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Stern-Combo MeissenEstablished as the oldest of all DDR rock bands, originally as "Combo" an amateur group from the city Meissen. No doubt originally inspired by the likes of the Moody Blues and Procol Harum, along with classical and folk influences, Stern-Combo Meissen had always been very big on keyboards and developing a very large symphonic sound, and at one time the group contained three keyboard players. Still, it took a long while before they got an album released, but such a long apprenticeship lead to a band with a highly original sound. In fact, Stern-Combo Meissen can be seen as establishing what was to become the characteristic sound of DDR progressive rock: a symphonic yet hard-edged complex rock with poetic German lyric, often close to the sound of Novalis and later Anyone's Daughter. Their debut was a fresh and surprising album recorded live in concert, most varied, it hinted at several avenues that the band could take, and especially memorable is a highly original version of Mussorgksy's "A Night On Bare Mountain". Further albums refined their style, especially so the symphonic rock opus WEISSES GOLD, which is largely instrumental and highly complex, and their greatest work the space-rock flight REISE ZUM MITTLEPUNKT DES MENSCHEN, which is amongst the high-points of DDR progressive rock, with vast instrumentals and complexities comparable to classics of the Italian scene. Typically, as with most DDR bands in the 80's, subsequent albums saw a rapid decline, however with Stern-Combo Meissen this was mostly due to a gradual yet total change in line-up. Lothar Kramer (keyboards), Norbert Jäger (vocals, percussion, keyboards), Reinhard Fißler (vocals), Martin Schreier (drums), Bernd Fiedler (bass), Thomas Kurzhals (keyboards) STERN-COMBO MEISSEN (20-21/5/77) WEISSES GOLD DER WEITE WEG (1979) REISE ZUM MITTLEPUNKT DES MENSCHEN Sternenmädchen An attempt by Gille Lettmann (Aka Sternenmädchen or Starmaiden) to tell the story of Timothy Leary and The Cosmic Jokers, to music, as a unique sonic documentary. The resultant album, made considerable use of Klaus Schulze organ and electronics tapes, and pillaged the archives of the Kaiser labels, with extracts from various albums. Together with texts from Timothy Leary, Brian Barritt, and others, the results are a fascinating sonic trip, with lots of weird happenings, and deft mixing by Dieter Dierks. Gille Lettmann (narration), Klaus Schulze (organ, electronics) GILLES ZEITSCHIFF (1973) Kiev Stingl Hamburg rock singer. Only his debut TEUFLISH is of any interest to rock collectors, notably due to the fine supporting cast of musicians. His later pop albums are of no interest whatsoever. Kiev Stingl (vocals, guitar), + Achim Reichel (guitars), Jean-Jacques Kravetz (piano, organ), Dicky Tarrach (drums, percussion), Tissy Thiers (bass), Stefan Wulff (harmonica) TEUFLISH Straight Shooter Only barely of interest, due to featuring the original Streetmark singer Georg Buschmann. In their early days, Straight Shooter sounded a little like Streetmark, but were much straighter and song-based, with a hard-rock edge. Their best LP was their second MY TIME - YOUR TIME. On later records, after those below (there's at least four more), they moved to metal and then techno-pop musics. Georg Buschmann (vocals), Günther Striepling (guitar), Hans Plankert (keyboards), Roland Haase (bass), Peter Kegler (drums, percussion) GET STRAIGHT MY TIME - YOUR TIME Streetmark A very variable progressive band from the Düsseldorf region, with a sketchy history, not least in that on NORDLAND (which is reputed to be their debut) the lyrics refer to it as being their second album! However no earlier album is known. At this time Streetmark were fronted by gruff aspiring Heavy Metal vocalist Georg Buschmann, who tended to get in the way somewhat, in what was a complex keyboard progressive with unique rhythmic structures. NORDLAND was a varied album, with many excellent instrumental excursions. After Buschmann went on to Straight Shooter, they were then joined by vocalist/synthesist Wolfgang Riechmann on EILEEN. His background in electronic music changed the Streetmark sound dramatically, moving to a spacey progressive, with lengthy surging instrumentals. A fresh and innovative album which they were unable to follow afterwards without Riechmann. On DRY Streetmark were down to a trio, with Dorothea Raukes in control as multi-synthesizer/keyboard operator and vocalist. A nice, but more commercial offering, with good use of male and female vocal harmonies. Highly synthesized, yet mellow, almost sounding like The Carpenters on one track, it also hinted at the more commercial style SKY RACER was to follow. Dorothea Raukes (keyboards), Thomas Schreiber (guitars), Georg Buschmann (vocals), Wolfgang Westphal (bass), Hans Schweiß (drums) NORDLAND (10/75) EILEEN DRY (1-2/79) SKY RACER (7-8/80) Strinx An obscure Jean-Luc Ponty type jazz-fusion, done in the German style. Of uncertain origin, Strinx were really much more jazz than anything else, and their sole album is lively and tuneful, with much experimentation, but only of slight interest. Wolfgang Kliegel (violin, clavinet, harp, percussion), Werner Geck (piano), Meinhold Puhl (bass), Thomas Gross (drums, percussion) TALK TO THE WIND Styff Nack An obscure progressive band of whom we know very little, except for a moderately interesting self-produced album. Definitely in the spirit of Krautrock, but with a more mellow late-70's feel, the album SUNDIAL mixed a variety of styles into a lyrical hard-rock, pepped up by many unusual touches and a psychedelic edge. Hans-Jürgen Hofmann (vocals, pianos, organ, string ensemble, Moog, guitar), Peter Fengler (bass, bass pedals, vocals), Uwe Leicht (drums, rototoms, cymbals), Rainer Houda (guitars), Thomas Möckl (guitar) SUNDIAL (5/78) Sub Formed in Munich in early 1969, originating from various local beat groups, Sub chose their name due to their affinity with the underground scene that was proliferating at the time. Though, unlike Amon Düül's brand of underground music, Sub were much more inspired by American psychedelia, notably Vanilla Fudge, and British bands like Traffic, Egg and Soft Machine. They had a heavy riffing psychedelic style, an excellent lead vocalist, and knew how to jam and freak out. Strangely, fed up with waiting for a contract, an employee of Sub's management, made off with the tapes of their album, getting it released in Italy. Masquerading as a live album, complete with overdubbed audience sounds, SUB IN CONCERT was still a fine album, showcasing a style of music that's little-heard from Germany. Only about a thousand were pressed, and in Germany they were still stuck with apathetic reactions. Sub split in 1971. Klaus Kätel (guitar), Christian Wilhelm (vocals), Peter Stimmel (bass), Johannes Vester (keyboards), Lutz Ludwig (drums) Ma-mari-huana / Off SUB IN CONCERT (1970) Subject Esq. Part of the history of, and really virtually the same band as the later Sahara, Subject Esq. played a complex progressive with fusion elements, some classical influences and superb musicianship. Comparable to many other bands of the era, like Alquin, Thirsty Moon, Camel, etc., with a similar type of complexity and inventiveness to the bands from the Canterbury scene. Subject Esq. also had many unique touches of their own, with unusual use of vocals, time signatures, and especially in having a wide range of solo instruments, all of which are given plenty of room in the lengthy instrumental sections. Michael Hofmann (flute, alto sax, vocals), Alex Pittwohn (mouth harp, 12-string guitar, vocals), Harry Rosenkind (drums, percussion), Peter Stadler (keyboards), Stefan Wissnet (bass, vocals), + Paul Vincent (guitars), Franz Loffler (viola) SUBJECT ESQ. (2-3/72) Sunbirds One of the many international Munich fusion bands, these were a veritable supergroup. On their debut SUNBIRDS they made a dreamy, yet powerful fusion with an abundance of solos, extensively featuring Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine, feeling like a spacey Embryo cum Miles Davis. The later ZAGARA is said to more easy going mainstream fusion. Ferdinand Povel (flutes), Philip Catherine (guitar), Fritz Pauer (electric piano, organ), Jimmy Woode (basses), Klaus Weiss (drums, cymbals), + Juan Romero (percussion) SUNBIRDS (24/8/71) ZAGARA (8/72) Sweet Smoke An international band based in Germany, and also very popular in Holland. Sweet Smoke were all Americans, yet their hippy fusion was very much in keeping with the Krautrock scene. JUST A POKE, with its most obvious psychedelic cover art, offered two side-long tracks with complex percussive base, flowing musical structure hinting at the likes of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Quintessence and many a Krautrock band of the era, particularly due to Conny Plank's characteristic recording style. DARKNESS TO LIGHT, whilst being even closer to Quintessence with its hippy/ethnic stylings, was less successful and quite patchy. LIVE returned to the fusion side of their debut, with long tracks and also a touch of Santana styling. Where Sweet Smoke came from and disappeared to remains a mystery. Andy Dershin (bass, percussion), Jay Dorfman (percussion, drums), Marvin Kaminowitz (guitar, vocals, percussion), Michael Paris (tenor sax, recorder, vocals, percussion), Steve Rosenstein (guitar, vocals, percussion) JUST A POKE DARKNESS TO LIGHT (10-11/72) LIVE (12/73) Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream could be quoted as one of the most important of Krautrock bands, and as creators and popularists of many new forms of music. Because of this, they have been extremely seminal and influential, and left a wealth of excellent music behind them, covering almost everything from psychedelic rock through to new-age. The history of Tangerine Dream is a long one, and this version is abridged. Reputedly Tangerine Dream were the first Berlin underground band to get a record contract. The band at this time (late 1969) was: Edgar Froese, with Klaus Schulze (from Psy Free) and Conrad Schnitzler (founder of the Zodiac Club, and member of Kluster). The album they made for the new enterprising Ohr Records: ELECTRONIC MEDITATION, expressed in its title the idea of a new electronic music, though apart from electronic gadgetry like effects pedals and delays, the instrumentation used was basically that of a rock group. The album though was quite extraordinary in its invention and daring, being raw and intensive, bordering on the avant-garde. An instrumental rock potpourri, with wild guitars, lots of strange effects, swirling organ, and notably strong shades of instrumental Pink Floyd. Otherwise, one of the finest examples of underground psychedelic rock in overdrive! Even before the release of the album Klaus and Conrad had left the band and gone on to work with Agitation Free members in the Eruption project. Klaus then went on to Ash Ra Tempel, and both he and Conrad have since established themselves as highly prolific soloists. Eventually Agitation Free's drummer Chris Franke ended up joining Tangerine Dream. As evidenced by its title, the second album ALPHA CENTAURI, was the start of Tangerine Dream's cosmic phase. Chris had brought his knowledge of working with electronics from Agitation Free, becoming much more than just a drummer, and especially so with the use of massively processed organ and primitive synthesizers, they moved on to a much more ethereal deep-space music, still with shades of Pink Floyd, but also further developing their own style. The single "Ultima Thule" was the end of one chapter, in that it was the last Tangerine Dream number to present them as a rock band for several years, a fantastic single of surging spacey rock, comparable in sound to ROCKSESSION era Embryo, with rattling drums and Mellotron. In total contrast to all that had gone before, the following album ZEIT had no rock structure whatsoever, a vast double album with one track per side, based around echo and glissando guitars, organ and synthesizers. During the recording of this, Steve Schroyder left to join Ash Ra Tempel, and was replaced by Peter Baumann, who was more-or-less a consistent member for the next five years. Florian Fricke (from Popol Vuh) can be heard playing Moog, and amongst the featured string quartet was Hölderlin's Jochen Grumbcow. ZEIT (meaning "Time") is aptly a timeless and ethereal masterpiece, notably avant-garde and near-on atonal, with very little in the way of melody, otherwise cosmic music in its most refined form. ATEM, their final release for Ohr Records, saw a return to the feel of ALPHA CENTAURI in many ways. The big break came when they were signed by Virgin Records in England in early 1974. Backed by huge amounts of publicity, by the time of their first UK tour in Autumn '74, it's reputed that their Virgin debut PHAEDRA had sold more than 100,000 copies. Here, many of the characteristics of what was to become known as "synth music" were established, the use of repetitive rhythms and sequences, atmospherics with dense arrays of reverb, arpeggios and cyclical webs of sound. PHAEDRA and its more atmospheric sequel RUBYCON are still landmark albums of extraordinary innovation. RICOCHET, compiled from various concert recordings at cathedrals in France and England, established a much stronger melodic focus, with much use of sequential and rhythmic structures, and a new distinctive Edgar Froese guitar style. As further evidenced on the studio album STRATOSFEAR, the film soundtrack SORCERER, and the document of their debut North America tour ENCORE, this period is what many synthesizer fans call "classic era TD". But it was also the end of an era. Steve Jolliffe then replaced Peter Baumann, a talented English multi-instrumentalist (he'd been in TD in 1969) and also added was drummer Klaus Krieger. CYCLONE was the first Tangerine Dream album to include actual songs (sung by Steve), and was much more a progressive rock album than synth music, notably close at times to the Eloy or Jane of the era, but with lengthy space-rock drives. The following album FORCE MAJEURE, without Jolliffe (and thus totally instrumental), took another step on, with a more sequential and rhythmic base, with lengthy surging passages that are a great foil for Edgar's fluid guitar playing. The next era of Tangerine Dream had Edgar and Chris joined by keyboardist Johannes Schmoelling (late 1979 to early 1985), and saw a considerable mellowing in style. This version of Tangerine Dream continued to innovate and develop, but increasingly with the accent on composition and melody, as opposed to the daring and improvisation that was the key to the old Tangerine Dream sound. Catchy tunes and up-beat rhythms moved to the fore, and increasingly old ideas would be reworked with new arrangements. But after this, moving ever more into extensive work in composing film soundtracks, with the accent on short melodic and rhythmic tracks, the Tangerine Dream sound became increasingly one-dimensional and clichéd. Paul Haslinger did little to redress the decline in creativity, except a slight return to form on his debut with them UNDERWATER SUNLIGHT, and the video score CANYON DREAMS. Eventually even Chris Franke left, taking his distinctive way of creating rhythms with him. Edgar Froese (guitars, organ, piano, broken glass), Klaus Schulze (drums, whip, metal rods), Conny Schnitzler (cello, violin, guitar) ELECTRONIC MEDITATION (10/69) Ultima Thule ALPHA CENTAURI (1/71) featured on: OSSIACH LIVE ZEIT (5/72) ATEM (12/72-1/73) PHAEDRA (12/73) featured on: V (6/74) RUBYCON (1/75) RICOCHET (1975) STRATOSFEAR (8/76) SORCERER (1977) ENCORE (3-4/77) CYCLONE (1/78) FORCE MAJEURE (8-9/78) TANGRAM (1980) '70-'80 (1971-80) QUICHOTTE (31/1/80) THIEF (1980) EXIT (6-7/81) WHITE EAGLE (1/82) Das Mädchen Auf Der Treppe / Flock / Katja / Speed LOGOS LIVE (6/11/82) Daydream / Moorland HYPERBOREA (8/83) POLAND (10/12/83) FIRESTARTER (6/84) FLASHPOINT WAVELENGTH HEARTBREAKERS LE PARC (1-2/85) featured on: LEGEND GREEN DESERT (8/73+1984) UNDERWATER SUNLIGHT (4/86) TYGER (2/87) featured on: THREE O'CLOCK HIGH NEAR DARK SHY PEOPLE LIVEMILES (8/6/86+1/8/87) OPTICAL RACE (4-5/88) MIRACLE MILE LILY ON THE BEACH (7-8/89) DESTINATION BERLIN MELROSE (6-7/90) Tanned Leather It would seem as if Tanned Leather were a deliberate attempt to emulate the softer folky acts on British Harvest. In fact, Tanned Leather did sound English. Their music was soft and lyrical, with a few stand-out tracks on their debut, but they were similarly patchy like their British counterparts Forest or Battered Ornaments. In between their two albums, Andy Marx worked with the band Cherubin, and also worked as a soloist. The reformation album SADDLE SOAP was vastly inferior to the earlier album. Rainer Pietsch (basses, organ, harmonica, piano, vibes, vocals), Alf Gardner (vocals, tambourine), Andy Marx (guitars, banjo, vocals), Herbert Ihle (vocals, percussion, organ), Dicky Mudde (guitars, tambourine, vocals), Jim Cannon (drums, percussion, vocals) CHILD OF NEVER ENDING LOVE SADDLE SOAP Tea A Swiss hard-rock band fronted by English vocalist Mark Storace, who under the guidance of Dieter Dierks recorded two albums in the typical early-70's British rock style, with a little in the way of progressive touches. Latterly they changed into the Heavy Metal band Krokus. Mark Storace (vocals, percussion), Turo Paschayan (bass, 12-string guitar, vocals), Armand Volker (vocals, guitars), Philippe Keinholz (keyboards, vocals), Roli Eggli (drums, percussion) TEA "SPROUTS" THE SHIP TAX EXILE Date: 2015-12-18; view: 760
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