THE HISTORY OF SOLAR MUSIC VOL. 1

GROBSCHNITT are a band I place a notch down from my favourite Krautrock bands simply because they are more in the Symphonic realm as opposed to say AMON DUUL II and the like who play more of an underground psychedelia. Still I do really like this band and consider their debut a masterpiece. They do play a spacey and somewhat jamming style that I like. Many consider their "Solar Music Live" record from 1978 to be the greatest live album ever recorded. For me it's a 4 star recording much like this one. This release has an almost 56 minute version of "Solar Music" plus another two versions of that song on disc two both around the 30 minute mark. And if you know this band you know they have released a lot of archival material including many versions of "Solar Music" which might seem redundant except they seem to change that song everytime they perform it.

"I Walk The Line" is a short instrumental nod to Mr. Cash. While the closer on disc one called "Zugabe" kicks in quickly with drums and organ. Love the organ here. The guitar starts to solo 1 1/2 minutes in then the piano replaces the guitar. Vocals and guitar lead 3 minutes in. In between these two tracks I just mentioned is the sprawling "Solar Music Warburg '78" recorded the same year as their famous live album but at a different time and place. They have borken this down into 7 songs I guess to make it easier to find certain sections but the music all blends together. This one kicks in right away and turns heavier with some ripping organ. A calm follows as they seem to meander and we get samples of birds singing and dogs barking. It picks up as the guitar starts to solo. Great sound here. Synths then take over with some prominant bass as well. The next section has this coughing and speaking reminding me very much of Calvert's "Captain Lockheed & The Starfighters" album. Funny stuff. The music kicks into gear and the guitar proceeds to light it up. The final section is my favourite as the guitar takes a prominant role at times.

If your a big GROBSCHNITT fan you must be in heaven with all of the double cd releases of older material that keeps coming out. Without question I do recommend you get your hands on this one.