Embyro's perfect gem : OPAL
W. T. Hoffman | Pennsylvania, United States | 05/29/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Before OPAL, Christian Burchard, drummer/percussionist, founder and leader of EMBRYO, played with Mal Waldon, the famous jazz pianist and composer. At the time, Burchard was a teenager, a true WUNDERKIND. This period can be heard on "FOR EVA". But 1969 and psychedelic rock hit Germany, and Munich, and when it did, Burchard was swept up into its philosophy wholehardedly. Abandoning his jazz roots, he hung out with the AMON DUUL commune of freaked out musicians. (He even plays on Phallus Dei, Amon Duul's first LP.) After Burchard became aware of the NEW MUSIC, he recruited Edgar Hofmann, who plays Reeds, flutes and violin, and is the only other constant name seen with EMBRYO over the years. With Burchard on drums, Hofmann on sax, a monster bass player, and the guitarist from TEN YEARS AFTER (John Kelly), EMBRYO gave birth to their first album. Most of the music from 1969-1970 in Germany, sounds deeply influenced by either Zappa, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, or the Canterbury sound. EMBRYO's OPAL sounds, if nothing else, like Miles Davis' BITCHES BREW, with a touch of CAN thrown in. AND THAT'S A GOOD THING. I have all the EMBRYO CDS (except Rache) up to around 1982, and this is the BEST. Almost the whole CD is instrumental. "End of Soul" is a cool, spoken word eulogy for the death of soul music. OPAL's psychedelia paints with the palette of free jazz, and bebop, and not just blues, 50s rock or Fluxus/Musique Concrete like most acid music. Edgar Hofmann's Sax work comes across singular, and beautiful. The world music influences have not yet touched the band here, as it would later on. John Kelly's guitar work compliments the others perfectly, and gives the band that cool ROCK AND ROLL edge. I realize that this is an expensive CD, because it is only available as an Italian import. (Unless you find a Russian pirate copy, but don't hold your breath.) This CD is worth every penny, especially since you have 29 minutes of BONUS MUSIC, from an early session with the bass player from AMON DUUL, Hofmann's Sax, and Burchard's drums. The 26 + minutes of jamming included here, displays EMBRYO in its fetal stage of developement, before Fischer and Kelly joined. Although EMBRYO by 1972 was so prolific, that they were able to record four LPs in one year (ROCKSESSION, FATHER SON AND HOLY GHOSTS, WE KEEP ON and STEIG AUS), never again was that first blush of inspiration so pure, and so unique, as in this "cornerstone of European Jazz rock". Sure, that 1972 quartet of LPs perfected the ideas stated on Opal, while opening the door to the sonic palette expansion that followed. And in that sense, the golden age of EMBRYO was born in 1972. Embryo was not a band that helt it together for a couple of years, or fell apart when the Neue Deutsche Welle changed the music scene. They are still going strong, now fully committed to WORLD MUSIC. The very best of the Krautrock bands all found that musical ideas from Africa, the Spanish world, and Asia, when combined with the best that Europe has to offer, symbolized humanity's oppotunity to listen to one another. If our world leaders could just learn from these bands, assimulating and cooperating with divergent cultures, someday we might achieve a true, lasting, global peace. So, like POPOL VUH, and CAN's members, EMBRYO continues to bring the world's cultures together, uniting the third world, and the developed world, ONE NOTE AT A TIME. My advice? Pay the price for this precious gem, OPAL. Take the embryonic step, to discover the birth of this fantastic band."
Embryo - 'Opal' (Materiali Sound) 4 1/2 stars
Mike Reed | USA | 01/01/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Band's brilliant very first, 1970 lp on much welcomed CD reissue. Nearly every track pulls the listener(s) right in with the too-short title cut "Opal", the somewhat strange (yet still good) "You Don't Know What's Happening", the jazzy "Revolution", "Clockenspiel" and "People From Out The Space". Then, there are the two added bonus songs - couldn't get enough of the twenty-six minute "Lauft". To me, it sounds like maybe an early 'open jam'. It's been noted that this krautrock classic is similar to a couple of Amon Duul II titles - 'Phallus Dei' and 'Yeti', You be the judge of that. Recommended."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1