Peter Pankas Jane

Peter Pankas Jane

Live At Rockpalast - Bonn 2004

Of the eleven albums that Jane released on Brain between 1972 and 1982 alone, more than two million copies were sold. Cult status albums like their debut “Together” (1972), the successor “Here we are” (1973) or “Lady” (1975), “Fire, Water, Earth & Air” and “Live At Home”, both released in 1976 and characterized by powerful organ driven melodic rock, are classified in German rock history as mile stones. The live recorded album “Live At Home” even became the bands’ bestseller receiving the “Golden Brain Label” from the record company in September 1977. This era is characterized by tours throughout Europe, TV performances, permanent radio presence and sold-out concerts.

To fit the nostalgic occasion at the “Krautrockpalast” in December 2004 Peter Pankas Jane played a colorful best of program with the most important and popular tunes of their career. Indispensible alongside songs like ‘Fire, Water, Earth & Air’ or ‘Daytime’ were, of course, both outstanding compositions of the band, the wonderful dreamy ‘Out In The Rain’ and the vigorous piece ‘Hangman’, a classy boogie rocker with an orgiastic guitar solo. The concert at the Bonn “Harmonie” ends with the ballad ‘So, So Long’, a number which today – after more than twelve years and many Jane shows later – almost sounds like a farewell to singer and drummer Peter Panka.

For “Live At Rockpalast 2004” is among the last performances of the charismatic Jane founder having been captured on DVD. Panka died on June 28, 2007 leaving a huge gap not only in his band but also in the complete German musical landscape. Pankas express wish to his band colleagues was to keep the band going, even beyond his death. How could this request be refused?

In contrast to the 2005 released DVD „Krautrock-Meeting“, where only three songs of the Jane performance were already released, this new CD/DVD-set “Live At Rockpalast 2004” includes the whole concert of the Hanoverian Band and a detailed bonus interview with Werner Nadolny and Epitaph-bassist Bernd Kolbe.

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To many fans concerts of the Hanover rock group Jane are a welcome deja vu experience. On particular atmospheric evenings you could hear enthusiastic shouts from the audience “come on, Charly, play again as beautiful as you used to do before!” cheering Jane’s bassist Charly Maucher. They would not need to wait long for a response of the addressed “That you can rely on”, Maucher smiles and – as a sort of prompt thank you for the vocal demonstration of sympathy – he strikes up the significant bass line of “Daytime”, one of his bands’ big hits. If then, as usual, the organ and the vocals join in and a magnificent melodious solo guitar is lifting the classic tune up to higher spheres you would see only faces lost in reverie in the hall. The Jane sound is working its magic.

Charly Maucher is one of the founding members of the band. Two further musicians of the original line-up, namely drummer and singer Peter Panka and organist Werner Nadolny, were still in the band in December 2004 when they played as Peter Pankas Jane at the so-called “WDR Krautrockpalast” together with colleagues of Amon Düül II, Epitaph, Guru Guru, Karthago and Birth Control. Since a legal dispute in the mid-nineties the band uses the additional name of their figurehead. Since the end of the eighties guitarist Klaus Walz from Dortmund is the fourth member who not only took on the extensive artistic heritage of Jane but has also ensured new studio creations.

The WDR concert at the “Harmonie” in Bonn shortly before Christmas 2004 was a touching evening for all participants bringing up a lot of memories of the golden seventies. At that time, Jane were among the most successful German rock bands packing the biggest clubs of the republic in their heyday. Emerged from the formation Justice Of Peace, short The JP’s, the record industry took notice of Jane at a festival performance in spring 1970. The musicians were one of the first bands to sign a long-term contract with the newly founded label “Brain” which concentrated specifically on the flourishing German rock scene taking up other leading acts like Novalis, Grobschnitt, Epitaph, Neu! or the Scorpions for their catalog.

Of the eleven albums that Jane released on Brain between 1972 and 1982 alone, more than two million copies were sold. Cult status albums like their debut “Together” (1972), the successor “Here we are” (1973) or “Lady” (1975), “Fire, Water, Earth & Air” and “Live At Home”, both released in 1976 and characterized by powerful organ driven melodic rock, are classified in German rock history as mile stones. The live recorded album “Live At Home” even became the bands’ bestseller receiving the “Golden Brain Label” from the record company in September 1977. This era is characterized by tours throughout Europe, TV performances, permanent radio presence and sold-out concerts.

With the beginning of the “Neue Deutsche Welle” at the end of the seventies the market value of Jane songs received a sensible economic dip. On top of that, internal tensions, different views about the future direction of the band and financial irritations made the conditions increasingly difficult. After a heated dispute the band split up at the beginning of the eighties. At first, Peter Panka and Werner Nadolny got involved in the project Warlock in Hannover, later reanimating Jane in a new formation.

To fit the nostalgic occasion at the “Krautrockpalast” in December 2004 Peter Pankas Jane played a colorful best of program with the most important and popular tunes of their career. Indispensible alongside songs like ‘Fire, Water, Earth & Air’ or ‘Daytime’ were, of course, both outstanding compositions of the band, the wonderful dreamy ‘Out In The Rain’ and the vigorous piece ‘Hangman’, a classy boogie rocker with an orgiastic guitar solo. The concert at the Bonn “Harmonie” ends with the ballad ‘So, So Long’, a number which today – after more than twelve years and many Jane shows later – almost sounds like a farewell to singer and drummer Peter Panka.

For “Live At Rockpalast 2004” is among the last performances of the charismatic Jane founder having been captured on DVD. Panka died on June 28, 2007 leaving a huge gap not only in his band but also in the complete German musical landscape. Pankas express wish to his band colleagues was to keep the band going, even beyond his death. How could this request be refused?

Matthias Mineur, February 2017

Tracklisting:

DVD
1.    Back Again    08:01
2.    All My Friends    02:36
3.    Fire, Water, Earth and Air    08:09
4.    Daytime    08:15
5.    Try To Find / Wind / Water    06:35
6.    Way To Paradise    04:14
7.    Windows / Spain    13:21
8.    Out In The Rain    07:11
9.    Hangman    12:09
10.    So So Long    03:36
11.    Bonus : Interview
DVD total:    approx. 85  minutes

CD
1.    Back Again    08:01
2.    All My Friends    02:36
3.    Fire, Water, Earth and Air    08:09
4.    Daytime    08:15
5.    Try To Find / Wind / Water    06:35
6.    Way To Paradise    04:14
7.    Windows / Spain    13:21
8.    Out In The Rain    07:11
9.    Hangman    12:09
10.    So So Long    03:36
CD total:    74:07

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Photos

Photos by Reinhard Näkel