WINTRUP

Why so few of these tracks wound up being performed live is a mystery I'll never understand, as this is one of Kraan's finest hours (or at least 45 minutes) in the studio.

Beginning with the bold musical statement "Silver Wings", which bursts open with blaring guitar and sax, this is certainly Kraan at their brashest. "Backs", "Jack Steam" and the scat-sung "Gut und richtig" are other high points. Krautrock albums of the era are not well-known for their good production, but the late, great Conny Plank imparts on this disc shimmering, crystal clear sound. Quite a gem.

Second album from this very interesting jazz-kraut-rock group having a major blow with their artistic freedom, but wanting to stay sufficiently accessible and therefore reasonably wise. This will not mean that these guys will sign you lullabies, either! Their second and still self-produced record is slightly more restrained and definitely more succinct "propos musical", and should get our review moderators up on their feet and awake, just as the tone of the album hints at after that oh-so-very-little slightly self-indulgent debut.

However nicely succinct the album maybe, it sometimes lacks the space to expand the themes or ideas. Maybe not that many ideas also a tad uninspired at times. This should of course saddenb the average proghead, but he should know that the raw sound has been preserved and the energy is intact. The mid-song and mid-tempoed section of the opening Silver Wings is still there to prove everything is still intact, but all too short. But they probably had some artistic directives, as the obvious cost of making such a record holds obvious guidelines for a proper administration of a small label such as Spiegelei. Kraan did manage to get this and the following released in the States.

Overall a not-as exhilarating album, but nevertheless very worthy record. I am just checking to see if this review will get read by the review masters so have to keep talking about an album whose highlights are Backs and Gut & Richting. Not quite as enthralling as their debut, hence the three star rating. But I must be fair to the group and to me, please be aware that I hate conniving snitches, always ready to cheat me of a trick of the tail, so this remains to the prospective progheads investigating into this interesting group. The least we can say though is that they had disputable choices for artwork, but this seemed to be common for a lot of German bands, which seemed to choose rebellion and voluntary poor taste as opposed to their UK counterparts out for stunningly beautiful artworks. But with this album, I thing they go far into kitsch territory, but a constant in their artwork is a large open sky preferably at sunset.

4.5 stars. As it says in the liner notes "The liberated jazz improvisations of the debut had given way to a more direct brand of rock." The music on "Wintrup" is more compact and polished with definite themes. The album cover is hilarious of the four band members. I must say I fell for this album after one listen. Just a bunch of great tracks really.

"Silver Wings" has some really good vocals throughout,and the bass and sax are outstanding. There is an ethnic flavour during the instrumental interlude(guitar, flute and drums) 2 minutes in. Great sound. Fantastic drumming late. "Mind Quake" opens with flute and gentle guitar in a mellow soundscape. It starts to pick up a little then vocals come in. Love this section. Sax joins in as well. Again the vocals are excellent. The contrast of the mellow intro with the more passionate sound with vocals continues throughout. "Backs" opens with a cool guitar melody. Sax replaces it quickly though as drums and an uptempo melody take over. They just seem to jam. Vocals come in. Lyrically this is about a dream the sax player had. It ends with someone walking away and whistling.

"Gut Und Richtig" has such a good intro of bass, guitar and drums. I could listen to this for hours. Vocals a minute in followed by sax. Sax solo before 2 minutes. Some nice guitar work 3 minutes in. Some far out percussion late. "Wintrup" is my favourite. It's named after the estate they lived on called Wintrup, and lyrically it describes some things that happened in their daily lives while living there. It's so simple yet it has such meaning and emotion. It's slower paced although the tempo does pick up with acoustic guitar, vocal melodies and percussion 2 minutes in. Back to the original melody 3 1/2 minutes in. "Jack Steam" features some raw guitar to open as percussion, bass then a full sound comes in with drums and sax. Vocals before a minute. Love this song too. Nice guitar 2 1/2 minutes in.

Darn close to being 5 stars for me. I just thoroughly enjoy this collection of songs. In "Wintrup" they have succeeded in translating to music what this place must have mean't for them back then.

For a long time I only knew Kraan from their fourth album Let It Out, but after being dumbfounded by their debut I knew I had some catching-up to do here. And indeed, the second Kraan album doesn't disappoint at all. It presents the band from a different and more song-oriented angle and the result is almost as brilliant as the debut.

For a Krautrock album there's a surprising attention to melody, but Kraan keep a lot of edge in their playing and accompany the melodies with an often rough rhythmical backbone. The sound remained largely unchanged and offers a rocking mixture of drums, bass, guitar, sax and vocals. The bass guitar is still the driving force behind most songs and ethnic-Arabian influences keep spicing up the songs. The vocals are surely more prominent then before and offer one of the main attractions. Vocalist/guitar player Peter Wolbrandt sounds very confident and inspired here and often reminds me of Hammill's approach on his Nadir and Over albums. The way Kraan uses the saxophone offers an extra relation to the 75-76 VDGG sound.

Don't get confused when seeing Kraan labeled as jazz-rock. That's like calling VDGG jazz-rock. There are elements of fusion in their sound obviously, but they were first and foremost a rock band, and with their direct and unpolished sound, ethnic influences and 'punkish' vocals they are a Krautrock band before anything else. And a darn good one at that.

Wintrup is a near masterpiece for me and highly recommended for fans of Amon Düül, Can and Hammill's alter ego mr. Ricky Nadir.

PS. Check Jack Steam for finding where Steven Wilson nicked the main riff for the PT track Orchidia, in turn used by mr. Ackerfelt on The Funeral Portrait from Blackwater Park!

Kraan soon became famous for their inventive style of playing and in 1972 their were voted as the best newcomer group in Germany.Six months after the recordings of ''Kraan'', around the fall of 72', they reentered the Studio 70 in Munich to prepare their second album.Under the title ''Wintrup'', this would see the light the following year again on the Spiegelei label.

The challenging sound of Kraut/Jazz Rock with evident Ethnic hints is still present and, while a bit more vocal-oriented, this work follows the lines of the debut with some great structured parts as well as more loose and freestyle parts, based on a jamming mood.Instead of delivering self-indulgent sax manipulations, Pappert show his tremendous talent in the album, using the sax either for producing ethnic tunes of an Arabian taste, a bit close to AREA's style, or collaborating with the rest of the band in nice and heavy interplays.The psychedelic influences are still apparent in the guitar moves of Wolbrandt and most of the tracks are characterized by massive, energetic grooves, sudden, intricate breaks and impressive, loosy solos.Gone are the more spacey passages of ''Kraan'' and the band replaced them with some more pleasant parts of a funky approach, mixed with the powerful jazzy flavor of their proposed Progressive Rock.The later tracks of the album show a turn towards more Heavy/Kraut/Psych Rock realms with scratching guitars, dominant vocals and rhythmic parts and limited sax workouts.

Setting ''Wintrup'' next to ''Kraan'', this one looses the battle just by an inch.Very good Heavy/Kraut/Jazz Rock, featuring one of the more inspired sax performances ever to be presented in a Prog album.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.