LA LEYLA

3.5 stars. RAMSES were a five piece who formed in Hannover, Germany late in 1972. Originally they called themselves RAMSES II but dropped the "II" when they were signed to Sky Records in 1975. The music sounds like NOVALIS, ELOY and JANE to my ears. Kind of a spacey symphonic with the focus on the keyboards. And the keyboardist offers a lot with plenty of mellotron and organ. The vocalist sings in english and is pretty good. There's some nice guitar on here but I find the drumming rather pedestrian.

Klaus Hess from JANE produced this record along with Conny Plank. I find it interesting that Klaus Hess helped produce this when he was still playing guitar and singing with JANE who also released an album the same year as this, in 1976. And speaking of JANE once again, I sure was reminded of them with the song "Someone Like You" the longest piece on here. The lyrics for the song "War", and really the lyrics in general are sub par to say the least. But I do like the sound they create enough to add that half star. Too many issues to give it 4 stars though.

If your a fan of previously mentioned bands JANE, NOVALIS and ELOY, then this debut album from RAMSES is worth tracking down in my opinion.