The word prog when used in reference to rock stuffs has gotten a bad rap (well politics as well, but here it’s deserved). Since genre names are just ways for writers to succinctly get at some commonality between groups, lumping any extended jam having group into the category was commonplace during the late ‘60s and ‘70s. Of course, bands that didn’t wind up tagged as prog – the Soft Machine perhaps – were just written off as late comers to the fusion party.

During the early portion of the ‘70s a band aptly named Deaf released an album entitled Alpha. The group, as dogged by genre tags as anyone else, was really more than any single writer would ever be able to wrangle in prose. There were influences from every sphere of music – and ever corner of the world.

The band – made up of Dany Rühle (guitars, vocals), Bert Buchmann (bass), Jack R. Conrad (flute, vocals), Jelly M. Pastorini (keys), Güge Jürg Meier (drums, percussion) – didn’t work again after this disc (at least that I’m aware of), but what the ensemble left behind is a rather hefty trip through Germanic musics of the time. Alpha can’t be said to be a kraut or prog masterpiece, but there simply isn’t a downer moment.

Comprising the first half of the disc are the album’s initial three songs. The lead off track gets into some pretty quick – and bizarre – rhythmic stuffs. It’s just short of jarring, but as the second track kicks in there seems to be a more traditional and blues based approach to the tune. “Run You Off the Hill” doesn’t get boring, it’s just easy to anticipate what’s about to happen next. Closing out the first side is “The Galactic Pack Of Fönds Kar” with it’s eastern styled flute solos and sparse production. The track gets into a normal rock setting as the vocals kick in. Regardless of what was going to occur on that offering, it couldn’t have aptly prepared listeners for what was to come next.

The majority of the album – and the record’s entire second side – is given over to the title track. The disparate portions of the song are held together as a result of some vocal moaning and an acute sense of timing as the lone constant throughout is the ability of the rhythm section to lock it down after the melodic players settle upon some newly discovered progression or sound to follow.

There’re some pastoral sections represented here as everyone drops out save for Pastorini and his organ. At times he’s even able to summon a weird church sermon, but not one that you’d like to attend. Subsequent to that section being played out, it’s right back into the rhythmic backing and a bit more melodic exploration.

Deaf is unquestionably a lost gem. The level of musicianship and composition displayed here really doesn’t have too many peers apart from the most well regarded kraut bands of the era. That being said, there probably won’t be a run on copies Alpha – that is, if any are still sitting around.