Earthly Paradise

Artist: Epidaurus
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
EAN: 4016342000017
ASIN: B000050A2S

Release Date: 2002-09-03

Earthly Paradise

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Tracks:

Actions and Reacctions
Silas Marner
Wings of the Dove
Andas
Mitternachtstraum

Album Description

Symphonic rock at its best, with mellotron, lots of keyboards and good female vocals. The original LP has a collectors' price of $300 now. Excellent recording from the master tapes. Repressing with 20 page booklet. 1991 reissue of 1977 album.

Customer Reviews:

Great moody prog with a ton of synths and mellotron .......2006-04-09

This obscure 1977 album from German band Epidaurus should prove to be a real treat for fans of acoustic and electric keyboard instruments. In this regard, there are two keyboard players including Gunther Henne (Hammond C3 organ, mellotron, mini-moog, polymoog; clavinet D6, and Fender Rhodes electric piano); and Gerd Linke (Hammond C3 organ, mellotron, mini-moog, 12-string acoustic guitar; clavinet D6, grand piano and Fender Rhodes electric piano). They are both very good players and layers of spacey synthesizers along with excellent churchy sounding Hammond pads are plastered throughout (think Tony Banks here). In fact, this band is keyboard dominated and with the exception of some acoustic 12-string parts, guitars are largely absent. To drive the point home further, the keyboardists wrote all of the material. In addition to the keyboardists, Heinz Kunert plays a trebly Rickenbacker bass along with Taurus bass pedals, while there are two drummers: Volker Oehmig is featured on Actions and Reactions and Silas Marner, while Manfred Struck is featured on Wings of the Dove, Andas, and Mitternachstraum. I prefer the technique of Manfred Struck, although they are both great players. There is also a flute player (Peter Maier) and he plays on Silas Marner and Andas. Last but not least is vocalist Christine Wand. Although she is not the greatest vocalist in the world (or the room for that matter), the album is 90-95% instrumental. Besides, her technically "wrong" approach seems to work with the music - don't ask me how but it does. In terms of the music itself, it is classic prog with good ensemble work, odd time signatures, and nimble keyboard solos throughout. In addition to being great players, Henne and Linke are very good composers and there are some very nice melodies, harmonies, and counterpoint. The tracks are pretty short by prog standards and fall in the 5-8 minute range. In terms of influences, I can hear shades of British proggers Genesis and ELP, although the influences of German electronica giant Tangerine Dream are here as well. Specifically, the Tangerine Dream electronica influences are pretty heavy on the closing track Mitternachstraum, which would not be out of place on a Tangerine Dream or Kraftwerk album. I actually feel that the static nature of Mitternachstraum provides a nice contrast to the brisk prog that characterizes much of the album. All in all, this is another one of those unjustly ignored prog albums. Recommended.

rare.......2004-08-27

album keyboard dominated. first 3 songs have vocals by the soprano, last 2 tracks instrumental. Vocal tracks rather Eloyish, instrumental tracks show slight Tangerine Dream flavor.album well produced and thought out, very tasteful. Seems under control without ever feeling stiff, moderate weight--not heavy, quite enjoyable. More a unique blend of the time, than a real original show, but worth checking out.

Another obscure gem of German prog rock.......2003-03-15

Germany was a huge hotbead of prog rock. While people might associate that country more with the Krautrock scene with bands like Can, Ash Ra Tempel, Amon Düül II, Tangerine Dream, Neu, Faust, and the likes, they also had quite a few more or less traditional symphonic prog rock bands such as Eloy, Grobschnitt, Novalis, Ramses, and so on. Another band worth mentioning, of course, is Epidaurus. They released this album, Earthly Paradise in 1977, and until 1994 when they reunited and released the allegedly forgettable Endangered, this was their one and only album. Although Earthly Paradise was released on a small label (not exactly easy to come by on LP, but Garden of Delights reissued it on CD) the album is very well produced. The band is often compared to Genesis, but it's really anything but a Genesis clone. Sure there's plenty of Hammond organ much in the style of Banks, and Moog Taurus bass pedals are used just like Rutherford used in Genesis, but I can compare them also to such German bands as Eloy and Ramses. The two best songs, in my book are "Silas Minar" and "Andas". "Mitternaschstrum" finds the band doing a more electronic piece. The keyboard work is amazing, particularly in the Mini Moog and Mellotron department (strings and choir are used on the 'tron, but the band used real flute). Now the complaint leveled at this album, as others had pointed at, is female vocalist Christiane Wand. She sounds like a higher pitched version of Annie Haslam, but her vocals don't seem to fit in too well with the music, not to mention her singing is rather unintelligible. But regardless, this is another wonderful prog rock album, which you should add to your collection.

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