THE DAWN ANEW IS COMING

MESSAGE were a mix of British and German musicians whose debut album "The Dawn A New Is Coming" represents one of this music lovers favourite progressive rock recordings of 1972. Musically this album carries for me some allusions to that of NEKTAR I suspect mostly because of the presence of Taff Freeman and his mellotron on the album. This album carries a slight German underground vibe throughout with heavy rolling bass and drum overlayed with harmonic and clear guitar solos. Keyboards are used to mostly fill in the spaces and add atmospheres to the music. I love this albums characteristics and deep mood swings (even in mid flight) with some fantastic musical moments. If you were going to pick up one album this Christmas I would think this one would make the perfect present under the tree.

It took me a long time to warm up to this one. The problem was I started with their second album "From Books And Dreams" which I would describe as being more of a Krautrock / Psychedelic album that really intrigued me. "The Dawn A New Is Coming" is their debut and Dieter Dierks is the engineer, i'm not sure if Taff Freeman (NEKTAR) was a guest on here (both bands released their debuts the same year) or actually a member but he adds some synths and mellotron.

"Changes" features guitar, drums and percussion right off the hop. Vocals join in quickly.The lyrics don't impress me at times but it's a pretty good song. Not a lot going on in the intro for "The Dawn A new Is Coming" until the vocals arrive before 1 1/2 minutes. It kicks in with drums a minute later. I like the guitar before 3 1/2 minutes. The tempo picks up 4 minutes in. This is better. Themes are repeated. Parts of this song are outstanding.

"Evil Faith And Charity" is a fairly heavy but straight forward track. I like the vocal melodies early and the sax. The guitar takes the lead after 2 1/2 minutes. Best part of the song. I like the way it builds in the beginning of "Heaven Knows". It settles back after 2 minutes. Check out the mellotron in this one too. The tempo and mood continues to change on this one. Nice flood of mellotron after 9 minutes. "When I'm Home" is my favourite. It opens with a 60's flavour. Mellotron before 3 minutes as spoken words join in. Some excellent guitar after 4 1/2 minutes.Then it kicks back in.

This is worth 4 stars but please check out their second album as well .

Legendary English-German band with some very strange roots.Message were originally formed in 1968 in Dusseldorf by bassist Horst Stachelhaus,but the main man Tom McGuigan and guitarist Allan Murdoch entered the scene later.Tom and Allan were members of the Scottish band The Waysiders in the 60's.After they disbanded Allan formed MI5 and moved to Germany,the band became close friends with Message,eventually MI5 became the prog monster Nektar,but Murdoch decided to join Message and bring along McGuigan along with guitarist Billy Tabbert.As a five-piece with also German drummer Gunther Klinger Message released the album ''The Dawn Anew Is Coming'' in 1972 on Bacillus.The album succeeded several vinyl and CD re-issues in the future.

With the powerful voice of Tom McGuigan on the front,Message played somekind of Psychedelic/Hard/Kraut-Rock mix with plenty of breaks between aggresive parts and smooth passages,with long tracks balanced between vocal performance and fiery instrumental playing.With only a touch of additional instruments,the band was heavily based on the classic guitar/bass/drums combination with heavy guitar playing and sometimes groovy sax parts delivered by McGuigan.Message incorporated elements found in the music of DEEP PURPLE, WIND, early ELOY (particularly in the guitar solos) and NEKTAR as well as hints of VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR.Very good work by McGuigan on vocals,the album lacks a bit in diversity,being a Psych/Hard Rock monster for its time,but it haven't grown really well through time.The adsence of additional instruments make the sound less rich compared to bands of the time like NEKTAR or ELOY,but Message definitely played well the specific style they had chosen.

A good and energetic album,''The Dawn Anew Is Coming'' will be propably a long-time favorite for fans of Hard/Kraut-Rock with psychedelic touches and should appeal also to lovers of the aforementioned historical groups.Generally recommended.

A talented vintage progressive-related band with ties to Nektar, and well in need of fresh exposure and rediscovery, English/German band Message released a string of very solid albums starting from the early 70's with a focus on strong vocal melodies with lengthy clean instrumental passages. Their debut album from 1972 `The Dawn Anew Is Coming' is driven by the superior English language vocals of charismatic frontman Tom McGuigan and the epic electric guitar runs of Allan Murdoch. Heavy moments and light jazz/fusion flavours all feature, and like with the Moody Blues, often the lyrics (and the album title itself) seem to hint at a vague mind-expanding consciousness, giving the album a bit more weight and mystery.

Opener `Changes' is a punchy rocker almost in the manner of early Eloy, a chugging guitar urgency to the piece with two electric guitars playing separately on either side of the speakers. The atmospheric title-track moves back and forth through a wide range of emotions and moods. Slowly unfolding, thoughtful if slightly downbeat verses of low-key murmuring bass ruminations and a gloomy vocal shift in and out. Frantic up-tempo rapidly strummed acoustic/electric guitar passages chime with a manic urgency. Twisting and turning electric guitars snarl together with furious honking saxophone throughout `Evil Faith and Charity', a malevolent heavy rocker almost in the manner of Van der Graaf Generator. A spitting vocal howl, attacking drumming, wet cardboard box bass and dirty guitar grooves spiral ever downwards, lots of addictive bluster and noise to this one!

The melancholic `Heaven Knows' that opens the second side is the longest track at almost ten minutes. It's a mix of spacey, ambient moments interspersed with energetic and racing passages, the thoughtful lyrics a reflection on human and spiritual love. Building cymbal rises, eerie guitar chimes and sombre Mellotron veils compete with a pounding drumbeat and snaking electric guitar runs. `When I'm Home' is a paean to the contentment of being home, a confident and up-tempo eclectic pop/rocker full of bluesy guitar wailing and fluid bass slithering through the darkness. The highlight is when the piece slows down for an ambient passage in the middle with a stream-of- consciousness narrated recitation of a poem by Veronika Green "For The Darkness" over the most gentle and stirring of Mellotron wisps (like earlier in the album, supplied by Taff Freeman of Nektar).

Barely running a brisk 33 minutes doesn't ever allow time for filler or less interesting material to creep in, instead keeping the album direct and compact, with a perfect balance between catchy vocals with winning melodies and expertly executed instrumental sections. The follow-up album `From Books and Dreams' would prove to be their ambitious and darker masterpiece, but this debut still reveals itself to be a strong collection of melodic ambitious rock, and evidence of a band starting to stretch their progressive wings. Although the follow-up is superior, and the band also went on to record some decent (if more commercial) albums later on, there's still something charming about the naïve yet warm adventurous rock music found here, and it's my personal favourite from Message. Not a particularly important release, but a damn fine album and band all the same.

Three and a half stars, but I'll round it up to four.

Truly a great debut by this British/German band. Allan Murdoch seems to be the only constant member of the band. Of note here is future Birth Control bassist Horst Stachelhaus. I really dig the cover, which was enough for me to buy the album, but then I already owned From Books and Dreams so I know that if I enjoyed that one, I should enjoy The Dawn Anew is Comin'. This one is a bit calmer than From Books and Dreams, and perhaps a bit more psychedelic. I see comparisons to Nektar, and I can see that. Not only that, but Allan "Taff" Freeman providing some Mellotron as a guest, and they share the same label (Bacillus/Bellaphon). "Changes" and the title track remind me a bit of how Jethro Tull might sound like if there was no flute. "Evil Faith and Charity" is more in Deep Purple territory, but without organ. "Heaven Knows" is most like Nektar circa Journey to the Centre of the Eye, a nice calm atmospheric piece with some nice Mellotron from "Taff" Freeman. "When I'm Home" is a nice catchy piece, again the Nektar comparisons being valid.

It's not as heavy as From Books and Dreams, but it's still a wonderful and amazing album worth getting!

MESSAGE was an early German Krautrock band that was founded by bassist Horst Stachelhaus in 1968 in Düsseldorf. The band is mostly compared to Nektar for its two British members: Allan Murdoch (guitars) and Tommy McGuigan (sax and vocals) as well as appearing on the same label Bacillus which specialized in early German psychedelic bands. MESSAGE was a shapeshifting band with different career moves that unfortunately kept it from finding any particular success outside of its homeland unlike the more internationally successful Nektar. THE DAWN ANEW IS COMING is somewhat of anomaly in the band's canon since it is more remembered for its darkened heavy rock second album "From Books And Dreams" before turning to a more chilled style of brassy jazz rock on future releases.

The band also suffered a unstable lineup throughout its existence that lasted up to 1981 after releasing seven albums. THE DAWN ANEW IS COMING is the only album to feature the lineup of Tom McGuigan (vocals, sax), Billy Tabbert (guitar, spinet, vocals), Allan Murdoch (guitar), Horst Stachelhaus (bass) and Gerhard Schaber (percussion, vocals) along with James Allan Freeman who added extra mellotron and vocals. While comparisons to Nektar may ring true on the second album, this debut is less psychedelic and rather delivers a mix of more energetic rock that alternates with slower folk inspired motifs with English Tom McGuigan's vocals sounding a bit like Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson in the way he enunciate's his lyrics. The composiitons are somewhat complex with intricate chord changes and unpredictable meanderings into lengthy jamming sessions especially on the 8 1/2 minute title track and the near 10-minute "Heaven Knows."

While the opening "Changes" features some psychedelic elements, "When I'm Coming" and "Evil Faith And Charity" are more akin to more straight forward English hard rock. Despite being British dominated, THE DAWN ANEW IS COMING still evokes a sense of German Krautrock in its looser delivery system and heavy use of mellotron. Although lead singer Tom MCGuigan is a native English speaker, he still delivers somewhat of a faux broken accent of some kind however the British presence left an indelible mark on the band's sound making it sound like a hybrid of some sort which it clearly was. While the music itself isn't nearly as colorful as the beautiful album cover art work, the band was amazingly competent in its instrumental interplay and the album is an interesting collection of five tracks although the album is rather on the shorter side at only 33 1/2 minutes of playing time. Like many classic albums of the era, THE DAWN ANEW IS COMING features bonus tracks on various reissues.

While some could write off MESSAGE's debut as a somewhat generic representation of hard driving rock from the early 1970s as it lacks an abidance of progressive elements at this stage, the performances are still rather unique and most importantly pleasant. Tom McGuigan delivers passionate performed vocals that sound rather unique and the album sounds like a strange chimeric beast that slipped in between the world of British organ-driven hard rock from the likes of Deep Purple, Black Widow and hints of Van der Graaf Generator along with the German sounds of early Eloy, Birth Control and Wind. The occasional saxophone embellishments further add a bizarre sense of lack of direction as the album does feel a bit scattered as it progresses from beginning to end but overall i find this to be a very addictive mix that is tied together by strong rhythms, brilliant melodic songwriting and bet of all McGuigan's animated vocal style.