M.Neumann Saxophone ace Klaus Doldinger's second PASSPORT album saw the band, in 1971, still trying to find its musical feet. Unlike the more refined electronic jazz rock of their upcoming albums the sound here is closer to pure fusion, if that isn't an oxymoron, and surprisingly funky coming from a quartet of such scruffy looking young Germans (the blond, bespectacled Doldinger is the notable exception to the group's hirsute grooming policy at the time).

But a certain focus was still lacking at this early, embryonic stage of their career. It would take another few albums for technology to catch up with Doldinger's ambitions, judging from the yardstick of this album's limited keyboard array: mostly primitive electric pianos and clavinets, with a few modest synthesizer runs and a little un-credited mellotron flute.

And the band itself still needed some fine tuning. The lean, clean voice of Doldinger's trademark tenor/soprano saxophone is, as always, the axis around which everything turns, but the classic Passport line-up wouldn't emerge until the album "Looking Through", two years later. In retrospect the obvious weak link here is drummer Brian Spring, a serviceable musician for the time but no match for the nimble pyrotechnics of his replacement, the amazing Curt Cress.

Still, the music shows a youthful vitality that can still be invigorating, from the upbeat, toe-tapping energy of the album opener "Mandragora" to the playful curtain closer "The Cat From Katmandu" (love that title). "Fairy Tale" is a luminous, luxurious vamp on a well-known traditional melody, with a cool ersatz bossa-nova vibe to recommend it, and John Mealing's over-cranked organ solo over the slow, heavy 3/4 shimmy of "Registration O" wouldn't be out of place on an early Can or Amon Düül recording. The latter half of the album (Side Two, on my still pristine vinyl copy) in particular stretches out more, with extra room allowed for open improvisation.

It was never too challenging an album, even its day. But this is easily the best of Passport's early releases (at any rate it's the only one I still own, which says pretty much the same thing). Plus it sports another cover of unique, Magritte-inspired surrealism from the same Hamburg art studio that designed all of the group's classic '70s albums, providing a distinctive visual hallmark for Doldinger and his band.

seyo The second PASSPORT album continues building upon the solid foundations of the debut. "Mandragora" is a nice melodic opener with prominent use of electric piano/Clavinet and of course Doldinger's wild sax. More aggressive "Nexus" is interesting for a short bass pedal works (wah-wah). "Fairy Tale" is a slower tempo, gentle theme with very good bass lines although sax gets sometimes too improvised. "Get Yourself a Second Passport" contains some nice unison bass and electric piano parts. Second part of album is not so good and gets repetitive with aimless soloing, starting from too long "Registration O" till the album end. This album is much less interesting than the debut but is still a decent jazz-rock work, especially if you are a follower of this music style.

Warthur Whilst the debut Passport album was on what was then the cutting edge of fusion, the second release the band stepped back a bit into more comfortable jazz territory. This isn't to say this is a pure jazz album - in particular, opener Mandragora incorporates a powerful funk bassline - but it does err towards the jazz side of the jazz-rock spectrum. Standout performer here is Klaus Doldinger himself, whose saxophone and synthesiser contributions dominate the band's sound. It's a shame the band chose to play it safe here rather than attempting to continue the more daring approach of their debut, but this is still a pleasant listen which will offer fans of Weather Report or Return to Forever much that is of interest.