Amon Düül III [UK] 1992 Die Lösung (with special guest Robert Calvert)

(with special guest Robert Calvert)

This is one great album, and one needn't be familiar with a single note ever played by Amon Düül, Amon Düül II, or any other German progressive rock band to enjoy it; indeed, this is the kind of album that fans of the Doors might honestly be said to have been wishing for. Stylistically there's not a lot in common between the two groups apart from some highly melodic guitar, some of it blues-derived (the Groundhogs' Tony McPhee is on the album, so you knew there'd be blues in there somewhere), and swirling organ and synthesizer arabesques, but one does get the real sense of this being
a performance piece for poet and band, mostly courtesy of Robert Calvert. The latter's lyrics are dense with meaning, some of it obscure but all of it intriguing, and the overall effect of it is like listening to a latter-day extension of the kind of work that the Doors aspired to in their best days, with maybe a freer use of keyboards and definitely more ambitious and effective jams.There's some question between the two co-leaders of this version of Amon Düül (which is really an offshoot of Amon Düül II) about whether this album should have been released, since Dave Anderson regards it as completed, and okayed its going out, but John Wienzierl didn't think of it as finished. In any case, it rocks very hard and, in most instances, very memorably, with a big sound that manages to embrace elements of progressive rock, psychedelia, and a good beat.
The British Amon Duul were formed in 1981 in Great Britain by guitar player John Weinzierl (Penguin) and bass player Dave Anderson (Hawk), who both had been members of Amon Düül 2. They published a few albums during the 80s; sadly most of them with very little information about who played on them; only "Die Lösung" gives some detailed information on the cover. From the information on "Die Lösung" one can see that the line-up was very interesting, at least on this record; besides Weinzierl and Anderson it features Robert Calvert of Hawkwind as singer (he was also responsible for the lyrics), Julie Wareing on vocals, Guy Evans of VdGG on drums and Ed Wynne and Joie Hinton of the Ozric Tentacles on guitar and synths.

Tracks: 
[Reissue1997]
1. Big Wheel (5:09)
2. Urban Indian (5:30)
3. Adrenalin Rush (5:21)
4. Visions of Fire (5:59)
5. Drawn to the Flame pt. 1 (8:07)
6. They Call it Home (4:40)
7. Die Losung (3:36)
8. Drawn to the Flame pt. 2 (7:34)

Line-up:
— John Weinzierl / guitar
— Dave Anderson / bass
— Guy Evans / drums
— Julie Wareing / vocals
— Robert Calvert / vocals
— Ed Wynne / guitar
— Joie Hinton / synthesizers

==>Amon Düül III [UK] 1992 Die Lösung<==