Search - Sperrmull :: Sperrmull

German RHEINLAND Rockin' Rarity

W. T. Hoffman | Pennsylvania, United States | 09/18/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"SPERRMUELL released one album in 1973, then disbanded cos the band members wanted to finish college, law school and such. The band's name means "junk-garbage", the kind municipalities dont haul away. In fact, the album cover shows the band in a german garbage truck. However, dont be misdirected by the irony of the name-- the music isnt rubbish at all. These guys definately have that early 70s british heavy-prog band sound happening, not at all like Kraftwerk, Faust, Neu!, or Can. SPERRMUELL sounds more like Grobschnitt, Eiliff, Frumpy, Dies Irae, and Pell Mell. (The northern German bands from the 70s were famous for sounding like British rock bands. ) The album's opening number sounds really cool, the best song on the album really. There's a steady tatoo bass drum hitting every beat, while the singer tells us about "ME AND MY GIRLFRIEND", in a voice any accent. What REALLY makes that cut come alive, are the synth and piano leads. Dieter Dierks, famous producer of nearly ALL the Krautrock Germany recorded at this time, added some of the Moog type synth leads, giving this song a nice prog rock veneer. I love the way the lead guitar, piano and synth all swirl melodies around each other, while the steady bass drum BOOMBOOM keeps the bottom rock solid. The next song, NO FREAK OUT, might be claimed as the "HIT" from the Album. When BRAIN RECORDS released their CD label sampler, this is the song from the band they used. Its 6 and a half minutes of rock-- adventurous, mildly experimental-- definately part of the "GOOD TIME" music floating around during the early 70s, tho not directly connected to "BOOGIE BLOOZE" or "GLAM", which had flooded the American and Brit rock markets by '73. "SIDE TWO" of the LP opens with an "exploritory prog rock" number over 9 minutes long. The vocals and lyrics come across a bit generic, followed by a terriblely dated DRUM SOLO. IT leads into a pretty cool jam, with the piano putting out nice, laid back chords, while heavier rhythym guitar passages vamp over it, all leading back to the vocal refrain reprising the song's opening. Thankfully just as a second drum solos starts to appear, the song QUICKLY fades out. (Vielen Dank!) Next, another mid-tempo rocker comes together quite nicely, overall reminiscent of the band BIRTH CONTROL. Each of the band's instrumentalists have the chops to hold their own. The bass player provides fluid, melodic lines, the drummer's style is solid, and the guitarist really ties the whole package together with a nice bow. One of the weak points with these composistions are the LYRICS themselves. Oh, they're not silly or pretensious. In fact, the lyrics are just ROCK lyrics, nothing more. Don't expect NOVALIS' deep poetry, or lyrics derived from Psychedelic, visionary philosophies ( like ELOY). Like the lead guitar playing, the lyrics are solid, but certainly not mind blowing, avant guarde, or mystical. On the album's last song, "PAT CASEY", Sperrmull plays a 3 minute pop song, that is definately commercial sounding for those times. Overall, if you are a fan of Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, or those German bands I mentioned before, you'd enjoy the album. Maybe I expected a little more "out there" music, especially since I pictured SPERRMUELL's sound prior to buying the CD, as GURU GURU with keyboards, or even FRUMPY. Tho the band isnt as great as Guru Guru, they arent a pretensious drag either. In fact, the album gathered some good press from German rock critics when released. Maybe if the band members focused more on touring, improving their musicianship and composistion, instead of going back to college, these guys could have stayed together, and developed into a REALLY good band. Instead, with very few copies of the original LP ever printed, and little radio play, the band faded quicky from the scene, only to be rediscovered during the recent KRAUTROCK revival. This is a pretty good purchase, so long as you buy the album without expecting CAN, AMON DUUL II, BIRTH CONTROL, or even ELOY for that matter."