DER WEITE WEG

Well,as far as I know from this band it was the most popular band in east germany and actually it's existing now since 40 years. I heard its name before some time, but it's the first time I listen to some of their music. Actually I can't understand why they are listen here under SYMPHONIC PROGRESSIVE ROCK.This kind of music does not have anything to do with this sub-genre. It's nothing else than pop music. There are some trials to make classical music more popular like Vivaldi's Der Frühling",but sorry you can't call something like this SYMPHONIC nor PROGRESSIVE. It's cheap synth music as every one-man-band does at any wedding or birthday party.Maximum 1 star sorry!!!!

In my opinion excellent album. The title track, "Der weite Weg" is my favourite Stern Combo Meissen song. I heard it for the first time in 1980 and even now, 25 years after, when I listen to it - I'm not here, I'm far away in the sea (what is it - nostalgia or real quality of music?). "Der Frühling", the band's interpretation of Vivaldi's "The Spring" is a good example of delicate attitude to classical music. All other tracks are also worth to listen, only "Der Motor", a typical pop-rock song of that era, is weaker than other material. If you like melodic progressive with dual keyboards and nice soft vocals, this album is for you. I guess fans of Novalis will enjoy this album. But this band is not a Novalis clone - Stern Combo Meissen, at least in the 70s, had their own sound. Check "Der weite Weg" if you'll find it (it's not so easy outside former DDR).

Prog? Surely not. Symphonic? Only if you call a cheap synthesizer an orchestra. Pop music? Only in the best moments. Most of the time it reminds me of what we call "Schlager" in Germany. The lyrics actually hurt, German Democratic Republic's pseudo-poetry forced on writers by their gouvernment and willingly committed by Kurt Demmler on this album (as in many songs published on the GDR-label "Amiga"). The vocals are poor, the arrangements sound like they were written for childrens' lullabies. And still some critics - mostly from the eastern part of Germany - call the music of Stern-Combo Meißen milestones in progressive rock. But maybe they also consider Cilff Richard the godfather of Heavy Metal. I just can't stand it !

After their wonderful eponymous debut album and the tremendous second album, "Weisses Gold", I had high hopes that their third album, "Der Weite Weg" would be another step forward in the bands development as a notable prog band. It wasn't. It was a step backwards, and a large one at that. "Der Weite Weg" translates to "The Long Way", and in any long journey, there will be an inevitable pothole in the road. This album represents the pothole in their prog journey.

The first track has some decent synth work, but the vocals are mixed way to far forward, and are a vast stylistic departure from the melodic vocals on their previous albums. Track 2 has elements of light jazz/rock reminiscent of Passport (sans saxophone). Track 3 reminds me of Gentle Giant's "Think of Me With Kindness", but a little too sappy for my tastes. Track 4 is synth pop -- almost Kraftwerk-like. One German reviewer (Holger Grützner) said it best... "Awk! The first strike under the gustatory waistline. No real composition, just a few sing-along chords in an endless loop." Tracks 5-7 are an adaptation of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" -- a classical melody ruined by cheesy, amateurish synth play that reminds me of Jean Michel Jarre's "Rarities". Track 8 has an interesting jungle beat on bass and percussion, with some Depeche Mode influences on synth and vocals. Pleasant enough rhythms and melodies, but not particularly prog. Overall, the album has a few interesting passages, but they are few and far between. I'm left to wonder how this mish-mash of an album filled with cheesy synth patches could have followed the beautiful "Weisses Gold". What happened? A pothole happened. Collect your despoiled senses and move on. Two stars.

Not the best album of the Stern-Combo Meissen, but not bad either. I think the most important issue here is whether you can stand (a) some soft pop elements and (b) an obviously outdated and somewhat cheesy synthesizer sound. At the time in the German Democratic Republic this sound was probably super exciting, but in the West much more interesting things were possible sound-wise already much earlier in the seventies.

That said, this is nice and very melodic music with some sophisticated (if not all too complex) composition elements and arrangements, and well played, particularly in the keyboard department. The Stern-Combo have never been sound innovators (although their use of synthesizers was exceptional for the GDR scene); the keyboarders Thomas Kurzhals and Lothar Kramer were more committed to their classical education. The 12 minutes of Vivaldi's Der Frühling could have benefitted from more contributions of the rest of the band, but Kurzhals apparently wanted to stick to the original score. They were obviously excited about their new (?) synth and this excitement went a bit overboard here, but the way this is played still makes it fun. Otherwise the melodies work well for me, and I like that they are given space to breathe, with well dosed instrumental parts, of course driven by Kurzhals. I also like the somewhat understated vocals, with polyphonic arrangements in several places, as known from their earlier albums. The album feels relaxed and laid back. It also has some variety with the lyrical and harmonically complex Was Bleibt and the somewhat more rocky and straight Der Motor between the mini epics Die Sage and Der Weite Weg, whereas Der Frühling is obviously its very own beast. Gib mir, was du geben kannst tries out a funky rhythm with mixed success.

Der Weite Weg has a hard time to be appreciated by prog fans between the much proggier albums Weißes Gold and Reise zum Mittelpunkt des Menschen. This album is more easy listening and poppy, still it has some depth and quality. 3 stars, well deserved.