Dzyan - 2010 - Mandala (SWF-Session 1972)

Dzyan

2010

Mandala (SWF-Session 1972)

01. Resurrection (9:49)
02. Dragonsong (11:33)
03. Mandala - Transmigration (2:08)
04. Steel's Electric (6:30)
05. Daddy Groove (8:43)
06. Saz (8:08)
07. Celestial City (4:23)

Lothar Scharf / drums, percussion, timpani
Reinhard Karwatky / electric bass, contrabass, percussion
Eddy Marron / electric guitar, baglama
Gerd "Bock" Ehrmann / tenor sax
Jochen Leuschner / vocals, congas, percussion

Recorded "live" to analog 2-track at SWF-Studio U1, Baden-Baden (Germany), October 27, 1972

This was a posthumous release originally recorded live in studio back in 1972 but not released until 2010. I was a little nervous about this one only because I found the 1972 debut to be a little hit and miss for my tastes and this live recording came between that one and the followup "Time Machine" which I really like. And while the syle here may be more like the debut this one is a winner folks. Already since the debut the band has a new drummer and lead guitarist on this live recording. Not a bad thing though as the great Eddy Marron plays lead guitar on here, and he would also play on their next studio album "Time Machine". Interesting that the lead vocalist and sax player would also leave before "Time Machine" was recorded. I should also mention that only one track on here can be found on their studio albums making this a must for DZYAN fans.

"Resurrection" is the almost 10 minute opener. Lots of dark atmosphere to start on this one as sounds come and go. Some heavy outbursts a minute in including sax. The song finally kicks into gear before 3 1/2 minutes as the tempo picks up. Vocals around 4 minutes for the first time. Love the instrumental section before 5 1/2 minutes as the guitar starts to let it rip. Nice heavy rhythm section here too. This lasts for just over a minute then the vocals return. Atmosphere ends it. A good tune but my least favourite of the bunch. "Dragonsong" is the only track on here found on another album by them (debut) . Killer intrumental work as the vocals come in. Great sound ! This is the longest tune at 11 1/2 minutes. Love the sax playing over top when the vocals stop. Vocals are back after 4 1/2 minutes. Excellent guitar work 6 1/2 minutes in as Eddy lights it up for an extended period. A drum solo follows before 8 1/2 minutes. The music kicks back in a minute later. Big finish on this one. "Mandala-Transmigration" is a short two minute piece that is very atmospheric with no melody.

"Steel's Electric" is a jazzy offering with intricate drum work and lots of sax leads. Crunchy bass lines too on this one. The guitar comes to the spotlight before 4 minutes and Eddy is fantastic as usual. An awesome instrumental. "Daddy Groove" is laid back as the sax rips it up over top. Vocals follow in a bluesy style. The vocals give way to another hair raising solo from Eddy that starts before 4 minutes and continues until after 5 1/2 minutes when the vocals return. The vocals get pretty passionate at times. Another great track. "Saz" has a distinct Eastern sound to it with trippy percussion as well. Vocals 5 1/2 minutes in. A groovy track. "Celestial City" is also from 1972 but a live recording from an open-air concert. The sound isn't as good but it's fine. Love when it kicks in after 2 1/2 minutes and Eddy plays at the speed of light. The drummer is trying to keep up with him and the bass player too. Too much !

Dzyan - 1975 - Electric Silence

Dzyan

1975

Electric Silence

01. Back To Where We Come (8:57)
02. A Day In My Life (4:03)
03. The Road Not Taken (4:54)
04. Khali (4:55)
05. For Earthly Thinking (9:38)
06. Electric Silence (4:30)

Eddy Marron / acoustic, 6- & 12-string guitars, sitar, baglama, tambura, Mellotron, vocals
Reinhard Karwatky / 4- & 8- string basses, 4- & 5- string double basses, Super String synth, Mellotron
Peter Giger / drums, percussion

Recorded and remixed at Dierks Studios, Stommeln, Germany, October 1974.

Dzyan's third and last album, still as a trio and recorded in the Dierks studios and released on the legendary Bacillus label. Graced with a grotesque cartoon-like artwork, the album remains very much in the line of the previous two albums, even if they return to shorter track format resembling their debut album.

Opening with the reflective 9-mins Back Where We Came From, Electric Silence starts very strongly with Giger's marimbas and gongs, preceding Marron's slow increasingly-present guitar wails before Giger takes it over again. By the half of the track, the group is now in full flight with Karwatky's bass giving a Nucleus base on which both Giger and Marron can expand and improvise. Indian music is the main influence of A Day In My Life, just as on the previous album Kabisrain. Closing up the first side is The Road Not Taken (a reference to Time Machine artwork cover?), which is downright dissonant and comes close to atonal music if it was not for Marron's guitar wailing like an Indian sitar.

The flipside starts with an Indian-laced Khali (who'd have thought with such a name, right? ;-), where mellotrons are in the background. The same mellotrons pave the 9-min Earthly Thinking's intro over dissonant wooden block percussions first and steel drums second, then ensues a wide improvisation with only Karwatky staying wise and providing a base, thena drum solo ending in total sonic chaos with both Marron and Karwatky also going nuts. Closing with the album's title track (my fave) where the Mahavishnu Orchestra impressions return, reminiscing of the previous' album title track. Compared with their previous works his album does have a more ethnic feel (mostly Indian), but aesthetically- speaking it is just as Dzyann-esque as their previous two.

Just as excellent as their first two albums, Electric Silence closes Dzyan's recording career with an impeccable album and rounding up a very even discography where all three albums are equal in quality. It would be hard for me to choose just one album, meaning that you'd have to discard two choices as good as the one you've taken. So if anything, I'd suggest you start chronologically

Dzyan - 1973 - Time Machine

Dzyan

1973

Time Machine

01. Kabisrain (7:59)
02. Magika (8:45)
03. Light Shining Out Of Darkness (3:13)
04. Time machine (17:47)

Eddy Marron / acoustic, 6- & 12-string guitars, baglama, vocals
Reinhard Karwatky / bass, double bass, Super String synth
Peter Giger / drums, percussion

As Dzyan's first album was more or less a studio/one-time project, the first line-up did not survive the album's release. So the group was reduced to a very-different trio with only Karwataky remaining from the previous one. In came Giger on drums and percussions and Eddy Marron on guitars. Graced with a full psych artwork representing their tree-bordered paths, this album is one of Germany's most acclaimed instrumental jazz-fusion album. It was recorded in the Dieter Dierks studios and released on the very collectible Bacillus label.

Made of three tracks, the first side starts on the superb 8-min ethnic-sounding Kabisrain with a distinct Indian influence. The following almost 9-min Magika is much harder to swallow/ingest as it starts out on a wild drum intro, and it never really lets up until its end. The tracks often veers dissonant and limit atonal, but does remain accessible (more so than Crimson's Moonchild or Providence) to most and in its second part the guitar does take the track into more conventional improv grounds, but still remains uneasy reminding some of Nucleus's Belladona works. The third (and much shorter) Light Shining Out Of Darkness is quite a change as it veers Flamenco-jazz in a way that Metheny or DeLucia would not disown. Easily the album's most accessible track.

A sidelong monster title track with its 18 minutes fills the flipside. The track can be seen as a manic Mahavishnu Orchestra meeting a brass-less Nucleus. If the track remains relatively on the subject, avoiding useless lengthy soloing, it does not avoid some lengths especially that Marron's guitars are the only fronting soloing instrument. However the track veers around the 1é-min mark and presents a very repetitive riff that makes the last 6 minutes a bit minimalist, but also a bore.

While Dzyan's second album is well in the line of their first album, it is more "concise", precise and urgent than the debut album.

Dzyan - 1972 - Dzyan

Dzyan 

1972 

Dzyan

01. Emptiness (9:39)
02. The bud awakes (2:57)
03. The wisdom (10:21)
04. Foghat's work (6:31)
05. Hymn (1:12)
06. Dragonsong (7:31)
07. Things we're looking for (1:52)
08. Back to Earth (4:11)

Jochen Leuschner / lead vocals, congas, percussion
Harry Krämer / acoustic & electric guitars
Gerd-Bock Ehrmann / tenor sax
Reinhard Karwatky / bass, double bass, arranger
Ludwig Braum / drums, percussion

With:
Günter Kühlwein / organ & electric piano (2,3,7)

Recorded at Rhein-Main-Studio, Frankfurt/M. 1972.

Named after the Indian sacred book of creation, this (at first) studio experiment recorded very quickly their first album (within two months of their creation) and it was released on the small Aronda label in April 72. Graced with an impressive artwork, the quintet's album develops an impressive sung jazz-rock that embodied almost every aspects of the genre, but there is a general Canterbury feel pervading through the album.

Dzyan's jazz-rock spectrum ranges from the full-blown early fusion ala Nucleus (the opening Emptiness) to the much rockier Dragonsong, the electronic and cello Hymn and the very vocal Bud Awakes (where the group shows an excellence sense of harmony). The first side of the albums holds two major tracks (one of which is slightly ethnic-sounding and strange: Wisdom) sandwiching a short one and is clearly my favourite. The excellent Fohat's Work (not really Gong here, although the sax.) is maybe the album's most accessible track with clear-cut solos, while Dragonsong has vocals that can resemble Wyatt's in SM's Third or Rock Bottom, but this dramatic piece can be considered like the highlight of the album as Bock's sax reminds of Malherbe and Karwalky's bass lines are driving the track at 100 MPH cruising speed. Comes a short Wyatt-esque interlude and then the album closes on the Rocking Back To Earth, indeed making come back from a great fusion trip as the artwork indicates.

By the time of their second album's recording, the group was completely different, being just a trio with only bassist Karwalki (who was the main writer anyway) left, but the sound of the group remained jazz-rock but veered much more towards experimental jazz mixed with ethnic music. Although this debut album is non-representative of Dzyan, it might just be their most accessible and a good intro to the band.