Ego On The Rocks - Acid In Wounderland (Reissue) (1979/1998)

EGO ON THE ROCKS was a late 70's project of keyboard player Detlev Schmidtchen and drummer Jürgen Rosenthal, two ELOY members who had left the band after the release of " Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes" to explore a bit more Morlockian musical avenues. They had originally planned their project as the first of a trilogy, but the album's poor commercial performance and a subsequent threat of financial ruin gave them a kick in the rocks which deflated their egos somewhat.

Their album "Acid in Wounderland" (79) sees the duo moving ELOY's space-rock sound into more accessible territory, incorporating TANGERINE DREAM-like sequencer pinging and sound collages snipped from old movies and a few philosophical (vocal) rants. Schmidtchen, who gives plenty of screaming and some swooping synth solos, is highly competent on guitar as well as on keyboards, although perhaps not quite so on vocals (those would have benefitted from a little processing to gloss them over). As for the 5 bonus tracks found on the cd version, they are simpler and less inspired variations of the original album tracks, except for a 20-minute epic which is an electrifying tour-de-force of synth atmospherics bringing to mind TANGERINE DREAM's "Cyclone".

Recommended if you fancy spacey synths, a bit of audio vérité and some fairly accessible Krautrock.