Out Of Focus - Four Letter Monday Afternoon (1972 germany, jazz prog rock) <br /><br />Out of Focus' third album was their magnum opus, where all the stops are pulled out and the group, with the addition of a horn section and bongos, was at their most inventive. As a natural progression from the earlier two records, Four Letter Monday Afternoon has even longer instrumental sections, as well as far more variety. <br /><br />The double album opens with the sidelong track "L.S.B.," which is either a misspelling of LSD or stands for "Love S Burning." This track starts off with an imposing martial beat before evolving into a more typical funk groove with over-the-top brass, before this collapses into a brief bit of free jazz and explosions, then a pastoral flute solo, and then more of the powerfully swinging jazz-rock. "Tsajama" goes more in a Magma direction, with weird vocal chanting and an intense bass-driven sound, whereas "Black Cards" is more wistful, with bleak lyrics and haunted flute. Of the only two short tracks, "Where Have You Been" is a bitter folk song, with a far more sparse instrumentation of acoustic guitar and not much else, and the CD bonus cut, "When I'm Sleeping," is the only slightly conventional song on the album. <br /><br />The second CD (sides three and four of the original album) contains the three parts of a single piece, "Huchen 55," each segued to the next by a multi-tracked flute solo. This mostly instrumental improvisation is all over the place as the group gets even more free-form than usual. Though the less-focused "Huchen 55" is not quite as strong as much of the material on the first disc, it is still a compelling piece with some fascinating parts. Four Letter Monday Afternoon was an ambitious project and it succeeds wonderfully. <br />by Rolf Semprebon <br /><br />Tracks <br />Disc 1 <br /><br />1. L.S.B - 0:00 <br /><br />2. When I’m Sleeping - 17:39 <br /><br />3. Tsajama - 21:48 <br /><br />4. Black Cards - 31:20 <br /><br />5. Where Have You Been - 41:04 <br /><br />Disc 2 <br /><br />1. A Huchen 55 - 46:42 <br /><br />2. Huchen 55 B - 56:04 <br /><br />3. Huchen 55 C - 1:10:43 <br /><br />All compositions by Remigius Drechsler, Hennse Hering, Moran Neumüller, Klaus Spöri, Stephen Wishen <br /><br />Out Of Focus <br />*Remigius Drechsler - Guitars, Tenor Saxophone, Flutes, Stylophone, Voice <br />*Hennse Hering - Organ, Piano <br />*Moran Neumüller - Soprano Saxophone, Vocals <br />*Klaus Spöri - Drums <br />*Stephen Wishen - Bass <br />With <br />*Hermann Breuer - Trombone <br />*Peter Dechant - Acoustic Guitar, Vocals <br />*Grand Roman Langhaus - Bongos <br />*Jimmy Polivka - Trumpet <br />*Ingo Schmid-Neuhaus - Alto, Baritone Saxophones <br />*Michael Thatcher - Organ
