Mani Und Seine Freunde

Great prog oddity.....but not for everyone.

     

In all honesty, there's very little I can tell you about the album apart from what I know from having heard it for so many years. I'm from Nebraska, and a close friend of mine--square pegs that we were--and I got into European progressive rock, fusion jazz & electronic new age music in the mid to late 70s by way of the Jem Imports catalog that our local music distributor in Kearney had access to. This turned us on to many classic artists we'd never have heard of otherwise: Gong, Tim Blake, Steve Hillage, Daevid Allen, Space Art, Lilienthal, Kraan, Claude Perraudin, Quantum Jump, Klaus Schulze, Patrick Vian & many others. My friend Bob happened one day upon a copy of Mani Und Seine Freunde when we were thumbing through the latest selection of imports at a head shop/music store in Lincoln (Dirt Cheap), and decided to give it a try (which was the case with a lot of new artists that looked interesting...a lot of the time we "judged a book by its cover," and more often than not, we were pleasantly surprised. That's how classy the European prog scene was in those days.). When we got home later that night (and became lysergically-primed, so to speak), we put the album on & were immediately struck by the overall whimsy of the album...which shouldn't have come as much of a surprise, what with chucklers like "Chicken Rock" and "Walking, Eating My Hot Dog." But along with the comic passages, there are truly trippy segments...there is what sounds like a mini-radio-play ("Woodpecker's Dream"...and yes, Woody makes a brief appearance), as well an electronic/acoustic/percussion excursion ("From Another World"), in addition to some straight ahead prog-style rockers featuring Kraan vocalist/guitarist Peter Wollbrandt ("Sunrise Is Everywhere"). This is truly one of the most eclectic mixed-bag collection of songs I think I've ever heard from one artist on one album. Speaking for myself, I think it's fantastic.....but I can truly only recommend it to those whose musical minds are completely open, and like their music on the bizarre, off the wall, experimental, and (always) fascinating side. If this ends up appealing to you, I would also highly recommend you look into Kraan's musical library--they are by far one of the greatest, most unique & supremely talented prog rock/fusion jazz bands to come out of Germany. Speaking from my own experience, I would start with "Wiederhoren," which to this day is my favorite of all their albums. Peace.....