Pictures rarely lie, right? Take a look at the album cover to Frank Fischer’s Gone with the Wind. What does it bring to mind? Breeziness, brightness, tinges of autumnal feelings, and crisp, cool sensations are the first things that come to my mind. Released on krautrock giant Klaus Schulze’s iconic label Innovative Communication, by then more known for its New Age roster than any Berlin School-era originals, this album marked the debut of German progressive rock journeyman bassist Frank Fischer. As hinted at on the cover, the inspiration of this album was a specific environ, the Spanish Balearic headquarters of Ibiza: Cafe del Mar.
He wasn’t the first German artist to attempt capturing some of the unexplainable, easy going scenery of the Balearic islands — we can thank Can’s Tago Mago for pointing musicians to this direction — but what makes this album deeply interesting is a bit different. He was one of the first to sense what important future mystique this whole area could hold. It’s a unique kind of nostalgia, for a future time when perhaps the spirit of this place could transform into something altogether different, something more in line with its initial promise.
Fading in all sorts of pastoral genres — ambient, ECM-style jazz, new age, ragga-folk — Gone with the Wind was an autumnal atmospheric album for a new kind of endless summer, a musical minuet for a special moment in time when so many boundaries were justly being forgotten. Any fans of Manuel Göttsching, Finis Africae, Software, and a few others, should find a good sonic companion here.
Gone with the Wind pictures a mediterranean island with music and sounds. Memories of a gentle summer, tenderly turning into the colorful symphony of autumn with its warm melancholy. Moods change into melodies, the vibrations of the land and sea translating into songs.
For a bass player utilizing synthesizers a unique album: enchanting, mellow, and played with deeply-felt sensitivity.
- Frank Fischer