Birth Control- Plastic People

Time for a trip back to Germany. Not all music from that country is Krautrock, and this is an example of German Heavy Prog. Birth Control started out with straight up hard rock in the early 70's, but on this 1975 album and the followup, Back Dooe Posibilities, they went in a prog directinon. Members at this time included Bernd Noske (vocals/drums), Bernd Held (keyboards), Peter Föller (bass/vocals), and Bruno Frenzel (Guitar/vocals).

The album starts of with the bombastic title track. This song has some funk and fusion tendencies, but is generally symphonic. The guitar work here is a not dissimilar to Steve Hackett's with Genesis. "Plastic People" creates a very spacious, sun-soaked feel, carries it along at moderate tempo with high volume. It's very complex for a group just off hard rock. Next up is "Rockin' Rollin' Roller", which sounds like California pop meets Prog Rock, done by a group of Germans. Towards then end it starts to get spacey and much harder. Afterward we have "My Mind", which employs violin heavy for a slow, hard rock assault. The keyboards here make this one hell of a spooky trip after the 4 minute mark.

Plastic People continues on to side B with "Tiny Flashlight", my favorite track on this album. It's central riff will get stuck in your head. It's one of the less progressive, more hard rock and commercial songs, but it's a keeper for it's different repeated sections. "Trial Trip" follows, and it's more or less similar to "My Mind" earlier. Still rather good, but not quite up to par with what came before. Finally, the album closes with "This Song is Just for You", which has combines many themes from earlier, particularly "Rockin' Rollin' Roller", and also comes of as a bit of a relaxed low.

Birth Control did a good job here. It's not a very German album, and they sing fantastic English for non-natives. The album goes have a flaw in that it cools off a little bit towards the end, but overall it keeps bouncing around with some funky bass and creative keyboards. It's a shame they hadn't started doing this earlier.

A nice cast of Hard Prog without sacrificing accessibility or creativity, Plastic People gets a Grade of B-.