I.D. COMPANY

I.D. COMPANY was a short-lived band from Germany that existed only in the year 1970 and released this sole self-titled album. Existing as a mere footnote in history as the launching pad for two of Germany's most experimental divas of the progressive rock 1970s, this all but forgotten relic in the world of prog debuted the vocal talents of Frumpy's Inga Rumpf and the even more eccentric Dagmar Krause who would bring the world of avant-prog into the forefront with the likes of Slapp Happy and Henry Cow. In the spirit of the 1960s, I.D. COMPANY featured a genre blending musical style that mixed psychedelic acid rock with jazz, ethnic sounds and ample doses of the avant-garde.

This is an unusual album for the fact it's more like two separate EPs thrown together rather than a full album experience per se yet other than the vocal parts (there are no duets here), all music was performed byFrank St. Peter (saxophone, flute), Hans Hartmann (sitar, contrabass), Joe Nay (percussion) and Wolfgang Kliegel (violin). Side one featured three tracks performed by Inga Rumpf. This side was very much rooted in the 60s psychedelic rock world that mixed acid rock and folk with Indo-raga and jazz. The music features lysergic mind-melting raga grooves with flute and sitar and sounds nothing like Frumpy in the least. In fact if anything Rumpf sounds more like a stoned Grace Slick at a wild psychedelic party in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district.

The contrast between the first side and second side is quite startling as the two women couldn't be more different from one another. While Rumpf delivered laid back contemplative vocals that were accompanied by a flute-rich raga rock backing, Krause takes things into the weird zone with her already established unorthodox approach to vocalizations over music accompaniments. In this case side two is much more of a psychedelic jazz affair although the flute continues to flutter around the main lysergic grooves. The music is much more loosely structure in the vein of 1960s avant-garde jazz. Much more Sun Ra than anything pointing to the world of Slapp Happy or Henry Cow. Krause's vocal style at this point is sort of an oscillating tremolo style in the vein of Edith Piaf only from another planet.

Overall all this is one that is decent and well worth checking out as a reference point but doesn't display either of these talented women at their peak. Likewise this album wasn't pointing yet to the direction of where progressive rock was heading but rather the lysergic swamps of where it crawled out of. It's a satisfying tripped out relic of the late 60s tradition but doesn't provide enough high points to be considered essential by any means. Inga Rumpf would almost immediately join Frumpy and become one of Germany's most revered female vocalists of the early 1970s however Krause would have to wait a few years before joining Slapp Happy and then the ranks of Henry Cow. An interesting and even unexpected early debut from these two groundbreaking vocalists but ultimately lacks enough substance to warrant multiple listening experiences.

3.5 rounded down