BANISHED BRIDGE

NOVALIS began life in Hamburg, Germany as a four piece, signing with the Brain label they released this their debut in 1973. And their first three studio albums are incredible, even though "Banished Bridge" sounds a lot different than the two that will follow it in 1975 and 1976. In my opinion this their debut is the only one of their albums to have that Krautrock spirit. The vocals are in english here which helps with that. On their next two records they would sing in German. The debut has acoustic guitar, no electric guitar. While the two that follow feature electric guitar.

We get mellotron and a variety of keyboards from Lutz Rahn. After helping NOVALIS create those first three amazing records, he would go on to make an electronic album in 1978 called "Solo Trip". After the release of "Banished Bridge" the band would tour Germany with EMERGENCY and JANE, then they sat down and had some serious conversations about the direction they would take on the followup album. This resulted in vocalist/acoustic guitar player Jurgen Wenzel leaving the band. The bass player would take over the vocal duties singing in German. And on that second record they would bring in TOMORROW'S GIFT's lead guitarist.

While I appreciate the opening side long suite at over 17 minutes it's the second side that makes this a four star record. Sure that long title track has it's moments but it also feels like we get some filler, some extended pieces in that regard. Vocals will come and go but it's the keyboard work of Lutz Rahn that stands out. Man I love the opener of side two called "High Evolution". It's the shortest at 4 1/2 minutes but it's my favourite. Those vocals have such character to them as he cries out. We get harmonies and organ on the chorus. Strummed guitar on the 9 minute "Laughing" to get us started. Percussion and drifting vocals as well. It ends like it began, and we get a couple of calm, spacey sections in between.

A fairly strong debut, but by 1976 and their record "Sommerabend" they hit a new level, and their peak in my opinion. And also they made huge improvements on their cover arts as well with the next two albums.