EDEN

Eden was a German progressive rock band dedicated to the Christian symphonic rock music. The band emerged from a hippie community in Germany that had joined the American Jesus People Movement in the first half of the 70's. As part of the Jesus People Movement, some of the members of that community founded in December 1972 in Eininghausen in Prussian Oldendorf, one of the first Christian communities in Germany. Among the board members of that community were some musicians that in 1977 started making music. So, a new music group under the name of Eden was founded. Between the years of 1978 to 1982 three albums were produced by Eden. So, their debut studio album "Erwartung" was released in 1978. Their second studio album "Perelandra" was released in 1980. The album was inspired by the eponymous book by the Irish writer C. S. Lewis. In 1980 it was released their third and last studio album, "Heimkehr".

So, long before Neal Morse, there was a group in the German lands, named Eden, which subordinated their music to the Christian faith in symphonic rock sound images. The band combined the European Art rock tradition with Christian lyrics. Eden represents a second wave of the symphonic prog rock from Germany. Unlike their Krautrock predecessors, they embrace the more traditional beauty of Bach, Beethoven, and Wagner as much as The Moody Blues, King Crimson and Genesis. Eden drew on a wide range of music in their complex progressive style, lots of folk references, adapted classical melodies. Aptly, in tune with their name, virtually all of the songs of Eden use texts taken from the Bible.

So, "Erwartung" is the debut studio album of Eden and that was released in 1978. The line up on the album is Anne Dierks (vocals), Markus Egger (vocals), Annette Schmalenbach (vocals), Hans Fritzsch (guitars), Dirk Schmalenbach (vocals, violin, piano, ARP and Moog synthesizers, acoustic guitar, sitar and percussion), Michael Dierks (vocals, organ, piano clavinet and strings), Mario Schaub (vocals, flute, clarinet and saxophone), Michael Claren (vocals and bass) and Hans Muller (drums and percussion).

"Erwartung" is a conceptual album, as its name indicates, about the biblical story of the Garden of Eden. Most Christian progressive albums are rooted in folk/rock, with fairly simplistic sing along material spiced up by tempo changes and classical frills. This is anything but, being genuinely complex and adventurous symphonic progressive, with everything from lush keyboards and strings to electronically treated vocals and prepared piano. The material is very well crafted, with some great hooks, and if the songs are occasionally a little disjointed the constant surprises more than make up for it. The band, which comprised eleven people and sounds like a full orchestra plus a choir, was the brainchild of the composer and multi-instrumentalist Dirk Schmalenbach, who excels on guitar, keyboards, percussion, violin and sitar.

"Erwartung" has five tracks. The first track "Spatregen" is the opener on the album. It convinces with wide synthetic rugs, on which the enthroned recited flute inserts are embedded. Very cautiously, a lighthearted romantic mood is built here in the still slight pathos. The electric piano rolls slowly away and smoothes the way for some pleasant vocal lines, which are still presented here in cautious praise. Very well accented guitar riffs enhance the balanced sound all over the track. The second track is the title track "Erwartung". "Erwartung" quotes a passage from the Bible, probably from the apocalypse. Unexpectedly, a Far Eastern element also enters inside the musical scene with a sitar. A beautiful choir singing emphasizes the religious orientation of the overall musical concept and puts the album in feather light symphony in the sacred climes. The third and fourth tracks are "Eden, Tail I" and "Eden, Tail II", respectively. This is a piece with great music, amazingly constructed all over the all piece. I can see here some influences of The Moody Blues and of the King Crimson too. The end of the piece includes a few bars from "Nights In White Satin" just to drive home the reality of the influence. The fifth track "Ein Anderes Land" is the lengthiest track on the album. Extravagant arrays of choral voices are favoured over lengthy instrumental runs. With this track, the album ends in a befitting exuberance.

Conclusion: "Erwartung" is an excellent album and represents a great surprise for me. It's consistently interesting and is a very cohesive effort. This is really a quality album with awesome arrangements and majestic parts. Every musician has the occasion to demonstrate their talent. Great vocal harmonies, brilliant instrumental breaks, apparently good production too. The album has a very interesting prog mix between the symphonic and folk styles. The album is very well balanced, as we can expect from any conceptual album. It has also great vocal male and female harmonies. The weakness may be the spoken word parts, but I think it's infrequent and tastefully done, and overall, I think the sound is quite unique. The singing is a treat and the flow makes for a consistently interesting album. The final result is very captivating. This is truly a great prog obscure stuff of the 70's. It's highly recommended, in the german prog rock scene.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Several themes - some sprightly, others reflective - weave in and out of opener `Spätregen' by way of sparkling piano, humming Hammond organ, stirring violin, shimmering synths and a commanding dignified male vocal. Some flighty flute alongside peppy drumming and crisp electric guitar runs instantly calls to mind Camel and Asia Minor, and there's nicely darker wafting sax and heavier grooves in the final moments. Pretty acoustic guitar strums, breezy flute and delicate electric piano tiptoes drift among `Erwartung's sobering narrated passages that remind of Eloy's `Ocean' era, punctuated by incidental ripping electric guitar bursts and groaning sitar, and the most placid of builds from a soothing male and female choir take the piece into heavens of the grandest symphonic majesty. A shorter piece then wraps the first side, `Eden, teil I', with constantly reprising prancing violin, flute and electric piano themes dancing whimsically around alternating male and female verses and subtly grumbling bass.

The second part of `Eden, teil II' fades in to welcome the second side but takes a darker turn, where a narrated passage grows in manic intensity over eerie organ and stark clarinet, and devilish treated voices and brooding synths grow in menace between punchy urgent blasts. A sole female voice trills around sombre violin and heartfelt piano, and ultimately the piece lifts into a triumphant choral fanfare (and one fleeting little moment almost drifts into King Crimson's `In the Court of the Crimson King', keep a listen out for it!). `Ein Anderes Land' is the sixteen minute epic closer, full of plenty of cascading synth runs, an uptempo momentum, snarling heavy guitars and roaring sax. Portions led by male vocals and alternating dreamy and heavier guitars remind of Novalis, the spacey synths and starker female voices are similar to Epidaurus, and in addition to some flamenco-like acoustic guitar spots, there's brisk funky diversions and a classy assortment of swooning orchestration that careens through the entire piece. An extravagant array of choral voices are favoured over too many lengthy instrumental runs, and it culminates in a big fanfare finale.

Some may find `Erwatung' just a little too vocal heavy when it could have done with a few longer and more frequent purely instrumental sections, but it still remains an impeccable work. With not only a silken production and memorable instrumental themes but some of the loveliest singing to ever appear on a German prog-related disc, `Erwatung' is a symphonic classic, and one well in need of some new belated extra attention.

Five stars.

1. "Spatregen" (7:15) opens with a display of quite a diverse palette of sounds coming from a wide range of instruments--all in the course of the first two minutes. By the time the strong male vocal begins we are already feeling duly impressed with this prog rock band. When the song switches at 3:30 into a more dynamic instrumental section (over which the vocalist and his choral supporters eventually sing) I find myself quite reminded of CAMEL circa 1975. The rather wild final minute comes as quite a surprise with its soaring electric guitar and saxophone playing over the cowbell- and clavinet-driven fast paced music. Wow! (13.75/15)

2. "Erwartung" (6:48) opens with some gentle acoustic guitar picking with Mellotron accompaniment over which a young man speaks as if reading the Gospel from a lectern in the middle of a church. The switch to strong electric at 1:48 doesn't work for me but it is only for a very brief few seconds before it is as quickly gone. The ensuing soft section with sitar and choral singing feels half like Quebec's HARMONIUM at their best and half the cast of Hair! This section is followed by a pleasant soft rock section over which some very nice flute playing occurs. A brief pause is filled with a return to the HARMONIUM cinquième saisons sound and feel. Then chorale and acerbic electric guitar take turns with the lead before the song finally comes to end. (13.25/15)

3. "Eden Tell I" (4:40) reminds me of some of my favorite music from modern artists WOBBLER and CICCADA. A song that transcends its time and era. Great music (listen to that bass!), though the vocals perhaps weigh it down a bit. (10/10)

4. "Eden Tell II" (6:17) What happened to the amazing music that was so beautifully constructed for Part I? The band has devolved into some kind of preachy church theater--strangely using some melody lines straight out of KING CRIMSON's song "The Court of the Crimson King" from 4:32-4:38 and then ending with strains of THE MOODY BLUES "Nights in White Satin." Luckily, the song builds into quite a strong song--bolstered by both the nice piano and violin based middle section over which the lovely voice of an operatic soprano and then the incredible voice of the young man in the lead throughout the fifth minute (and half of the sixth). (9/10)

5. "Ein Anderes Land" (16:26) (29/30)

Total Time: 41:04

Five stars. Even if this were not a folk-founded album, Erwartung is a definite masterpiece of progressive rock music--one that was a little late to the game, but, as the saying goes, better late than never! The Christian overtones and occasional Godspell-like church theatre sections are well-suited to this music without detracting from its progginess. Well made! Deserving of masterpiece status and far greater recognition than it currently receives!

While not surpassing the unmet inspiration of ''Erwartung'' by any means, ''Perelandra'' is another very solid album by Eden, the folky elements are rather limited in the exhibition on flutes, the sporadic acoustic lines and the discreet performances of Greek brothers Christos and Kiriakos Charapis on bouzouki with the band having taken a more clean symphonic direction with the standard Teutonic vibes in the keyboard parts and its spacious, floating themes.The music is dominated by layered synthesizers and grandiose guitars with the occasional rural injections, featuring also excellent German vocals in both male and female offerings, having a great balance between bombastic and laid-back textures and containing some beautiful keyboard-guitar interactions.The atmosphere is ethereal, pompous and dramatic with the typical sound of Symphonic Rock acts from Germany, delivering nice keyboard spaciness. storytelling moods and light Classical influences.They come even closer to ANYONE'S DAUGHTER with this work, although they sounded more personal than their heavily Genesis-influenced compatriots.It must be these Gospel-like polyphonic passages, that sets the group apart from other 80's German acts.But they can become pretty rich in sounds and sights throughout, propelled by the neurotic dual keyboard splashes, the lovely guitar moves and the popping folky colors, I can definitely hear still some of these elegant violin drives-strongly apparent on the debut- during the latter parts, but noone is credited to play these.

Among the very good albums of 80's Teutonic Prog.It doesn't sound as convincing as their flawless debut, but it sounds far better than most of the period symphonic albums of the time.Nice Symphonic Prog Rock, fairly recommended...3.5 stars.

STYLE: Actually the album is closer to symphonic rock than folk/rock.Folk-tinged symphonic rock would be a good description.''Erwartung'' works as a concept album with a story starting from God's creation and Jesus' life and miracles and ends up to the resurrection and humanity's salvation.Lots of magnificent flute,violin and piano parts flirting both with folk and classical music.Lyrics are sung in German with male and female singers delivering great gospel-like choirs and multi-vocal sections.Electric guitars are also awesome sounding close to bands like ELOY and ANYONE'S DAUGHTER.''Erwartung'' is a very melodic album with plenty of complex parts and a fair amount of professional interplays.

INFLUENCES/SOUNDS LIKE: Flute parts remind me a lot of CAMEL,guitars of ANYONE'S DAUGHTER,but the overall sound is closer to other German symph/folk bands like REBEKKA or HOELDERLIN.A touch of GENTLE GIANT's music is also evident.

PLUS: One of the best works on flutes and violins on the entire progressive rock spectrum! Constantly changing moods,from happy sounding tracks to grandiose and deep vocal-driven passages.Excellent delivery on keys and saxes,which make the sound even richer.Great vocal sections,despite the raw German language.Not cheesy at all,despite the Christian-based themes and year of release,on the opposite the musicinaship on ''Erwartung'' is a lot more than demanding.A huge amount of memorable melodies and well-executed interplays.

MINUS: Really hard to find...Just German lyrics aren't everybody's taste and are hard to be followed hy the mass of the prog community.

WILL APPEAL TO: Really to everyone!Both fans of folk rock and symphonic/classic progressive rock will have the time of their lives with this one...but anyone who takes music seriously should run and purchase ''Erwartung''!

CONCLUSION/RATING: 5 stars and my highest recommendations for an album flirting with prog rock's Hall of Fame for its original approach,balance and deep atmospheres!An unforgettable experience definetely!

The album opens with its weakest track, "Spatregen". While it contains most of the elements interspersed throughout the disk, it sounds half baked and rudderless, almost like an early composition that should have been refined before inclusion. The rest of the songs are all great, featuring, in addition to the characteristics named above, plenty of flutes, saxes, acoustic guitars, some raucous leads, and shimmering melodies, sort of like the Moody Blues but bigger and more experimental. However, the end to "Eden Teil II" includes a few bars from "Nights in White Satin" just to drive home the reality of the influence.

The ultimate highlight is the closer, "Ein Anderes Land", which is 16+ minutes of symphonic progressive bliss, a suite of many moods and themes, centered around the most intricate and awe-inspiring harmonies, as well as the most skillful playing and arranging on the record. I think I hear Eden taking a bit of the Novalis sound and stretching way out beyond what that band seemed willing to do. While an obscure reference, Eden also reminds me of the Basque group Enbor at times, chiefly in their attention to vocal interplay and their ethereal folkiness.

Eden's debut exceeds the expectations one might have for an obscure late 1970s prog album, serving up a small taste of paradise in musical form.