Outer Music Diary

Humble Pie - BBC Full House 10/21/72, Say No More, BBC 2 (DVD)

There was an audible gasp when this DVD ended just after two minutes had gone by. Basically an acoustic duo of Steve Marriott and Clem Clempson, it was quite nice, but as my friend quite rightly remarked, there was a drum kit and everything in the back, so where was the rest of it?

Super Unit - Meet the Future/Nils Peter Molvaer Group - Tokyo Jazz 2002, Tokyo Stadium 8/25/02 (DVD)

No doubt about it, but a lot of the gigs from the 2000+ Tokyo Jazz festival seem to celebrate the digital, slick, overtly commercial, fuzaky side of jazz and at least two or three times per concert I wonder what the hell I’m doing (actually the answer to that is “something else”). There are hoards of excellent musicians on this: Molvaer, Hancock, Shorter, but musically everything seems backed by the same lousy funk beat. The only thing saving any of this are some of the solo spots, including a fabulous violinist, but for the most part I couldn’t wait for it to be over. 

Aka Moon - Interieur Nuit documentary 1994
Aka Moon - Courant d’Art 1997
Interieur Nuit documentary on Small Labels

You don’t expect a divx collection that takes up an entire DVD to total about 15 or 20 minutes but that’s what happened here. Compared to the last monumental Aka Moon clip I watched, I didn’t really see much of them here, most of the music sounded like they were tuning up in the first two titles. I was a little busy watching this, granted, but there didn’t seem to be anything to them.

OK, should be much clearer here… 

DVD 2

1971

Lucifer’s Friend : Ride The Sky

You have to wonder if just about every band with a “satanic” title in the early 70s was Black Sabbath influenced, certainly Lucifer’s Friend were, something you can tell about 5 seconds into this song. A great piece overall, I definitely wish there was more heavy stuff like this on the discs.

Hotzenplotz : Ohne Titel

Not sure what is up with this band, had never heard of them before, but this was decent jammy stuff, definitely of the krautrock/kosmische ilk. It wasn’t absolutely brilliant or surprising, but it does have me wondering what was up with this band.

Amon Düül II : Kronwinkl 13

Another sloppy performance mostly focusing on Chris Karrer. 

Emergency : Times Passed By

Emergency weren’t really more than just your average rock group and this piece bookends a long jam with the more banal material, making it a little too long overall. 

Dies Irae : Trip

One of German rock’s minor acts, this was a largely forgettable, poppy number. Then again, I’m never quite sure what Dies Irae were about, with one patchy album they didn’t have much of an identity.

Popol Vuh : Bettina

More Affestunde period Popol Vuh, synth twitters and bongos. A sound even amateurs can deal with.

Et Cetera : Ohne Titel

The Et Cetera tracks on both nights are amazing, although one wonders if they might have been better grouped with two days of jazz or jazz-rock (any takers?). It becomes quickly apparent how much higher the level of musicianship is here compared to some of the other bands. Dauner, Braceful, Schwab, Weber, kind of seems like a supergroup in retrospect. 

Kraftwerk : Rückstoss-Gondoliere

More of the same. Great sound, rather purposeless jamming. 

Bröselmaschine : Light Flight

Between this and the early Holderlin clips, you have to wonder just how high the vocalists are. Seems like these folkies were mostly impressed by early Pentangle and Fairport and were coming up with their own take on the genre, before Peter Bursch decided to go in a different direction. 

Frumpy : How The Gypsy Was Born

Punishing heavy early German rock and yet another gem. What I wouldn’t give to see a full Frumpy show from this era.

1972

Epitaph : Early Morning
Hölderlin : Requiem Für Einen Wicht
Epitaph : Stop, Look & Listen

A Holderlin sandwich. **. The meat is light and inoffensive while the bread was apparently stale. I couldn’t tell if it was sourdough, french bread or a donut. This food metaphor is dedicated to Tom Hayes. 

Frumpy : Going To The Country

I guess they had to have one stinker in here, this is one of those goofy ditties you wish some of these bands would just lose. I can imagine a chuckle or two in the studio, but it doesn’t translate. Then again, Frumpy took a nose dive about now.

1973

Subject Esquire : Grass

Like, say, Rufus Zuphall this is a German group that is fairly average in comparison to its countrymates. They’ve got the sax-led rock thing going, but do very little to impress or surprise. 

Popol Vuh : Kyrie

Hosianna Mantra period PV. Although it’s nice to see Dyong Yun, the whole thing is lip synched making it fairly useless.

Kin Ping Meh : Sunday Morning Eve

Tedious rock, King Ping Meh seem to have a pretty high camp factor.

Tritonus : Ohne Titel

OK, this is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life or at least it is when the vocalist starts. Tritonus, as mentioned before, are something of a Triumvirat clone making them a second gen ELP clone. It’s like all the bits of Tarkus, SparTarkus and Trilogy all mixed up together. It’s not so bad, but the singing immediately made me think of science fiction conventions. I can imagine if these guys were around today they might be playing one.

Scorpions : This Is My Song

Great Scorpions track and a good version. 

Klaus Doldingers Passport : Schirokko

This isn’t really Passport, it’s one of those Jubilee sessions, hell even Johnny Griffin is on this, which I found kind of unsettling in a way (weird how American jazzers end up in German groups). It’s a short piece that ends with one of the most incredible drumming duo improvs you’ll ever see. One was Curt Cress but I’m spacing the other guy. Astonishing.

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