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Thread: Novalis?

  1. #26
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    Of the four albums I have by them (s/t, Sommerabend, Brandung, and a compilation), I like several songs (or parts of songs), but there are also many moments I don't like. "Novalis" has the great "Wer Schmetterlinge lachen hoert" but also the abysmal opening track, with some dreadful out-of-tune sounding synthesizer. "Sommerabend" (the song) has that great opening instrumental part, among my favorite sections of music ever, and then the repetitive "Ein Neuer Tag" bit that wears out its welcome well before it's halfway finished. What I've heard from their later albums has been surprisingly good, though less proggy. "Ich hab' noch nicht gelernt zu lieben" is a very catchy hard rock/pop song.

  2. #27
    Moderator Sean's Avatar
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  3. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by mogrooves View Post
    Neither here nor there, for me, but the second LP is alright. I've always found them reminiscent of Camel, melodic and inoffensive but mostly insubstantial.
    I disagree that Camel are “mostly insubstantial” but the comparison between the two is sound. Novalis are more keyboard-based than Camel, though. I associate Camel a lot with Andy Latimer’s emotive guitarwork (“Ice” being one of the rare instrumentals with the power to put a lump in my throat).

    Quote Originally Posted by Trane View Post
    Totally agree that Sommerabend is an over-sweetish desert... It's the kind of thing that prefigures these 80's sumphonic dreck like Anyone's Daughter and even some of these neo-prog bands
    Highly, highly disagree that Anyone’s Daughter are “symphonic dreck.” To my ears, they were one of the most sophisticated German acts operating in that style (at least that had multiple albums out, there were short-lived acts like Zarathustra, Tonic and Odyssee that had tons of potential but careers too short to realize it). I am consistently amazed by Adonis and Piktors Verwandlungen in particular; they definitely have a high level of musical integrity that many of their contemporaries lacked.

    Now Epidaurus, that (in my book) is dreck. Tons of prog gearhead masturbation fodder (Mellotron, Moog, et al) but absolutely zero in the way of substantial compositions.

    mmmhhh!!!... Ougenweide worked on old 'higher" German texts, which came from medieval tales & times
    I’m unfamiliar with their output, but Joy Unlimited did the “Middle High German” thing on Minne, with one-off singer Joschi Dinier. It’s also probably their most typically “prog” album, as if anything in their catalogue could have been; even this one is oddly laced with folk music and still has some of that brassy jazz-rock sound that typified their other albums.
    Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...

  4. #29
    I see a difference between the early ones (the first, BB and the self-titled) and the mid period of Sommerbend and Brandung. Both periods have their high points, especially on the S/T LP, even though they are uneven.

  5. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Blah_Blah_Woof_Woof View Post
    I see a difference between the early ones (the first, BB and the self-titled) and the mid period of Sommerbend and Brandung. Both periods have their high points, especially on the S/T LP, even though they are uneven.
    I think BB was their first.

  6. #31
    Wunderschätze from Konzerte.


  7. #32
    Member Joe F.'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rarebird View Post
    I think BB was their first.
    It was. The self-titled album was their second.

  8. #33
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Modry Effekt View Post
    Wunderschätze from Konzerte.



    This sLive ounds good enough ... ... I could be tempted by it enough as a compilation, but too bad there is nothing from BB on it... any bonus tracks??
    This album was released before Brandung I guess??
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  9. #34
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    The live "Astralis" (bonus track on the SPV issue of KONZERTE) kicks some major ass.

    Man do I miss SPV.
    High Vibration Go On - R.I.P. Chris Squire

  10. #35
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Is it still in print??

    Syn-Phonic has got a boot of it, and there is no way I'm paying for THAT!!
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  11. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by Trane View Post
    This sLive ounds good enough ... ... I could be tempted by it enough as a compilation, but too bad there is nothing from BB on it... any bonus tracks??
    Banished Bridge was by a rather different band. They decided (wisely) after Jürgen Wenzel left that lyrics in English were not their thing. I shouldn’t expect that the later line-up would ever revisit those songs. I believe Wenzel had a heavy hand in their writing. Also, he didn’t play much guitar apart from some folky strumming, so poor Detlev Job (the guitarist who joined up afterwards) would rather be left in the lurch with any BB material.

    This album was released before Brandung I guess??
    Yes, it was the first with Austrian singer Fred Mühlböck. It’s a bit weird to hear him on Novalis/Sommerabend material, but he really does do a good job elevating it.

    Quote Originally Posted by ItalProgRules View Post
    The live "Astralis" (bonus track on the SPV issue of KONZERTE) kicks some major ass.
    That was originally released on vinyl on the Wer Schmetterlinge lachen hört compilation. It might actually be the Brain Festival Essen recording. SFF’s Brain Festival material also got released on CD.
    Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...

  12. #37
    Member LASERCD's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trane View Post
    Is it still in print??

    Syn-Phonic has got a boot of it, and there is no way I'm paying for THAT!!
    Make Greg an offer. I hear the price of CD-Rs and ink jet printers have come down drastically.

  13. #38
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LASERCD View Post
    Make Greg an offer. I hear the price of CD-Rs and ink jet printers have come down drastically.
    as mentioned in a previous subject (Blue Motion, I believe), I don't go for that anymore , unless I really can't go on without it... and Novalis is not even close to essential to me,
    Last edited by Trane; 07-04-2014 at 06:58 PM.
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  14. #39
    RE: Live "Astralis."

    Quote Originally Posted by Progbear View Post
    That was originally released on vinyl on the Wer Schmetterlinge lachen hört compilation. It might actually be the Brain Festival Essen recording. SFF’s Brain Festival material also got released on CD.
    Yes, it was the same version on the first Brain Festival LP.

  15. #40
    Quote Originally Posted by Trane View Post
    as mentioned in a previous subject (Blure Motion, I believe), I don't go for that anymore , unless I really can't go on without it... and Novalis is not even close to essential to me,
    Ken's version of the Blue Motion album is still easily available in the $20 range. I think there's a Japanese "SHM" release so that probably helped bring many of the old (surely better) copies back into circulation.

    And the sound is simply remarkable. Very live, open room feel.

  16. #41
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JeffCarney View Post
    Ken's version of the Blue Motion album is still easily available in the $20 range. I think there's a Japanese "SHM" release so that probably helped bring many of the old (surely better) copies back into circulation.

    And the sound is simply remarkable. Very live, open room feel.
    mmmhhh!!!... I went for the SHM version to solve that "itch"... Wasn't cheap and the mini-Lp cardboard gatefold is disputable...
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  17. #42
    Member LASERCD's Avatar
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    They used our CD as the master for the SHM-CD.

  18. #43
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Is the remastered version of the “Konzerte” album only available in that box set? I don’t see the remastered on CD at all in Discogs. I need to get me some Novalis. I don’t own any.

  19. #44
    Member moecurlythanu's Avatar
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    ^ You do, Jed. You'll be richly rewarded.

  20. #45
    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    Is the remastered version of the “Konzerte” album only available in that box set? I don’t see the remastered on CD at all in Discogs. I need to get me some Novalis. I don’t own any.
    It looks like it. I have an older CD-version on Brain from 2008, which contains the same tracks, and is mastered by Eroc.

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