Missus Beastly - Space Guerilla. 1978 Germany

Missus Beastly's final album sees the legendary band going out in style. The constant line-up changes had taken their toll on the group, and though they continued on with different line-ups as late as 1982, the band finally collapsed with the advent of punk and heavy metal.

Flute and Clavinet are but two instruments that define this mature work by these veterans of Germany's jazz rock circuit. A mixture of high energy fusion and spaced out cosmic jazz with long flights of organ jamming define the lengthy title track, arguably the album's finest moment. Some beautiful piano can be found on 'Guitar for Sale'. 'Rahsaan Roland Kirk' is a 3 minute echoed flute solo, which is quite cool. 'Fuzzy, Don't Go to the Disco' brings in the expected funk bits, typical of the era, but features some fine shredding violin. 'Hoffmannstropfen' seems to be headed in a similar direction, before taking a distinct turn towards their classic 1974 Nova album, which is always a welcome sound. 'For Flü' demonstrates Missus Beastly at their most technical and progressive, with some superb flute and piano playing. 'King Garlic' continues with the piano driven sound, this time in a highly melodic composition, and a great way to close the album. For my tastes, Space Guerilla is second only to the monstrous 1974 self-titled album in their discography. I do hope a tape surfaces of one of their mid to late 70s performances. For example, 'Porta Erotica' that has been added as a bonus track to the Garden of Delights CD, from one of the famous Umsonst und Draussen festivals that we covered years ago.

Personal collection
LP: 1978 Schneeball
CD: 2015 Garden of Delights

As expected the Garden of Delights CD comes with full historical liners in English, and two relevant bonus tracks. Apparently the tapes were lost, so the CD was taken from clean vinyl. Honestly, I may not have known that if they hadn't said it. The original LP comes in a fine gatefold, and there are least two label designs.