Volker Kriegel: Spectrum - 2x Metal Reel 1/4" 38cm/s (15ips) Tape, SM900

In 1971, 27-year-old guitarist Volker Kriegel gifted MPS one of his most amazing recordings ever - the second one under his own name, while at the same time playing a parallel role as guitarist with the popular group the Dave Pike Set. In this quintet lineup, Kriegel's amazing qualities fan out into the areas of jazz-rock, lyrical folk and free jazz. There are the familiar sitar-Indie-rock tones, familiar to listeners through Kriegel's play with Dave Pike: Zoom opens the album with an electrified jolt, and it's not just because of Kriegel's overpowering trance-like solos - Peter Trunk's grooving bass lines and Cees See's driving percussion also have their say. So long for now, delights with its relaxed blues-rock feel which finds Trunk and drummer Peter Baumeister in intimate dialogue as they hook up with Kriegel's silky-smooth, flowing lines and John Taylor's smoldering Electra-piano play. The savvy rondo More About D and Instant Judgment thrillingly showcase the group's seamless integration of lyrical, swinging passages with freely cascading sounds. And then out of the blue there appears Suspicious Child, Growing Up . Bluesy, folk-hued, and easy-going, its offhandedness is outdone only by the dreamy ballad Oh Kina . In the finale, Kriegel and his cohorts once again focus on the whole spectrum in a fantastic, dancing interplay of smoldering keys, stratospheric cello lines, a complexity of percussion rhythms and virtuoso guitar play adorned with soulful whimsy.