ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Neuschwanstein was a progressive rock band from Germany and was formed in 1971 in the city of Volklingen in the district of Saarbrucken. The name of the group is derived from Neuschwanstein Castle which is a Romanesque revival palace built by Ludwig II of Bavaria in Bavarian Alps as a retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner. It became a huge name of the symphonic progressive rock scene in Germany. Today, it has been regarded as a legendary band by all prog rock fans, like other bands of the 70's. The founders of the band were Thomas Neuroth and Klaus Mayer, who had an interest on the music of Rick Wakeman. The band did covers of the keyboardist, in the beginning, and King Crimson.

Neuschwanstein drew attention for the first time in 1974 when they won a musical competition with an adaptation of "Alice In Wonderland". Between 1974 and 1978 Neuschwanstein earned certain fame in their native homeland, the Sarre, because they were the opening act for several prog rock German bands, such as, Novalis and Lucifer's Friend.

In 1978 they released "Battlement". It was released independently and sold all the 6.000 copies. Besides the good reception at the time, the album became stronger with time and today is considered a mythical album. The music produced by the band is melodic with magnificent arrangements with detailed and an interesting orchestration. In 2009, was released a CD with the original recordings made in 1976 of the musical adaptation by Neuschwanstein of "Alice In Wonderland". The album was released with the same name. Personally, I'm very glad this album finally was released.

So, "Alice In Wonderland" is the debut studio album of Neuschwanstein and was recorded in 1976 and released in 2008. As I said before, this is a conceptual album about "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland", commonly shortened to "Alice In Wonderland", a novel written by the English writer Lewis Carroll, in 1865. It tells a story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults and children too. It's considered one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre.

The line up on the album is Klaus Mayer (flute and synthesizer), Roger Weiler (narration and 6 & 12 string electric guitars), Thomas Neuroth (piano, organ and synthesizer), Rainer Zimmer (bass) and Hans-Peter Schwarz (drums and percussion).

As a conceptual album, the music flows naturally. Despite "Alice In Wonderland" be practically an instrumental album, there are vocals, namely a narrative voice where Weiller tells the story of "Alice In Wonderland", in all due shortly in German, and in between, there is instrumental music heard. And this is especially marked by Mayer's flute and keyboards that recall at this stage of the band's history, especially to Wakeman. This isn't strange because the idea of "Alice In Wonderland" was inspired by the project to create a work that could compete with Wakeman's "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth". In addition, the guitarist Weiler was a big fan of Genesis, especially of "Supper's Ready". The Genesis' influence was also reflected in the non musical stage show. The band used bizarre costumes and background projections for the stage, like Genesis. Musically, the album contains dreamy symphonic progressive rock, interrupted in a few moments by spoken parts, which try to get the listener into the tale's atmosphere of the album.The sad thing, for those who aren't familiar with the German language, like me, is that all lyrics are written and sung in their native language. But, musically you will be rewarded to the maximum by the album's pure beauty and symphonic splendour. From the dominant moog solos and driving organ, the similarities with Novalis are evident, to the classical piano and light harpsichord, all musical soundscapes are created by the heavy and inspiring use of keyboards by Mayer and Neuroth duo. The guitar echoes are truly melodic and inspiring yet carefully presented and Eloy and Anyone's Daughter are good reference points. However, it's the flute work of Neuroth that makes the difference here. From the melodic interplays with the keyboards to the strong driving parts, Neuroth "catches" the best periods of Camel, Genesis and Focus, at least in the flute parts, and throws them into the mix to make the sound even richer and more symphonic.

Conclusion: "Alice In Wonderland" is a great album and an historical document. Fans of early times of Novalis, Eloy, Holderlin and of course Anyone's Daughter, will love it. All these bands helped to create the German contribute to the progressive rock music. "Alice In Wonderland" has forty minutes of very interesting music with strong melodic lines, joyful interpretation of batch delicate guitars, great warp painted by synthesizer sounds, with its dynamic flute solos. If we can judge this album on its own merits, we can conclude that Neuschwanstein has made a beautiful and a very warm sounding album in the genuine symphonic rock musical tradition with a classical undertone and very pleasant vintage keyboards. The fans of the 70's of Genesis, Camel and Focus will be pleased with it too. Listen to it and enjoy it.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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