DIE GROBSCHNITT STORY 2

Yet another superb follow up to "The Grobschnitt Story 1" with some real treats for fans of GROBSCHNITT. This time around Eroc has assembled a collections of alternate mixes (versions which did not make the albums.. .including "Severity Town" from "RockPommels Land"), live tracks from various concerts and loads of older and unreleased songs. Once again a slight portion of the package is devoted to an improvised excursion into "Solar Music" land. This 10 min track is one of the high points in my opinion as GROBSCHNITT take the listener back into the time of "Solar Music" with a twist... Eroc has also included a great live version of "RockPommels Land" for us to enjoy. GROBSCHNITT are one of my all-time favourite progressive rock acts and "The Grobschnitt Story 2" is just another solid testimonial as to why these guys were larger than life!!! Essential all the way around.

Good grief! This 2-CD is not a proper compilation of Grobschnitt, it is an absolutely for-diehard-fans-only thing (and even as such it is a criminal waste of energy to exist). Anybody who expects to hear nice selections of this German prog band's output is going to be disappointed rudely. Listening to this through was a furiating experience: I kept saying "Sick! Idiotic!". The liner notes are in German (the set is compiled and introduced by Eroc from the band), and the tracks are for the most part non-album live stupidities (often containing a lot of talking). Several of them under one minute - why are they included, I just can't understand. If you don't speak the language they only irritate you. And even if you did, they still would be foolish to listen to more than once.

I read through the Grobschnitt discography only to find out that, apart from Rockpommel's Land (a lot of that album is played live here), you don't get any sense of other albums with this "compilation". Instead you hear them e.g. covering 'Born To Be Wild' and a John Mayall song, and making them total clowns in concerts. OK, there were a track or two I could use on my CD's, but nothing very good if you already have Rockpommel's Land. Best to avoid this at any cost.