CHARLINE

Wallenstein were never really 'up there' with their contemporaries, in terms of 'staying power' anyway, although their first 3 releases are highly recommended. Led by keyboardist/composer Jurgen Dollase (nowadays a food critic writing for a popular German magazine), the music was mainly centered around keys, with liberal doses of shredding guitars and a competent (but basic) rhythm section. Their vocals were never a strong point but they 'did the job'. Toward the mid-70's they seemed to have undergone a few line-up changes, and their style of music becoming ever more mainstream. The album before this release, (No More Love), whilst still containing 2 or 3 decent prog tunes, was clearly displaying a lack of direction, and that entire line- up was sacked by Dollase. Recruiting a bunch of new musicians, it seemed that Dollase's ambitions got the better of him, as the nature of this new direction may have convinced him of taking the world by storm - stream-lined little pop-songs with standard verse-chorus-verse-solo structure, a lead singer who looks like he sounds (or vice-versa), and the musicianship being tight but not so flashy - sure, as a pop album it may be fairly credible, but there are NO prog elements whatsoever (not even Dollase's varied keyboards add much), hence, it's of little interest unless you have to have it all. It's a pleasant listen (in an FM Rock kind of way), with catchy melodies and all - the better tracks for my tastes being 'Life is True in London Town' and 'Red Wine for the Judge'.

The album must've been partially successful, as they carried on in this format for a few years more, and supported the successful hard-rocking German group 'The Scorpions' on several occasions. I wouldn't get rid of my vinyl of 'Charline', but I have not gone any further than this. 2 stars.