HOELDERLIN

Hoelderlin was a Folk-Prog band from Germany founded in 1970 by brothers Joachim (Keyboards/Vocals) and Christian (Guitar) von Grumbkow with Nanny de Ruig, to whom Christian was married. After the release of their debut "Hölderlins Traum" in 1972, Nanny left the band, and they went 3 years before releasing the follow-up, "Hoelderlin," in 1975. This homonymous sophomore effort from Hoelderlin is an awe-inspiring show of Genesis/King Crimson-esque musicianship, style, and versatility. The Grumbkow brothers provide excellent Keyboards, Guitars, and vocals, the album is separated from the rest by the excellent Viola and vocals of Christoph Noppeney.

The album opens with the high-intensity 7-minute instrumental, "Schwebebahn," which sounds like it could be right off "Larks Tounges In Aspic," by KC. The song is mainly an extended jam of mellotron, congas, bongos, and other various other percussive instruments over a thumping bass line. The jam features our first glance into the outstanding viola work of Christoph Noppeney. After the opener, we are introduced to the most popular song on the album, "I Love My Dog." The beginning of the song is pretty basic and weak, with poor lyrics. Around the 3:00 mark, the song begins to take a turn for the better, with the flute, Wurlitzer, Hohner Clavinet, and heavily distorted space guitar all entering the mix over drums. The song closes with an impressive 2-minute sax solo from "Zeus" Held. Side 1 ends on the 8-minute track "Honeypot." After an interesting acoustic guitar intro with flute and low vocals, piano chords bring the song into a faster acoustic section during which the drums pick up. The vocals improve and the song gives off a total Greg Lake guitar vibe. The repeats the transition piano chords with dissonance before transitioning into one of the best viola parts on the album, over heavy synths. After an extended instrumental section with an awesome viola solo, the song turns more uptempo and ends on a major chord.

Side 2 opens with the shorter ballad, "Nürnberg." The song's lyrics are actually pretty funny if you listen closely, and tell a tale of a guy who likes a girl and doesn't want to talk to her, so he loses her twice in one Sunday night. The song has really nice piano with guitar and warm Wurlitzer. Soft drums pick up toward the end and the song ends on a happy note. But alas, this song is merely a primer for the 17-minute epic "Deathwatchbeetle," that follows. This song is the most reminiscent of Genesis on the album by far, clearly drawing tons of inspiration from "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" (which was released just a year before). The begins with menacing piano in an odd time signature, accompanied by horns which slowly make their way up the scale before a short clav and organ build which is already very Genesis-esque. For about a minute the song has a soft piano section before transitioning into the main theme of the song. Around the 4-minute mark, a piano arpeggio brings the song into what will become one of its best sequences. As the drums pick up organ and clav tones can be heard. At around 7:00 the song goes into a passage that shows the absolute engineering masterclass of Conny Planck who is able to perfectly pull off the Peter Gabriel Genesis vocal sound with effects and vocal fluctuations, before recording a synth solo HIMSELF for the next section. The song goes through many variations and sequences based on the main theme before landing on a jumpy progression that transitions into the epic ending with a heavy phaser, organ, and vocals.

This album is very impressive and shows the absolute virtuosity of this band. I think I would've given it a 5-star if some of the sections on "I Love My Dog" were stronger and there were fewer wandering acoustic passages on many of the songs. The production and studio engineering on this record is really stunning for by who it was recorded. The album art on this record is also very good and was actually created by guitarist Christian Grumbkow himself. Highly recommended it to fans of Genesis/KC as this record is less folksy and has a more conventional symphonic tone to it.