Cross-Collateral [Original recording remastered]

Passport | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 22, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 1975
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Wounded Bird Records
• ASIN: B00005Y2E6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,015 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Homunculus

2. Cross-Collateral

3. Jadoo

4. Will-O' The-Wisp

5. Albatross Song

6. Damals

Editorial Reviews

'Cross-Collateral' was originally issued in 1975. Wounded Bird Records winds up it's series of CD re-issues by the German jazz-fusion group Passport.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely intense monster-chops fusion album!, June 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Cross Collateral (Audio CD)

Recorded in 1975, CROSS-COLLATERAL is undoubtably the most intense and hard-hitting of PASSPORT's fusion output. The compositions are brain-twistingly complex and fast, yet there are spacious subtleties throughout this disc. From the modal brilliance of HOMMUNCULUS, the dynamically progressive CROSS-COLLATERAL to the street-funk drive of JADOO, Klaus Doldinger showcases his quartet's ability to master difficult material, solo tastefully and comp with active group synergy and do it all with impeccable musicianship. Line-up: Curt Cress, drums. Kristian Schultze, keyboards. Wolfgang Schmidt, bass & guitar. Klaus Doldinger, saxes, keyboards, synthesizers.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great jazz rock with some prog mixed in, May 16, 2006

By 

Jeffrey J.Park (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cross-Collateral (Audio CD)

This is another great album to come out of the incredibly diverse 1970s German music scene. Interestingly enough, although this 1975 album is a jazz-rock album, it is loosely tied to the German experimental rock scene (in my mind at any rate) in that Passport shared a producer with bands such as the Cosmic Jokers - namely, Deiter Dierks. The production quality by the way, is stellar.

The musicians on this album include bandleader Klaus Doldinger (tenor and soprano saxes, mini-moog synthesizer, electric piano, and mellotron); incredible drummer Curt Cress; Wolfgang Schmid (Rickenbacker bass and acoustic guitar on Damals); and Kristian Schulze (Fender electric piano and Hammond organ).

There are six pieces on the album and range in length from 4'38" to 13'38". Stylistically, the album is mostly jazz rock, but there are elements of progressive rock scattered here and there. That is to say that the rhythms and chord structures are not always jazzy, and that melodies are used more often than is characteristic of most jazz rock. There is also the choice of instrumentation, which includes the mini-moog and most notably the mellotron, which is used on Albatross Song. Although synthesizers were being used by other jazz rock groups around this time including Return to Forever, their use on Cross-Collateral seems somewhat more...British. Furthermore, the bassist's decision to use a trebly, punchy Rickenbacker bass rather than, say a fretless Fender jazz bass, was unusual.

In a nutshell, the performances by all of the musicians are superb, especially those by Billy Cobham influenced drummer Curt Cress. In fact, many of the pieces seem to revolve around the drummer! The pieces are all well put together, develop nicely, and are diverse with respect to dynamics and overall timbre. This album is highly recommended along with the 1974 release "Looking Thru". In fact, I would urge prog heads who don't mind jazz rock to check this album out - the folks on the Gibraltar Encyclopedia of prog rock page had some very nice things to say about it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the best!!, February 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Cross Collateral (Audio CD)

I saw them perform this album live for the first time which was also their first live show back on German soil after they were previously whistled off stage for playing their new fusion/electronic style jazz and had left Germany for a while. Undoubtedly one of Klaus Doldinger's finest musical achievements which, to my mind, ranks right up there with Volker Kriegel's "Journal" and John McLaughlin's "Birds of Fire". A timeless piece of modern european jazz that still thrills me after all these years. Horst