Wiederhören, the first album released after Johannes Alto Pappert’s departure from Kraan, is an uneven affair. There are flashes of inspiration, like the excellent musical interplay in “Volgas Ahoi” which shows that the band could still rock out when they wanted to. Unfortunately, for every such moment there are two in which the band sounds merely competent. The second half of the album is particularly uneven and sounds like a collection of outtakes; it’s hard to imagine any of them making it onto any previous Kraan album. The band still had amazing instrumental prowess, but not the material to make good use of it. Note: Connoisseurs of bad photographs may be interested in the original cover artwork This started with one of the least appealing photographs of a band ever taken, which was altered to make it uglier for the final product. [This version of the album contains bonus material.] – Richard Foss