ORANGE PEEL

These German rockers by the name of Orange Peel were a small and relatively unknown Krautrock band from the late sixties and the early seventies. Their self-titled album and a singular single serve as their only recorded material. It's a surprisingly strong one, and it blends classic hard rock, progressive rock, and psychedelia in a completely different way for 1970. The album itself is comprised of a side-long suite on side one and a collection of three other songs on side two, each ranging from three to ten minutes in length. Their style not only has that mix of the genres I mentioned already, but also wild, incomprehensible, and instrumental jamming. This could be either more conventional jazz rock approaches or spacey experimentation on each of their instruments. Altogether, this makes for a wonderful experience that pushes boundaries most bands weren't even near to at the time. Moving on to the personnel, it includes Peter Bischof on vocals, Leslie Link on guitar, Ralph Wiltheiß on organ, Heinrich Mohn on bass, and Curt Cress on drums. Even though all of these players are incredible musicians, the most impressive has to be Curt Cress for his rapid-fire approach to drumming and seemingly never taking any breaks when playing these songs. 

The album is kicked off by You Can't Change Them All, a sprawling eighteen-minute-long suite that demonstrates everything I talked about earlier. It's extremely trippy, and it's easy to get lost in the deep madness within this song. The vocals sound uncanny, the musicianship is top-notch, and the overall vibe is wacky and experimental. Sure, in the nearly twenty minutes of what is essentially nonstop jamming and playing (which is for the most part instrumental), it might feel like the band drags the track and playing a bit too long, but in the end it's worth it because it's an interesting piece that mixes a ton of great attributes from classic psychedelia and progressive rock. Side two opens with the much shorter Faces That Used to Know, which clocks in at around three minutes. Even though the band never released this song as a single, it certainly sounds like their attempt to make one. It's got a level of catchiness that could captivate some radio listeners while also staying true to the adventurous improvisation aspects of the band's music on side one. The next song, Tobacco Road, is much more inspired by the blues in the band's playing. The impressive guitar craft on it, combined with those blues factors I mentioned, makes this song sound similar to some of the Mississippi delta legends. You can also hear influences that, while they wouldn't directly affect the band, certainly sound like what Uriah Heep would be playing next year. It also creates a live atmosphere in the band's now relaxed mood and intricate playing. The last song on the record is the ten- minute-long track called We Still Try to Change. It's very similar to the first song, being mainly composed of instrumental playing while also having slight additions of carefully crafted music. The much heavier organ material sounds similar to Deep Purple and their progressive material, while at the same time creating their own unique path. Much of this track is instrumental, and it leaves plenty of room for the band member's creativity to breathe and weave in and out of coordination, which I find pretty impressive. The ending, though, I can't really stand. It's just random notes from each of the band members instruments for two minutes straight, and it's really irritating to listen to the full ending. 

In conclusion, this is quite the interesting gem in the progressive rock realm. It has a high level of complexity and intricate musicianship in the rapid jam sessions, while the band also adds in their own output in the form of unique riffs and phrases. The music can be described as hard rock or heavy psych at parts and never fails to ignite something within the listener. While all these good aspects are here, there are some subtle downsides in the album. I personally think the production is too raw (even for this form of music), and the ending was just a bit boring seeing how good the rest of the album is. Also, as much as I respect the wild jams and heavy playing on the songs, I think the band could've been a bit more creative and added more variety in those sections. With all that being said, this album is a 4/5.

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