Pop Organ Hit Parade: Franz Lambert - EMI 1978

That cover isn't giving the usual level of detail for the casual buyer is it? Ok, there's Franz and his organ and 40 'Super Hits' - I get that, but the usual custom for these albums has been to supplement that much with some kind of 'For Dancing', 'In A Hammond Style', or 'In A Country Way' type qualifier, something gives some indication of what the point of the album is and what it's going to sound like. You don't get that here, but after listening to it I kind of know why; the cover does in fact tell you all you need to know, this is an album of Franz Lambert playing some tunes on an organ in a Franz Lambert style. That's all there is to it.

 

Maybe that's a bit harsh - after all, it's not Lambert's fault that I expected something more, but then I think anyone with a Wersi Galaxis organ at home and a modicum of talent in playing it could have knocked this stuff out to much the same effect. According to my research, the Wersi Galaxis is a kind of programmable, hybrid synthesiser type instrument; that makes sense because, on this at least, it's made to work for its supper - there are no backing musicians here and all the rhythm tracks and percussion are generated by the organ itself with Franz picking out the melody over the top.

 

Like other albums of this ilk, those '40 Super Hits' are grouped into clusters of two or three and played in medley style, but while the cover suggests we're in for a late 70's hits from the UK type compilation, those familiar titles are interspersed with some very (to me anyway) unfamiliar ones like 'Im Wagen Von Mir', 'Und Dabei Liebe Ich Euch Beide' and 'Buenas Dias Argentina' which means listening to it in one sitting is a trippy, dream-like affair where familiar tunes emerge from a fog of Europop before being swallowed up again by tunes I don't know from Adam. Again, that's not Franz's fault, but it does put another cross in the debit column.

 

You see as game as Franz is, the simple fact is that many of these tunes don't translate at all well to the organ ('Mull Of Kintyre', 'Dancing In The City', 'Car Wash' etc.), and though he gets stuck in with a good natured enthusiasm that's hard to dislike, it's not something that's easy to enjoy either, and with an instrument that struggles to produce subtleties of light and shade, the relentless bombardment of too much organ just wears me down. Ultimately, I can't help but see this as anything other than a vanity project that either only Lambert's family and friends or else rabid fans of the Wersi Galaxis sound are going get anything from; there's simply nothing else here for the rest of us and I can't think of any context where playing this would make for a perfect accompaniment. Unless I was purposely trying to irritate.