I TURNED TO SEE WHOSE VOICE IT WAS

Rough and tumble stuff from these Germans, a recording that could only have occurred in '72 with its bargain-basement heavy psych, rumbling brown guff, deeply stoned performances and "you had to be there" trance-jams. One of those sets that must've seemed transcendent at 3 am but wholly questionable in the light of day, I Turned to See Whose Voice it Was is a progressive mess. That said, it does have a modicum of rock 'n roll street cred with Peter Otten doing a poor man's David Clayton-Thomas and a decent, honest heavy organ base, ten-minute 'Dance on a Volcano' faltering but hitting the spot in a guilty pleasure sort of way. It must be said even this grimy mix required a good bit of prep and practice to pull off and, for a very brief moment, surely fit right in with the exploratory nature of jam-rock. But 'Opening of the Sealed Book' doesn't up the stakes and goes on for...ev...er. Eberhard Krietsch provides a pleasant ground with a wet & warm Hammond as the backbone, Claudi & Ochel having a good time on their steelstrings as on the title cut. Though 'I Try to Change the World' is so overdriven and grainy that it makes its 9 1/2 minute run ridiculous.

If producer Conny Plank had had a greater vision for the six-piece, the LP might've shone brighter. As it is, the amount of hash you'd have to smoke to even begin to enjoy this swamp of an exercise would probably induce a brain hemorrhage.