Embryo Wiesebaden

Neatly recorded in February 1976, it was released on LP in 1977, but has not yet appeared as CD. The gig had taken place in a town near Munich. The album features the jazz-rock typical of Embryo, influenced by ethnic music, with scarce vocals and some unusual instruments like marimba, dilruba, oud, and nagasuram. Christian Burchard and Roman Bunka wrote most of the songs together. Only "The orange man" was written by Charlie Mariano. The long CD bonus track "Just arrived" was recorded in Northern Italy on March 6th, 1976, by the very same Embryo line-up and was as yet unreleased. The cover was then designed by Roman Bunka and was used for the CD without any changes.

From 1975 until 1978, Embryo played at the Vlotho ”Umsonst und draussen” festival every year. Their concert from July 1977 on the sports ground, figuring as festival site, in front of about 26,000 people was recorded professionally by Ulrich Wilkening, operating the soundboard. The recording has been preserved till this day. In fact unreleased, except for the track, ”Getalongwithasong”, which appeared on the double LP ”Umsonst und draußen - Vlotho 77” back then, and later as well on the 4CD box “Aufbrüche”. Here is now the whole Embryo gig of that festival, in the well-known Embryo style: jazz-rock influenced by world music. The sound is excellent, as is to be expected from an expert.

From 1975 until 1978, Embryo played at the Vlotho ”Umsonst und draussen” festival every year. Their concert from July 1977 on the sports ground, figuring as festival site, in front of about 26,000 people was recorded professionally by Ulrich Wilkening, operating the soundboard. The recording has been preserved till this day. In fact unreleased, except for the track, ”Getalongwithasong”, which appeared on the double LP ”Umsonst und draußen - Vlotho 77” back then, and later as well on the 4CD box “Aufbrüche”. Here is now the whole Embryo gig of that festival, in the well-known Embryo style: jazz-rock influenced by world music. The sound is excellent, as is to be expected from an expert.

One of the most original and innovative Krautrock bands, Embryo fused traditional ethnic music with their own jazzy space rock style. Over their 30-year existence, during which Christian Burchard has been the only consistent member, the group has traveled the world, playing with hundreds of different musicians and releasing over 20 records.
This 1979 live album brings together recordings from an Asian and Indian tour featuring the Embryo sextet with saxophonist Edgar Hofmann, guitarist Jay Zier, bassist Uwe Mullrich, Friedemann Josch on flutes, Michael Wehemeyer on harmonium, and Burchard on marimbas, along with special guest and Embryo alumnus Charlie Mariano on soprano saxophone…

Never-before heard or released live show by Embryo, which finds them still in their rock/jazz-rock phase and this is great. It won't win any awards, but it's perfectly listenable and it smokes, with some really fine guitar from Roman Bunka.
On December 17th, 1972, Embryo and Aus dem Nichts played in the Wartburg, a Wiesbaden hall. It was one of the gigs that were recorded by Xhol (Caravan) acquaintance Muck Krieger. His recording equipment was then state-of-the-art: an Uher tape recorder CR 124 and two Revox microphones for the spatial acoustics. The result is accordingly well, which you can hear for yourselves now. Hansi Fischer, previously member of Xhol (Caravan) and Embryo, joined the band for the last track. Of his group at that time, Aus dem Nichts, one track from this gig has also been conserved and has been added to the CD as a bonus track…

"Bad Heads And Bad Cats", recorded in the autumn of 1975, was released in 1976 as the eighth LP of the Munich band Embryo. It was also their first album on April, their newly founded independent distribution and label. According to drummer Christian Burchard, it is one of Embryo's best LPs. Due to its jazz focus, however, it might be too unwieldy for some listeners. The first of the two bonus tracks was recorded in the Stommeln Dierks studio in 1975, together with the other LP tracks, and couldn't be placed on the album for a lack of space. The second one was recorded at the first Vlotho festival on June 28th, 1975, and was first released on the "Open Air Concert Vlotho-Winterberg" LP. Again all tracks were written by the Embryo members themselves.

"Father, Son And Holy Ghosts" was the title of Embryo's third LP. A title which wasn't meant at all religiously, but ironically: It was intended as to pull a leg to the so-called "Holy trinity": The comparatively old Mal Waldron figured as "father" (the band's foster-father so to speak), Embryo was thought of as 'son', and with "holy ghosts" they meant their ideas. The great Siegfried Schwab convinces on guitar, veena and tarang, bringing the sounds of India with him. The additional track (20 minutes) with great violin is a soundboard recording taken from the "3rd Essener Pop & Blues Festival" in 1970, which never had been released before. The thick booklet comes with large story, discography, cover and label repros and many photographs. Progressive jazz-rock, mostly instrumental.

Surfin' is often considered one of the weakest and most commercial Embryo albums; Christian Burchard, however, has a somewhat different view. Many listeners disapprove of its distinct funk and soul influences. This development has the following background: Prior to the recordings, Christian Burchard and Roman Bunka had spent some time in New York, where they had seen a number of funk, soul, and jazz stars on stage. They were so enthusiastic about what they had heard, that some of that style was included into 'Surfin''. The name of the album, by the way, has nothing to do with surfing or surf music but refers to the musicians' traveling from gig to gig. The LP cover has been designed accordingly. It is one of the few Embryo albums recorded with the meanwhile deceased Charlie Mariano.