Miler72
Embryo has always been Christian Burchard and whoever he can find at the time, so that always affected the outcome of each Embryo album. I understand there is an Amon Duul connection (members of that commune), so I shouldn't be too surprised Amon Duul II members have popped up from time to time. 1971's Rache, released in 1971, is their second album. Jimmy Jackson, who played on several Amon Duul II albums, including Tanz der Lemminge and Wolf City, and apparently (uncredited) on Tangerine Dream's Electronic Meditation, appears here, playing Mellotron and organ. I have to say the vocals are the weak point of this album, but the musical quality more than makes up for it. At first it starts off in Jethro Tull territory, complete with flute, but you won't mistake this for a Tull album because of the clavinet used and some world music influences. "Time" while featuring vocals, features a tone of great use of clavinet and organ giving it an almost funky feel. "Revenge" features some really great Mellotron brass from Jimmy Jackson, while "Spain? Yes! Franco, Finished" shows once again the weakness of the album and the lyrics are badly written, although the lyrics very much protest the Franco regime in Spain. But then it's the instrumental part this band really shines, and if you can block out the vocals, you get treated with more great clavinet and Mellotron. I really glad to try out Embryo, this album, despite the vocals, really blew me away, and it comes highly recommended.