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Thread: Anyone's Daughter

  1. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by alucard View Post
    I dug recently a bit deeper into the discography of the German band Anyone's Daughter. Founded in the early 70s , named after a Deep Purple song they released their first record Adonis only in 1979. Interesting record with a side long track and a majority of instrumental passages but without memorable song material. Their second self named record from 1980 , one of my favourite , goes into a more song based direction and shorter tracks but still with lots of instrumental passages featuring mainly vintage keyboards like Rhodes, Hammond and Moog. The songs are very well written , sung in English by vocalist and bass player Harald Bareth, one of the best German prog vocalists.
    Coming from the Stuttgart region in southern Germany the band toured heavily and was quite popular in southern Germany AD had a record deal with Spiegelei , from memory a Decca subsidary.
    The third record presents another turn , a concept record , Piktors Verwandlungen, an adaption of an esoteric story by Herman Hesse, who came from Calw , a small town from the same region.
    The record alternates between narration in German and longer instrumental tracks with a jazz rock flavour. For me the balance between the narrated parts and the instrumentals does not work too well.
    Their fourth record In Blau from 1982 goes back to medium long songs and one longer track this time sung in German and is IMO their best record. The lyrics are very good and quite deep especially on the long track Tanz und Tod. They stuck to the vintage keys and the record has kept a classic prog vibe.
    Neue Sterne from 1983 is the last studio record with Bareth and also their last prog record. The tracks have become shorter and more radio friendly , but including still interesting instrumental passages.
    Neue Sterne has again very good lyrics, among them two of my favourite AD songs Der Plan and In Zerbrochenem Glas , the latter narrating a car accident from the perspective of one of the victims and a highlight in song text writing .
    The band reunited in 2000 but changed completely their style. There are three live records from the Bareth period which are all excellent
    Good summary. They're a band a like a lot, and my opinions on their albums mirror yours for the most part. I also think In Blau is their best, and Tanz un Tod is one of my favorite tracks by any band.

  2. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by spacefreak View Post
    Hugely influenced by Genesis, they were probably the most successful band of the 2nd wave of german prog. Piktors Verwandlungen is their best i.m.o. A very interesting venture out of the safe-side and onto more uneasy realms by experimenting to bridge spoken text and vast symho passages. In Blau on the other hand sounds exactly like a mid-period Genesis album with german vocals.
    I don't hear an overt Genesis sound. I think Camel is a stronger influence.

  3. #28
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    Do I remember correctly that The Laser's Edge reissued Adonis in the early 90s? Or maybe I just read about it in his catalog. In any case, I'll check out these albums on Youtube.

  4. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Soc Prof View Post
    Do I remember correctly that The Laser's Edge reissued Adonis in the early 90s? Or maybe I just read about it in his catalog. In any case, I'll check out these albums on Youtube.
    No, it was Music Is Intelligence that reissued Adonis on CD in 1993. The next CD version was the 2010 remaster by Tempus Fugit which also restored the original LP cover.

  5. #30
    Man of repute progmatist's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rarebird View Post
    I love their German albums as well, but I suppose German is my favorite language. I have a lot of German language stuff.
    I'm also partial to German language music, including operas by Richard Wagner, and his son Siegfried. Perhaps because my heritage is mostly German...it must be in my blood.
    "Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama

  6. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by progmatist View Post
    I'm also partial to German language music, including operas by Richard Wagner, and his son Siegfried. Perhaps because my heritage is mostly German...it must be in my blood.
    I have some German roots, which can be seen in my family-name. At school I was often called "dirty rotten kraut" or rather the Dutch equivalent, coming from WWII. One of my grand-parents helped the resistance and even has gotten a thank-you letter from the US government I think.

  7. #32
    Member Mr.Krautman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zeprogmeister View Post
    I don't hear an overt Genesis sound. I think Camel is a stronger influence.
    I don't either... following this thread I pulled off Piktors... and Adonis from my collection to give them a new fresh listen. Nice and pleasant light soft-prog but nothing groundbreaking. Similar to Neuschwanstein, Amenophis and (some), Camel... but I can't find the slightest trace of Genesis in these two records which are the only ones I own from Anyone's Daughter.

  8. #33
    Member moecurlythanu's Avatar
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    I'm learning German with a free phone app called Duolingo. At 15 minutes a day, I should be fluent by 2035.

  9. #34
    To me there is definitely more than a slight trace of Genesis in Anyone's Daughter. They're not Neuschwanstein of course, but still...

    I would describe them as Genesis meets Eloy, with hints of Camel and Grobschnitt. A very good band, moving at times, but I can imagine my musical world without them.

  10. #35
    Before I heard them, if you told me that one of my favorite songs by this band would be called “La La,” I would have told you that you were crazy. Now I’m eating my beaver-fur Derby.

    I think they’re an excellent band, brimming with musical sophistication, and certainly deserving of higher estimation than “proto-neo-prog” or whatever dismissive comment detractors are lobbing their way. They seem to have taken the baton from U.K., one of the few bands to have taken inspiration from them and ran with it. I think they’re a lot better than many more highly-rated bands in a similar vein (e.g.: Epidaurus or the previously-mentioned Neuschwanstein).

    Sadly, I never really connected with Piktors Verwandlungen. As their most ambitious work, I can at least appreciate it, but the dry German narration kills it for me. The piece comes to a screeching halt any time the narration pops up, and it never really builds up momentum as a result. Come to think of it, I tend to be a non-fan of narration in music in general (I’ve come to terms with Weisses Gold, if only just, but apart from that...)

    I notice Last Tracks has yet to be mentioned. The “new” 1986 recordings are worthless, but this also contains their demo tape from the late 70s. It sounds like the source tape spent the interim in somebody’s flooded basement, but it’s still a pretty important document, especially as it contains the Canterbury-ish instrumental live favorite “Ma Chère Marquise de Sade,” which is unavailable anywhere else (legally).
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  11. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by ashratom View Post
    And honestly I would separate out Trilogy altogether, which I consider something special and much different than the other bands listed, in terms of style.
    Quote Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor View Post
    You're probably right; Here It Is is arguably one of the very finest "symph" rock albums from the late 70s West-Germany. I just relistened, and it stands out from the rest I mentioned.
    Yeah, that was a good one.

  12. #37
    Man of repute progmatist's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rarebird View Post
    I have some German roots, which can be seen in my family-name. At school I was often called "dirty rotten kraut" or rather the Dutch equivalent, coming from WWII. One of my grand-parents helped the resistance and even has gotten a thank-you letter from the US government I think.
    My family were Germans living in Russia. My great-grandfather even served in the Czar's army. Immediately following the Bolshevik revolution, all the Germans were kicked out of Russia. After all, the revolution happened at the tail end of another small conflict known as the first world war...a war in which Germany was the aggressor. My family then immigrated to the U.S., so we've been here for just a little over a century.

    My family's time in Russia may account for my affinity for Russian composers like Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Scriabin, Myaskovsky, Schnittke...just to name a few.
    Last edited by progmatist; 01-07-2019 at 01:59 PM.
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  13. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by Progbear View Post
    I think they’re an excellent band, brimming with musical sophistication, and certainly deserving of higher estimation than “proto-neo-prog” or whatever dismissive comment detractors are lobbing their way. They seem to have taken the baton from U.K., one of the few bands to have taken inspiration from them and ran with it. I think they’re a lot better than many more highly-rated bands in a similar vein (e.g.: Epidaurus or the previously-mentioned Neuschwanstein).
    I agree completely. Anyone's Daughter is a wildly underrated band. The Germans always had a bit of a problem making good symphonic prog. Eloy has its charms of course, but it's a little hard getting past Bornemann's vocals. I never "got" Grobschnitt. Birth Control were great for about an album and a half, and the more obscure bands like Neuschwanstein are all rather heavy-handed and lack that certain lightfootedness and self-confidence that both Dutch, Scandinavian and other Euro-rock bands had. Anyone's Daughter, on the other hand, were great songwriters, virtuoso musicians, they knew how to balance melody and flash and they thankfully sang in German. In Blau is a miracle of an album in my opinion, and outrageously eclectic with folk-rock, synth pop, techno-rock and full-blown prog all vying for space, and yet it never feels cluttered, forced or discontinuous. The guitar solo towards the end of Tanz und Tod is one of the best I have ever heard. Piktor was a bit of a failed experiment, but most albums have great stuff on them.
    Last edited by Jacob Holm-Lupo; 01-07-2019 at 04:12 PM.

  14. #39
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    In Blau was my introduction to Anyone's Daughter, and it remains my favorite. Played this one over and over when I first got it - time to revisit - - - -

  15. #40
    Quote Originally Posted by jeffworman View Post
    In Blau was my introduction to Anyone's Daughter, and it remains my favorite. Played this one over and over when I first got it - time to revisit - - - -
    I remember having In Blau and Neue Sterne on 2 cassette-tapes, I used to play in my walkman a lot. When I hear those albums, I'm remembered of the times when I listened to them a lot.

  16. #41
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    Another vote for In Blau. What a great LP and that closing track is marvelous!!! Is it just me or is Kayak a bigger influence than Genesis here?
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  17. #42
    Member thedunno's Avatar
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    I guess I will give In Blau a listen again. It has been about 30 years since I last heared it.

    One of the very first prog band I started listening to, together with Saga, Marillion and IQ. Youth sentiment.

  18. #43
    Have listened a couple of times to the Requested Document Vol 1 Live records especially the second CD covering concerts from 82 to 83 wiçth a stunning version of 'Tanz und Tod'.
    Btw one influence quite present ( expressed already in their band name) is Deep Purple. The band was founded in 1972 and startyed playing among their own compositions covers of DP and Cream. The influence is more obvious on the live tracks with longer organ/ guitar interplay, that were not released on studio records like 'Carrara' , a longer instrumental jam at the tailend of 'Sonne' with great Organ and guitar solos. Ulmer continued to play through the 80s hammond, moog and Rhodes, which gives the band a more 'classic" sound compared to the Neo Prog bands emerging in the 80s. What I don't understand why AD haven't been signed earlier and released their first record only in 1979.
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