TWENTY SIXTY SIX AND THEN

`At my Home' is a fairly typical `proto-prog' up-tempo and relentless rocker, all Gagey Mrozeck's wild snarling electric guitar, Veit Marvos and Steve Robinson's Hammond organ (both are credited to keyboards throughout) , Dieter Bauer's mud-thick bass, Konstatin Bommarius's thrashing drums and a confident, raucous vocal from Geff Harrison (who is actually English, and would later be involved with other German prog-related groups such as Tritonus and King Ping Meh). It's a reliable and addictive opener that Atomic Rooster and Deep Purple fans are sure to love, but the best is yet to come!

`Autumn' holds a dreamy introduction of electric piano tiptoes and Mellotron wisps that rise into grand symphonic veils over humming Hammond organ. It kicks to life with chugging guitars full of bite and reveals a heavy symphonic piece full of frantic little bursts, and listen to the way Harrison emulates Peter Gabriel's raspy croon in the final minutes! Retaining a trace of flighty hippie-rock to its fantastical lyric, `Butterking' constantly bombards the listener with booming Mellotron blasts, instantly reminding of the heavier moments of Van der Graaf Generator, and there's plenty of lengthy passages of runaway piano soloing, sillier vocal spots that again invoke Peter Gabriel and frantic organ pomp and whimsy backed by boisterous rumbles of drums to remind of `Trespass' era Genesis.

The flip-side's almost seventeen minute title track `Reflections on the Future' is mostly a free- wheeling Beggars Opera-like fancy and prancing vocal/organ tune that gets attacked with a throat shredding lead vocal and long bouts of histrionic guitar wailing, but it eventually drifts into ambling deep-space freeform sonic explorations ala early Pink Floyd or Nektar's `Journey to the Center of the Eye' debut. Finally, drenched in scratchy Mellotron and glorious piano, short closer `How do you Feel' both vocally and musically reminds of the stately Van der Graaf Generator and Genesis moments with its murky regal dignity, instantly calling to mind both Peter Hammill's overwrought drama and Peter Gabriel's wounded melancholic wail, and the chorus could have easily fit on the first few Genesis albums.

Despite additional recordings to what ended up on the LP (some of the bonus tracks here hint at a strong E.L.P/The Nice/Triumvirat-like bombastic dexterity), the band would sadly split up mere months after its release, leaving behind only this first-rate work that's in desperate need of some belated extra attention! If the above described mix of Sixties/Seventies sounds and proto/symphonic styles sounds enticing, then there's no higher recommendation than `Reflections on the Future', something of a lost classic from the vintage prog period.

Five stars.

One of Germany's heavy psych classics, an album in the Vanilla Vudge, Deep Purple, Atomic Rooster, Birth Control, ELP & Uriah Heep tradion with heavy keyboard, guitars and a blazing rhythmical section - perhaps even the wildest among this group of bands. Released in 1972, the album arrives two years to late to get a honest chance; by now experimental seventies rock had progressied in new directions and sixties sounds were complety dated. However, the thirty minutes of music of the first two tracks and the epic on the second side could easily be seen as top notch five star progressive rock.

Now the overall sound is very heavy and enthusiastic vocals of Englishman Geff Harrison (no silly German accents here) are truly exciting! The instrumental opening section of 'At my Home' sets the room on fire with ELP like keyboard and heavy guitar, and the vocalist his dominance over the rest of the band comes as a total suprise. The next track 'Autumn' runs over nine minutes and shows how the band is more progressive then most of the bands mentioned in the review. 'Butterking' has ugly mellotrons, silly vocals and like everything that can go wrong in progressive rock. I recommend skipping it, though I must admit it has some above average moments. On side two the epic title track 'Reflection on the Future' bring seventeen minutes more of what made the first two tracks so great. In the opening section the main theme sounds suprisingly much like the couplet theme of Alphataurus' 'La mente vola' which was released in 1973 (a year later). The closing track is a nice song, but it suffers from the unsteady recording.

Conclusion. Thirty minutes of some of the most brutal and enthusiastic symphonic heavy prog I have in my collection. Shortcomings can be overcome, especially with the digital format (I myself own the vinyl). Four stars, recommended to fans of beforementioned bands and hidden gem seekers in general.

It's not outright incompetent and if you like the heavy psych style you probably won't be bored. Let's just say, though, that I wouldn't recommend spending a large amount of money in acquiring a copy.

At My Home is the first track of this Heavy Prog Powerhouse. This song really gets you in the mood as it's a nice "heavy rocker". It immediately drew me in and gave me a great idea of what the rest of this album would be.

Autum shows more complexity but is still a very satisfying heavy rock tune. This track features excellent all-around musicianship and will appeal to just about everyone.

Butterking is an exciting peice with excellent vocals by Geff Harrison (In some parts I can hear traces of Robert Wyatt). This track is mainly vocal with less emphasis on the musicianship but still manages to be incredibly captivating.

Reflections On The Future is the great work of this Masterpiece of an album. There's not much to say about this one it features dazzling musicianship, and a nice hopping chorus, this song is perfect!

How Would You Feel is easily the weakest track on this record, but It's hard not to be when compared to the first four tracks. The band takes a softer approach to this song and it's not bad, It serves as a nice break from the madness of the rest of this album.

This record is absolutely essential! I easily rate this album with 5 stars, and it deserves every last one of them. Everyone must hear this album, It is a must have for an Progressive Music fan.

2066 & then released their sole album in 1972, but again in 1989 it was released with some bonus material, that i guess was meant for a second album. The band definitely reminds you of 'uriah heep' and some heavy 'deep purple', with their organ guitar driven rock. The music is always heavy with a slight psychedelic overtones, also contain some great breaks and some good shifts between styles. There's a good rhythm section behind the band, i especially like the drummer, he fills the songs very effectively and flows very good with the music, creating an intricate rhythm. The album opens with 'at my home' which is a fine track with good vocals and some flute is added to the mix, but still is quite straight forward, including a long organ solo, nice but nothing more, at this point i thought "if the album is gonna be like this, i won't stick with it very long". But 2066 have much more than this, the rest is much more progressive, 'autumn' is sensational starting out with a trippy build up then goes heavy metal only it's in the 70's, after the vocals go, guitar goes on fiery solo with some very good drumming on top, one of my favourite parts on the album, it then evolves to a calm quiet part reminicent of 'in the court...' superb stuff. Butterking is my favourite, mixing their heavy riffing with again 'in the court...' kind of acoustic guitar and good vocals, what a great atmosphere. The main theme fuses some heavy rock with psychedelic and some dynamite solos, being a 15 minute long song i prefer the shorter ones better being more progressive.

The second half of the cd, although is not bad and contain some good parts, really brings the whole album down. 'the way that i feel today' and 'spring' both are long and are not so progressive, even the solos doesn't do it for me. the shorter tracks are even worse, and contain nothing for prog fans. So if you like your prog to be very heavy with distorted guitars, good organs and good vocals, this could be a nice addition, for me it's inconsistant, but i like to hear it maybe once a year.

Judging this album only by the first half, which is the original 1972 album but perhaps not the same versions, i would rate it 4 stars, but judging it as a whole it's really 3 stars.

Moving forward...Why doesn't this album have more reviews? More importantly; why is this album so "underground", when radio BS gets incessantly crammed down every hole in our body? Are most people really that shallow and fickle? Anyway, on to the album review....

Out of the hundreds of albums that I own, and regularly listen to, this is the first album I chose to review here. Maybe that says something, in itself..I own an original, mint-UA pressing (autographed by Konstatin Bommarius), and several vinyl reissues of this great album.

This album is a technical masterpiece of music. All of the songs are fast-paced and pretty heavy. Normally that's not what I'm all into, but I cannot deny the excellence of the music on this album. There really is no point to describing each song, individually, as they all sound very similar. That is, perfect. Without any harsh, or dull moments. Please know that when it comes to music, I am a very patient, and fastidious individual, who will not "hype" or overate the music I love. From one music critic, to another, do not pass this one up.

Geff Harrison has a wonderful (slightly raspy) voice, that fits this album, in every way. His voice, along with the rhythm, ebbs and flows in an almost haunting way. Next, it pains me to say this name in the same review with this album, but-Eddie Van Halen, would be put to shame by the guitar work of Gagey Mrozeck. And...did someone say Neil Peart can play drums? Hah! Mere child's play compared to Konstatin Bommarius' flawless drumming. The bass of Dieter Bauer is also exemplary. If all that's not enough for you, Steve Robinson and Veit Marvos are equally as proficient on the ivory. The whole damn album is practically a keyboard/guitar dualing solo, and once you think the heaviness of the vocals, drums, organ, bass, and guitar is about to be overwhelming, and about to make you explode with adrenaline-you get a soft, psych, break, before the finale.

Cutting to the chase: This is a dark, deep, heavy, progressive, and psychedelic album, all in one. Don't let that scare you. I haven't any doubts, that anyone who cares about music, in general; will have one of the following reactions; Really like/Probably love, and/or certainly appreciate this album. Without a shred of hesitation-this is one of the best albums ever made. This cannot be overstated. 2066 & Then-Reflections on the Future is flawless, and timeless music. 5 Stars!!

The opening track sticks to heavy rock with a psychedelic edge, it's something they pull off quite effectively but haling from 1972, it feels a bit old, almost like 1968 Deep Purple. You got to love the track though. Also Autumn is a pleasant acid rock track with a heavy blues basis. At times the band can be quite playful and the instrumental section in the middle isn't far off the symphonic style of Grobschnitt.

Butterking goes a step further down the symphonic line, with a very scenic structure combining gentle acoustic parts with melodious vocals, early VDGG type majestic organs, bits from classical music and more. The epic title track doesn't offer much new apart from the clumsy synth fiddling near the end.

Admitted, apart from Deep Purple and Uriah Heep, I'm not the biggest fan of this type of stuffy old heavy rock. This isn't a bad album and maybe this worked at its time, but even then I can't see how this compares to Heep or Purple in terms of quality.

"At My Home" has a good beat as the organ plays over top. Vocals join in. This is catchy. Flute before 2 1/2 minutes followed by an instrumental break I really like that is led by the organ. A nice and heavy rhythm section here as well. Vocals are back before 6 minutes. "Autumn" builds slowly before it kicks in with a killer rhythm section. Vocals after 1 1/2 minutes. This is excellent. I like the lyrics too. The guitar is smoking 3 1/2 minutes in then the tempo picks up a minute later. It settles again with almost spoken vocals. It's melancholic with mellotron to the end. "Butterking" makes me laugh, especially where he sings "The butterking !" then the music goes da da da ! Like in an old TV show. This song opens with nature sounds then you can hear someone walking then he says "Butterfly" and in comes the music, and it kicks in heavily. Piano after 2 minutes as the tempo picks up. It settles with acoustic guitar, drums then vocals. Flute arrives then it picks up again.

"Reflections On The Future" was the original title track and almost a side long one at that. This is my favourite track. A nice heavy intro with lots of bottom end as the guitar plays over top. It settles a minute in with vocals. A heavy rhythm arrives before 5 minutes as the guitar lights it up in a big way. Killer ! It settles back before 7 minutes as the vocals return. Check out the organ and bass combo before 10 minutes. It turns experimental and spacey after 11 minutes until 14 1/2 minutes in. Klaus Schulze would be proud. Passionate guitar and vocals to end it.

By the way you too can hear these songs on YouTube. There's no video with them just the audio, but please check them out. To my Brother-In-Law who's always in a psychedlic haze, thankyou.

Many years later Second Battle Records released some compilation based on vault studio records ( with slightly differend track list). "Reflections On The Past" is third band's album and second Second Battle Records studio archive compilation. Track list again is a bit different from both previous albums.

First of all, the band plays fantastic music of it's time! Keyboards based heavy prog reminds early Uriah Heep with perfect melodies and agressive vocal. But the music is more prog, you can hear Jethro Tull-like flute and complex drum rhythms there. Hammond passages reminds early Lord's work in Deep Purple, plenty of moments look as taken from early King Crimson albums. But both together, the music is enough orininal, well played and catching your head and heart.

Sound quality is average ( ok, but it's orinal record from 1971-1972). It's only pity, that band didn't leave us more recordings!

One of the best heavy prog albums from early 70-th and for sure best album from that time recorded by German band.