Atrium - Color Seed. 1979 Germany

Just when you thought you'd heard every German funky fusion band from the late 70s and early 80s, in flies yet another one - this time its Heidelberg's Atrium. Color Seed starts off in caricature fashion, with funky bass, 4/4 rhythms, flat vocals in English, and...... hand claps (oh, really, this is ghastly stuff). Yea, get down baby. Track two 'Southern Breeze' then sends us on our expected island vacation, and here we have an upscale sophisticated soft tropical number with wordless voice. Excuse me sir?... sir! Can I get another Mai Tai please? What? Oh sure, with the umbrella is fine.... Right. Track three gets us back into the darkened lounge for more funky business. I do like that they use trombone, an instrument not represented near enough in jazz fusion. Next song reintroduces vocals, but this time in German. Hmm... some nice psychedelic guitar tones, synthesizers, and organ here. Over a disco beat mind you, but maybe we're getting somewhere now. What will Side 2 bring? OK, this is more like it. Psych guitar, electric piano, and more complex meters. And then the next one adds in a bit of progressive rock (you can see where this is going can't you?). Time for the longest track 'Quasimodo Man', coming in at a full 7 and a half minutes. This one is a bit more typical hard edged fusion, with some trading licks of psychedelic guitar and synthesizer. 'Snail Bait' closes the album and brings us back to the island to ensure the party doesn't stop... or get too weird. 

Sort of a night and day album like Eik's Speglun, but I'm afraid in this case, the highs aren't quite enough.

Last listen: July 5, 2014