That’s what I call life for rock’n’roll! Jutta WEINHOLD actually has to be the Grande Dame of German rock music, although people might think of Doro in this matter. But Doro is not around for almost 40 years and… despite of all merits she has to queue up behind. Jutta WEINHOLD is in business since the end of the golden sixties, played with Amon Düül in the seventies and worked permanently between vocal teachings and blues/rock projects. Most of the people will probably know her from Zed Yago’s two albums, whereas the following phase with a similar concept (Velvet Viper) couldn’t stand up.
By the way, here I can tell you a droll story from my youth: My first full-length albums had to be Motörhead and AC/DC, but shortly after the debut album of Breslau found its way into my virgin collection, an album that was quite impressing in different matters. First, it owned a damn dry and harsh guitar sound for that time; second for its German lyrics (even more unusual as nowadays) and third because of its singing. The singing came from Jutta and was just great. My astonishment was even bigger, as the calculated effect as parent’s bugbear backfired (hey, why else you listen to loud and heavy noise in the puberty?). My mom just needed a second of the first singing part and said: “that is Jutta Weinhold, isn’t she? I know her from the past, a great blues singer! And you are listening to such stuff now?” Upon my soul! THAT I did not expect…
In the meantime the hardness scale got pushed a little and everything that is labeled as Hard Rock I cannot do anything with. The info sheet didn’t better this feeling as there was to read that musicians of Metalium had an important part on Below The Line. But that just proves again, how much one can err. With Below The Line Jutta WEINHOLD delivers a great album, consistently free of clichés, sucked off melodies and with an impressively great voice. With a slightly pathetic rock voice the eponym sovereignly waves over the musical happenings and spreads pure emotions. It might sound hackneyed but it seems like her voice is getting stronger and stronger over the years.
Musically one might feel remembered of the doomy bombast era of late Zed Yago, e.g. when male choirs start in the title track. But overall, the music on Below The Line is quite a timeless one. Songs such as the heavy Fire No Water and the rockin’ Spirit Of Fear are above reproach and should please every listener of sophisticated music. Tracks are skillfully composed, perfectly balancing catchiness and complexity. In principle, none of the things I connected with Hard Rock during the last years (decades) happen. And I have to confess that the likeable description in the info (“on this CD you vainly seek terms like lo-fi rock, booze and fuck) hits the mark. By the way, same goes for the lyrics. A song like Storyteller might appear like a conglomeration of Zed Yago/Velvet Viper titles, but it’s much better than the themes you fortunately won’t find on here.
Though, there some trivia I want to nag about: a song like Eternity doesn’t come to the point fast enough in the quieter parts. Also annoying the 15 minutes running idle time between the assumed last track The Master’s Work and the real final gimmick, that leads over to the beginning.
All things considered a strong effort of all involved persons and throughout positively impression. That’s worth of 8.5 points and all that without a nostalgic bonus…