This two-CD set contains all of Sand's one and only album, Golem, from 1974, as well as whole lot of additional Golem-era tracks and three cuts from Born at Dawn, an unreleased solo effort by Sand vocalist Johannes Vester recorded shortly after Sand's demise. Golem is a strange blend of dark, off-kilter folk music with a very heavy dose of electronic effects. In fact, "Helicopter" starts off with several minutes of rotor-blade-sounding electronic pulses and other effects before heavily processed vocals and guitar strums take over. The music moves from abstract soundscapes to surreal songs, and all of it is filtered through a special artificial head recording system to make for particularly good headphone listening. With Klaus Schulze at the controls, many of the songs have a similar cosmic trippiness to his early solo stuff and Ash Ra Tempel, with lots of electronic swooshes and washes. "May Rain" bounces on an odd om-pah rhythm as the acoustic guitar notes swirl around. There is very little percussion, except on "On the Corner." The highlight of Golem is the haunting two-part "Sarah," starting off as a slow, eerie dirge with whispery voices and then becoming cosmic folk with more distorted vocals. The bonus tracks offer some alternate takes of Golem material, some of which are radically different, like "May Rain" stripped down to gentle acoustic guitar and vocal, as well as pieces that didn't make the album but are also excellent, such as the desolate folk piece "Desert Storm" and the long electro-pulsing "Power Station." The two tracks called "Vulture" are even more abstract and droning. The three pieces from Vester's solo effort are far more conventional folk-rock when compared to the Sand tracks, though they are still a little odd, with dark lyrics and even a hint of Sand's magic.

4 stars An intriguing ambient kraut album.

Golem is a very interesting and enigmatic album consisting of hypnotic undulating synthesizer based dronings broken up by slightly odd folk songs that are somewhat reminiscent of early PINK FLOYD and SYD BARRETT. This album is really a love or hate affair, if you can derive enjoyment from the droning dongs then you will definitely like the album, if you find it boring or silly then it probably wont be for you. I personally enjoy the droning and the drone songs are my favourite on the album, particularly ‘Vulture I’ and the opener ‘Helicopter’ (the CD edition is a must by the way, it’s about 3 times as long as the LP and contains some of it’s best moments) the only real instrument in the drone songs is the bass which does contribute an awful lot at times and there is occasionally some vocals (the imitating of the helicopter is pretty silly).

Golem is an acquired taste, if you have time, patience and are in the right frame of mind then you will definitely enjoy this album, it’s great for relaxing out in the sun on a warm summer’s day and contains some very soothing yet psychedelic music. Definitely not for everyone, recommended to fans of 70′s KRAFTWERK, kraut and ambient music. 4 stars, the sheer amount of decent content in the extended CD version, the originality and the emotional impact when it does hit the mark certainly warrant it.
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Review by murkes
5 stars I must say, I love this album. It was one of the first not well known kraut records I’ve listen to. The reason why I get a copy of that album on tape was Current 93 coverversion of “when the may rain comes”. And it was a really new world for me, to listen 70ties music that sounds like the “modern” stuff (beside the well known NEU!, Can etc) I’ve listen in that times (1996 – I was 18 years at this time) . For me it is a very interesting and good sounding time document. It has a very relaxing and sometimes dark surreal mood loaded with effects and the best, it lacks of that boring blues influenced heavy/prog rock which labeled as krautrock, too. thanks the current 93 people (D.Tibet/S.Stapelton) Sand was rereleased with all recordings of them including the non art-head-stereo recordings of the tracks, which are a bit flat for me. I prefer the special stereo mixes. At all, this is a very surreal timeless piece of music. a kind of electronic psyche folk and I would not miss that in my musical socialisation ;-). will give them full rating because I found nothing similar to that album!
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Line up:

- Johannes Vester / vocals, VCS3 synthesizer, guitar
- Ludwig Papenberg / guitar, organ electronic drums
- Ulrich Papenberg / bass, percussion
Production by Klaus Schulze
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MINI BONUS CD SINGLE:
Current 93 – When The May Rain Comes 1996

This CD is given away free with the first 1000 copies of “Ultrasonic Seraphim” by Sand,
and is not to be sold separately, the CD comes in a cardboard slipcase.