Miles Davis. Some insanity follows that makes me believe these guys were influenced by Free Jazz. We get a calm and the bass solos after 4 minutes and this continues until around 5 1/2 minutes in. A full sound returns after 6 minutes sounding much less experimental than before and quite jazzy. Another calm arrives as we get an interesting drum solo then back to the full sound before 9 1/2 minutes. Some fuzz here as well.

"Elsen" is one I really like. Just a feel good, melodic beauty but it's so short at just over 1 1/2 minutes. "Earwax" is a top three song for me and what a pleasure to focus on the instrumental work of all these guys. So intricate and sophisticated. A drum solo before 6 minutes that lasts just under a minute. "Round A'bout Nine" and the next and final track fill out my top three songs. This one starts with a bass solo and it continues for some time. Some drum work then the guitar joins in around 4 minutes along with more of that early seventies Miles Davis sounding electric piano. So good. "Jazzper" is another beauty as keys, bass, drums and guitar impress with their intricate and melodic sounds. The title of this song is a play on words i'm sure on the keyboardists first name(Jasper).

Easily four stars and this sounds so much better than the flute dominated live album of theirs called "Mama Kuku" that I reviewed some time ago.

Always crashing in the same car

The fusion world is a strange one. It can be suave and smooth like a baby´s bottom - taking you on a melody filled trip through soft lingering jazzy landscapes, but then again you just might end up with a record that is all chops and no sauce - with terrorizing musicianship thrown around in all directions with not a tune in sight. Sun Rotation is something in between, and as much as I hate the latter form of fusion, I´ll also admit that sometimes this manic approach does work wonders - Herbie and Miles are both proof of that.

Sun Rotation is a weird beast, and sometimes I wonder if all the tracks are played by the same musicians, or if they after the first cut simply decided to eat some LSD with their mashed potatoes and gravy, - because WOW - let me tell you, this music reeks of gravy... The first track is a dandy little fusion track, that keeps it´s arms and legs in the trolley - the kind of track that opens the door for an elderly lady and eats with its mouth closed. Perfect manners, melodic aspirations and wonderfully executed in every way. Reminds me of early Brand X somehow.

And then the mayhem starts! Swoosh! Have you ever wondered what Faust would sound like, if they had been comprised of jazz musicians? If so, let me introduce you to Association P.C. In fact, let me introduce anybody who´s interested in fusion with emphasis on the jazz part of the equation, Canterbury, Krautrock and improvisation all wrapped up in one big hefty pile. The first time I listened to this album, I couldn´t quite fathom why it was part of the (in)famous Nurse With Wound list, but then I reached the second track, and everything now seemed clear as vodka. I will say, that for an album included in this wild and crazy list, the overall feel of the music here and how it comes across, is something I think many people around these parts would appreciate, and that´s without having to convert their beliefs to the more porous and bizarre end of the avant seas.

To paint a better picture of the music here, then let me be your guide through that second track, which incidentally is divided up in several movements. Oh yeah! Gotta be something there for the prog head!! This little excursion is very much representative of what you can expect from this astonishing little album.

It´s aptly called Suite and starts out with some rather cacophonous jamming with the different instruments falling elegantly all over each other in what seems like a musical edition of a women´s mud wrestling match performed on guitar, upright bass, drums and a mixture of piano and organ. At some point the music pulls itself together - and feels like it´s been through a regular storm, only to be metamorphosed into an entirely different beast: the organ turns evil in an eccentric and freakish way - sounding like a derailed version of a circus melody spinning around its own axis. The rhythm section on the other hand turns solid and groovy balancing things out nicely - just in time for the electric piano to take off on a pulverizing ride over stock and stone. This piano player knows what he´s doing, that´s for damn sure. Abruptly the focus is turned to the drums for an earthshaking rhythmic hubbub, before the whole track takes the form of a runaway car violently crashing into a children´s percussion store, and rattles, bongos and eggs are flying all over the place in one big explosion. Ending this musical mayhem is (and I might be mad at this point) the distinct buzzing of a giant insect - genetically combined with the store´s ringing alarm.

If anybody out there is thinking: Wow this doesn´t sound like Yes at all. That´s because it doesn´t. It emanates musical facets such as you will find in freejazz and Canterbury, and beneath these leading trades of it, I sense an electronic infused Krautrock layer to it. This might be down to the man who´s behind the engineering of this album, and that´s Conny Plank. It is far from being up front and in your face, but these swarming, sizzling electronics are certainly there to form some sort of cribbly crawley foundation, and who else does this kind of thing better than Plank?

I wholeheartedly recommend this album to fans of Soft Machine, early Weather Report, Wolfgang Dauner´s Et Cetera and Exmagma. This is music that tears down the walls of conformity and punches you directly in the nose with everything it´s got! It´s free and it´s music! 4.5 stars.

This was the last recording for ASSOCIATION PC and it's a live one from a 1973 tour.The band here was comprised of two Dutch guys and two Germans. On this particular album American Jeremy Steig plays flute and is given equal billing really as the title on the album cover says ASSOSIATION PC + Jeremy Steig. Jeremy was gaining quite the reputation for his aggressive and daring use of the instrument.They first saw Jeremy at a Jazz Festival in Munich, Germany that was celebrating the summer Olympic Games that year in 1972. He was playing with a few bands including Tony Williams, ASSOCIATION PC liked what they saw so invited him to tour with them. This album is a taste of that. The music here is very much flute dominated and i'd guess you'd call the Free Jazz for the most part. My favourite parts are the two sections where the flute isn't leading like the first 4 minutes of track one and the 10 minutes towards the end of the side long closing track. Don't get me wrong, I like flute but it absolutely dominates here. When he starts to play it's like the band stops to listen.That's exaggerating but that gives you the idea.

"Mama Kuku" opens with a relaxed bass solo then the guitar joins in after 1 1/2 minutes followed by a full sound.This is great ! Flute then comes in before 4 minutes as it settles right down. "Bold N Steig" opens with flute then the keyboards join in. Keyboards only before 4 minutes then the flute returns to end it. "Dr. Hofmann" features laid back flute and sparse drum work throughout. "Ecnelis" has some energy. Finally ! Everyone is pitching in here. "Bassamagic" is pretty much a flute solo.

"Lausanne" is the over 21 1/2 minute closing suite. Flute and keys to start as the drums join in. It's better 7 1/2 minutes in when the keyboards become more prominant and the sound gets more intense. It settles back 10 minutes in as the flute stops.The guitar plays lazily here with drums, bass and keys. Much better. Check out the keyboards 14 1/2 minutes in. Applause 17 1/2 minutes in when they stop and bass only takes over. Flute's back 20 minutes in to end it.

I'm not a huge fan of Free Jazz and this really comes off as being a flute album of sorts.