01	Solar Music I						04:38
	02	Food Sicore						03:52
	03	Solar Music II						06:03
	04	Mulheim Special						10:43
	05	Otto Pankrock						06:26
	06	Golden Mist						10:56
	07	Solar Music III						12:26
	08	The Missing 13 Minutes, Previously Unreleased						13:08
	09	Vanishing Towards The East						00:35

Grobschnitt - Solar Music - Live
Country of Origin: Germany
Format: CD
Record Label: Repertoire Records
Catalogue #: PMS 7096-WP
Year of Release: 1998
Time: aprox.77 min
Info: Repertoire Records

Tracklist: Solar Music I (4:38), Food Sicore (3:55), Solar Music II (6:03), Mulheim Special (10:43), Otto Pankrock (6:26), Golden Mist (10:56), Solar Music III (12:26), The Missing 13 Minutes (13:08), Vanishing Towards The East (0:35).
It has taken a very long time, but at last we have some more Grobschnitt on CD. While drummer Eroc would like to release all of the material (and is doing a wonderful job with the Grobschnitt Story CDs), guitarist Lupo is much more reserved, if not completely unhappy with his musical past. But, thanks to wonderful Repertoire Records and Eroc, besides the eponymous first album (with a bonus live track of not less than twenty-nine minutes), a second CD-issue of Rockpommel's Land (including a previously unreleased bonus track), the bi-lingual version of Jumbo, and Merry-Go-Round (two bonus tracks), there is Solar Music - Live. Recorded in 1978, this holds one of the many versions of Solar Music, and probably the best version, or at least the ultimate version of this magnum opus.

It was first released (as Sun Trip) on the debut album (seventeen minutes), and then on Ballermann in a version of thirty-three minutes. The song was used as a place for long solos and jams, and was rewritten several times as well. (Much later, after Eroc's leaving the band, it was re-written completely, and titled Sonnentanz.) It could never have been performed the same twice. The highlight was around 1978, when the song easily lasted for more than an hour. The live version just had to be recorded and released. All of the thirty-two gigs on the 1978 tour were recorded by the band, and the recording from Mulheim, April 17, 1978, was picked out for the release.

I can imagine some would say this is too much. Grobschnitt concerts not seldomly lasted for over three hours, and included little slapstick plays by the band and crew, which would be very hard to capture on disc. This recording show that great musical part of the band, although Solar Music must have contained a lot of visual effects as well. The sound tracks how a band creating history.

Solar Music has a lot of long solos by Lupo (guitar) and Mist (keyboards). Some parts are a bit long, but still ten times more exciting than boring Pink Floyd soundscapes. Something is going on here! Eroc's drumming is never predominating the sound (no long drum solos), but he is the axis for the music. After solos and breaks, the band returns to his guidance for getting them back to where they came from. Grobschnitt are bombastic (of course - we're talking Krautrock here!), hypnotic at times, melodic, delicate at times. Heavier, less electronic, and more diverse than Eloy, sometimes reminiscent of mighty Nektar.

The track list could have read: 1 Solar Music (53:58), 2 Symphony (12:43). And that's it. The original LP, in 1978 extremely long with its 55 minutes, contained only Solar Music. For easier airplay possibilities and royalty calculations, the band divided the recording into several parts with fantasy titles, which resulted in the track list as stated above this review, with The Missing 13 Minutes being the encore, based on the riffs of Symphony, in which the band members are introduced, and the audience greeted.
This is such essential stuff! Grobschnitt are part of Krautrock's foundation, and this CD is one of the most important releases. Why not 10 points out of 10 then? Well, this album shows only one part (an important part, though) of Grobschnitt's history, their legacy. Albums like Jumbo, Rockpommel's Land and the debut album show more diversity, and will therefore be rated even higher than this one.

Conclusion: 9 out of 10.

Jerry van Kooten