WE NEVER LOST CONTROL

With a vastly different line-up, no doubt NDW's second album would be quite different and indeed it was the case. NDW had broken up a few months after their debut's release (71) and singer/drummer Seyffer had joined Medusa, and before they knew it the NDW was resurrected and by late 73 came this album recorded at the famous Dierks studios. Coming with a bland group "glam" picture for artwork (this time with no gimmick material) and a fairly dumb title, the group developed on this album a much more conventional prog rock (compared with their first album, anyway) where Seyffer was now dominating the creation process but sharing it with keyboardist/saxman Münster. The resulting organ-driven prog is quite pleasant, where percussions and drums cohabitation is a NDW trademark over Bundt's funky bass work and the odd sax with some cool guitar solos and the odd mellotron, the whole thing often presenting a frequent frantic mood.

From your organ-lead heavy prog to jazz-rock, the album swings through a certain range of climates with Andromeda Nomads being the opening side's best track, with its sudden mid-song interruption, only to start again slightly crazier. The opening Days In Bright Light and Great Game are both strong tracks as well.

On the flipside, it is obviously the unavoidable We Grasp Naked Meat (wonder what the do with it, once the killed it ;-) that will draw the proghead's attention and with very valid reasons: plenty of great interplay between the Hammond, the sax and the searing guitar, interrupted by harpsichord, mellotrons, hollowed-sounding vocals. The other two tracks are correct, with Armaranda sounding like a weird early-Genesis (FGTR-era) at first but sliding towards an intriguing ELP-Family ending.

NDW would never be a stable group and almost right after this album's release, more changes would occur with Rolf Henning entering the fold (he gets an indirect writing credit for the lengthy Naked Meat track) and by 74 and their next (mediocre) album, they were down to a quartet. But this second album is still quite good and it is a crying shame that it came in such a un-comitting package. Close to essential, IMHO, so I will round up its rating to the upper unit; but even if it won't have you crawling up the walls, it is worth the occasional spin, just for the sake f listening to something else than the eternal classics.