01	Stop Little Lady						07:19
	02	Just Before The Sun Will Rise						07:39
	03	The Work Is Done						06:00
	04	Flesh And Blood						03:29
	05	Pandemonium						06:36
	06	Let Us Do It Now						11:13
	07	Hope (Bonus Track)						04:20
	08	Rollin' (Bonus Track)						03:55
	09	The Work Is Done (Bonus Track, Single Version)						04:02
	10	What's Your Name (Bonus Track)						03:36
	11	Believe In The Pill (Bonus Track)						03:43

Birth Control - "Operation" (1971)

"Operation" was the first great album from Birth Control. Most of the psychedelia and 60's elements from the debut had been ditched in favour of a pure 70's heavy-prog style. It also featured their two first classic songs in form of the thundering opener "Stop Little Lady" and the harsh anti-war song "The Work is done". Birth Control was often compared to Deep Purple, but they had a more progressive and adventurous approach to their songs and arrangements. "Let Us do it Now" was an 11-minute symphonic, orchestrated epic with a melodramatic feel. But "Just Before the Sun Will Rise" had probably the best melody on the album, and also featured intense instrumental passages where Sobotta and Frenzel delivered emotional solos and outstanding riffs. "Flesh and Blood" and "Pandemonium" were both in a more straightforward hard rock style, but good anyway. With "Operation", Birth Control established themselves as one of the most promising German bands of the early 70's.


(ProgForest)




Birth Control - "Believe in the Pill" (1972)

"Operation" made such an impression that the band found themselves snapped up by CBS in 1972. This also meant that their time on Ohr was over, so Ohr quickly released the compilation "Believe in the Pill" to cash in some extra bucks on the band. The co-title "The Best of Birth Control" is of course rather ridiculous, as this compilation only features material from their two first albums. But you're actually getting some bonuses in form of three non-album tracks. "Hope" was a single A-side from 1970, while "What's Your Name" and the title-track were the A and B-side of a single from 1972. All three tracks are decent hard rockers, but with nothing progressive or essential about them, unless you're a collector and completist. The selections from the two albums are, with the exception of "Light My Fire", good with "Stop Little Lady" and "The Work is done" as the highlights. "Light My Fire" should have been replaced by "Recollection" from the debut, as that would have given a more complete picture of Birth Control's earliest period. There's lots of good music on this album, but "Operation" would still be a far better purchase.




Birth Control - "Hoodoo Man" (1972)

Sobotta left the band after "Operation" and was replaced by Wolfgang Neuser. This new line-up recorded Birth Control's best-known album in form of the classic "Hoodoo Man". All the six tracks on the record was 70's heavy-prog of the highest class, including their signature tune "Gamma Ray". Neuser also introduced synthesisers to the sound, and it came to the fore on the tight and complex instrumental passage of "Buy!" and in the instrumental "Kaulstoss". The title-track features an instrumental mid-part where the main theme of the song is played like a classical fugue on a church-organ. Very striking. They also successfully experiment with jazz-inflected rhythms on "Suicide" that features some very tasty organ from Neuser. "Get Down to Your Fate" also opens rather jazzy with some vibes, but quickly turns into a tight, melodic and energetic heavy-prog stomper. The earlier mentioned "Gamma Ray" also included some percussive passages and vocal acrobatics by Noske. This album comes highly recommended to everyone into 70's heavy-prog with heavy guitar and powerful Hammond organ, and it's a true classic of the genre.




Birth Control - "Rebirth" (1973)

Some serious personnel-changes took place in 1973, and left Noske and Frenzel as the only remaining original members. Zeus B. Held replaced Neuser on keyboards, while Peter FЖller was the new man on bass. They also included an additional guitarist with Dirk Steffens. The first and only album by this line-up was supposed to be Birth Control's major breakthrough, but "Rebirth" turned instead out to be a disappointment. The album lacked the imagination of "Hoodoo Man" and sounded simply too average and traditional to distinguish the band from lots of other groups of the same era. The vocals were now shared between Noske and FЖller, and this worked best on "Back From Hell" that easily was the best track on the album. It became one of Noske's favourites on stage, as it allowed him to stretch out on drums. "Mister Hero" is also interesting as it combines one of Birth Control's heaviest riffs with a trumpet. But the rest of the record? Well, the 10-minute "Together Alone Tonight" is pieced together by rather ordinary riffs and melodies of the kind you've heard many times before. The opener "She's Got Nothing On You" was a blatant attempt at a hit song, and both this and "No Shade is Real" sounded slightly bluesier and more basic than what the band had done earlier. "M.P.C." is on the other hand a tasty and short little instrumental piece where Held plays some beautiful piano and Mellotron. Interestingly enough, Held's style of playing on this album was very similar to Reinhold Sobotta, using Hammond organ and clavinet simultaneously. Still, "Rebirth" sounded like a step backward, and didn't give the band the attention they had hoped for.




Birth Control - "Live" (1974)

Steffens left the band after "Rebirth" and Birth Control was a four-piece again. The missteps of that album were more than made up for when the band released "Live". This double-album was recorded on the German tour in 1974, and remains a favourite among many fans. It demonstrated their qualities and creativity as a live-band very well, and featured largely extended versions of some of their best songs. "The Work is done" goes on for nearly 17 minutes, and the jams vary from funky and jazzy, to heavy and aggressive, and then to spacey and freaked-out. The performance is inspired, and will not bore you for a second. The 15-minute version of "Back From Hell" features of course an extended drum-solo from Noske, but I still prefer this to the inferior version on "Rebirth". The power and energy of the instrumental passages is much more intense here. "Gamma Ray" is stretched out for over 20 minutes, but it strangely enough doesn't feel like much longer than the studio-version. "She's Got Nothing On You" is not extended and played rather straightforward, but it still sounds better here than on the stiff studio-version. The 11-minute version of the old rock'n'roll classic "Long Tall Sally" is the weak point of this album. It was probably funny enough if you were there, but I would have preferred one of the band's own songs instead. But it's fortunately not enough to spoil the overall good impression of a solid live-album recorded by a band that was at the peak of their career.