Customer Reviews

Autovision

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AUTOVISION is the fifth album by Achim Reichel, and his A.R. and MACHINES band. Since there's no track listing, let's start there.
1.EISENPFERDE 4:40 (Iron Horse)
2. TANZ DER VOEGEL IN DEN WINDEN 10:36
(Dance of the Birds in the Wind)
3. DREI IN EINS 6:40(three in one)
4. TURBULENZEN 9:04 (turbulences)
5. JAY GURU DEV 10:08
6. KOPF IN DEN WOLKEN--BEINE AUF DER ERDE 0:38 (head in the clouds, legs on the earth)

For those who only know this band thru their remix/best of album "ECHOS FROM THE TIME OF THE GREEN JOURNEY", these songs sound more like that album, whereas earlier A.R and MACHINE albums have songs, singing, and other bits not heard on the BEST OF album. Also, these songs are shorter than their severely cut versions on the BEST OF. So this album's worth buying, even if you already have that best of/remix compilation. This Album is where Achim Reichel attempted to fuse JAZZ ROCK, with the Krautrock, and Kosmische rock on the earlier albums. EISENPFERDE actually has HORN CHARTS on the song, while the guitar tape loop effects are kept to a minimum. The second song, TANZ DER VOEGEL IN DEN WINDEN is a nice, long, jammy song, with little structure, reminescient of POPOL VUH's later period. This song explores a heavy texture of drums, synth and guitar loops (the TRADEMARK sound in the A.R. albums), plus SAX SOLOS included on this cut. DREI IN EINS starts out with a slowed down SKA beat, almost a half baked attempt at reggae, with THE FLUTE for the lead instrument, concluding the song with a wierd, nearly 2 minute coda of spacey sounds, that gives the piece individuality. TURBULENZEN leans back to the classic A.R. and Machines sound--guitar echoplex loops predominate, joined with bongos, until the song developes. JAY GURU DEV, if you judge a song by its title, ought to be swiming in Sitars and Tablas, like other songs in A.R. and MACHINE's repetoire. (confer the last song on AR3, with the sitars.) BUT, this seemingly India inspired song doesn't get into ragarock. Its just a nice, meditative, laid back instrumental cut. Personally, I'd prefer a bit of sitar, but oh well. THE ALBUM ENDS with a half minute track, that doenst sound like any A.R. music before it. All in all, AR5 is a nice, relaxing listen, especially if you enjoy the KOSMISCHE-JAZZ side of the Krautrock sound. The JAZZ part of this album reminds me of SERGIUS GOLOWIN but without the overdubbed talking, or maybe YATHA SIDHRA. Even tho I enjoy this album, its not my first choice when it comes to A.R. and MACHINES. Since its the last album under that moniker, I suppose that Achim Reichel didnt know where to take this sound, and decided to focus on his pop rock singing career, which turned out to be more successful for him. However, from 1970-1974 Achim pioneered that echo overdubbed guitar sound, which Robert Fripp adopted and exploited with such success on his FRIPPERTRONICS album, like "1984", or even the mid 70s collaborations with ENO. (Pussyfooting). If you ever wondered how FRIPP found his Frippertronic inspiration, it was from the first A.R. and MACHINE albums hitting the top ten album charts in England. Ask yourself if you like progressive ambient music, cos if you do, you'll enjoy this album. Altho if money is no option, this album shouldn't be your first AR purchase. However, since A.R. and MACHINE albums are close in style and content, you can optain a general idea of what Achim Reichel was after with the AR and MACHINE project, with the freakiest album being the DIE GRUENE REISE, and this album, AR5, being the laid back, jazzy, ambient end point. All in all, A.R. and Machines produced a fantastic series of albums. Get this while its in print, cos I notice these titles come and go with availablity, altho check with AMAZON.DE if you cant find a AR and MACHINE title on the american site.