Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Passport
Label: Atlantic Records
Release: 1982
Length: 43:15
Rating: 4.5/5
The legendary saxophonist, keyboardist and composer Klaus Doldinger kept his reputation as the biggest authority on German jazz rock fusion going through the eighties too, despite some noticeable changes in his sonic vocabulary. When writing, he always put virtues like his own creativity, sensitivity and a sense of adventure in discovering new sonic challenges first, even at the price of a possible wider commercial success, which, in Passport’s case, always seemed to be lurking just around the next corner but for all sorts of reasons stayed out of reach.
“Earthborn” marks an important moment in Klaus’s career, when he managed to merge his rich songwriting tradition with some completely fresh experiments, which let him charge into the eighties at full steam without falling for corporate logic, something that happened to quite a few of his peers on the jazz fusion and progressive rock scene back then. On it he teamed up once again with the cult drummer Curt Cress (in his colorful career he was, besides Passport, also a member of no less famous bands Triumvirat and Saga). Cress built his reputation as a drumming innovator in large part on the pioneering use of electronic percussion, which gave Passport a pretty modern sound years before the eighties even began.
It’s precisely his drumming, along with the outstanding chemistry between Klaus’s saxophone and the guitar under Kevin Mulligan’s fingers, that makes “Earthborn” rank, even after the test of time, among the best jazz rock fusion achievements of the mid-eighties. Klaus also had the then-dominant synthesizer technology in his little finger, not to mention his exceptional gift for composing melodic arrangements, which he also proved by creating soundtracks for some film hits (the best known being “Das Boot” and “Neverending Story”). This is most obvious on the two vocal tracks on an otherwise almost entirely instrumental album, where he experimented with melodic rock.
Even the opener “Palm Tree Song” is a pretty neat example of blending old and new, successfully combining electronic percussion, mighty synth curtains and subtle slide guitar passages with the obligatory Klaus saxophone solo flights. “Ball the Jack”, enriched with funky rhythms, has plenty of interesting moments of sophisticated use of Korg synthesizers, played by keyboardist and vocalist Hermann Weindorf (and occasionally Doldinger too). Elsewhere on the album there are also pieces where you can still revel in the exceptional technical chops and a mass of lively rhythms, as in “Bassic”, which has some seriously creative bass lines courtesy of Dieter Petereit. The title track is almost an archetype of the Passport classic, offering a very good blend of ambient stillness and well-timed melodicism through melancholic sax passages and temperamental rhythmic turns, while a sensitive guitar solo from Kevin Mulligan beautifully fills out the whole sonic collage.
The best proof of jazz rock and AOR coming together successfully is the hypnotically melodic “New Moon”, which, with a few sharper marketing moves, could surely have become a massive radio hit, since it has all the right spices for that kind of success. With his excellent singing, free of any German accent, Weindorf sounds a lot like the legendary Eric Woolfson, so it’s no surprise that this interesting experiment in crossing two completely different genres will land best with all the fans of The Alan Parsons Project, as well as bands like, say, Camel (the eighties ones, of course), ELO and Supertramp. Weindorf’s infectiously melodic vocal approach, backed by melodramatic female backing vocals and plenty of fun embellishments on sax and synth, is still a real manna for those few individuals who are both fusion and AOR connoisseurs.
“Allemende” is seasoned with mighty synth lines and the outstanding chemistry between sax and guitar. The combative bass parts blend superbly with the playful rhythm and the main motif, which could easily have been the backdrop for one of Klaus’s film-scoring projects. “Leave Taking” is, in both structure and atmosphere, a piece that could easily have been written in the “golden” seventies too, and it will surely please all the Weather Report fans, since the subtle synth passages, which with the support of assorted percussion carry a hint of world music, are quite reminiscent of some ideas from the creative twists of the immortal Joe Zawinul.
“Abakus” is another bullseye when it comes to the sophisticated mix of instrumental playfulness, melody and melancholic ambience, with plenty of moments for showing off solo chops, which is something quality fusion simply can’t go without. The closer “Night Delighter” is, after “New Moon”, another juicy example of bridge-building between jazz rock and AOR with a breath of disco, where Weindorf again shines with a phenomenal vocal performance. Besides the bravura singing, peaking in an infectiously melodic chorus, the most interesting thing here is the clever syncing of an almost-disco rhythm with some traditionally jazzy moves. Klaus’s saxophone orgy stands out especially, cementing once more his status as one of the greatest masters of this wind instrument.
Mr. Doldinger and his crew strode into the eighties with a surprisingly successful move, and, let’s be honest, only a modest percentage of jazz rock fusion bands can say the same. Klaus’s fusion of genres as diverse as jazz, funk, progressive rock and AOR was risky, but it yielded a surprisingly strong album with a harmonious balance between rich melody, especially in the rhythmic parts, and intelligently structured arrangements, which in every respect puts it among his best achievements (both with Passport and solo). Many a prog purist these days just waves a hand dismissively whenever Passport after 1976 comes up, since after that period progressiveness really was no longer among the main ingredients of Klaus’s crew, at least not in the full sense of the word, but in doing so they overlook the undeniable fact that the band still made plenty of good or even excellent albums, like “Earthborn”.
Line-up
Klaus Doldinger – saxophone, flute, keyboards
Curt Cress – drums, percussion
Kevin Mulligan – guitar
Dieter Petereit – bass guitar
Hermann Weindorf – keyboards, vocals
Production
Passport
Track list
1. Palm tree song (4:16)
2. Ball the jack (4:30)
3. Bassic (3:17)
4. Earthborn (5:52)
5. New moon (4:10)
6. Allemande (4:35)
7. Leave taking (5:45)
8. Abakus (5:40)
9. Night Delighter (5:10)
