COSMIC CENTURY

2.5 stars really!!

Cosmic Joker came from the background of this German project Cosmic Joker to which Dollasse , Grosskopf & Co. were participating. This context solidly coloured off on the Wallenstein album but not only on the title. As the title indicates the music is more of a cosmic nature and less to my liking than the debut album, but still worthy of a spin.

At least the group had changed musical direction after the dead-end MU album. One of the good point is that bassist Berkers is now gone and his taste for straight songwriting (which he never wrote in Wallenstein, since Dollasse is the sole composer) and Dollasse 's own songwriting took a different approach.

Wallenstein belongs to the golden age of german prog rock. Their music is not krautrock despite that this album is well influenced by the work of Jurgen Dollase in the Cosmic Jokers project...Wallenstein puts forward a fast and furious neo-classical progressive rock. The epic and symphonic keyboards parts played mostly in arpeggios and falling scales are brighten up by interesting guitars and drums lines. According to me this group is actually (and unfortunately) eclipsed by english prog artists from the same period... To conclude I can say that "Cosmic Century" is a curiosity to re-discover.

Don't be put off by all the embarrassing "Symphonic Rock Orchestra" sales talk: WALLENSTEIN was one Classical Rock outfit that was at least able to back up its bourgeois pretensions with some good music. Even so, their third album (in less than two years) needs to be heard in the proper musical context of the early 1970s, a time when, for better or worse, every forward thinking rock 'n' roller aspired to the finer elements of high culture.

Keyboardist / composer Jürgen Dollase had flirted with quasi-orchestral arrangements before, but "Cosmic Century" saw the first real flowering of his classical training, cued in part by an adjustment to the instrumental line-up of the band. Guitarist Bill Barone, such a commanding presence on their earlier "Blitzkrieg" (a title which pretty much summed up the album), was pushed more into the background mix here, forced to share the soundstage with new violinist Joachim Reiser, a move that effectively softened some of the rougher edges of the music. But don't worry, there's still plenty of residual rock energy: listen to the brief blues boogie at the end of "The Marvelous Child", or the almost comical pitch-bending guitar clichés in "The Cosmic Couriers Meet South Philly Willy" (a title that single-handedly deflates any accusations of pomposity the band ever suffered).

Sure, the album might be more song oriented than its predecessors, but in the best Prog Rock tradition the songs still sound more like instrumentals, with occasional vocal detours. And, as suggested by the title, there's a certain Space Rock bias to the music, most of it achieved through an over-reliance on echo and reverb effects, and the phased hi-hat of drummer Harald Großkopf, which is about as cutting edge as this disarmingly low-tech production ever gets.

A few tasteful synthesizers have been added to Jürgen Dollase's keyboard arsenal, but are used only sparingly, compared at least to (among many, many others) his compatriot Jürgen Fritz of TRIUMVIRAT. The grand piano remained his instrument of choice, dramatically so on several tracks (the stately "Song of Wire", or the aptly titled "Grand Piano"). And his insecure tenor voice is still very much in evidence. Dollase was never the most confident singer, but his first appearance here, midway into the album opener "Rory Blanchford", is a model of atmospheric subtlety, enhanced as always by his own deft touch at the mellotron. So why is it, whenever he opens his mouth, that I'm reminded of Chet Baker?

In the end the music succeeds in locating that elusive tertium quid between rock and the classics, but I admit to calling it my own favorite WALLENSTEIN album for reasons which have nothing to do with aesthetics or taste. Before I bought the CD it survived in my collection only as a barely audible cassette tape, which over the years became almost an icon of all the lost musical treasures from my wayward youth. It was like a mystical relic from a bygone Golden Age, but unlike Sir Percival I got to keep my Holy Grail when I found it again in digital form.

While I prefer the guitar driven, Krautrock flavoured "Blitzkrieg" to this one, I must say that this symphonic album is very pleasing in a different way. Guitarist Bill Barone seems to share the spotlight with recently added violinist Joachim Reiser, but they both take a back seat to the piano play of band leader Jurgen Dollase. I've been listening to this one a lot recently not sure what rating to give it, but i've come around and can now appreciate it's beauty and charm. Even the vocals that some might think are weak, are to me fragile and suit the music perfectly.The title "Cosmic Century" might be a little misleading because this has nothing much to do with Psychedelic / Space or Krautrock music.

"Rory Blanchford" opens with slowly played piano as violin, drums and mellotron join in. This is probably the most mellotron laden tune on here.The guitar is raw 3 minutes in as the bass throbs. We get vocals for the first time 5 1/2 minutes in. A guitar outburst 8 minutes in before the song ends with vocals and a calm. "Grand Piano" is by far the shortest track at just over 2 minutes. As the title suggests this is all about the piano from beginning to end. "Silver Arms" has such a good intro of piano, violin, bass, guitar and drums. And check out the organ a minute in. Mellotron. Scorching guitar 2 1/2 minutes in. A calm with fragile vocals 4 minutes in while the guitar cries out a minute later. Some guest flute comes in. Piano, drums and violin lead the way 6 1/2 minutes in as the tempo picks up. Guitar is back before the song is over.

"The Marvelous Child" opens with what sounds like spacey or fuzzy organ melodies. A minute in the tempo picks up with drums and piano leading the way. Vocals 3 1/2 minutes in. Lots of piano in this one. Prominant guitar after 4 1/2 minutes and later 6 minutes in. "Song Of Wire" is my favourite song on here, it opens with piano as drums come in and vocals 1 minute in. Great bombastic sound 2 minutes in that reminds me of FLOYD. Vocals are excellent 2 1/2 minutes in. Fragile vocals again 6 minutes in as themes are repeated. "The Cosmic Couriers Meet South Philly Willy" is an instrumental that opens with piano and drums.The guitar before a minute is quite raw. More great sounding guitar 2 1/2 minutes in that goes on and on. Blistering guitar 5 minutes in.Lots of piano 6 minutes in. I just love listening to this tune.

This is a special album, and that's not surprising considering Tom Ozric recommended it. It just took me some time to hear and feel a little of what he experiences with this record.

Third album of Wallenstein from 1973 is a good symphonic prog release but less enjoyble than the previous one. Here they develop even further the symphonic prog elements that give them a chance to survive in the early '70's. While is not a groundbraking album is pleasent most of the time, the keyboards of Dollase sounds very strange sometimes , but in other cases they are a real treat like on first track the opening The Symphonic Rock Orchestra - Rory Blanchford and Silver arms, great tunes that show us that Wallenstein are still in bussines. I don't know why but sometimes the voice of Dollase are to mellow, not quite on par with the music wich sometimes is very heavy work, specially the guitar gives this ton, hevy riffs over heavy solos combined with symphonic prog aproach, great after all. Again I mentioning that Dollase voice and manner of interpretation remaind me of Shulman from Gentle Giant (ok, keep the proportions between them).The bass of Dieter Meier truly shines on Silver arms, great. All in all far from being a bad album, but for sure less enjoyble than the predecesors, at least for me , Cosmic century keep the prog music at a constant level, they never gain very much aplause and they were always in the shadow of big names from that period. 3 stars for Cosmic century, worth some spinings.

The music from their third album is at the crossroad of "Grobschnitt", and "Floyd" on this one. After a soft psychedelic opening track, the band offers a real great tune with "Sweet Perdition": avant la lettre Floydean guitar (this was recorded in '73), sumptuous keys and a challenging beat to top it all! A great instrumental track for sure and a highlight in my opinion.

The second long track "Silver Arms" also shines here: thanks to a superb second half which features a strong guitar section; rounded by a very skilled group of musicians. This is a very melodic and symphonic piece which might well be one of the bands ever. A bit hesitant and chaotic in its initial phase although the solid organ part is quite sustained and should please fans of the heavy prog genre. It is another highlight of course.

But almost each track is very well done and interesting: it is again the case with "Song Of Wire" which is a superb crescendo-built song which definitely needs to be known even if short vocals are not the best here. The Floydean closing number is again quite enjoyable and it is a very good end for a very good album actually.

Seven out of ten easily; but upgraded to four stars.

At the fall of 72' Berkers left Wallenstein and recorded his own, Folk-oriented album ''Unterwegs'' on Pilz with the support of Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser.He went insane during the recordings and his parents moved him to a psychiatric hospital.He died prematurely in 1988 due to cocaine overdose.Back to Wallenstein, now Kaiser decided that it would be good for the band to record an album along the lines of The Cosmic Jokers, a Kraut/Kosmische Rock band, in which both Dollase and Grosskopf were involved since 1973, playing alongside Klaus Schulze.New bassist Dieter Meier was recruited and they added also violin player Joachim Reiser in the line-up.Kaiser moved the band to his own Kosmische Musik label and the album ''Cosmic century'' was released in 1973.

I fail to detect the cosmic feeling of the album, instead I can see a band slowly moving away from the combination of Kraut and Symphonic Rock stylings for a more conventional Symphonic Rock sound akin to PELL MELL, as detected in the 21-min., 3-part epic opener ''The symphonic rock orchestra''.Wallenstein's sound had become soft, refined and polished with lots of piano interludes/preludes and the dominant presence of Reiser on Classical-based violin runs.They still retained some of the classic KING CRIMSON elements in the smoother lines, featuring melancholic singing and orchestral keyboards, the rest of the track following the typical Teutonic side of Symphonic Rock with some interesting guitar moves, tons of acoustic piano and a few impressive rhythms.There are plenty of good interplays with Reiser's violins and the only thing resembling a bit to a cosmic atmosphere is a good bunch of experimental synth flashes.Maybe the flipside contained some surprises for the audience of deep, Kraut/Electronic Music, but soon things will dissapoint anyone expecting such leanings.In fact the music is still grounded in lush Symphonic Rock arrangements with a combination of laid-back and bombastic, Teutonic-styled textures with full-blown keyboards, piano and guitars and less emphasis on Reiser's violin work.''The cosmic couriers meet South Philly Willy'', a title which points to something extremely Kraut-ish, even contains some rockin' guitar leads out of the progressive prespective and has a nice, early-70's psychedelic vibe along with a touch of Jazz-Fusion in the jamming intrerplays.

So no Kosmische Rock in here, this is cool Symphonic Rock in the vein of PELL MELL, missing something from Wallenstein's early character, but offering some nice and well-crafted prog arrangements.Recommended.