Saturday 23 July 2016

L'Art De Passage ‎– Sehnsucht Nach Veränderung (GDR 1989)







Jazz-rock from the GDR with a neoclassical Picassolike cover - from just after the fall of the wall.  Though we lost one wall there, we have recently gained so many more: between India and Bangladesh, all around Israel, and soon, between the US and Mexico.  If that one proves a success, perhaps between the US and Canada next, to keep the beavers out.  Will there also be one between the Europa of infidels and the true believers, the 70-virgin blessed?  Surely we can easily imagine a future in which this is the norm, and every land is surrounded by either waters or walls-- perhaps the Chinese will finally finish up their wall too?

But let's look back 30 years to a wonderful time when walls were being destroyed...
This record is a very pleasant mix of jazz-rock and pop with some easy elements thrown in. Note the presence here of Hermann Naehring, the percussionist who made a quite endearing album as band leader or solo artist (highly recommended).  His co-composition in the A4 position (Groovin' Too - Für R.K.) you'll note is stamped with his imprimatur of a gong for the end:





I get the feeling the majority of the work can be attributed to an accordionist called Tobias Morgenstern, who has nothing else in this period in time.

Another mighty fine track, called Jana:






A pleasantly overlong LP too, clocking in at approximately 50 minutes.  Not a minute wasted, however.


4 comments:

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  2. This is great. Love the instrumentation and style. Also dynamics that don't exist in modern recordings anymore. Thanks Julian.

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