SWF SESSIONS, VOLUME 5

Here are one of the true hidden gems to come out of the 70's German underground scene. This album since I first heard it has moved into the ranks amongst my all time Krautrock favs... and for good reason. I would rank this album on par with the first 2 NEU ! albums and in favt can draw many similarities to their music. KOLLEKTIV were a 4 piece band led by jazz and experimentalist Klaus Dapper (flute and sax). Musically this is a pure juxtaposition of early PINK FLOYD (aka "Ummagumma") with NEU. This all instrumental album really knows how to soar into the depths of space. One of those albums that you toss late at night into the stereo and just sit back and relax too. There is nothing to loud or musically complex here but rather seductive and transcedental. KOLEKTIV musically blend soft flute with flowing bass guitar and drum lines. This is one of those albums where all 4 instruments work to perfection. Highly recommended.

A live studio recording which finds me in a very bad mood after previous reviews. An entirely instrumental affair and quite laid back and 'of its time'. After the last bunch of garbage I've reviewed, 'Kollektiv' gets off to a good start.

The flutes are nice , sounding reverbed to bits, with lots of treated guitars and a laid back 'Gong' like bass that makes me wish I was on a beach having a nice bottle of beer rather than being stuck in Scotland in February.

Disappointingly some electric guitar rears its ugly head and all of a sudden things get pretty heavy and I want to leave my picnic on the beach and scamper off back home.

The whole album is quite similar in many ways to 'Set the Controls' by Floyd, with an atmosphere and technique that is comparable but is nothing special at all. 'Gong' fans may enjoy, but it's rubbish really.

Towards the end things do get horribly 70's and cheesy in the form of the 20 minute 'Gageg' with it's exasperatingly repetitive theme, which lowers this to a 2 star rating. I'd gladly never hear this again. God! what a night of reviewing!

I still remember the excitement of checking out the different sub-genres for the first time as I used to do it. I'd decide to get into Krautrock and went off looking at reviews and lists and charts over and over because back then there was no way to stream or sample. So it was a slow process but so rewarding and so much fun and those first listens were nerve wracking but also a blast. KOLLEKTIV was a band I got into fairly early in my Krautrock search and fell for the flute and the drumming more than anything. Flute in Krautrock or Psychedelic music just adds to the music big time in my world.

That debut album from 1973 is one I value highly and I include it in my top 40 all time favourite Krautrock records. The "Live 1973" is very good as well and I'd recommend it over this "SWF Sessions Volume 5" also a 1973 live event but it's just too chilled for my tastes. I do like the new track "Mollzitter" mainly for the guitar but conversely "Baldrian" is my least favourite on here and is pale when compared to the original. The closer at 20 minutes "Gageg" does seem to go on far too long unlike the studio version. On the "Live 1973" release they give a shortened version of "Gageg" at just under 13 minutes which just seems to work better.

This may not be the best place to start with this great German band but that's just my opinion.