FEATURED CD: Flaming Bess - Tanz der Götter

[Poisoned Youth]

There's something rather dated and quirky about this album that my mind tells me I shouldn't enjoy, but my soul (and the Camel fan in me) does. Any fans of this album and band? FWIW, I was never a fan of their follow up work.



Review from Progarchives:

Thanks to a TV programm Flaming Bess enjoyed a long and decent career.Formed in 1969 in Duesseldorf they gained some local fame through small gigs with an original line-up of Hans Wende (guitar), Horst Wagner (bass), Rolf Selbach (drums) and Peter Figge (keyboards).They soon fell into hiatus and this would be possibly their entire story, remained propably in dust in a mystery rehearsal room, if some tapes weren't dicovered in 1977 by the Westdeutschen Rundfunk (West Germany's broadcasting) and being hosted by Wolfgang Neumann's ''Rockstudio'' series.Neumann was so impressed by the group that he decided to take part in their first album, recorded in Koln in 1979 and released privately the same year as ''Tanz der Götter''.By the time the crew of the group featured only Hans Wende from the original line-up next to keyboardist Joachim Jansen and multi-instrumentalist Peter Wahle, while several musicians appear as guest members with Neumann being responsible for the album's narration parts.

Each track features a short intro with Neumann's spoken words with piano, harsichord and acoustic guitars supporting, quite close to NEUSCHWANSTEIN's ''Alice im Wunderland''.From the opening 10-min. ''Bedrohung'' the CAMEL influence on the group is more than evident, combining the melodic textures with sensitive solos, but the organ work is rather too soft comparable to CAMEL's approach, instead you get the typical Teutonic-styled atmospheric synthesizers in full mode.The following ''Kampf Und Vertreibung'' is a mix of instrumental Deutschrock with light Symphonic Rock, containing a repetitive funky beat on guitars with background electric solos and symphonic synths, closing with a more pronounced guitar-oriented style.Good track, but a bit too long for its own good.''Oasis'' is much closer to Jazz Rock with a definite FOCUS touch in the guitars and CAMEL-esque organ supporting, though the middle section is again a nice synth-drenched moment of symphonic grandieur.''Arkana'' follows more or less the same path, there is even some Canterbury vibe in the guitar/organ interplays beyond the constant CAMEL flavor and the style remains a jazzy-inspired Progressive Rock with loose textures and solos.The longer and more interesting track comes at the end, the title cut with the great intro built on clavinet, synthesizers and bass, emerging into a light Symphonic/Fusion piece with the guitars now reminding of Japanese bands like BELLAPHON and AIN SOPH, surrounded by tremendous orchestral keyboards, a nice sax solo around the middle and deeper organ moves, always in a lovely melodic enviroment, strengthened even more by the mellow piano lines at the closing minutes.

Delicate, smooth and professional instrumental Progressive Rock by an overlooked German group, that had its hard years before reaching its potential.Maybe not too personal of an album, but certainly good enough to fully enjoy it.Recommended. - Apps79

[spacefreak]

Still keep the original LP. It's their best for me as well.

[ashratom]

I think this record is great. I don't mind the German narration bits - kind of adds to the charm. Excellent guitar work too. Like Spyros, I'm keeping the original LP as well as the first press CD that came out over 25 years ago.

I also recall liking the next album Verlorene Welt (1981), but it's been a long time since I heard it (only have this one on LP). Heck, even Black Sun (2004) wasn't too bad, though hardly a modern masterpiece.

[Scrotum Scissor]

It's fairly OK. Good not great. Nice, I guess.

I actually prefer stuff like Werwolf, Shaa Khan, Tibet, Ivory and Trilogy for W. German "symph" of this specific era.

[ashratom]

It's fairly OK. Good not great. Nice, I guess.

I actually prefer stuff like Werwolf, Shaa Khan, Tibet, Ivory and Trilogy for W. German "symph" of this specific era.

In comparison, I would agree (or at least equal to these bands). Trilogy, in particular, is much unheralded.

[nosebone]

New to me, sounds cool thx!

[Progbear]

I remain distinctly unimpressed by this. There’s just not enough musical development to engage my interest. It just sounds like a bit of tedious, four-square jams to me. Comparing this to Camel is hopeful indeed; these guys don’t have anywhere close to the chops of Latimer & Co. And the dry German narration is lost on me...something about a fairy queen named Flaming Bess battling a demon named Cathul...or something?

I seem to be the one who prefers Verlorene Welt to this. More variety, more interesting/fleshed out compositions.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Trilogy, in particular, is much unheralded.

AFAIC, Here It Is remains one of the five-or-six finest "symph prog" albums to come out of West Germany. There's very little below Angloamerican or Italian standards at play, and it's not just the absence of the much feared 'Germengelsch' vox. The band truly took the instrumental parts of Genesis' '76/77 formula a step further. Of course, albums like Here It Is were impossibly obscure even in their own day; I think I read somewhere that it turned about 1000 copies altogether, from a pressing probably not all too much larger.

[ashratom]

AFAIC, Here It Is remains one of the five-or-six finest "symph prog" albums to come out of West Germany. There's very little below Angloamerican or Italian standards at play, and it's not just the absence of the much feared 'Germengelsch' vox. The band truly took the instrumental parts of Genesis' '76/77 formula a step further. Of course, albums like Here It Is were impossibly obscure even in their own day; I think I read somewhere that it turned about 1000 copies altogether, from a pressing probably not all too much larger.

Yes - definitely obscure. The original was on Cain, one of those late 70s/early 80s labels that put out albums like this to an audience of zero (Touch is another band off the top - not as good as Trilogy though). Surprisingly, you can still pull original LPs out of Germany pretty cheap, and I did just that recently. It features a different cover than the Musea CD, but like it better, even if you can tell the budget was about $5 for it. Charmingly stupid.

For Trilogy, I have the following notes from a recent listen: "...Trilogy moves through various themes, colors, tones, moods, and textures with ease. All the while the rhythms are constantly changing to keep one guessing throughout the session. The solos carry melodic lines within them, creating a remarkably memorable album. At times I'm reminded of the instrumental side of Epidaurus. Here It Is is a striking example of a band, against all odds, that were able to create a superior progressive rock album that has stood the test of time. One that to this day remains undiscovered despite a fine CD reissue from Musea. Had the band arrived in 2013, they would be hailed as a "retro prog" classic."

[spacefreak]

Another enjoyable album that is rarely mentioned in the context of the 2nd wave of german symph, is the sole album of band TAU from 1982. An interesting attempt at bridging the Genesis aspect of contemporaries Ivory and Tibet with the occasional sense of silliness a la Grobschnitt. And they escaped the trap of "germengelsch" by singing in their native language.

I managed to trace a track for the uninitiated, though badly sampled in the YT upload.

[ashratom]

Good call, Spyros. Tau is another fine album from that era. No reissues to date unfortunately. I've been limping along with a CD-R for about a decade.

[Progbear]

Tau is actually an incredible band. I think there might have been a touch of the NDW in there on account of the German lyrics, and do I detect a bit of Van der Graaf Generator influence?

Tonic and Sirius are two others that I really, really like from this era. Tonic actually are a little more on the jazzy side of things, but mix it with straight prog to end up at a sort of fusion along the lines of the underrated Sahara. Sirius were full-bore symphonic prog in the Genesis mould, dedicated to setting the poems of William Butler Yeats to music (what was up with all those Germanic bands and setting poetry to music? There’s a mess more examples I could list here, but this parenthetical aside is already too long!).

There were some other nice bands from around that time: Ocean*, Zarathustra, Burning Candle, a few others I can’t think of. Does Odyssee count? I think they might have been from a few years before.

*Ocean weren’t so much a “band,” more of a library music project that I guess “accidentally” turned out to be excellent instrumental prog!

[spacefreak]

^^^

Sirius is another good example. Especially their 1982 Brutkasten debut "Running to Paradise" that is one of the best examples of this era of german symph. In a larger picture of that "scene" (that for me spanned the period 1977-1985), I personally would include stuff like Odyssee or the folkier/rockier Blister Chap...

[ashratom]

I agree with both Mike and Spyros here - all of these bands are worthy of consideration. Blister Chap is a real surprise, especially given the "lady in fishnets" cover of their second album. I didn't realize Ocean was a library project. Interesting! Odyssee's White Swan definitely counts! Tonic and Sirius (Running to Paradise) are two of my faves from that genre. ML Bongers Project is another good one. Rebekka, Rousseau, Neuschwanstein... I have a predilection for the style, so I probably rate these higher than others.

[spacefreak]

I have a predilection for the style, so I probably rate these higher than others.

I slant towards Tom's opinion on this. By insisting listening to these bands instead of bashing them as 2nd league clones, it proved that no matter how "derivative" their take on symph prog might seem to a superficial listen, these bands had an undeniable sonic charm that for me proved addictive.

[moecurlythanu]

^ +1. I've been buying some LPs from this milieu lately.

[ashratom]

I slant towards Tom's opinion on this. By insisting listening to these bands instead of bashing them as 2nd league clones, it proved that no matter how "derivative" their take on symph prog might seem to a superficial listen, these bands had an undeniable sonic charm that for me proved addictive.

Well said!

[Svetonio]

I would call Tanz der Götter as *Canterbury Trash*, retrospectively as a sub-genre for a number of non-English bands who were trying at their albums - released mostly in the second half of the 70s - to imitate the icons of Canterbury like Camel in this case.

[Poisoned Youth]

Another enjoyable album that is rarely mentioned in the context of the 2nd wave of german symph, is the sole album of band TAU from 1982.

Thanks for posting. I have never heard Tau.

Sirius I don't think I ever quite "got". Progbear has been mentioning them since the RMP days. I could give it another spin at some point...

[Poisoned Youth]

It's fairly OK. Good not great. Nice, I guess.

I actually prefer stuff like Werwolf, Shaa Khan, Tibet, Ivory and Trilogy for W. German "symph" of this specific era.

I dig the first Shaa Khan. I don't think I've heard Werwolf. I have always found Ivory a bit overrated in this context. I'll have to pull out Trilogy again as it's been so long I can't remember much about it.

[spacefreak]

Sirius I don't think I ever quite "got". Progbear has been mentioning them since the RMP days. I could give it another spin at some point...

Well, I'm referring to their debut in the context of this thread. Their 2nd "The Three Bushes" was not satisfying to my ears.

[ashratom]

Tau is actually an incredible band. I think there might have been a touch of the NDW in there on account of the German lyrics, and do I detect a bit of Van der Graaf Generator influence?

Speaking of NDW is this context, I just heard for the first time a couple of weeks ago the sole album by a band called Opus. It's from 1983, titled Opus 1, and was reissued on CD as by the band Pur instead of Opus. It's a neo prog/NDW hybrid with lots of mellotron of all things. Completely anachronistic, but a fun little album. Not going to change your world, but worth an ear. All the tracks are on Youtube and that's how I heard it. If I run into the CD or LP, I'd get it for the heck of it.

[Progbear]

(Touch is another band off the top - not as good as Trilogy though).

Finally heard that Touch album. Man, is this one hard album to love! Instrumentally, this presses all the right buttons for me (could have been a bit beefier, like a lot of second-string prog of this era, they lean a little too heavily on that string-synth) but my God, is that vocalist awful or what? Worst “singer” I’ve heard in a while. Still haven’t decided who’s worse, this guy or the guy from Kyrie Eleison. I’m leaning towards the latter, Touch at least have interesting compositions that sometimes detract from the hideous vocals.

[proggosaurus]

one of our PE members, marquette contributed to a couple tunes on Der Gefallene Stern (2013). him and Achim Wierschem founded Marquette and Horizontal Ascension as well.

[ashratom]

Finally heard that Touch album. Man, is this one hard album to love! Instrumentally, this presses all the right buttons for me (could have been a bit beefier, like a lot of second-string prog of this era, they lean a little too heavily on that string-synth) but my God, is that vocalist awful or what? Worst “singer” I’ve heard in a while. Still haven’t decided who’s worse, this guy or the guy from Kyrie Eleison. I’m leaning towards the latter, Touch at least have interesting compositions that sometimes detract from the hideous vocals.

I had to reference my own notes, as I was trying to remember this. It appears I didn't overtly throw him under the bus (I highlighted in italics a bit of sarcasm below), but the last line of these notes are telling. Yea, he definitely didn't help matters.

"Germany certainly had no shortage of bands influenced by Gabriel era Genesis in the late 70s and early 80s including Neuschwanstein, Ivory, Sirius, and a host of others. The populous nation had a head start on the burgeoning NWOBPR scene that was about to take hold in England. Unfortunately there was little market for progressive music in Germany at the time, and all the bands faded rather quickly. Touch features a violinist, and his fine playing recalls Hoelderlin's own Genesis phase (Clowns and Clouds specifically). The vocals do resemble the theatrical elements of Mr. Gabriel quite well. The instrumental work throughout is above standard, and I'm impressed with the overall production. The use of Moog sequencing is refreshing in this context. There is a fair amount of commercial pandering - yet another harbinger of the ill-conceived "neo prog" aspect of the once promising NWOBPR movement. The compositions are diverse, and well thought out. Fans of early 80s Genesis inspired progressive music will love this one.

The instrumental work sells this one for me."