IN BLAU

Yet another brilliant album from these German prog'sters this time singing in German. "In Blau" continues ANYONE's DAUGHTER's symphonic exploration into music with some real superb songs and musicianship. Bareth's vocals are as soft and caressing as always with some spine tingling moments with his vocal harmonies and soft touch. Uwe Karpa adds some simply wicked guitar solos throughout playing both the acoustic and electric 6 strings. This is real beautiful music and reminds me every time I hear it how special ANYONE's DAUGHTER really was. Songs range in the 5-6 minute format here and runs very smooth in transition throughout the album. As you would expect the album seems to sustain a certain feel throughout and travels along with the same disposition.

Buoyed by the commercial success of their live "Piktors Verwandlungen", and by their first use of native vocals, Anyone's Daughter switched to German for their next two albums. They also spread their stylistic palate wide, hoping to catch any listeners who happened to be about. This could have been a big mistake in lesser hands, but AD has a definable sound regardless of the approach, and their attention to detail in the arrangements, tunes, and vocals allows them to routinely set the bar well above the high water mark of others.

To illustrate their adeptness and versatility, one need only listen to the first 2 tracks, the pounding "Sonnenzeichen - Feuerzeichen" with its heavy bass and searing guitars, followed by the acoustic celtic sounding "Fur ein kleines Madchen". Apart from presaging the Neu Deutsch Welle in which teutonic bands increasingly sang in their mother tongue, AD must have been listening to global rhythms as well, as evidenced in the beats of "Nichts für mich", which features a delightfully jazzy change of pace and sharply polite tradeoffs between Karpa and Ullmer. Then a bluesy section with oodles of crunching organ prevails, eventually topped by more of Karpa's best licks. Finally the song returns to its mellow beginnings and a reprise of the vocal melody before fading out. While a modest 6:30 in length, it is an example of how much AD could cram into a relatively short space.

"Nach diesem Tag" points to the dignified prog-pop direction in which the band was heading, and features Bareth's caressing vocals over mellow drums and what sounds like electric piano. Even here they manage to include a well developed lead guitar solo and some soothing harmonies. "La la" is a rousing wordless track featuring more aggressive yet melodic organ and synths amid Bareth's pronunciations on the title. It was particularly suited to their live shows but works well as a high energy interlude amongst the generally slower paced proceedings. "Sonne" is yet another chrystalline acoustic number that sounds as much Alan Stivell - sans harp - as it does Anyone's Daughter. The extended closing instrumental section keeps the unplugged substrate but includes electric guitars and keys, and drips with feeling.

The album ends on a note that should please almost everyone here - the three part "Tanz und Todd", and the three segments could not be more different, from Genesis like prog pop to technically brilliant piano solo a la Keith Emerson to narrated section featuring a buildup and finale worthy of Mike Oldfield. It really represents this disk in all its broad-brush glory. "In Blau" may not be a perfect CD, but its balance of technique and emotion is rare in prog rock, and is what the doctor ordered for the "blues".

German band Anyone´s Daughter released In Blau in 1982, proving that prog was not really dead at the time, as some critics and press in general said. In fact, only a handful of bands did ignore all the pressure and stayed true to their roots at the time (I can´t really blame the others, though). In Blau was one of those few records that showed the band was in the right direction when they decided to sing in their native language. They probably figured out they had little, if any, chance to make it in the international market (meaning USA). And stuck with their fans, style and market.

Maybe that´s why this album is so good, although not too many people heard it at the time. Which is a shame by the way. Ok, it is no perfect, some pop moments and some 80´s synth sound creep in here and there, but nothing that compromises their very own sound. In fact, this is one of their best, with no fillers at all. They were too exploring new territories, like the acoustic guitar sounds on Fur Ein Kleines Mädchen and Sonne (very strong Steve Howe influence on this one!). And they also decided to pedal on the epic tune they left out since their first CD Adonis. Even if Tanz Und Tod seems like three different songs put together they do work well as a whole. I loved the powerful instrumental La La (it should be great live!).

With a superb production, In Blau is one of those CDs every prog lover should listen to. It proves once and ofr all the 80´s were not that sterile and had its fine prog moments. And stood well the test of time. Four strong stars.

This is the fourth studio album from ANYONE'S DAUGHTER released in 1982. If there was one word to describe this album when compared to the previous three it would be "maturity". This is a serious work. They seemed like they were having so much fun on the first two records while the third (a concept album) had way too much German narration and is my least favourite of the four.

"Sonnenzeichen-Feverzeichen" opens with atmosphere as the organ floats in then reserved vocals. It starts to build. So good. A full sound after 2 minutes. A guitar solo follows then it settles back. More great guitar 4 1/2 minutes in to the end. "Fur Ein Kleines Macdchan" has intricate and strummed guitar throughout. Reserved vocals before 1 1/2 minutes and synths after 2 minutes. "Nichts Fur Mich" opens with drums,guitar and vocals.This is catchy. It picks up before 2 minutes. Excellent sound. Organ after 3 minutes followed by a guitar solo. It turns spacey after 4 1/2 minutes. "Nach Diesem Tag" is a mid-paced tune with laid back vocals.Tasteful guitar before 2 1/2 minutes to the end.

"La La" opens with vocal melodies which are joined by piano and drums as it turns uptempo quickly. It settles some with vocal melodies 1 1/2 minutes in then kicks back in again. Cool song. "Sonne" has this intricate guitar with vocals. It's fuller 3 1/2 minutes in. "Tanz Und Tod" is the over 15 minute closer. It also has intricate acoustic guitar melodies to start as soft vocals join in. Drums and piano follow then the tempo picks up. A guitar solo 4 1/2 minutes in. A calm with piano only a minute later. Spoken vocals before 9 1/2 minutes, then vocal melodies take over. Guitar and drums 11 minutes in. Great sound here. Uptempo pulsating keyboards end it.

A very good album with lots to enjoy. It doesn't hit me on an emotional level like the first two albums but this is worth 4 stars.

actualy 3,5

Anyone's Daughter was and still is one of the pleasent and most enjoyble bands I've heared from early '80's from Germany. The selftitled album from 1980 is my fav album from them , this forth album from 1982 named In blau is quite near. After some albums with english lyrics they return to thir native language, who btw way sounds pretty great in this context, even the german language is quite rough here sounds very well and melted perfectly with the music. Some fantastic passages Anyone's Daughter offers here, like third piece Nichts fur mich, great musicianship, some memorable parts symphonic prog typical for german school very much in places like Novalis or Genesis but with their own personal touch. Another highlight is the ending tune , 15 min of intricat arrangements that goes from aacustic passages with piano interludes to more uptempo aparts very tight and well performed. In the end a winner, the sonical landscaple of In blau can be intrsting for any prog rock listner, while I can't considered as great as first two album, this is a great work that keeps the flag quite high in prog zone in the '80's. 3-3.5 stars almost 4 stars but ot quite there, stil solid.

In late-1981 comes the first major departure for Anyone's Daughter.Kono Konopik decided to leave the band and he was replaced by Peter Schmidt, who had previously played with the Psych Rock band Lazarus' Bra and veteran Kraut Rockers Message.At the fall of the year the new formation visited the Tonstudio Zuckerfabrik to record ''In blau'', mixed at Conny Planck's own studio in January 82'.Another product on the Spiegelei label.

As with ''Adonis'' and ''Anyone's daughter'', ''Piktors Verwandlungen'' and the new album seem like another pair of albums by Anyone's Daughter, where the precursor work has a big symphonic sound and the following effort follows the same lines albeit with a poppier and more modernized feeling.As so, ''In blau'' sounds closer to ''Anyone's daughter'', it's ethereal and sweet Symphonic Rock with some pre-Neo qualities, however this was the second work in the row by the band to feature German lyrics.Good thing is, unlike many prog survivors of the era, Matthias Ulmer still focused on keyboard parts performed on organ and some electric piano instead of dominating a poor synthesizer.The result is that ''In blau'' still holds the stylings of their first album, although the production reveals the latter recording days.At this point the band had decided to surround the light symphonic tunes with a new dimension, that contained some folky touches and even smooth Fusion exercises, recalling compatriots FLAMING BESS.Nice melodies, emotional vocals, soft but progressive musicianship sets the sound in the same league as ROUSSEAU, even if all tracks are equal in terms of music value.The 3-part ''Tanz und tod'' dealt with the death issue and clocked at 15 minutes, becoming the album's highlight and the closer thing to early Anyone's Daughter.Romantic and energetic Symphonic Rock with an updated sound due to the New Wave-ish rhythms and synthesizers, but also featuring lots of organ smashing, piano interludes and grandiose orchestral moves.

Not the most convincing album by Anyone's Daughter, but a great work nonetheless, especially when taken into consideration that this was created in 1982.I love the fact they did not say goodbye to their 70's roots and this work sounds very fresh and clean until today.Warmly recommended.