Out of Focus' third album was their magnum opus, where all the stops are
pulled out and the group, with the addition of a horn section and
bongos, was at their most inventive. As a natural progression from the
earlier two records, Four Letter Monday Afternoon has even longer
instrumental sections, as well as far more variety. The double album
opens with the sidelong track "L.S.B.," which is either a misspelling of
LSD or stands for "Love S Burning." This track starts off with an
imposing martial beat before evolving into a more typical funk groove
with over-the-top brass, before this collapses into a brief bit of free
jazz and explosions, then a pastoral flute solo, and then more of the
powerfully swinging jazz-rock. "Tsajama" goes more in a Magma direction,
with weird vocal chanting and an intense bass-driven sound, whereas
"Black Cards" is more wistful, with bleak lyrics and haunted flute. Of
the only two short tracks, "Where Have You Been" is a bitter folk song,
with a far more sparse instrumentation of acoustic guitar and not much
else, and the CD bonus cut, "When I'm Sleeping," is the only slightly
conventional song on the album. The second CD (sides three and four of
the original album) contains the three parts of a single piece, "Huchen
55," each segued to the next by a multi-tracked flute solo. This mostly
instrumental improvisation is all over the place as the group gets even
more free-form than usual. Though the less-focused "Huchen 55" is not
quite as strong as much of the material on the first disc, it is still a
compelling piece with some fascinating parts. Four Letter Monday
Afternoon was an ambitious project and it succeeds wonderfully.
Rolf Semprebon
Tracklist 1 :
1 L.S.B. 17:37
2 When I'm Sleeping 4:04
3 Tsajama 9:23
4 Black Cards 9:38
5 Where Have You Been 5:35
Tracklist 2 :
1 Huchen 55, A 9:19
2 Huchen 55, B 14:32
3 Huchen 55, C 24:18
Credits :
Acoustic Guitar [A-Gitarre], Backing Vocals [Begleitgesang] – Peter Dechant
Baritone Saxophone [Bariton-], Alto Saxophone – Ingo Schmid-Neuhaus
Bass Guitar – Stepen Wisheu
Bongos [Bangos] – Grand Roman Langhans
Composed By, Arranged By, Producer [Produziert Von] – Out Of Focus
Drums – Klaus Spöri
Electric
Guitar [E-Gitarre], Acoustic Guitar [A-Gitarre], Stylophone
[Stylophon], Backing Vocals [Begleitgesang], Concert Flute [Querflöte],
Tenor Saxophone, Recorder – Remigius Drechsler
Organ – Michael Thatcher
Organ, Piano – Hennes Hering
Soprano Saxophone, Vocals – Moran Neumüller
Trombone [Posaune] – Hermann Breuer
Trumpet – Jimmy Polivka
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