KEYNOTES

AMOS KEY were a trio out of Germany who operated from 1973 to 1975 before calling it a day. They were very much an organ driven unit with a strong influence from classical music. I understand they dedicated this record to Bach and Mozart for example, and cover "Toccata" by Bach. And they are likened to ELP, THE NICE, EKSEPTION, TRACE and the like.

Like a lot of up and coming bands AMOS KEY had the opportunity to record a live in studio session with SWF in Baden-Baden. This was performed on July 21st, 1973 and not released until 2010. Although three of the tracks that were played here were put on their only studio album "First key" released the following year in 1974. While there is guitar and bass on their debut album performed by Andrea Gross, he sticks to the bass during these sessions. Gross and Molin the keyboardist composed the music. The drummer Lutz Ludwig played in the band SUB prior to this. And I'm a big fan of SUB, much better than the music here in my opinion.

I have such a hard time with organ driven, classical music. The one track though that stood out, heads and shoulders above the rest was "Knecht-Ruprecht" and that would go on their studio album as well. There are some vocals on this live recording but not a lot thankfully as they take away from the music. I have a hard time even giving the 3 stars here. Just not my music and even the organ work seems so uninspiring.