Birth Control - Plastic People. 1975 Germany

Birth Control were one of those bands that managed to survive the various musical movements of the 1970s and 80s. In order to do that, a group must be flexible and change with the times - for better or worse. Birth Control were always an outlier when discussing the best music of the Krautrock era. In reality they were more of a UK / North American styled hard rock band, one that avoided the trappings of phasing, cosmic tripping, and long psychedelic jams. By 1973, Birth Control tried their hand at more commercial material, including dragging along a horn section, to mixed results. Then the obligatory live album brought out the band's inner Deep Purple. And now it's 1975, it's Germany, and you do what?

You go prog. Not Krautrock styled prog mind you, but the UK variant of such. Eloy went forth with Power and the Passion, and Jane coughed up Fire Water Earth and Air. And so Birth Control came out with Plastic People. When considering their pedigree, and the fact they weren't really ever the best at what they did, one would presume Plastic People would fall on its face, in an almost laughable Spinal Tap way. Wrong again. Birth Control pretty much blew away the competition (it was Eloy who ended up with egg on their face). 

This is an album I'd owned for many years without much recollection, until about six years ago a focused listen while driving through South Dakota (there isn't really much else to do...) opened this up for me. Tonight's listen just reinforced that experience. It's a blend of their hard rock past, mixed in with solid songwriting and real progression in the compositions. The title track is 11 minutes, and seems half of that, which is a good sign. 'Tiny Flashlights' is brilliant, perhaps the best song in Birth Control's entire canon. There's some really great synthesizer work throughout the album in addition to the usual organ/guitar display. Even a track with a dumbo title like 'Rockin' Rollin' Roller' is much better than it seems at the beginning, and the song is memorable in a good way. I see some bellyaching around the band's use of commercial styled singing and "lounge" moves. To me, that's another half point positive, as I really appreciate the melodicism brought forth, and works well as a contrast to the otherwise mathematical complexity. It's not that dissimilar to how the American groups approached progressive rock in the mid 70s. BTW - there are only horns on one track for those who break out in hives at the mere sound of them.

Ownership: LP: 1975 CBS. Gatefold. Online acquisition (2016). Excellent artwork and it's featured on my "wall of albums".

Former ownership: CD: 1995 Columbia. Jewel case. For whatever reason, the CD switches the places of  'Rockin' Rollin' Roller' and 'Tiny Flashlights'. Odd. This was my initial copy of the album.

1997 (first listen); 6/8/06; 5/20/11; 10/14/17 (review / new entry)