REBEKKA

The longish songs flow smoothly like CAMEL, there are gorgeous guitar solos and flute parts. Perfect balance between instrumental richness and vocal approach. I don't know how the band was received at the time, the horrible early eighties, but who cares?! Just think of Renaissance for example, what kind of poor pop they were doing at this time. This group didn't try in the least bit to sound contemporary; the music falls into the classic symphonic prog that flourished many years earlier. Maybe also YES in their most harmonic and delicate style could be mentioned. This is music that just wraps me gently inside its beauty. I can't find any notable faults. Even the production is very good. I think I'll be bold enough to give the full rating to break the four-star consencus of preceding praises here. Believe me, if you enjoy melodic symphonic prog à la Renaissance and Camel, you'll be charmed by this one!

Quite old-fashioned for the standards of the time,''Phoenix'' mixes the Progressive Rock aesthetics with light Folk,Psych and more evident Classical influences, reminding bands like WURTEMBERG, fellow natives EDEN, RENAISSANCE or CAROL OF HARVEST.The musicianship is calm and dreamy with plenty of acoustic textures,Classical piano-driven interludes, melodic trembling electric guitars and also filled with numerous soft interplays.Some more depth is added with the occasional use of flutes and saxophones,while analog keyboards are also present like the moog synthesizer and mellotron.The voice of Marion Weldert is bright and clear with an ethereal vibe and the lyrics are sung both in German and English.All tracks have a certain harmonic richness with long instrumental parts and a definite symphonicism.However ''Phoenix'' lacks in a couple of really stand-out tracks,thus being a step further compared to RENAISSANCE's inspiration, CAROL OF HARVEST's unmet magic or even EDEN's deep atmospheres.

The Musea re-issue feature the 12-min. ''Lotos'' as a bonus track,a composition cut from the original LP due to the limited capacity of the vinyl edition.This one is far from the band's symphonic side,being a long Acid/Psych/Folk instrumental with an Eastern-Music orientation,featuring strong sax work and sitars blended with trippy synths,acoustic guitars and piano in a really obscure musical journey.

A good addition if you like light Symphonic Rock with minor Folk influences and plenty of acoustic passages and almost a must-have if you are a dedicated fan of the aforementioned groups.Recommended.

The band has also changed labels, from Heute to Ohrwurm Records, which I also don't know much about but a quick check tells me they were issuing mostly electronica music at the time. Neither label appears to have been very big, and frankly this band doesn't make sense embedded in either label's catalog. In any case there seems to have been a very conscious shift away from progressive music between the band's first and second albums. Makes sense given the times (mid-80s).

Singer Marion Weldert is much more prominent on this record than the first, and she has also switched to singing in English rather than her native German. The music is also considerably more commercial than the first record with shorter tracks more vocally focused, simple rhythms and plenty of guitar arpeggios on songs like "Out of Sight" and "Gipsy's Campsite". Drummer Jürgen Schiaschter has also replaced Christoph Imler and his style is pure arena-rock. The guitar and drum work on songs like "Lass Mich Aus" are in more of the Neue Deutsche Welle style than the more symphonic structures on the band's debut record. There's also the obligatory rock ballad ("No More to Say"), a languid and partially acoustic folksy number ("Harvest") that does sound a bit like the original band, and a bombasticly spacious arena rock number with "Bygone Song".

The second half of the album is closer to progressive rock than the first, but honestly this is not really any more progressive or symphonic than most of the rest of the music being pushed out in the early and mid eighties. The one bright spot comes from Peter Laubmeier's piano, which is as exquisite and beautiful here as on the first record, particularly on "Gutes Nachtlied" where Weldert reverts to German for the vocal parts.

This album has never been reissued on CD as far as I know, and it isn't all that easy to find today. There's probably good reason why the new generation of progressive labels have avoided remastering and re-releasing it, mostly because it really isn't all that great of an album. The music is pretty decent, but nothing that a hundred other bands weren't already doing at the time.

I can't say as this record is worth seeking out unless you are a real fan of the band or just a curious collector with deep pockets. That said, the music is decent enough that two stars seems to be an undeserved insult, so in consideration of the relative standards of the time period in which it was recorded I'll go with three stars, but only a mild recommendation.

peace

The opening track of this album will instantly take old prog fans back to a much slower and more artistically vibrant day, circa maybe 1971 or so. These guys were throwbacks even when they first released this album nearly thirty years ago. Hard to imagine what the heck their label was thinking, but I'm glad today that they were given the chance to commit these songs to vinyl back then. It's also kind of funny that the band's debut song would be titled "Swan Song", which of course generally refers to a band's grand finale recording or performance. This is a highly acoustic tune with all the sort of tempo shifts and lazy unfolding one would normally expect on a recording several years prior.

But don't get the impression these guys were completely out-of-touch. They were certainly familiar with electricity, as evidenced by some great guitar-playing by Hubert Schneider, particularly on "Lithpas" and "Floating Dawn". His style was undoubtedly influenced by seventies progressive rock, as was the lush keyboard work of Peter Laubmeier (mostly piano). And Martin Schneider-Weldert delivers some outstanding saxophone work on "Odyssee" and the long, lazy closing epic "Lotos", which sounds to me like something the band was inspired to write after a few late-night sessions of Robbie Basho record- spinning. The finishing touch comes from the warm, vibrant voice of Marion Weldert, who delivers beautifully feminine German vocals tastefully rationed to maximize their effect throughout the mostly instrumental music.

As with many of the recordings reissued by Musea in recent years, this is truly a lost gem. The album cover is misleading, and the time of release would generally lead one to assume this was more of a neo-prog album than anything else. But after a few spins the beauty of the music begins to unfold, and repeated listening will uncover the many layers of the craft these artists put into their music. And that's the mark of true progressive music that made the seventies such a wonderful time (and continues to inspire discovery by a new generation even today). Easily four stars in my opinion, and very highly recommended to prog fans of all stripes.

peace

The record starts exactly in that fashion with tablas and sitars, but soon the sound becomes more like Renaissance with great piano, guitar and the beautiful voice of Marion Weldert (which reminds me a lot of Annie Haslam´s). The classic Renaissance is a clear influence and often it shows through the CD, but there´s more to it, with some jazzier parts, typical german folk bits and a heavier instrumentation, like the use of the electric guitar for good, melodic and inspired solos. The band also had a soprano sax player, something not very common for the style but it works quite well in the album context. vocals are sung both in english and german. My CD has a 12 minute bonus track. Althogh I´m not a guy fond of jam sessions, this instrumental has very good moments, with little self indulgency and pointless noodling so commonly found on those pieces, showing they were really an outstanding group. It was a nice addition after all.

The album was very well produced and recorded, and the group had some very good, convincing songwriting skills. Arrangements are tasteful and the instrumentation well exectuted by all involved (the piano parts are just gorgeous!). As a debut album Phoenix is more than promising. Unfortunatly they wound not survive for long, releasing only a uncharacteristic weak followup before they broke up. A real shame. But at least they left this fantastic CD for us to enjoy.

If you´re into melodic symphonic prog in general, you should not miss this one. Renaissance fans will have a field day!

Rating: 4 stars.

Copycats are not what REBEKKA is. Their blend of Prog Folk and RENAISSANCE like Symphonic Prog, ELOY like passages with a hint of fusion is highly effective. So is the addition of ELOY like passages. It also creates wonderful tunes like Swan Song, Odyssee, Imaginary Regards of an Irish Sea, Floating Dawn and the title track. The guitarist certainly knows his ELOY. The vocalist knows her ANNIE HASLAM. I know a good album when I see (hear) one and this is one of them.

The music is floating, pastorial and driven by flute, the excellent female vocals of Marion Weldert, guitars and keyboards. The bass and drums adds to the mix and creates an unique album. REBEKKA is certainly not copycats. What they have created on this album is simply superb. They have even added some Middle East/Jiddish music to the mix and that was pretty unique back in 1982. This album has everything but a killer track. It is a pity that this is their only proper album. I would love to hear more music like this.

4 stars.

Having a lovely female vocalist doesn't hurt REBEKKA's comparisons to RENAISSANCE, but in "Imaginary Regards of An Irish Sun", the resemblance is striking as the final vocal line is uttered. Then again, Marion Weldert sings well in both German and English. Hubert Schneider's lead guitar adds a further dimension, sounding a bit like JOHN LEES of Barclay James Harvest, but more complex, and best heard on the scintillating "Floating Dawn". Brass and woodwinds lend a more jazzy ambiance to the already sophisticated "Swan Song" and the monumental 10+ minute title cut, in which everyone shines, and Peter Laubmeier's keys are especially atmospheric. The album finale, "Lotus", is more like a raga rock jam and hints at the group's live performances and their high degree of improvisation. It's a bit harder to assimilate, but decidedly worth the indulgence. Only "Lithpas" seems a bit weak compositionally and creatively, even if the playing is of the same high standard, particularly by Schneider.

That such a marvelous progressive album could come from a new group in 1982 seems like so much mythology, but here we have it. Highly recommended to those symph/folk/jazz fans who want to plumb the ashes of a bygone age to see what might arise.

The opener "Kein Mensch mehr da" is one of three sung in German, and it is perhaps the hardest rocking, in a manner of Eloy's Metromania which was released around the same time, but it is ultimately unconvincing, in contrast to two other uptempo tracks, "Out of Sight", which finds a nice groove and features impressive vocalizations by Marion Weldert, and the rollicking "Lass mich aus". "Gipsy's Campsite" is probably the most reminiscent of the Phoenix album, and would not be out of place there. In terms of ballads, which is most of the album really, they run from the mundane and interminable, "Bygone Song" and "Gutes Nachtlied" closing pair, to the barely passable pure pop of "No More to Say", to the very pleasant "Harvest". which reminds me of a cross between Relf's and Haslam's Renaissance, and features a short but sweet flute-lead guitar transition before the chorus reprises.

While definitely a small p prog rock album, "Labyrinth" is decent for its era, and has a reasonable ratio of good tunes to clunkers. It's really 2.5 stars, rounded down because the only really distinct feature of this band in 1984 was the gender of its talented singer, and prog bands should show a little more pizzazz than that.

"Phoenix" is very related to the creative and complex side of RENAISSANCE (but not a copy) and there's nothing to envy from great albums as "Novella" or "Scheherazade". REBEKKA achieved a fantastic, very elaborated and atmospherical album, with lots of non- typical percussions plus sax and harpsicord. Marion Weldert voice is magnificent (related to Annie Haslan; some pieces are sung in English, some in German).

Highlights are "Swan Song", "Phoenix" and "Floating Dawn", but -really- seven tracks are melodically outstanding and extremely well played.

This only REBEKKA production is highly recommended for all progressive ears, and a must for RENAISSANCE fans.