Keyboards return, and a new voice — Jane’s fourth, and fourth line-up. Lady is the sound of Jane regrouping yet again. After the keyboard-free guitar blowout of Jane III, the band brought the Hammond organ back through new member Gottfried Janko, who also took over lead vocals, while Martin Hesse settled in on bass. Recorded at Conny Plank’s studio with all songs written by Klaus Hess, it is a harder, bluesier record than the symphonic albums, powered by Janko’s organ and Hess’s searing guitar.

The short version

Jane’s fourth studio album, recorded at Conny Plank’s studio in late 1974 and early 1975 and released that year on the Brain label; nine tracks, all written by guitarist Klaus Hess. The line-up brings two new faces: Gottfried Janko on organ, synthesizer, electric piano and lead vocals, and Martin Hesse on bass, joining Klaus Hess on guitar and Peter Panka on drums. With the keyboards restored after the guitar-driven Jane III, it is a harder, bluesier take on the classic Jane sound, built on fat Hammond organ and searing guitar. Underrated and a little uneven, it is a solid hard-rock chapter in the band’s story.

A fourth line-up, keyboards back

By 1975 Jane had changed personnel with almost every album, and Lady continued the pattern. The bassist and second guitarist of the previous record had moved on to form Harlis, so Jane absorbed two musicians from the recently disbanded hard-rock band Dull Knife: bassist Martin Hesse and organist and singer Gottfried Janko. Their arrival marked a significant shift, most of all because it brought the keyboards back after the organ-free Jane III, with Janko now handling both the Hammond and most of the lead vocals. Recorded at Conny Plank’s studio, with every song written by Klaus Hess, the album leans harder and bluesier than the band’s symphonic work. Janko would stay only briefly before original keyboardist Werner Nadolny returned, so Lady captures a distinctive, short-lived version of the band.

The sound

Harder, bluesier German heavy prog, powered by the return of the organ. Gottfried Janko’s fat Hammond sound, thickened with synthesizer and electric piano, gives the album much of its character and restores some of the warmth missing from the previous record, while Klaus Hess answers with searing, blazing guitar and some hyper-powerful solos. The mood is more energised and hard-rocking than the band’s symphonic albums, with a bluesy, occasionally soulful streak that at times recalls Atomic Rooster, and the familiar comparisons to Pink Floyd and fellow Germans Eloy are never far away. Janko’s gruff, soulful vocals are a matter of taste and divide opinion among listeners, but the instrumental interplay between his organ and Hess’s guitar is frequently excellent. It is Jane in a leaner, harder, more blues-rock mode, with the keyboards firmly back in the picture.

Reading up on Krautrock? The books go deeper →

The songs

The album moves briskly through a set of hard-rocking, organ-driven songs. It opens with the bright Waiting for the Sunshine and the punchy Scratches on Your Back, before Music Machine, sung by Klaus Hess, stretches out a little further. A clear highlight is Lord Love, whose gorgeous instrumental passages pair a rich backing organ with a hyper-powerful Hess guitar solo, and the eight-and-a-half-minute Midnight Mover is the album’s longest and most expansive track. Along the way the funky, soul-tinged Silver Knickers shows off the organ, and the record closes with So, So Long. Nine songs that keep the focus on groove, organ and guitar rather than symphonic scope.

Reception and legacy

Lady is often described as an underrated but uneven album. Most reviewers welcome it as a clear improvement over Jane III, thanks to the return of the keyboards, while noting that the songwriting does not always reach the heights of the band’s best early work. The instrumental sections, and especially Klaus Hess’s guitar and Janko’s Hammond, draw consistent praise, even as opinion divides sharply over Janko’s vocals. Harder, more energised and less overtly progressive than the symphonic Jane albums, it appeals most to listeners who enjoy the band’s blues-rock side. Coming just before Werner Nadolny’s return and the symphonic peak of Fire, Water, Earth & Air, it stands as a solid, characterful entry and a snapshot of one of the band’s many line-ups at work.

The verdict

An underrated, uneven album for fans of Jane’s harder, blues-rock side — organ-driven and guitar-heavy, more energised than their symphonic work. Come to it for Klaus Hess’s searing guitar, Gottfried Janko’s fat Hammond sound and the strong instrumental interplay, rather than for symphonic ambition or consistency. Play Lord Love and Midnight Mover. Then Jane III for the keyboard-free album before it, Fire, Water, Earth & Air for the symphonic peak that followed, and Eloy for a kindred German band. A characterful hard-rock chapter — and an underrated corner of the Jane catalogue.

Browse the bookshelf in the footer →