Guru Guru - Dance Of The Flames (Uk) [CD]

Originally released in 1974. The first significant change in Guru Guru's musical direction. An excellent jazz-rock-fusion album. Recorded within 8 days in Studio 70, Munich, in April 1974 and released the same year, Dance Of The Flames is Guru Guru's fifth album. After four acid-heavy Krautrock albums, Guru Guru started changing their sound. With a new line-up unique to this album, Guru Guru mastermind and visionary Mani Neumeier formed a power trio together with Houschäng Nejedepout (guitars) and Hans Hartmann (drums, percussion), playing some kind of cosmic Latin-fusion-jazz style, combined with world music elements and Spanish, Arabic and Indian influences. The new guitarist, Houschäng Nejedepour, who joined from German experimental jazz rock band Eiliff, had a massive impact on Guru Guru's new musical direction. He wrote four of the eight album songs and co-wrote the remaining four. Of course, Mani Neumeier's humour and sonic experiments are found on Dance Of The Flames as usual. The song 'Dagobert Duck's 100th Birthday' opens with silly duck vocals before the cool drum patterns come in, and they are back to end the song. 'The Girl From Hirschhorn' opens with birds chirping, and 'Rallulli' ends with the sound of a flushing toilet. Long instrumental pieces, superb guitar-playing and extremely complex drumming, often with African and Indian rhythms, makes this jazz-rock album musically one of the best Guru Guru albums ever. Guru Guru have been an institution for over five decades. Forerunners of Krautrock, the group, founded in 1968 by drummer, singer and visionary Mani Neumeier, have been breaking boundaries since the beginning, fusing free jazz with rock'n'roll, experimenting with Indian, Southeast Asian and African rhythms and styles, to create their own brand of psychedelic cosmic rock, inspiring.