ALBEDO
b_olariu Jan 18 2015
Lukas Tower Band is a veteran prog folk band from Germany with 30 years plus career but with only 2 albums released so far. One is from 2003 and second offer is coming much later on in 2010 named Albedo. They are totaly unknown to wider prog audience, even in Germany, but their music is among the most beautiful and pleasent prog folk I know. Some excellent instrumental passages, nice flute, catchy keyboards and guitars, and very strong and enjoyable female voice Angela Maier. There are hints of Fairport Convention combined with Camel and even Canterbury parts a la Caravan here and there, very nice. Strong pieces, I can say all of them are strong, not a weak moment here, maybe a plus on Sisters, La Bastide Set, the instrumental Medley with clear celtic atmosphere and very nice and creative parts. All in all I’ve been very pleasent surprised about this obscure band, there is some of the best prog folk I ‘ve heared in last years and younger bands can easily hear this band because they only have to learn how must sound a prog folk album these days. 3.5 stars for sure and goes recommended for those who like this type of music, sadly overlooked band.
AFTER LONG YEARS
apps79 Jan 23 2015
The story of this under-the-radar German band begins sometime in 1979, when students of Art and Psychology at the University of Munich Fredi Orendt (keybards, bass, flute), Dieter Goebel (guitar, vocals) and Frank Otto (drums) met with fellow student Wolfgang Fastenmeier (guitars) to form a pre-Lukas Tower Band band.Upon Goebel’s departure Orendt and Fastenmeier started writing more complex songs, inspired by Jethro Tull, Steeleye Span and Pink Floyd and the group was officially formed in 1984 with Walter Krainz, Harald Krueger and Brigitte Schmidt joining on bass, drums and lead voices respectively.A few years with prog songs and shows followed, before Krainz returned to his homecountry Austria in 1986 and Schmidt called it quits two years later to become a mother.At this point the group’s sound had dimished, having a strongPop flavor, and the band soon dissolved.But in 2000 Orendt and Fastenmeier reformed Lukas Tower Band with Gerhard Heinisch on bass, Albrecht Pfister on sax/flute, Thomas Willecke on drums and Angela Maier on lead vocals and three years later they debuted with the independent album ”After long years”, featuring four guests on violin, trumpet, trombone and flute.
This was definitely a representative title for all the circumstances the band had passed through, the mass of live gigs and recording sessions and the absence of a proper album, and comes as a nice scanning of Lukas Tower Band’s history.Yes, British Prog Folk has much to do with the style of the band, JETHRO TULL and STEELEYE SPAN hints are evident throughout the listening, but you should add a Teutonic edge akin to CAROL OF HARVEST or REBEKKA to have a complete picture of the album, no symphonic elements though, just mellow and elaborate Psych/Prog/Folk with enjoyable, slightly melancholic female vocals and light interplays/smooth instrumentation.Scanning the history of the group means that some of the tracks are borderline Pop with cool singing and playful tunes, which are rather indifferent and not actually tasteful, avoiding to keep the sound quality too high.But the more refined and proggy tracks are pretty satisfying with light VDGG influences in the sax parts and lots of psychedelic flute lines, waves of mellow keyboards and some nice guitar lines.Hints of Jazz and Soul pop out here and there, but the more atmospheric tracks are the highlights of the album, being a fan of anything close to CAROL OF HARVEST: Clean female vocals, soaring flutes, keyboard- and synth- backgrounds and soft interplays.The true electric content of the album is rather limited, cause guitars are not usually in the forefront, but even so the album seems pretty rich in sounds and sights, deeped in its own calmness.
A mixture of Folk and Psych/Prog with one step in the 70’s and the other in modern productions.You like REBEKKA, CAROL OF HARVEST and the likes, then you’ll love this work as well.Recommended.