Electric Sandwich - Electric Sandwich 1972 Krautrock, Hard Rock, Jazz-Rock, Prog Rock

Electric Sandwich - Electric Sandwich 1972 Krautrock, Hard Rock, Jazz-Rock, Prog Rock

Electric Sandwich were formed in late 1969 by a group of German students from Bonn (Germany), but only in 1973 a their album issued (it was the only one) with the same name of the group. The music contains typical spaced out, freak ‘n roll improvisations with many jazzy rock ingredients, folkish accents and Mellotron excursions.

01. China 8:08
02. Devil's Dream 6:21
03. Nervous Creek 5:05
04. It's No Use to Run 4:04
05. I Want You 5:28
06. Archie's Blues 4:56
07. Material Darkness 5:05
Bonus Tracks
08. On My Mind 3:25
09. China (Single Version) 3:07


Jorg Ohlert / guitar, organ, keyboards
Klaus Lormann / bass
Jochen Carthaus / sax, Harmonica
Wolf Fabian / drum


Electric Sandwich were formed in late 1969 by a group of German students from Bonn. The band initially consisted of four musicians, all of whom had already played with other bands: bass player Klaus Lormann had been playing with "Chaotic Trust"; lead guitarist Jorg Ohlert used to be with "Slaves of Fire"; drummer Wolf Fabian, the founder of the band, had been touring with a band called "Muli and the Misfits", and singer Jochen "Archie" Carthaus sang with the "Flashbacks". Their own material has been recorded into the legendary Dieter Dirks Studio in Stommeln (1973 Brain catalogue). The music contains typical spaced out, freak n roll improvisations with many jazzy rock ingredients, folkish accents and Mellotron excursions.

A one-off Krautrock gem, ELECTRIC SANDWICH's eponymously-titled debut - which proved to be their only full-length offering - is a rocking, jazzy, psychedelic treat. Combining elements of Neu!, Jane, Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Miles Davies and Embryo, the album kicks of in full-throttle mode with the pulsating, eight-minute-plus, driving kraut-psyche-blues epic 'China', and rarely lets up from then on, with Wolf Fabian's intense drumming driving the four-piece forward into hitherto uncharted psychdelic blues territory, complete with squawking sax, rumbling bass and screeching, angular guitar-sounds that all make for a heady, spacey-brew of styles and genre's. The similarities with Embryo(particularly their 'Rocksession' LP), are evident, but instead of being just another overlong jam band, ES manage to cook up a well-balanced blend of solid rock sounds and far-out cosmic crooning. Their failure(??), meant this was it, and considering the success of a whole host of similarly-themed Krautrock bands, it's hard to fathom why it all went so quiet. Brain Records excellent remastering job brings out their music in all it's far-out glory, and read the liner notes carefully(circa 2004), because, apparently, those Electric Sandwich boys are at it again, have reformed, played a few gigs, and now want to get another(very belated) LP out there. Who knows if it will actually happen, and who knows what it'll be like(this reviewer doesn't listen to any prog/Krautrock post 1977), but I imagine