Epitaph - Return to Reality. 1979 Germany

Epitaph faces the same problems of many progressive bands from the early 70s - they change. Their 1971 debut is a superb slice of Krautrock followed by a couple of fine hard prog albums. They disappear for about 5 years, and reemerge with a fetching cover and some lengthy tracks. A new prog album obviously? Ehh... No.

When I first started deep diving into the bins in the mid 80s, this album showed up. I couldn't get rid of it fast enough. Some 35+ years later, and here we are again with the LP in hand. I already know it's not a prog album. Let's hear it with a different perspective, which is what I should have done back then too. Youth.

OK, yes, I like this album. Very strong hard rock entry, and the extended tracks allow Epitaph some room to maneuver with more ideas. They're a 5 piece with excellent keyboard work and dual guitars. It's not a strikingly great album, but very professional. And much better than some of the pandering hard rock bands in the US and UK during the time. This isn't a commercial album at all, even if it has some friendly hooks. The best way to approach albums like this is to strip away their legacy and the Brain label, and pretend you just found a private pressing from Nebraska by a band called Epitaph. Believe me, it makes a difference. One's mind drifts to a different landscape, and the music fits that narrative. SFF this is not. Quality hard rock is the game here. Keeper.

Ownership: LP: 1979 Brain. Single sleeve. Orange label. Recent acquisition from an antique mall. I generally avoid antique malls, as the records are almost always multi-X higher priced than retail and usually in crap condition. And that's mostly the case at this antique mall as well. But this particular dealer has quality merchandise at competitive prices (i.e. a bit lower than local b&m's). I picked up a couple of other commodity items as well. I'll be back to this table again. Oh - a word about the cover. It's what we today call "cheesecake". And she's a pretty model. Just don't look too close under the arms...