FunkFreak75 Klaus' fourth album with his Passport lineup: the same dudes who'll stick with him through the end of the decade! How's that for unusual!

1. "Eternal Spiral" (3:59) complex and cruisin' (8.875/10)

2. "Looking Thru" (7:58) smooth yet intricate with an AWESOME funky second motif in the middle. Go Wolfgang Schmid! (14.5/15)

3. "Zwischenspiel" (1:31) a wonderful acoustic guitar solo with piano accompaniment. (5/5)

4. "Rockport" (3:31) clavinet and unusual synth sounds with pulsing near-Disco beat coming from the rhythm section over which Klaus' multi-saxes belt it out. Very poppy but infectious. (8.875/10)

5. "Tarantula" (3:48) prolonged effected-saxophone squirts panning across the sonic field with minimal support from the rest of the band eventually results in a quite wonderfully bombastic sax opening which signals the release of the funky bass, drums, and clavinet beneath. A little too cheesy-radio friendly with its many hooks there are some seriously innovative ideas here. I'm so glad Klaus chooses a tenor sax for most of his work--including background playing. (9.25/10)

6. "Ready for Take Off" (4:47) opens like something from an RTF album--that hasn't come out yet--before dialing in on a bluesy-teasy jazz-lite tune. Klaus once again shows his wonderfully flamboyant mastery of so many tricks one can play on a saxophone. The "flute" synth melody line in the "chorus" is definitely an earworm; the keyboard work overall is amazing. Mega kudos Kristian Schulze! (9/10)

7. "Eloquence" (5:12) more experimental play with odd synth sounds before drummer Curt Cress joins in. The two actually make for a great duet--but then the bass and other keys join in--as does Klaus on his soprano sax--gathering momentum in a cool jazz motif with great keyboard and bass playing among the sophisticated key and chord changes. An excellent jazz-rock fusion tune that definitely falls more to the jazz side than some of the other stuff on the album. (9.33333/10)

8. "Things to Come" (2:45) more weird synth-generated sound explorations before the full band, in a very muted-top end form, enters in a driving rock-like motif to support a frenetic and very loose jam from multiple saxophones. Kind of cool! (8.875/10)

Total Time 33:31

Does Klaus and his Passport crew get enough credit? I don't think so. There is a lot of pandering to the listener going on yet the music never fails to be sophisticated and dextrous--and definitely jazzy or funky most of the time.

A/five stars; though a little schlocky and syrupy at times, this is definitely a collection of highly-skilled performances of some very clever and ingenious compositions and ideas. I cannot diminish the masterful music here.

seyo The 4th Passport album is a "lite" fusion music dominated by keyboards. It is not much progressive or essential in any way but jazz-rock fans should not mind having this title in their collection. Agressive keyboards work in "Eternal Spiral", nice jazz tune "Eloquence" and some excellent synth and electric piano parts of the title track are worthy checking out. On the other hand there are many dull and inoffensive "Muzak" moments along with a catchy but too simple R'n'B dance rhythm in "Rockport".

"Looking Thru" was released by Suzy label in Yugoslavia as a commercial and popular item licensed from Atlantic Records. Therefore, "Rockport" was a staple dance floor track across many discotheques in the former Yugoslavia in late 1970s, while "Eternal Spiral" was frequently radio-aired as a background music/jingle.

Doldinger's sax is somehow subdued on this album while keyboards are dominant. That alone should not be a problem, but arrangements are too pedestrian without enough harder edge or courage in playing.

Warthur Of the tracks on Looking Thru, the most intriguing one is probably the opening Eternal Spiral, which sees bandleader Klaus Doldinger incorporate synthesisers into the group's music to a greater extent than seen previously. Whilst much of the rest of the material on here is competently performed middle-of-the-road fusion, the synthesisers come back here and there, adding a texture to the group's music not to be found in the likes of, say, Weather Report - who appear to be their primary fusion inspiration this time around. This results in an interesting album which should provide an entertaining listen to fusion fans, but at the same time it doesn't quite manage to be memorable enough to be widely recommended.