****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
PASSPORT was formed in 1971 by German musician Klaus Doldinger (saxophones, keyboards and compositions), and their initial release was titled, surprisingly enough, PASSPORT. With the addition of Wolfgang Schmid on bass (1972's SECOND PASSPORT), Curt Cress on drums (1973's HAND MADE) and Kristan Shultze on keyboards (LOOKING THRU also 1973), the classic PASSPORT line-up was complete. Recording five more albums, DOLDINGER JUBILEE CONCERT (1974) with Pete York, Brian Auger, Johnny Griffin, Alexis Korner, & Volker Kriegel, DOLDINGER JUBILEE 75 with Les McCann, Buddy Guy, Johnny Griffin, Philip Catherine & Pete York, CROSS-COLLATERAL (1975), INFINITY MACHINE (1976) and IGUACU (1977), their intoxicating mixture of jazz-fusion, funk and world music was second to none. Unfortunately Doldinger jettisoned the entire band after IGUACU, and the next eight releases, ATARAXIA aka SKY BLUE (1977), GARDEN OF EDEN (1978), OCEANLINER (1980), BLUE TATTOO (1981), EARTHBORN (1982), MAN IN THE MIRROR (1983), RUNNING IN REAL TIME (1985) and HEAVY NIGHTS (1986) were increasingly lame attempts to capture the smooth jazz (re: muzak) audience, vocal tunes and all, drowning their previous adventurous spirit to the point that even the return of Curt Cress on EARTHBORN could'nt resuscitate. The band had gone from being a ground-breaking fusion group to the kind that eventually earned fusion a bad name. Which finally brings us to 1988's TALK BACK. Reading the credits is at first heartening; Brian Auger, who meshed so well with the group on DOLDINGER JUBILEE CONCERT, is on keyboards and fusion-monster-drummer Alfonse Mouzon (WEATHER REPORT, THE ELEVENTH HOUSE) is on drums, but when the needle hits the groove (or when the laser reads the code) the same soul-sucking downhill slide continues. Auger's contributions exhibit no trace of his unique stylings, and Mouzon might as well have been replaced by a drum machine, since if the concurrent electronic percussion is not a machine, Mouzon has become a robot! We are also again treated to the now obligatory AOR-style vocal tune. If you're a fan of THE YELLOWJACKETS, RIPPINGTONS, latter day CRUSADERS or KENNY G, post-IGUACU PASSPORT is the band for you. If your tastes run more to electric MILES DAVIS, ROMANTIC WARRIOR-era RETURN TO FOREVER or THRUST-era Herbie Hancock, Classic PASSPORT is the group for you.......
