Band Biographies

 

So we move on to the next one...Combining info from: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/gravestone-mn0000741379/biography and http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Gravestone/1329 we can say something like:

 

"The origins of  Gravestone go back to 1975, when Rudi Dorner and Mike Schmidt formed a band called Heizkörper. In 1976 they were joined by Berti Majdan and changed the name of the band to Oregon. In early 1977 they were also joined by Wolfgang Rittner and Andy Müller, and at the suggestion of of Berti Majdan they changed name again to Gravestone.

 

 

 

 

Edit: Apparently a double CD compilation featuring two albums they did in the 80's was released in 1987 - details here: http://www.discogs.com/Gravestone-Creating-A-Monster-Victim-Of-Chains/master/571084.

 

Details of the 1993 compilation, which also needs to be added, can be found at: http://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Gravestone/Gravestone/12207 (also at http://www.spirit-of-metal.com/album-groupe-Gravestone_(GER)-nom_album-Gravestone-l-en.html, but with less information).

to say the truth it is quite shorter from what I expected.

 

 

Gurnemanz is actually the name of a knight in Wolfram von Eschenbach's medieval epic poem Parzival after whom this progressive folk-rock band from Bergheim, an area east of Aachen in Rhineland, called themselves in May 1972. They were an acoustic folk troupe that existed up until 1979, consisting of John Cremer (autoharp); Lukas Wolfgang Scheel (guitar, vocals, mandolin, banjo, lute); Manuela Schmitz (vocals, tin whistle, percussion, recorder, kazoo); Siegfried Bushuven (double bass, lyre, kazoo) and Wolfgang Riedel (guitar, vocals, percussion, harmonica, bouzouki. These core members were supplemented from time to time by Georg "Köbi" Köberlein on Electric Piano, and Bernie Schacht on Percussion.

 

After self-producing several cassettes in the early years, they managed to get a limited edition LP release on the EMI Electrola label in 1975 ('Spielmannskinder'). Their second LP, 'No Rays Of Noise' originally issued in 1977 was pressed in larger numbers on EMI's Songbird label. Of the six touring members credited, only four were full-time instrumentalists - ie the two guitarists, Siegfried Bushuven on the double bass, and vocalist Manuela Schmitz. Other instruments like flutes of various sorts, harmonica, and even kazoo appear often, duties shared by most members. Their lyrics were normally sung in English with a few also in German, and Schmitz sometimes sang duets with guitarist Lukas Scheel. Schmitz has a clean and pretty voice (not unlike Sandy Denny or Joni Mitchell), with lyrics the sort of whimsical portraits of nature you might expect. Though billed as progressive folk rock, this leans more toward traditional troubadour folk. The plentiful bonus tracks (live versions of songs meant for a third album entitled Blue Moon) indicate that at the very end (late 1979), the band added a drummer and some electric guitar, and so widened their repertoire.

 

'No Rays Of Noise', and also an earlier self-produced album called 'Fair Margaret And Sweet William', originally released on cassette tape in 1972 - of which about 50 copies was made and sold at their gigs - have fairly recently been reissued on CD by Garden of Delights.

 

The music is mainly Progressive Folk, sung mostly in English language, with a good female singer, sitar, flute, lute, lyre, mandolin etc., all played by master musicians. While Gurnemanz's first 'official' album from 1975, 'Spielmannskinder' ('Minstrels' children'), was based more on traditional folk, the second album from 1977, 'No rays of noise', contained various progressive elements. Most tracks are sung by Manuela Schmitz, some by Wolfgang Riedel or Wolfgang Scheel or by all of them together. Two song lyrics are in German, the others in English. The long running time of a CD made it possible to add their third album 'Blue moon' which was planned for release in 1979 but never saw the light of day. As it was not yet recorded in the studio, live versions of the song material had to be used (the band performed live in England and Poland). The booklet of 32 pages is sumptuously decorated, leaving no wishes open. It includes a large band history, tour dates, all song lyrics and many photographs.

 

Other links of interest:

 

Edit: Internal server error on the artist's page now seems to be fixed...along with many others that were occuring at the same time.