Surgery - Ãœbermorgen (1980 Germany). Unknown German fusion album from the late 70s and early 80s. File along with the “German M” groups like Moira, Mosaik (both Mike and I recently blurbed on), Munju, Missus Beastly and Morpheus. Some pretty hot psychedelic guitar, especially on the first side. Superb unison melodies with the sax and electric piano. Can get to be a bit breezy on Side 2, though some of it reminded me of Ash Ra’s “Correlations” in the guitar work, oddly enough. Top drawer stuff. No CD exists unfortunately.
Nanu Urwerk - Irgendwo… Nicht Weit von Hier (1978 Germany). Highly creative fusion effort from (yet another) unknown German band. Flute, trombone and electric piano are the primary instruments with a few nice guitar licks thrown in for good measure. There’s also some interesting voices in German. It’s hard to pin the tail on the donkey with this one, so easy reference calling is a tough challenge. Certainly an encyclopedic knowledge of the German fusion scene from 1976-1984 helps, and you may want to yell out “Mosaik” or “Surgery” to a puzzled audience. Zappa and Canterbury get cameos as well. Nevertheless, it’s an album that needs repeated listenings to fully appreciate, the perfect justification for a much needed reissue.
Exil - Fusionen (1975 Germany). Mike beat me to the punchbowl on this one (his review is just a couple of threads down). Try to imagine the 1975 era Embryo releasing “Embryo’s Reise” from 1979, and I think you’d have a good idea of how Exil’s “Fusionen” release will sound. Amongst the usual rock instrumentation there’s quite a bit of violin, electric piano and sax playing Eastern European and Asian influenced jazz rock. Aera’s “Hand und Fuss” is another good reference as is an instrumental Emma Myldenberger circa “Tour de Trance”. A very fine work in much need of a reissue. All three bands here would be a natural choice for Garden of Delights.