THOUGHTS

German group from the region of Heidelberg/Mahhheim, formed in 1972 by drummer Karl-Heinz Weiler, who would join Nine Days Wonder the next year under the pseudonym Hyazintus.The rest of the team were Bodo Brandl on bass, Günter Hornung on keyboards, multi-instrumentalist Meinrad Hirt and Tim Pfau on guitars.Drummer Udo Kübler was Weiler's replacement in 1973.Hirt would be replaced in 1974 by female singer/flutist/violin player Dorle Ferber and the new formation would participate in the Kerston compilation ''Proton 1'' with two tracks.In 1976 Pfau leaves the band and two year laters Hirt would rejoin Zyma for the recordings of the debut ''Thoughts'', privately released in 1978 in about 1000 copies.

Zyma proposed an elaborate and refined Progressive Rock with extended room for instrumental workouts and an expanded instrumentation with violins, flutes and varied keyboards in the process in an amalgam flirting with Teutonic Progressive Rock and Canterbury Prog/Jazz-Rock at the same time.All lyrics were delivered in English with both male and female vocals and someone could easily confuse the group as being a British one.''Thoughts'' consists of five, mainly long tracks with some very good interplays and numerous solos of impressive technique blended with more mellow vocal moments, when Zyma's sound obtains an obscure folky flavor.The long instrumental passages though have a very jazzy/Fusion-esque vibe akin to bands like BRUFORD or NATIONAL HEALTH, while there are also plenty of spacey textures with atmospheric keyboards, more in the vein of German bands.The album is characterized by its dominant work on keyboards, featuring long electric piano jams and cosmic synths, the melancholic violin themes, the melodic flutes and the strong dose of Canterbury-flavored interplays.

The Garden Of Delights CD reissue contains as bonus the two tracks recorded by the group in 1974 for the ''Proton 1'' compilation.''Law Like Love'' has nothing to do with band's later sound, it's more in a Heavy/Psych/Prog vein with strong female vocals and evident bluesy influences on the guitars, while ''Tango Enough'' is more consistent and closer to the style of ''Thoughts''.This is again energetic Psych/Prog Rock, but this time the use of synths and violins make it quite rewarding, though the vocal parts sound quite psychedelic.

A trully accomplished group with a very sophisticated style at a time, when producing trully proggy efforts wasn't really recommended.''Thoughts'' will find a nice place in the collection of any fan of diverse and adventurous Progressive Rock with long instrumental parts.