LEAVING HOME

After helping his wife Ines with her productions for about a decade, Hans-Juergen aka Hansi Fuchs decided that the time to launch his own solo project had come.Using his surname as his artistic moniker and supported by the German label Tempus Fugit, he released his first album ''Leaving home'' in 2012.This was a concept work dealing with the story of his father as told by his grandmother, starting from a romantic love affair in 1920, passing through the Nazi's power in 1933 and ending up with his expulsion from Silesia in 1945.Hansi plays keyboards, bass, drums, handles some lead vocals and drum programming in the album, while he receives help by some guest singers and musicians, of course his wife Ines Fuchs is among them, providing a synth solo as well as one of Ines's first singers, Baggi Buchmann.The bulk of this work was recorded at Hansi's own studio, while some of the guests recorded their own parts in other recording places.

There are some serious reasons of course that this album is loaded with deep feelings and emotional moments, but for another reason Hansi appears to have given strong emphasis to the vocal parts of the album, sacrificing the depth of the music or some instrumental variety in the name of the lyrical content.Fuchs' first album sounds nothing like his wife's efforts, although both share the same sense of melodious themes and solid songwriting in an accesible way.I can compare this with part of CAMEL's discography through the 80's and the 90's and the new trend of Neo Prog bands, even Steve Hogarth-era MARILLION, where sound effects and pop sensibilities have a decent place among the progressive tunes.As a whole, Fuchs' debut has a very modern approach, sometimes with a slow CAMEL-esque mood, other ones containing evident FLOYD-ian undertones in the guitar parts, while the spirit of Neo Prog is also alive in here with second-era MARILLION or PALLAS and COSMOGRAF being good comparisons.The atmosphere, as aforementioned, ranges from dramatic melodies to thrilling singing, always driven by a strongly emotional story, but some instrumental depth and tension are to be desired.There are certain tracks in here with a beautiful atmosphere and a great, progressive content, like the extremely dramatic ''Life's in balance'', which lies somewhere betwen PINK FLOYD and GENESIS, and the farewell ''Leaving home'', which starts as a ballad with orchestral vibes in the background, before bursting into a grandiose electric CAMEL/PINK FLOYD/GENESIS enviroment with some pretty great guitar work.

I expect much more from Hansi Fuchs.His past experience with Ines and the pair of great tracks in here show that this man can compose some really great music.''Leaving home'' heads mainly to lovers of concept works, who don't mind some poppy injections into a more dramatic, Neo Prog musicianship...2.5 stars.

Social review comments

Review related links

• Send comments to apps79
• Report this review (#1193907)
• Buy FUCHS music online with PA partners
• Show all FUCHS MP3/Stream
• Go to FUCHS page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Leaving Home page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for FUCHS related discussions