Planeten Sit-In＜限定盤＞

ASH RA TEMPELのManuel Gottsching・Klaus Schulze・Dieter DierksにWALLENSTEINのJurgen Dollase・Harald GroBkopfの5名が参加したジャム・セッションを、Ohr/Kosmischen Kuriere/Kosmische MusikレーベルのオーナーであったRolf-Ulrich KaiserとそのパートナーのGille Lettmannが編集/ミックスし「THE COSMIC JOKERS」名義でアーティストに無断でリリースしたという経緯を持つプロジェクト、'74年にドイツ:Kosmische Musikからリリースされた『PLANETEN SIT-IN』が'23年LPフォーマットでもリマスター再発!

Whereas the two earlier Cosmic Jokers albums, the eponymous first effort and Galactic Supermarket, offered long, intense, free-flowing jams, Planeten Sit-In contains much shorter snippets of music patched together with cross-fades and weird electronic effects. The effects -- burbling electro noises, high-pitched twees, and other sci-fi sounds -- are even more prevalent, erupting out to drown out the drum, guitar, and bass rhythms, as if to make full use of the quadraphonic sound of the original LP. As a much more disjointed effort, and lacking the sustained grooves of the earlier records, Planeten Sit-In is not quite as successful, but still has many fine moments, from the galloping rhythms and siren-like rising synth tones of "Raumschiff Galaxy" to the rotor-blade electronic patterns and echo effects of "Electronic News." The longest track, "Der Planet des Sternenmadchens," adds some vocal trills by Gille Lettmann and moves from loping jam band mode to far more improvisational realms with slow, almost haunting, keyboard tones, to come closest to the prior records. And like those records, Planeten Sit-In represents cosmic space rock in its purest and trippiest distillation. ~ Rolf Semprebon