Richard Falk’s Reviews

Review-Seite, die ausschließlich Bands mit weiblichen Mitgliedern im Fokus hat

Lukas Tower Band (Germany): Live In Concert (Transformer LTBCD05/DVD01, DVDR, 2013)
Folk/Rock/Progressive
After two solid but unspectacular studio albums, everything comes together for Lukas Tower Band with this excellent live DVD. Visually they’re hardly Pink Floyd, though they have a relaxed and engaging stage presence, but musically this is frequently outstanding: intricate, lively progressive folk/rock with hints of everyone from Pentangle to Trees. GRADE: B–.

Lukas Tower Band (Germany): Age Of Gold (Transformer LTBCD05, CDR, 2018)
Progressive
With its William Blake and Christina Rossetti lyrics plus chunky mid-paced prog backing, this marks a return to the style of their debut, though jazzy undertones are notable on a number of songs. It’s a strong album throughout, with some nice folky diversions, but it’s notable that the live bonus track ‘Ilusiones’ is by far the best thing on offer – this is clearly a band that excels on stage. GRADE: C+.

Lukas Tower Band (Germany): After Long Years (Lukas Tower Band LBTCD03, Germany, 2004)
Progressive
Apparently the band’s debut album (despite the catalogue number), this got its title because it was released a full 20 years after their formation. It consists of eight songs recorded between 2001 and 2003 and three ‘bonus tracks’ cut in 1993 (though with vocals overdubbed in 1998 and 2001). The main body of the disc consists of relaxed, very understated, mid-paced prog with folky and jazzy edges, and lyrics mainly taken from poets like Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Walter Scott. For the closing cut, the band offer a completely different (and much inferior) setting of ‘Thomas The Rhymer’ that bears no resemblance to Steeleye Span’s more celebrated interpretation. The three bonus tracks (one featuring a different female singer credited only as ‘Ricki’, who was presumably Angela Maier’s predecessor) are in a slightly more mainstream rock style, but are also not bad. As a footnote, the band claimed that in the early eighties they were fronted by a vocalist called Brigitte Schmidt who sounded like a cross between Sandy Denny and Janis Joplin, although I find that almost impossible to imagine. GRADE: C+.

Lukas Tower Band (Germany): Albedo (Transformer, CDR, 2010)
Folk/Rock/Progressive
Whereas their first was a progressive album with folk edges, this is more a folk/rock album blended with mainstream seventies-style sympho-prog. It’s a varied set, too, taking in everything from Celtic to Arabian influences, and contains several moments of brilliance. GRADE: C+.