Loading cart
Spectrum (Vinyl)
Spectrum was the second solo album, and first for the legendary MPS label from the great German guitarist. Kriegel had done a long stint with The Dave Pike Set before he went off on his own. His solo career went on for many years and he also had a long association with EMI Records. He was also a noted journalist - in fact he probably became as famous for his writing as he was for his career as a musician.
At this point in 1971, Kriegel was adding a psychedelic flair to his electric jazz/jazz rock. He added tasty bits of sitar - real groovy stuff, like wow! - and he's backed by some killer musicians: John Taylor (electric piano), Peter Trunk (bass), Peter Baumeister (drums), and Cees See (percussion). Perhaps a bit dated in spots but the entire ensemble plays with real fire. If you are interested in that period of time when jazz musicians were plugging in and turning up the volume you need to hear this. Its a highly recommended classic.
"In 1971, 27-year-old guitarist Volker Kriegel gifted MPS one of his most amazing recordings ever - the second one under his own name, while at the same time playing a parallel role as guitarist with the popular group the Dave Pike Set. In this quintet lineup, Kriegel’s amazing qualities fan out into the areas of jazz-rock, lyrical folk and free jazz. There are the familiar sitar-Indie-rock tones, familiar to listeners through Kriegel's play with Dave Pike: Zoom opens the album with an electrified jolt, and it’s not just because of Kriegel’s overpowering trance-like solos – Peter Trunk’s grooving bass lines and Cees See’s driving percussion also have their say. So Long For Now, delights with its relaxed blues-rock feel which finds Trunk and drummer Peter Baumeister in intimate dialogue as they hook up with Kriegel’s silky-smooth, flowing lines and John Taylor’s smoldering Electra-piano play. The savvy rondo More About D and Instant Judgment thrillingly showcase the group’s seamless integration of lyrical, swinging passages with freely cascading sounds. And then out of the blue there appears Suspicious Child, Growing Up. Bluesy, folk-hued, and easy-going, its offhandedness is outdone only by the dreamy ballad Ach Kina. In the finale, Kriegel and his cohorts once again focus on the whole Spectrum in a fantastic, dancing interplay of smoldering keys, stratospheric cello lines, a complexity of percussion rhythms and virtuoso guitar play adorned with soulful whimsy."