PHOENIX

Rebekka was founded in 1977 as a result of the collaboration of guitarist/flutist Hubert Schneider and bassist Joachim Zscheile,both coming from the small village of Bauhofen,who had been playing music together since 1971,mostly in a Blues Rock vein.Both wanted to get into some more serious forms of rock music,so they were joined by Classical-educated keyboardist Peter Laubmeier, Hubert's brother Martin on saxes, Martin's wife Marion Weldert on vocals and drummer Christoph Imler.They begun performing live in 1980,earning money to record their debut,which was finally recorded in 1982 entitled ''Phoenix''.Originally pressed in 1000 copies,the album was distributed by the obscure Heute label,some 500 copies were later pressed due to its relatively good success.

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.