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Xhol Caravan — Scream of Joy
(Garden of Delights CD186, 2019, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-10-07

Scream of Joy Cover art

It was probably somewhere around the 2002 timeframe when I got a phone call out of the blue from Tim Belbe introducing himself, and though our conversation was fairly brief, I let him know how much I enjoyed the music of Xhol Caravan and Xhol, and with that he told me that he was trying to get the group back together for a reunion; we tentatively planned to do an interview at some point, but sadly the next thing I had heard about him was his passing a couple years later. However the reunion had finally happened in 2003 and again in May of 2004, and Belbe, along with saxophonist / flutist Hansi Fischer and bassist Klaus Briest were a part of that reunion. After another fifteen years, Fischer and Briest, sadly without Belbe, decided it was time to reconvene for another Xhol Caravan reunion, which is the subject of the live disc at hand, Scream of Joy. Two concerts, one in February 2019 in Weisbaden and another in April 2019 in Mainz were both professionally recorded. Joining them are longtime associates of the band Eberhard Emmel (saxes) and keyboardist Markus Kieslich, along with relative newcomers singer Erik Klingenberg (who only features on a couple of the tracks here), guitarist Leo Fischer (son of Hansi Fischer) as well as drummer Darwin Berger. The live set draws a couple tunes from Electrip, specifically “All Green” and “Pop Games,” a couple pieces of the Freedom Opera, “Acapulco Gold” and “Talking to My Soul” documented on the 2006 live disc Altena 1969 (as well as the CD Motherfuckers Live), as well as “So Down, So Damn and So Blue” also from that set. The title track “Scream of Joy” was one composed by Emmel and Kieslich, a lengthy piece “Twilight” by Hansi Fischer, and a couple carefully chosen covers — Roland Kirk’s “Serenade to a Cuckoo” and an instrumental take on Joe Zawinul’s “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” although most are probably more familiar with the 1967 version by The Buckinghams. Overall, an outstanding set, both in the excellent recording and the inspired performances.

Filed under: New releases, 2019 releases

Related artist(s): Xhol Caravan / Xhol / Soul Caravan

More info
http://diregarden.com/god186.html

 

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