A YOUNG MAN'S GASH

Short-live Kraut obscirity from the city of Bremen.In their one year of life Gash produced the highly collectable LP ''A Young Man's Gash'' on the Brain label along with a single on Metronome, both were launched in 1972.The official formation was Jochen Peters on keyboards/vocals, Frank Feldhusen on guitar/vocals, Manfred Thiers on bass/vocals and Reinhard Schiemann on drums/vocals, although during the recordings of their sole effort they were helped by guitarist, Atze Barth, Dicky Tarrach on congas and The New Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Hecht.

This is an extremely uneven album, containing standard Blues Rock and a sidelong epic, progressive track on the flipside.The three tracks on the opening side are not progressive, they are Blues/Psych Rock pieces with some heavier overtones and occasional guitar tricks by Frank Feldhusen, especially in ''In the sea'', propelled by the guitar rhythms and solos, Peters's omnipresent Hammond organ and the British-styled vocals.Fans of the style should deep into Gash'es bluesy side, although this is far from original music.The 21-min. track though is an excellent Kraut Rock/Prog composition with all the typical values of the German Rock scene compressed in a single musical attempt.Close to NEKTAR, ''Atom heart mother''-era PINK FLOYD and MESSAGE, this one contains great guitar/organ moves along with classical orchestrations and some Teutonic-styled experimental touches.There are also some certain flute strings and harmonica appearing in here, but the sound is mostly dominated by the guitar and keyboards.Its excellence can be found in its atmospheric depth and musical complexity, passing from rockin' tunes to minimalistic edges, from symphonic colors to Heavy/Psych pounds and from a lyrical power to a raw, guitar-driven sound.Lots of changing moods, Kraut-flavored rough rhythms and solos and an orchestral finesse, definitely a beautiful, overlooked epic.

When Gash became part of history, Manfred Thiers went on to play with the Funk Rock band Randy Pie and even joined To Be in early-80's.Peters released a solo album in 1987 under the name of Lu Lafayette and passed away prematurely at the age 50 in 2003.

Uneven Kraut/Blues Rock, highlighted by a monster epic piece, among the best attempts on a sidelong track by an early-70's German band.Recommended, the title-track alone is a reason enough to hunt this rarity.

Is this a Krautrock classic or is this obscure for a reason? Well that depends on who you talk to I suppose. Thanks to the guys on the ProgEars site for their many opinions. Most feel that side one is average to bad with those three fairly straight-forward tracks while the three part suite on side two is considered by many to be Krautrock at it's finest. Apparently LUCIFER'S FRIEND member Peter Hecht did the orchestral arrangements on side two. My opinion is that side one is pretty good, it's grown on me while side two isn't as amazing as I had hoped. Overall I'm very comfortable giving this 4 stars and I look forward to hearing this everytime I put it on.

"Angel And Mother" is a ballad-like tune with vocals that remind me of Joe Cocker mainly because they are rough sounding. I don't know why but this one kind of pulls me in even though I think my jaw dropped open the first time I heard it thinking what is this? Floating organ, piano and drums and it's all quite relaxed as those rough yet reserved vocals join in. The words are meaningful I must say and there is emotion in those vocals. A nice piano interlude starts before 4 minutes then the vocals return around the 5 minute mark. "Twenty One Days" has some good guitar early on as the vocals arrive a minute in. They are dual or double tracked vocals as well. Catchy stuff that reminds me of THE BAND. Some passion before 3 minutes including organ. A guitar solo follows then vocal melodies before 4 1/2 minutes as the drums, guitar and organ standout. Vocals are beck 5 1/2 minutes in. "In The Sea" is an uptempo vocal track and maybe the best of side one. I like it. The guitar and drums are prominent on this one. They slow it down some before 2 1/2 minutes as the organ joins in. Vocals continue. Lots of water sounds late after the vocals have stopped.

"A Young Man's Gash Part 1" opens with vocal melodies as the drums and guitar follow. Vocals before 1 1/2 minutes including backing vocals. We get organ here as well and I like when it feels like it's starting over again 3 minutes in. Strings arrive before 5 minutes then late in this part but before they return we get some excellent guitar after 5 1/2 minutes then an organ solo a minute later. "A Young Man's gash Part 2" opens with floating organ as we get some brief vocals then it turns powerful before slowly winding down to a calm 2 minutes in. Atmosphere and spoken words that echo follow reminding me of the PLJ BAND. Freaky stuff then this heart beat arrives, organ, processed laughter and freak outs as the heart beat continues. Fantastic! "A Young Man's Gash Part 3" opens with lots of atmosphere and floating organ as the vocals come and go. It's haunting after 1 1/2 minutes then the drums, vocals and guitar kick in at 2 minutes. The guitar starts to light it up after 3 1/2 minutes then strings before 5 1/2 minutes including what sounds like aboe 7 minutes in. It all turns avant-garde before 8 minutes including the orchestral bits.

Well worth checking out if your a Krautrock fan but it's not the 5 star classic I had hoped for. I'm so glad I own this though.

In the land of Prog I rarely go to the shire of Kraut. I just don´t. To some extent I base this decision on bands of the genre I don´t particularily like, such as Brainticket or Amon Düül (II). It is sort of a shame and I have vowed to remedy this. Anyway, the fact that things are such as they are I have not come across Gash before. They are a new acquiantance to me. It is rare but in this case I fully agree with the people who already reviewed this album and I will tell you what I think about this album.

The sound of this band is not unique in any way. It balances between the blues-rock of early 70´s and progressive efforts of the same era. It´s rather crude and raw, yet able and competent. There´s alot of similarities to other organ based heavy groups of the era. A bit of Uriah Heep and a bit of Gift, maybe. You will not, I repeat "not", find anything groundbreaking on this album. In fact, you probably heard it a thousand times before. But, and there is a big but, that does not mean it lacks in enjoyable factors.

To start off an album with a ballad, that is not a good idea. Ever. An album, such as this hard prog beast, must fire all engines at once. The first track must blow your mind with energy and pathos. I wish they´d kicked things off with "In the sea" instead, That would have been a far better decision, especially since the track "Angel and mother" is severely cheezy and a very poor excuse for a ballad. As an artist you are exposed when it comes to ballads. You open yourself and show the tender side of your being. When things are this bad you stand their with both buttocks in the rain and that is not a good feeling.

The next track, "Twenty-one days", is hard blues-rock of the early 70´s. Heep-ish, I think. It´s not bad but leaves no lasting impression. "In the sea" leans more towards progressive rock and is quite a nice track. I like it and this is the song I enjoy most, I think. A good slab of heavy progressive rock.

The centerpiece is the three part suite "A young man´s gash". The first part is really enjoyable. The opening quire, the organ and the drive makes it a good piece indeed. Quite splendid. The second part is more of a sound collage and as a piece of something greater it works but on it´s own it fails to captivate me. The ending part is more reflective than the first one and holds a harmonica and some orchestration. It´s quite good, actually.

I would not encourage anyone to go to any lengths finding this album but if given the opportunity I do think one ought to have a listen. It´s funny, really, all these bands being stuck somewhere down the line. Competence and vision, yet unable to make any lasting impression. In the case of Gash I think they were just too unfocused or un- ready to make an album. In some cases, such as with the first Black Sabbath album, a lack of own material could be compensated with enthusiastic covers of other bands stuff. Maybe Gash would have benefitted from doing that too. At least they ought to have scrapped the awful ballad and gone for something else that fitted their overall repertoire or genre. The dice has been cast and no cigar this time around. The train has left the platform and the chips are poorly cooked. Gash is a footnote in history, though not all that bad. The end result is an album worthy of three stars.