THEATRE

I had heard of Anabis before, and even wrote a short biography of the band after doing a bit of research a while back. So when I came across this CD (and cheap) I thought it to be a great find. Well, life is full of disappointments.

The band’s earlier recordings are reported to be of a symphonic nature, German lyrics and lots of flute and interesting keyboard progressions, but this one is unfortunately the last hurrah for the band, and it shows.

The album was released in the late eighties, and the sound is deeply rooted in that period, with shorter compositions that mix light pop keyboards, plodding and repetitive beats that sound suspiciously like drum tracks, and fluffy light English lyrics that lean closer to the Thompson Twins than to the sounds of Genesis or Eloy their earlier recordings supposedly hint at. A track-by-track review isn’t necessary, as there is very little variety here. The monotonous drums and love-gone-wrong lyrics are a major distraction, although from what it’s hard to say, as the rest of the instrumentation isn’t much better. The sound is a combination of post-disco pop, faux symphonic and mostly synthesized keyboards, and the occasional guitar riff. The vocalist has a bit of difficulty staying in tune at times, and more egregious is his inability to keep in synch with the rhythms. This is in no way progressive, symphonic or otherwise. The closest the sound comes to anything resembling artistic expression are the sporadic, slightly-fusion improvisational guitar solos, but these aren’t enough to save a truly dreadful album. There are ten musicians listed in the liner notes, but I can’t for the life of me detect more than about five instruments actually being played, and a couple of those are more likely programmed as opposed to played.

I’m tempted to give this two stars simply as a nod to a pretty decent album cover, but even this is diluted by the fact the album was issued a couple times and one of those releases featured a cover that looks suspiciously like Hall & Oates ‘Rock and Soul, part 1’ release. So one star it is, and a strong recommendation to not bother with this one.

peace

This is not quite as bad as you might have heard here and elsewhere, but neither is it worthy of recommendation. They have gotten even cheesier than before, with a very 1980s sound.

If there is one improvement, it is in their ability to write somewhat catchy melodies, which they too often play to death. For instance, the opener "Still on My Mind" shines brightest during the keyboard breaks and dullest during the umpteenth repetitions of the ok chorus. The title part of the title suite has some atmospheric wind instruments but the arrangement doesn't go anywhere, and the final segment is almost an extension of it except with some good lead guitar links to rev up the proceedings a notch. The contrast with the almost oboe-like sound, perhaps the hautbois (?) makes this one of the better tracks. Another interesting tune dominated by such instrumentation is "The Black Virgin", which is reminiscent of some of Camel's "The Snow Goose".

Unfortunately the vocal material, of which there is far too much, is a mash of lame lazy power ballads like "Struggles of Love" and "No Time", with "Stronger than Ever" only marginally better thanks to a fine chorus. The progressive element is minimal and, where present, is pretty much only in instrumental tracks or segments.

In the stadium of progressive rock bands, Anabis definitely sits in the bleachers. While their final release is not theatre that I would walk out on, I wouldn't expect to have to pay full price or sit in a full house for that matter.