Moira. 1981 Germany

See below for a fresh update (1/30/24)!

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Here's a title with a long personal history. One of those albums that I "discovered". What do I mean by that? Well I certainly didn't make the music nor was I the first person to own a copy - or even promote at some point in history. But I will take some credit for popularizing it during the internet era. I bought this copy from the German ebay in 2000 back when prices and postage were cheap enough to take chances like this. I knew Moira from their album Crazy Countdown, but never even heard about this title. The cover looked awesome, so why not try for it? And as we know now, the reward was immense. One of those great payoff listens. A year later, I penned the following for Gnosis (edited for relevancy):

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Certainly one of the more obscure bands from the vast Gunderground*, Moira were a fascinating progressive fusion collective formed by veterans of the Krautrock scene including Edgar Hoffman (Embryo) and Butze Fischer (Missus Beastly, Guru Guru, Embryo). Both their albums were recorded for the Schneeball label, the record consortium setup by members of Embryo and Missus Beastly. Musically, Moira fit snugly into the label’s distinct school of fusion and are part of the German “M” scene of jazz rock groups (Morpheus, Missus Beastly, Munju).

For the debut Crazy Countdown (ed: to be reviewed later)... Six years later the group had completely changed hands (see below for more explanation) and actually took on an older, more retro sound when absolutely no one was doing that in 1984. In an era when every band had the most tin-sounding, Casio-like, digital keyboard and every guitarist was going for the pig-squeal guitar hero motif, could a band possibly put an album out with Hammond organ, Moog and wah-wah guitar as its main ingredients? Sounding like a long lost recording from a smoky club in Hamburg, the band let loose with an unpretentious instrumental jazz rock album not found since the glory days of 1974. A truly astonishing release that beats their already excellent debut in every way. The opener Reise Nach Ixtlan** is a side long exercise in organ, analog synth, and guitar jamming with some incredible jazz drumming and a mighty fine bass player. This is followed by the short 'Oase', a flute, drum, and percussion piece that would not have been out of place on Yatha Sidhra’s album. Side two opens with 'Kristall', a more fusion oriented piece with some dirty organ and guitar shredding. 'Einsame Schatten', the only track with singing, follows with a blistering sequence that recalls the early Toto Blanke works. This track continues paradoxically with a funky jazz bit with German vocals recalling Embryo's Bad Heads and Bad Cats in their most silly mood. This section would be the album’s only misstep. The too short closer 'Resume' recalls the ending of Virus’ Revelation album complete with echoed German recitation and acid guitars.

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That's where the original review ended. Sometime during 2005 I sent over a lot of information to Alan Freeman, who was in touch with Christian Burchard back then (Embryo). He was kind enough to see if he could find out more. The end result is that Burchard had no idea what it was! Between Alan's own discovery and my own, I appended the review in 2006:

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There’s been quite a bit of debate about this second album and its origins/authenticity. Anyone from Ultima Thule’s Cosmic Egg professors to Schneeball label owner/Embryo icon Christian Burchard have shrugged their shoulders and said “no idea?”. But the label clearly says Schneeball with a yellow background. The catalog number of 0025 was presumably used by polit-rockers Hammerfest on Hier Bei Uns, though careful steady shows that album was also on the Maulschnauz label, causing even more confusion. Then there was the small matter that neither album shared similar members. However there is a link: Some copies of Crazy Countdown come with a detailed Moira newsletter. The then current lineup of the band (1978) had already evolved and included one Eberhard Bronner on drums, who is in fact on Reise Nach Ixtlan.

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And that was the last time I revisited Moira's second album. Or really gave it much more thought. Here we are 18 years later, and I'm revisiting the LP for the first time since. Still as great as I remember it. Possibly even better to my ears today as my knowledge and appreciation of jazz rock has gone up considerably since those days. I even appreciate B2, the one song I wasn't as fond of originally.

* - Someone usurped my Gnosis review as the biography on Discogs. Which I'm completely fine with. However, they decided I made a mistake by using the term Gungerground. My response: "Thank you to whoever published my original article. Anyway - Yes, "Gunderground" was correct. That was an old term used by mail order dealers in the 1980s and early 90s. It meant, of course, German Underground. So... can we leave it as I originally published it please? Mucho gracias amigos."

And that was the end of that.

** - The album was sold to me with this title: Reise Nach Ixtlan. That's what I used in my early journal keeping and reviews. However there's no evidence to support that. It was just the first track on the album. Discogs has it correct as self-titled.

---1/30/24 update

A kind reader from Germany wrote in to state that he bought the record real time - in 1981. That fits with the catalog #. Still not sure if that's when it was recorded. Apparently the 1984 "date" was a reference to George Orwell. 

As it turns out, the album was not released by Schneeball, but rather it was distributed by them, even though Schneeball allocated the current catalog number (0025). Which would explain why the label doesn't feature their "snowball chicken" logo. It's also very clear from some newsletters that have been recently uncovered that the album was indeed their second recording - and it was recorded near the same time, in the same studio, as Didier's Cptn Coffee - who has a similar sound! Finally getting closure on the origins of Moira's second album.

Ownership: LP: 1981 private. Single sleeve with the cool stenciled cover. Acquired as noted above (2000). Hard to believe that this was a $10 record even with expensive German mail order dealers back in the day. They were too caught up with the "1984"* date rather than taking the time to hear the music. 

*Since proven to be incorrect as well.

2000 (first listen); 3/17/01 (review); 7/28/06 (update); 1/24/24 (update/new entry)