Short Reviews [Uberfall - 1994 - "So Uferlos im Abendwind"]

UBERFALL is a Swiss band that has existed for about a decade, from the mid-‘80s to mid-‘90s. It has three full-fledged albums to its credit, “In Alle Ewigkeit”, “Neuschnee” and “No 3”, all issued in the second half of the ‘80s, and also “So Uferlos im Abendwind”, which is a mere compilation, comprised of select tracks from each of those three. The basic lineup here is a trio of Markus Stauss on saxophones and vocals, Pit Kayser on keyboards and vocals and Andi Muckenhim on drums, but there are also three guest musicians on bass, cello and sax. Eight of the album’s 15 tracks are instrumentals; the others contain some vocals which, however, only mar the overall character of those, IMHO, making them sound somewhat superficial, particularly within their vocal sections, of course. Most of the music ranges from almost classic Chamber Rock to sort of Neo RIO (somewhat reminiscent of U Totem), to rather mellow Jazz Rock on a couple of occasions, albeit on a number of the compositions free jazz (which is obviously Herr Stauss’ most beloved way of making music, judging by his overall work) partly-to-seriously damages the basic-styles musical formations. Anyhow, more than a half of the tracks here are overall outstanding, those that best of all suit my personal tastes, namely Nah Und Fern, So Froh and Eiszeit, all featuring a cello player. This is one of the two my favorite albums Markus released on his label Fazzul Music (I’ve heard almost all of those), and comes recommended to fans of RIO, particularly those into the jazz-inspired model. I have slightly diminished the album’s rating, because it is a compilation.

Vitaly Menshikov: April 19, 2012