Janus
Gravedigger

The skeleton with a black top hat stretched out to dry in the desert sun is somewhat the story of Janus.

It begins in Germany in 1970, when some English musicians "emigrated" to the arid lands of krautrock create a psychedelic progressive project that even convinces EMI to sign them for this only album from 1972.

The sextet, led by singer Bruno Lord and Colin Orr on guitars and keyboards, even returns to England for a series of concerts before dissolving like flesh from bones under the scorching sun, and this "Gravedigger" becomes a cult object for collectors willing to shell out quite a few pounds. But fortunately, in 1991, the German label SPM, specialized in reissues of the caliber of High Tide, Blackdenkel, and Hazchem, re-releases the elusive album on compact disc, and, like one of the many rock miracles, the skeleton rises from the sand after twenty years! Janus reforms with Colin Orr, who had become a teacher in the Falklands, and recalls the survivors of the ancient project back to musical arms, continuing their musical adventure to this day.

But what was so extraordinary about this "Gravedigger" to make the reviewer slap a nice four and a half on it? Just five compositions, each different from the other, great psychedelic progressive that alternates moments of fascinating vocal harmonies dominated by acoustic guitar and magical "mellotronic" keyboards with harder episodes that rediscover the nervous heavy soul that got them kicked out of the traditionalist Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1973!

The first group includes the magical twenty minutes of the title track that occupied the entire second side of the original album: an acoustic guitar gently leads us along spider web threads stretched by the harmonic voices of the two singers, who incessantly whisper to us that the gravedigger is waiting for us... "gravedigger's on his way for you... gravedigger's on his way for you... gravedigger's on his way for you ...gravedigger's on his way for you..." until the mellotron opens the melody and a Greg Lake-like voice leads us to eternal peace immersed in a cascade of classical guitar notes (which also reprises the famous "In the Hall of Mountain King" by Grieg) and seagull cries.

It was the track that worthily concluded a great album. Before that, we experienced the eight minutes of magnificent Doors-like psycho-progressive of "Red Sun", rhythmic and nervous just right with a long reverberated electric guitar solo and grand heavy band finale! Even "Wanna Scream" lives up to its title's promises, and if that night it was on the Cavern Club setlist, it becomes clear why they were kicked out: pure heavy blues with explosive guitar solos.

With "Bubbles", vocal harmonies return for a strange and substantial ballad played on piano and Who-like guitar riffs, while "Watcha' Trying To Do?" is almost a glam rock outtake worthy of the best Bowie, confirming the absolute greatness and variety of this album to be rediscovered immediately.

The compact disc reissue adds an even heavier version (despite the sweet piano intro) of "Red Sun" and three more subsequent songs that move towards a more easy and classy territory close to certain things by Roxy Music, but it's just gravy... the good meat was in the first five original pieces, before only the skeleton remained.