Kentalope Island

Jazz-rock with sax and vocals. Vivacious, hardly ever calm. The band from Marl released their only LP on the small label Menga, where the hard looked for LP from Think was released too. Taken from the master tapes. Jazz-rock again? Yes, but the increasing number of tracks with jazz-rock on this sampler is only accidentally and not a trend. Join In were coming from Marl, a city situated in the Ruhr district area. They were founded in 1968 and changed their style of music quite often. They began with playing blues-rock, then changed to playing hard rock and ended up by playing jazz-rock in the seventies, each style containing progressive elements. Their only LP "Kentalope Island" was released in 1974 (Menga 3302). It is the same label where Think released, too. With Think they were not only in close contact but also exchanged their ideas concerning the music they wanted to play. Join In's CD was taken from the master tape and has as bonus eight not yet released tracks. In the booklet you can find, along with a lot of photos, valuable information about the band. ~ green-brain-krautrock. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originating from Marl (north of Essen) in 1968, and going through numerous changes over the years, first influenced by British rock and blues acts, Join In later moved ever more onto jazzy prog and fusion realms. Associates of Think, whose Ricky Ramor and Frank Voigt were amongst the many that passed through their ranks, Join In recorded their album at the same studio, with Eroc as engineer.KENTALOPE ISLAND is a pleasant record, with some slight Think references, but much more fusion, mixing jazzy musics with soft rock and prog elements typical of the era, comparable to many others: Guru Guru circa GLOBETROTTER, Cry Freedom, or Dutch acts like Alquin or Solution. For those that like such things, it's a good example of the genre, and all the better on the CD which includes some much stronger (if of not brilliant recording quality) material, where they live up to the band name much more, with some tasty jamming instrumental work. ~ Internet Source.