BEAR'S BANQUET

2.5 stars to be more precise

Opossum from Germany was a very obscure band with short career who lasted nearly 4 years from 1971 untill 1975, they never released official anything until Garden of delights trace them out and issued as archival in 2003 the album named Bear's banquet. Well I had hard times listning to this release at once, really. This type of instrumental jazz/prog and even folk here an there is not for me, lots of jazzy improvised sections that goes no where to my ears. The band was a predecessor to Morpheus (who I like little more) had a very strange aproach to music, even the art cover who has the fluter of the band on it, but in the music this instrument is use very sporadicaly. The improv moments are tough one to hear for me, the ex are many, the opening The Sun and Moon Have Come Together is absolutly a waste of time, nothing for me to grab here.Mittelstreifen beggins very well and when I though that the piece finaly has something to offer, after 3-4 min the band again gets loos and the improv are back in bussines, lots of free jazzy moments and krautrok parts, not for me. The rest of the pieces remain in same direction, minus Opossum Novum who is the best of the album and quite diffrent from the rest, a good tune. All in all, this is a forgetable album for me, no really intresting moments. 2.5 stars nothing more. I really don't get the hype this band have for some listners and the comparation with Jethro Tull because of the flute is misleading .

Opossum was a jazz rock outfit from Germany which would eventually evolve into the band Morpheus after some personnel changes. Opossum's sole recording, Bear's Banquet, is a posthumous release, compliments of the excellent German reissue label, Garden of Delights. The recording was done at the band's rehearsal studio in 1974, and is surprisingly pretty good, considering. The band would split in 1975, with guitarist Gerold Adler, saxophonist Heinrich Holtgreve , drummer Alfred Franke, and multi-instrumentalist Peter Blomeke going on to form Morpheus.

Bear's Banquet is what I would describe as a Kraut-jazz-rock affair, or "Stoner Jazz" if you like. The music is well played, but also loose and experimental at points. The opener, "The Sun and Moon Have Come Together" is the lone cover on the album, originally done by the American jazzrock group The Fourth Way. Very loose, somewhat jammy, and smokey music oozes from the speakers from the very beginning. As mentioned before, there is an early Krautrock vibe going on throughout the album, with the possible exception of "Opossum Novum," which would not sound out of place on Stan Getz's & Charlie Byrd's Jazz Samba album. Adler lays down some nice guitar work, with the remaining band members all making their marks at various points in the album.

Overall, an excellent example of German, 70's jazzrock that fortunately found the light of day, although not until 29 years after it was recorded! Recommended for those who like some psychedelia with their jazzrock. A solid 4 stars for this obscure German relic.

OPOSSUM were a six piece band from Germany operating from 1971 to 1974 before disbanding. They never did release an album, but these recording were taken from a session they did in their rehearsal space in 1974. This is surprisingly good until you realize that four of these musicians would form MORPHEUS after this band broke up. "Rabenteuer" the debut from MORPHEUS in 1976 is in my "best of" Jazz and related list. So yes I love these guys, and this OPOSSUM record "Bear's Banquet" makes a nice companion with "Rabenteuer".

"Bear's Banquet" is rawer sounding, looser too. I'm just so into that jazz/kraut style though, like early EMBRYO or MISSUS BEASTLY, and there are many more. It would actually make sense for me to have a jazz/kraut section. Peter Blomeki who is on the album's cover playing flute is also a drummer and keyboardist. So of course when they formed MORPHEUS he became their bass player. Just saying. Talented guy. I have to mention how important the sax and clarinet are here to the sound. The sax in particular really brings KRAAN to mind and makes me warm and fuzzy.

"The Sun And Moon Have Come Together" is the 11 minute opener. A mid-paced trippy affair where the sax, electric piano and clarinet lead early on before we get some jazzy bass then more electric piano before the sax returns at 10 minutes. "Mittelstreifen" is the 10 minute second track and we get some energy here. Horns and flute standout before the keyboards arrive a minute in. Drums only before 3 minutes and soon it's like free jazz or an improv with no structure until that changes 7 1/2 minutes in. This is so good when it kicks back in. That sax especially.

"Amina" is a great 6 1/2 minute track where we get some solos and intensity. I'm not big on the silliness to start and end "Opossum Novum" but man this sounds so much like KRAAN when it turns serious with the sax leading. The title track ends it and it's 15 1/2 minutes long. The guitar really gets a chance to show off here with some raw and explosive solos. But early on it's the drums and electric piano leading before that calm at 2 minutes. There's a drum solo too that goes on for too long later on in this track. A jazzy piece overall though that has it's moments.

Easily a 4 star record in my space. Yes it has it's issues, but I look forward to playing this.