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Grobschnitt - Solar Music - Live CD (album) cover

SOLAR MUSIC - LIVE

Grobschnitt

 

Symphonic Prog

4.59 | 231 ratings

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Modrigue
Prog Reviewer
5 stars I hear Solar Music

First live album from GROBSCHNITT, "Solar Music Live" is a just one of the shiniest star in the space rock galaxy! Apart from their recent previous releases such as "Rockpommel's Land" and "Jumbo", more symphonic oriented, this record shows the spacey side of the band by extending the "Solar Music" suite from "Ballermann" from 30 to 50 minutes. Let's go straight to the point: this record offers everything a space rock fan could wish for, but also makes interesting incursions into neighboring genres: krautrock, psychedelic jam, 70's hard rock, acid-jazz... However, contrarily to other bands playing these styles, the tracks are varied and features numerous changes. The music flows naturally, is quite accessible and never seems boring, repetitive or messy.

"Solar Music Live" also captures GROBSCHNITT's wilderness and musicianship on stage, their concerts could sometimes last 5 hours! These were total performances, with costumes, theatricality, craziness and pyrotechnics. Mainly instrumental, the recording contains only a few sung parts which are mostly spoken words in German, as well as a couple of surprises scattered over the album, showing the band's sense of humor.

Compared to its studio version, the opener "Solar Music I" has additional sci-fi effects, whereas "Food Sicore" is an immediate departure for space. Its bass driven trippy introduction unveils a calmer ambiance after. "Solar Music II" alternates melancholic and mystical passages with strange sounds. The spacey first half of "Mühlheim Special" uses heroic keyboards and guitars, while its futuristic second half exploits wah-wah effects.

The unreal "Otto Pankrock" has a slight funk feel and contains stellar guitar and synthesizer solos. "Golden Mist" may be the strangest passage with its jazzy variations at keyboards and weird symphonic second part. Don't forget this is GROBSCHNITT after all. "Solar Music III" reuses the theme from the original studio version and possesses a cosmic finale. The trip is now over.

"Solar Music Live" surprisingly acquired a huge success in 1978, during the punk and disco explosion. In Germany, progressive rock was still alive in the late 70's, as also shown by their fellow countrymen ELOY with their live opus released the same year. This performance truly is a genuine journey to the sun, attending to the concert back in the days must have an unforgettable experience. The wide palette of musical styles covered in these 50 minutes should interest proggers from different horizons. The ambiances are varied, the sound quality is very good, and the music is neither demonstrative nor redundant, preventing the listener from losing interest.

Every PINK FLOYD or krautrock fan should possess this record. "Solar Music Live" is GROBSCHNITT's best, and simply one of the greatest space and progressive rock live albums ever! More than just solar music, stellar music!

Modrigue | 5/5 |

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