Jane - Age Of Madness (1978)

(German 1970 - Present)

Jane were formed in October of 1970 in Hanover out of the remains of the band Justice Of Peace. Klaus Hess (g), Peter Panka (dr) and Werner Nadolny (org) were looking for a new challenge and got together with Charly Maucher (b). In the Spring of 1971, they were joined by Bernd Pulst, a singer with a powerful voice. Shortly after that, the quintet signed a long-term record contract. After almost one year of work, Jane's debut album 'Together' was released in the spring of 1972. The German rock world reacted positively to the technically well-versed newcomers and their "unvarnished style of making music".

For the second LP, Wolfgang Krantz had to fill in for Maucher, who was sick, and Panka took the place of Bernd Pulst as lead singer. The initial success and their convincing live performances made Jane an attraction on the national touring scene. The band constantly commuted back and forth between stage and studio and absorbed numerous changes in the line-up effortlessly and without any quality loss.

Jane

In 1974, Nadolny left to form his own band, Lady, and Maucher returned to Jane. But his second stay with the band lasted for a little less than a year. He decided to form another band, Harlis, and was replaced in May 1974 by Martin Hesse, while Krantz left to be replaced by Gottfried Janko (keyboards, vocals).

Jane went through a maturing process and perfected their style, which had a certain tendency to mysticism and was by now well in demand all over Europe. For the 1975 album, 'Fire, Water, Earth & Air', the band (Nadolny had returned to take over Janko's place) experimented with the dummy head recording technique. Established music magazines like Record World compared their complicated song structures to those of bands like Pink Floyd. The national music press found it harder to warm up to the ambitious band from Lower Saxony and overlooked the impressive echo from the music press abroad, very good sales figures and filled concert venues.

When Jane set out on a sixty-concert tour through Germany in March 1976, Manfred Wieczorke from Eloy stood in for Nadolny and played the keyboards. The four musicians documented this phase of their career with a double album called 'Live'. In the first weeks after its release, 'Live' sold more than 100,000 copies, making them the best-selling German rock act of their time after Udo Lindenberg and Kraftwerk.

Jane 1976

Threatening musical images and "guitar riffs played Black Sabbath-style" (Musik Express) dominated the 1977 album 'Between Heaven and Hell'. By that time, Jane no longer needed to fear comparisons with the international competition. In Switzerland, they even outsold Pink Floyd for a while and reactions from the US were positive as well.

In the fall of 1977, Jane received the "Golden Brain Label" from their record company, recognizing 300,000 albums sold in Germany. A year later, in the summer of 1978, that number had already reached 500,000. This made Jane the third-best-selling German band in the country, behind Udo Lindenberg and Kraftwerk.

1978 saw the release of 'Age of Madness' following a new, better paid record deal, a sellout tour through twenty cities plus a number of appearances on TV. Jane stayed true to their ponderous, romantic rock. The eighth album was the first to be recorded in the band's own 24-track studio situated in an idyllic half-timbered house in the village of Sarstedt, 30 kilometres south of Hanover. Jane's top-form performance seemed to stem from their new independence and new-found motivation and inspiration.

'Age of Madness' rocked it out a little harder maintaining emotional spacey timbres and was released internationally, being presented in clear and red vinyl formats on the now defunct Canadian label Bomb Records. A successful European tour ensued but Weiczorke departed in early 1979, leaving just a trio to tackle their followup LP "Sign No.9" which was nothing short of a disaster.

Album Review

Age of Madness was the end of their space rock phase, and what they demonstrated on 'Between Heaven & Hell', you'd think they were able to continue on the greatness of that album. Unfortunately that's not quite the case. The instrumental title track is actually quite good, has more than a hint of Eloy in it, which is really no surprise when you know that Manfred Wieczorke is responsible for the keyboard playing (he left Eloy after the fiasco of Power and the Passion - itself a great album - for a more financially stable band, in this case, Jane).

That burst of classic Hammond organ grunge kicking off the album was a conscious throwback to an earlier, heavier Jane: the musical equivalent of slipping into an old pair of sneakers after a formal night on the town. The song itself was still uncomfortably in debt to Pink Floyd, but with a welcome economy of style compared to the bloated, faceless wall Roger Waters was erecting at the time.

The title of the next song is fully in accordance with its content. "Memory Symphony" is a very nice and tranquil instrumental song. A good balance with very expressive keys and of course a sublime guitar play (but this is a "Jane" TM). In my opinion, this is one of the highlights on the album. So much so, that I attemped to learn how to play this on my hammond synth, when I was in garage band back in the late 70's, but the other band members weren't really into Krautrock, and so it never got off the ground.

The next track Auroville is a great instrumental and could have featured on Floyd's 'Obscured By Clouds' and no one would have been none the wiser. These first three tracks are not complicated compositions, Jane has never been know for extravagant arrangements, but the athmosphere is very nice as always with wonderful keyboards and tasty guitar playing.

Jane 1978

The marriage of Jane's trademark psychedelia with country and western motifs in "Love Song" shows a willingness to break new ground; even if this may have been commercially motivated, it doesn't seem like compromise. For a heavier repeating loop, try "Bad Game" - again, Jane takes a riff where it has gone before, again and again, and does it better than anyone, thanks to Hess and Wieczorke, amply backed by the rhythm section.

Martin Hesse & Klaus Hess

"With Your Smile" is another highlight, kicking off mid-song and highlighted by some of Hess' best work and a near danceable beat. It is the ultimate expression of Jane's paradoxical blend of professionalism and amateurism.

The album is occasionally lit by incandescent flashes of energy, typically sparked by guitarist Klaus Hess, and the next track "Get this Power" sounds like a psychedelic jam with harmonica, guitar and a driving rhythm section lead by Panka on drums. This is definately the album's wake up call, in case the listener has dozed off earlier! 

                                            JANE ⚡ Get This Power ⚡ Live 1978, Germany 

Finally we come back to progressive rock with the last 2 tracks, the wonderful dreamy instrumental "Meadow", a very delicate piece of music showcasing Wierczorke at his most sensitive (and another highlight of the album), followed by an encore "Age Of Madness Part II" which closes the album in a good symphonic way.

Overall, this is an enjoyable album to listen to and a personal favourite of mine. However, others may not agree - based on reviews that I have read at progarchives.com and alike. To be honest, I have a soft spot for this album as listening to it takes me back to the time when I nearly had a chance to perform "Memory Symphony" with my band some 45 years ago. Hmm...now that I think about it, it's a bit ironical that it's called "Memory Symphony" !

Left: My Cover [With incorrect track order] 
Right: Other Releases [With correct track order]

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my vinyl copy (an import featuring Brain's orange label) and includes full album artwork for both vinyl and CD, along with label scans.  One interesting anommily with my pressing is the incorrect track listing (order) on the back cover. Discogs lists this German release and appears to be the only release with this annomily. The track order and label listings are correct nevertheless (See scans of these covers above).

Tracklist

A1 - Age Of Madness 5:45

A2 - Memory Symphony 4:25

A3 - Auroville 3:40

A4 - Love Song 3:53

B1 - Bad Game 5:14

B2 - Get This Power 2:40

B3 - With Her Smile 4:20

B4 - Meadow 3:27

B5 - Age Of Madness (Part II)  2:39

Jane were:

- Klaus Hess - guitars, vocals

- Martin Hesse - bass, vocals

- Peter Panka - drums, percussion, vocals

- Manfred Wieczorke  - keyboards, vocals

Age Of Madness Link (202Mb)

Jane - Live At Home (1976)

 (German 1970 - 1992)

Jane was among the most commercially successful groups in Germany in the seventies. The band was founded in 1970. After their appearance at the Little Woodstock Festival, Hannover in June 1971, a recording contract with Brain Metronome was secured. With vocalist Bernd Pulst they recorded Together in Star Studio, Hamburg in late 1971 with Konrad Plank. This was an impressive debut with a dominant guitar and organ style. Of most interest were the extended tracks "Spain" (11:53), "Hangman" (9:58) and "Daytime" (8:05). It is tempting to compare Jane's characteristic slow, classical influenced heavy rock arrangements to the music of groups like Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly or early Deep Purple. Jane had developed these elements into a polished 1971 'progressive sound'. Indeed their patented rock sound wouldn't change too much during their long career. Some would say their music is far too predictable, easy-going and pompous. Label manager Gunter Korber produced Jane's first four albums.

For many people, the low-point of Together had been the turgid vocals of Bernd Pulst. He quit Jane in April 1972 and reduced the group to a quartet. Just before Here We Are, recorded at Windrose Studios, Hamburg, Charly Maucher fell ill and was replaced by Wolfgang Krantz. This was another great album, featuring both long instrumental work-outs and some good shorter songs. The highlight was definitely the nearly instrumental opening track "Redskin" (8:54), which comprised slow heavy rock with guitar and organ reminiscent of Pink Floyd. The four tracks on side two revealed the rawer and heavier side of Jane. Quite a few people quote this album as their favourite by Jane. Although this music was dismissed by the reviewers, the commercial response was great. Jane, Eloy, Novalis and others enjoyed long lasting and/or increasing success with their accessible records. Merely a month after the recordings of Here We Are were finished, Nadolny quit to form his own band Lady. Maucher thus returned to Jane again and for a short while their characteristic organ sound was abandoned.

On Jane III Hess and Krantz fought twin guitar battles instead, resulting in a more ordinary heavy rock sound. This album (recorded at Conny's Studio in February 1974) also opened with an excellent long and mainly instrumental track: "Comin' Again" (9:40). In general it was a highly enjoyable album. More changes in personnel followed in the Summer of 1974: Maucher and Krantz quit Jane to form Harlis. Their replacements were Martin Hesse and Gotfried Janko (previously the leader of Dull Knife). Janko brought back the organ sound for the album Lady (recorded at Conny's studio during November 1974 and January 1975), but also brought in some rather misplaced gospel-soul vocals. One felt that this album was an attempt to continue their increasing success with easy-going heavy pop. Luckily enough former organist Werner Nadolny soon replaced Janko again.

The concept album Fire, Water, Earth & Air was a more rewarding album than its predecessor. It was their first self-produced one, recorded in dummy-head stereo at Plank's studio in November 1975. Synthesizers were now introduced, resulting in a typical late seventies symphonic sound. For a large tour in March 1976, Nadolny had quit again. This time the replacement was a better choice than in the case of Janko: Manfred Wieczorke, previously of Eloy. His first recording with Jane was a double live album: Live At Home (1976). It was recorded in their hometown of Hannover in August. As with most other live albums, it was mostly of interest for fans and quite superfluous for others.

The stunning " Live At Home" double live LP comes complete with a cover of a Martian landscape snapped by the Viking Mars lander. Released in early 1977 and broadcast nationally in it's entirety in on WDR Radio in January of that year, "Live At Home" went gold in their native Germany and helped them break the international markets in both North America as well as Japan and South America.

The great success of Live At Home immediately improved the group's bargaining position with their record company, Brain. Based on their rapidly increasing record sales, the musicians negotiated a clearly improved contract, investing the money in their own Jane studio in 1978, where they went on to record further albums.

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my Import Vinyl pressing which is as clean and perfect as the day I bought it back in the late 70's. Jane was my first introduction to Krautrock, thanks to a small Import Record shop located in an L shaped arcade running between Little Flinder's Lane and Swanston St, Melbourne CBD  (thanks to Peter for identifying the shop - Pipe Records).

I absolutely loved the album covers and labels associated with these German imports, and quickly progressed onto bands such as Eloy, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Can, Grobschnitt, Thirsty Moon and Kraan to name but a few.

My only difficulty was trying to finance these purchases, as these imports were almost 50% dearer than locally released music and therefore I had to choose wisely. Thankfully the guy behind the counter was happy to play any requests (try before ya buy) and it was then that I heard "Hangman" for the first time. I was blown away by the amazing keyboard and guitar sounds that Jane produced - and it was live !  Hope you enjoy this album as much as I did (and still do). Of course, full album artwork for both vinyl and CD are also included along with label scans.

Tracklist

A1  All My Friends  5:00

A2  Lady  3:40

A3  Rest Of My Life  4:36

A4  Expectation  5:40

B1  River  3:38

B2  Out In The Rain  6:21

B3  Hangman  12:14

C1 Fire, Water, Earth & Air  4:05

C2  Another Way  5:33

C3  Daytime  9:56

C4  Hightime For Crusaders  4:52

D1  Windows  19:28

Personnel:

KLAUS HESS guitar, vocals 

MANFRED WIECZORKE keyboards, vocals

MARTIN HESSE bass, vocals

PETER PANKA drums, vocals

Jane Live Link (462Mb) New Link 10/03/2025