Vive La Trance (1974)
1. A Morning Excuse (S) – in the opening bars it’s clear that AD have made a huge stylistic change; more rock, less prog, and a pretty normal song structure which, it turns out, is the template for this whole album.
2. Fly United (S) – very polished rock, with excellent sax and guitar interludes coming in right where you’d expect them in another good but conventionally structured song.
3. Jalousie (S) – showcase for Renate sounding like a proto Kate Bush
4. Im Krater Blühn Wieder Der Bäume (S)- ok instrumental, but has something of a “filler” feel about it
5. Mozambique (A) – jazzy Afro-pop elements are another startling departure for AD, though later, after some anti-colonial lyrics from Renate, AD touch base with their former selves in a long outro, but it still feels tidied up compared to their previous stuff.
6. Apocalyptic Bore (A) – great guitar, but weak lyrics, both in the singing and in their “cosmic” content. A pity because at the end of the song there is a nice short-lived spacy section
7. Dr. Jeckyll (S) – more well executed, toe-tapping rock
8. Trap (S) - ditto
9. Pig Man (S) – rhythm guitar sounds like a McCartney song from the “Can’t Buy Me Love” era. Nothing wrong with that, though not what I particularly want to hear from AD. Nice sax work out closes the track.
10. Mañana (S) – notable for being unexceptional in every way as far as I can see.
11. Ladies Mimikry (S) – kind of poppy experimentation. Nothing like Candy a Currant Bun, but that seems to’ve been the approach.