Kraan - Kraan (1972) [EMI Electrola 7243 8 22668 2 2]

This influential German band came together in the South German town of Ulm in 1967 with a meeting between teenagers Hellmut Hattler, Jan Wolbrandt, Jan Friede, and Johannes Pappert. All four had played in local jazz and rock bands, and they enjoyed jamming together on a casual basis. Though they originally played free jazz, they were influenced by Pharoah Sanders and Frank Zappa and started working on tighter, more structured pieces. After playing on an amateur basis, they decided to get serious about music and moved to the small town of Wintrup, where they lived communally for almost five years. They managed to avoid any kind of steady work, preferring to devote their time to art and film projects and their increasingly tight and professional-sounding band. After considering the name Jack Steam, they named the band Kraan instead. (The name means faucet in Dutch, a fact they were apparently unaware of at the time. It means nothing in German but they liked it because it was easy to remember.) Their eponymous first album was hastily recorded in 1971, and in it the band fuses psychedelia and jazz. Arabic and Eastern European rhythms are integrated seamlessly with funk-rock, and the 18-minute improvisation that takes up half of the album does so without a wasted minute. The combination of soulful, complex instrumental pieces and excellent musicianship was successful, and the album received excellent reviews.

Tracks:

1. Sarah's Ritt durch den Schwarzwald 6:26
2. M.C. Escher 6:16
3. Kraan Arabia 9:57
4. Head 18.37
5. Sarah auf der Gansewies' 2:06
6. Sarah's Ritt durch den Schwarzwald (Demo 1971) 6:02
7. M.C. Escher (Demo 1971) 6:33
8. Head (Demo 1971) 13:54
9. Sarah auf der Gansewies' (Demo 1971) 2:13