CAROL OF HARVEST

I was first recommended the album on Steve Hoffman's music forum a few months ago. Upon first listen I knew this was something special, and I like to try to review albums that might not be particularly well known. Anyway, this is a prog folk album similar in vein to Renaissance, Camel, and Fairport Convention meshed into one. Beate Krause was 16 years old at the time of the recording, and sounds very mature for age and being German. On a track by track level, we've got two prog epics, a psych folk pop song, and two more pure folk songs. The album starts with Put On Your Nightcap, a dark, dreary piece that begs attention from the listener, but at the same times can easily wash over you due to it's length. With that said, it's a rather well constructed epic that goes through multiple mood changes while keeping the overall feeling very dark. The other musicians here can play very well, each getting to show off what they can do with their respective instrument on this track. Great track overall.

Next up is You and Me, a regular folk song. It doesn't do much for me, but it's so short and sounds okay enough it doesn't hurt the album. After that, we get the second "big" song on the album, Somewhere At The End of the Rainbow. This one is very much a psych pop track, with a catchy hook but that brooding mood captured earlier still is here in full force. Which leads nicely into Treary Eyes, a stripped down folk piece that succeeds in retaining the records mood and gives a feeling of depression that lingers through the album the entire way through. Fantastic song and shows that this band could definitely work with the less is more mentality well.

The last one, Try A Little Bit, is a 10 minute epic that almost feels like the cycle being broken. It's still dark, but Beate is rather confident in her singing and the refrain is almost a cry for breaking the cycle, to "try a little bit" as the title says. It all builds up to the symphonic closing section which is perfect for all the tension and sadness from the prior tracks. A very dreary album, depressive, but incredibly beautiful folk prog written by Axel Schmierer. A shame we didn't get any more records from this group (well, not with this lineup anyway) but as it is this is a long forgotten gem of progressive folk that needs to be in your collection. Maybe closer to psych folk, but that's a good thing. Five stars.