Jane -

Jane was a German symphonic/hard-rock band that released ten studio albums and a live double-LP on Brain between 1972 and 1982, followed by a final album on Sky Records in 1986.

Members: Peter Panka (drums, percussion, vocals), Klaus Hess (guitar, vocals, Moog Taurus, 1970-83, 1992-94), Werner Nadolny (organ, ARP Solina string ensemble, Moog, piano, Mellotron, 1970-73, 1975-76, 1982-94), Charly Maucher (bass, vocals, 1970-72, 1973-74, 1982-84, 1988-92), Bernd Pulst (lead vocals, 1971-72), Wolfgang Krantz (lead guitar, bass, keyboards, 1972-74), Martin Hesse (bass, vocals, 1974-82), Gottfried Janko (organ, synthesizer, electric piano, vocals, 1974-75), Manfred Wieczorke (keyboards, vocals, 1977-79), Predrag “Pedja” Jovanović (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, 1980-81), Kai Reuter (guitar, 1984-88), Klaus Henatsch (vocals, organ, piano, synthesizer, 1984-88), Bernd Kolbe (bass, 1984-86), Detlef Klamann (guitar, vocals, 1983-84)

Background

Jane evolved from Hanover psych-rockers The JP’s (aka Justice of Peace), which issued the 1968 single “Save Me” (b/w “The War”) on Studio Ton. They included singer Peter Panka, bassist Klaus Hess, saxophonist Werner Nadolny, and drummer Claus Zaake. The first three switched roles: Panka to drums, Hess to guitar, and Nadolny to keyboards. With the addition of bassist Charly Maucher, they became Jane. (Zaake would surface in the Jane-spinoff Lady.)

In 1971, Jane welcomed vocalist Bernd Pulst, fresh from raga-rockers (and fellow Studio Ton artists) Blackmann Lane. That autumn, they entered Star Musik Studio, Hamburg, and recorded their first album with producer Günter Körber.

Together

Jane released their debut album, Together, in February 1972 on Brain.

The album contains six songs composed by Klaus Hess with lyrics by Bernd Pulst.

Together features the only quintet lineup in Jane’s career and their only title with Pulst.

A1. “Daytime” (8:05)
A2. “Wind” (4:52)
A3. “Try to Find” (5:24)

B1. “Spain” (11:53)
B2. “Together” (3:43)
B3. “Hangman” (9:58)

Sessions occurred in the autumn of 1971 at the Star Studio in Hamburg, where Kraftwerk/Kluster soundman Conny Plank engineered Together amid projects by Ash Ra Tempel, Eiliff, Eloy, Guru Guru, Ibliss, NEU!, Parzival, and Virus.

Together marked the producorial debut of Brian co-founder Günter Körber. Brain issued the album as its second LP release (cat# 1002) between titles by Scorpions (Lonesome Crow, 1001) and Gomorrha (I Turned to See Whose Voice It Was, 1003).

Together appeared in a grayscale gatefold with a surreal sketch by one Elke Merten, whose artwork depicts distorted (possibly humanoid) bodies in a mangled embrace. Later editions present the image with varnished hues. The inner-gates contains sepia candid pics of assorted members and a sweater-clad primate.

Brain released an edited version of “Daytime” (3:30) as a 1973 single backed with an instrumental “Hangman.”

Before the next album, Bernd Pulst and Charly Maucher stepped down due to health issues. In 1973, Pulst died from poor medical treatment.

Here We Are

Jane released their second album, Here We Are, in May 1972 on Brain.

The album presents their first quartet lineup with new guitarist Wolfgang Krantz, who joins Klaus Hess, drummer Peter Panka, and organist Werner Nadolny, who adds mellotron to the mix. Hess and Krantz take turns on bass.

Here We Are contains eight group-credited songs, including “Redskin,” “Moving,” and “Waterfall.” Jane’s engineer, Dieter Dirks, applied electronic effects to “Like a Queen.”

A1. “Redskin” (8:54)
A2. “Out in the Rain” (5:48)
A3. “Dandelion” (2:19)

B1. “Moving” (3:56)
B2. “Waterfall” (4:25)
B3. “Like a Queen” (2:38)
B4. “Here We Are” (5:37)

Jane recorded Here We Are on 16-track at Windrose Studios in Hamburg, where producer Günter Körber performed backing vocals. The album’s post-production occurred at Dierks Studios in Stommeln, where Dieter mixed Here We Are in succession with 1973 albums by Dzyan, Gila, Krokodil, Lily, Message, Nine Days Wonder, Nektar, Omega, Passport, and Wallenstein.

Here We Are appeared in a gatefold with design and photographic details by one Arthur. The out-fold shows them couch-seated under an attic sunroof (front) and distortion-filtered outdoors (back). The yellow/black inner-gates contains credits and a photo collage of studio pics.

Brian lifted an edited “Here We Are” as a single (3:45) backed with a quarter-length “Redskin” (2:40). “Out in the Rain” appears on German Rock Scene, a 1973 Brain comp with cuts by Curly Curve, Emergency, Embryo, Kollektiv, Novalis, and Thirsty Moon.

After Here We Are, Werner Nadolny stepped aside for two albums.

III

Jane released their numerical third album in April 1974 on Brain.

The album marked the brief return of Together bassist Charly Maucher, who rejoins old colleagues Klaus Hess, Peter Panka, and interim recruit Wolfgang Krantz, who plays guitar and piano through a Leslie speaker cabinet.

III contains nine originals group-credited to Hess, Panka, and Krantz, including the epic “Comin’ Again” and the self-referential “Jane – Session.”

A1. “Comin’ Again” (9:40)
A2. “Mother, You Don’t Know” (5:52)
A3. “I Need You” (4:50)
A4. “Way to Paradise” (3:25)

B1. “Early in the Morning” (5:20)
B2. “Jane – Session” (4:20)
B3. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” (4:47)
B4. “King of Thule” (0:40)
B5. “Baby, What You’re Doin'” (3:05)

Sessions occurred between February 13 and 20, 1974, at Conny’s Studio in Wolperath, where Plank engineered III amid titles by Association PC, Creative Rock, Exmagma, Joachim Kuhn, Kraan, Pork Pie, Sixty-Nine, and Kraftwerk’s international breakthrough, Autobahn.

III appeared in a gatefold with artwork by surrealist painter Dierk Pape, whose imagery depicts a monk and a lady of the lake, both spherically enclosed with multi-perspective nature surround. The backside depicts the lady’s features wood-engraved around a spherical view of the band beside a giant cracked egg at a coastline. The inner-gates show a red-lit live photo of Jane with overlaying profiles of each member.

III was the final Jane album with Charly Maucher and Wolfgang Krantz, who made two subsequent albums together in Harlis.

Lady

Jane released their fourth album, Lady, in March 1975 on Brain.

On this album, Klaus Hess and Peter Panks welcome two former Dull Knife members: bassist Martin Hesse and singer/keyboardist Gottfried Janko, who plays organ, synthesizer, and electric piano.

Lady contains nine originals credited exclusively to Hess, who sings on “Music Machine.”

A1. “Waiting for the Sunshine” (3:22)
A2. “Scratches on Your Back” (3:33)
A3. “Music Machine” (6:01)
A4. “Make Me Feel Better” (4:07)
A5. “(Wishdream) Lady” (3:48)

B1. “Lord Love” (5:08)
B2. “Midnight Mover” (8:30)
B3. “Silver Knickers” (4:50)
B4. “So, so Long” (4:30)

Sessions occurred in November 1974 at Conny’s Studio, where Plank mixed the album in January 1975 before projects by Harmonia, Hoelderlin, and the Release Music Orchestra. Lady marked the end of Jane’s association with Günter Körber, who produced the subsequent debuts by Bullfrog and Harlis.

Lady appeared in a gatefold that shows the subject’s red-haired likeness inside a winged octagon atop a check-tiled hallway on Earth’s orbit with cutaway torrential overhead, as seen through an arched window. The back shows winged flower stems, aflight on Earth amid dichotomous weather patterns. The inner-gates present illustrations of each member along the wings, which hover over photo collages.

Janko left Jane shortly after the album’s release. Hesse became a longstanding member.

Lady inspired a namesake rock quartet formed by early Jane keyboardist Werner Nadolny with earlier (pre-record) drummer Claus Zaake and (later Fargo) guitarist Hanno Grossmann. Dieter Dirks produced Lady’s self-titled album, released in 1976 on Vertigo.

Fire, Water, Earth & Air

Jane released their fifth album, Fire, Water, Earth & Air, in February 1976 on Brain.

The album marked the brief return of Werner Nadolny, who joins three-fourths of Jane’s Lady lineup.

Fire, Water, Earth & Air contains five group-composed movements — one for each word in the album’s title, plus “The End” — spread across one song and two suites. Klaus Hess sings lead while Nadolny plays organ, Moog, piano, and synth strings.

A1. “Fire, Water, Earth & Air” (16:57)
— a. “Fire (You Give Me Some Sweet Lovin’)”
— b. “Water (Keep on Rollin’)”

B1. “Earth (Angel)” (5:20)
B2. “Air (Superman)” (10:53)
— a. “Air (Let the Sunshine In)”
— b. “The End”

Jane self-produced the album in November 1975 at Conny’s Studio, where Plank engineered Fire, Water, Earth & Air amid projects by Birth Control, Kin Ping Meh, Toto Blanke, and English rockers Time, a Spontaneous Combustion spinoff. Meanwhile, Hess and Plank co-produced La Leyla, the debut album by symphonic-rockers Ramses.

Nadolny partook in the FWEA sessions ahead of those for Lady, the singular album by Lady (named after the prior Jane album, Lady).

Fire, Water, Earth & Air appeared in a celestial black gatefold with bold silver fonts and a headphoned female humanoid mascot (front and back). The inner-gates show illustrations of each member in light-conducting mandalas along Earth’s orbit.

Live at Home

In October 1976, Jane released Live at Home, a two-record document of their Friday, August 13 show at the Niedersachsenhalle, a 1.5k capacity exhibition hall in their hometown of Hannover.

Jane performed as a quartet with ex-Eloy keyboardist Manfred Wieczorke, who joined Martin Hesse and co-founders Peter Panka and Klaus Hess, who enhanced his guitar work with the Moog Taurus pedal.

The two-records set (78:58 duration) contains renditions of two songs from Together (“Hangman,” “Daytime”) and one each from Hear We Are (“Out in the Rain”) and Lady (the title-track, listed without the “Wishdream” parenthetical). They condense their recent “Fire, Water, Earth & Air” suite into a short piece, one-fifth its studio counterpart.

Live at Home also features seven unique improvisation pieces, including “Windows,” a Floydian jam that constitutes Side D.

A1. “All My Friends” (4:34)
A2. “Lady” (3:33)
A3. “Rest of My Life” (4:25)
A4. “Expectation” (5:27)

B1. “River” (3:15)
B2. “Out in the Rain” (5:25)
B3. “Hangman” (11:27)

C1. “Fire, Water, Earth & Air” (3:40)
C2. “Another Way” (5:03)
C3. “Daytime” (9:39)
C4. “Hightime for Crusaders” (4:25)

D. “Windows” (18:05)

Wieczorke joined Jane between the completion and release of Fire, Water, Earth & Air. He arrived fresh off a four-album stint with Eloy, which disbanded briefly after their 1975 album, The Power and the Passion.

Live at Home appeared in a gatefold with photos of Chryse Planitia, a low northern region of equatorial Mars, where the Viking 1 spacecraft landed on July 20, 1976, and took the first photos of the Red Planet’s surface. The inner-gates contain a photo collage of concert pics.

Between Heaven and Hell

Jane released their sixth studio album, Between Heaven and Hell, in April 1977 on Brain.

The was their first of two studio albums by the Live at Home lineup with keyboardist Manfred Wieczorke.

The album contains three group-composed songs and a side-length titular suite. Guitarist/singer Klaus Hess doubles on Moog synthesizer.

A1. “Between Heaven and Hell” (19:44)

B1. “Twilight” (8:13)
B2. “Voice in the Wind” (5:12)
B3. “Your Circle” (3:51 )

Jane self-produced the album in February 1977 at Delta Acoustic Studio in Grevenbroich. Jane Live soundman Achim Schulze co-engineered Between Heaven and Hell with Can technician Manfred Schunke, who worked on concurrent albums by Birth Control (Increase), Gate, Hoelderlin (Rare Birds), Message, and the second Harlis effort, Night Meets the Day.

Between Heaven and Hell is the second of two Jane studio albums with the band pictured on the cover. They appear before a crumbled Tolkienan world (given full view on the backside) by painter Robert Titze. The inner-gates show a bouquet of wilted white lilies.

Age of Madness

Jane released their seventh studio album, Age of Madness, in April 1978 on Brain.

For this album, the band retained its Live at Home / Between Heaven and Hell lineup with keyboardist Manfred Wieczorke, who joined ongoing bassist Martin Hesse and co-founders Klaus Hess and Peter Panka. This release marked the only instance in Jane’s career of back-to-back studio albums with the same lineup.

Age of Madness contains eight group-written songs, including the titular opener that returns as the closing number.

A1. “Age of Madness” (5:45)
A2. “Memory Symphony” (4:25)
A3. “Auroville” (3:40)
A4. “Love Song” (3:53)

B1. “Bad Game” (5:14)
B2. “Get This Power” (2:40)
B3. “With Her Smile” (4:20)
B4. “Meadow” (3:27)
B5. “Age of Madness (Part II)” (2:39)

Sessions occurred in February 1978 at Jane’s newly built studio. Age of Madness appeared in a single sleeve that zooms on a winged lady pin attached to a white denim article. The cover features a portly mascot in a red diamond harlequin top.

Metronome lifted “Love Song” as a single (b/w “Get This Power”).

Manfred Wieczorke surfaced next in Firehorse, a symphonic-rock sextet that made the 1980 Ariola album On the Wind.

Sign No 9

Jane released their eighth studio album, Sign No 9, in September 1979 on Brain.

A1. “No. 9” (6:35)
A2. “That’s the Way” (5:45)
A3. “Love Can’t Wait” (5:57)
A4. “Henry Goes Married” (4:14)

B1. “Say Hello” (5:07)
B2. “Moonstone” (4:47)
B3. “Love on Earth” (4:37)
B4. “Letter to Mariann” (3:11)
B5. “I Know One Day” (3:28)

Klaus Hess – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals, keyboards
Martin Hesse – bass, vocals
Peter Panka – drums, percussion, vocals

Jane – producer
Achim Schulze – engineer
Henry Grau – engineer

Jane

Jane released their self-titled ninth studio album in 1980 on Brain.

A1. “On My Way” (3:45)
A2. “New Man in Town” (3:43)
A3. “Stay With Me” (2:56)
A4. “Stop the Clock” (7:51)
A5. “Rockin’ Around” (3:22)

B1. “Intro / Easy Going” (5:57)
B2. “Love Your Life” (5:30)
B3. “Dynamite” (4:44)
B4. “Cadillac Rider” (4:31)
B5. “Out on the Street” (3:11)

Martin Hesse – bass, vocals
Peter Panka – drums, percussion
Klaus Hess – guitar, keyboards, vocals, mixing
Pedja – vocals, strings

Henry Grau – engineer
Werner Nadolny – saxophone

Germania

Jane released their tenth studio album, Germania, in 1982 on Brain.

A1. “Germania” (6:52)
A2. “Rock and Roll Revolution” (3:05)
A3. “Got No Shadows” (2:30)
A4. “Cool and Collected” (4:00)
A5. “Get Back to You” (4:10)

B1. “No Future” (5:40)
B2. “I’m So Down” (2:37)
B3. “Driving Me Crazy” (2:07)
B4. “When I Went to the Scene” (2:35)
B5. “Southern Line” (5:25)

Charly Maucher – bass
Peter Panka – drums, cover design
Klaus Hess – guitar, vocals, mixing

Beautiful Lady

Jane released their twelfth and final album, Beautiful Lady, in 1986 on Sky Records.

1. “I Need You” (5:06)
2. “Beautiful Lady” (4:42)
3. “In My Life” (4:57)
4. “Hold Your Line” (4:23)
5. “Silence” (5:15)
6. “Never Let You Go” (4:29)
7. “Just So in Love” (4:07)
8. “Imagination” (6:58)
9. “Beautiful Lady ( Maxi Version)” (6:21)

Discography: