PANKO

PANKO were a five piece band playing some live gigs in the early seventies but they never went into the studio to record anything. One of the band members released a live cassette(in 1983) from the Summer of 1971. They were from Berlin, Germany and they remind me of XOHL CARAVAN somewhat. Kind of a dirty and muddy sound of them jamming with the guitar, flute or sax often soloing over top. There are vocals in German and often spoken. It's interesting that there are two flute players although the one plays sax. Still that one song where we get a dual between the flutes is pretty cool. I have the GOD re-issue with a slightly different track and time listing. There are two bonus tracks at over 11 minutes each which sadly are the highlights of this album. Sadly because bonus tracks don't enter into my rating of an album because they weren't part of the original recording. Some experimental stuff on here, especially the closer which is all experimental and often annoying. I like this one quite a bit though and feel 3.5 stars is justified.

This is another rare krautrock mystery including recordings from a PANKO performance in 1971. Initially released on cassette tape in 1983 by drummer Richard Stey the songs are showing them in a relaxed mood here. Fortunately the audio quality is rather good. They are mixing up german and english lyrics respectively song titles quite naturally. Besides the standard rock music instrumentation we have also two members alternating on sax and flute plus a self-constructed tone/effect generator in use. This immediately suggests a sound which holds a little of each.

And indeed Eröffnung starts trippy jazzy with flute and saxophone all around - similar to Xhol Caravan I would say, but not so raw, more sophisticated. This sounds really skillful and well attuned. Provided with narration in English language Teppich appears undefinable weird at first and later evolves into a psychedelic outfit. I can't imagine the meaning of Muppelkas - only know that 'kas' is the Austrian translation for 'cheese' - never mind, I would label this song as jazzy zappaesque provided with suspense and different time signatures. They periodically hurry up and then on the other hand return to a relaxed behaviour once again - you even might think of a big sleep here and there assuming the song has already finished. Because soloing a lot flute and saxophone have a dominant role.

Baby Please Don't Go has more of a rock n' roll behaviour - please remember the 70s have just begun - but provided with some twists and turns and scary vocals it's enjoyable. Because of some applause appearing you will be aware of the fact that this is a live performance for the first time. Echoing flute contributions and German narrations telling the story of Kasbian are remarkable on Kasbians Abenteuer - a quite long jamming thing. This sounds improvised - suddenly some english lyrics appear and it looks like the instruments are getting out of control more and more swirling all around.

But they are finding together with safety at the end and then you are really surprised how time flies. As the song title implies Elektronisches offers playful electronic stuff coupled with spacey guitar contributions in the vein of the Kosmische Musik - very experimental - tribal drums and echoed vocals are added later - this is surely offering a new facet. Thanks to Garden Of Delights Records the album was re-issued in 2014. Two additional tracks are given, equipped with such enchanting titles like Porky Pig and Dadidadumm. 'Weil Es So Schön Perlt' features cool rough krautrock stuff with the emphasis on a jazz tinged sound.