Bad News Reunion

Bad News Reunion - Live im Logo - 1978 - Oktave

During the first half of the 70's, Germany produced many great bands. Some of these groups created some wonderful progressive rock, and this genre is generally known as "Krautrock". Some of the great Krautrock bands include Tangerine Dream, Faust, Amon Duul, Kraftwerk, Guru Guru, and of course, the brilliant Can. However, only a relatively few of these bands made the big time, and other good bands remained only locally known, and they weren't all of the prog. rock genre. Bad News Reunion, based in Hamburg was such a band, being more blues rock orientated than the previous bands mentioned. BNU played some great West Coast influenced rock and blues, with Abi Wallenstein, the "father of the Hamburg blues scene" one of the best german blues guitarists, on lead guitar. Abi has a unique guitar style, playing rhythmic blues lines with chord and melody lines in synch. He also sings the blues with an authentic sound. When he's not touring he plays in the streets. "The street is his own testing ground and practice area", Uli Lemke writes in the liner notes of Abi's CD "Blues Avenue". "He is the only famous European musician who is constantly looking fot the closest contact to his audiance on the toughest stage of the world". Since 1966, Abi has played in several bands, and with some great musicians like Axel Zwingenberger, Vince Weber, and Inga Rumpf. He's played many blues festivals and has opened for artists like Johnny Winter, Joe Cocker, Fats Domino, and Robben Ford. Bad News Reunion were especially popular in northern Germany in the first half of the 70s, until they disbanded in 1976 because of band members' other commitments. In 1978, the band reformed, and played two gigs at The Logo Club in Hamburg, Germany, in May, 1978. These gigs received a positive response, and the album posted here, "Live im Logo", recorded live on stage on 25/5/1978 at The Logo Club in Hamburg, Germany,was released, initially as a 1000 issue limited edition, in 1978. The album consists mainly of cover versions, including Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl", Roy Hawkins' "The Thrill Is Gone", Donovan's "Young Girl Blues", and Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone". The band play with shades of the Allman Brothers. There are some great guitar solos on the album, which is HR by A.O.O.F.C. A good album for all fans of straightforward no-frills rock music. Try and locate the band's "The Easiest Way" album from 1980. They released "Just One Night" in 1998. It will be interesting to see if a new album will ever arise from this talented band

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. Bad News - John D. Loudermilk
2. The Thrill Is Gone - R.Hawkins
3. Water In My Eyes - Michael Schluter
4. Like A Rolling Stone - B.Dylan
5. Cinnamon Girl - N.Young
6. I'll Go Crazy - James Brown
7. Young Girl Blues - Donovan Leitch
8. Coming Into Los Angeles - Arlo Guthrie
9. The Fade-Out - Abraham Wallenstein

BAND

Abraham Wallenstein - Electric, Lead, & Slide Guitar; Lead Vocals on "The Thrill Is Gone", & "I'll Go Crazy"
Michael Schluter - Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Karsten Hoock - Electric, Lead, & Rhythm Guitar
Jochen Bruckner - Harmony Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Christophe Bunke - Bass Guitar
Peter Urban - Keyboards
Reinhard Lehman - Drums