Certainly one of the more obscure bands from the vast Gunderground, Moira were a fascinating progressive fusion collective formed by veterans of the Krautrock scene including Edgar Hoffman (Embryo) and Butze Fischer (Missus Beastly, Guru Guru, Embryo). Both their albums were recorded for the Schneeball label, the record consortium setup by members of Embryo and Missus Beastly. Musically, Moira fit snugly into the label’s distinct school of fusion and are part of the German “M” scene of jazz rock groups (Morpheus, Missus Beastly, Mosaik, Munju).
For the debut, Crazy Countdown, Moira explored many of the areas that were popular at the time, including Latin-tinged jazz fusion ('Para Jofrey, 'Spain Mandala'), Eastern meditation journeys with sitar and flute ('Smile'), acoustic seriousness ('Gemini'), acid cosmic space rock ('Always Later'), lounge funk ('Mata Meme'), even post-Miles Davis intense jamming (title track). During this era, the band were clearly lead by guitarist Jorgen Kanwischer, who is credited with scoring all the compositions as well as being the sole instrumentalist on 'Gemini' and 'Always Later'.
Moira (aka Reise Nach Ixtlan). 1981 private
UMR review
Priority: 1
Moira (aka Reise Nach Ixtlan). 1981 private
UMR review
Priority: 1
8/19/09 (new entry)
5 comments:
Dear Tom,
to your review about Moira - Same
(Reise nach Ixtlan):
I agree with you - you are right.
The fact is - the album is not from
the year of 1984.
Since i starting collecting records in the late seventies, i mentioned every incomming album in a private "database" with artist / album title ect. and the year i got it.
I bought my vinyl of that album on a
Moira concert (!) in - 1981.
To my mind Moira were inspired through two books : Carlos Castaneda = Reise nach Ixtlan and
George Orwell - 1984 !
regards
Martin from germany
Thank you Martin for the comment. That's VERY interesting. I will make note of that. Still, even for 1981, Moira's sound is considerably older.
I cannot find Crazy Countdown ANYWHERE. Been searching everywhere for the album. Can someone post a link to the lp or a rip of the vinyl album please. That second lp is very good.
Hi Tom,
I think I have an interesting thing to share regarding Moira. I have just got a very rare LP "Deutschsongs" by German songwriter Gerry Garstein on private Bramophon label. The album was recorded in 1979, and studying the back cover I realized Garstein had some musicians from Moira as backing band! The text says:
"Gastmusiker (guest musicians in German - L.G.): Stefan Engels (von der Gruppe ON), Jorgen Kanwischer (von der Gruppe MOIRA), Gunter Bachle (v. MOIRA), Michael Stoll (v. MOIRA)".
There is some more text there which basically says that musicians from Moira appear courtesy of Schneeball Records (or at least that's what I get with my embryonic German). Anyway, this means that by 1979 Jorgen Kanwischer from the first lineup (that did "Crazy Countdown") was still in the band, but Michael Stoll from the second lineup (that did "Reise Nach Ixtlan") was already there too! Who is Gunter Bachle, I've no idea.
Anyway, I think it's an interesting bit of info which doesn't really explain the entire story, but at least proves that it was the same band responsible for these two great albums, not two different groups. They just had a really turbulent lineup.
Cheers,
Lev
Great info Lev - thanks so much!
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