Increase

1977's Increase has Germany's Birth Control producing a sound that is a little less progressive than their earlier work, although the body of this album still incorporates strong doses of Moog and Hammond keyboard undertakings from Zeus B. Held. The songs have a more established and structural feel to them, especially pieces like "Fight for You" and "Until the Night." Birth Control's sense of humor is still prevalent as well, brought about in the lyrics of the opening "Skate-Board Sue," but where the music is concerned, they began to reveal influences from Western '70s rock, even though their fundamental progressive sound remains at the forefront. There's a definitive jazz lean which surfaces through most of the tracks, while the guitar-led rhythms are steady and dominating. "Domino's Hammock" wonderfully sprinkles bright keyboard notes onto a firm rock tempo, and "Seems Like My Bike's Riding Me" embodies a mainstream rock core decorated with Birth Control's progressively oriented add-ons of cow bells, tambourine, timpani, and the all-powerful Hammond C-3 organ. Toward the end of the decade, Birth Control gave more attention to the lyrical aspect of their music, which can be seen here as well. Still instrumentally sound, Increase trades in the long jams and street-side synthesizer excursions of their early years for a more formulaic but equally worthy approach to progressive rock. ~ Mike DeGagne|