Birth Control's second album, Operation, stands as one of the band's finest recordings, getting the vote as the second best album of 1971 by one of Germany's leading music magazines. Operation has Birth Control employing a nine-piece string section as well as a smaller brass entourage in order to produce a larger sound, and while their progressive air is just beginning to flourish, a rather large difference in musical strength and instrumental craft is noted right away. Not fully abstract or left-of-center just yet, the powerful crunch of Bruno Frenzel's guitar surely leads the way, dominating the rhythms of every track while complimenting the aeronautics of the keyboard passages. With the tempos quicker because of the stern synthesizer work, the entire album moves along at a brisk pace. "Stop Little Lady" has the vocals on par with the whirlwind guitar riffs, echoed perfectly to produce a mysterious rippled effect. "Just Before the Sun Will Rise" and "Flesh and Blood" utilize the keyboards at the heart of both the songs, while the full 11 minutes of "Let US Do It Now" emanate Birth Control's instrumental coalescence in the momentum of both the drums and guitar. "The Work Is Done" became one of the group's most renowned efforts, with rocksteady percussion creating the perfect bottom-heavy underlay for the strings and horns. The 1997 pressing of Operation includes five bonus tracks, including another version of "The Work Is Done" and a peculiar little number entitled "Believe in the Pill." with the band maturing and slowly working back toward a more progressive rock route, Operation makes for a truly consistent studio album that offers a firm cross section of their sound.
T**R
Still ahead of your time....
Take a cross-section of what makes 70s rock music so cool and you have Birth Control. These Germans didn't care about being PC....they could tick off right or left wing with their blend of heavy/funky/nasty/prog rock. Check out the lyrics--Vietnam baby killings, drugs, space-travel, pollution, etc etc: the 70s in an ugly nutshell. Birth Control are for people who want music with an impact, they're too creative to be compared to other bands of that Kraut-rock 70s era. Rest assured if you dig Sabbath, Heep, Bang, Vander Graaf, Accept, Purple et al you'll love BC.
A**R
Five Stars
Excellent disque!
J**E
WoW
WoW
B**R
Amazing hard rocking second album
I am not familiar with Birth Control's 1970 debut, but it's said to be psychedelic leaning, with a cover of the Doors' "Light My Fire", but it's 1971 Operation that the band finds their footing, and what a killer album this is! This was released on the Ohr label, which is a rather strange album to have on a label that gave us the early works of Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, Klaus Schulze, and the likes. For the Krautrock fans and prog purists, you probably should simply stay away from this album. If you enjoy such heavy rock groups like Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Quatermass, Atomic Rooster, and the likes, you'll have no trouble with this! The album features lots of great guitar playing from Bruno Frenzi, organ from Reinhold Sobotta. Let's not forget the vocals from Bernd Noske, who also doubles up on drums. This is actually rather complex for hard rock, and progressive tendencies do show up. That shows right away with songs like "Stop Little Lady" and "Just Before the Sun Will Rise". "The Work is Done" is obviously about the Vietnam War. "Pandemonium" shows some really aggressive vocals showing how much rooted in hard rock this album is. That is, until you come to the last piece, "Let Us Do It Now". Suddenly they go a more classical route, with lots of strings and horns. Having this piece on there is akin to Deep Purple Mark II recording "Speed King" and several other similarly aggressive songs like they did on In Rock ("Speed King" was the opening song on that album), and then instead of something like "Child in Time", they record "April" (which was a heavily orchestrated piece from Deep Purple Mk. I's final album from 1969). At times I get reminded of the British group Cressida, most of the time this piece actually sounds more like a 1969 recording than 1971. I also forgot to mention some of the orchestrated passages remind me of David Axelrod's Song of Innocence (1968). This is obviously the last time any psychedelic tendencies showed up on a Birth Control album.Of course, it's also worth noting the album cover caused a lot of outrage, causing the album to be banned in many countries, although it was released on other labels on other countries, but all bearing different covers (the Charisma release in the U.K. is simply entitled Birth Control, and Philips release in France still retains the "Operation" title but a completely different cover). It's only the German pressing you're going to see this particular cover.I think Birth Control is a frequently underrated band, and undeservedly so, as all the stuff I've heard up to 1977's Increase are simply great (including their two prog rock albums, Plastic People and the unjustly maligned Backdoor Possibilities). Operation is simply one of my all-time heavy rock albums (along with Hoodoo Man, which is also a must have), and I highly recommend it.
J**B
great prog release
Operation, in my opinion, is one of Birth Control's better releases. I have about 4 of their cds and this by far is the best. i think all the songs are very strong, and my favorite and one of their more popular "the work is done", is both released as the standard track and as the single version in the bonus material. there are 5 singles in the bonus material. great liner notes and additional artwork is included in this repertoire release. like other reviewers, i too feel the band is under appreciated. i'll probably pick up a couple more of their latter material to see how they progressed. i do have a live cd of theirs i equally enjoy and Plastic People isn't to shabby either. anyway, if you're a fan of the progressive scene or into kraut rock, this cd is essential part of your collection.
M**D
Birth Control - 'Operation' (Repertoire)
Originally released in 1970, looks to be Birth Control's third album. Wow! Did I ever end up digging on this disc, SO much better than what I had expected. Tell me I'm nuts, but to ME, specially on this release (my first ever Birth Control disc I've had) that for the most part, 'Operation' sounds a lot like Uriah Heep on guitar and The Guess Who on the vocals, especially on the cuts "Stop Little Lady", "The Work Is Done" (liked both the lp and single version), "Pandemonium" and "What's Your Name". This CD reissue comes with five (5) very decent bonus tracks that make this disc THAT much more so a must-have. Great heavy progressive rock. Line-up: Bruno Frenzel ( R.I.P.) - guitar & vocals, Bernd Koschmidder - bass, Reinhold Sobotta - keyboards, Peter Richter - vocals and Hugo Balder - drums. Believe the group still exists to this day. Should appeal to fans of Deep Purple, Argent, Richie Blackmore's Rainbow and possibly Black Sabbath. Highly recommended.
A**R
Must have
I still have a record of OPERATION , all i can say MUST HAVE, one of the best group album after LIVE album which is my favorite.
N**O
Banda Allemana de Krautrock
Segundo disco del grupo Birth Control. Genero Krautrock - Rock Progresivo, donde el Hard Rock también está presente. Muy buen disco de la mejor etapa de la banda,que se ha reeditado muy pocas veces. A quien le guste este estilo de música, recomendado sin lugar a dudas.
S**K
german assault
Importante e prolifica band tedesca multiforme che spazia senza distinzioni tra progressive hard rock krautrock psichedelia acida e certe forme di art rock anticonvenzionale. Operation ne racchiude il suo momento migliore ed ispirato
P**G
Strong
Love this band. After having two of their albums I had expectations from this album and I wasn't disappointed - it is good and strong from beginning to end. Great German prog group. great addition to your collection
A**E
Tolles Album
Mit diesem Album von 1971 zeigt Birth Control wie echte Rock-Musik klingen sollte, denn es geht sofort in die Beine! "Operation" hat einen typischen frühziebziger Jahre dominierenden orgellastigen Sound! Alle Instrumente ( E-Gitarre, Schlagzeug, Orgel ) kommen genau dort zum Einsatz, wo man sie hören möchte! Das Werk klingt sehr melodisch, rauh und spröde! "Operation" ist Prog-Rock erster Kanone und ein Album ohne Durchhänger! Die Bonus-Tracks sind ebenfalls kein Füllstoff! Wer den Prog-Rock der frühen siebziger Jahre liebt, kommt an diesem Album nicht vorbei!
K**S
Fast delivery
Awesome album, beautiful envelope, clear sound, fast delivery!
