BREMEN 1971

EMBRYO are an acquired taste but once you have the taste you just can not get enough. In my days of expanding my music collection into the more obscure I snagged a copy of EMBRYO's live recording from their golden era (1971) and man I still have not recovered. To say this is anything less than amazing is an understatement ! Four epic live tracks with a jazz/early FLOYD prowess and a groove that just never seems to really stop, ebbing and flowing with creativity. The only bad on this whole album would be the sound quality which suffers a bit and feels fatigued at times (likely the source radio tape). But having said that the quality is still very very listenable and 100% enjoyable (I just wish it had been recorded better... not unlike the GENESIS albums). On this album and live show, EMBRYO blended heavy doses of cosmic flute and sax with guitar, bass, drum and keyboards to create an album of intense beauty. Truly a masterpiece and fans of Miles Davis fusion, MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA and Krautrock like AMON DUUL II will need to find a copy of this jem!!!

Another german prog's document released by the excellent "Garden of delights" label. One of the many hidden gems from "Radio Bremen". Here Embryo offers a blend of german fusion and psychedelic progressive rock, sometimes a little amateurish and rough sounding. The apotheosis is reached with the long 26 minutes suite, thanks to a furious jazzrock with psychedelic influences reminiscent of American psychedelic rock, especially through fantastic guitar soli. The last 15 minutes of the album are incredible. A great addition to the band's discography.

Funny how things go sometimes. I'm a big fan of MISSUS BEASTLEY's self titled album from 1974, but when I heard their live album recorded by Bremen Radio it was even better. Well the oposite holds true for EMBRYO's live album recorded by Bremen Radio in 1971. I just can't get into it as much as the studio albums I have by them. Part of it might be that it was recorded in a high school gym.This was recorded sometime after their second album "Embryo's Rache".

"Try To Be" opens with drums as vocals join in. Lots of jamming with flute, bass and drums standing out. It blends into "Time" where sax comes in after a minute. Flute replaces the sax 4 1/2 minutes in. We get some different vocal expressions after 7 minutes.

"Taunsendfussler" is uptempo with sax then flute and drums leading the way. Sax then replaces the flute. It turns a little psychedelic 5 1/2 minutes in. It then kicks back in 2 minutes later. "Spain Yes, Franco Finished" is the 26 1/2 minute closer. The last 12 minutes are the best part of the album. We finally get some prominant guitar in this section.

Can't offer up 4 stars for this one unfortunately, i'll stick to their excellent studio records that I have.