Thursday 5 November 2009

Out Of Focus - Four Letter Monday Afternoon (1972)


The very adventurous third (double) album by this awesome progressive rock band from Munich Germany. Misunderstood by many at the time - deeming them just too out there - this is arguably there masterpiece.

With a full blown brass section and venturing into avant jazzz/rock there's hints of early "Chicago" "Blood Sweat & Tears". But on the whole this is quite different and probably veers more towards say "Soft Machine".

Checkout L.S.B. the opener, with the bands excellent interplay of flute, guitar and organ etc. "Huchen" in three parts takes up the whole of the second disc and is absolutely amazing to say the least. Favourite though has to be "Tsajama" which has a bass riff to die for and fantastic guitar , brass and organ solos. A brilliant track no mistake which hearkens back to the previous self titled album of which i personally think was there best album.


Lengthy instrumental jams and themes dominate the long pieces with elements of Krautrock and Canterbury Jazz rock fully realised with psychedelic touches here and there. Quite the mix really, which is certainly a big step on from there prevous releases, as this abum only contains one or two proper songs and ventures into more different territory.

It's no wonder that "Kuckuck" pulled the plug on them really after this, it was not what was really expected at the time.
Seems like they did there own thing on this album and suffered the consequences unfortunately.

On the whole, even if some of the pieces are a little too lengthy and self indulged, this is a MASTERPIECE!!

Line-up / Musicians
- Remigius Drechsler / guitars, Tenor saxophone, flutes, stylophone, voice
- Hennse Hering / organ, piano
- Moran Neumüller / Soprano saxophone, vocals
- Klaus Spöri / drums
- Stephen Wishen / bass

+ Hermann Breuer / trombone
- Peter Dechant / acoustic guitar, vocals
- Grand Roman Langhaus / bongos
- Jimmy Polivka / trumpet
- Ingo Schmid-Neuhaus / Alto & Bariton saxes
- Michael Thatcher / organ



Songs / Tracks Listing
LP 1 (46:07):
1. L.S.B (17:37)
2. When I?m Sleeping (4:04)
3. Tsajama (9:23)
4. Black Cards (9:38)
5. Where Have You Been (5:35)

LP 2 (48:09):
6. A Huchen 55 (9:19)
7. Huchen 55, B (14:32)
8. Huchen 55, C (24:18)

Total Time: 94:16


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