Sideline's Sidesteps from 1979 (?) Germany

After all the wonderful fusion we've discovered from this era in Germany, you could be forgiven for thinking there's no more quality material left to find.  Well, hearing this just might prove that supposition wrong, if you are so inclined to believe.  Because I contend this stands comparison with such classic albums as Chameleon, PSI, Arakontis, that we are all here familiar with, in the ingenuity of the progressive compositions as well as the variety of sounds and in the sheer energy-- and of course, that high voltage is why we like fusion, as opposed to folk, right?

This is a fabulous outing from the late seventies, similar to some of the violin french fusion records, like the works of Michel Ripoche or Jean-Luc Ponty, but with that typical Germanic fusion sound-- you know what I mean.  The electric violin is a big part of the sound here, it's almost like Missus Beastly but with violin.  A good close comparison would be the German album (for those who know it) Transfusion, Cat Call from 1984 (which I strongly recommend too).  

And the Hollywoodesque silent film gorilla holding a fainting girl?  A humorously brilliant cover.  Perhaps the inspiration was the track about "Stomping Mr. Cagney."

I present to you the first track again ("Space Latin") which is quite representative of the whole:





And check out the almost breathless feeling the electric violin arpeggios give to the title track "Sidesteps:"





There is even a beautiful little acoustic guitar song, to demonstrate how versatile they are.  This I'll leave for you to discover when you listen.  Speaking of which, I was highly pleased to notice this weekend that in the post for Australian First Light, the composer of that album made positive comments about the posting... have a look!  Needless to say, we love it when artists notice our work of re-exposing their masterpieces... for which they get neither credit now, nor did they ever in the past either I presume...  (I would love to hear still from J.F. Murphy and Karlos P. Steinblast from prognotfrog postings.)