Christian Kolonovits - Life is Just a Carnival (1976, LP, Austria)

The Austrian-born composer/arranger Christian Kolonovits is a German music industry stalwart, having worked with weird Euro pop groups like Boney M. and Supermax, as well as conducting the Eurovision Song Contest orchestra a few times, among other accomplishments.

His first solo album, “Life Is Just A Carnival”, is one of those ’70s treasures in which the listener has absolutely no idea what’s coming next. Criss-crossing a number of genres and feels across its scant 35 minutes, the album contains a kalidescopic range of sounds, ranging from radio-friendly ballads to heavy technical prog, onto tight fusion-y skronk and beyond. Also, in a nod to “White Album”-era studio trickery, Kolonovits isn’t afraid to build up musical ideas only to have them ebb back out to sea after only a minute’s time. This slab’s a memorable one, and in its special way, it’s more captivating than many other Kraut entries of its day