ZYMA

Certainly it's proved to be interesting to set oneself apart from the rest in Germany's music scene at the time, specifically from the Kosmische/Krautrock movement, but to additionally be considered representative of "Canterbury" is a whole other affair. Zyma has been placed here, not too remote from the Jazz Rock and Fusion stylings of their contemporaries, such as Kraan and Out Of Focus. Even still, there are more than murmurings of the Psychedelic Space Rock of that local scene. [This will be a review for the 20th anniversary 1998 reissue of their '78 debut with the two additional bonus tracks. On second thought, since there is upwards of four years between this and the bonus material, I will not be rating the latter, this also due to the stylistic differences between them and the rest.]

Our album begins with its title track, "Thoughts", a warm, jazzy number with beautiful female vocals, reminiscent I would say immediately to Hatfield and their Northettes vocal ensemble. The keyboards are an equally warming Rhodes, it sounds like, matched with cool-then-blazing drums, spacy synth and vibes [I definitely could have gone for more vibraphone throughout the album]. The bass booms out from all corners of the room. A lot of rhythmic nuance to latch onto. It's jazzy and funky, and at the same time undeniably calm and collected. Our lead vocalist, Dorle Ferber, is also responsible for the sweet, folksy violin in the second half. What's fairly striking is the shifting of the mood to a bright, poppy number, as though it were a track by Carly Simon or... Carole King? In my opinion, this sweetness weakens the track notably, but not enough to bring it below assuredly "Excellent".

Mysteriously, the near-13 minute mini-epic "Business Man" is nowhere to be found on Spotify. Starting with a greatly-effect'd Mellotron, from what I can tell, we delve into space. Very familiar feel to me, though I hesitate to just guess that it's one band of another; perhaps Nektar or Eloy, but regardless we stay Deutsch (if anything it's Fusion-adjacent). Almost all low to the ground, despite hasty speed from the rhythm section. The synth certainly shines, and whatever the hell happens around minute 5 is just wild (maybe similar to some of the magic we've heard from Keith Emerson?), the sub-section just before the verse[s] (more group vocals, please). Is this all-round-percussionist Udo Kübler on lead vocals then? He has a pretty powerful voice, like much of the grit happily found in the early-70s. This track does not let up--a surefire strength in this case--that is until 9:30, and this, too, I'm pleased to report, is brief. I can't shut up. I'm glad to be here.

"One Way Street" is a... quirked up musical reaction to the news? I certainly dig the overarching concept here. At the start, it sort of feels like if "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" was a bad trip haha. Or more or less if the insane skits and interludes off Lumpy Gravy or Läther by Zappa were longform song-forms. Once again, the winning factor is the rhythm section. The bass slinks along more-than-expertly and the drums are blitzing through my eardrums. Overall, I think this is an interesting mix of Canterbury with the daring of what I've always considered its sister-genre, Avant-Prog. It would be even better if it felt a hair more cohesive. "We Got Time" is a bright number! And we get real harpsicord?! Sounds awesome; and a very memorable melody, too. Even so, fantastic in its own right.

For what was the original closer, "Wasting Time" is Canterbury Scene, pure and not-so-simple. Spacy, beautiful, majestic even. Funky shift around minute 3, but I could have listened to that opening bit for longer. And like nothing, we get some exemplary group vocals, like if Carpenters matched up with Manhattan Transfer? Delicious stuff. The maximal, all-at-once approach, with violin to match, had me comparing this to moments from Gentle Giant, interestingly enough (in style, maybe closer to the likes of Magma?). Of course, there is a lot of violin in much of Fusion's greatest moments. In my opinion, this is the star of the show; this is essential; this must be heard.

For bonus material, we glance back to some 4 years in the past. And "Law Like Love" feels like an approximation of Heart. Big vocals, big Hard Rock instrumentation. The recording fidelity of this track is significantly worse than the album material; in fact, I almost sung the production's praises earlier. Pretty cool track, though. Just feels like an utterly different band. And finally, much nearer at first to the Zyma I just came to know, "Tango Enough" has synths slicing through the mix. We chill out and then ramp up with a sick guitar solo. Fin, I guess haha. Definitely recommend this album. Nothing I didn't like, and in some cases, even inspirational and exciting.

True Rate: 4.5/5.0

ZYMA was the odd German band out in the 1970s as it straddled down the progressive rock road. No psychedelic escapism or Krautrock freakery for this Heidelberg band but rather an odd blend of stylistic approaches including England's notorious Canterbury Scene jazz-rock sounds as well as elements of violin infused folk and good old fashioned progressive rock that added a touch of funky bass lines and flute. This band existed from 1972-81 and released two albums before succumbing to the economic turbulent 1980s (in prog terms). The band's first album "Thoughts" has been a minor hit for Canterbury fans with a strong sense of Hatfield & the North leanings along with the aforementioned idiosyncratic touches.

For the band's second release BRAVE NEW WORLD which emerged the following year in 1979, ZYMA offered another strong batch of proggy tunes only with a much different style than the debut. While clearly rooted in the Canterbury jazz-rock leanings of "Thoughts," BRAVE NEW WORLD adopted a different by adding some zeuhl groove that at times sounds a bit like Magma lite however lead singer Dorle Ferber also adopts some scat vocals which have been compared to any French zeuhl band - Zao. There was a slight lineup change on this one along with some new instruments added as well including a viola, trumpet and something called a zink which is just another word for the medieval instrument called the cornett. Add to that the Solina String Ensemble and what we have here is another strong example of late 70s prog in full steam.

While the debut has garnered a bit of interest and retrospective respect in the ensuing decades, BRAVE NEW WORLD has been mostly forgotten. While "Thoughts" has enjoyed a bonafide CD reissue complete with bonus tracks, BRAVE NEW WORLD has never seen a second pressing beyond its initial 1979 release and hasn't even been available on modern digital sources such as YouTube until recent years. Perhaps this album has finally earned a chance to woo a more appreciative world market for everything retro from the golden years of prog. Clearly relegated to the forgotten pile due to the immense volume of prog albums from the 1970s, BRAVE NEW WORLD does wane a little in quality in comparison to its more creative and dynamic predecessor but this sophomore release is hardly a throwaway album in the least.

Part of the problem with BRAVE NEW WORLD in relation to the debut is the fact that the tracks on this one just aren't as original or diverse. The general theme on album #2 is based on Canterbury jazz-rock jams with zeuhl-esque cyclical bass grooves along with the scatted vocals mostly focused on the female side of the equation. The call and response male and female vocals of the debut are absent on this one. Dare i say that this one is even a bit generic at least in terms of composition although the instrumentation is dead on perfect and the mixing job is gorgeous but in the end it does sound a bit like the leftover tracks from the debut with no single track reaching the quality of "Thoughts." Some tracks like "Colours" are almost downright dull actually. True that it delivers a beautiful mix of bass, Canterbury keys and violin but comes off as a very weak version of an early Mahavishnu Orchestra tune.

Yeah, make no mistake about it. BRAVE NEW WORLD is clearly a step down in quality from the thoughtful debut "Thoughts" in about every way. True the band tried to implement a few creative extras here and there but overall this entire album sounds more like a practice session than a fully realized album. It's true that prog didn't die in the latter half of the 1970s but it's also a fact that it wasn't nearly as popular and that the profit margin was practically nil therefore bands who swam upstream had to do so from pure determination and oft self-financing which meant a lot of bands had to put all their eggs in a single basket before calling it a day. I do not know the reason why ZYMA was successful in releasing a second album during those trying years but for whatever reason this band was not able to muster up a comparable followup to its excellent debut. Whatever the case, BRAVE NEW WORLD is definitely a competent and even pleasant album to experience but it is also obvious that it lacks that fiery passion of the debut and thus the end of one of Germany's extremely rare examples of the Canterbury Scene.

One of a very short list of German bands that eschewed the temptations of Krautrock and looked to the English Canterbury Scene for inspiration ( i believe Tortilla Flat was the only other German band to go this route). The Heidelberg based ZYMA stands out not only for appearing last in alphabetical order on Canterbury lists but also for its unique style of jazz-fusion that it was flavored with heavy bass-driven funk grooves, Keith Emerson keyboard heft and feisty vocal interactions between drummer Udo Kübler and the feminine charm of Dorle Ferber who also played violin and flute. The result was an oddball mix that add those charming Canterbury jazz chord progressions and instantly lovable keyboard warmth.

Although formed as far back as the golden prog year of 1972 by keyboardist Günter Hornung, this sextet didn't release its first of two albums until 1978, a few years after the Canterbury bug had waned a bit as the public's appetite for progressive music had suddenly been replaced by simpler pop and punk sounds however make no doubt about it, some bands like ZYMA were hell bent for leather in keeping the classic sounds alive as heard on the band's debut THOUGHTS. Right away from the getgo ZYMA stands out of the massive list of prog bands that populated the 1970s with an interesting concoction of Canterbury influenced jazz-rock but also incorporated heavy doses of folk, classical piano runs and even space rock all within the opening title track alone. The beauty of THOUGHTS is that it is, well, quite thoughtful in how all the musical elements are strewn about in the exhilarating flow of progressively infused rock performances.

The original consisted of five tracks with four of them exceeding the eight minute mark thus leaving a lot of time for thoughtful development of mood enhancing prog workouts including bass grooving jam sessions such as heard in the beginning of the second track "Businessman" which seems to incorporate symphonic prog references in the vein of Renaissance (Annie Haslam has been cited as the most similar female vocalist for Dorle) along with the homegrown jazz-fusion bombast of Tortilla Flat, however what really sets this visionary band apart was the addition of the violin which completely takes things in a different direction. Add to that those crazy symphonic ELP keyboard workouts that incorporate the period piece sounds of the Fender Rhodes, minimoog, piano and harpsichord with some solos getting all wild and crazy and even entering Keith Emerson territory! Oh yeah baby!

After the proggier than thou workout of "Businessman,"One Way Street" takes the listener on a completely different journey with call and response vocals and a complete curveball detour into a sound collage with vibraphones keeping it all focused on a journey. The track is somewhat based on what sounds like a Canterbury piano run but once again there's somewhat of a Renaissance feel as well especially on boogie-woogie piano runs heard on albums like "Scheherazade and Other Stories." Add to that a few Hatfield and the North references and you are dealing with an interesting array of proggy ideas all freewheeling on overdrive! And speaking of Hatfield and the North, no other track on board sounds more like that pioneering supergroup than the closing "Wasting Time" which features Northettes sounding vocals as well as those one-of-a-kind chord progressions however ZYMA implements a very energetic bass groove as well as violin which keeps it somewhat original despite the clear influences.

Overall THOUGHTS is a quite beautifully constructed album even though certain parts are quite derivative of other artists and the album could've been streamlined a bit further into the band's own stylistic approach but in the end ZYMA's debut is quite a beautiful album that makes each track count in terms of creative expression therefore this album is quite easy to listen to as there are so many unique elements added to ensure that THOUGHTS wasn't just a copy and paste album but rather a fascinating construct of influences and idiosyncratic insertions. If you're lucky you own the so far only reissue in the form of the Garden of Delights CD reissue that came out in 1998 which features two bonus tracks which take the band into even stranger territories but it's the original 1978 album that will keep you coming back and ZYMA crafted one of the Canterbury essentials IMHO.

There's all sorts of reasons offered why the idea of the "Canterbury" scene may be a bit of a misnomer, and one of them is how a range of groups who never even had much connection to the Kentish town managed to nail the style. A sprinkling of European outfits produced compelling work in the style, and to those ranks we can add Zyma, whose debut album teases out the jazzier and folkier aspects of the Canterbury sound. Imagine Hatfield and the North if they were less rock-oriented and one of the Northettes stepped up to become lead singer and you wouldn't be too far away.

Outstanding recording engineering and sound clarity to support great performances from all musicians, great vocals from both Greg Lake-like male vocalist Meinrad HIRT and Amanda Parsons-like female vocalist (and violin, flute and percussion contributor), Dorle FERBER. The keyboard work from Günter HORNUNG is top notch throughout and the bass work from Bodo BRANDL also stands out.

1. "Thoughts" (8:19) flows along beautifully, superlatively, for the first four Zeuhlish minutes as choir intermittently exchange support and lead moments with lead singer Dorle Ferber--who sings wordlessly in a vocalese style. Steady, almost funky bass with rock-Zeuhl drumming while Günter Hornung plays on a number of different keyboards. By the time the violin takes the lead, the music has shifted to a more spacious jazz foundation. At 6:20 there occurs a rather radical shift into a kind of West Coast blues-jazz-pop with Dorle singing in English about what's going on in your brain. I like the first third the best. (8.5/10)

2. "Businessman" (12:33) spacey synth and jazzy keyboard opening with delicate cymbal play make it feel as if we're at the dawning of something. Separate drum kit and bass track emerges from 1:30 resulting in a quick-paced Fender Rhodes chord-based foundation over which synths and electric violin (and, later, female vocalese) solo and collectively repeat complex jazz melodies. At 4:15 clavinet and different (arp?) synth take over. Love the bass play throughout this one. Male lead vocal enters at 5:15--with stage musical-like background choral shouts. Raucous piano solo follows the second verse in the fifth minute. Another sound shift at 5:45 while bass and drums continue to play at their frenetic pace. Violin takes another turn alternating with synth sound soli. Rhythm section finally slows down and decays into near stillness in the tenth minute before a varied return occurs at 9:55. More synth soloing over clavinet while drums and bass race to the finish. Pretty amazing display of musicianship! (9/10)

3. "One Way Street" (8:04) oddly weird and, unfortunately, dated, but stands up due to great clarity and cohesiveness among the band members--unified focus. (8/10)

4. "We Got Time" (3:43) sounds like a little flower child pop songs like something from Britain's Sonja Kirsten (CURVED AIR), Lulu or Dusty Springfield. Catchy and upbeat if not wholly prog. (8.5/10)

5. "Wasting Time" (9:39) the centerpiece of the album and a Canterbury epic for the ages! I LOVE FLANGED DRUMS! Awesome bass line, drumming and piano work throughout this classic. One of the best, most definitive Canterbury songs ever. (10/10)

While not totally fitting into the classic Canterbury Scene, the experimental nature of the sound and stylistic choices definitely makes this album a shining example of the Canterbury approach to jazzier pop/progressive rock music.

I'm such a massive fan of ZYMA's debut called "Thoughts" that it was a no-brainer to track this one down. "Thoughts" just hit all the right buttons for me plus it was pretty cool to hear some Canterbury and Zeuhl shadings over the mostly Jazz/ Fusion style. This one continues with the Fusion at times but there's a Canterbury flavour mainly through some of the humour on here. It's just not the same as the debut, in fact it's a huge step backwards in my opinion. Plenty of violin and viola on this one as well as some flute and trumpet. We also get something called a Solina String Ensemble and there's a guest adding percussion, congas and bongos. Yes this is called "Brave New World" and it's 1979.

"Brave New World" gets things off on the wrong foot in a major way(haha). Lots of percussion, bongos etc. after a very lame intro that sounds like an ad for a new condo development or something. It reminded me of a part of the MIRTHKON debut which is funny, this not so much. Male vocals join in followed by female vocals as that lame chorus is repeated a couple of more times. A violin solo after 2 minutes followed by humerous male vocal melodies. The violin is back leading then the female starts to scat. Not a fan of this one.

"Sundays" is much better as we get this Fusion track with some killer drumming and bass playing on it. Atmosphere to start before the drums and bass kick in then the trumpet and electric piano. This reminds me of Miles it's so good. Distorted keys after 3 minutes changes the feel here as they replace the vocals. Vocal melodies return before 5 minutes and it ends with church bells. "Lunch Time" is a short 2 minute track of piano melodies until the bass arrives late. It's okay.

"Sunday Fever" sounds great as we get another Fusion piece. The drumming is outstanding. We get plenty of synths as the Solina String Ensemble joins in. Bass and a change a minute in as keys, percussion, drums and more help out. Vocal melodies followed by drums, violin and electric piano. That earlier sound is back late. "Transit" reminds me a little of DFA except the violin is very prominent here at times. The bass, drums and electric piano also stand out. Distorted keys and vocal melodies 2 1/2 minutes in then the violin is back late. Good song.

"Colours" is also very good except for the female vocals that turn me off part way through. This is the longest track at 8 1/2 minutes. Like "Sundays" we get atmosphere to start as sounds come and go. Violin is the first constant as drums, bass and percussion join in. The female vocal melodies after 3 minutes aren't bad but the vocals that follow are. She stops after 4 minutes as the flute takes over with the drums and so on continuing. Violin leads after 6 minutes then the Solina String Ensemble joins in. "A Nice Way To Say Hello" ends this recording and we get drums, flute, female vocal melodies, electric piano and more. I'm just not into this though. Violin comes to the fore early on as well.

A disappointment for sure but the instrumental work I have no fault with, in fact I quite enjoyed it many times over a listening period of this album. Just not my thing overall I guess.

A very good album that features a wide range of instruments and styles. Zyma, a six-piece amalgamation of styles, uses its diversity as its cornerstone. "Brave New World" sounds mainstream soundtrack-meets as yet unheard new wave-meets disco-meets Ruphus (vocals and fiddle and groove very reminiscent). "Sundays" starts with killer dissonance featuring keys, percussion, and trumpet. A superb mood piece riding a wave of jazzed out bliss for six minutes and change. Funk permeates halfway through, sounding like Il Baricentro on "Trusciant". Wordless vocals add to the Canterbury feel. "Lunch Time" is a short piano solo throwaway. "Sunday Fever" starts in grand National Health style, tossing in the funk through the meat of the song. More scat wordless vocals enter the picture. An open groove, plenty of room for the band to stretch out. Very tight. "Transit" is a happy jazzfunk instrumental of the highest caliber. More scat and wordless add color. "Colours" is the longest track on the album, an 8 and a half progressive tour de force for violin. Synths add color and deep funk basslines sink in. Pastoral and majestic. "A nice way to say Hello" seems out of place at the end, but a good happy skipping through the meadow type of song that sounds like it could be from a mid-70's Hal Ashby movie. Light, cheerful, and creative, this recording gets four stars in my collection easy. The Canterbury mixed with jazz fusion mixed with campy soundtrack vocals plus obscurity and a great album cover make for a treasure album in my house.

The first thing I noticed about this record spinning it for the first time is how easy it is to discern one instrument from the other. The sound is very clean - it sounds like a Genesis record or, more to Zyma's level, Curved Air. This reminds me somewhat of a Canterburied "Phantasmagoria" Not one instrument stands out, vocals are present yet not at the fore. A man and a woman share vocals on this record. The vocals are operatic, almost amateur, and give the songs a feel like they belong in a classic movie from the '70's like "The Conversation". Zyma's sound on "Thoughts" is best represented by their opening two numbers, "Thoughts" and "Businessman". Bass and drum driven progressive rock from seasoned artists who are obviously having a lot of fun. Synths give songs a spacey feel and the instrumental sections are exciting. Personally, I'd label this eclectic prog, Canterbury is a bit of a stretch, although the elements are there. This takes the elements of some of my favorite sounding groups on the obscure end of the classic prog scale - Ruphus, Alquin, Curved Air, Il Volo - and make it sound unique. Zyma's sound here also owes a debt to Hatfield and the North for sure.

German group from the region of Heidelberg/Mahhheim, formed in 1972 by drummer Karl-Heinz Weiler, who would join Nine Days Wonder the next year under the pseudonym Hyazintus.The rest of the team were Bodo Brandl on bass, Günter Hornung on keyboards, multi-instrumentalist Meinrad Hirt and Tim Pfau on guitars.Drummer Udo Kübler was Weiler's replacement in 1973.Hirt would be replaced in 1974 by female singer/flutist/violin player Dorle Ferber and the new formation would participate in the Kerston compilation ''Proton 1'' with two tracks.In 1976 Pfau leaves the band and two year laters Hirt would rejoin Zyma for the recordings of the debut ''Thoughts'', privately released in 1978 in about 1000 copies.

Zyma proposed an elaborate and refined Progressive Rock with extended room for instrumental workouts and an expanded instrumentation with violins, flutes and varied keyboards in the process in an amalgam flirting with Teutonic Progressive Rock and Canterbury Prog/Jazz-Rock at the same time.All lyrics were delivered in English with both male and female vocals and someone could easily confuse the group as being a British one.''Thoughts'' consists of five, mainly long tracks with some very good interplays and numerous solos of impressive technique blended with more mellow vocal moments, when Zyma's sound obtains an obscure folky flavor.The long instrumental passages though have a very jazzy/Fusion-esque vibe akin to bands like BRUFORD or NATIONAL HEALTH, while there are also plenty of spacey textures with atmospheric keyboards, more in the vein of German bands.The album is characterized by its dominant work on keyboards, featuring long electric piano jams and cosmic synths, the melancholic violin themes, the melodic flutes and the strong dose of Canterbury-flavored interplays.

The Garden Of Delights CD reissue contains as bonus the two tracks recorded by the group in 1974 for the ''Proton 1'' compilation.''Law Like Love'' has nothing to do with band's later sound, it's more in a Heavy/Psych/Prog vein with strong female vocals and evident bluesy influences on the guitars, while ''Tango Enough'' is more consistent and closer to the style of ''Thoughts''.This is again energetic Psych/Prog Rock, but this time the use of synths and violins make it quite rewarding, though the vocal parts sound quite psychedelic.

A trully accomplished group with a very sophisticated style at a time, when producing trully proggy efforts wasn't really recommended.''Thoughts'' will find a nice place in the collection of any fan of diverse and adventurous Progressive Rock with long instrumental parts.

I knew the band only couple of months ago as a friend of mind told me about this Canterbury outfit when I told him about The Tangent and Khan. The name itself did not ring me a bell at all as this is actually a vintage album and by that I knew nothing about it. When I spun this album for the first time it really blew me away and I did not believe that the 'unknown' (at least to me) is actually an excellent collaborative work among the members of the band. I don't see any dominance from the view point of the music even though I can hear many keyboard work as well as violin. The first two to three spins I thought I would give an approximately four star rating. Unfortunately it grew on me and I really enjoy the music this band plays in this album from opening track to the end. It deserves a five-star rating, for sure.

The album title track "Thoughts" (8:19) at the beginning of the album clearly indicates the musical quality of the band members as the music flows nicely with excellent female vocal. The track is basically not complex, composition-wise, but definitely it's not mellow pop style as there are many jazz rock components. The second track "Businessman" (12:33) is truly a masterpiece as the music is built around simple structure but it's very rich in textures. It seems like a simple composition at the beginning. But when I observe while he music flows I can see the great combination of bass, drum as well as guitar. While the third track "One Way Street" (8:04) there are parts with avant-garde piece. There are segments that remind me to the style of Gentle Giant plus unique vocal work - this time is predominantly male vocal. The short track "We Got Time" (3:43) brings back the female vocal work with excellent violin solo supported by good supporting music. The concluding track "Wasting Time" (9:39) brings us nice jazz rock fusion with excellent keyboard work, fabulous violin and excellent female vocal. ' Overal, this is a masterpiece that no one can afford to let it go.... Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW