HERE WE ARE

Cumbersome back beats, stoned out lanquid vocals, distorted guitar and mellotron sweeps give Jane a more groovy feel on their second psychedelic blues/rock album which stylistically occupies a grey zone somewhere in the region between kosmishe musik and more mainstream rock. Much more straitforward and less whacked out than the more experimental music of some of their German contemporaries such as Xhol Caravan, Guru Guru or Amon Duul II this melodic music is certainly more accessable to the casual listener.

Overcoming the loss of singer Berndt Pulst who delivered the soulful vocal power on the outstanding Green Brain debut Together, drunmmer Peter Panka takes over on vocals and Wolfgang Krantz joins as an interim bass/guitar player replacing ailing Charly Maucher. Practically broke at the time, the band had to borrow music equipment in order to complete the album, exemplified by the ballad Out In The Rain with it's orchestral meloncholic air which was to become an everlasting fan favourite. Although not as forward moving and hard rocking as it's predecessor Here We Are has denser feel to it with it sounds as if the tapes were slowed down particularily on the first extended track Redskin which plods along at a tortoise pace for almost 9 minutes and although gets into a cool psychedelic groove it could have been saved for the conclusion of the LP given the lesser impact of the remaining tracks. Nonetheless, Here We Are more or less cosolidated the ethereal Jane plod 'n roll formula which endures to this day. Several single edits appear on the CD re-issue as the original running time occupied no more than a mere 33 minutes. A foreshadow of bigger things for this Hanover band get the headphones out for this mellow trippy and overall enjoyable album.